(Your POV, three weeks later)

No nightmares for once?

Ever since Issei has been unconscious, I have been plagued by nightmares, or are they night terrors? I never really bothered to learn the difference between the two, all I know is that they've been nonstop, and I have had trouble sleeping thanks to them. It was honestly pretty annoying, and my eyes have been feeling heavy thanks to them. Luckily, tonight was different, I appeared to be on a long boat with a single green sail and a couple seats in it. The boat was in the middle of an ocean surrounded by water and ice as far as the eye could see. I sat on this bed and looked upwards, where I saw green, purple, cyan, and yellow space dust above me, all mixed together like various colored powders in the sky. These lit up the scene with their gentle hues, and the waves around me reflected the sky to reveal a slightly vivid image of what I saw before me.

"So this is your inner world, much nicer than Issei's." I heard an unfamiliar voice call out to me from behind me, so I turned around to see a massive red dragon, and given how I only know one red dragon, it can only be... "I am Ddraig, the red dragon."

"How are you here?" This is possibly a dream, so I want to understand how Ddraig could possibly be here. "You're still inside Issei, correct?"

"Indeed, but due to your magic now affecting Issei's mind, I was able to contact you through that magic, kind of like Morse code through a wire." Ddraig explained, and I turned my body around to face him fully. "I am here to ask you to become my new host."

"Forgive me for being rude, but I refuse." I declined Ddraig's offer, and I noticed a visible shift in Ddraig's demeanor. "Issei still needs someone to protect him just in case, and besides, I'm already working on my own sacred gear. Relying on you will make me neglectful of Junkyard Dog and my other abilities, which I have yet to refine."

"Please, I'm begging you." Ddraig appeared to be crying, the legendary red dragon Ddraig, the same dragon on the Welsh flag, is crying right before me. "I don't want to be the Oppai Dragon anymore. I want to be feared, worshipped, revered, not some character on a children's program! The show is also inspiring children to poke breasts, which is not good for the future!"

"I don't understand your pain, but you have my sympathy." I sat on one of the seats in the boat, noticing how low it was. "Though if your power was suddenly shifted to me, it might cause some problems."

"Like what?" Ddraig asked, and I put my hands in my palms to rub my eyes, I was freaking tired because of all the nightmares keeping me up, I wasn't getting enough sleep, and I even had bags under my eyes. On top of that, I was trying to find a way to cure Issei.

"I don't know, politics and entertainment businesses can make anything complicated." I accidentally lashed out at Ddraig, not that I cared. I just wanted my friend back. "Look, just go back to Issei and leave me alone, I need to find a way to cure him."

"(Y/N), you're truly concerned with your friend, but you need to rest." Ddraig was quick to catch on. "How much sleep did you get last night? Scratch that, how much sleep have you got ever since Issei entered his coma?"

"Three hour- it's not my fault, I'm just tired of the nightmares forcing me to relive that moment!" I defended myself, I knew I was a failure now, especially since it was my fault Issei was injured in the first place. "Just get out of me, I want to be alone."

"You aren't alone." Ddraig looked up at the cosmic dust. "You see that cosmi dust above us, each color represents a different deity. The yellow represents Tyr, the green represents the Jade Emperor, the purple represents Tezcatlipoca, and the blue represents-"

"Look, if I have time to talk to you, I have time to work on a cure." I didn't care about any of this, and in response Ddraig huffed in mild annoyance. "Maybe then the three factions will have a chance against the Khaos brigade."

"You mean you have a chance?" Ddraig sighed. "Look, I know I've been stuck inside Issei for a while now, but I can see what he sees, and I can tell you're a good person, but you push yourself too hard. You need a break."

"I'm fine, just leave." I commanded, and the almost pitch black waters began moving like there was something underneath me. "Is there something here with us?"

"Yes, your rage which you suppressed all this time, it's waiting for the perfect moment to come out, like a shark." Ddraig answered, and how did he know this? "Or perhaps a megalodon would be more fitting?"

I then woke up, well it was a nice rest while it lasted.

I was sleeping with my head on my desk while I wore my school uniform, with different medical, ritual papers scattered, and equipment around the desk. The only oddity there was a single plate with some eggs on it along with a fork, weird, last I recall there was a sandwich there. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes as I felt a pair of phantom-like arms wrap themselves around my neck, and this was more than likely some sort of psychological illusion, because the source of the arms was nothing more than a ghost, the ghost of none other than my mother, Ariel. Her body was entirely a blue color and I could look right through her, like she was a ghost. "Worthless son, if you were actually strong, you could protect everyone of your friends without lifting so much as a muscle." My mother's mouth didn't move, but I could hear her voice. "Pathetic...unable to protect anyone from such an obvious threat."

This goes on for a while, so I decided that it would be best to ignore it. Still, the voices don't stop until I sleep, and even when I sleep, I get nightmares. It was a cycle I've been in since Issei was put into a coma, so I decided to try distracting myself by trying to find a cure for Issei. My first idea was to make a plant that absorbs magic, but given how to do that, it also needs to absorb the blood, so that's a no because it might kill my friend. My next idea was for a machine to pump the magic out of Issei, but considering that would accelerate his digestive system to unhealthy levels, that idea was scrapped. I was currently working on a poison that can negate Loki's magic, but it was hard to make it target only Loki's magic alone. Keep in mind I'm doing all of this while my mother's ghost whispered insults into my ear.

As I worked, I began thinking of things that happened ever since Issei passed out. For one, there was also this wendigo now, named Nahele, and to say he's psychotic would be an understatement. I only allowed him to be here because Coyote thought his strength would be useful, we just needed to keep his hunger in check. On the bright side, we also got some new members aside from the wendigo. Like Nahele, they rode here with Blackbeard, who is still sailing around. I also noticed that one of my microscopes had broken a broken lens, luckily, there was a spare one in the garage. So I got up from my chair and began making my way towards the door. I don't know why, but my body felt heavier than what it used to be. I ignored this little fact and opened the door, taking notice of how quiet it was, so I just assumed everyone was out getting stuff. I ignored this and decided to walk to the garage, but as I did so, I heard the sound of something moving. I tried summoning Solais, but I couldn't, no matter what angle I tried summoning it from, meaning someone was keeping an eye on me. I used my Earth Sense, but only noticed a small mouse. I didn't think much of it until I remembered one of my recruits was a mouse, more specifically, Souri, the good little mouse.

"Bonjour, Monsieur (Y/N)." Souri made herself known and walked from underneath the couch to directly in front of me. Souri's fur was brown with a cream colored stripe running down from her chin to her stomach. She wore a purple wizard's robe with two slit-shaped holes in the back for whatever reason. "You and I have never formally met, since you've been cooped up in your room all the time."

"Sorry about that, but I need to work on a cure for my friend." It was hard to hear Souri over the sound of my mother's ghost telling me the world would be better off when I died. "We'll talk more later."

"I also noticed you haven't been eating, and when was the last time you actually drank water?" Souri asked while I stepped over her. "You haven't been taking care of yourself, and to that, your peerage is very concerned, as is everyone else."

"I'll do all that once I finish." I opened the door to the garage, where I keep spares along with most of my equipment, and there I was met with a rather surprising sight.

I was suddenly enveloped in chains and blankets at once, making me immobile, and standing in the doorway were two unfamiliar figures, both of whom appeared to be twins. The first one was the one with the blankets, and appeared to be wearing a Chinese style, white long sleeved shirt with a long red skirt that reached his ankles. His long black hair was tied into a long ponytail that reached his waist, but was smooth and flowed freely. The one with the chains was a lot more rugged, wearing a dark blue shirt underneath a brown leather vest, paired with black pants and sandals. The other twin's hair was also much shorter, resembling Kiba's a bit but it was black in color. I was caught off guard, so it was only a matter of seconds before two twins ensnared me in blankets in chains.

"Thanks Hua, Jiang." Souri then looked at the door to the storage room, then she shouted. "The seal is contained, I repeat, the seal is contained!" What happened after that is that the twin in white held me up, since I almost fell over. I watched as everyone exited the storage room.

"Congratulations, you caught me, can you please let me go?" I asked, and I noticed that only members of my 'peerage', Asia, Xemovia, and Irina, were walking out of the storage room.

"Given how you've been neglecting your health, we decided it would be best for you to take a breather." Anubis pointed out. "So we had the twins, Hua the Noble and Jiang the Thief, restrain you in order to get you to listen to us."

"Wait, you guys have been talking to me?" I honestly couldn't hear them all that well thanks to the ghost, which was still clinging to me while phasing through blankets and chains. "Sorry, my hearing hasn't been the best?"

"It's one thing to not listen to us, but you also need to eat something!" Paul then pointed at Asia, who was awkwardly poking her fingers. "Asia here has even been making them for you along with Rossweisse because they were worried about you."

"Y-You don't need to tell him that!" Rossweisse was turning red while trying to cover Paul's mouth with her hands.

"And since you haven't been practicing self care voluntarily, we decided on the next best thing." Quetzal reached into a satchel that was on his waist and pulled out a water bottle.

"Which is...?" Sarah asked, something tells me she was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

"We're basically going to force you to take a break and rest." Crow flew over to the coffee table and landed on the remote to turn the television on. "Given those bags under your eyes, you're not sleeping."

"Nightmares." I answered, and this forced all of them to start thinking, then, out of nowhere, Hanuman got an idea.

"I punch the nightmares." Hanuman punched his open palm in a determined manner, and I noticed Anubis face palming himself.

"Whenever my little brother gets nightmares, I usually make him a stuffed animal and tell him it's a knight sent from the round table to protect him from the monsters." Unohanna thought out loud. "Maybe I can make you a stuffed seal or whale?"

"Who still sleeps with a stuffed animal?" Coyote asked, and almost instantly, Ayako placed her knife against Coyote's throat. "Forget I said anything, stuffed animals are dope."

"My guess is that (Y/N) never really got over that trauma, and his curse doesn't appear to be making things easier for him." Anubis pointed out, and I noticed he appeared to be looking at my mother's ghost with glowing purple eyes. I thought I was the only person who could see her? "Now (Y/N), you go ahead and rest on the couch, you get to pick the movie since everyone else's suggestions were horrid."

"Worthless...their time would be better spent worrying about someone worth their time." My mother's ghost whispered in my ear, and I noticed no one appeared to be able to hear her.

"You're the guy who wanted to watch Swan Lake, which is not happening." Coyote jumped onto the couch, and almost instantly, Yozakura sprayed him with water from a spray bottle. "GAH! Jeez!" Coyote jumped off the couch.

I was then set on the couch, still wrapped in the blanket, with Asia and Rossweisse sitting on either side of me. My mother's ghost was still here, whispering into my ear. Crow and Sang argued over the remote for a while until Quetzal stole the remote from both of them and changed it to a simple competition show where the contestants have to make weapons out of things like pinball machines and car parts. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to either learn something about craftsmanship or to rest, but my mother's grasp on me only increased, almost to the point where she was strangling me.

(A/N: props to you if you know what show I'm talking about)

"They don't really care about you..." My mother's ghost whispered in my ear, but my focus quickly shifted onto someone poking my cheek, it was Rossweisse.

"S-Since you can't move thanks to us, I-I'll be your arms for now." Rossweisse had a bright red face as she said that. There was a plate of scrambled eggs in one of her hands and a fork in the other. "If y-you're hungry, l-let me know, I-I'll feed you."

"Rossweisse, everyone knows you want to reenact that one scene in that romance movie you and I watched yesterday, so just be honest." Irina pointed out, and the redness on Rossweisse's face increased. "Hey, it was kind of cute in it's own way, watching the heroine feed that guy with broken arms."

"Your gifts to them are thrown away once you turn away..."

"Hey (Y/N), remember that crossbow you gave me?" Sang asked, and he showed me the weapon I threw to him during our fight with Loki. "Is it cool if I keep it and name it Tumang?" I nodded to confirm that doing that would be okay. "Sweet, you made such a neat weapon, I wanted to give it a name."

"They only tolerate you because of your power..."

"Hey (Y/N), when you get stronger, do you plan on being one of those high and mighty 'too good for you' kinds of guys or are you gonna be like you are now?" Crow asked while he perched himself on my shoulder. "I personally like the current you, down to earth and all. To be honest, we only heard about you because you kicked Vali's ass, but now that we got to know you, we officially decided you're best boi."

"Once you serve your purpose, everyone here will leave you..."

"I've been thinking about what I would do after all this Khaos brigade nonsense, I'm heading back home." Galahad was currently eating a sandwich. "Well, not like I have much of a choice. I still plan on staying in contact with everyone, but I have to go since I will be hailed as the 'new King Arthur' or something when I get back."

"I stay...until...forgotten..." Cernunnos was hanging from the ceiling, and for some reason, his cloak wasn't falling, it was acting as though there was upwards gravity.

"They will never care about you after your failure..."

"(Y/N), are you getting too hot underneath the blankets?" Asia checked on me by placing a hand on my forehead, checking to make sure everything was okay. "If you'd like, I can try to make it more comfortable for you."

"You will never be loved..."

"Pardon me for being blunt (Y/N), but I need you to eat this." Anubis handed me a glowing purple, scarab-shaped item using his gloved hand. "I know it's the size of my palm, but it's a medicine that helps with your condition. I understand it would cause night terrors and such, and I wish for you to get a good night's rest for not only your sake, but everyone else's."

"You are undeserving of all th-"

Rossweisse broke off a piece of the scarab with her fork and raised it to my mouth, where I swallowed the piece of the scarab whole. Rossweisse and I continued this until the entire scarab was gone, and while it's texture made me think it was an actual bug, it tasted too much like grapes to be real. Anubis informed me it was just designed like a scarab for the aesthetic, and that it was the same medicine Horus took. Suddenly, I noticed my mother's voice was muted, and my heart felt a little better. I wasn't on edge, but my eyes were heavy. I leaned my head on Rossweisse's shoulders, and for once, drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

(A/N: I apologize if the quality of these recent chapters has not been to your liking. I am currently rewriting my RWBY book at the same time as this one, and given how everyone either has exams (since it's that time of year) or completely lost interest in all my works, I like to believe it's the former so I don't get more depressed than usual. If it is exams, I wish all of you the best of luck! If you already finished, then congrats, I hope you passed!