Chapter Text
Elias could barely sleep that night.
Those photos always brought bad memories flooding into his conscious, but this was different.
He dreamed about asking for his grandfather, a dream he had one too many times for his liking. But this time, it was different.
It started the same, him as a child, tinkering away in his room, asking his mother the same question. “Where is my grandfather? Why can’t I see him?”
“He’s gone, Elias. He-“
“He was working with shit he didn’t understand, and look where it got him? He’s dead, Elias.”
“Honey that’s-“
“Is he dead, mother?”
It never failed to sting, a small pain in the boy's heart, and his eyes cloudy, but never daring to cry. His mother’s face, frail and fearful, unsure of what to answer.
“Oh Eli, he’s-“
ALIVE.
‘Huh?’
ALIVE AND WELL.
‘What is..?’
HE’S THRIVING, ACTUALLY.
Elias didn’t recognize the sharp turn this repeated, never-changing dream decided to take.
A light flickered. Elias was no longer in his home. He was in a lab, not his, but vaguely familiar nonetheless. The teal haired man had never seen such a place before, he was sure of it, right?
“Elias?”
A shiver ran down his spine, purple eyes full of shock, his throat dry.
A voice spoke to him, one he only heard in recordings, on a screen, taking place years before the boy was even born. But now, there he was, standing right in front of him: Eldwin Delborne.
“Grandfather..? Grandpa!” Elias lunged forward, running towards the older man, his arms extended out. That was, until he tripped.
“Grandfather!” Elias woke up, hitting his head against the ceiling of his in-the-wall bed. “Ah?! Ow…” Elias slowly lay back down, rubbing his hand to his head. The scientist took heavy breaths, “Ok… Okay Elias, calm yourself,” he whispered.
Elias looked around from his built-in-the-wall bed to his laboratory/room. It was dark, but his eyes desperately searched for something he could identify.
“A chair, grey. My coat, white, smells like chemicals. My blanket, lavender, soft and plush.” Elias whispered to himself, as he always did after a particularly, uncomfortable, dream. Tired, he glanced to the digital clock on his shelf.
“Five sixteen…” he exhaled slowly, “I went to bed at ten. That’s good enough.” The scientist slowly crawled out of bed. His mind raced, ‘Why did that dream change? It had diverged a few times, yes, but all the different variables all ended with the same conclusion. He had never heard, or seen his grandfather before. Was it his own delusions of grandeur? Or was there something larger at play?’ What was he thinking? Elias Delborne, child prodigy, top scientist extraordinaire, logical person, grasping for beliefs that didn’t even exist.
His body moved on autopilot, brushing his teeth, slipping his lab coat on, and getting out his equipment for today’s experiment. Whatever was going on, he’d think about it later.
In his hustle, he failed to notice blond hair and vibrant green eyes peering through his door. The angel turned away, closing the lab door softly, returning back into the darkness of the night.