Disclaimer: Okay, I've only read the first ASOUE book, and that was several years ago. However, I have developed a lovely little obsession with seeing the upcoming movie, so I plan to read them soon, never fear. This particular one-shot is Movieverse in the sense of me imagining the characters as looking like their actor counterparts. They are most likely out of character, I am sorry to say, and I'm sure I'll get flames a plenty from the few people who read this—I accept my fate. Just…try to enjoy it. Please? Reviews are most welcome, per usual.

Hero Complex

I wasn't sure what it was that woke me until my eyes were open, staring uselessly at the barren ceiling of the pathetic little room our "uncle" had assigned us to use. My cot swayed as if it had sensed my unease; I sighed and sat up.

My siblings were asleep beneath me. Neither of them was plagued with such thoughts and fears as I was.

Quietly, I slipped from my sad excuse for a bed and padded over to Klaus' cot as the urge to check on my siblings grew almost unbearable. The hero complex I was beginning to develop was ridiculous, but there seemed to be nothing I could do about it. I looked tiredly down at Klaus.

My brother was lying on his back, one hand trapped behind his tousle-haired head. His long legs fell over the sides of his cot and I felt a familiar burst of fury. We shouldn't have to sleep like this, crammed into horrible cots in this horrible little room like common farm animals.

We don't deserve this.

I lifted a hand and instinctively smoothed his dark hair. A motherly gesture, one that none of us would ever again feel from our real mother. That felt wrong, as if I hadn't digested our parents death yet.

Klaus stirred and instinctively sat up before his eyes were even completely open.

"Violet?" he asked, voice taut with worry. "Sunny! Is she all right? Are you?"

I smiled at his expression; it seemed that I wasn't the only one with the faint hero complex these days. "She's fine. She's still sleeping, as a matter of fact."

He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it further, and an image popped into my head. A serious-faced baby, only two or three. Vulnerable. Needing parents and older sisters and constant vigilance.

Somehow, despite Klaus' age, he still bore an innocence that asked for constant vigilance. Protection.

"And you? Are you okay?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously. I nodded.

"Insomnia is all. And…" I hesitated. He frowned.

"Violet—"

"We need to get out of here!" I blurted, perhaps a bit too loudly. I lowered my tone. "Olaf is evil, this is wrong. We don't need this…we don't deserve it."

Klaus sighed. "We've been over this. We have nowhere to go. We have to stick it out. "He messed with his hair again and yawned. "Can we talk about this in the morning?"

I nodded, defeated, and he lay back. As I watched, he promptly fell asleep again, leaving me alone with my worries.

I turned my attention to Sunny. Curled beneath ratty blankets, she sucked her thumb, jaws moving unconsciously as she chewed through a dream. I smiled and straightened her blankets a bit; she yawned around her thumb and rolled over.

We have no parents now, no one to protect us. I may be old enough now to take care of myself, but these two aren't. They still need someone to watch over them—they deserve it.

I kissed Sunny's forehead, then Klaus', and whispered, "I will protect you both, always." Satisfied that my siblings were safely lost in dreams, I crawled back into my own cot and stared again and the blank ceiling. "I promise."