Prompt used: Multiple Whumpees
Scott shot up in bed as he abruptly woke up.
His chest heaved as he struggled to gasp in breaths. He darted his eyes around the room to remind himself of where he was. It felt like he was still there. It was too real.
He realised he was in his bedroom. The strip of light that peeked past the curtains indicated it was morning, and the safety of home slowed down his heart rate. He took several, deep breaths to calm himself from his fright.
He tried to remember what his dream, or really nightmare, had been about, but whatever had woken him up quickly drifted past the point that he could grab onto those memories again.
What had scared him so much?
He frowned, but didn't dwell on the thought for long. It was hardly the first scary dream he'd had, and it was to be expected after-
He pushed the covers aside and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He stretched, feeling a stiff ache across his back and shoulders. He must have slept in a weird position.
Padding down the stairs, he noticed the house was quiet. Eerily so, without any sound or movement. It seemed he was the first one up.
He made his way to the kitchen, where he stood at the window, his gaze on the world outside. The sky was grey and cloudy, nothing at all like the hot, sunny days they'd been having all week.
"A storm is coming."
Scott hadn't even noticed John was standing next to him. Had he been there when Scott arrived?
"Yeah, looks like it," he replied, before he fully took in that his brother was there. "Why aren't you in Five?"
"Do you want breakfast?" John turned away and walked across the room.
"Sure." Scott watched him walk off, and then looked back over at the sky. His brother was right, it certainly looked like a storm was approaching. "We'll need to put those sun loungers away before it rains. I'll go and see where the others are. Knowing them, they'll want breakfast too."
John didn't reply as he left the room.
Scott made his way up the stairs, but stumbled as a pain suddenly spiked through his temple. He winced and squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the pain to pass.
It didn't take long, maybe only a few seconds, before the pain was gone again. It was immediately replaced by the sound of a melody drifting down towards him from upstairs.
Scott straightened, and continued on his way to the living room, where Virgil was sitting at the piano.
As Scott got closer to the sound, he was struck by such a familiarity with what his brother was playing that he stopped still for the second time in less than a minute.
"I know that song," he said before he even knew the words were leaving his mouth.
"Hm?" Virgil didn't stop playing or even look at Scott.
"What's that song?"
"Oh, I don't know." Even as Virgil spoke, he didn't falter a single note. The sound continued in its monotonous tone.
"It sounds so… familiar." Scott knew he had heard it before. He wasn't sure what the name of it was, and even as Virgil played, he couldn't remember how it went. It just held such a sense of something he knew well, like… pain?
No, that wasn't it.
Grief.
"Have you seen Gordon or Alan?" Scott asked his brother.
Finally, Virgil glanced his way. "Check the basement."
"Check the basement, I'm reading a lifesign."
"FAB."
Scott wandered through the hanger, trying to catch any sign of his brothers. He had to pick his way over the debris that littered the floor, glass crunching under his feet. He'd forgotten to put on shoes, but it was fine.
He climbed over a slab of concrete and dusted off his shorts, before he looked around some more. It didn't take him long to see the figure trudging across the debris towards him.
"Alan?"
"Hi, Scott." Alan waved. He was still wearing his uniform. However, it was absent of the sash and chest plate.
"Where's the rest of your uniform?" Scott asked him.
"I lost it." Alan shrugged, wincing as he did so, and then gestured to the area around them. "They cut it off me."
Scott frowned. "What?"
"What?" Alan looked at him in confusion.
Scott just rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Whatever. John's making breakfast. Get dressed and come to the kitchen if you want any."
Scott turned and headed back the way he'd come. He only made it a few feet before he stopped.
Was he looking for something?
He looked around, but the hanger was empty. He couldn't remember.
At the kitchen table, a plate appeared in front of him. John sat down on the chair next to Scott, and Virgil and Alan were across the table from him.
"We'll need to put the sun loungers away before it rains," Scott told them. Thunder rumbled in the distance as a warning to accompany his words.
"I'm sure the storm won't be that bad. Maybe only a drizzle."
Scott looked up when he heard his brother's voice. Gordon walked into the room, and when Scott laid his eyes on him, he shot out of his seat.
"What is it?" Gordon looked down at himself and then back up at Scott.
Scott blinked, and it was his brother again. He wasn't soaked in blood, like what Scott thought he'd seen a second ago.
He shook the image out of his head, and tried to control his breathing as he sat back down.
"Sorry. I thought that I- never mind." His brothers were all looking at him in concern, and Scott averted his gaze. Maybe he was just remembering his nightmare from last night.
He directed his attention down at his plate to eat what John had made for them. He had been expecting pancakes or something like that, not a plate of rubble.
He went to ask John why he had chosen to give him this, but when he turned his head, he found the chair next to him empty. A quick glance around the kitchen showed he was nowhere to be seen.
"Did anyone see where John went?" He asked his brothers.
"He went to search upstairs," Virgil answered idly whilst he pushed his own plate of stones around with a fork.
"Search for what?" Scott didn't remember his brother saying he was looking for something.
"For…" Virgil trailed off, and lifted his head. His brow creased when he realised he didn't have an answer. "I can't remember."
They sat in silence for a long moment, but it was broken by another rumble of thunder that was much louder this time.
They all flinched, and Scott looked outside as the beginnings of rain started to tap against the window.
"Need to get those loungers." Scott stood up, but something struck him around the temple.
He clutched onto the back of his seat so he didn't fall over. He grasped at his head where he'd been hit, and he blinked blearily as the pain started to subside.
"What the…" Scott searched around to find what had hit him, but there was nothing.
He looked back at his brothers, but to his surprise, none of them reacted to what had happened. Instead, they were all getting up from the table.
"I'm going to go play the piano," Virgil said as he headed back upstairs.
Gordon and Alan went to follow him, but stopped when Scott called out after them.
"Can you guys help me?"
"I need help."
His two brothers blinked at him for a moment, before following him outside.
Scott hadn't realised how windy it was until he was out on the patio. He had to keep wiping rain out of his eyes as it kept getting whipped into his face. It had really picked up now. Gordon was wrong about it being just a drizzle.
He pushed his hair out of his face once again as he struggled to see where his brothers were. They were meant to be taking down the umbrellas, but when Scott looked over to the opposite side of the pool, he couldn't see through the mist.
"Gordon? Al?" Scott blinked rapidly, his hands wiping his face as more rain poured down it.
"Where are you guys?" He yelled again. "Gor-"
He spun around, and his brother was right behind him.
"What?"
"How are you guys getting on?" Scott asked him, just wanting this to be done with so they could head back inside.
"We got the umbrellas back in the shed."
Scott wondered how he hadn't seen them, as he had just gotten back from putting the loungers in the shed, but decided it wasn't worth questioning it. What mattered was that everything was strapped down or put away, and they could finally get out of the rain.
He looked down at his little brother, but realised something was amiss.
"Where's Alan?"
Gordon just shrugged.
Scott sighed, and turned to the door.
"Must have gone inside."
More rain rapidly streamed down his face, and he groaned in frustration as it poured quicker than he could wipe it away.
"Scott, you're bleeding." Gordon gripped onto his arm to stop him from where he was about to head indoors. When Scott looked at him in confusion, he saw his gaze was on a spot above Scott's eyes.
Scott glanced down at his wet hands, and instead of water like he'd been expecting, he found them covered in blood.
He raised a hand to his head, and winced.
"Must have been hit by a flying twig," Scott supposed, and shrugged it off. "Let's just go back inside."
The pair of them trod water all over the floor as they headed back into the villa. Once they were inside, Scott could hear the same tune he'd heard earlier.
"I wish Virgil would stop playing that music," he muttered.
It was starting to grate on him. Just the sound of those keys being pressed made his chest feel tight, like he could never quite get a full breath in. He wanted Virgil to stop.
He headed to the living room to tell his brother to do just that. Didn't he know any other songs to play?
The living room was empty.
There was no one sat at the piano.
The music continued to play as Scott walked over. It got louder the closer he got, but the keys of the piano were still.
"Where is that music coming from?" He growled out through clenched teeth. He needed it to stop.
His head started to pound again in rhythm to the music.
It definitely sounded like it was coming from the piano, but as he circled the instrument, he couldn't find the source. Something had to be playing it.
He rubbed his temple and looked around, but his gaze got caught on the one other person in the room. A thought struck him.
"Is this some sort of prank, Gordon?" Scott stormed over to his brother. "Because if it is, it isn't funny and you need to stop it right now."
He stopped when he reached his brother's side, and waited for some sort of reply or apology.
But Gordon didn't move.
"Gordon?"
His brother stared out the window, his gaze fixed on the raging storm outside.
"You can stop this now. You got me."
Gordon didn't react. He was really starting to freak Scott out now. Scott had never seen his brother so still, so quiet. He would give anything for Gordon to burst out laughing right now, and for his brothers to come out of hiding and tell him they'd tricked him and got it all on camera. He wouldn't care, because at least then he would know everything was fine.
"I've been here before," Gordon suddenly said.
"What?" Scott rounded his brother so he was standing in front of him. He leant down to try to catch Gordon's gaze, but he continued to stare past him to the view out the window.
"I've been here before," he said again. His arms were wrapped around his abdomen.
At that moment, the lights of the villa flickered out for a moment. Gordon clutched onto him, and he could hear the way his brother's shallow, rapid breaths wheezed.
The lights came back on, but the storm had made the outdoors look completely black, even though it was still morning. At least, Scott thought it was morning still. It felt like forever since he'd woken up.
"I'm going to go and look for the others." Scott was getting concerned that he hadn't seen his other brothers for a while.
However, before he could step away, Gordon had latched himself onto Scott's arm.
"Please don't leave me!"
"Please don't leave me."
Scott looked at his brother in shock. He sounded so scared.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."
His brother looked so scared.
He did just as he promised, and didn't leave his brother's side. The two of them continued to drip water all over the floor. They needed to dry off.
Scott looked down at the mess they were making, but his eyes widened in alarm.
The ground beneath them was stained red.
Scott stared at the growing puddle, and then snapped his gaze up to his brother.
His brother was no longer soaked in rain, but was instead the blood-covered vision Scott had seen earlier.
He blinked rapidly, but this time it wouldn't go away.
"Gordon…"
His brother just stared at him. His grip was growing weaker on Scott's arm.
The music continued to pound into his head. The same, monotonous tune that sent his heart racing.
Scott squeezed his eyes shut as pain pierced itself through his skull once more. He waited for it to subside, but it only got worse as the music grew louder.
"I wish that song would stop."
He clutched at his head with his free hand. Thunder roared outside. It felt like the storm was inside his skull, trying to get out.
He peeked one eye open in time to see lightning flash across the window.
The hand was gone from his arm.
"Gordon?"
His brother was gone. He had just been there.
Scott darted his gaze around. He was alone.
Lightning flashed again, and then he was plunged into darkness.
The music continued.
Finally, Scott knew where he'd heard it.
Scott shot up in bed as he abruptly woke up.
His chest heaved as he struggled to gasp in breaths. His eyes darted around the room.
"Take it easy. It was just a dream."
His gaze shot over to the figure that swam next to him.
"It was just a dream," the figure repeated.
A dream?
Scott blinked several times, and his vision slowly came into focus.
"Virgil?"
It was his brother. His brother, who had been playing that music. The same music that continued to play.
Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. He wanted it to stop.
But… the more that Scott listened to it, the more he realised that something wasn't right. He peeked one eye open as he focused on the noise.
It wasn't music, it was beeping. A kind of beeping that Scott knew all too well. The kind that Scott had heard many times, watching over a family member in the-
Hospital?
He was in the hospital.
Scott opened both eyes as he looked over to the machine that was causing all the noise. Then, he glanced around the rest of the room. The white, sanitary, devoid of any comfort room.
"I'm at the hospital?" Scott turned to his brother, who had a grim look on his face. "Why?"
"Scott, you're bleeding."
The memory hit him, and Scott lifted a hand to his head. He froze when he felt the thick bandage wrapped around his skull.
Was… had it all been real?
It felt so real, yet so, so far away now, like a memory that was growing distant. Like a dream. Virgil had said it had been a dream.
He turned back to his brother, who shifted in his seat. It was then that Scott noticed Virgil was in his very own hospital pyjamas. A pair of crutches were leant against the arm of the chair.
What had he missed?
"Do you remember the rescue?" His brother unexpectedly asked him, and Scott frowned in confusion.
A rescue? Scott thought back to his recent memories, but they were all detached and scattered, like nothing quite felt like reality.
He remembered a storm, that was for sure, with heavy rain and harsh winds. He remembered a-
"A hurricane?" He asked as the word entered his head.
Virgil nodded in confirmation.
"We were called out to a hurricane. All of us went. Even John was down from Five," Virgil started to explain. "We were helping to clear out the buildings that had been hit by the worst of the storm. A lot of people hadn't gotten out of there before the hurricane hit, so we went in to help them get to safety."
It rang a bell, somewhere deep in his mind. He could picture the debris covered floor that his brothers picked themselves over in an attempt to get to the victims.
"Didn't Gordon make some joke about the rain?" He asked as the memory briefly flittered to the front of his mind.
Virgil let out a huff of laughter.
"Yeah, said it wasn't going to be more than a drizzle."
"I'm sure the storm won't be that bad. Maybe only a drizzle."
Scott rolled his eyes as he heard his brother over the comms. They were already flying into the storm, it definitely was much more than a drizzle.
"Enough of the jokes, Gords. We're heading into the scene now." Thunder rumbled in the distance as a warning to accompany his words.
"FAB." Scott could hear his brother's voice growing serious as the rescue began.
"After we'd cleared out most of the buildings, there was one left." Virgil snapped him out of his thoughts. "We all went in together to clear it out quicker. The storm was really bad by then, so the structure had already started to come down. We knew we had to be quick."
"Check the basement, I'm reading a lifesign."
"FAB." Alan hurried off, and the rest of them turned to John who had a display of the building up on his wrist comm.
They had already managed to get some people out of there, but the building wasn't clear yet, and their time was running out.
"I'm going to check upstairs, you guys should check down here. There's still a few lifesigns on this level."
"I'm coming with you," Virgil said as he sped after their brother who had already taken off.
Soon, it was only Scott and Gordon, and together they swept the ground floor.
The roof and some of the flooring on the upper levels had already collapsed in on itself, and the rain poured through the gaps. Even inside the building, the wind from outside whistled and rocked what remained of the structure around them.
They had all split up. They never liked splitting up when the danger was high.
Scott had stayed with Gordon whilst they searched for survivors, determined to keep an eye on at least one brother.
However, he wasn't prepared for what happened next.
Scott jolted as he was hit by the memory. He remembered only getting a glimpse of his brother, before the world shook around them, and his vision was blocked by debris.
"The building collapsed."
It wasn't a question, but Virgil nodded anyway in confirmation. It was all coming back to him now. The rescue, the collapse, a blinding pain in his skull, Gordon-
Scott groaned as he pushed himself up from the floor. The dust was starting to settle around him, and an eerie silence had descended over the previous deafening sounds of crumbling concrete.
He blinked sluggishly as he took in the destruction around him. A small moan had his head snapping in that direction, and he crawled over to the source.
"Gordon." His throat scratched from the soot he'd breathed in.
He dragged himself to his brother's side, who was slowly coming to. Scott cast his eyes over him, and swallowed the grime in his throat along with his fear.
Gordon was pinned under a large slab of concrete from the waist down. He was bleeding, but Scott couldn't see where it was coming from. There was so much of it.
"Sco'?"
His voice was so small, but Scott had heard it.
"I'm right here." Scott sought out his hand, and held on.
He turned away from his brother to survey the wreckage. He hadn't seen anyone else, and his brothers had yet to make a sound over the comms. He would need help to get Gordon out, but they might need help too.
"I should find out if the others are alright." Scott was beginning to get concerned.
Suddenly, Gordon gripped onto Scott's arm with more strength than Scott thought he'd have.
"Please don't leave me."
Scott looked at him in shock.
"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."
His brother looked so scared.
Scott tried to think about what to do to help him, but his thoughts were getting fuzzy. His vision blurred, and was growing black around the edges.
Maybe he just needed to close his eyes for a moment, just to gather his thoughts, and then he'd know what to do…
"Scott, breathe."
He didn't even realise he was hyperventilating until Virgil was sitting on the edge of his bed. His brother had grasped onto his hand and he squeezed it tightly to ground him. It shocked Scott out of his thoughts, and he took some deep, shaky breaths.
"Gordon, he-" Scott couldn't get the image of his brother covered in blood out of his head. He was meant to protect him, but instead he had passed out.
"Gordon is fine," Virgil quickly reassured him. "He's hurt, yes, but he actually just woke up shortly before you did. He's going to be alright."
Scott nodded slowly, trying to believe Virgil's words. His brother wouldn't lie to him, but he also wouldn't accept it as the truth until he saw Gordon with his own eyes. Actually, until he saw all his brothers.
"What about you? You're all okay, right?" Now Scott was more awake he was able to fully take in the fact that Virgil had a cast on his leg and grazes on his face. It was a reminder that they were all involved in that building collapse. "And John and Alan too?"
"Yeah, we are. A few broken bones and some cuts and scrapes, but we've had worse. John and Alan are with Gordon right now. They were the first to wake up."
"Wake up?" Scott pushed himself up with a grimace as his whole body protested the movement. If his brothers were rendered unconscious then it must have been bad.
"Yeah, about a week ago apparently. Then I did a few days later, then-"
"Then Gordon, and finally me," Scott finished for him.
Scott frowned. It was like his dream. His brothers had disappeared one by one, until he eventually woke up.
He locked eyes with Virgil as he remembered his words from before.
"How did you know I was dreaming?"
Sure, Scott had woken with such a jolt, from an outsider's perspective it would have been obvious he might have just woken from a nightmare. But Virgil had been so sure, like he just knew.
"I was the same when I woke up."
"You had a dream too?" Scott wasn't quite sure what his brother meant.
"About a storm? And the music that seemed so familiar but you couldn't quite place where you'd heard it? Yeah, I did. And so did John and Alan, and probably Gordon too."
"That doesn't make any sense." Virgil had to be joking.
Yet, he knew what Scott had dreamt about. He hadn't mentioned any of that to his brother, but he somehow knew.
"You're telling me that we all had the same dream?" Scott asked in disbelief.
"Not just that. That we were all in the same dream," Virgil clarified. "How do you think we know what happened in each other's dreams? When we disappeared, we were waking up."
Scott didn't realise his mouth was hanging open until he snapped it closed. He blinked several times as he tried to process Virgil's words and come up with a reply.
All he could think to say was, "but, how?"
"We don't know," Virgil said simply. "Remember when Gordon was in his coma? He told us about those weird dreams he'd had."
"I've been here before."
Scott tried to sit up.
"How is Gordon? Can I see him?" The last time Scott had seen his brother, he had been covered in blood and trapped in debris. Scott needed to know he was okay.
"Gordon is fine. John called me just before you woke up to tell me he was awake. He's probably talking to John and Alan right now about…" He waved a hand aimlessly, "all of this."
"Still, I want to see him," Scott insisted, and if he was with their other brothers, then he could check on all of them at once.
"Not yet." Virgil laid a hand on his chest to ease him back against the pillows. "You need to rest, and so does he. You can see him soon enough."
Scott reluctantly leant back. He wanted to go, but he was also growing tired. Plus, he had a headache from all the information that had just been offloaded on him. He needed time to process it all.
He could feel his eyelids growing heavy as his head laid back on the pillow. Virgil was right. He needed to sleep. Maybe everything would make sense when he woke up.
He closed his eyes.
Hopefully, he wouldn't dream this time.
I hope you enjoyed?
I am genuinely so proud of this one. I am so happy with myself that I pulled off this idea I've had for a while. It really feels like proof that I've grown as a writer as I don't think I would have been able to write this years ago. Also this went through many, many rewrites until I got it to a place I was happy with. So I really do hope you all enjoyed the journey I put these boys through
See you in the next one!