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You wake up in a panic, but before you can scream, someone stirs.
"Lem?" he starts, and for a moment relief floods you. "Lemony?" he says, and now you can hear the worry in his voice as he carefully takes one of your hands in his.
"I didn't mean to wake you," you whisper, a wave of embarrassment hitting you before Bertrand gives your hand a squeeze.
"You didn't," he reassures you, his free hand gingerly brushing the hair out of your eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asks, and your breath hitches a little at the question.
The house was burning.
The house was burning, and the doors were inaccessible. The structure was falling apart quicker than you could comprehend it, and you heard someone screaming. You couldn't place what was being said, but you knew who it was. Panic seized you as you ran towards Beatrice's voice, who ran into your arms before you had a chance to cry out her name.
"The back door won't budge," she tells you, frantic.
"Neither will the front," you tell her. "Is Bertrand with you?"
She freezes. "You haven't seen him?"
You woke up just before a falling beam had the chance to hit either of you.
"The house was burning," is the only thing you can manage to say before tears start to stream down your cheeks and Bertrand pulls you into an embrace. His hold is firm but not too much so, and his occasional murmurs of "I'm here" are exactly what keeps you grounded in the present.
You start to calm a little, only to realize there was someone else you couldn't find in the dream, and your fear returns again. "Violet," you start, frantic, "Where's—"
"Beatrice went to see her," Bertrand answers, and it's not long after that you pick up on a lullaby being sung; a sad song, though perhaps that could be said about most lullabies. Your breathing steadies a little as you listen to her voice and settle back into Bertrand's embrace. "Do you want to see her?" he asks you after a moment.
"Very much," you say as he gives you a gentle kiss on the cheek, and the night already feels so much calmer.