Chapter Text
Alex woke up.
He stared at the bunk bed above him, before shutting his eyes and trying to go back to sleep. But he couldn’t. His body was too restless, his heart beating-
Alex curled up under the covers. Six years old was too old to be running to Mom and Dad about nightmares. Besides, even if he did, Mom would be unhappy and Dad would get mad.
At least this was one of the nightmares he couldn’t remember- when he could remember them, sometimes he couldn’t stop thinking about them. Like the dream where he was locked in the basement and the water kept getting higher and higher. He had that dream a lot, and it only got worse after his dad locked him in there to prove it wouldn’t happen.
Something went thud downstairs.
Alex’s eyes shot open.
His dad yelled- it echoed up the stairs and down the hall to Alex's room.
Alex threw himself out of bed and headed downstairs.
The voice had been coming from the kitchen. Alex paused as he reached the bottom of the stairs. What was going on? His dad had sounded kinda scary-
No! Alex was going to be brave! Brave like a soldier! If his dad was in trouble, he was the only one around- Mom was staying with her dad because he’d been sick- so Alex was the only one who could save him. And if he could do that- that maybe Dad and Mom wouldn’t think of him as a screw-up anymore. Maybe then they’d show him love the way other parents did their kids.
Alex carefully snuck up on the door to the kitchen- peeked through.
There was a dark haired lady there- younger than his parents- wearing a blue skirt and jacket- and she was holding a knife and pointing it at his dad, who was on the ground against the wall, bracing himself like he was about to get up.
“What do you want?”
“What do I want? Simple. I’m going to destroy the Order.”
Dad paused, staring at her in shock. “The Order? But we- the Shepherds left that-”
She threw her head back and laughed harshly. “Idiot. You may have left, but you didn’t change at all. Do you really think a change of location would make any difference when you don’t change yourself, when you make your children pay for your mistakes?” She took a step forward, lifting the knife higher. “Don’t worry- I’m here to end your family’s painful cycle.”
Dad suddenly moved, pushing himself off the floor and dashing towards her- only to suddenly snap backwards and crash into the wall.
Alex gasped, then clapped his hands over his mouth. Neither of the people in the kitchen seemed to hear him though.
Dad groaned and then suddenly was lifted up by invisible hands, holding him in the air and pressing him against the wall.
The woman stepped forward-
“Don’t!” Alex shouted dashing into the room, throwing himself in front of his dad.
The woman stopped, staring at him, startled.
“Please- don’t hurt my dad- please-” No- this was wrong- he was supposed to be brave, not crying like a baby. Alex stepped back, spreading his arms out, trying to protect his dad. “Please, don’t hurt him- I’ll do anything!”
The woman was still staring at him. Was that a good sign?
“Alex,” she said softly.
“…you know my name?”
“Alex?” His dad’s voice- Alex spun to face him. His dad was staring down at him in disbelief. “Alex, what are you doing here? Go to your room!”
“No!”
“Alex.” He spun to look at the woman again. “You don’t want me to hurt your dad?”
“Uh huh.”
“And you’ll do anything?”
“…yes.”
Slowly, the woman smiled. It was a nice looking smile- Alex stared at her, confused.
“Okay then,” she said softly, still smiling, and held out her hand. “You're coming with me.”
Alex stared at her hand.
“Come with me, and I promise I won’t hurt your father.”
Before Alex could do anything, his dad pushed him out of the way and rushed towards the woman, yelling- only to wind up suspended in the air, near the ceiling- the woman wasn’t even look at him, just keeping her eyes on Alex…
Alex swallowed and took her hand.
“Alex!”
“Bye Dad,” Alex said softly as the woman gently pulled him forward, still smiling gently and wrapped her arms around him, then picked him up- Alex shuddered slightly but didn’t try to pull away, didn’t try to escape. She carried him out of the kitchen- he heard the thud as his dad landed on the floor, and then she was entering the bathroom and touching the mirror-
Alex shuddered as the girl pulled him through the mirror- but he didn’t cry or scream or anything- because he was brave, brave like a real soldier.
The girl placed him- surprisingly gently- on the floor of a room.
Alex looked around. It was surprisingly normal, actually. Wood walls, wood floor- a bookcase, a dresser, a desk, a bed-
“Where do you want your bed to be?”
Alex shrugged, surprised that he had a choice, and pointed to a corner.
She nodded and made a gesture-
And there was a bed there.
Alex blinked.
He walked closer, curious.
It was covered by a warm looking plaid blanket. If given the choice, Alex would have gone for camouflage, but plaid was okay. At least it wasn’t a girly comforter, with flowers or something like that.
He poked at it, making sure it was real, poked it again before climbing up onto it and gave an experimental bounce.
It bounced nicely.
Alex gleefully jumped again, only to stop guiltily and look at the woman. His mom and dad always yelled at him when he jumped on the couch. She probably wouldn’t like him bouncing on things either, right?
But she was smiling, almost as if it made her happy that he was jumping on the bed. But that didn’t really make any sense-
Alex plopped down on the bed and looked at her. “Who are you?” She’d been kinda nice to him so far, maybe she didn’t want to hurt him after all. But she'd been threatening his dad too-
“I’m Alessa.”
“Alessa… why don’t you like my dad?”
Her face hardened and Alex scooted back right before she softened and smiled at him. “I’m not mad at you- it just makes me mad to think about that man and what he promised to do.”
“What did he promise?”
She hesitated, as if trying to figure out how to say it. “He promised to kill someone- to murder someone. An innocent who hadn’t done anything wrong. He promised to sacrifice a child to an evil demon- that’s something I can’t forgive.”
Alex didn’t know what to think. His dad wouldn’t do something like that, would he?
He’d been mean to Alex, sometimes, but that was because Alex was a screw-up and messed things up. And he wasn’t always mean- when the bullies had come after Alex and Elle, and Alex hadn’t been strong enough to fight them all off, his dad had taken him and bandaged up all his injuries very gently… he’d scolded him, but he hadn’t yelled at him at all. Sometimes- once in a while- his dad was nice like that.
It wasn’t often, but-
The bed creaked beneath him as the woman sat next to him and slowly, gently, hugged him.
Alex, surprised, let her.
“You're mine now and I’m going to take care of you now, alright?” she whispered softly, but loud enough Alex had no trouble hearing her. One of her arms went all the way around him, and held him tight, and her other hand went on top of his head and she stroked his head, gently, again and again as she talked. “I’ll keep the promise I made you. I’ll find a way to stop your father without hurting him, so don’t worry about it, alright? I’ll take care of everything.”
Alex shut his eyes. No one had ever talked him to him like this before- no one had ever held him like this before.
Elle was his best friend, and he liked her a lot and she liked him a lot, and sometimes she would hug him, and he’d hug her back a little- just a little, because he was a boy and boys didn’t do hugs or girly things like that, it was just that Elle was the coolest girl in the world and his best friend. And if she wanted hugs than he wanted to give them to her. The fact that Elle’s hugs were nice and warm just made it better.
Even Elle's hugs weren't like this though. This was a hug that surrounded him, that somehow made him feel safe, like nothing could get past this Alessa lady and hurt him. Well, that was probably true. She had strange powers and to be some sort of witch or a mutant or something. But she'd kept her promise so far and she'd been nice to Alex. The way she talked to him and the way she touched him and hugged him were as gentle as if she thought he was something precious.
But thinking about Elle reminded him of an important question.
“…can I still see Elle?”
He couldn’t see the woman’s face- her arms were still around him- but a few seconds later, she spoke up again. “Yes, but you have to ask me first. Then I’ll take you to see her, okay?”
“Okay,” Alex agreed happily. “Can we see her tomorrow?”
She chuckled. “Alright, but only for a little bit. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day, after all. So you should get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Alex agreed. He wasn’t really sleepy, but she’d promised to take him to see Elle, and it was nighttime.
They left the hug and she pulled aside the blankets. Alex lay down obediently and then she covered him up and followed that by kissing him on the forehead.
“Just- so you know, I have nightmares sometimes,” Alex warned, awkwardly. He didn't want her to be surprised and get mad at him.
She didn't seem upset at the news though. She just kept smiling at him and ruffled his hair. "How about a charm to keep away nightmares then?" She started singing then, singing softly about the moon and what it saw, and Alex watched her until sleep dragged his eyelids shut and he fell into happy dreams.