"Hayate... snap out of it!"

"Hayate! Hayate, no!"

"Hayate! Wake up! Don't you..."

"I can't...!"

"Haaahn!"

With a shrill and terrified scream, Hayate arose from her sleep in a panic, panting to the point of near-hyperventilation. Sweat was dripping from her body as she looked around herself, mildly terrified. It took her a few moments to realise that she had been dreaming and hadn't actually left the safety of her room. But even this realisation wasn't enough to snap Hayate out of her fear this dream had stricken her with. She moved her arms in front of her chest and immediately turned her attention to them. Each of her hands slid to the opposite arm, quickly checking out every little inch of them, even pulling up the sleeves of pyjamas. She did it slowly, and rather cautiously, as if something horrifying could've appeared.

There was nothing there; her silky white skin was pure, unblemished and untainted by anything bar the sweat she was practically bleeding. Hayate let out a relieved sigh, forcing a smile onto her face as her hand moved to cover her eyes, letting out a very slight, fearful sob. "Ahaha..." It was probably the most strained and forceful laugh she could ever make, but it was all she could think of to snap her out of this pain.

"Hayate?"

The door to Hayate's room suddenly started to open, the old wood letting out a shriek almost like she herself had done moments ago. She jumped in surprise, the sudden creaking shocking her wide awake and out of her dazed state. She hadn't expected someone to awake at this hour, let alone entering her room so suddenly! While she had subconsciously heard Vita's earlier call, she didn't actually process it until the creaking door snapped her awake.

"Are you okay?" It was the red-haired little Wolkenritter, Vita. Hearing Hayate's shrill cry, she had instantly dashed off towards her room. A scream coming from someone's personal space was enough to shock even the strongest knight, especially in the middle of the night! It's normal to worry about someone's safety in a situation like that!. 'What if someone had sneaked into their house?' But that wasn't what worried her most, after all, those stupid enough to try to sneak into the room of a Lt. Colonel of the Time-Space Administration Bureau weren't smart enough to pose an actual threat. What Vita was worried about was Hayate's mental state, and that much was clearly visible on her face. Even though it was clear there wasn't anything wrong, that look of worry wouldn't leave Vita's face.

"I'm fine, Vita. Don't worry." As always, Hayate didn't wish to burden her friends with her problems, especially one as minor as a nightmare. Those dark memories were something of the past; and getting over that painful nightmare was something she could only do herself. Telling someone so extremely loyal and worrying like Vita about something she couldn't possibly help with would only depress her!

After a moment of hesitation, the smaller girl spoke, moving forward towards Hayate. "Shamal said you started having those nightmares again." She was clothed in only a long, white shirt that reached down far enough to cover her hips. Hayate gulped in response, shaking her head and letting out a strained little giggle. "Ahaha, Vita! It's fine, don't worry about it!" Vita merely shook her head in response, sitting down next to Hayate and wrapping her arms tightly around her.

"No, no, Vita, it's fine. Go back to bed~ We have a big day coming up tomorrow. I can't let you go without sleep!" It deeply hurt Vita to get rejected like this, she felt like she had a responsibility towards Hayate; not only was Hayate her master, but she had also done the very same thing for her in the past. Every time there was something that bothered Vita, no matter how slight it was, Hayate was there to comfort her. And, with how deeply troubling and disturbing these nightmares were to her beloved master, she wished nothing more but to help her! All she wanted to do was help her master, after all.

Vita's body shifted slightly, and she pushed her head into Hayate's chest. For a few moments, the two sat in silence. Vita knew how hard this all was for her master, and Hayate knew that her little servant just deeply wished to help her. But, there's nothing that Vita could do that could stop Hayate from having nightmares! The only one that could get over her painful memories was her, herself. "Nothing like that will ever happen again, Hayate... I'll protect you. I promise."

Hearing that did make Hayate quite happy. She was sure that her dearest and most loyal knight would make sure that nothing like that would ever occur again. While it might be partially outside of Vita's power, the promise itself and the sheer commitment she would put into making it true was definitely going to help; if not be one of the only things capable of stopping the same disaster from unfolding once more.

"I know, thank you. But I promise you won't need to."

Vita squirmed softly in the other's grip, causing Hayate to move her left hand up to the little girl's head and give it a soft few pats. Trying to keep this to herself was hurting Vita quite a bit, but unloading herself on Vita, or anyone else, wouldn't help either. Not only that, but if Hayate shared her pain with someone else and something bad happened again, they wouldn't be able to forgive themselves. Especially Vita, who held Hayate so close to her heart.

Hayate's hand moved towards Vita's arms, gently tugging them away from herself and grabbing onto her hands. She started to softly fumble with them, intertwining their fingers for a moment before letting her hand go again, Vita responded with a confused and slightly tired expression, gazing up at her master, before Hayate wrapped her pinky around Vita's. "I promise, Vita." She said, showing a bright smile and planting a gentle kiss on her head. The tiny knight sobbed softly in response. What was she promising? It wasn't like Hayate could do anything about it if it happened again! There was nothing she could do! Vita knew it and she knew Hayate knew as well, that the only ones that could prevent this from reoccurring were the ones around her. As terrifyingly powerful as Hayate was, she couldn't protect herself from the power of her own emotions!

"D-don't promise me stuff like this... idiot... I'm the one that should protect you."

Vita's tongue turned a bit sharper to scold her beloved master. Normally, her tone was never harsh or rude around Hayate; but this was an obvious exception. Hayate was rejecting her aid during a time where she needs all the help she could get, and that was unacceptable! Even if she had to get a little rude, she had to get this point across to her Hayate!

"I'm your knight, after all..."

"Ahaha, even knights don't have to meddle with all of their lord's affairs, right?"

".Nn..." Vita's blue gems looked up at Hayate, giving a quick shake of her tiny little head. "Hayate, don't blame yourself... nobody else does."

"But..."

Vita's eyes gleamed ever so slightly in response, and Hayate instantly stopped talking. She couldn't agree with forcing her problems off onto other people. Even sharing it with Shamal was something that Hayate would've liked to avoid; but it was hard to withhold her mental strain from the medical department of Riot Force 6. And when she saw the slightest hints of stress, the Chief Medical Officer was sure to squeeze her poor Commander dry of every last detail.

"...Okay."

But this was easier said than done. While she couldn't simply dismiss all of her negative feelings just because of Vita telling her so, it was slightly elevating to Vita's reassurance. Hayate tightly wrapped her arms around her little knight, easing the both of their bodies back onto the bed. Vita was shifted into the other's grip, and tightly to nuzzled into Hayate's chest as if she were a child being embraced by her mother.

"But, we really need to sleep now, Vita. We can't stay up so late when we have such a big day ahead of us!"

Vita did realise that Hayate's reasoning behind saying that was simply trying to shift away from the subject of her bad memories and, although Vita was unsatisfied how little they talked, she realised Hayate was right. Tomorrow was going to be a long and very special day, and having the both of them stressed and tired from the night before wasn't really something she wanted. Egging her on further wouldn't really accomplish anything either, and it would have to wait until later regardless, at least until tomorrow's ceremony was over. The best choice of action was definitely to just sleep for the rest of the night and enjoy the day ahead of them.

"Good night, Hayate."

"Goodnight, Vita~"

And slowly, they drifted into a deep sleep. Clinging, hugging together like the most loving of family; as if it were still ten years earlier.