Steve opened the door to Alex's room, holding up a torch to find her sitting hunched up against the wall beside her bed. He didn't bother asking why, as the muffled cries from beneath the cabin were the reason he'd gone to check on her in the first place. As the redhead lifted her chin to meet his eyes, Steve crossed the small bedroom and sank down beside her, placing the torch before him and tugging his little sister against his side.

"He'll be okay," he told her softly. "It's okay." Alex just silently pressed her head against his side.

For the last five nights, Steven had been plagued with nightmares. This wasn't out of character for him, or Steve, for that matter. The intensity of his reactions, though, certainly was. He was violent before he woke, thrashing and screaming and bursts of uncontrolled power breaking free. The first night, Steve had woken him, and he had consoled him until dawn. The second night of that cycle they had agreed that it may be best for him to sleep in the basement for the time being.

Alex was unsettled, and rightfully so. She knew Steven to be stern, authoritative, and above all calm and stoic. She had never seen him grow more than agitated, much less screaming in fear. Her brothers had explained the situation to her, that his traumatic past sometimes reared its ugly head, but it still frightened her to see her big brother so vulnerable to his night terrors.

It frightened Stephan, too. Not only to see him out of control, a state that went hand in hand with memories of pain and suffering, but that Steven wouldn't tell him what his dreams were about.

Talking through their nightmares was standard procedure for them. It helped them work through what had scared them so badly, helped them not be so bad the next night. Helped them process the memory, understand that it was over, that they were safe now and it was never coming back. But these dreams Steven refused to share, even as they continued to plague him night after night after night. And Stephan couldn't understand why.

At first, he had wondered if it was related to him. Maybe Steven was dreaming of the time he'd tried to kill him, and didn't want to bring up the memories that were just as (if not more) painful for his little brother. But he'd asked, on the third night, if it was about him, and Steven could only shake his head mutely. Not related to him. Something long ago, perhaps, before the two of them had ever met? Because surely Stephan knew by now everything he had suffered since.

The cries from below had gone quiet, and Stephen gave his little sister a squeeze and a kiss on the head before easing himself upright.

"I'm going to go check on him," He said softly. "You get some sleep, alright?" Alex nodded silently, crawling up and back into her bed- leaving the torch on the ground, Stephan noticed.

He slipped out of her room, shutting the door quietly behind her and moving to the trap door that separated the basement from the main room. Slowly, he eased it open, feeling around with his foot for the first rung of the ladder.

"Steven?" He called down softly. He got a small hum in response, and took that to mean he was welcome, continuing down the ladder until his bare foot touched the stone floor.

It was dark, of course, but Steven was easy to locate where he sat against the far wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. His eyes were half lidded, glowing faintly in the darkness and obviously reddened from crying. They slid shut as Stephan approached him, sinking down at his side, as though he was ashamed to acknowledge that his brother was there.

"Same dream?" Stephan whispered. His answer was a tiny nod. "You okay?" Was his second question, a rather pointless one since he was obviously not okay, but they both knew that his real question was are you coherent enough to not lash out? Stephan got another nod.

Slowly, he eased his arm around his older brother, settling against his side. Steven didn't lean into the embrace, but nor did he reject it, simply enduring the gentle touch. There were a few moments of silence as they sat in the dark cellar, pitch-black save for the small amount of moonlight that trickled through the cabin windows and down the ladder shaft. Steven's eyes remained closed.

"You ready t' talk about it yet?" Stephan murmured.

"No." Steven whispered in response. Stephan frowned a bit, starting to rub his older brother's arm where his hand rested on his bicep.

"Even if it's the only thing that'll help?" He mumbled. Steven gave no response. "Steven…"

"No." Steven's voice was hoarse, but firm. "Not this one."

"Steven please, I hate seeing you like this. I can't help you if you won't let me."

"This cannot be helped."

"Why?" Stephan could feel frustration creeping into his voice, and he struggled to tamp it down. "Can't you give me something?"

"I will not inflict this upon you." Steven's voice was strained, his eyes still pinned shut. "This is for me alone to suffer."

"You're not the only one suffering." Stephan protested, his tone a bit sharp. "You're exhausted, we all are- Alex is scared, and so am I!" Steven only seemed to further retreat at this, and Stephan pushed on. "You've barely slept for a week. This- this isn't going away on its own." He grasped his brother's hand, giving it an urgent squeeze. "Whatever it is, Steven, I can handle it." Stephan promised. "Please, let me help you."

Steven didn't react at first to his impassioned speech. Finally, though, his lips parted, and he took a shaky breath before whispering,

"There's something you don't know about the lab."

Stephan stilled, his heart beginning to thud in his chest at just the mention of it- a change he was sure his brother picked up on immediately. Unwilling to give him a reason to stop, though, he prompted, "Before I arrived?"

"No." Steven gave a small shake of his head. "After. After the… the wolves. And we met Joseph." Stephan blinked, confusion flickering across his face. Shortly after that, he had… he hated to think of it, so it took him a moment to recall, but… he had been released into Joseph's care, and a few sleep cycles later he had been reunited with Steven.

"When I was taken away…?" He tried. A small nod.

"Somethin'… happened."

Fear snaked through Stephan's chest, and he probed more deeply the memory of seeing Steven again. What happened? Had he missed something, or blocked it out?

"What?" He finally asked. Steven shifted against him.

"…I was hurt." His voice cracked. "Badly." Stephan stiffened, then opened his mouth, to acknowledge or comfort or something but Steven was already going on, as though the dam was broken and nothing would stop his words now. "That one, that one that hurt you, he was furious that you had been taken out of his grasp. So he took it out on me. He did- he wanted to see if I could die." Cold fear settled in Stephan's chest. He already knew the answer to that. "I can't."

"Oh Steven." Stephan whispered, horrified.

"He could not kill me, but he broke me." Steven went on, his whispers strained. "So he gave me to Joseph to fix."

"And he did." Stephan finished numbly. "So that I… never noticed." Steven nodded.

"I didn't want you to."

"I know…"

"It was only one night." Steven went on, eyes pinned tightly shut. "Just one- then Joseph fixed me, and my eye, and- and I forgot about it, I made myself forget." His whispered voice wavered dangerously. "And now it won't l-leave me be."

"Steven…" was all that Stephan could manage, heart pounding, feeling sick with guilt. How had he never seen this? He had even been able to pick out scars he didn't recognize, and had simply passed them off as having not noticed them before, when in actuality he- he'd missed his brother's suffering.

Stephan inhaled shakily, forcing himself to gather his composure. He had no time to wallow in guilt. Not when his brother was trembling and crying at his side.

"They're gone." He managed, his voice choked as he tried to keep from succumbing to tears. "They're long gone, locked away for good for what they tried to do to Caden."

"I know." Steven whispered miserably. "I know he is- and yet, every night he returns to taunt me." Stephan didn't know how to respond, and he guessed that his barely-restrained tears would only serve to make his brother more distressed. So, instead, he wordlessly offered his arms.

A moment later, he had an armful of Steven, clinging to him like he had when they had first been reunited in that cold, sterile prison cell. Stephan held him tightly, squeezing his eyes shut as the tears escaped to run down his face. He could feel Steven's little trembles as he held him tightly, face buried in his sleeve. Stephan patted his brother's back gently, trying to soothe him, ground him in reality. He wondered momentarily if having some light would be better, but soon scrapped that idea - the lab had always been brightly lit. Steven felt safer in the dark.

Only once he'd cried himself out, and his throat had cleared, did Stephan speak. "I don't want you to sleep alone down here anymore." He whispered. "It won't help."

"I don't want t' hurt you," came Steven's feeble response.

"You won't." Stephan promised. "I know you won't." Steven gave a shuddering sigh, and Stephen instinctively pressed a kiss to the top of his head. If Steven noticed, he didn't show it. "I could come down here with you," Stephan went on, raising his voice to a murmur. "Until the nightmares go away. Or you could come back upstairs." Steven didn't answer, and Stephan took the lack of protests as a victory.

Neither of them moved for a long while, remaining in each other's embrace as they slowly calmed from their rough night. Stephan kept up his little pats, occasionally switching up the rhythm to keep his brother from sinking too deeply into his own head. After about half an hour of this, Steven shifted in his arms.

"Le's go upstairs." He whispered. Stephan blinked, but nodded,

"'F course."

The two of them slowly dragged themselves upright, stiff and sore from barely moving for so long, and Stephan guided his brother up the ladder first before following him up. Steven was quick to sink down onto his own bed, upon which Stephan sat down on the edge.

"Wan' me to stay?" He murmured.

"Please."

"Alright." Stephan collected his bed from a few blocks away, placed it beside his brother's, and curled up beside him. "Night, Steven." He murmured. Steven blinked at him lazily, then let his eyes drift shut.

"Goodnight."

The next day, the nightmares finally stopped.