Though none of the four of them were all that sure of how well their plan would work, if at all; they nevertheless did decide to at least attempt it. After all, none of them were sure how much longer Sky could continue to hang on through day after day of having to relive the most horrible thing that had happened to him, in this life, and be made to feel as though he did deserve it; just as he feared in those darker moments of his. Of course those darker moments were growing ever more frequent now.

That night, after another quiet dinner, Sky and Star actually retired to their own rooms upstairs. Star was still not overly comfortable with ever leaving him alone, but once she began her psychic dive into the mind of the monster that had terrified Sky as well as so many others, Sky would, in essence, be alone anyway; as she wouldn’t mentally be there in her own body anymore at all. Instead, she would be inside that twisted nightmare that was sure to be Curt’s consciousness. And Sky’s fear of what that would do to her seemed to be enough to keep his mind off of his own living nightmare, at least for one night.

Upstairs was deadly silent in the Vargas house that night in the hours following dinner. Star was tucked into her own bedroom in that trance like state they had both shared while exploring the horrible memories that Cassie had of their last life. Though this time, Star was in a much darker place, a much darker mind. And now, she was alone there. Sky got increasingly restless as he tried in vain to concentrate on his schoolwork or his computer or anything else as those hours ticked away.

As her fourth hour in that trance passed by and the clock struck and then passed eleven, Sky was still anxiously looking out at the hallway between their rooms through his still open bedroom door. He wasn’t sure exactly how long he should even be letting her stay in that state, in that place. He assumed she would return on her own, just as they had returned from Cassie’s mind once they finished seeing how that tragedy had played out. But over four hours had passed now and he still had no indication that Star was back from that mental exploration. Then again, there was a lot more than one night of horror to explore in Curt’s head; that was one thing Sky was sure of at least.

His worry getting the best of him, Sky decided to move his vigilance across the hall, where he could at least watch Star and hopefully have some clue of whether she was engulfed in such darkness that she couldn’t get out on her own for some reason. After all, this entire idea was something new to both of them, at least on this large of a scale and with this twisted of a mind being entered. It was true that Brie’s and Connor’s minds had also been pretty twisted in that original life, but Curt was on an entirely different level.

It was nearing eleven-thirty when Sky lightly knocked on Star’s bedroom door and received no response. Though that was not all that surprising if she still were in that psychic trance. He took a deep breath and then pushed the door open. His eyes moved to her worriedly as he absently shut the bedroom door behind him once more. Inside the room, Star was seated on the plush black carpet, her back against her bed, her knees pulled to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Her own breaths were coming in short gasps as her dark brown eyes stared at nothing. But even more worrying than that was that despite the glazed over look in those eyes, there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Star” he whispered as he took a step closer, moving to the floor to stoop next to her. Still receiving no response, he spoke more loudly, “Star.”

He watched another moment as she still seemed to have no awareness of his voice or his presence. Though he still was not sure if he even should be trying to jar her out of that state at all. He sat there worriedly for another few moments as his eyes moved around her room, stopping momentarily on the clock next to her bed, then moving back to her. He then took a deep breath and took a seat against the bed next to her, continuing to watch her worriedly as her breathing remained ragged and a few more tears escaped from where she continued staring straight ahead, empty and blank.

A moment later, when he heard her slightly whimper through her otherwise unresponsive state, Sky couldn’t bear to leave her in whatever pain she seemed to be experiencing. Worried as he was about pulling her from that state, he was more worried about leaving her in it. He then moved to grip her arm firmly but gently and squeeze ever so slightly, “Star, come back, please” he stated next to her ear.

His touch finally being the thing that broke her out of that trance at last, Star quickly turned her head to where his was only a couple inches away. She was at first startled and shocked by the interruption, but once she was fully back in the present again, her expression changed to one of pure despair as she broke down in another torrent of tears and rushed to collapse into his arms as her sobs continued.

“Star?” he whispered as he held her emotion-wracked body close, caressing her hair and her back and trying to comfort her in the aftermath of whatever traumas had sent her into that state.

She finally tried forcing words through her tears, “god, the things he did to those girls. The way he felt doing those things. God, the things he did to them. And god, Sammi. Sammi was so...” she cried the words more than spoke them. She then looked up at Sky, “and what he did to you...” she whispered hoarsely.

“Star” he whispered her name again.

But before he could say more, she moved to cover his lips with her own in desperation. “Please don’t let these be the memories in my head right now” she begged him as she kissed him again. A moment later, the kiss ended and they were once again in that silver room of theirs where she was even more desperately pulling at his shirt.

“What? Now?” Sky breathed, though he didn’t stop her as she pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it to that silver floor.

“I need to remember that it’s supposed to be good, not horrible. I need that right now, so badly” she breathed as she began ripping away her own clothing then as well.

Once all her clothing was removed only a moment later, she reached for Sky’s. He quickly helped her remove the rest of his own clothes as Star just as quickly moved to that place above his hips, sliding him inside her in the same motion as they both let out a slight moan at the moment of that connection. With that same desperation, she began moving above him as their mouths covered each other’s through the even more intense moans that accompanied each movement of their bodies against one another.

It was mere moments before they each easily pushed each other to that final moment of pleasure and collapsed to the silver floor in each other’s arms, both breathing raggedly now as they tried to recover. After another moment, Sky allowed the tiniest smile as he continued holding her trembling body tightly to his own, “oh no, I seem to have skipped that pre-show again this time” he told her wryly as he gave her a slight squeeze.

“You’re forgiven” she teased back, then added, “and I think I’m the one who skipped it this time. You just let me” she giggled. At the sound of the laughter, Sky squeezed her even tighter, as he had been hardly able to smile or laugh at all lately, and was glad she still could, despite whatever horror she had psychically witnessed earlier that night.

As they lay together on that silver floor, sharing tender kisses and having nothing between them but the slight layer of sweat that remained after their lovemaking; Star finally broke off their kisses once more to smile up into his eyes.

“Yes?” Sky replied with his own smile.

“Wanna try something bigger?” Star asked.

“Bigger?” Sky repeated as he cast a confused look down at himself.

“Not that. That has never needed to be any bigger” Star teased. She then continued, “I mean, wanna try another magic trick?”

“Maybe...” Sky answered warily. He then added, “but are you sure you would wanna try anything else? You were in that trance for like four hours already tonight” he warned with a bit of concern.

“Oddly enough, I think I have even more energy now” Star returned.

“Combining our life essences and all?” Sky offered another wry smile.

“Something like that” Star agreed with another small smile.

“So, what did you wanna try?” Sky asked as he cast her another curious look as they continued to lie close.

“Well, we did skip the pre-show, and time is currently stopped, so we do have time, to say the least” Star began, finally sitting up next to him.

Pushing himself up to his elbows and continuing to look at her curiously, Sky replied, “wanna have the post-show party in lieu of that pre-show, do you?” he smirked.

“Party being the operative term” Star returned as he continued to look at her questioningly, “I wasn’t sure if I should even suggest it before, since this has always been our place, but do you think we should maybe bring our other, other halves here?”

“What? Now?” Sky repeated the same question he had earlier in the night as he finally sat up fully as well.

“Well, would you be ok with that? Like I said, it has always been our place. And you and Kole did have a few words today” she added quietly.

“Kole was just trying to bring me back from that edge again. And hey, it worked” Sky agreed with a small sigh. He then added, “and I mean, it would be safer to bring Crista here than to that motel or anywhere else, if you think about it. Hell, with our radioactive DNA or whatever, we should probably only have any liaisons at all here instead of possibly leaving any evidence or anything else on any bed sheets, or car seats, or whatever back home” he stated thoughtfully.

“So, you would be ok with it?” Star asked again, just to make sure.

“They are our soul-mates now too, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but they’re still human. You think they’d even be safe making this trip?” Star asked worriedly.

“Seems they’re safe doing any kind of psychic anything as long as we’re with them. But I guess we can always go back to before we had this wonderful idea if it does backfire” Sky suggested. He then added, “but first we’d have to go get them and then bring them here, and it is almost midnight, on a Tuesday night. The three sets of parental units may take issue.”

“Or maybe we could bring them here without even leaving first? We did just combine our life essences after all” she smirked again.

“You mean psychically yank them from their toasty beds to some weird silver room in the middle of the night? I’m sure they wouldn’t freak at all” Sky returned with a slight sarcasm.

Star then looked down at their still nude bodies, “assuming it doesn’t kill them and we don’t have to go back in time like ten minutes to fix that little error; I think they’ll forgive us” she smirked. She then moved to reach for his hand as they both closed their eyes in concentration.

A few moments later, Kole and Crista appeared there before them, in that strange silver room of theirs. Both were already dressed for bed; Kole in nothing but snug black boxers, and Crista in a light pink baby doll nightgown that barely covered the panties of the same hue. But both seemed to be in one piece, and that was enough to make Star and Sky smile over at them guiltily as they continued to sit there naked, surrounded by the circle of their clothing still scattered across that silver floor.

“What the?” Kole spoke first as he and Crista both looked around in awe, only to both be further startled and distracted as their eyes fell on the two extremely naked, and slightly grinning teens watching them.

Star allowed another giggle, “think that’s the same thing you said when you first requested we teach you this little trick.”

Crista then piped up, “oh my god, this is your silver sex room?”

Sky smirked over at where her eyes moved over them both, “we so gotta find a better name for this place.”

“And time is stopped right now?” Crista asked excitedly.

“That it is” Sky confirmed as she and Kole both continued allowing their eyes to take in all that pretty pale skin of their shared lovers.

“So, it’s 11:45 now, and it’ll be 11:45 even if we stay here all night and then go back?” Crista asked for further confirmation.

“That it will be” Sky returned with another grin.

Then Kole had to speak up, “so we can spend every night with the two of you, without ever even leaving our own beds?”

Star smiled at that idea as well before she spoke, “apparently you can.”

With the sound of that revelation, Kole and Crista grinned back at each other, then Sky and Star. Then they just began tossing away their own few bits of clothing as they moved toward their lovers, deciding in that moment to just give in and allow themselves some of that happiness they all had been missing for too long already.