AN: I said I might add to it, didn't I? Well, I did. It's short, but I couldn't let this idea go. Enjoy!
That night, Charlotte led him to his room and tucked him in, as though they were three and six again. His lantern stayed on the floor on the left side of his bed. She wondered what sort of place Brennenburg was that he'd grow such an attachment to a lantern - but then again, he had told of creatures that he'd had to hide from in the dark. She decided to just let him have it. If she ever planned on taking the lantern from him, she'd do it in the far future. Right now, he deserved that much comfort.
He seemed as though he'd never be able to sleep. She tried everything, from counting, to singing, to telling him stories, until he admitted she was making him feel like a child and he could fall asleep on his own. She blushed. It was easy to fall back on treating him like a child when he'd been missing for so long. She left him, as he asked, and went to her own room. That night, she did cry like so many others, but this time from joy as well as despair.
When Charlotte rose in the morning, she was anxious to know if Daniel had gotten a good night's sleep; with everything they'd talked about, she was worried about him having horrible nightmares and never being able to rest. This was enough to prompt her to go into his room without knocking.
What she didn't expect to find was nothing at all. His pillowless bed was unmade and the lantern was gone from the floor. She looked around the room worriedly. Where had he gone? She rushed downstairs and checked the dining room - no, the kitchen - nothing there, the sitting-room - empty. Charlotte dug through every room in the house, calling his name, but there was no one.
Had she made it all up? Had she gone delirious from being lonely for so long and hallucinated the whole thing? She shook her head. That was absurd. Why would she make up that horrific tale just to explain her brother's absence? No, he had to be here somewhere.
She rushed back upstairs, looking everywhere, even places he couldn't possibly fit. Under her bed. In her drawers. Under the table in the hall. Under his bed. In his wardr-
There he was.
Charlotte heaved a sigh of relief. Daniel was laying across the bottom of his wardrobe, cushioned by pillows, sound asleep. His lantern was cradled against his stomach. He didn't look like he was being tortured by any nightmares. She softly closed the cabinet door and left, planning to ask him about it when he came down for breakfast.