Asher slipped off into another vivid dream, where he could tell he was dreaming but he couldn’t seem to do anything about it. He was in a hospital bed, a few Lucidians were watching him carefully. The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of their eyes and screens.

“It’s awake.” One of them whispered. A hint of contempt in their voice was all but confirmed as soon as it locked eyes with him.

“Just put it to sleep again, we have to finish the procedure before Exten catches on.” The other one whispered back.

It was clear they didn’t intend for him to hear it, but everything was so eerily loud to him. Even the sound of them breathing was audible in a way that didn't seem natural.

“It’s alright dear, just relax.” The one closet to him said gently holding his hand. With her other hand she pressed a button on a machine next to her.

‘She looks so familiar.’ Asher thought. His vision began to fade, and his eyes closed despite his attempts to keep them open. But he could still hear them.

“It doesn’t make sense they would keep a monster like that around without some way to control it.” One of them said.

“As long as this procedure goes well, that thing and Exten will be powerless to us.” The other one assured.

'Procedure? What are they talking about?’ Asher thought. ‘Exten is one of the Lucidian factions, isn't it?’

The sound of radio static filled the room slowly increasing in volume.

Asher couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with the sensation that the woman holding his hand had just betrayed him. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel like he knew it was inevitable.

The static-y sound soon became so painfully loud that it forced him awake. He laid there for a while just staring up at the ceiling, trying to process it all.

‘Who was that lady and why did she seem so familiar? I’ve definitely seen her before, maybe in a picture? When was that?’ He continued to think. Nothing about it seemed to jog his memory.

Later that morning Orion had forgotten everything between the day they met and now, it had been a while since the last time this sort of thing happened. He stumbled into the kitchen and immediately started questioning Asher. Despite his incoherence, Asher was able to calm him down and get him back to sleep. Orion was far too unwell to argue or fight him and probably wouldn’t be for some time.

While waiting for Orion to fall asleep Asher flipped through Dr. Winchesters book again. It seemed to mostly have information on the illusory class of cognivores, and next to nothing on hunter class or mega cognivores in general aside from some basic biology.

In fact, the information on illusory cognivores was so detailed in comparison that it was almost confusing. At least until he found a picture of what he could only assume to be the cognivore it was based off of. The name credited in the photo, Agrostis, was also listed as a co-author for this section of the book. It was a small green bug creature that overall seemed a lot less menacing than Phalaris, in fact it was almost cute in comparison.

Regardless, none of the information was particularly useful. Nothing that would give him an edge over Phalaris, especially not if it was only based on that little guy.

Clearly, he’d have to find information somewhere else.

As he put the book down his eyes lingered on the aura from the strange object he stole from Phalaris’s office. The aura had not diminished, so whatever it was could probably still be analyzed. Even if it was more likely to hold the answers he was looking for, he had no way of getting information about it.

Even though he knew Timothy and the other demons might be able to give him more information, they seemed to be on Phalaris’s side. Even if he got information from them, there’s no telling how much of it would even be truthful.

He didn't even get to learn about the contracts, but he also couldn't help but wonder if they ever intended to tell him in the first place.

Asher decided to ask the bartender about cognivores, she couldn't remember Phalaris specifically, but she was long lived and seemed very knowledgeable about non-humans. More than anything else she definitely wasn’t on Phalaris's side.

“What do you know about cognivores?” Asher asked.

“Cognivores? Is that what that man is?” She seemed to come to the conclusion without him saying anything.

“As far as I’m aware.” Asher confirmed, “Do you know anything?”

“A bunch of them were recruited during the war through contracts. But that would have been almost a millennium ago now. If it's not already expired, it should be soon.” She answered.

“What happens when it expires?” Asher asked.

“Cognivores are only supposed to live a handful of centuries, I think you can make use of that information.” She added.

“I know that part is kinda implied but what exactly are those contracts for?” Asher thought about it carefully.

“Other than it being related to the war, couldn't tell you, I wasn't even born yet.” She said.

“That’s more than enough, thank you.” Asher replied. Kicking himself a bit for not having asked her sooner. Sure, it wasn't a lot, but anything was better than nothing at this point.

‘Phalaris's contract is almost up.’ Asher thought, ‘Is that why he needs Orion? It actually might be more dangerous for me to wait out that contract if he's already figured out my intentions. He'll just kill me outright once he can. Besides, waiting for him to die isn’t really going to solve the current problem anyway.’

As Asher returned home, Orion had just managed to stumble out of the bedroom again.

“Hey.” He said lightly, he looked worse than before, but he managed to recognize him this time.

“Are you sure you should be up and about like this?” Asher asked as he flopped down on the couch.

“I wasn't planning to go anywhere, I just wanted to listen to the TV for a bit.” He answered.

As Orion laid down on the couch next to him, Asher picked up the remote and turned on the television. He put on a mindless sitcom rerun and placed the remote back down brushing his hand against the notebook out on the table next to it.

He picked up the notebook and tried to think about what sort of power or technology could possibly make it obscure itself outside of the laboratory, but he couldn't come to a conclusion. Orion had seemed so adamant about not discussing it that he didn't get the chance to ask about it.

“What are you doing Ash?” Orion asked.

“It's none of your business.” Asher said flipping through Orion’s notebook.

“Are you arguing with the me in my notebook again?” Orion raised an eyebrow.

“Something like that.” He pursed his lips.

“You can't possibly be this petty about it.” Orion laughed.

“I can and I will.” Asher smiled.

When he landed on that page once more, he could see there was an addition, no words, just a phone number. He couldn't even begin to imagine how it got there considering Orion was definitely not up and about long enough to have done anything.

“You weren’t writing in this were you?” Asher asked.

“Why would I write in there if I can’t even see what I’m writing?” Orion snuggled up to the blanket on the couch. “Even if I did, it’s not like I would remember it. I’m honestly struggling to remember where I am right now.”

“You’re in your apartment.” Asher lightly ran his fingers through Orion’s hair.

“Well logically I know that, but like I feel like I don’t know where I am.” Orion explained.

“I think I know what you mean.” Asher replied continuing to pet his hair, “I know who I am, but lately things have made me start to doubt myself.”

“When it gets like that,” Orion yawned, “You just gotta…”

“You just gotta what?” Asher asked with a laugh.

Orion said something incoherent as he fell back to sleep.

If Orion and Katz couldn't read the notebook outside the lab for whatever reason and the Orion in the lab said it wasn't his handwriting, just who was the one leaving these messages? Was there an Orion he didn’t know about that could be the one writing it? It’s not like someone was breaking into the apartment just to leave him messages… Right?

The lab Orion had been pretty clear on not letting anyone see else it, even if he did get a response, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave it out in the open. He saved the number in his phone and ended up hiding the notebook in the back of the closet.