"Damien!"
Said teen jerked awake and flew up into a sitting position. Erik was standing in his doorway looking frantic and Damien was out of his bed in a flash.
"What is it?" He questioned, standing in his pajamas, a t-shirt and sweat pants.
"It's Jack, he's-"
"Is he alright?" Damien cut him off.
"Yes, he's in our room. He's asking for you." Erik had been through this routine before more than once and side-stepped Damien to claim the empty bed that wasn't being used by anyone.
Damien nodded and flew out the door with a word of thanks. He raced to where his boyfriend was alone, and most likely scared and crying. Jack had suffered from horrible nightmares ever since being marked. What worried Damien was they seemed to have increased ever since they started dating and even more so with the recent death of Stevie Rae. In the beginning Erik was the one to try to comfort poor Jack, but it had been uncomfortable for the both of them. When Jack started to date Damien, Erik left it up to Damien and took the unclaimed bed in his room while Damien comforted and slept with Jack in his bed. Damien wasn't sure what to make of these nightmares.
Damien knocked on the door to Jack and Erik's room before opening it. The sight of Jack curled in the corner on his bed hugging a pillow with tears pouring from his eyes threatened to crush Damien's heart. He ran to Jack and scooped his blonde into his arms and Jack threw the pillow away in favor of wrapping his arms around Damien's neck. There he started to sob openly and Damien hugged him closer while saying sweet words to calm down the other. Damien stroked his boyfriend's hair while he waited for Jack to calm down.
It seemed that this dream was far worse than the others, for right when Jack would seem to be at the end he's let out a despair filled sob and start all over. At one point Jack was wailing and Damien started to place random kisses all over Jack's face and neck. Hearing his boyfriend like this was unbearable. Damien felt a few tears fall down his own face but blinked them back. I have to be strong for him. Jack took a good forty-five minutes to just let it all out.
Eventually, Jack pulled back and looked at Damien. He'd stopped sobbing by now but a few tears still ran down his pretty face. Damien reached up to wipe at the teardrops left on Jack's cheeks, making the latter give him a small smile. Damien then reached for the box of tissues, handed a few to Jack and got a small trashcan from the floor for Jack to dispose of the snot rags all without having to leave the bed and Jack's side.
Finally, Jack took a deep breath and said, "I got your shirt all nasty." Damien gave out a sigh of relief and smiled at Jack. The worst of the storm had passed.
"My shirt doesn't matter." As if to prove his point, Damien pulled his shirt off and flung it over the side of the bed. He pulled Jack closer and the blonde nuzzled his face into the crook of Damien's neck before wrapping his arms around the other's waist.
"Thank you." Jack breathed out on a sigh.
"Anytime." Damien said, his hand running through Jack's hair again. He knew how much Jack loved his hair to be played with, though he'd never admit it out loud.
Jack pulled back and looked Damien in the eyes. "I mean it. Thank you." He then leaned forward to place a short kiss on Damien's lips. Damien was startled for a moment but then smiled at Jack. His face grew serious again as he thought about what would be done about these night time horrors.
"Will you tell me what happened?" Damien questioned. It was the wrong thing to ask as Jack's tears returned but before he could act Jack was wiping them away.
He opened his mouth to talk but a choked back sob came out instead. Jack shook his head and succumbed to the sadness inside himself and fell against Damien's chest. Damien felt utterly useless and began to lay kisses on Jack's head again. He started with the top of his head, kissing his blonde locks. Then moved to his hairline, across his forehead, the tip of his nose, then Damien lingered at Jack's lips, who kissed him back with a passion. Damien broke away before it got serious and kissed his way up the tear streak to Jack's right eye. Then over and up the tear streak to Jack's left eye. He was pleased to see Jack had stopped crying.
Jack reached up and placed his hand on the side of Damien's face, who leaned into the touch lovingly. Jack smiled up at him and said, "I'm so happy… So happy you're here." The same grief from moments flickered across his face and Damien was afraid he'd begin to sob once more. But Jack didn't seem to be on the verge of another break down after a moment.
Damien remained quiet; sensing Jack still had something to say. Jack took a few moments before finally, "I had a dream… that you died." Damien's eyes sought out Jack's but the blonde was playing with his fingers. Instead Damien held Jack closer waiting for the other to continue. "You," he started and took a shaky breath, "You rejected the change. Your body… there was blood everywhere. Oh goddess. So much blood." Jack's voice cracked on the last word but continued. "You kept crying out for me but you couldn't see me. Y-you died against my chest thinking I wasn't there and-" Damien heard a sob bubble out of Jack but the other didn't make any other sounds. "And they took you away from me."
Silence. There was a long, pregnant quiet that had settled over the two. Then Jack was on his back being kissed furiously by Damien, who was laying over him. He was surprised and he only knew to kiss Damien back. It was intense but slow, as if Damien was trying to comfort Jack at the same time.
After a few moments the kiss lost its momentum and Damien pulled back to lay his head on Jack's chest, a reverse of earlier's position. "I will never leave you." Jack craned his neck to see his brunette and Damien looked up back at him. "I love you."
Jack couldn't help the small smile that spread over his lips. "I know, I love you too." Damien reached his head up to peck Jack's lips before moving to crawl under the covers. He held them out enticingly for Jack to join him and he saw the hesitation flicker over Jack's face before it was quelled. Whenever Jack had Damien to hold onto in the night the nightmares were few and much less disturbing.
Damien propped himself up on one elbow and ran his other hand through Jack's soft hair. Jack cuddled up closer to him and Damien smiled before saying, "I'll ask one of the mentors tomorrow if I can switch dorms with Erik, with his permission of course. Then I'll always be here for you."
Jack 'hmm'd softly, already halfway to sleep. Damien leaned down to kiss his forehead, leaned over to turn off the lamp that was left on, and hugged Jack close as he too went to sleep.
"Did Jack have another nightmare?" Zoey asked, looking up from her bowl of Count Chocula. She, like Damien, had slept late and were eating before the cafeteria closed, which was about ten minutes from now. Luckily, it was a Saturday and there were no classes today or they'd've both been in trouble.
Damien nodded, feeling a pang at the memory. "It was terrible, so much worse than all the other nights before. I'm thinking about letting Dragon know if they keep getting worse. I just don't know what to do anymore."
Zoey nodded and went back to her cereal. She wasn't much of a conversationalist as of late and neither was a tired Damien. They lapsed back into a friendly silence and ate in peace, until that is when Erik came bursting into the dining hall and yelled, "Damien!" at the top of his lungs.
Damien turned to see Erik, who looked like he'd run all the way there. Damien was up instantly and rushing over to him with Zoey close behind. He didn't have time to ask what was up because Erik had grabbed his wrist and then they were all running full speed down the hallways, Zoey following up behind latched onto his other wrist.
As they ran Damien realized they were heading for the dorms and sped up as his mind supplied him with multiple images of Jack's face frozen and torn with fear. Had he taken a nap and had another nightmare? This one seemed even more urgent than the dream last night, and seeing a loved one die? Anything worse than that would be enough to shatter sanity with fear. Damien started pulling ahead of Erik.
As he did, he noticed that Erik's t-shirt looked different. The white had a new design and Damien was about to disregard it when he noticed what the design was. Blood. No! His steps faltered before he regained his control and started sprinting ten times faster, through the door, up the stairs, faster, faster.
Damien burst through the dorm door much like last night and what he saw really did smash his heart this time. Jack, blood gushing from each available exit: his eyes, mouth, nose and ears. He was sobbing and in doing so, choking on his own blood. When he saw Damien he cried harder, a mixture of blood and tears trailing his face. "Dami-" he choked out.
Damien let out a yell that was pure anguish. He bounded over to Jack and held him close saying, "You can't leave me, not yet. I said I wouldn't leave but what about you? You can't leave me. Jack, no, no, oh Nyx no." he was sobbing to, kissing Jack's face, mouth, neck, and then back up to his face. He tasted blood but didn't give a damn and kept on, a strange urge had over taken him. Something like, if I comfort him he'll calm down and stay here. But even Damien knew his Jack wouldn't last much longer. They both knew.
Jack took a shuddering breath and choked once more before leaning over to vomit his blood. Damien held Jack's hair back, as if he was sick and not throwing up his blood over the side of the bed. Jack was over with and he knew it but before he'd go, he reached out his hand and laid it on Damien's cheek. "Hey," he was no longer alarmed that his voice was barely a whisper or that he was dying. A strange acceptance had washed over him. "I'm so- so happy." His voice was shaking but he'd caught Damien's attention. "You came. I w-was afraid I'd die alone. But you came for me. So afraid you wouldn't know… th-that I was gone. I love you. Dami-" Jack coughed violently, "Damien. I love you." Jack's hand fell from his face and he took a ragged breath before smiling up at Damien.
Damien was the one sobbing now, his worst fear recognized his living nightmare. Jack was dying and he was so utterly useless. But Jack was still with him so he cradled the smaller body against his chest and said, "I know. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you so much." The tears wouldn't stop flowing but oddly enough Jack was smiling up at him so he gave Jack a small smile back. "Please don't leave me." He whispered, but Jack's eyes had closed.
"No!" Damien's voice was a hoarse whisper and he shook violently. "Jack? Jack?" It was then that Neferet swept in with two nurses aids and a stretcher. Damien was lost to the rest of the world. They pried Jack's body away from him and he wept harder. Then the room cleared, even Zoey and Erik left who had been standing in the doorway the whole time. Damien fell back on the bed on his side, curled in on himself and cried. Only, this time Jack wouldn't rush in to comfort him. He was alone.
a/n; well. I cried. When I got this idea I didn't know it'd be so depressing to write. Anyway, please review? I would really like to know how I did. For those who need a happy ending, think red fledgling.