She was a dreamer, that was for sure. The girl was hard pressed to remember a time when she hadn't slipped into fantasies and dreamlands nearly every night. As far as she could remember, back and back and back, there had always been a second world to escape to every night, a world she had often wished to stay in forever.
This was not lost on Ignitus, who often found it difficult to sleep. That was what perplexed him the most: she was so loud, her idle thoughts and dreams easily up for taking, but the moment he tried to push any further, he was blocked. But, at least, there was some small insight to be had in her dreams–even if they sometimes drowned him out and kept him awake long into the night.
Occasionally, after a tiring day, she would fall into her blankets and see nothing but the swirling void of darkness. On those nights they both slept soundly. But usually, it was a pleasant dream she had:
The midday sky shining overhead, the ocean waves lapping at the cliff below us, face buried in her light hair, she smelled like sunshine and strawberries, I will keep you safe, I promise
Or:
Stars shining above, lights twinkling in the distance, we'll run away, let's take her and go, if we wish on them we can do anything, don't go, we'll stay here forever, we'll never sleep again, let's dance 'til we die
She woke up feeling bittersweet, the dreams a faded scrap of memory in the back of her mind, feeling as if she had lost something. Remembering that she may never be going home.
Sometimes, though, the dreams turned sour. On a road of tears and blood and broken promises, the nightmares came:
The sour smell on his breath, the smell that meant get away, run, hide, the eyes like little pools of acid or maybe balls of hot fire, for once turned away, stop, screaming it, crying, but it has to end, he can't do this to anyone else, he can't do this to
you will stop you will stop you will stop
Sharp pain, ribs feeling like they're going to crack, curled up in the corner, fighting for life
Dragged by hair, thrown through the door, faster and faster, screaming, he's not looking, suffocating smoke, he won't ever stop, slow down, blinding lights
Blur, blur, nothing
He's made it out, his boots stained with her blood running away, legs can't move, blood in the snow, and there's blackness dripping down, there's a tiny light that hasn't gone out, spitting smoke
Fire, fire stretching up to the sky, fire sailing past the trees, and there, a soul drifting far above the carnage below
And then, nothing
Until, waking up under the impossible sky–
Those were the nights where she woke up gasping like she'd forgotten how to breathe, clinging to the blankets for dear life, heart pounding out of her chest. Sometimes the Guardians would be there, and she would feel like she was on fire and look up to see Ignitus watching her, alarm in his moonlit eyes, along with something else–something like he didn't or couldn't understand. And she would have to pull the covers over her head until the aura died down and she could slip into dreamless sleep again.
Sometimes–because the always-busy Guardians seemed to fall asleep in random places every night, strewn about the Temple–she would wake up alone. But inevitably, footsteps would echo through the halls, and she would close her eyes but know he was checking on her.
It was then when she, knowing that he could see thoughts and dreams, wondered if he knew of what she dreamed of. And she hoped not, because that was the last thing she ever wanted, for someone else to have to bear the burden of her memories. She had allowed it only once, and even now, the tinge of guilt still followed her. It was better for everyone if no one ever knew, if she bore the weight on her own.
And in the morning she smiled and went about her day masking the weariness, because she had to, and because–at the very least–she had died and even if she had to struggle and fight, cower and hide, at least in this world, she had a chance to be happy. Out of place, for sure, but alive and happy, never having to wake up afraid, never having to fall asleep in the terrifying darkness, waiting, ever again.
Her smile only faltered when she remembered the truth, that she would give up this chance, this escape, in a moment, just to go home. Even though she was beginning to wonder where "home", really, was.