Nightmares In The Dark

By Alasse Fefalas

Books. He smelled books. Crisp, light, vanilla, earthy. Why was he smelling books?

He looked around. Shelves and shelves of books surrounded him. The Library. He was in the Library.

His hands felt heavy. He looked down. He was carrying a book. And reading aloud. Why was he reading aloud?

Eve was on the floor. Red on her chest, her fingers.

But her face pale, so pale.

He ran to her. Held her. Called her name over and over.

But she was cold, so cold.

A note played from behind him. Music. A song. He knew this song. "To lose and love only to lose again…"

"Simone." His voice sounded different, choked.

He was moving, dancing. He knew that face, that smile, that short, brown, curly hair. Her head on his chest. They were swaying. Right, left, right, left.

A kiss on his neck. A tear on a cheek. "I loved you, Flynn. Goodbye."

Alone. And silent. His hand held something. A ring. Simone's ring. "My destiny…"

And he was back. On the floor again. Holding her tight to him. Crying. So much tears.

A book lay open on the floor, the same book he was holding. Reading. He was reading aloud again. What was he saying?

"Bring my Guardian back to me." Ah. The Book of Solomon. In his hands. Reading.

No. He shouldn't be reading. No. He tried it once before. No.

He dropped the book. Two steps back, three. Knees gave way, he's falling to the floor.

Eve lying beside him. Sword sticking out of her chest. Excalibur, Cal. Wound doesn't heal.

She turns to him. Blood on her cheeks but still smiling, smiling. "I was supposed to die."

His eyes burning from his tears. "I don't believe in fate."

"Goodbye, Flynn." Her eyes close.

He strokes her cheek. Blood smears. "I'll stay if you stay."

Flynn's eyes snapped open as he sat up in his bed. His hands held onto his bedsheet in a vice grip. Slowly, he uncurled his fingers and rubbed his face. Sweat dripped down the side of face despite the ice running through his veins. He pulled his blanket up above his shoulders to warm himself up but he still shivered, the images from his nightmare burned into his mind.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Eve's lifeless body on the back of lids. His breath would catch and the rational part of his mind would stop him from diving to his phone to call her and ask if she was okay.

Of course she's fine, he thought to himself. She's at home, sleeping, well alive.

Nevertheless, he reached for his phone to check if there were any messages from her. No matter what time of the day (or night), she would tell him whenever she went off with one of the junior Librarians so that he could grab her if he ever he needed her (not like he did, he was still used to doing stuff alone).

He clicked his phone on. No new messages.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he placed it back onto the bedside table. He swung his legs off the side of bed and sat there on the edge. In the dark, empty space beside his bed, he saw it again. Eve's body lying on the floor with Excalibur in her chest. Blinking furiously, he rubbed his face again. He didn't want to see it.

When he looked at the space again, it was clear, thankfully. Sighing, he closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose but it did no good. This time, it was her face with smeared blood on her cheeks, smiling at him. "Goodbye, Flynn," he heard her say in his mind.

His breath caught in his throat. His chest hurt. No, he didn't want to hear those words again. Not after Simone. Not after Judson.

He felt himself reach for his phone again but this time, he didn't stop himself. 4:23am, the clock on the phone said. His fingers flew over the screen and before he knew it, he was already calling her.

Ring, ring.

His breaths came short and fast, his blood turning to ice again.

Ring, ring.

His chest felt like he had been running a marathon. He ran a hand through his hair, trying not to think of the worst case scenarios his mind was coming up with.

The line connected with a click. "Flynn?"

Relief flooded through him. Her voice was clear, no trace of sleepiness in it despite the early hour. Though, he could hear the worry in it. It was probably from all those years being woken up in the middle of the night for her job, he surmised. He wanted to answer but it felt like his mouth couldn't move.

"Flynn?" she said again. "Are you there? Are you okay?"

Yes. Yes, he was okay now. If only his voice could work so that he could tell her.

"Are you in trouble? Where are you?" she asked. There was a rustle of sheets in the background.

"I'll go to you."

"Eve," he blurted out, finally. If only he could have said it without his voice shaking. "I'm okay."

There was pause. "Are you sure?"

"I'm…" Flynn started, but stopped and shook his head. "Yes. I'm okay. Sorry for waking you."

"It's fine," she said dismissively. "Where are you now?"

"In the Library. In my room."

"Oh. Okay."

"See, I told you everything's fine," he said, forcing a laugh.

There was another pause. "Okay. I'll see you later, then."

"Yes," he nodded. The was another pause between them. He could hear soft rustling and the squeak of a door. "So, um... bye?"

A light chuckle came through. "Still not good with the communication part, I see."

Flynn cracked a small smile. "I'm getting better at it."

"A little," she said. "See you later, Librarian. And please... don't do anything stupid."

"I'll try," he laughed. The soft chuckle before the call ended lifted his spirits slightly. He could imagine the small smile on her face, the slight wrinkle of her nose and the light in her eyes as she tried not to laugh at him.

Think about that, he thought to himself. She's fine, she's safe, she's definitely not dead.

Rubbing his face again, he sighed and stood up. As he walked over to his cupboard, the image in his mind flickered between the imaginary and the nightmare, each trying to gain dominance in his thoughts.

Flynn shook his head and got dressed as fast as he could. It was useless to try and unsee it - one of the few downsides of a photographic memory - and he knew it. It was the same when his mother died, and when Judson passed. Even when his mentor had returned in a non-corporeal way, he was still plagued with nightmares for a while after.

The was only one way to distract him, and that was to throw himself into the world of books and magic. Reminding himself of that, he opened his door and half-ran towards the clippings book, hoping to find an adventure interesting enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

Fin.

A/N: I was intending for this to have been a short one... but stuff happened. Also, I couldn't write an angsty!Flynn without Simone in it... my favourite pairing after Evlynn omg. And it was so painful too, I just had to add it in. I tried to keep the writing styles separate but the dream style seemed to have crept into the reality. Ah well. Anyway, tell me what you think about this one! Thanks for reading!