Dreamscapes
Summary: Merrick's been having nightmares lately and who is there for him to turn to? None other than Cole. This idea randomly popped into my head last night while I was at a hockey game of all places. In order for this story to work out, Cole and Merrick are roommates on the Animarium.
"You have to destroy me, it's the only way to get rid of the curse."
"We can't destroy you, you are one of us."
"Before long I won't be, the wolf mask will have taken me over completely. Destroy me now, it's the only way!"
"Alright. So long Merrick, our old friend."
He saw them forming a circle around him, their sabers meeting in the middle until a beam of light emitted and a scream pierced the air.
"Noooo! Please, just destroy me, please."
Cole Evans was startled out of a sound sleep where he'd been dreaming about his own parents when he heard Merrick's scream. Sighing, he propped himself up onto his elbows and glanced over at the other man; they went through the same thing every night. He pushed himself off the bed and went to stand over Merrick, gently shaking him awake. "Merrick, wake up."
"No, destroy me, please just do it." Merrick whimpered again.
"Merrick, wake up, it's Cole." Cole repeated, gently shaking him again.
"Huh? Where am I?" Merrick asked, clearly confused as he focused on Cole.
"On the Animarium where you've been for awhile." Cole told him. "You were having that nightmare again, Merrick. The nightmare about the ancient warriors imprisoning you as Zen-aku."
Merrick propped himself up on his elbows and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes meeting the other man's. "Oh." was all he said. They'd been happening more frequently lately and nothing he did could stop the nightmares from coming night after night. He was starting to feel sorry for Cole; the red ranger was the one sharing a room with him and when Merrick woke up screaming from his nightmares, so did the red ranger. Cole never complained though, which amazed Merrick, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle something like this all the time.
"Merrick, listen." Cole said. "I used to have nightmares about my parents all the time; it was the same thing all the time, I saw them being attacked but I couldn't see who they were being attacked by. What eventually helped me was to block out all the bad memories and focus only on the good memories, what I could remember about the happy times with my parents, which wasn't really much since I was only a year old when they died. You should try just focusing on the good times, before you picked up the Wolf Mask; remember all the times you spent with Princess Shayla and the other warriors."
Merrick sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't work, I've tried it Cole, trust me. I've tried everything, nothing seems to work."
Cole sat back against the wall on his own bed, his arms folded across his chest in the way that indicated he was thinking. He suddenly surprised the Lunar wolf ranger by opening his arms and indicating the other man to join him.
Merrick frowned. "Cole, what are you doing?"
Cole smiled. "Holding you, or trying to anyway. If it'll help us both get some sleep then I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Come on Merrick; when I was kid the head of the tribe that took me in used to always take me in his arms every time I had a nightmare; he'd wrap his arms around my waist and talk softly in my ear, soothing me until I fell back to sleep, it always used to help."
Merrick wasn't so sure about that, especially considering the way he felt about Cole but he couldn't tell the other man that. Sighing, he got up and moved over to the other man's bed, scooting close to him. He suddenly felt the red ranger's strong arms wrapping around his waist and for a split second he couldn't breathe as his spine tingled at the warmth of the other man's arms around him.
Cole rested his head on Merrick's shoulder and ran his fingers through the other's man hair. "Just sleep, Merrick. Forget that I'm even here. Focus on the good and not the bad." he whispered in his ear.
Merrick closed his eyes and tried to block out everything but the feel of Cole's arms wrapped around his waist and his head on his shoulder.
After making sure the other man was asleep, Cole smiled softly and shifted so that both men was lying on the bed and wrapped his arm around Merrick's shoulder. "Good night." he whispered, placing a slight kiss on the man's forehead before closing his own eyes and falling back to sleep.