Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, etc. from Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. It all belongs to its respectful owners.
Chapter 1: It was just a dream, right?
"Naiee!" A sharp whisper, as well as the shaking of his shoulder woke him up, his eyes opening sharply.
The first thing he noticed was Naia's concerned face, barely lit in the moonlight shining through the glass pane in the roof of their room. It still seemed fairly dark out, as far as Naiee could tell.
I must have been asleep for only a few hours…
He gave an involuntary shudder as he remembered his dream, and he pulled the covers closer to him. This was immediately noticed by the older brother, causing a light frown to form on his face as he sat down on the bed next to his brother.
"Naiee, what's wrong?" Naiee shook his head, staring across the room instead of at his brother. The older teen shouldn't really be up this time, he needed his rest more than Naiee did.
Now that he's started that job, it won't do good for him to be tired tomorrow…
"Nothing…" He stated, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice but he couldn't seem to control his emotions. The shuddering wouldn't stop either and he lay back down against the bed on his side.
Maybe if I pretend to go back to sleep, he will too…
"Naiee." His brother said his name, causing him to open his eyes and see a light smile on the brown-haired teen's face. "I know you're lying. I used to try that as well."
Naiee sat up at that, a light frown on his face.
"No you didn't…" He trailed off as his brother let out a quiet laugh, ruffling the younger's hair.
"How would you know? You weren't born when I did." Naiee had to admit that his brother did have a valid point, not that he would ever admit it. It seemed hard for him to imagine his brother any other way than he was now. They settled into a silence for a few moments before his brother spoke again.
"Did you have a nightmare again?" Despite the soft tone used, Naiee felt his face heat up in embarrassment and he turned away from his brother.
"Of course not! It was just a dream!" He exclaimed, lowering his voice a moment later when his brother held a hand up to his lips to signal for him to be quieter. His brother let out hum, glancing across the room.
"If it was just a dream, then why do you keep waking up?" Naiee fell silent at the question. He really hadn't meant to keep waking up, the dream just kept repeating each night…
It's just a dream, so why does it wake me up?
The question went unanswered in his head and he didn't bother to voice it out loud either. Sometimes, things just happened and you didn't know why they did.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Naia asked from the other side of the bed, causing Naiee to glance over at his older brother. He began to shake his head 'no' but then stopped, suddenly thinking that even though the dream might sound silly to him, talking about it might get it to stop.
And if so then I can stop waking Naia up…
"Ok… but you have to promise not to laugh…" Naiee trailed off when seeing the humor in the older teen's eyes. A muffled laugh came out of the brown-haired teen's mouth, causing Naiee to send him a light glare. Naia waved his hands back and forth, to show that he was just reacting to something else.
"I used to have some pretty bizarre dreams as well, so I think I know how to react."
Naiee bit his lip before glancing back at his brother once more, thinking back to the fragments of pictures that he remembered from his dream. It seemed like the longer he was awake, the more he forgot about it.
"Well… we were there, not that I really know where 'there' was…" He stopped, watching as Naia gestured for him to continue, as he gathered the rest of his thoughts and what he should tell his older brother. "There was a giant glowing tree, but I'm not sure why we were there…"
And you were injured…
He kept quiet about that part; it was almost always the place where he woke up. He didn't know the specifics of it all, like why Naia had been bleeding, but it scared him.
I can't lose him too…
Naia clasped Naiee on the shoulder, prompting the younger to turn towards him, complete seriousness in his eyes before it suddenly melted away into a smile.
"It sounds like you've been reading too much fantasy and not enough reality." Naiee let out a huff of annoyance when his brother started laughing.
"I was not! I haven't read a book in a few months…" Besides the one under my bed…
"I mean a glowing tree? That doesn't necessarily exist in reality." Naia stated, his laughter subsiding and he smiled over at his younger brother once again. Naiee rolled his eyes, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.
"Yeah, yeah I get it, it's funny. Like I said, it's just a dream…" Naia clasped Naiee on the shoulder, a wide smile on his face. It didn't seem like he was going to get back to bed anytime soon…
"Did I ever tell you about the time that I had the dream about-?" Naia began to ask but Naiee pushed him a bit away from him, a small smile on his own face. If this continued, they would be up all night, like the other times they had stayed up talking to each other.
"Yes, now we should probably get back to sleep." He lay down on his side, trying to push Naia off the bed with his feet.
Most likely he could have just asked, but at least this way he was having a little bit of fun annoying his brother. Naia got up, a small pout on his face, but instead of moving back to his own bed, he came over towards the front of Naiee's bed. This confused the younger brother and he was about to ask what Naia was doing but stopped short when he felt his brother stroking his head. The soothing motion caused him to close his eyes, reminding him back when their mother had done this to get him to fall asleep when he was having trouble.
"If I know you well enough, which I think I can say that I do after all these years, you won't go back to sleep so easily." The soft tone of the older brother's voice caused Naiee to nod his head a little, not really feeling like putting up much of an argument. He could feel the covers being pulled up around him, warmth seeping into his body a moment later.
"Just…" He started but was too tired to finish the rest of the sentence. Remember that you need to sleep too Naia…
"Yeah I know, just sleep for now though. I'll see you in the morning." Naiee gave a small nod before feeling sleep begin to close in on his mind, taking him to a dreamless sleep.
So I figured that I'd post this since I've had it done for a while now. My first step into the Brothers archive! Originally this fanfiction was going to be multiple chapters, and this one was actually Chapter 2, but I haven't had any success in writing the other chapters. For now, this is going to remain a one-shot but that might change depending on how much time I have. Please let me know what you all thought!
-AnimeWolfGirl16