Challenge [283]: Night After Night
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [283] Nightmares
Title: Night After Night
Word Count: 495
Spoilers: For Birth By Sleep. Like, all the spoilers.
Aqua dreams of darkness.
She dreams of pale paths in darkness that stretches further than the eye can see on all sides. She dreams of walking, walking, always walking, with nowhere to go and nothing to return to; walking and walking until her shoulders slump and her steps falter.
She dreams of exhaustion filling every last muscle, nerve and bone. She dreams of uncertainty, unsure of how long she’s been here, where she’s heading, who she is. She dreams of her feet stuttering to a halt along with her resolve, dropping to the ground, giving up, giving in.
She starts awake soaked in sweat and bathed in the light of the half dozen or so lamps she keeps burning throughout her room every night; when she realises where she is, she falls back onto her pillow, hands pressed over her face as she forces herself breathe slowly. There’s not a single shadow in the room, but she won’t feel reassured until dawn.
-
Terra dreams of watching.
He watches Ventus freeze. He watches Aqua fall. He watches cities crumble, people dying, worlds drowning in nothingness. He watches children losing their childhoods, faces hardened too early by realities they should never have had to face, condemned to nothing but more of the same for ever more.
He watches all of this and more happen at his own hand; watches as he cuts down his friends, condemns whole worlds, pulls the end ever nearer; watches and can do nothing but watch as cold laughter rings in his ears, telling him it’s useless to struggle.
He jolts awake, muscles wound tight and teeth gritted until his jaw aches. He forces himself to sit, to breathe deeply to ease the pounding of his heart, to clench his fists until his nails draw blood from his palms; anything, so long as he can tell himself that he’s the one causing it, that he’s the one in charge.
-
Ventus doesn’t dream at all.
Nights for Ventus are quiet and calm. When the usual hush falls over the castle, Ven can usually be found reading up on that last bit of theory in the library, or practising that last move at the training grounds, or running that one last little errand, and before you know it wow, where did the time go and I was just so busy and of course I’m not tired.
Ventus doesn’t dream because he doesn’t sleep- doesn’t dare, not after what happened, because what if he doesn’t wake up again? It’s not relief he feels when he opens his eyes after an accidental nap, it’s dread, because how could he have been so stupid as to give in and risk it?
And besides, he’s not sure he could sleep even if he did try. The terror of not coming around again would see to that.
-
None of them says anything to the others. Instead they all carry on just as they are: smiling, laughing, desperate, exhausted, terrified. Alone.
Title: Night After Night
Word Count: 495
Spoilers: For Birth By Sleep. Like, all the spoilers.
Aqua dreams of darkness.
She dreams of pale paths in darkness that stretches further than the eye can see on all sides. She dreams of walking, walking, always walking, with nowhere to go and nothing to return to; walking and walking until her shoulders slump and her steps falter.
She dreams of exhaustion filling every last muscle, nerve and bone. She dreams of uncertainty, unsure of how long she’s been here, where she’s heading, who she is. She dreams of her feet stuttering to a halt along with her resolve, dropping to the ground, giving up, giving in.
She starts awake soaked in sweat and bathed in the light of the half dozen or so lamps she keeps burning throughout her room every night; when she realises where she is, she falls back onto her pillow, hands pressed over her face as she forces herself breathe slowly. There’s not a single shadow in the room, but she won’t feel reassured until dawn.
-
Terra dreams of watching.
He watches Ventus freeze. He watches Aqua fall. He watches cities crumble, people dying, worlds drowning in nothingness. He watches children losing their childhoods, faces hardened too early by realities they should never have had to face, condemned to nothing but more of the same for ever more.
He watches all of this and more happen at his own hand; watches as he cuts down his friends, condemns whole worlds, pulls the end ever nearer; watches and can do nothing but watch as cold laughter rings in his ears, telling him it’s useless to struggle.
He jolts awake, muscles wound tight and teeth gritted until his jaw aches. He forces himself to sit, to breathe deeply to ease the pounding of his heart, to clench his fists until his nails draw blood from his palms; anything, so long as he can tell himself that he’s the one causing it, that he’s the one in charge.
-
Ventus doesn’t dream at all.
Nights for Ventus are quiet and calm. When the usual hush falls over the castle, Ven can usually be found reading up on that last bit of theory in the library, or practising that last move at the training grounds, or running that one last little errand, and before you know it wow, where did the time go and I was just so busy and of course I’m not tired.
Ventus doesn’t dream because he doesn’t sleep- doesn’t dare, not after what happened, because what if he doesn’t wake up again? It’s not relief he feels when he opens his eyes after an accidental nap, it’s dread, because how could he have been so stupid as to give in and risk it?
And besides, he’s not sure he could sleep even if he did try. The terror of not coming around again would see to that.
-
None of them says anything to the others. Instead they all carry on just as they are: smiling, laughing, desperate, exhausted, terrified. Alone.
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