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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Chapter 9: Lullaby 'em Nasty Nightmare away!

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Klee was not really having fun today.

With most of the knights busy, with Jean buried by paperwork and Albedo working on an experiment, the pointy-eared girl had little to no one to to play with. Katheryne from the Adventure Guild had sent her on a few commissions, but those were so... easy. Bombing some hilichurls, helping people finding some ingredients for their meals, and also finding some strange rock things that Archeo-thingy people were looking for.

Nothing new, nothing interesting. The girl sat on her room for a while, wondering what to do next as she knew that the simplest option was to visit John. He was always willing to put aside his strange businesses for her. Always headpatting her, always giving her healthy food, and always being there to play with her. But while that was nice and all, Klee knew that not everyone liked to be pestered. And she knew that going now to check on him would just annoy the hilichurl and make him angry at her.

Out of all people that Klee didn't want to annoy or irritate, John was perhaps the one close to Jean in terms of 'danger zone'. It wasn't because of the potential chance of being punished by being forced to stay put in a room to 'think of what she did' as Jean tended to do, but because of the chances of losing him as a person to visit. Jean was almost family to Klee, while John was a friend. A nice friend, but still a friend. And he would hate her if she tried to be too excessive with her visiting.

But between craving for attention and the chance of losing that source of affection, Klee allowed her childish self to drive her right at his house, knowing that she was risking a lot. She knocked at the door, softly so, and then a bit louder when no one came to check. At first, she thought that John was out hunting, but then as she knocked a bit stronger, the door gave way and revealed that he had to be home. He never left the hut's door open if he wasn't around.

Much to her surprise, he was actually there, snoring quietly from the small bed he had between the living room and the kitchen. Giving his back to the room's entrance, the intelligent Hilichurl was deep in his sleep from the looks of it, and... it made Klee feel somewhat sheepish. He caught him while he was napping, that wasn't a nice thing to do while visiting but...

At the same time, Klee felt somewhat inspired, especially when the Hilichurl turned in his sleep and rested with his belly up. It looked like a nice surface-pillow to sleep on. Smiling as she knew the idea would help her out of a potential problem, Klee retrieved her blanket and favorite pillow from her bag and went on with her plan: if she was sleeping too, then there was no way he would be angry.

It was both a chance to avoid getting lectured, while also trying to see how nice it was sleeping with someone else after so long. Jean would be the one that would do that back when her mother was around and before the Grandmaster left, but now that was no longer a thing since 'she was all grow up and should worry about other things'.

The child didn't care about being old or not, after all, she was feeling nappy and wanted to avoid some issues with John. Curling up and nuzzling on his upper chest, Klee held back a giggle when the hilichurl shuddered in his sleep and, unconsciously, wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

She was suddenly enveloped in one of the nicest embraces she had in recent times, her youthful body instantly depleted of any remaining energy after spending almost a full day doing stuff around the city and the region. Eyes closing and mind slipping away, Klee felt her surrounding shifting as she slumbered with a smile... but soon discovered the world of dreams waiting for her was not a pleasant one as she would have wanted.

After all, there was so much sadness in her beyond the brief happiness that soon a nightmare took her.

I think it was the growing sound of the FBI's sirens getting closer that brought me out of my eternal slumber, my eyes opening slowly as I got accustomed to the questions tied to what could have led the invaders of private properties in my humble abode.

After all, I wasn't housing Heisenberg or Jesse from Breaking Bad- I had yet to learn where the Mexico of this world was to get something like that done to begin with. But while jokes were quick to come to mind, panic was quite faster when I realized that I may be Epstein'd if I didn't do something about the loli that had turned my chest onto a bed, with blanket and pillow to further enable her slumber. Klee just looked deep in her sleep, and it was easy to wrap her in her blanket, lift her up and settled her on the now empty bed as I stood over her with many questions.

Like, what is this loli doing in my house and in such a dangerous position. I was no pervert, but that didn't spare her from getting molested by the cold. The blanket was, after all, quite basic and not worthy to use within a hut with a window that allowed gusts of wind in. No, that wouldn't do, so I found a bigger blanked and put it instead of her tiny one. The change was immediate, with her unease shifting slowly but not disappearing entirely.

I was confused- after all, I just fixed her main problem so what could be giving her bad dreams? It didn't even take too long as I continued to watch dutifully over the bomber-loli that the answer came and I...

"M-Mama," Klee weakly mumbled in her sleep.

Stopped thinking like a moron for a moment. Like, I can be a demented fuck all the times of the year plus more, but I felt instigated to behave with a sane mind for the time being. It hurt to do that, I could feel an odd migraine appearing in my brain when I started to plot seriously abotu it and... I realized. Klee needed a lullaby. And I am a hilichurl with a shitty voice.

I had been exercising on how to speak on a more 'proper' manner with mixed results. It was possible, but my throat would ache like hell once I was done and-

I gave a look at Klee once more... the child was cuddling tightly at one of her plushies, crying against it and trying to curl in a fetal position. Yep, that's... that's bad.

Klee needed this.

I huffed, patted my face angrily with my mask still on and... and I frowned.

I can do it, I just had to focus properly, not allow anything to stop me. I have to give it a try now that she needs some lullaby. And I had just the right one.

Clearing my throat, I slowly sat on the bed, right beside where she was resting. I removed my mask to avoid my voice sounding muffled and-

-d-d-d-d-

Klee was having a nightmare. The issue is that she didn't know it was truly a nightmare and it all felt true.

Mom was gone, so was Jean, Albedo, Kaeya, Amber, Eula- everyone was gone! Even Diona. Klee was alone in the cold, her Dodoco failing to explode and create a fire as she slowly freezed within a storm. She was curled up, trying to find warmth but failing- failing and... failing.

Eyes closed, fear taking over as she called on everyone, her mother too and then... the cold vanished as heat covered her neatly. The loneliness persisted, but in her terrified state, the blonde paused as she heard an unfamiliar male voice started to speak- no, sing.

"When the light is running low, and the shadow starts to grow, and the places that you know seems like fantasy~."

She was no longer alone, her head now resting on a lap as a hand slowly caressed some of her hair away from her face. Still, Klee couldn't open her eyes- what if it was a trick of the nightmare?

"There's a light inside your soul, that's still shining in the cold, with the truth... the promise in our hearts~"

Klee shuddered, remembering the many times she was told by others that they would never let her be alone, that this- this was nothing more but a bad dream that she could wake up from. After all, she was a big girl and everyone looked up at her!

"Don't forget."

Her body stirred, and her eyes slowly opened as she bravely stared at the source of the singing, blinking a bit as he saw a smiling figure.

"I am with you in the dark."

Short brown hair, a pleasant smile on his face and a caring approach as he cupped her left cheek before leaning down to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. Tears returned, but it felt different this time around as she unconsciously nuzzled against his face, as if she actually knew him from somewhere.

...

...

"Daddy?"

Klee jumped from the bed as if a sprung by it, her eyes wide open her face sweaty and her attention aimed to around as she tried to find something- or someone, actually.

As a child that knew nothing about holding back her private nightmares, she instantly told me what happened. The cold storm, the warmth, then the song and finally the nice man that was the singer. I didn't... tell her I sang that lullaby, mostly because I could recognize the normie she spoke off as... myself.

I had given her the chance to nuzzle on my lap while I saw singing that lullaby and this development sounded a bit too spicy to actually entertain with others. Once the girl was nice and happy, she realized she sleep a bit too much and she apologized about intruding. I forgave her, telling her to get going before turning up to Monstadt too late.

And as I was soon left alone to my own thoughts and insanity, I couldn't help but question more than just that bizarre situation:

Why the hell does it hurt so much to think like a sane person?

AN

The answer to these two odd situations will soon be made known!