Although her eyes remained shut, Erika was still awoken by the movement beside her in the bed.
Determined to cuddle Matthew as her mind found sleep again, she rolled over to her right side, and stretched out her arm towards where Matthew should be laying down. Her arm hit the blue silk sheets though, and she patted around to find that he was not in the bed with her.
He was probably just relieving himself, she thought, he'll be back in bed in a moment. She settled back in, digging her head into the soft feather pillow, and let her mind wander again.
She suddenly heard the balcony door open and close, prompting her to give up on sleep for the moment and finally open her eyes. The room was mostly dark, with a bit of light from the moon coming in from the windows, just enough to show that Matthew's side of the bed was empty.
She pushed with her hands to sit up in the bed and look around. Their two housecoats were still at the foot of the bed, and the room was empty. She leaned over a bit, and was finally able to see Matthew outside on the balcony, hands on the railing as he took steady breaths deep enough for her to see the movement. This was very unusual for him, Erika knew all too well that he could sleep like a hibernating bear through the night and into the morning, even in the loudest of winter storms.
She moved the covers to the side and swung her legs out to the side of the bed, her feet tucking into the cozy slippers left on the floor in that spot. She stood up and grabbed her housecoat, wrapping it around her as she walked around the bed. She then grabbed Matthew's housecoat before heading to the balcony door and opening it, prompting Matthew to turn around and see her.
"Erika," Matthew acknowledged, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's not summer yet, Matthew," Erika muttered, "You can at least put this on."
"I'm alright, Erika," Matthew comforted, "You can go back to sleep."
"Not until you tell me why you're awake," Erika insisted.
"I just need to clear my mind for a moment," Matthew answered, "That dream was really strange."
"In a good or bad way?" Erika inquired, "Anything to worry about?"
"I dreamt that the Spades Royal were in Clubs, negotiating some kind of treaty," Matthew explained, "The discussion fell to hurling insults, the negotiations failed, and Clubs declared war on Spades."
"Well that's certainly not good," Erika responded, "Do you remember what the debated topic was? Surely if you're subconsciously seeing something bad about to happen, perhaps Ludwig and Francis can mitigate it."
"That's the problem though, Ludwig and Francis weren't there," Matthew corrected, "The dream had Ivan as the King of Clubs, and my brother as the King of Spades."
"Ivan and Alfred?" Erika repeated, "That makes no sense."
"You weren't there either, although Roderich was," Matthew elaborated, "Everyone had their Suits scrambled, although they held the same ranks. The only two of us that were still in our proper Suits were myself and Natalya."
"Who was all there then?" Erika asked, "Who did you see in each Suit?"
"Spades had myself, Alfred, Arthur and Yao," Matthew clarified, "Clubs had Ivan, Erzsébet, Roderich and Natalya."
"So I was not there at all then," Erika checked, "And neither were Ludwig, Francis and Feliciano?"
"You four were not there," Matthew confirmed, "There was another woman loitering in the background, I believe it was Ivan and Natalya's sister. There were also these two strange beings that could teleport us back to Spades, they were called Jokers."
"I've never heard of Jokers," Erika refuted, "I think your dream is getting onto the creative side now."
"It felt like more than just a dream," Matthew described, "It was like it was real, maybe even a memory."
"You might be overthinking this, Matthew," Erika urged, "We did drink more wine than usual last night, perhaps it's affecting your dreams. Come back to bed, you'll feel better about it in the morning."
"Okay," Matthew agreed.
Erika took his hand and gently pulled him back into the room, shutting the balcony door behind her. Matthew obediently went forward to his side of the bed, removing his housecoat as he did so. Erika copied the movements as she walked around to her side of the bed, draping her housecoat across the foot of the bed. She sat on the edge of the bed, kicked off her slippers, and dipped her body back under the covers.
She turned to look at Matthew, who seemed to have frozen in place. He had crawled into the bed as well, but stayed sitting up and staring at something off to the side.
"Matthew?" Erika called.
"The man in the mirror," Matthew pointed out, "He's one of the Jokers from my dream!"
Erika looked past Matthew and saw the mirror on the wall, just beside the balcony door, which from this angle showed the rest of the darkened room.
"There's nobody there, Matthew, just an empty reflection," Erika reassured, gently touching his arm, "Come on, lay down."
"He disappeared just as I told you about him," Matthew described as they laid down and wrapped themselves in the blankets, "I could swear I saw him clear as day, with that silver-blond hair and red eyes."
"Just close your eyes and take some deep breaths," Erika instructed as she cuddled up to him, "You'll have sweeter dreams in just a moment, and won't have to think about all that again."
She watched for a moment as Matthew did as he was told and started to relax, before laying her head on his chest and allowing his breathing to lull her back to sleep as well.