The dreams were relentless. She'd answer the brain-bots' call and rush to the alleyway, but he'd be dead this time. She'd be too late, his injuries more severe, blood pooling across the ground. Or he wouldn't be there at all, leaving a trail of bloody boot-prints that she'd follow and follow but never find him. In each dream she would fall to her knees, screaming her frustration, her anger, her loss. Screaming that it wasn't fair, it wasn't right. And then it would rain.
She didn't want to go back to sleep this time. The clock blinked 3:00am; hours left in which to get a decent night's sleep. No. She couldn't, not again, she didn't want to think about blood any more. There hadn't even been that much blood.
Last night, when she'd dragged a chair into his room and fallen asleep watching him breathe, she'd been too exhausted to dream at all. Time had passed without her noticing, dead to the world. Tonight it was all she could do to get a few minutes REM sleep that didn't have her waking to her pillow soaked with sweat and tears.
Roxanne sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She'd been afraid when she'd found him, afraid driving him home, afraid when she'd got there and helped Minion put him back together. The sight of his hand - broken, bleeding, swollen - had made her feel ill. She'd pushed it all down, only allowing herself to cry when they'd done all they could. It was relief she'd felt then, that he was home and safe, that they'd patched him up OK, that they could rest. Crying had felt good. But the fear had slunk back out of the shadows and was making itself known in her dreams.
It had been like this after... after Titan. When she'd seem Megamind impaled on the spike of that building her heart had stopped. In the excitement of the fight, the heat of the moment, adrenaline running through her so she couldn't feel the pain of her own injuries, nothing had mattered but safety, the next moment, the next move. But it had been Minion, not Megamind, and only his suit was impaled. She'd felt terror, and then relief. It was only later that night, when Megamind had driven her home and she had said goodnight with a chaste kiss... She had thought the expression of wonder on his face would keep her warm that night. Instead she was plagued with nightmares. Titan with his hands on her, carrying her away. Titan finding her no matter how well she hid herself. Megamind impaled on that spike, dying before she could find the words to tell him how she felt. The image never left her, never mind that she knew how things had turned out. It still flashed across the back of her eyelids some nights, like the sight of Metrocity rising up to meet her.
And now it seemed she had a new image to add to her collection. She squeezed her eyes shut against the threat of tears. He hadn't died. Hadn't even come close. He's fine. He's alive. I'll see him tomorrow - today. Soon. He'll be happy and alive, grinning and joking like he was yesterday. He's alive.
Yet still, a part of her was so, so afraid that he would somehow slip away from her.