izzyalienqueen | Late Sunday Night, NFB of course

After staying up late Saturday night with everyone in the common room, Isabel slept in late and then spent Sunday reading Lysistrata for Western Lit and working on a final batch of campaign posters. She hoped that things went well with the election, but even if they didn't, she still thought the idea of game night would be fun. Hopefully she'd be able to organize it even if she wasn't on the Student Council.

Engrossed in her work, she realized that it was late only when she started yawning more and more often. Keeping Xander in mind, she got ready for sleep in the small bathroom and then returned to her bed, pushing the posters out of the way before lying down and closing her eyes. She was tired, so sleep came easily enough, but she never noticed that as she got comfortable, her hand fell upon one of the posters bearing the images of her running mates.

A shot was fired. A man with his long, gray hair in a ponytail fell down in the middle of his living room, dead.

Isabel stood and watched, confused. Where was she? Why was this happening?

Suddenly the scene changed. There was a short man wearing a red and blue costume staring at a much larger man. The larger man was bald, rotund, and dressed in a fine suit. He was subtley threatening as he told the costumed person, "I will find out who you are."

Disturbed, she watched the exchange. She couldn't understand. Why was she in someone's dream? Who's dream?

And now the scene was outside, in someone's backyard. A blonde girl was lying on the ground, looking as if the life was drained out of her. Standing above her was a red figure whose face looked very similar to Peter's.

"Peter?" The dream walk started to make sense. The posters… She must have touched one in her sleep. But it still didn't explain what she saw.

The setting changed again to a back alley. The man in the red and blue costume was here with a man. The second man turned to the costumed person and his features changed. His teeth were longer and his eyes were red. He said something threateningly to the costumed person, but it was in a low and gravelly voice, inaudible to anyone but the man in the costume.

She still didn't understand. It was Peter's dream, but who? What was that…thing?

"Vampires are always going to freak me out," Peter said, walking up from behind Isabel. "Oh, and that blond girl from just a moment ago? This next bit just makes it worse."

They were outside a convention center, with a banner proclaiming welcome to the New York Police Department. A man in the red and blue costume threw a smoking back pack away. Seeing it heading towards a small child, a police captain threw himself in front of the backpack just before it exploded.

"That happened a couple months before the blond girl was killed. He was her father," Peter said, hanging his head. "The man in the costume isn't the real Spider-Man, though. He's just a guy...

She turned at the sound of his voice. "This is your dream. You've seen all of this? Who's Spider-man?" Isabel stopped, studying him closely she felt concerned. His head was down, and his shoulders bent as if he was closing in on himself. Or bending under the weight of his own secrets…

She thought for a second about what she'd seen. The man in the costume, Spider-man… Was Peter?

"Actually, I wasn't there for most of this. But you read the police reports, read the newspapers, and you get a pretty good mental image." Peter sighed. "And then there's this one. It hasn't even happened.

They were now in a dark room. There were three bodies on the ground. There was a girl and a boy, both Peter's age, and an older woman as well. "They're all still alive. Well, I think Harry is," he said, gesturing to the boy. Hidden in the shadows, a large, green shape could be made out. "See that?" he asked, pointing it out. "It'll be important in a few minutes."

"Who are they?" Isabel looked at them again, "Friends? Family?" She thought of sheriff, pressuring Maria to tell their secret, Nasedo using Liz as bait to get to Pierce. Kyle, shot by Pierce for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You want to protect them," she paused, understanding completely. "But what you do, who you are, it won't let you."

"No, but I have to try." Peter pointed them out individually. "That's my Aunt May. She's the only family I have after my uncle..." He pointed to the red haired girl. "That's Mary Jane. She's... special. And finally, Harry Osborn. He was one of my best friends until his father went insane. But first, another player," he said with the tone of someone who has this dream memorized by now.

There was a large man who looked quite a bit like Samuel L. Jackson. He wore an eyepatch, a black shirt, and camo pants. "General Nick Fury. The most powerful military man in my world."

"And he’s after you?" She thought she understood. The Special Unit, the mysterious enemies her mother warned them about. There was always someone to fear.

"I'm not sure. He was trying to get me to the point where I'd work for him when I turned 18, but then there was something with Harry..." Peter trailed off. "Um. I decked Fury. I doubt he's happy with me."

And then the the green shape from earlier lept out and landed in front of Peter. It was a hideous, brutish goblin creature. Its head had several horns growing out of it. Its hands were flaming. And then it started laughing. Cackling, really. It was a terrible laugh.

Peter stumbled back in fear. If he had seen this part of the dream before, it clearly terrified him more than anything else in the dream.

Despite knowing it was only a dream, Isabel was startled, and then frightened when she saw Peter’s reaction. She couldn’t change things for him, but she could stop this, at least this one time. Kneeling beside him she put her hand on his shoulder. “Peter, wake up!!”

Heart racing, Isabel woke with a gasp. She looked at the poster still resting under her hand, and then put it on the floor. She wasn’t the only person with secrets here at Fandom High.

[ooc: Dream sequence pre-played through email with