If you want you can think of this as a mini-prequel to my "Trapped in Termina" fic. This was originally requested by emosrockhard. If you're reading this, hope you enjoy and sorry for the long wait.
Midnight has come, and I'm the only one who's unable to sleep. Even though it's been several hours since I got in bed, my eyes refuse to stay shut. Maybe it's more 'I won't sleep' than 'I can't sleep.' How can I, tonight of all nights? The night they come.
I still don't know what exactly they are. They look like ghosts but come from the sky rather than the grave. They come out of a bright ball of orange-white light and appear all over the field like dandelions in spring. And like dandelions, there's no simple way to get rid of them. If there was, I wouldn't be so shooken up over all this. All I really know about them is the 'why'? They want our cattle, and I hope it's because they're hungry for beef. Any other ideas make me uncomfortable.
My sister doesn't believe me, for she's never seen them. My father saw them once and used his arrows to slow them down but couldn't stop them. He said every time he shot one, it popped like a balloon, but a new one would appear in the same spot it started at, making the slow but quicker-than-you'd-think pace towards the barn with the cows. Why they never just appeared right at the barn I'll never know; maybe there's just no room for them.
I saw them last year, on the night my father said they'd come, but couldn't do anything. I saw them from outside the bedroom window and tried to wake my sister. But she's a sound sleeper, and could probably sleep thru an earthquake. So I could do nothing but watch.
This has got to stop.
Our ranch is dependent on our cattle. Without them, we have no way to gain income or even much to do with our day-to-day lives. Fortunately Dad had the wisdom to hide some of them on these nights so not all are taken, and even my sister does this, for sentimental reasons if nothing else. Or maybe she does believe but doesn't want to admit it. Either way, we can't keep doing this. Sooner or later we may lose them all. We have to make a stand against them, and it has to be tonight.
Why tonight? Because this time we've got a helper. A boy my age who's handy with a bow, and quite cute if I do say so myself. I have faith he can help us beat them, especially after that little test I had him do to prove it.
Now it's two in the morning and I can't wait any longer. I leave my room and go downstairs, trying to stay quiet even though my sister most likely won't hear me anyway. I grab my father's bow and some arrows, all the ones I could find. It's not enough, but hopefully the boy I nicknamed Grasshopper will have enough to last him.
I go outside and see him waiting on a milk crate lying out. Hopefully that'll provide me a good enough viewpoint and stand to aim better. He's gonna need it. He jumps off and approaches me outside the barn door. I remind him of the plan, where he'll take up the front line while I'll be in the barn rafters providing back-up and a second set of eyes. This does put me in a bad spot should we fail but I can't ask him to take that risky position for me. Besides, he's better qualified to make the first move and I trust he can delay them.
I go inside and climb the ladder to the top of the rafters to get my own vantage point. I lay on my stomach facing an old hole in the roof with my bow ready, mindful that I should get up from time to time to check the backside too. That was one of the reasons my father couldn't stop them last time.
The moment has come; they have arrived. The bright orange-white ball of light hovers over the field and random areas glow. Like a ghost from the grave, and looking the part too, they emerge into sight, pausing only for a second before trekking this way again.
They move fast, but Grasshopper moves faster. I'm impressed to see him in action. It's as if to him everything else to going slower than normal. He keeps knocking them down, but doesn't waste any arrows, not by missing or by shooting the ones too far away to be an immediate threat. Some of those I take aim at, but I miss a few times since I'm still practicing archery. To Grasshopper, it looks like a second nature. I'd say he's had lots of experience killing monsters with arrows if he wasn't my age.
I remember to check the backside, and fortunately these ones I do hit. I see Grasshopper quickly comes around back to get more arrows out of some boxes, something I wish I had done, and takes down the one ghost I didn't get. He moves really quickly, and I think I see him wear something that looks like rabbit ears for a moment before he returns to the front and fires at the ones that managed to get closer but not close enough.
This goes on for a while and now I get tired. The excitement and fear have worn away, and my eyes don't want to stay open now. Try as I might not to do so, I place my head on my arms and drift to sleep, hoping Grasshopper can finish without me. As I start to dream, I see images of Grasshopper shoot down the ghosts and images of him boldly fighting any other monsters I can imagine. I swear I can hear something in the background, a voice that reminds me of my mother, and I think she's singing.
Where have all the good men gone and where are the Gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life.
Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasies,
Somewhere just beyond my reach is someone reaching back for me.
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat,
It's gonna take a Superman to sweep me off my feet.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
Up where the mountains meet the heavens above,
Out where the lightning splits the sea,
I could swear that there's someone somewhere watching me.
Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood,
I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light.
He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life.
I need a hero,
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.
Later on I open my eyes, better rested, and look outside to see how Grasshopper is doing. The ghosts are still coming, but they are slowing down and the first rays of sunlight are starting to peak over the horizon. I smile, thinking we're about to win for sure. I worry that Grasshopper is getting tired, so I use some of the last of my arrows to try and lower the numbers for him. I hit about half of my intended targets, but that's better than none. Before I can check the backside, I see all of them vanish all at once, and the orange-white light disappear with them to wherever it came from.
I sigh with relief. We did it.
I eagerly go downstairs to check on Grasshopper. He looks tired and ready to sleep himself. I smile and congratulate him on a job well done. to thank him, I give him a bottle with some of our milk in it. Sure it's the cheap kind, but we don't leave the expensive kind lying around so I can't get him some. And I'm told that kind is for adults only. Anyway, he seems happy, and I give him a brief hug as extra thanks. I have to cut it short, since my sister is about to wake up and if I'm not in my bed when she does I'm in a lot of trouble.
Grasshopper lays against the barn to rest and I hurry inside, hoping this isn't the last I'll see of the hero I needed.