Okay, guys, I'm on a roll. This chapter is supposed to highlight the aftermath of Zephyr's whole ordeal; mental problems and such. This is before they get married and after the whole in-law incident.

Chapter 7: For Once

It was a warm, dark night that swirled around Lyon the night five days before Odd and Zephyr were to be married. Their room was dark, filled with waves of Odd's ever-present snoring crashing in on each other.

Zephyr thrashed and spun, whimpering and crying. Cold sweat pooled itself around her body, making her shiver with cold and fright.

"Please," She moaned, "Leave me alone. Don't…" Her voice trailed off again and she continued to claw at and imaginary enemy in uncomfortable silence. Odd's snoring continued on, he blissfully unaware of his fiancée's plight.

Unaware, that is, until she sat straight up and stock still, a short scream separating two of her ragged gasps for air. His snoring stopped and he sat up rubbing his eyes in surprise and concern. The shape next to him was shivering and her sides heaved, labored by every breath. Zephyr's eyes almost glowed in the darkness, pupils dilated even when Odd switched on his bedside lamp. Her eyes were wide and searching, glazed with distance and animal-like fright.

Odd put and arm around her shoulders, smoothing her hair back from her soaked face.

"Zephyr? Zephyr, it's me, Odd." He murmured, giving her a firm but gentle shake. She looked at him, pleading eyes raking his face for comfort. Finding it, her breaths slowed and the misty barrier lifted from her eyes. Odd rubbed the back of her wet t-shirt and she swallowed, once, twice, to compose herself. Now she looked at him, breaths slower but unsteady, as if they might collapse. She buried her head in his chest and tried to speak. She wasn't crying, just quivering. She tried to speak, but no intelligible words came got past her lips.

"Sh, it's okay. I'm here now."

"It-he…he.." She stuttered.

"I know. I know." He whispered, removing his own t-shirt to wipe her face of sweat. He also dried off her arms and legs, dropping the shirt, now wet, on the floor when he was done. He frowned upon looking at her side of the bed; it too was saturated. As if making a decision he looked at her, kissed the top of her head, and leaned back, lying down with Zephyr still clinging to him, shaking.

"I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Remember the promise I made you?"

He felt her nod her head tiredly. He reached up and turned off the light, settling them into inky darkness once again.

"'Night, Zephyr," He smiled. She didn't answer and had stopped quivering, asleep from the exhaustion of fighting.

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"That's the third time this week, Babe," Odd reminded, leaning against the counter and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, if you're keeping count," She muttered, looking at the table.

"Is it the same one?" He asked, coming to stand beside her.

"Yeah." Sunlight had found and banished the darkness and her nightmare.

"What happens?" He quizzed. She took a deep breath, and it rattling as if her lungs were coming loose.

"Jack comes back. I can't move. I'm trapped. I can't look away. God, Odd, there's so much blood. It's your blood, my blood, Jeremie's, Aelita's, Yumi's, Ulrich's blood. It's a huge pool, a lake. He's laughing at me, Odd. There's beer in the blood and I don't know why. I fight him as hard as I can but he's just too strong. He drowns me in that blood, Odd, and I can still hear that laughing, and then there's a gunshot. And that's when I wake up."

There were a few minutes of stunned silence.

"Well," Odd finally said, slowly, choosing his words carefully, "You have a psychiatrist appointment next week. Do you want to move it or do you think you can hang on till then?" Zephyr, tensed, dumped her cold coffee down the sink, rinsing the cup out but leaving it in the sink.

"You know, Odd, sometimes I really wish I didn't have to consider that. Just once I'd like to get a good night's sleep without being woken by nightmares. Sometimes I wish I could have kids. For once I'd like to just be normal."

"No, you don't" Odd said lightly, coming up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist. "Besides, I love you just the way you are." She smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, now get off of me or you'll be late for work."

"Big incentive," He rolled his eyes and kissed her on the cheek before grabbing his laptop case and heading out the door.

"Man, good thing I have off today," Zephyr groaned, putting a hand on her forehead. A migraine was manifesting inside her skull. Sunlight wasn't helping and she was grateful she'd opted not to drink the coffee. She attempted to make her way to the bedroom but stopped suddenly, leaning against the wall.

Her head spun and whirled with nausea. Something black and ugly blocked her version and her breath came shallowly and quickly. Her knees buckled and she collapsed in a heap, tremors rattling her body in seizure-esque fashion. She blacked out just after seeing Jack's face. It was contorted with rage and his eyes were hard and still. The image vanished as quickly as it had come and Zephyr remained on the floor long after she stilled.

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Zephyr pulled herself up off the floor, groggily and slowly shaking her head to clear it. Her migraine had abandoned her and she looked at the clock, which read 3:36. Still moving slowly, as though in a dream, she picked up the phone and punched in the memorized numbers. The other end of the line rang once, then once more. In the middle of the third ring, it was picked up.

"Hi, Dr. Chardeaux? Yeah, I need an emergency appointment. Why? Oh, I've been having nightmares and I think…I think I just had a seizure. Okay. Thank you. Bye." She hung up, in the same motion scribbling a note for Odd and grabbing her house key. She locked the apartment behind her and made the short walk to her psychiatrist's office.

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"Well, there appears to be nothing medically wrong with you. No change in blood pressure, cholesterol, no new medications, no new stress. Did you see or hear anything before you blacked out?" Dr. Chardeaux asked, looking at his patient over his spectacles. He was a tall, broad, bald man with concealing brown eyes and no smile below his mustache, but no malice in his gravelly voice.

"I saw my father very briefly. That was it. His eyes, face mostly." She shrugged.

"I'd say it was a flashback," He diagnosed, clicking his pen open and scribbling out a prescription form. "Here. This should stop the seizures and dull the severity and frequency of the nightmares. It works by blocking out that part of your memory."

"So I won't remember it at all?" She asked, raising a red eyebrow.

"Oh, no, you'll remember it, but it won't be as prominent in your subconscious mind. That's the part of your brain that's causing the episodes and the nightmares."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Doc." Then she remembered. "Are there any side effects?"

"Actually, there are only a few, and they're very minor. Your immune system might be a little bit weaker and you might not be as easily sexually aroused, but it won't effect your daily life that much at all. After you finish this round of pills we'll make another appointment and run some tests."

"Thanks, Dr. Chardeaux," She smiled, shaking his hand warmly and leaving the office, canceling her appoint previously set for next week with his secretary on the way out.

After her trip to the drugstore and the consumption of the first huge, green pill, she arrived home at exactly the same time as Odd; they met each other in the hallway.

"Zephyr? What's that?" He nodded to the paper bag.

"Here, I'll tell you inside," She unlocked the door and gestured to the empty apartment.

"Okay, so what is it?" Odd sat on the sofa, motioning for his fiancée to join him. She told him in detail about the episode and the resulting appointment and prescription."

"The insurance covered it," She finished.

"Man," He said, running a hand through his spiked hair. "I'm sorry I wasn't here," He apologized. She just ruffled his hair in response.

"Not your fault," She reminded, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. She moved to his mouth and kissed him there, smiling when he kissed back and deepened it. The kiss was raw and passionate. They stood to enter the bedroom.

'Difficult sexual arousal my ass," Zephyr thought, smiling to herself.