For the longest time, the Undertaker did not know sleep.
Restless nights would follow one after the other, their weight adding up until exhaustion would finally force body and mind to shut down. Things that were before, things that could be in the future, the inbetween of it, clawed at him and stretched night after night into day time.
The Undertaker did not know sleep, and most of all, did not know rest.
When the exhaustion took over, so would nightmares.
The nightmares of his human life followed him to his punishment and gained new colours and horrors. Distortions of reality and of dreams themselves. The exhaustion-induced sleep was much worse than restlessness in its merciless vow to punish him further.
The first time his nightmares showed him Claudia's death, he realized he had willingly committed the worst crime of all his endless list of transgressions, willingly submitted himself to the worst punishment of all.
Wasn't it ironic, so ironic it was hilarious?
But how was he not supposed to, when Claudia had made him laugh, for the first time, in centuries? Why was such terrible pain the price to pay for such a simple moment of happiness?
Claudia had not fully erased his sleepless nights and had turned into one more victim of his nightmares. Yet, when the laughter was swallowed and smothered in his mind at night, it felt slightly less heavy, slightly less overwhelming upon awakening. On those horrific and panic-filled seconds after screaming himself awake, he would have the reminder of reality, of the lifeline binding him, resisting through the worst horror his hunting nightmares could throw at him. The candles gleaming against the blackened walls were beacons of hope again. The scent of freshly picked flowers replaced the dry and rot bouquets. The windowless room regained its comfort and protection over claustrophobic isolation. The creeping returning fears would meet the stronghold of Claudia's arm wrapped around him, the warmth of her skin and the calmness of her breathing grounding him to the present. The horrors of the past, or the fears of the future, lost to the gift of this moment with her.
Cedric closed his eyes, and slept.
.
the end
.
.
Author's Note: I couldn't sleep. My nightmare season is thankfully over but instead restlessness forced me awake until 4am.
Thanks for reading