Hello there, and thanks for stopping by! Thank you to those that have followed, favorited, and reviewed - seriously made my day seeing those notifications!

Prepare for seriously sad feelings ahead. Title is taken from ACOWAR because it involves both wings and ruin after the battle with Hybern.

Prompt: Nightmares
Character: Cassian

You wake up with an "oomph" and a pain in your stomach. You are about shove Cassian over until one of his wings, wrapped in a blanket, smashes into your face. Then you hear his heavy breathing and panting, incoherent words. You roll out of the bed to avoid the thrashing body next to you, and you run to the end of the bed to figure out the best way to go about this. His wings and legs are caught up in the covers, and he looks like he's trying to attack something.

Cassian, wake up.

You climb up onto the bed and pin his legs.

Cassian, wake up!

He thrashes worse than before and actually lets out a half-roar. You jump off his legs and crawl next to him. You grab his face and slap him, hard.

CASSIAN!

You're about to go in for another slap, usually a surefire way to get him to wake up, when you're suddenly and harshly overturned. He looms over you, the two Siphons on his hands gleaming.

"CASSIAN!" You shout at him and down your bond.

Two bright red lights form at his hands. You winnow out of the way in time and see that there are now two smoking holes in the bed.

"CASSIAN, WAKE UP!"

He falls back down to the bed, and when his face hits the pillows, you run back to him. He whirls around and wakes up. You freeze, stopping unintentionally halfway across the room. He takes in his surroundings with wide eyes, kneeling on the bed. His chest heaves, and you are overwhelmed by his emotions that are unfiltered and coursing through the bond—the rage of the Lord of Bloodshed, the fear of a bastard born Illyrian, and the confusion of a male that thought he was back on the battlefield. His eyes slide to you, and his body and wings slump in defeat as he realizes what's happened. You quickly walk over to him.

"I'm so sorry—"

"It's all right—"

"Did I—?"

"No, I'm fine, unharmed," you tell him. Before you can do anything or say more, he pulls you to him and buries his face in the crook of your neck. His hands splay protectively over your back before curling in your loose, tangled hair as his arms tighten around your back, pinning your arms to your sides. "Cass—"

"I'm so sorry."

You freeze again. His voice is strained, and as he inhales, he trembles and pulls you even closer to the point that it's starting to hurt. That's when you feel something wet hit your skin, and your stomach twists and coils in on itself. You wriggle your arms free, making Cassian readjust his grip, but you hold him just as tightly. You swallow, finding it hard to do so as the wetness grows on your neck and as his body shakes more. You hold his head, running a hand through his sweaty hair. You grimace at the exposed scar on your arm, hating it more than ever because this is one of the many things that causes your mate to have nightmares. The two of you stay there for uncounted minutes until his shaking subsides. When it does, when his breathing has bettered, you kiss the top of his head and cup his face, lifting it to meet yours. His bloodshot eyes roam your face, and he leans in, pressing his lips softly to yours.

"I better untangle your wings," you tell him softly, remembering his wings only because they move sporadically.

He looks behind him, his lips twitching in amusement at the bed sheets that are wrapped around his sensitive, slowly healing wings, and he straightens them out for you. You unwrap his wings as quickly and gently as you can, not wanting to irritate the bandaged wings. When you have the end of the bed sheets in your hands, Cassian guides you both back onto bed, only to see the holes he created in his nightmare state. He forcefully exhales and wipes his face.

"We can get a new mattress, or have one of the others look at it tomorrow," you assure him, running a hand up and down his arm. A gnawing sense of guilt comes over you. You used your limited magic just to get out of the way and now can't fix the bed. Rationally, you know it's stupid to think like that, and Cassian would certainly agree. That doesn't help matters, especially as you take in his drawn and defeated expression.

"I guess it's a good thing I picked an apartment with two bedrooms," he says.

The room that was yours—the sheets freshly changed and where you still kept all of your belongings. Not intentionally, you meant to change that before the battle. That would, you hope, become a guest room or… something even more precious. But when Hybern destroyed the wall, the timeline and everything had changed, and all of them were only starting to get back to normal. You know that, much like tonight, this would not be an unusual occurrence for a long while yet.

Since the battle, you have been sleeping beside Cassian. He told you so that it was he could protect you in case of rogue agents of Hybern wanting another shot at killing the female they knew was his weakness. You told yourself it was because it would assure yourself that you had both made it out of the battle, that as nightmares plagued you, that you could be with the one who would calm and soothe your soul. Unfortunately, he has been the one that has needed the calming more than you.

You grab his hand now, entwining your fingers with his, which he squeezes in turn before you make your way down the hall. Everything was as you left it.

"I'm just… going to freshen up first."

"All right."

He heads into the bathroom a step or two behind, and you enter the room. You go to the window and unlatch it, letting in the night breeze. You untuck the neat sheets and look around the room absentmindedly. Maybe after the mattress is fixed tomorrow, you will start moving your belongings into his room. Suggest that sharing a bed permanently is the next step, one you are ready to take.

"Are you all right?" he asks, walking into the room. You shake your head out of its reverie and nod, meeting his eyes.

"I want to move my things into your room tomorrow."

Cassian's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but there is a hint of happiness in his eyes as he takes your hands. "We can do that." The two of you climb under the sheets and blankets. Cassian bands his arms around you, nuzzling his face into your neck, and you rub his back. "Can you do something for me?" he requests.

"What is it?" you ask as you run your fingers through his hair, willing to do anything to rid him of the tension in his body and mind.

"Can you sing?"

You know why and which song he wants without clarification. The effect of your singing is immediate, and regardless of your voice cracking on the familiar high and low notes, the tension is leaving his body. Thankfully, Cassian falls back asleep quickly and does not see or feel the tears that are streaming down your face by the time you finish the song.

Favorites, follows, and reviews are much appreciated! I already have planned several prompts, but if there is a prompt you want me to do with a character in mind or just an idea, let me know in a review!

Lots of love ~ mysterious victoria

Next prompt: Meeting the family/friends