Hey hey hey y'all, how's it going? I'm back with an extremely short chapter for y'all, and I must confess, I kinda surprised myself when I decided to end it. My chapters used to to average around 2500 words, but oftentimes they felt pushed. So, I'm trying a different approach. End the chapter whenever I damn well feel like it. Really should have been doing that in the first place, but y'know, perfection freak over here. Impossible (Or at least very steep) expectations of one's self. As my friend Wordplay42 said to me once upon a time, getting better at writing involves you sucking first. And I've kinda decided to take that to heart. As a result, these upcoming chapters are probably going to very short and suck beyond belief. Don't like it? Too bad, so sad, now leave. For the rest of you, please try to refrain on the flames as I blunder my way through trying to learn how to write better, longer, quicker-updating stories. Actually, I wanna see what you all have to say. Be as blunt as possible. BRING ON THE FLAMETHROWERS AND NAPALM! XD

"YAHHHHHHH!"

Rogue Shadow bolted upright in bed, panting, as the dream, no, the nightmare, continued to circulate in his head for a few moments longer. He quickly scanned the room, looking for something, anything, that was out of place in the dim moonlight. But, as always, everything was where it was supposed to be, nothing out of place.

He let out a sigh as he laid back against the pillows, pondering the dream. It was hardly a rare thing, as he had a nightmare at least once a week.

But these were no ordinary nightmares, no, not by a long shot. They were far too personal for that, made too much sense. Usually dreams, even nightmares, were disjointed jumbles of sensations piled together and lit on fire for your brain's amusement.

But these were far more than that. They were messages, threats, promises, all aimed specifically aimed to jab at him, to break him.

And he knew who, or, rather, what, was behind it all.

Not that it meant much. He couldn't do anything about it, except try and block it out, hard as that was. They always seemed to find another way into his head, another way to get under his skin.

They were the Nightmares, and they had haunted Rogue for the last 14 years.

He sighed again. Might as well try to salvage the rest of the night. Rolling over, he closed his eyes and let his mind go blank, ready for sleep to wrap its dark cloak around him once more. Just as he was about to drift off into the velvety embrace of sleep, a hiss pierced the night.

Rogue's eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up once again. Glancing around the room once again, it seemed that nothing had changed.

A shadow moved in the corner of the room.

Rogue let out a strangled cry as the shadow grew to encompass the whole room, its blackness seeming to suck up the meager light that did filter through the window. Malice seemed to ooze from it, permeating the air with such a feeling of hatred and anger that it seemed that you could almost cut it.

As Rogue shrunk back from this monstrosity, cruel laughter echoed around him, and the blackness slowly began to creep closer. He covered his ears, closed him eyes, and hollered, "GO AWAY!"

The laughter intensified, but the darkness paused for a moment, perhaps reveling in his fear. This didn't last long, and it soon began to slink toward him once again.

The door creaked and it began to open.

"Shay?"

The shadow quickly withdrew, then, with a final hiss, vanished as the door open wider.

"Shay? Are you all right? I heard you yell, I think, and I thought, 'Well, if it scares Shay, then it might be something really, really scary.' And then I thought, 'Hmm, if it does scare Shay, then it might come in useful if I ever wanted to really scare him.' Do you think there might be a chance that I might get to meet this, uh, whatever it was?"

A bright blue unicorn with scarlet stripes stuck his head into the room, his forest green mane even crazier than it usually was, violet eyes glimmering with humor as Rogue released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. His face quickly morphed into a small smile as his brother's words settled within his rattled head. Leave it to Hyper Strike to cheer him up in three seconds flat after some creepy apparition conjured up by the Nightmares decided to visit him in the dead of night. Hyper was like that, he could make you smile, no matter situation.

"I'm fine, Hyp. A bit rattled, but no worse for wear. Just a bad dream." He replied, deciding to leave out the part with the shadow.

Hyper stared intently at him for a moment, and Rogue wondered if he was going to call his bluff, but after a second's scrutiny, his face split back into his standard grin.

"Okey dokey then, if ya say so, Shay!" he all but shouted, "One thing about dreams, though, they can only hurt you if you let them."

And with that little bit of wisdom, Hyper closed the door and returned to his bedroom as Rogue sighed contentedly. It was true that he lived a life in the shadows, stalked by terror, but no matter how dark it got, his brother would always be there to light the way.

The black abyss of sleep washed over him, and dreams did not bother him again that night.