The music could never bother him, no matter how tacky or repetitive it got. Even if he wasn't as good as his brother, he was still a musician and enjoyed listening to a wide variety of music. What bothered him was the little red creature fiddling with the record player.
That damn ogre just didn't leave, all he wanted was to be alone regardless of if it was with or without the tacky music. He could tell the ogre was getting impatient and irritated with him as well as it tapped it's foot and kept glancing over it's shoulder at him with the most annoyed look Soul had ever witnessed plastered on it's face. A look actually took away his cool for a moment and made him shiver. It was a look far colder than the cool he was use to.
He tried to stand, to head for the door so he could leave this place for a while, but found himself stuck. Looking down he saw what appeared to be chains, glowing like embers in a dying fire, wrapped around his body and the arm chair he didn't remember sitting down in in the first place. The ogre seemed to find this amusing since it chuckled and took more interest in Soul than in the record player for the first time since Soul entered this place.
Why was he in here again?
That memory seemed to be more lost to him than the memory of 'when the hell did he sit down and where did these burning chains come from?'
Some part of him knew that if he struggled the chains would cause more pain, and that would just amuse the little red thing more. He didn't know why or how he knew these things, but he did, and it was confirmed when he twitched his wrist and the chains shifted so they burned the flesh that made the tiny movement. The ogre laughed a soundless laugh at this, clapping its oversized hands like a deranged circus seal, and seemed to be asking for more.
It stepped closer and Soul hissed at it when it reached up it's hands as if to touch him.
One claw on it's index finger tore the front of his shirt, and the chains readjusted themselves so they touched the newly exposed skin.
He gasped, but refused to scream.
The thing could see his chest now, it's eyes raping the exposed flesh as it took in the sight of his scar. The same scar that put the damn thing in him in the first place.
He made a sound of protest, shouted for the thing to stop it, but the red monster either didn't hear him or didn't listen as it pet and traced it's fingers along his scar.
His skin crawled at the feel of the things flesh on his own, if it weren't for how much the chains hurt him he would have gladly fought back. As it was he didn't even have the strength to change even a part of himself into a weapon.
The thing was laughing again. It kept a single hand on his belly as if to keep him in place, and raised the other up like a spear with it's claws catching the dim lights in just the wrong way so they looked more dangerous than he cared to admit.
Tears welled in his eyes and he begged the thing to stop when he realized what it was about to do.
It's hand came down through his scar and out his back far too easily, and far too fast.
He screams and…
He woke up screaming and crying, babbling what seemed like nonsense to anyone who could hear. His eyes frantically searched the area he was in as he trashed about in his panic.
This wasn't his room, or even his own home, or any type of doctor's office. Dear god where was he? What was happening to him? Was that all just a bad dream?
He could vaguely hear someone talking to him, and he could feel hands trying to grab at him. Trying to hold him down.
Was it that ogre?
The thought made him panic more. It was back to finish him off and kill him!
The panic seemed to flow throughout his body and mind, his lungs filled with it and he couldn't breathe.
He gasped for air like a fish on land before his mind caught up in the slightest bit and he really looked to see who was grabbing at his panicking form and trying in vain to talk to him.
Black hair with three white stripes, gold eyes, about his age.
It wasn't the ogre, this made him calm a little.
"Breathe, Soul! Breathe! Calm down, you're safe!" The person repeated these things to him over and over.
Taking in a few lungfuls of air helps Soul's poor brain work a bit more, made him more aware and calm and he finally began to remember things.
The person talking to him was his friend, Death the Kid.
He was at Kid's place in a guest bedroom, as a part of training he had to stay with Kid for two weeks while Liz and Patty were with Black Star and Tsubaki was with Maka. This was the first night of this two weeks, and at the end of it they would all rotate and he would spend two weeks with Black Star. Stein assigned them this exercise so each teams meisters could learn how to use and synchronize with all the weapons on the team and vice versa in case they got mixed up somehow on a mission or someone was out of commission while on or getting ready to go on a mission.
The ogre wasn't there. It was just in his head.
It was just a nightmare. A really really awful nightmare.
He wasn't being torchered and wasn't kidnapped.
He was alright.
He was just as a friends place.
It's safe here.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them and looking at Kid who was watching him warily and had a small bleeding scratch on his cheek. Looking over, Soul saw his right arm and transformed and must have nicked Kid in his panic.
Guiltily, he apologized.
"Sorry…" He whispered simply, unsure of what else to say.
Kid let out a sigh of, what Soul assumed to be, relief.
"I heard you screaming and ran in. I know some DWMA students have nightmares, but I've never seen such a bad one before. What the hell happened?" Kid asked.
"Uh…" Soul wasn't sure how to answer. "You just said it. It was a bad nightmare."
"Does this happen often?" Kid asked. "Does Maka know?"
"Define often, and how should I know if Maka knows?" Soul replied.
Kid glared.
"Quit dodging the questions. Does this happen every time you go to sleep? Are the dreams always this bad?"
Soul shrugged.
"It happens more than I care to admit. But I forget most of the dreams once I calm down when I wake up."
"So you panic like this every time this happens?"
"Not every time, but most the time. I've already had to replace my bed at home twice." Soul winces as he says this, he hadn't realized how bad the problem was until he said it out loud.
He looked at Kid again.
"Sorry, I cut your face. You should go clean that up." He says.
Kid shakes his head.
"It's not that bad." The reaper tells him, but stands anyway and offers his hand.
Soul looks at the hand, confusion clear on his face.
"You're sleeping in my room the rest of the time you're here. If you have another episode I can deal with it faster."
"But what if I hurt you worse!?" Soul almost shouts.
"You didn't change your arm until you woke up, and you started screaming while you were still asleep. I'll wake up before anything real bad can happen. And even if you do hurt me, I'm a reaper, not a human, so I heal fast. Besides, this might help us resonate our souls faster, which is the whole point of rotating weapons in the first place." Kid reasons, then his eye twitched and he adds, "If I was worried or upset by the idea of getting hurt, it would be because it makes me unsymmetrical. However my hair, the way I was born, is already unsymmetrical. So really, not even that is a big problem."
The last bit seems more like Kid was trying to reason with himself, and somehow actually relaxes Soul more.
Taking Kid's hand, Soul gets up as well.
"If you're sure about this, then I'll sleep in the same room as you so you can keep an eye on me. Mostly because, like you said, it'll make this assignment go by faster. But I still think you should clean off that cut first."
Kid nods and leads the weapon out of the room.
"Do you want to tell me what the dream was about? It's fine if you don't want to answer this one." Kid asks suddenly.
Soul blinks, and looks at the floor.
"I've already forgotten actually." He mumbles.
He hasn't forgotten this one, or any of the others.
He just says so because he doesn't want to worry his friend.
The ogre laughs at the pain he keeps bottled up in his inner mind.
Kid throws a glance back at him, he can't tell if the reaper believes him or not, but Kid seems to drop it for the moment.
He helps Kid clean the cut quickly, even though the reaper swears it'll be healed by morning, before they get to Kid's room. The reaper lets Soul get in the king size bed first before sliping in himself.
"If you have another bad dream I'm right here. And don't be afraid to wake me if you need anything." Kid says and Soul rolls his eyes.
"Don't baby me. It's bad enough when Maka does it."
"So she does know."
Soul throws himself down so he's not facing Kid.
"Goodnight." He says.
He can feel Kid's eyes on him for a few more moments before he feels the bed shift as Kid rolls over as well.
"Goodnight." Kid finally echos.
After a few minutes, Kid's breathing evens out and he knows the reaper's asleep.
So does the thing in his head.
When he closes his eyes…
The ogre has him kidnapped in his own head again.
He knows he's about to forget everything for a while again, and he lets the tears fall.
Then when he's fully asleep, he blinks and the tears are gone.
He doesn't mind the music playing, but it's awful tacky.
When did he sit down, and what was that damnable looking red thing that was grinning at him?
The thing turned to fiddle with the record player and he noticed the chains on him.
It burned, but he wouldn't scream.
The ogre seems to take his lack of sound as a challenge.
He always screams in the end.
Unless there's an OCD shinigami waiting to save him before the real torture can begin again.
A little tacky, but I like how this turned out.
What do you think? Did you like it? I hope you did.
Regardless, thanks for reading, and feedback is always welcome!