Work Text:
Alcina was alerted by the sound of a whimper.
In an instant, her head snapped up from where it had been buried in the book she was reading. Bela had recommended it to her, an old, weirdly-written Shakespearean play, and though she couldn’t quite understand all the writing, she still read it anyway for her daughter. However, when the soft noise of a sob reached her ears, she immediately put it down and went to investigate.
One of her babies needed her.
She checked Cassandra’s room first. It wasn’t uncommon for her to hear noises coming from in there, as her middle daughter was a rather aggressive sleeper. She would thrash and kick and growl at her dreams, which Alcina found adorable, but sometimes she would throw herself right off of the bed in her unconscious fights.
And that was exactly how she found Cassandra when she peeked into her bedroom.
Shaking her head in amusement, Alcina bent down and scooped Cassandra up from where she was sprawled on the floor, tangled in her blankets. She set her back on the bed and tucked her in, earning a soft noise from her little one. Cassandra didn’t wake up, though she did grunt and twitch her hands, as though she were fighting some kind of invisible battle. Alcina smiled softly and kissed her forehead before walking out of the room.
Daniela was next. She wasn’t nearly as aggressive as her older sister, but she did have a tendency to twist herself into the strangest positions while she slept. That night, she had managed to kick off all her blankets and sprawl out like a starfish, drooling and snoring faintly.
Alcina pulled the thick blankets back over her youngest, not wanting her to get cold. When she brushed Daniela’s face with her finger, Daniela purred in response, sensing her mother’s presence.
“Yes, I love you, too,” Alcina murmured, kissing her forehead.
Last was Bela. Her eldest was usually always curled up in a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible, and tonight was no different. However, Alcina quickly picked up on the way she was twitching sporadically and whimpering softly.
She found the victim.
Bela’s face was ghostly white, whiter than it usually was, and twisted with fear and anxiety. Sweat soaked every inch of her skin and her eyes were shut so tightly it looked like it could induce a headache. She kept jerking, claws twitching, like she was trying to dig her way out of the night, but was failing. Tears were wet on her cheeks.
“Bela,” Alcina murmured, perching on the edge of the bed. She gave her daughter a gentle shake. “Bela, my sweet, wake up. It’s alright.”
Bela merely whimpered in response, screwing her eyes shut even tighter. Whatever was grasping her seemed to have her good.
“Darling,” Alcina tried again. “Darling, wake up. It’s okay. You’re alright. It’s just a dream.”
Bela let out a little whine, squirming, then yelped underneath her breath. Alcina wondered what was imprisoning her inside of that wild little head of hers tonight, whether it be a memory rising up from her past, her mind filling in with some horrible future of nightmarish imagination, or just a distorted reality filled with faceless people who chased her to the ends of the earth.
As if to answer her question, Bela’s whimpers began to form words.
“Mother— Mother, I’m sorry— I’m so sorry— please, no—”
Ah. That issue.
Alcina frowned, though she wasn’t surprised. Her eldest was an anxious wreck of a creature, always overthinking every little thing she did. It wasn’t shocking to see her have a nightmare like this, most likely about being abandoned for her failures.
Alcina sighed sadly. She wondered what had gone wrong in the experiment to make her child like this. Surely it wasn’t normal.
She ran her fingers through Bela’s hair, hoping to make her purr or at least soothe her, but her presence was doing very little to help. Whatever had her baby had her good, and it seemed unwilling to part with its victim.
“I’ll be right here when you wake up, darling,” Alcina murmured, shifting into the bed next to Bela. “Your Mama’s here. It’s going to be okay.”
Bela’s head jerked. She whimpered sharply and her breathing started to come out in labored gasps. Her claws ripped at the sheets beneath her, the talons on her toes catching on the blankets smothering her frame and tearing furrows through the fabric. They would need to replace those, but they were far beneath Alcina’s concern.
Bela jolted in her sleep again, her whole body convulsing for just an instant with an accompanying noise, and Alcina wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a tender embrace, wishing that there was something more she could do. Anything to ease the fears.
It was a different world, though, and she wasn’t really a part of it; all she could do was stroke at Bela’s forehead, at her hair, at her cheeks, as her baby twitched and whimpered. She could hold her close when she trembled, she could be there to calm her if she were to awaken with a snap and a shout, but that was all she could really offer.
At least it was something.
“It’s okay, sweet girl,” Alcina whispered, her lips so close to Bela’s ear she could almost taste the sweat plastered over her pasty skin. She could definitely smell it, and Bela reeked of desperate fear.
“Mama!” Bela wailed, her eyes still shut firmly. “Mama! Please, no, NO—”
Alcina’s heart clenched to a bursting point. She couldn’t bear to see her precious daughter like this.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, baby girl,” Alcina cooed. “Mama’s here. Mama’s not gonna let anything happen to you. Never.”
Bela remained like that for another twenty minutes before finally waking up. Alcina would have shaken her into consciousness if Bela hadn’t once told her that that was a bad thing to do, as it would only scare the dreamer further.
Bela bolted upright, screaming, soaked in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She flinched away when Alcina reached out to her, not seeming to recognize her for a moment.
“Shh, shh,” Alcina murmured. “It’s alright, sweetheart.”
Bela blinked at her blearily. “M-Mother?”
“Yes, Bela,” Alcina confirmed. “It’s just me. You were having a nightmare. Do you remember?”
“I—” Bela swallowed thickly. She seemed both frightened and embarrassed. “Right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Hush on that,” Alcina said. “Are you alright?”
Bela didn’t answer. She wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Darling…”
“I’m f-ine.”
The horrendous crack in Bela’s voice said everything.
“Oh, baby…”
Alcina bundled her shaking daughter in her arms, holding her close to her chest. Bela clung onto her gown, now openly sobbing into the fabric. The terror rolling off of her was thick and palpable, so tangible it was almost its own solid entity. Alcina had no idea how so much anxiety and fear was inflicted upon her daughter, but she was determined to not let her go through it alone.
“I’m here, I’m right here,” Alcina cooed, rocking Bela in her arms. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay now.”
She massaged the back of Bela’s head, the way Bela liked it, and it earned her a weak, watery purr. It was a gargled sound, but it was there. It was something.
Sometimes, that was all they could work with.