Nightmare
It was an overcast day, the clouds blocking out the sunlight, muting the world into a grayscale tint. Ann, with her hood up and head down, made her commute to Shujin Academy, or rather Hell's Learning Institute in her eyes. It had only been two days since Shiho had jumped off the school roof, everything still felt so vivid. Seeing her best friend lay broken in the school courtyard, the ambulance ride, hospital security having to escort her out. She felt like such a failure of a friend, never seeing how much pain and suffering Shiho was going through, all for it to have come to this. Why the hell was she even here? She should be by Shiho's side! She blinked, taking in her surroundings she realized she was in front of her, open, school locker, when did she-
"Hello there, Takamaki-san." She slammed her locker shut anger boiling over her as closing the locker door revealed the ever detestable Kamoshida. His disgusting, smarmy grin and that stupid shovel face! She was getting angrier by the second. "Ooo, looking feisty today."
"The hell do you want?" She spat.
"I just came to collect what I'm owed." She looked at him with confused disgust. What was he going on about? "I mean you went and left me hanging dry the other day so I had your friend fill in for you. Too bad she couldn't fully satisfy me." Her eyes widened. Did this pig- "So, kitten, why don't we go to my office and-" SMACK
Ann's hand sailed across the air, smacking Kamoshida square on his cheek; he would have fallen onto the lockers had he not braced his arm against them to catch himself. Her nails slashed into his face leaving trails of blood in their wake.
"You disgusting pig!" Her voice was breaking from the volume she was screaming at, surprisingly they hadn't caught anyone's attention. "How dare you do that to Shiho you fucking BASTARD!" She panted, catching her breath, tears were blurring her vision but she could still make out his silhouette.
He felt his cheek, brushing against one of the slashes, drawing his own blood onto his figures as he looked at it… he smiled. "That was pretty rough of you, guess that's how you like it." She took a step back, fear was starting to settle in. "I was gonna wait til we got to my office but after this… I think you'll enjoy it more if we did it in the halls."
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Takamaki broke out into a full sprint, hood flying off her as she ran through the halls to get away from that assaulter. As she ran she called out for help but the halls were empty, the classroom doors closed shut, it was like no one else was here. "HELP! SOMEONE!" No response. "RYUJI! MAKATO! HARU!" Still no response, her voice was falling on deaf ears. "***!" She stopped, who was she just calling out to, she tried to say a name but nothing came out of her mouth. "***!?" She dropped to her knees, her hands over her throat, it felt like she was choking, but she continued to call out to this person. "***! ***! ***!" She could picture their silhouette but not their face, her tears fell as she desperately continued, she couldn't be all alone, she had friends she could depend on always, she had-
"I found~ you~." She gasped as she looked up, Kamoshida stood towering above her. "And would you look at that, you've already assumed the position."
"***..." She slowly shook her head, this wasn't happening.
"Guess I should do my part, oh and I wouldn't think about biting if I were you, I really wouldn't want to ruin that sexy face of yours."
"***!" She couldn't move, fear had paralyzed her and her mind was now focused on calling out to this void of a name.
"Hmm? I don't know who you're calling out to but it's just us here, it's my castle after all. But don't worry I won't take offense cause soon the only name you'll be saying is-"
Taking in a deep breath, with all her might she screamed at the top of her lungs.
…
"REN!" She screamed, violently throwing herself out of bed, bringing down with her an entanglement of bedsheets. She scrambled and flailed on the floor before being able to calm down enough to realize where she was and catch her breath. She was home, in her room, it was nighttime, so it was all just a dream. She was covered in sweat, hyperventilating, still trying to catch her breath, she felt her face; wet, she was crying. It was all just a horrible, horrible, nightmare. She slowly sunk her face into the the sheets she held, she just wanted to cry, she thought she was over this, that she had overcome this and beat that bastard, that she- THUD
Her phone fell from the bed, scaring her from the sound. After realizing what it was she continued to stare in the direction the sound came from, she contemplated something with herself before deciding to crawl over to her phone and open her contacts.
…
In the dark room of an attic a phone chime echoed throughout the room. His eyes opened clumsily, still wanting to stay closed, as his hand began reaching out towards the sound that disturbed his slumber. "I swear if it's Ryuji again…" After blindly searching his hand finally fell onto his phone, visualizing the screen, he accepted the call and put it on speaker. "Hello…" He groaned drearily. He waited, the silence on the other end was starting to annoy him, did someone really just prank call him a-
"H-he-hey…" She sounded quiet, almost inaudible, there was an unmistaken tremble in her voice, like she was frightened. Ren's eyes opened immediately and instinctively pushed himself up, turning his head to the glow of his phone. He'd never mistaken her voice and his phone had confirmed that it was Ann calling him at this hour. Quickly and carefully, as to not wake Morgana, he rolled out of bed, grabbing his phone, taking it off speaker as he held it up to his ear.
"Ann?" Concern filled his voice, something must have happened for her to call him sounding so… scared. "What's wrong?"
"He-hey Ren… I… I…" She grew quieter, the memories of that nightmare still fresh in her mind, her inability moments ago to speak his name in her most dire of times lingered. "I… just wanted to hear your voice… That's all…"
"Ann…" He sounded calm but concerned, gentle yet voiced firmness in wanting her to speak.
"Sorry… I woke you up… didn't I… I'll just-"
"Tell me what happened." She hiccuped a gasp, did she really sound as bad as a mess as she thought she looked? In truth she just wanted to hear his voice to reassure herself that he was there, that he hadn't just vanished like he never was there. But hearing him now, she feared she just made him worry about her.
"I just wanted to hear you, that's all…"
"Ann…"
There was that tone again. Truth be told she wanted to put it all behind her and forget about it. "R-really… I-"
"Ann…"
His voice never raised, it remained that calm, concerned, voice that she's come to know and love, she sniffles. She could feel tears forming anew. "I-I…" As if she could see him, she looked away, guilt for having woken him up for this and shame for this even happening. "I… had a nightmare…"
There was a brief silence before he spoke. "Do you want to talk about it?" Despite not being on video chat he could tell she was shaking her head. "It'll help instead of just holding it in."
"I… don't want to talk about it over the phone… I just…"
"You want me to come over?" He could tell she was nodding her head, he silently chuckled. "Well could you open the door? I'm not very good at seeing through walls."
"Wha?" She could hear a knock coming from outside her door. Picking herself off the ground, she opened her door, nothing but a dark hallway, then she heard a knock again, this time coming from the main door. As she walked up to the door she hesitated before it. "I-is that you… Ren…?"
"Only one way to find out, right?"
She undid the locks, opening the door, she gasped, it really was him, in his pajamas and breathing heavier than usual. "Hey." He smiled at her, a sad one, taking in her features. Her hair was a mess, one of her twin-tails about to come completely undone while the other had bits and strands of hair sticking out. Her tank top rolled up to the base of her chest, revealing her stomach as well as one of her long pajama bottoms having a pant leg rolled up. Her cheeks looked wet, along with her faint red eyes, they looked swollen and rosy. "A-aren't the trains-"
"Done for the night? Yeah. So I borrowed the bike that's always in front of the shop."
"But when did-"
"When I heard you… You sounded scared so I thought-" She sniffled, now visibly trying and failing to hold back tears. "Ann?" Her arms gingerly reached out towards him, her hands gently grasping the sides of his shirt. In an instant, she pulled him towards her, bringing him inside, moving her arms to wrap around him as she buried her face into his chest. Ren, startled at first, gently stroked her hair as a means of providing comfort, his other arm held her close to him as he let her silently cry into his chest.
…
As they lay together in her bed, him still stroking her hair and her clinging onto him, a leg wrapping itself onto one of his, an arm resting on his chest, hand grasping onto his shirt, while the other helped entrap his arm against her body, he was now her body pillow. She told him about the nightmare she had, the fear of running into Kamoshida, the fear of being all alone again, and the terror she felt being unable to speak his name.
"Pretty sad, huh?" She sounded drained. "Still being scared of someone who can't hurt anyone anymore."
"Ann…"
"I mean, if it wasn't for you that probably would have been me in Shiho's shoes. Only, I don't think I would have-"
"Ann!" Ren sat up, bringing Ann up with and looked into her eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then why did Shiho have to suffer like that and not me! Why did she have to-"
He held her close to him, though his words were failing him at that moment. That simple hug conveyed all that he couldn't verbalize. She could feel tears welling up again, as sniffling began, the choked sobs/pseudo hiccups were picking up with her labored breath. It was in that embrace she tried to stabilize herself, gentle in touch yet the feeling behind felt secure, unbreakable.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything that bastard put you and Suzuha through. And I'm sorry if my words won't be enough to bring you peace." Her arms slowly rose themselves to wrap around him, returning the embrace. "But I promise, I won't ever let anyone hurt you, not now, and not ever again."
She pulled away, only enough to be able to see his face. Even in the dark of her room she could make out that stern, serious look he always wore as Joker and fueling it was a passionate resolve. She looked briefly mystified, surely she had been dreaming, there's no way someone like him existed.
"You promise?" She said below a whisper.
As his arms moved from her, his hands slowly made their way to hers, gently clasping them as he moved them between them as he gently dipped his head, his forehead now touching hers.
"Promise."
She smiled, he always had a way of bringing her at ease. She tilted her head, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. She felt his open slightly, she surprised him, in turn she clutched her hands tighter onto his, pushing him onto the bed as she deepened the kiss, laying on top of him once more. She hadn't known how long she held him down for as she only separated from him when the need for air grew too great for her. Panting lightly, she looked down at him, her hair cascading down to tunnel him as he mirrored her pants.
"Stay with me…" She felt his hands firm to match her grip, staring into his loving gaze.
"Always…"
Her eyes widened a bit, she had meant for the night but… She blushed, giggling at him, he always had a way with words. "I love you." She captured his lips once more, continuing to shower Ren in a rain of kisses eventually tiring herself to sleep. Slumbering peacefully in the embrace of the man she loves.