Lying awake, she stared blankly at the ceiling as the silence of the dark room settled around her. She frowned at the absence of noise and restlessly rolled onto her side, pulling the blankets with her and burying her face in her pillow. How long had it been since she'd had a night where she'd been able to sleep? A silent sigh escaped her downturned lips and the girl again looked up at her ceiling. She became lost in thought, trying to remember the last decent rest she'd gotten when a faint memory brought itself to from of her mind. What was it that her sister used to chant to keep away bad dreams? She couldn't quite recall the exact words but knew it had something to do with a creature from folklore.
What was it again? Her frown deepened as she searched her brain for something, anything, to clue her in. She tried desperately to picture her sister saying those words that used to so easily take away the scary monsters and images. Baku..? That had to be it, the girl was sure of it. So, without giving it much more thought, she muttered silently into the stillness.
"Baku, come eat my dream. Baku, come eat my dream. Baku, come eat my dream." As soon as she'd finished the chant a slight apprehension overtook her chest, waiting for something unknown to come and help her sleep.
A soft rapping sound startled her from her daze. Glancing at the window the noise had emanated from, she slipped from the mattress, carefully placing her feet on the cold wood and standing. The noise came again, this time louder but with the same relaxed pattern. The girl's brow scrunched in confusion and she stepped slowly over to the window. A shadow fell across the glass hidden behind the long, thick curtains. Her breath caught in her throat and she tried to swallow her panic as she reached out to grip the silky fabric. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the panel and she pulled it back quickly, hoping to discourage the owner of the shadow.
However, as the figure was revealed, she was the one frozen. A young-looking blonde boy was slightly crouched, a smile playing on his lips and his choppy hair tied carelessly back in a short ponytail. As he met her eyes, his bright golden eyes took her breath away and she blinked, not entirely sure he was real. He casually lifted his hat from his head and gave a bow, spinning the cane he held to be in a position that the girl presumed was easier to hold. He then proceeded to clear his throat and gave a toothy grin. His presence alone was enough to make the girl unable to form words but she could feel a scream forming in her throat. The boy opposite her carefully opened the window—normally impossible to do from the outside—and took a casual step inside.
"No need to panic, my dear," he spoke in a thick accent that was unrecognizable to the girl, "After all, you're the one that called me." Blinking, thinking it all a dream, the girl took a hesitant step back towards the door.
"I didn't…" she fumbled for words, "I didn't call…"
This only caused the grin on his face to widen to an unnatural size, "Weren't you the one asking for a baku to come and eat your dreams? If I'm mistaken I'll be rather disappointed… you are rather cute."
The girl inhaled sharply, though the pieces were finally starting to fit together, there was one fact that bothered her deeply. She remembered the creature in her sister's stories to be animal; the baku was supposed to be made of different animal parts like a chimera. However, she could see no distinct animal-like features on the boy in front of her.
"I thought…"
"You thought what, dear?" The amused tone he used in his voice set the girl even more on edge but she still continued.
"I thought bakus were…" her fingers shook as she took another step away from the suspicious stranger, "not real." The girl's statement didn't seem to faze him though and he simply rested his weight a little more heavily on the cane in his hands.
"If you don't believe me, why not let me prove it? I'll take away the nightmares for you and you'll have no trouble believing that I am who I say I am." His proposal caught the girl off guard but she nodded, willing to do nearly anything to be rid of the haunting images she saw nightly.
"Alright," her reply was soft and the rest of her sentence died away as the boy—the baku—strode towards her and lifted her chin towards him.
"Shall we seal the deal with a kiss?" The girl wanted to sputter and push the boy right back out through the window he came in but the prospect of a peaceful night won out and she looked away from his eyes as she nodded slowly. Their lips met only for a moment but as he released his grip on the girl, she could feel a weight lifted off her mind.
Stepping back towards the exit, the baku gave a bow and again tipped his hat. "Goodnight, princess and sweet dreams." Then he was gone. The baku had left as quickly as he'd come and the girl could feel the tug of sleep at her eyelids as she made her way back under her covers.
She slept without worry or care that night and without thinking of consequences, the girl found herself chanting the same thing every night as a safeguard against the nightmares that still threatened to haunt her. A kiss for the rest she so desired, it seemed like a plenty fair deal to the girl. Nights passed this way and weeks came and went without fear of closing her eyes.
With a loud gasp of air, the girl shot into a sitting position, her sheets entangling her legs as she attempted in vain to stand. Her eyes were hazy and her dimly lit room seemed to have an uncomfortable air around it. Checking her bedside clock, the girl stared in confusion as the glowing red numbers had gone pure white, not an ounce of color to them. How odd…
Pulling herself from her bedding, she made her way to her desk to grab a sip of water from the bottle she kept there during the night. Strangely enough, the label had been desaturated of its color and she frowned, unsure of what was happening.
It must just be a bad dream again…
So, with that thinking in mind, the girl carefully called out; "Baku, come eat my dream. Baku, come eat my dream. Baku, come eat my dream."
And just like that, he appeared with a rapping on her window pane. She turned to open the screen but froze as she noticed his piercing golden eyes and choppy blonde hair were silver and his clothing had been swapped for monochrome colors. Tears welled up behind her eyes as the panic set in and she cried out.
"What's happening?! Why can't I see any color?!" The baku grinned as he took a careful step into her room.
"Is something the matter, princess?" his voice took on a sickly sweet quality as though it were dripping with fake sympathies.
"This is your fault, isn't it?" The girl could barely muster a reply, let alone put any feeling behind it.
"No, you see, this is your fault. I simply did what you called me to do. I ate your dreams for you. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Yes but—"
"Then I'm sure you can't fault me for something as trivial as taking the hopes and ambitions with it." She stood in shock, not entirely understanding what he meant but far too frightened to ask.
Without another word spoken on her part, the baku turned with a flourish and began to climb back out the window when he glanced over his shoulder with a horrifying smile.
"Isn't this the monochrome paradise you wanted?" Slipping out into the darkness of the night, the baku left with only the grieving girl left alone in her now colorless life.
A/N: Haha, wow! An update that isn't Kagepro? It's almost like I'm avoiding updating a certain multi-chapter fic/cries/ Either way, funny story behind this fic... it was supposed to be a Kagepro fic actually,,, but I ended up not liking how I described Kido and so I left it out and decided to post it just as a songfic based on the actual Monochrome Dream Eating Baku instead. Also, fun fact, I started writing this forever ago but only finished it because I needed to write a short story for my creative writing class and I felt like I could finish this one pretty well.
I hope you'll enjoy and feel free to critique this in a review, I'm super rusty when it comes to writing.
As for those of you readers who seem to follow me religiously regularly, I plan to have more Kagepro content coming. Thank you as always for reading and I'll see you next time!