"You're doing some pretty weird shit to my psyche. Care to tell me why?" Ash said to the boy in the dream. She had never been able to tell off a figment of her imagination before, so this was a novel experience.

The boy opened his mouth and a jumble of words left his mouth. Ash sighed and threw a notepad with a pen to the other side of the screen. He took it with an awkward smile, and sat down crosslegged as he started to write. Ash crouched down with him and tried to read the letters on the pad.

"I think that's in Russian," she muttered, definitely frustrated. "Are you sure you're not a Fool?"

In tarot cards, there were archetypes. Ash constantly found herself in the Tower struck by lightning, that which brought destruction in flame and then rebirth from the ashes. She didn't know who she was yet, though she knew she was leaning to the Hangman, the one who hung from the tree by his ankle.

The boy shook his head, and shot a hand through the screen. Ash jumped backwards, slightly startled. It was as though he was the looney in a high security cell, and she was a visitor.

"You want me to come over there?" Ash asked tentatively and nearly winced when the boy nodded.. Though it was dangerous, Ash felt safe in her Tower. She did not want to go to the boy's side, where there were things she did not know about. She was a bit of a control freak in that respect.

Nonetheless, the boy kept his hand out insistently. Ash clutched her knees to her chest so that she was comfortable, and tried to think about the consequences. So this was a dream, and there was a good chance it might actually be a new type of delusion, but nonetheless she was deathly scared of what was on the other side. Finally she stood up and took the boy's hand, only to be forcibly yanked to the other side, landing on her head.

"God, watch it," she muttered, rubbing her head. "Now, what is it you want?"

"Wow, it worked," said the boy in a soft British accent. "I'm Rae. Who are you?"

"I'm Ash. What worked?" Ash asked, looking at Rae closely. It didn't sound like he regularly spoke Russian, so why had he been writing in it?

Rae started talking about something, but Ash was distracted by then and started looking around for the notepad she had given Rae.

"Where is it?" she muttered frustrated, and finally found the notebook, which was lying discarded beside the stage. To her surprise, it was in perfect English. "Weird."

"... Were you even listening to a word I was saying?" Rae asked, a little nonplused by Ash's total lack of an attention span.

"No. Care to repeat?" Ash said, flipping through the notebook absentmindedly and muttering to herself.

"It looks like the Puppeteer is writing some sort of knock-off of your story, or mine. I think we should have a moment of silence, for the passing of the fourth wall in this story," Rae said drily, smiling a little when Ash looked at him confused.

"You're a figment of my imagination," she finally said. "Shut up while I wake up."

"You can't wake up. You're not in your element," Rae said quietly. "You've got to go back on that stage to wake up, and I'm afraid I can't let you."

"Why not?"

"Because this would be a boring chapter if I did," Rae said, and rolled his eyes. "Welcome to my world."

"Okay, so people are reading us, right now?" Ash asked.

"If we're lucky, they've stopped by now. I don't recall having this accent before. When I was spouting all those comic book references, I just automatically assumed I'd be American," Rae said thoughtfully. "Turns out I was wrong. As for you, they've been reading you for a little while, actually. I think I may be new, because there are so many holes in my story I could very well be Swiss Cheese, and you're quite developed."

"What do you know about me?"

"I know that you're good at messing with psychiatrists' head. I've been watching you for a little while," Rae shrugged.

"Creep," Ash muttered, and started walking into the grey expanse that had suddenly revealed itself to her.

"Where are you going?"

"I have no idea. I just know that if I walk for long enough in a perfectly straight line, I'll get back to where I come in," Ash responded.

"But that's insane," Rae objected. "That will never work."

"That's the way I do things," Ash informed with a little smile, and went blindly into the unimagined grey expanse.