A few days later, Rue was peacefully napping. In her dream, the triplets had already been born, and she and Dazai were going to feed them.

Three little angels, sitting there calmly in their high chairs. Very unrealistic, but it was what Rue had wished for.

"Alright, children. You want some soupy? Hm? Daddy made you girls food." Rue smiled, coming closer to them.

The triplets all resembled Dazai in some way, and weren't very fussy. They babbled and stared up at their parents, big curious eyes. At that point, they were verbal.

Dazai set down their bowls of food in front of them, grinning. "Your handsome Daddy is gonna feed you! Open up, come on." He held the spoon to one of the little girls' faces, but she did not eat.

The child seemed to sense the food wasn't that good without even eating it. She had to be the smartest one of the three. "No!" She protested.

Dazai frowned dramatically. "No? My food is the best you've ever eaten, little miss. You love it." That was a lie. She specifically disliked Dazai's food.

Truth be told, Dazai wasn't the best cook... he would often leave huge messes in the kitchen after he was done making food, and it sometimes tasted funky. Or he just wouldn't cook at all, making someone else do it and say it was his work. (This was true in waking life too.)

Rue laughed a little. "Oh, how cute..." She continued to feed the other two children.

Then, the dream switched to a nightmare. She was back in that "perfect" world.

Mary's face was close to Rue's, her gaze giving the woman a sense the catgirl was peering into her very soul.

"You don't like Dazai, isn't that right?" She asked, an unsettling smile on her lips.

Rue was frozen, only able to move her mouth. "That... is only halfways true--"

Mary moved out of the way, showing Dazai's dead body. That was from when he shot himself! She pointed at it, chuckling. "Lovely, isn't it?"

Rue started screaming, but no sound came out of her mouth. It was a pointless attempt to make noise, continuing to move her mouth hoping she would suddenly be heard.

Mary observed the woman's reaction with a smirk.

The melodies sang along to a calm, happy song in the background. They did not care. They may as well have been rejoicing the man's death! Alone, the song would have been comforting... but not anymore.

Everything looked like it was okay on the surface. But no, this world was full of disgusting things. It was sickening; Rue felt it, all of the melodies felt it. The twins felt it.

Rue cried, sorrow filling her heart. An intense emptiness washed over her once more, just like it did in the nightmare where she first saw Dazai die. "He can't die, I'll fall apart. I need him, I just need him." She admitted in her thoughts. Then, she could move freely again, and fell to the floor.

Mary stared down at her coldly.

Rue hated how the melodies continued singing. It felt so loud, like it was throbbing in her ears. "Please let me be for once? Let me be myself, leave me alone." She begged, her voice cracking.

"There is no you. You know that younger Rue you saw? She would say... that she is Rue, no? But you say you are Rue as well. There is no Rue. There is no right, there is no wrong. There is nothing." Mary grabbed Rue's hair, pulling her head up so she would look at her. "You cling to Dazai so tightly, don't you? You know he's bad, right? What if I told you... he wasn't." She tilted her head.

Rue was dumbfounded. "He is a horrible man, how could he not be bad?"

"Well, for starters... he could do much worse. He is good, isn't he? He's in the Armed Detective Agency, on the good side. He's done some good. You wouldn't disregard those things, now would you?" Mary said.

Rue glanced down in thought. "Of course not."

Mary smiled. "Yes! He's all you have, you'll have to hold onto him whether he's good or not anyways. Your father probably hates you, and Eliza and Suzu are disappointed in you. I bet no one trusts you now." She tugged on her hair.

Rue winced, simply taking in these things Mary told her. "Yes..."

"It's really not all that bad." Mary let go of Rue, shrugging.

"It's not?" Rue questioned, tears in her eyes making her look oh so innocent.

Mary shook her head. "It's not. Go on, think of all the things that makes Dazai good."

Rue sat up, racking her mind for anything good about Dazai. He had a lot of faults... "He does make me laugh sometimes. But if that is all I can bring to you, is he truly that good?"

"He makes you laugh, good enough." Mary laughed.

Before Rue could say anything more, Melody snapped her fingers and she was back with Dazai who was trying to feed the triplets.

"Rue-chan, you there?"

Rue was startled, jumping up a bit. "Oh, I zoned out for a moment, Osamu..."

Dazai laughed to himself, before turning to his uncooperative daughter. "She won't eat. Maybe she thinks Daddy is a bad cook?"

"I wouldn't be shocked..." Rue whispered to herself, taking the spoon. "Go on, your sisters will eat it. It's yummy."

After a bit more encouraging, she was finally fed.

The rest of the dream went on mindlessly, no more thoughts in that head of Rue's.

-

Eliza gently shook Rue awake, a pensive expression on her face. "I must speak to you about Dazai."