So atemfan18 on tumblr gave me this lovely prompt of "dreams or sleeping" late one night for a 100 word fic challenge. And then my 100 word fic turned into a 500 word fic and then I had to finish it on my lunch break.
Title : Dreams of a Dying World
Author : Dani Kin
Words : 1,000
Genre : Hurt/Comfort and Fluff
Rating : G
Summary : Megamind dreams of home. Roxanne is there.
Oh and thanks to vamp, for reminding me that sometimes the best stories are the ones that come up on the fly. So I am resisting the urge to edit this to death and instead posting it up as is.
~~~~~M~~~~~
It was a shaking sensation and a strangled whisper from the other side of the bed that pulled Roxanne out of a deep and happy sleep. Her first instinct was to roll over and attempt to settle back into dreamland. Until she heard it again through the haze of sleepiness. Megamind was tossing and turning over there, muttering words in a dead alien language. That was when she knew exactly what was going on.
He dreamed of home sometimes. The dreams were patchy and confusing things that fused his memories with a blend of real and surreal images and intense emotions. Sometimes they were just dreams. Sometimes Roxanne was sure they must be nightmares.
He never remembered them entirely when he woke, which was maddening for a man who usually remembered everything in fine detail. He might remember a handful of images or feelings. Sometimes he didn't know he had been dreaming at all. But Roxanne always knew because he talked in his sleep in the first language he'd ever learned.
Roxanne understood a few of the words he taught her, but she couldn't really speak it. Hell, he didn't even speak the language fluently. As an eight-day old infant he'd had such limited contact with the world around him and certainly no formal training in the mechanisms of linguistics. As a result his vocabulary was extremely limited.
Mommy. Daddy. Nursing. Toys. No. Minion. Scared. Leaving. Destiny.
Then there were sounds that he couldn't precisely define, but understood from the context in which they had been spoken.
Minion's crystalline ball. A warm bed. Something unpleasant but good for you. Being held. Running out of time. Check it over thoroughly. No more time. Don't want to. We love you.
That didn't give him much to work with, though there were entire sentences he could recite from memory with absolutely no idea what he was saying. Still, sometimes he would use a word or sound here and there and Minion would give him an understanding look.
She opened her eyes and looked across the king-sized bed. She saw him wiggle and roll again, making sad mewling noises amid the alien words. His eyes were pressed shut and it almost sounded like begging.
Roxanne's heart ached for him in the darkness. She'd learned over time that it was almost impossible to wake him when he was in the grip of these dreams. If she did, he would be overtired, unfocused, and anxious all day.
There was really only one thing that worked and that was only sometimes.
She reached out for him, touching his back lightly since it was facing her. Just the simple touch and he started to calm. Roxanne had intended to spoon him until he soothed, but he abruptly rolled again and now they we laying side to side. She wanted to whisper "it's okay sweetie, I'm here," and cover him with nuzzling kisses, but she didn't want to risk waking him.
Instead Roxanne adjusted her hands to his shoulders and waist then pulled him in close as she shifted onto her back.
Megaminds sleeping body instinctively curled into her, unconsciously recognizing the presence of his beloved mate. The alien words continued to spill from his mouth, but the edge of fear in his voice seemed to lessen. He nestled closer and closer, splitting his head between her shoulder and her pillow, and rubbing his cheek into her soft skin.
Roxanne took a deep breath. She wished she had the power to just make these nightmares go away. She brought a hand up and began lightly stroking his back and neck over his soft biohazard pajamas. Petting him with these soft rhythmic motions always soothed her as well as him. His fingers tangled into the hem of her tank top and his words continued to slow.
At times like this Roxanne was overwhelmingly aware that he wasn't just a man or an alien. He was more than just her boyfriend or the city's hero.
She held in her arms the last gift of a dying world. They'd sent him so far across the universe, with nothing more than a little fish, hoping he wouldn't be alone. The people of this planet hadn't always been kind or brought out the best in him. But he had persevered and now he was thriving. Megamind had been their dream, their desperate hope of a better future unmarred by destruction.
It almost made Roxanne sick to imagine what it would take as a parent to to put your tiny baby in a small pod and shoot him into space against the odds. She stroked his head and wished she could reach back into the past and tell them that their boy wasn't alone anymore. That he grew up to be smart and brave, sweet and kind. And that she couldn't imagine a future that didn't have him in it.
No one else could frustrate her until she was at the end of her rope (usually because he had tied her there). And nothing could make her laugh quite like his playfully offbeat genius. He was the man she crawled into bed next to each night and teased each morning. Now he was her dream.
She could feel her hands getting heavy with sleep as she continued to pet him softly in the quiet. Huh, she thought. It was quiet. The only sounds that came from her partner now were deep heavy breaths. She nuzzled him one last time before she let her hand drop, and sleep reclaimed her as well.