The sun hangs high in the sky above the town as a lone figure walks its cobbled streets and paths. The town is large, but the figure is small. So very small, so very alone. Scared, as could be seen in her posture, her arms held tight around herself and the stuffed rabbit toy held in her hands.

"Momma! Papa!" The small child cries out, her rabbit ears drooping low over her head as she quickly glances around her. "Momma! Papa!"

"Carmen?!" A voice responded, making the child's head snap back around, her face brightening up with joy as she sees her parents, standing at the other side of the town. "Carmen?!"

"Momma! Papa!" Carmen cries out in joy, her face brightening up. She's found her parents! So she runs towards her momma and papa as fast as her little legs can carry her. Her feet carry her across familiar cobblestones, past familiar stone walls and wooden fences. Houses she knows and grew up with pass her by as she runs toward her family.

But they never get closer. No matter how fast she pushes herself, no matter how fast she runs, Carmen can't get closer to her parents.

"Momma!" Carmen cries out in desperation. "Papa!"

"Come on, Carmen!" Her father calls out to her, his voice echoing oddly around her. So Carmen runs faster, though as she runs, it feels like she is running through water, the suction of the liquid sucking at her legs, slowing her steps.

Around her, the sky darkens and reddens all the same, and Carmen looks around her as she runs. Horrible shadows dance across the stones and wood of her home, shapes unnatural and terrible running and leaping and roaring into the night sky, a sky tinged with the colours of blood and flame.

Still, she continues to run, running towards her mother and father, wanting to be with them. But they're still so far away, and they seem to get further as Carmen tries so hard to get closer to them.

The water is up to Carmen's chest now. "Momma! Papa!" The young girl cries out, now floundering in the water. The world around her is now suffocatingly tight; the floor, the walls, the fences, all surrounding her in a tunnel, with her parents at the end lit by the baleful night sky.

"Carmen!" Her parents call out to her, their voices echoing oddly.

With a strained cry, Carmen jumps forward, the leap making her sail clear from the water, down the tunnel and towards her parents. As she flies through the air, Carmen's face lights up with joy at seeing her parents' faces again. The soft but stern features of her mother, the bookish and tired look of her father… the tears streaming down their faces as they hold onto the rope around Carmen's bucket.

"M-momma? P-papa?" Carmen's flight forward has stopped, the Faunus girl frozen in mid-air just at the lip of dark tunnel.

Her mother weeps loudly. "You were the best girl, Carmen. And we love you so, so much!"

Carmen's eyes widen in fear as she realizes what is happening. "No, please! Momma!"

"And that's why we're doing this!"

"Momma!" Carmen cries out in fear and loss as she falls back down the tunnel again, down to the depths filled with water and cold. "Papa!"

Quickly, her parents are snatched away, their bodies smashes to dark pieces by the alpha beowolf, the creature barrelling its way down the tunnel towards her, its claws digging into the dripping stone even as the tunnel widens for it to pass through.

Carmen cries out as she falls, her eyes wet with tears. She calls for anyone who she can think of to protect her. "Momma! Papa! Brother!"

The beowolf snaps it jaws shut before her body, just out of reach of her, making her shriek.

"Brother!" Carmen cries before her body connects with the water.

"Carmen!"

The young Faunus girls eyes snap open at the sound of her name being called. Slowly, she blinks her eyes before she takes in the sight of a pair of violet eyes looking at her with worry. Kneeling above her, Carmen looks at the relieved face of Sophia.

"Thor's blood, little one." The Cadians says with a sigh. "You had us terrified there."

"Wha-?" Is all Carmen can say as she takes in the scene around her. She's… she's underground, in the place the Cadians are sleeping in. The barracks of Tychos and Sophia and the others. There's lot of bunk-beds, enough for everyone to sleep in, though not many are full, either from the people who would be sleeping in them being up on their feet doing something, gathered around the commotion the little Faunus girl has caused, or just empty beds.

"I think you were having one… one heck of a nightmare, sweet thing." Sophia responded. "You fell out of your hammock."

Turning her head, Carmen looks at what passes for her bed. In truth, it's really a large sheet suspended between the bunkbeds that Tychos sleeps in on one side and the one that Sophia sleeps in on the other. It's… nice to sleep in, but it's no bed, especially with her pillow and blanket strewn over the floor.

"It's a good thing that Reinhardt caught you when he did." Sophia chuckles lightly before she looks down past Carmen. "You all right there, big guy? You make a good mattress."

"Just get her off me so I can stand up." The heavy bass voice actually rumbles through Carmen's body as she realizes that she is sitting on top of Reinhardt's back, the giant man's face flat against the floor.

Carmen blinks again in confusion as she looks around. She wasn't… that wasn't…

"All right, what's the noise down here?" The loud voice of Commissar Anton makes everyone snap to attention. "Light's out is in five minutes, and you lot had better not be having another drinking contest, so help me… Why is Carmen on Reinhardt's back?"

The black-clad commissar, normally so imposing and scary to the young girl, looks in genuine confusion at seeing the Faunus child on the back of the largest and strongest member of the 598th regiment.

"Carmen was sleeping, commissar." Sophia quickly explains as she lifts the child up easily in her arms, letting Reinhardt stand up. "Then… then she had a nightmare… quite a bad one from the sound of it, and she fell out of her hammock. Luckily, Reinhardt was nearby and he… well, he jumped to stop her hitting the floor."

"So she hit him instead…" Commissar Anton added, a small smirk playing on his face. "Don't really know which one is worse for her. Are you okay, little one?"

"Where…" Carmen begins, looking around the room, shifting through a see of violet eyed faces. "Where's… where's big brother?"

"Carmen! I'm here!" Tychos emerges through the press of bodies, the soldiers letting him pass easily through their ranks. Dressed in the dark khaki linen shorts and a linen shirt, his dusky skinned face and black hair is wet, not having time to dry from getting washed. "I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard the news about your nightmare. Are you okay?"

Instantly, at seeing the sight of her adoptive brother, Carmen's face instantly scrunches as she begins to cry, either in joy or lingering fear from the nightmare, she can't say. "Brother!"

Quickly, Tychos takes her out of Sophia's arms, pulling her close to him. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm here."

The action makes the soldiers around them laugh, genuinely and heartfelt at the sight. Though it quickly stops as Commissar Anton turns and looks at them.

"Lights out is in two minutes!" He barks, making the soldiers quickly scramble to put away their gear for the night. In relative privacy, he turns to look at the guardsman holding the weeping child. "I told you that hammock was not the best idea. I'll talk to one of the officers of engineers tomorrow, see if they can make anything up for her."

The commissar turns to walk away, but he stops himself short as he turns to look at Carmen. Carefully, he reaches a hand out to stroke the hair on her head softly. A small smile plays at his lips before Commissar Anton walks out of the barracks.

"Want a towel?" Reinhardt asks Tychos as the still-wet guardsman takes a seat on the lowest bunk. Soon, the man is drying off his hair and head with a towel, Carmen sitting on his lap as she sniffles slightly.

"I'm sorry…" Carmen sobs out, her rabbit ears fully down over her face. "I… I…"

Smiling warmly, Tychos puts a hand against her head. "It's all right… I understand."

A low whistle fills the air before a voice calls out "Lights out!", and then the room is plunged into darkness. A darkness kept at bay in a small portion of the barracks by a stablight switching on.

"Is Carmen going to sleep on the hammock again?" Sophia asks, putting a hand against the blanket tied between the bunks.

"If she is, we should put pillows underneath." Reinhardt groans out as he climbs into his own bed. "Or put it lower to the ground. Stop her… getting… hurt…"

He begins to snore quickly, making Tychos chuckle. "Good idea… but I have a better one."

Carefully, Tychos hands off Carmen to Sophia, both looking in confusion as Tychos swiftly climbs up into his bunk. Soon, he reaches his hands out below, palms held out ready. "Come on. Pass her up."

As his plan becomes clear, Sophia chuckles happily as she lifts Carmen up towards Tychos, the small child looking on in confusion as the guardsman puts his hands under her armpits and moves her up onto the bed beside him.

"It's just for tonight, all right." Tychos says softly, as he brings up the blanket to cover them both. As he does, another pillow appears at the side of the bed, held up by Sophia before Tychos takes it and places it next to his own. "Don't worry. Big brother is here. He'll look after you."

The stablight goes out, and the room is now in darkness. As a rabbit Faunus, Carmen sees Tychos' face quite clearly, just enough to see him smiling gently at her as he lays his own head down on the pillow and closes his eyes. Quickly, he's snoring softly, the soft susurration joining the other sounds of sleep in the underground barracks.

It's enough to lull Carmen to sleep, her eye lids drooping before she yawns softly. Patting at her pillow, the Faunus girls slides herself down to get her head on her pillow, but not before she pushes her body as close to Tychos' as possible. The comforting presence is enough to send her to sleep.

The beowolf doesn't come again.

AN: I am suffering from a SERIOUS case of writer's block right now for the main story. I know what I want to do and how to do it moving forward for the main story, but I'm just stuck.

So I'm giving this little omake that popped into my head as a little bit of a thank you gift for everyone sticking with the story and as an apology for not posting anything. Just some Carmen and Tychos cuteness.