The boy shivered in his sleep, his dreams stalking his tense form. He tossed and turned in a subconscious attempt to throw off his shadows, but the result was only tightly wound sheets that held him in a hold that was mirrored in his nightmares. His dream-self flinched away from maniacal laughter that had haunted him for almost a month. His soft whimpers didn't penetrate the calm night, nor did they arouse his sister as his distress had done too often in the past weeks.
He ran through his dream scape, grounded by the lack of powers that could have been his fate. He could feel the cold air, the forewarning of his own personal monster, and pushed himself to his limits. But it was not to be. He felt an icy cold hand grab his ankle and rip his feet from under him. He met red sparkling eyes and a slightly fanged smile that held a hint of lunacy in its too-wide bow. His heart pounded, and he pushed himself away from that too-familiar smirk but the monster wouldn't let him have that space. It, no, he leaned closer, filling the boy's vision with eyes that were made out of anger and bitterness. He begged the creature, not for his own sake, but for that of a chained family that had suddenly manifested out of shadows. A family of three, with a young girl with red hair and teal eyes, with a mother whose violet eyes were filled with fear as they met the warm blue ones of her dark haired husband. The boy didn't even place himself among them in his dreams, because he knew that the family was perfect without him, that it would be safer for them if he wasn't among their ranks. After all, he had brought this monster to them. The monster smiled wider as the child pitched his plea, it was falling on deaf ears however, and the boy cried out as the blue skinned monster turned and erased those fearful expressions. Glittering tears fell from the boy's eyes, reflecting the flames that danced all throughout his dreamscape, and it was in those broken pools of blue that the only question he had left was reflected. The monster chuckled harshly as he responded "Because boy, without them you are me." And the boy screamed, because in the reflection of his tears, he could see the too-familiar red eyes that they fell from.
The boy was on his feet in a flash, the springs of his bed creaking in protest as his bare feet pounded on the carpeted floors as he pelted to the bathroom. As he ran, white rings engulfed him, and as he caught sight of his reflection he fell to his knees in a crumpled form of relief. He heard the faint knocking on his door and focused on steadying his heartbeat as he let the softly glowing rings encompass him once more. He stood, his knees shaking as he made his way to the door, carefully he unlatched it, shreds of paranoia clinging to him like thick fog. His shoulders slumped as the tenseness drained out of him at a glimpse of teal pajamas. Acting impulsively he reached into the hallway and wrapped his well-muscled arms around the willowy frame of the girl at his door. He buried his head in the muted flames of her hair and held on for a few long moments, inhaling the scent of strawberry shampoo as he reassured himself that this was real, that she was okay, and that he was okay.
"Are you okay?" his finely tuned hearing picked up the muffled voice of the girl, "I heard you scream." The boy loosened his hold on her, his moment of weakness over, but he still didn't let go.
"I'm better now, it was just a nightmare." Her teal eyes had always revealed her emotions quite clearly, and right now she looked quite unconvinced.
"Danny, you have been having nightmares for weeks, why won't you talk to me? I could help you." He looked at her and she could see soft pools of pain buried deep in his gaze, pools that got covered quickly by a not-quite-real smirk as he responded.
"Jazz, you read too deeply into things, everyone has bad dreams. Besides, I know I can talk to you; you're always there when I need you. Please, go back to sleep, I'll be fine." She peered at him, and silently he pleaded with her not to push. He wouldn't be able to keep it from her if she pushed. He wouldn't be able to protect her, and he should be able to protect her, especially from his own darkness. She nodded her head reluctantly as she turned to leave, believing that she would get nothing more from him. As soon as he heard her door creek shut he walked to his window, relief shining in his gaze as he traced the constellations. Before long, his enhanced hearing picked up on the faint snores of her deep sleep. Only then did he allow the darkness to reenter his gaze. He would have loved to spill his problems on her, to share his insurmountable burden with her, but he wouldn't do that to her, he would bear the weight of the world on his own shoulders. To share that burden with her would ruin her innocence her unabashed view of the world. He had seen things, done things that no one should have to deal with, especially not her. She deserved a perfect life, she deserved a sense of normalcy, but if he unloaded his trauma on her she wouldn't be able to have that. He couldn't do that to her. She was his rock, his strength, when he was questioning if he was loved after his parents sent him to his room without dinner for being late, when they overlooked the blatant hanging of a dislocated arm as they berated him, she was the one to show him that he was still cared for. She was the one who slipped sandwiches and antiseptic and gauze under his door. For her he would endure, he would be strong, and only in the dark would he let himself crumble.