The House of Morpheus

"Thank you for your help, brother." Rune smiled up at his older brother.  Haruki Yuki smiled back, but his eyes remained grim as he moved his brother's luggage to the door of the old building that they were standing in front of. The building was at least three stories high, over a hundred years old and looked abandoned. This was Rune's new place of work and it even came with accommodation. "Um...brother? Are you sure it's this place?" Rune looked around, the area was too quiet and empty. Yuki smiled again, his face stiff. "This place is the best place for you, Rune. No matter what happens, as long as you follow orders you'll be fine." The door to the building - the one that they were standing in front of - creaked open, randomly. Both brothers jumped, the door had been locked when they had checked it and now it was unlocked and opening by itself? Yuki swallowed, he wasn't too good with scary things, unlike his brother, who just whistled and entered - completely unfazed.  "Ah - Rune, wait for me." Yuki rushed forward, moving behind his brother as they climbed the stairs that were behind the front door. "Strange..." Rune whispered. With a building this big, why were the stairs right at the entrance? They followed the stairs all the way up, there were no other doors or exits, not even any windows but the area was flooded with light anyway.  A woman popped out of the wall, scaring the brothers into hysterics. She had neck-length blonde hair and blue eyes, which she used to stare at them blankly. "Guests?" She muttered. "Uninvited guests?" She raised a perfect eyebrow, her light green eyes twitching between the brothers.  Yuki stepped forward, struggling as he stuttered. "N-no. My name is Yuki and this is my younger brother, Rune. We're here to see Mr Midnight. Can you please take us to him?" The woman turned her neck, almost in an animalistic way, her eyes running over them. "Timothy? Hmm, he did mention something about guests." She bit her thumbnail, thinking. "Go that way then. It'll be quicker." She pointed to the other wall and then promptly disappeared in a similar way to her arrival. Yuki blinked. "Which way?" He looked forward, confused as he stared at the spot where she was no longer. Rune turned to the direction she had pointed and gasped. The stairs had disappeared and now there was only a door on the wall.  "Yuki, I think we have to go that way." Rune pointed to the random door. Yuki rolled his eyes. "Ok, stay close then. This is turning out to be a trailer for a horror movie."  The door led them into an office filled with people who stopped to stare at them, almost in complete unison. Yuki swallowed, really nervous. "Um - excuse us. We're here to see...Mr Midnight?" Rune spared his older brother a sideward glance, his brother was brimming with nervousness and fear? Why was he so afraid? A man stepped up to them, walking closer but yet keeping his distance. A large white snake trailed up his arm, wrapping itself around his neck as it hissed towards the strangers.  "I wasn't told about you two. What is your business with Midnight?" The man with the snake asked, his other arm was covered in a film of tattoos and his eyes were a strange colour, seeming to radiate all colours at the same time but yet not a specific colour. "Now, now, no need to be so mean, Snake." A soft, loud voice called out, directing the attention of everyone to the furthest wall where a staircase sat.  Descending the staircase, was an odd-looking man. He had on a large cloak-like coat, that trailed behind him, long black hair and was wearing makeup. His eyes a light gold colour, his lips painted a ruby red and black eyeshadow curled around his eyes - a sweep of gold just on his inner eye line and a splash of red under his lower eyelashes. He wore large black dreamcatcher earrings and a large sliver, black and white bird sat on his right shoulder.  Yuki relaxed and let out an audible breath, almost falling down in relief at the sight of the strange man.  "Mr Midnight, it's a pleasure...to meet you in person. We talked over the phone? I'm Yuki and this is my younger brother, Rune."  Yuki tapped Rune on the shoulder, both brothers nodding their hellos as Mr Midnight walked closer, stopping just behind the man he called Snake.  The bird on his shoulder raised its wings and took off, flying upwards as it circled around once before disappearing into the ceiling. Almost as if it had been a dream, a figure of imagination.  "I'm sorry, I don't quite remember?" Mr Midnight laughed, awkwardly and Snake sighed.  Rune blinked and flinched as Mr Midnight pressed his face close. Yuki also flinched, he hadn't seen the man move, so how had he gotten past him? "Ah - I remember, now. You're the colourblind child." He remarked, still quite close to Rune.  Rune frowned and retorted. "No, I can see colours." Mr Midnight smiled, not in the least way apologetic. "Hmm, the colour of emotions wrapped around a person. Well, that is certainly interesting." Rune nodded and moved back, the man seemed too close to be friendly. Mr Midnight turned away, as suddenly as he had appeared.  "You're hired. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk more about this." He waved his arm as he continued walking away. Yuki stepped up. "Ah - wait!" But Mr Midnight had already faded away, disappearing in shadows as fast as he had come.  Snake sighed. "You'll get used to it. I guess he'll give you a quick introduction tomorrow then." Snake turned around and everybody continued with what they were doing. Yuki frowned, looking around, the door that they had come in through was no longer there. How were they meant to leave? "Take that door, it'll lead you out." A deep voice whispered causing Yuki and Ren to jump out of the way for a hunched over man. He had shoulder-length dark hair and large wide-framed glasses, he was clutching a bundle of files and he shuffled past them. Yuki gulped. "How did he get behind us?"  Rune shrugged, grabbing Yuki by the hand and leading him to the door the weird man had mentioned.  The door deposited them outside, almost a metre away from the building. "How? How is any of that possible?" Yuki had a mini-meltdown as he stared at the building that they had just been in. Rune smiled. To him, the building ahead was covered in black and silver shadows but they weren't evil or dark, they seemed to be kind.  "They're him," Rune whispered, the shadows belonged to that man, Mr Midnight. They coated him from head to toe, but whispered words of kindness and help even though they were such a deep and dark black. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.  "Ah - wait?! What about your luggage? What?" Yuki brawled at the top of his lungs, even more, confused now. Rune just laughed, throwing his arm around his brother and leading him away. "I'll stay with you for tonight and early morning I'll come back here."