ASTRAL EXPLORES THE MANY WONDERS OF THE MODERN UNIVERSE!

EPISODE FOUR: NIGHTMARES

" No. No, Mom. Dad, no..." Yuma was tossing and turning, muttering in his sleep. Astral couldn't hear the TV over him which made him, something (annoyed), he didn't know what, but he wanted Yuma to quiet down. He floated over him and tried to figure out why he was talking. Sure, he did it a lot, but usually it was crazy stuff like, " Ninety-nine number cards on the wall, ninety-nine number cards!" (to the tune of " One Hundered Bottles of Beer on the Wall) or " Monkey stole my homework," or " Cookies would be lovely, Grandmother." This was different, though. Yuma was wriggling all over, making quiet grunting noises along with the talking or crying softly. " Mom, Dad, don't go! I love you! Don't go! Mom, Dad, please, don't leave me! Nooo!" Yuma shot straight up, somehow moving Astral out of the way. He was gasping and panting, sweat soaking his shirt and pouring down his forehead. " It was just a dream!" He flopped back, squeezing his eyes shut as if to shut out an image of some kind. " Yuma, what's wrong? What was that a dream about?" Yuma finally realized that Astral had that confused/curious expression on his face when exploring something new. " It was- nothing." Astral closed his eyes and seemed to listen. " You're parents? What happened to them?"

" I don't want to talk about it." Yuma snuggled against his hammock's webbing, burying his face in his pillow. Astral focused on Yuma's thoughts, a skill he was working on. He was catching snatches of garbled memory. Mom...Dad...darkness...alone...fear...dead...Mom...Dad...gone...nightmare...greif. Astral didn't know what most of those things meant, but he knew it had Yuma extremely upset. " Yuma, why don't you tell me? It's not like I could tell anyone even if I wanted to." Yuma opened his eyes, staring at his picture of his parents. " I don't know."

" Yuma, I would tell you, if I could remember." Yuma shuddered, wrapping his blanket around himself. " It was a nightmare."

" I heard you think that! What is a nightmare?"

" A nightmare is a dream that's really scary or terrible or sad. Mine was all three."

" So you had a nightmare about your parents. Is that right?"

" Yeah. It was just all of these images, playing a mile a minute, over and over. My parents when they were leaving on their last trip, them at my birthdays, Mom putting a band-aid on a scratch or something, Dad hiking with me, stuff like that." Yuma squeezed his eyes shut again and shuddered. " It was terrible, because I know they're gone, and we'll never do that again." Astral leaned back, thinking. He didn't remember his parents, if he had any, or any one else like him, really. It was just blank and in some places fuzzy, just on the verge of being discovered. " Yuma, what happened to your parents?"

" They, they died."

" What is died?"

" Another time." Yuma sniffled and whiped a tear from his cheek. " So this, died, it happened to them? And it is sad?"

" Yes, because when you die, you can't ever see them again. That is, until you die as well. I don't even know exactly how it happened."

" I see. Do you miss them?"

" Yeah. When they didn't send me a postcard, I got worried. When Gramma told me, it really tore me up. I was basically in a coma for weeks after."

" Coma?"

" A long, deep sleep." Astral wished he could comfort his friend, but didn't know how. " Yuma, is there any way I can make you feal better?"

" Only if you can bring back my parents." Yuma sniffled again and rolled over. Soon, he was asleep. Astral thought for a while. How can I bring back Yuma's parents? They are this died thing, and so I can't see them until I die. Or Yuma does. Astral floated around, trying to figure out how he could help his friend. A couple hours later, Yuma was muttering again. Astral didn't want him to wake up screaming again, so he thought of a quick plan. He remebered on TV seeing mothers sooth their crying babies by rocking them or murmering quietly. Astral couldn't rock him, but he could do the second part. He thought of some nice things to say, and floated cross-legged close to Yuma's head. " Yuma, it's okay. Nothing bad is happening. It's just a bad dream." Yuma's tensed body loosened a bit, and his eyes quit racing around under his eyelids. " It's fine, go to sleep. Remember when we went to the beach?" Yuma nodded in his sleep, snuggling down with a soft sigh. " Remember when I thought something bad had happened to you're skin? Remember that?" Yuma chuckled quietly and sighed again. " I liked the beach. We should go back, don't you think?" Yuma nodded again and yawned. " Go to sleep. I won't let anything hurt you. It's fine." Yuma was now snoring softly, all nightmares forgotten. Astral was proud of himself for stopping Yuma's troubled dreams. Deciding that he couldn't possibly watch his show now, he returned to the Emperor's Key, happy with a job well done.

KIANNAYUDO13: * sniffle * That's so sweet.

YUMA: Yeah. Thanks, Astral.

ASTRAL: My pleasure.

KIANNAYUDO13: Awwww! Anyway, please R&R! And if you flame this, you have no soul.