From Night, Comes Day

AN: Yay~ Laven week day two~

Prompt: New day

Cannon, Allen first person

Please enjoy and review~

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Night has always been a difficult time for me. In the hazy memories from before I met Mana I remembered terror, I remembered being alone and vulnerable, surrounded by a darkness so thick I could hardly breathe. I remembered the ghouls that lurked in the haze of night, the ones that only a child's mind could conjure up. I remembered the fear that would grip me as I curled into myself, counting the seconds until the sun rose and I could make my way through the world bathed in sunlight again.

The people who roamed the streets of night were another thing that terrified me. Maybe more than the demons my mind created. I'd heard the horror stories of the older street children who hadn't been quick enough to get away. No one would ever tell me what happened to them, but now that I'm older, I'm glad they kept that from me. There are some nightmarish visions that shouldn't taint a mind when it's so young.

Even after Mana and I found each other, the night held fear for me. I would curl up his lap after a nightmare, trembling in terror as his arms came around me and soothed my fear away. But he could never completely take away the visions that lingered on the edge of my consciousness; he could never banish the fear for good, because the next night I would crawl into his embrace, trembling all over. I hated how I was so weak, so alone when the black velvet of the night sky pressed around me, blocking out my vision, muting my hearing, taking away my air. Even now, at sixteen years old I felt that way some nights.

I didn't see the same demons as when I was a child. My mind created new ones for me to suffer under, images of my friends, people whom I cared so much for, bloodied and in pain when I could have saved them. The order, my home, in ruins, destroyed when I should have stepped up to protect it. The souls of all the Akuma I've slain over the years. The life I've come to know and love vanishing into dust before my eyes. The sound of my father's voice after I betrayed him in the worst way imaginable, trapping his soul in that twisted metal body. The one I love lying lifeless and cold at my feet, his blood dripping off my hands.

I sat up at the last thought, sighing and rubbing my eyes as I looked around the room. I didn't shake in fear anymore because of the night, but sleep often evaded me. Sometimes it was my cursed eye giving me trouble, activating and spinning around and around and around until I was so dizzy I hardly knew which way was up. But the root of my insomnia wasn't my curse. I often wished it was, because I would probably get a lot more sleep if it was.

The sleeping man beside me stirred slightly and I looked at him with a smile as he pulled the blankets up until nothing but his fiery red hair was visible. Lavi always was an adorable sleeper. He moved around a lot, mumbling quietly or cuddling up against my body as I tried to sleep. The first several nights we slept in the same bed it had been strange to see someone so active in their sleep; I hadn't noticed it when we shared hotel rooms. I had never shared a bed with anyone, let alone someone who moved so much in their sleep, but it soon became soothing to me. The soft murmur of his voice in my ear and he cuddled my body close in the dead of night had lulled me into sleep more times than I could count.

Sometimes I got a little jealous of Lavi's uncanny ability to sleep. Honestly, the man could sleep anywhere and in any position. I once caught him snoozing in a tree branch one summer afternoon when he was avoiding his bookman work. Another time he had been sitting upside down in one of the plush library chairs as he read and fell asleep like that, hair grazing the floor, book still loosely gripped in his hand. It was endearing but to have him snoozing away beside me at four in the morning was somewhat frustrating.

This particular night, I knew that nothing was going to allow me to sleep so I just lay there, counting the tiles of Lavi's ceiling, mulling things over. Stress often caused my insomnia, and the lack of sleep often caused more stress, making it a rather vicious circle when I got pulled into a particularly nasty bout of restlessness. I tried my best not to get grouchy and no one but Lavi seemed to notice. Well, Lavi and Link noticed but that was it thankfully. Explaining my insomnia to anyone else would only make the others worry and I didn't want that. Lavi worried about me enough for everyone, and Link didn't really care as long as I didn't do anything suspicious.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I remembered one day when I had collapsed from exhaustion. It had been just after Link was assigned to 'stalk' me and Lavi and I had agreed that it would be best if Link was kept in the dark about our relationship. That meant no sleeping together. And for me that meant extra stress on top of everything else.

I had been walking with Lavi, eyes drooping as Link trailed behind us, taking notes on something or other when all of a sudden my legs just gave out and I dropped towards the stone floor. I vaguely remember being caught before I actually landed, but everything went black and I finally got some much needed sleep. When I opened my eyes again, Lavi was asleep in yet another awkward position, draped over an infirmary chair. Link informed me that I had been asleep for about nineteen hours and he demanded to know the reason. I was annoyed to say the least, so I asked him if he'd ever gone six days without sleeping.

That led into a long conversation where he suggested my insomnia was caused by the fourteenth and I went off on him, still over tired after not sleeping enough for just short of a week. When a hand was very suddenly over my mouth, I couldn't really do anything but blink in surprise as the events unfolded before me.

I remember Link looking utterly shocked as Lavi grinned, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning his chin on my shoulder, saying with the mischievousness of a child; "Sorry, Two-Spots. My Allen here has a hard time sleeping some nights. Especially when I'm not in bed beside him." needless to say from then on, Link made no fuss about where and who I slept with. As long as I met up with him before breakfast and went away with Lavi just before we went to bed, he didn't say anything.

I was incredibly grateful for that.

"...Allen...?" I started from my thoughts and turned to Lavi as he blinked sleepily at me, "... can't sleep?" I smiled and rolled on my side, stroking Lavi's cheek affectionately as he struggled to keep his eye open.

"Nope. But you should." I murmured quietly, not wanting to jolt him fully awake. He would insist on staying up with me, then end up falling asleep in some unheard of position halfway through the day. I didn't want him to get in trouble with Bookman so I continued to stroke his hair and face soothingly, pressing a light kiss to his forehead.

"But you're awake..." I could hear in his voice slur with exhaustion as he fought the losing battle against sleep.

"It's only a little while until sunrise. Just go back to sleep, Lavi." the redhead nodded and I moved closer to him, pulling him flush against me, resting my chin on the top of his head. Lavi buried his face into the side on my neck and sighed, allowing himself to be held. I did that most nights I couldn't sleep. Pull Lavi into my arms and stroke his hair until he mumbled and rolled over or kicked at me in his sleep or something of that nature.

Within moments Lavi was breathing evenly, mumbling quietly about something to himself as he fell asleep in my arms. I smiled, gently running the fingers of my left hand through his hair. I loved doing that, but I didn't really do it while Lavi was awake. I knew he wouldn't mind, but it made me nervous to think about what kind of face he would make should I do that while he was conscious.

I heaved a tired sigh as I continued to play with Lavi's hair, looking out the window at the lightening sky. I always found the morning after a sleepless night a bit depressing, like I wasted the only time I got to sleep over thinking things. But as light spilled into the room as the sun slowly rose as woke the world outside of Lavi's window I couldn't help but smile a little.

After all, a new day meant that my inner demons vanish, even if just for a while.

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END

AN: HA! I did it. :3 this one too me forever to write for some reason. Oh well. :3 happy Laven week everyone!

Also. The completely Beta'd version of this seems to have vanished. I am unamused. I fixed what I remembered and I will repost it again when I get the chance.

thanks to Dhampir72 for betaing both chapters so far!