He had just barely managed to get to Wendy's side of the transportation vehicle when the MUB's small grasp on time broke. The car pulled ahead and Gajeel stretched his legs, running alongside the vehicle as it moved down the empty street.
Still keeping a close eye on the crystal covered portal next to him, Gajeel took a moment to glance at the sky. The moon and stars had hardly moved since the parentals first tucked Wendy in for the night. If he hurried, he and the MUB could return the child back to her BED-room before her parentals even knew she was missing.
He glanced at Wendy, peering through the crystal surface to study her small form. His eyes raked over her sleeping body, but her new Dreamland clothes covered the majority of her arms and draped down to her legs, making it impossible to tell if she had been injured. He grunted, glaring at the dark form sitting next to her on the seat. Hopefully the MUB was smart enough to have told him if the stranger harmed the child in any way, but Gajeel still vowed to make sure the man was too terrified to venture into the night ever again.
A shadow on his shoulder tugged and Gajeel hissed, hearing the MUB's frantic whispering in his ear. "What is she doing? Why is she still sleeping like that? Is it because of the white cloth the stranger put on her face? Oh, why was she talking to a stranger in the park! Does she not know how her parentals told her not to talk to-"
"Hey, pipe down back there, would ya?" Gajeel flicked the MUB with his long tail. "You said yer out of powers, so just stare at the moon or whatever and hush yer face until you get them back."
"There is no need for you to talk to me in that manner."
Gajeel grunted, not intimidated in the slightest by the little MUB clinging onto his back for dear life. "Yer just a Dust Bunny. How'm I supposed to talk to ya?" The car pulled ahead slightly and Gajeel moved his legs faster.
"I am a MUB, and the Boogeyman assigned me to the same BED-room as you."
"Ya really think yer as strong as me?" Gajeel snorted, laughter filling his chest. "Don't flatter yerself. Yer just a glorified Imaginary Friend and ya know it."
The MUB's body stiffened, then slowly lowered until she rested completely on his back. Her body quivered against his and Gajeel felt a small twinge of guilt flash across his shadows. He shook it off, focusing all of his energy on running next to the vehicle.
What he said was true.
Everyone knew that a MUB was only as powerful as the imagination of the child who created it. While some children were actually able to think of powerful creatures or gave their Friends extraordinary powers, most could only think of simple things: a talking doll, a giant red dog, or a creature made from cotton candy and riding a magical wagon.
When the child grew old enough to no longer need their Imaginary Friend, it was the Boogeyman's job to go and search for the Friends who had become the most solid. Those who had been played with and loved so much that they developed a personality of their own and formed an unbreakable bond with their child. Those Friends became Monsters Under the BED, tasked with keeping their child safe and remaining in their Base for Entering Dreamland once the parentals had tucked them in for the night.
While Gajeel could...reluctantly...understand the MUB's close bond with Wendy, it was still another thing for her to insist that she was as strong as Gajeel! He was the one that fought off all the Nightmares. He was the one who was the last defense on keeping their child in her room. And he was the one who the MUB had turned to for help. She couldn't do a thing on her own and he would remind her of who was the strongest BED-room monster.
Thankfully the MUB remained silent as they traveled alongside the fast-moving vehicle. The moon slowly changed positions in the dark sky, yet the car continued to drive down the main area where Wendy's house was located. It soon turned onto a wider road and entered the main section of the city.
Pole-lights shone brightly, making it difficult to remain next to the vehicle's side. An occasional store stood illuminated from within. A few older persons and several I'm-not-a-kid-anymore persons wandered down the sidewalks. Gajeel glanced at them from the corner of his eyes, but they paid him no mind; to them he was just another dark shadow on the road.
Gajeel's previous street-habits flew to the front of his mind and he kept a close eye on each alleyway they passed, studying the dark shadows for any signs of creatures of the night roaming the roads.
It had been several full moons since he had last been to the Shadow District. The coolness of the night filled his mind with nostalgic feelings of freedom and terror, but the center of his chest ached with an uneasy throbbing. He turned away from the darkness, the feeling beginning to ease as he looked at his child still sleeping in the stranger's vehicle.
The transportation vehicle pulled ahead and Gajeel's shadowed feet stumbled. A warm hand rubbed the shadow on his neck.
"Are you ok, MC?" The MUB's whisper tickled his ear.
With a low growl, Gajeel willed his heavy legs to move faster. "I'm fine! Don't need ya worryin' about me when ya can't even get yer own energy back."
"Rest assured, it is returning! Slowly, but I am feeling myself getting much better. It is a good thing indeed that there is a full moon tonight. And it will help us keep a closer eye on our dear Wendy."
Gajeel snorted, but focused all of his energy on placing one leg in front of the other. The MUB continued chatting, alternating between encouraging him and talking to Wendy through the crystal surface. The car slowly pulled ahead until Gajeel could only watch helplessly as it turned down a darkened street.
Panting heavily, Gajeel lunged ahead and just managed to spot the vehicle driving down the main road leading out of the city before it disappeared entirely.
"They are getting away! Can you not run faster?"
Gajeel growled and shifted into his dragon form to whip his neck around. He glared at the MUB, growling low in her face. "For your information, I don't get my powers from the full moon like you lot. I need shadows. And darkness. And if I'm gonna run fast enough to keep up with the vehicle, then I need the kid to actually be awake!"
The MUB blinked at him, the moon illuminating the dark circles until they glowed like a warm, bronzed shadow. Gajeel felt his own shadows relax under her penetrating gaze, but quickly shook it off with a growl.
"What...what do you mean awake?" The MUB asked, her warm gaze once again threatening to soften Gajeel's shadows.
He huffed, turning back to walk down the street. "It means that yer not the only one that gets their powers from kids."
"But are you not just an MC?"
Gajeel rolled his eyes and moved to the sidewalk where the shadows from the buildings were the strongest. "You Imaginary Friends are so clueless. I wasn't always a Monster in the Closet. I was a Runalong before Old Boogeyman Makarov recruited me."
"Runalong? That sounds very interesting. What does a Runalong do?"
"Have ya been livin' under a bed yer whole life?" Gajeel tisked. "We run next to transportation vehicles. Sometimes the big ones with lots of people, but mostly the smaller ones that hold familiar units with lots of kids. When the kids reach Boredom and just stare out the crystal surface, we can see into their imaginations and take on the form of whatever creature they see."
"That is astounding!"
Gajeel huffed, moving into the moonlight. "I guess. We just see what they imagine us to do and follow it. We move and jump, sometimes slide under cars or leap over the tall poles holding the shocking strings. It's actually pretty neat what some of those kiddos will think of when they reach Boredom."
His days as a Runalong flashed through his mind and Gajeel couldn't help but smile at the memory of a pink haired kid who always made him fly high in the sky, blasting fire from his mouth.
"To what were you referring when you said the child had to be awake?"
Gajeel glanced behind him and ducked into the shadows. "You really are dense. I get my power from their imagination. The stronger the imagination, the more power I get for runnin'. How can a kid be imaginin' if they're staying in Dreamland all the time?"
His legs fumbled as he actually felt the MUB stiffen on his back. "For your information, Wendy has a wonderful...amazing...powerful imagination when she is in Dreamland! Not that you would have any idea, but just the other day she-"
"Hey, hey...don't get yer dust in a twist. I didn't mean it like that. We Runalongs just need an active imagination, to see what they're actually seein'. We can't tap into their Dreamland like you MUB's." He glowered at the clump of fluff behind him, but she only huffed and crossed her fuzz-covered appendages. She gave him a hearty glare and stuck her round head into the air. Gajeel smirked, moving into the moonlight.
Well would ya look at that...maybe the MUB does have a backbone underneath all that fluff.