Hello everyone! Here's chapter 4 of Moving Forward. Today's theme is Nightmares, something which I've already written about a few times with Naegiri, but hey, it works. I'm pretty happy with how this chapter came out, and I hope you all enjoy it!

As usual a big thanks to 8fight for letting me use their art for the cover and a big thanks to my good friend The Apocryphal One for beta reading. Also a HUGE thanks to everyone who's left a comment/review on this. Honestly, I love getting comments on my work, I'm an attention whore when it comes to this stuff tbh.

A couple other things to mention: first of all, this story contains a reference to the first DR fic I wrote, Kirigiri's Nightmare, and while it isn't vital to understanding the story, I would still suggest that you go read it if you haven't (Shamlessly Plugging My Own Fics). Also, for those of you who haven't yet, I highly recommend that you read my stories for Naegiri Week if you enjoy this fic. Like I've mentioned before, those fics take place in the same 'verse as this fic, and in fact, a few of the stories for Naegiri Week came from scrapped ideas for this fic, so please go read it if you like this and tell me what you think (Shamelessly Plugging My Own Fics: the Sequel).


Nightmare

Makoto ran down the hallway of the Future Foundation's headquarters. The formerly bright building that once bustled with activity was now dreadfully empty and dark, and debris littered the hallways. The building that was formerly a symbol of Hope for the world had fallen into the grip of Despair, just like the Foundation leaders who were trapped inside the building.

Naegi gulped, trying to calm his nerves as he arrived at the door to his destination. Munakata had challenged him over the intercom, and he couldn't refuse, not with what was at stake. So, even though he was almost certain it meant his death, he opened the door. Waiting for him was Munakata, sword in hand, with one black eye glaring at him while the other was covered by a bandage. Next to him was Kyoko Kirigiri, standing on a chair with a noose around her neck and her arms hanging limply at her sides; the left side of her face was bruised and bloody, and her left eye was swollen shut from the brutal beating she'd endured.

The second he saw her, Makoto desperately cried out her name and rushed forward, only to freeze when Munakata raised his blade to her neck and pressed it threateningly against her throat, stopping him in his tracks.

"L-let her go," pleaded Makoto, his throat dry.

Munakata ignored his plea, merely glaring at him. "So you've come, Naegi. I was beginning to think you were too much of a coward to face the consequences of your actions."

Makoto gulped. "I... I'm sorry, I just wanted to protect everyone...I just wanted to spread hope."

"And where has that gotten you?!" Munakata snapped, moving his blade away from Kirigiri's throat to point it at Makoto. "Your so-called "hope" has cost the Foundation everything! Every single person who died here is dead because of you!"

"B-but I…"

Whatever retort Makoto was about to give was cut off when he felt something slam into his back, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get up, but he was instantly slammed back down by a foot stomping on his back, pinning him to the floor. As Naegi grunted in pain, Juzo Sakakura stood over him, grinning triumphantly.

"No more words, Naegi. It's time for you to learn an important lesson: that blind optimism will get you nowhere, that your words and ideals are just as powerless as you are. Your luck won't save you this time, no one will come to your rescue. At long last, you will pay for what you've done," Munakata declared, his blackened eye narrowing hatefully.

Makoto broke out into tears as he raised his head from the floor. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Kill me, punish me, do whatever you want with me! Just please," he begged tearfully, "please just let Kirigiri go, she has nothing to do with this."

"You've got that wrong," Munakata growled spitefully.

Makoto gasped as Munakata approached Kirigiri before turning to glare at him. "Because of you, I had to watch the woman I love die before my very eyes, while I was powerless to do anything…"

"No! NO! Please, I'm begging you, don't!"

"And now... it's your turn."

Munakata kicked out the chair that Kirigiri was standing on from underneath her feet, her eye widened in shock as the ground gave way beneath her feet and the noose tightened around her neck. Makoto struggled to break free from underneath Sakakura's foot, but the boxer took hold of his hair and kneeled on top of his back, pinning him in place and forcing him to watch as the love of his life slowly suffocated to death.

"NO! NO! PLEASE! TAKE ME INSTEAD! I'M BEGGING YOU!"

Kyoko struggled in vain to move her arms and to suck in a breath, her legs flailing wildly and her face turning blue from lack of oxygen, while Makoto continued to scream.

"NO! KYOKO! KYOKO! PLEASE, NO!"

Slowly, Kyoko's struggles lessened, while Makoto's only grew more frantic. As Kyoko stopped moving, Makoto screamed louder and louder, he cried out in horror and as he saw her life slip away right before his eyes, he came to a horrifying realization: he was powerless, there was nothing he could do to save her. Kyoko Kirigiri was going to die, there was nothing he could do about it, and it would be all his fault.

"KYOKO! KYOKO!"

"KYOKO!"

Darkness. He didn't know where he was, but everything was dark. He could move now, but he couldn't see her anymore; everything was dark, he was hyperventilating, where was she? He tried to find her, flailing frantically as he tried to get to his feet. He felt something grab hold of him and a voice saying something that he couldn't make out, but he didn't try to make sense of what it was saying because he needed to save her.

"KYOKO! KYOKO! LET ME GO! I NEED TO HELP HER!"

"Makoto, calm down!"

Calm?! How could he be calm at a time like this?! Kyoko was dying! He had to get free, he had to find her, he had to-

"I HAVE TO SAVE HER!"

"Makoto! I'm here, I'm okay, just calm down!"

He recognized the voice this time, and it brought him back to reality. He stopped his flailing, and he slowed his breathing. He tried to find her face, but his eyes still hadn't adjusted to the dark so he had to go by the sound of her voice. Fortunately, she soon spoke up again, making it easier to find her.

"Are you feeling better now?" she asked softly, her voice laced with concern.

He took in a deep breath before answering, feeling around in the dark to find her face before placing a hand on her cheek.

"Y-yeah...I think I'm fine now. Thank you."

"I'm going to go turn on the light now, is that okay?"

He nodded his head, but then he realized that she probably couldn't see him so he answered her quietly. "Y-yeah, don't worry."

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, Kyoko removed her arms from him and turned on the lamp beside their bed. With the light on, he could finally see her face, and he was relieved to see that she was perfectly fine, save for the poison scar near the bottom of her face, and what looked like a small bruise that he didn't recognize forming on her cheek. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it. She flinched instinctively, before giving him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing," she said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"D-did I…" he trailed off, letting his unspoken question hang in the air.

She hesitated for a moment, letting out a sigh before answering. "When you woke up, you were thrashing around a lot, and when I tried to calm you down your elbow bumped into me. It's fine, honestly."

Makoto grimaced before taking her in his arms and burying his head in her shoulder, muttering apologies over and over again. Kyoko sighed, returning his hug and rubbing soothing circles on his back while she reassured him that she was fine, and that he'd done nothing wrong.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked once he had calmed down.

He nodded his head, but didn't move from his position, still holding on to her. "I... I was back at the Foundation headquarters. Munakata took you hostage, so I went to him and…" He paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "Y-you had a noose around your neck and you were standing on a chair. He told me that...that everything that happened there was my fault, and that I needed to pay. I begged him to let you go but he…" Makoto didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to, the way that he tightened his grip on her and shook with silent sobs made it clear what happened next. Kyoko just kept holding on to him and reassured him that everything was okay, letting her husband get it all out of his system.

"I... I couldn't do anything, I just had to...to watch while you...you…" he choked out in between sobs.

"It's okay Makoto, I'm here now, I'm fine, nothing that happened to me in that dream, or in real life for that matter, is your fault," she whispered soothingly, letting him cry into her shoulder as she rubbed circles on his back and kissed his face.

"I'm weak… I can't protect anything…" he muttered dejectedly.

"It's okay, Makoto…"

"But it isn't!" he snapped, tearing himself away to look at her face-to-face. "What am I supposed to do the next time you're in danger?! I can't just sit there and pray for a miracle like what happened last time!"

Makoto buried his face in his hands and cried softly. "I can't protect myself, I can't protect you, I can't protect anyone."

Kyoko took him in her arms and let him rest his head in the crook of her neck, running her fingers through his hair soothingly as she kissed him on the forehead. "It may seem that way now, but I promise you, you're stronger than you realize, so believe in yourself. Even if something does happen to us, I'm sure we'll find a way out of it, we'll think of something. We always have."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because of you."

"Huh?" Makoto looked up to see Kyoko through the tears in his eyes, as she gave him a radiant smile.

"You're the one who taught me to never give up. You showed me that no matter what happens, as long as we still have hope, things will be alright, remember?" She wiped away his tears with her thumbs, and rested her forehead against his. "That hope of yours has saved us before, and I'm sure that it'll save us again. You're the one who taught me to believe in that, and it's because you're here with me now that I can still believe in hope. Even if we're not strong enough alone, or even with each other, together with all our allies, we can do anything." She held up her arm to show him her wedding bracelet. "We made a promise, to live on for each other's sakes, and to always be together. That's a promise I intend to keep, no matter what happens."

Makoto's eyes widened as he swallowed a lump in his throat, while Kyoko leaned in and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and eagerly returned the kiss. When they pulled apart, he saw that she was blushing, and judging by how hot his face felt, he imagined that he was, too.

Kyoko leaned in so close that their noses were touching and closed her eyes with a contented sigh. "My love, my hope. It's thanks to you and your hope that we've made it this far, so please, have more faith in yourself, and whenever you can't, have faith in me, because I will always have faith in you, and I will always be here for you."

Makoto rushed forward and kissed her so hard that she was pushed down onto their bed. Her eyes widened in surprise at first, but she soon closed them again as she embraced him and returned the kiss. When they were done, he pushed himself up so that he was hovering above her, staring at her with a loving smile.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied, placing a hand on his cheek.

Makoto placed a hand over hers and smiled gently at her before sitting up, pulling her up with him as he wrapped her up in a hug, which she returned wholeheartedly.

"Are you feeling better now?" she asked softly.

"Yes, I am, thank you Kyoko. I'm sorry for waking you, let's go back to sleep."

"It's alright Makoto, I told you, I'm always here for you," she said as she pulled away for a moment to turn off the lights.

The room was engulfed in darkness once again, but even if he couldn't see her, Makoto Kirigiri didn't have to wonder where his wife was. She was right there with him, in his arms and by his side, safe and sound, and she was going to stay that way. He pulled her closer, snuggling up against her and kissing her cheek.

"When did you get so good at pep talks?" he joked.

Kyoko chuckled. "Well, I learned from the best."

"Thank you, Kyoko," he whispered into her ear, leaving a light kiss against it. "For everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I promise you'll never have to find out," she answered as she nuzzled her face against his neck.

"I'm always here for you, too. If you ever need me, I'll be right here. I promise," he said, kissing her forehead and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I know Makoto, thank you."

A few minutes later, she heard her husband snoring softly, and looked up to see him sleeping peacefully. The sight warmed her heart, and with a smile on her face, she left a light kiss on his lips, careful not to wake him, before closing her eyes and letting sleep claim her.

I will always protect you, she thought, before drifting off into a peaceful rest.


Makoto wasn't the only one who suffered from nightmares. Kyoko was haunted by her own bad dreams, different in content but similar in nature to her husband's nightmares. Her nightmares were often about being helpless, forced to watch her loved ones suffer and die while she was powerless to do anything. The worst of these was a recurring dream that began plaguing her a few months into their marriage. She didn't react as violently as her husband did, but there were more than a few nights when she woke up in a cold sweat. On these nights, she looked to her side and found her husband sleeping peacefully and safely. Not wishing to disturb him, she merely snuggled up to him, and let herself feel safe in his arms. Most nights, either by instinct or because he had stirred awake, he put an arm around her wordlessly and pulled her close. Smiling peacefully, she let the sound of his breath lull her to sleep.

She understood, of course, that her way of dealing with her nightmares wasn't exactly healthy. She knew from experience that bottling things up would only hurt in the long run, but still, she kept quiet about her nightmares. Perhaps it was petty of her, but she felt like if she admitted it, she would let them win. The ghosts of her past, the demons that had already taken so much from her, her pride forbid her from allowing them another victory, so whenever she had a nightmare, she just woke up, cuddled her husband, and went back to sleep.

But of course, this eventually backfired.

"Why Kyoko? Why couldn't you save me?"

Kyoko screamed within her nightmare, and she screamed as she woke up. Shooting awake with a loud screech that woke up her husband beside her as she continued to scream in horror.

"Kyoko? Kyoko! What's wrong?!" he asked as he tried hug and reassure her, only to be pushed away by his terrified wife.

"STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she shrieked as she tried desperately to crawl away from him. Eventually, she ran out of space on the bed and tumbled down to the floor with a loud thud, prompting her husband to let out a gasp of panic and concern, but she paid him no mind as she continued to crawl away, until she was up against the wall with her knees tucked up against her chest and sobbing.

Makoto panicked for a second, taken aback by his normally stoic wife's sudden outburst, but he quickly composed himself and turned on a light before walking over to Kyoko and stopping a short distance away from her before crouching down to speak to her.

"Kyoko?" he called gently. When she didn't respond, he shuffled a bit closer before speaking up again, slightly louder. "Kyoko, it's me, Makoto, everything's alright now. Nothing's going to hurt you, I promise. I'm going to put my arms around you now, is that okay with you?"

Makoto waited patiently for her to answer, feeling his chest tighten as he saw his wife crying softly for what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to a minute or so. Eventually, she nodded her head. He took that as his cue to go in and wrap her up in a hug. Once his arms were around her, Kyoko arm's instantly shot out and wrapped around him, surprising him as she buried her head in his chest and resumed sobbing for a couple minutes. Seeing her hurt like this made his heart break, but he just held onto her and let cry as much as she needed while he ran his fingers through her hair and whispered reassurances into her ear.

Once Kyoko calmed down a bit, Makoto spoke up again. "Kyoko? Are you feeling better?" he

whispered, his voice tinged with concern.

"Yes…I think so," she replied, her voice still a bit hoarse from all the crying she'd done.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked.

Kyoko hesitated for a moment before answering. "I… I had another nightmare."

Makoto pulled away from her to look at her face to face. "Another? Kyoko, how long has this been going on?"

Kyoko's eyes were still puffy and watery from crying, so she chose to hang her head rather than look him in the eyes when he asked his question. "About a week now…" she answered quietly.

Makoto sighed before leaning back in to kiss her on the cheek. "Kyoko…it's not healthy to keep things bottled up like that."

Kyoko let out a quiet groan of resigned agreement. "I know, but I didn't want to talk about it."

"You know you can always talk to me Kyoko, about anything," he reassured her.

Kyoko tightened her grip on his arms. "I know…"

Makoto began rubbing circles on his wife's back to help soothe her. "Would you like to talk to me about it? It's okay if you don't want to, but I think it would help you, and I just want to see you feel better. It breaks my heart to see you like this, Kyoko."

Kyoko bit her lip, brows furrowing in contemplation for a moment before she spoke up. "I…I've been having the same dream for some time now…" she began.

Makoto shifted so that he was sitting up against the wall, letting her do the same and looking straight at her to make sure she knew she had his full attention. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gratefully before continuing.

"It always begins the same way: I'm back at the Foundation headquarters during the killing game, I wake up and I find you next to me…" she paused for a moment, taking a shuddering breath. "…Dead. I don't want to believe it, I can't believe it. So I try to investigate the body for some proof that it's not real, that it's all a lie. But I can't find any. I start to panic, and that's when she shows up…"

Kyoko stopped to compose herself for a minute, while Makoto just put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "It's okay, take all the time you need," he reassured her.

She nodded gratefully before continuing. "Junko Enoshima appears before me, mocking me, taunting me over your death. By now I've usually realized that I'm in a dream, and I can force myself to wake up, but sometimes it doesn't work and the dream keeps going," she explained. "I try to attack her. I want to make her pay for everything she's done, I want revenge on her for hurting you, but I can't touch her. I just go right through her and I wind up on the ground, pinned under her foot. That's when the ghosts appear."

"Ghosts?" Makoto asked, already starting to guess where this was going.

"Our… our classmates, the ones who died back at Hope's Peak." She took another deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "They all start asking me 'why', they ask me why I couldn't save them, why I wasn't good enough, why I couldn't stop the game in time. Then my... my father appears. He blames me too, for failing to save him, for failing to save my friends… for failing to save you."

Kyoko felt her gut twist in pain and buried her head in Makoto's chest, feeling him put a protective arm around her and kissing her head, making sure she knew that he was there for her, and that he wasn't going anywhere. His presence soothed her, and she gripped his shirt with the hand that wasn't holding on to his like a lifeline, before speaking again.

"It… it hurts. I try to ignore it, but no matter how hard I try, it still stings to hear that from all of them. Up till now, I've been able to force myself awake at some point during all of this, but… not this time. Enoshima drags me over to your corpse by the hair and forces me to look at you. Your corpse comes to life, and you look right at me, then you ask me… you ask me…"

Kyoko broke down in tears again at this point, crying softly into his chest. Makoto patted her head and let her vent her sorrows, as he continued to reassure her. She didn't need to tell him anything else, he could already tell how her story was going to end.

"It's okay, Kyoko. Everything's fine now. I'm here, I'm fine, I promise you I'm not going anywhere. You're safe here," he gently repeated as she continued to cry.

A few minutes later, Kyoko finally ran out of tears, and she slowly pulled away from her husband with one last sniffle, before resting her head on his shoulder. Makoto continued to pat her on the head and kept holding on to her hand.

"Kyoko…" he called gently, prompting her to look up at him through the tears still in her eyes. "None of that was your fault. You went above and beyond in trying to save everyone," he said as he kissed away the tears still lingering on her eyes and face, causing her to smile slightly in spite of herself.

"Back at Hope's Peak, you solved almost every mystery we had to face, I know you always talk about how I got you out of there, and everyone calls me a hero, but the truth is that without you I never would've made it as far as I did. You saved me more times than I can count, and everyone who got out of there owes you their lives, Kyoko."

"But I couldn't stop it all, I couldn't save everyone in time, and not only did I almost doom you to execution, but when I was faced with despair, I almost sentenced you to death again just because I was too weak to face it. I'm a failure, as a detective, and as a friend…" she muttered.

"Kyoko, you're not a failure. You're incredible. Just because some of our classmates gave in to despair and killed someone doesn't mean that you're to blame, and when all of us almost died in those trials, you pulled through and saved us all by finding the culprits. I know you feel guilty about what happened in the fifth trial, but it wasn't your fault, that was all a trap by Enoshima to try to kill you, and if it had succeeded, then we never would've gotten out of there without you to help us find the truth."

Kyoko's eyes widened slightly, and Makoto rested his forehead against hers as he continued to speak.

"And you didn't give in to despair, not really. If you had then I wouldn't have been able to pull you out of it. It's because you still had hope that I was able to save everyone. Besides, it was thanks to your help and encouragement that I kept holding on to hope. So please, don't blame yourself for anything that happened back then, you were amazing, and all of us, but especially me, owe you so much."

Kyoko turned away from him, unwilling to meet his gaze. "I still couldn't stop the Final Killing Game in time. Because I couldn't find a way out of there soon enough, I forced you to go through the same pain that I went through when I almost watched you die…"

She would've continued, but Makoto took her face in his hands and forced her to look him in the eyes, as they narrowed in determination.

"Kyoko, please, do not feel guilty for choosing my life over yours. That is the farthest from selfish you could ever be, and it was not your fault. That rule on your bracelet was never fair, nothing in that game was, it was all just a drawn-out execution made so that some crazy old man could achieve his twisted version of 'hope'. So please, don't blame yourself for any of that," he said resolutely. He couldn't bear to see his beloved wife beating herself up because of something that wasn't her fault, especially when she had been selfless enough to give up her life for him.

Makoto peppered the side of Kyoko's face with kisses as he continued to speak. "I won't pretend that it didn't hurt me, because it did hurt, it really hurt me, but it wasn't your fault. What's important is that you came back, you're here now, and I can hold you in my arms and know that you're not going anywhere."

Kyoko shifted in his arms. "But I… I still should have been able to deduce that the Chairman of the Future Foundation and one of the Branch Heads were both insane. If I had been a better detective then none of that would have happened in the first place."

Makoto sighed. "Kyoko, you can't blame yourself for something like that. None of us could have possibly had a reason to think that either of them were anything but good, sane people. It's not your fault that you can't see the future. And even with everything that happened, even knowing that you were probably going to die, you still managed to solve the mystery behind that game, and saved us. Kyoko, you're incredible, and I'm going to keep saying that because it's absolutely true," he said as he nuzzled his face against her neck lovingly. "I'm going to keep on telling you how amazing you are until you think you're as amazing as I think you are. Because I love you, I really, really, love you, Kyoko."

Kyoko buried her head in his neck and tightened her hug on him. "Thank you…" she whispered,

He gazed up into her eyes for a moment before leaning in to kiss her, a gesture which she passionately returned. The kiss lasted for a few minutes, as neither of them wanted to be the one to break contact first, and both of them were more than prepared to ignore the need for air just for the chance to continue kissing their beloved. Eventually, as if linked by a psychic bond (or more likely because both of them needed to stop for air), they pulled away at the exact same time, albeit reluctantly. In between panting and gasping for air, they both smiled at each other.

"Any time, Kyoko. I'll always be here for you," he said as he nuzzled their foreheads together affectionately, causing her to let out a light hum of happiness. "Now c'mon, let's get to bed. Sitting on the hard ground like this can't be good for our backs. Or our backsides for that matter," he said with a chuckle as he helped his wife up and lead her to the bed.

"Right…" she said quietly.

Makoto turned off the light and laid down in bed, covering himself with the sheets and patting the space next to him for Kyoko to join him, she hesitated for a moment, but soon joined him. As soon as she under the covers with him, he wrapped his arms around her and began cuddling her, he noticed that she was oddly stiff as he did however.

"Kyoko? Is something wrong?"

She was about to say no, but she quickly realized that hiding her feelings had been what got her into this situation in the first place, so instead she answered truthfully. "I… I don't want to go back to sleep," she muttered.

"Why not?" Makoto asked quietly.

Kyoko turned her head in shame. "I'm scared. I… I'm afraid that if I go back to sleep I'll have another nightmare," she said as she let out a shaky breath and felt her cheeks warm in embarrassment.

Makoto sighed. "Kyoko, you know you need sleep, right?"

"Yes, but we don't have work tomorrow, so I can afford to stay up late…"

"That's not the point…"

Kyoko grabbed Makoto's hand and squeezed it lightly. "I know. I know I need to sleep but… I'm not sure I can… not tonight."

Makoto kissed her on the forehead. "Then I'll stay up with you," he said, grinning brightly.

"You need your sleep, Makoto. You don't have to stay up with me," she objected.

"I know. But I want to. Don't worry, I promise you won't have any more nightmares tonight," he said as he drew her closer to him and cuddling her.

Kyoko sighed in contentment, letting out an almost silent giggle at her adorable dork of a husband. "You're such a dork… thank you, Makoto. I love you."

"I love you too."

A few hours later, Kyoko Kirigiri was fast asleep with her head on her husband's lap, who was sitting up in their bed and running his hand through her hair soothingly. She slept peacefully and calmly, her chest rising and falling slowly with each breath, while Makoto Kirigiri looked at his wife with a smile. Even though she had fallen asleep, he had no intention of sleeping. Instead, he would watch over her all through the night, and the instant it seemed like she was having a nightmare, he would shake her awake. He had promised her that she wouldn't have any more nightmares that night, and he meant it.

Makoto stiffened in alarm as he felt her shift, but he relaxed when she merely nuzzled against his stomach and turned slightly, letting him see a small smile on her sleeping face. Such a beautiful sight made his heart soar, and he leaned down to leave a light kiss on her lips. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but it almost seemed like her smile widened ever so slightly. Kyoko didn't have any more nightmares that night.

"Sleep tight, Kyoko. I promise you won't have any more nightmares tonight."

I will always protect you.