Hollis was once again alone in his empty void of a mindspace. After the meet-up with the other Somnium came to an abrupt, unsatisfactory close, Hollis went straight back to his room. There was nothing in particular to do at this point and thus, he found it best to nap on the situation rather than wrack his brain for answers that would likely not be found.

     What else could he do? The others seemed to have access to the internet even while in this dream world, but Hollis had no clue how they did it. All he would have been able to do is go from dreamer to dreamer and see what they knew. For too many reasons he hadn't had the will to do something like that.

     While he lied on the floor of his void, he stared up at the seemingly eternal abyss around him. As he did this, his mind slowly went empty, but a sudden thought hit him.

     Hm? I feel like I'm forgetting something. What could I forget though? He tried hard to remember. What all did they talk about? The Somnium Killer, Ambrose... what could I be... 

     Just then, he remembered the weapon he had stowed in his pocket. He had forgotten the knife!

     Without sitting up, he reached his hand into his pocket. He felt around, but it became apparent that the knife was gone.

     His face froze.

     Sitting up, he felt around in his other pocket. Still no knife.

     "What? Where... It has to be here..." He dug his hand as deep as it would go but still, there was no knife. "No way." It felt as if the blood had drained from his body in an instant.

     Why is it gone? Did it fall from my pocket? Or...

     Somebody stole it? But who?

     Rising to his feet, he dug through his pockets one last time.

     Still nothing.

     Someone had to have taken it, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed it fall from my pockets...then again, I should have noticed if someone took it!

     In the midst of his panic, he heard a sudden click, like a door went shut. He had a feeling he knew who this was. Turning to the sound, he saw Ambrose. Already? He thought, attempting to hide his shock. It wasn't that long since we spoke, was it?

     "Well, look at that. Your tree is doing nice."

     Confused, Hollis glanced back to the only item adorning the otherwise empty space. To his surprise, the tree had grown quite tremendously. It wasn't full grown, but it most certainly wasn't the little sapling he had last seen. He knew he dozed off for a second, was it really that long?

     "I see you're surprised." Ambrose let out a low chuckle as he took casual strides towards Hollis. "I can understand. I was actually talking to Veri last night—the samurai boy—about this whole situation."

     Hollis simply nodded. Looks like Ambrose had this conversation under his thumb already.

     "Apparently, he seems to fall more in line with your ideas. So, that got me thinking..." He crossed his strong arms over his chest, puffing himself up. "I think we need to, uh...talk about this."

     "What do you mean? Are you saying you're afraid I blame you for these attacks?"

     "Well, yeah, kinda." The sandy-haired boy, who looked more like a brunette at this point, chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, I can't say I've really changed my stance on how I'm going about this, but you don't know me like the others."

     "So? Why should my opinion matter to you if you feel that way?" Hollis exhaled, his previously stiff posture relaxing ever so slightly. "Someone with as miniscule a presence as mine, my opinion means nothing."

     "No, not to me."

     Hollis's ears perked, his eyes blinked once, then twice. Why?

     "We're friends now, right?" It looked like he tried to hide it, but that cat-like smirk started to form. Hollis was almost positive Ambrose had fangs and that freaked him out a little.

     Upon noticing the brunette's skeptical reaction, Ambrose laughed. "Well, I thought we were. But, as you know, I'm eager to expand my ranks after all."

     "Alright, fine. If you want to talk or whatever it is, sure. Let's talk."

     "Oh?" Not losing that troublesome smirk, he tilted his head. "You seem like you have something on your mind. What's that about?" He seemed legitimately curious at first, but his eyes went wide soon after, as if he knew right away what this was about. Relaxing his expression, he said, "Right. How about we start with that. But first." Without warning, he gripped Hollis's wrist, just like when they had first met, and pulled him back. "Let's go here." Without so much as turning around, Ambrose fell back into the dream that was passing behind them, Hollis still in his grasp.

The smaller boy landed in a crouch, saving his face from another rough smack. To his surprise, though, the ground here wasn't hard, not at all. It felt warm and plush. When his senses were fully returned, he was shocked to see he was standing on some sort of soft, brightly colored surface. It was like a giant quilt.

     "Finally!" Ambrose exclaimed with joy. "I've been waiting to bring you to one of these weirdo types!" He jumped down from the surface he had been perched on and landed at Hollis's side. Now that they were in someone else's dream, Ambrose had switched his pajama to something more in line with the aesthetic of this world. As usual, his arms where mostly bare, but he wore a half cape over his left shoulder with an almost Christmas-type color palette of reds and greens.

     "What kind of dream is this?" Hollis had made haste to sport a matching costume before asking this.

     "Just one of those dreams. No need for explanations; whatever happens, happens." The taller boy pointed off in the distance. They could see a silhouette bouncing on a larger version of the quilt they stood upon, laughter and cheer clear as day. "We should go somewhere more private. If they see us here, we'll be in trouble!" With a soft snigger, Ambrose darted down the hill. Hollis hesitated but followed after.

     They came across a large, golden beam that looked to be a part of the head of one's bed, but it was surrounded on all sides by the colorful quilts. "I think I'm with Terra on this," Hollis muttered as he walked along the beam, his balance only slightly effected by the round surface. "Wandering into other people's heads doesn't sit well with me."

     "Some people are like that, yeah." Ambrose responded in a nonchalant fashion as he took casual strides over the shining surface. "Me? Well, you know I'm into this. I like to see what other people think of. Don't get me wrong, I know so many people find this inappropriate," there was a quick flash of malevolence in his smile before he switched back to simple mischief. "But I can't help but feed my curiosity." Once they reached the end of the beam, Ambrose jumped down, promptly followed by Hollis. They stood on a quilt reminiscent to a chunk of land by a body of quilt water. Such a sight left Hollis stunned. How could he ever explain seeing something as peculiar as this?

     "So," Ambrose dropped down, his arms resting over his knees. The older boy followed. "I can't believe you followed me here like this." His head tilted ever so slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Aren't you worried?"

     "I can't say. You're always a little freaky."

     And I didn't have much choice...

     Ambrose sputtered, his hand covering his face as he tried to muffle his laugh. "True, true." He leaned further back. "I like your attitude, guy. You've got a good head."

     I don't think people usually end it like that. Ignoring the phrasing that made his stomach turn, Hollis simply cleared his throat as the outgoing youth continued. "Still, I can tell you've been disturbed by this whole thing."

     "Even more so due to the fact you pulled me out here. Doesn't this guy usually attack...when you're in other's dreams? That's what it sounded like to me."

     "Not necessarily. Yes, it's more likely that's when he could get you seeing as he's clearly a Somnium himself. Trying to get into another Somnium's mindscape would be more difficult unless he managed to bookmark it."

     "'Bookmark it'?"

     Ambrose nodded and proceeded to explain. "If he's seen the door to your mindscape, he'd be able to 'hook it' or 'bookmark it'. It really depends on how much he saw. It's how I'm able to get into yours anytime I want." He smirked, his gaze trailing the corner of the mountains at his left. "If someone lets you in, you can 'bookmark it' and come and go anytime you want. If someone sees it, they can access the entrance and try and break it, but that's some hacker-level stuff."

     Hollis tried not to gulp, fearing it would be too loud to handle. Even if Ambrose wasn't the killer, which Hollis wanted to doubt was true, the killer saw his door, maybe even the inside when they were falling. He had a good chance to bookmark it. And if he had any hacker skills, which wasn't out of the question...

     "I see," was all he could say.

     "Don't worry so much, Hollis." Ambrose leaned forward again, his face filled to the brim with trouble and childish intentions. "You've got me here. I won't let this guy touch you."

     "Are you trying to sound creepy?"

     Ambrose shrugged, his expression not once changing. "Anyway, I think I carried this conversation enough. You want to get to know me personally, don't you?"

     "I don't know about that..."

     "Well, let me give you a taste." Falling back with ease, he crossed his legs and wrapped his arms around the back of his head. "I live down in Pennsylvania on an itty-bitty farm with tons of land. I had an older brother, but he died before I was born. His name was Hugo, believe it or not. Pretty old-fashioned, yeah?"

     Hollis was reluctant, but he nodded. "I didn't think you'd get this personal."

     "Hey, it's no bother to me at all." He shrugged. "Wanna know anything else?"

     The older boy's mouth fell lopsided, his misty-blue eyes avoided Ambrose's own. "Well, what about your name? Your real name."

     "Oh?" There was very real surprise in his tone. "I figured you'd assume this was my real name."

     "You said everyone uses their screen names. I figured you were talking about yours too. So, it's not your real name, right?"

     Ambrose smirked. "It's not. I do like it better than my real one, though." He stretched and let out a groan of satisfaction. "Everything's better in dreams!" Rolling onto his side, his head propped up with his hand, he asked, "Don't you want to be immortal? Stay here forever? It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility for you. After all, in this day and age they've managed to keep deathly ill people alive through similar methods. I bet your Somnium abilities are doing that very thing! If they do turn off life support, I'll bet your consciousness can stay here forever!" His smirk softened. "Noodle had a good point when he said that some of the greatest joys are nonexistent things."