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I had this nightmare.
Knives stood in the middle of a long, dark hallway. One he recognized. He already felt like he was floating. The curved plates lining the wall told him it was a hallway aboard the Project Seeds ship. The way it faded into darkness at the end told him it was the same hallway that led to the old medical wing. He had dreamt this before, a very long time ago. But he had woken up before anything else could happen.
He could already envision the torn corpse of his lost sister, floating in that tank, preserved for whatever wicked plan that witch had planned for her body. Her missing eyes, the only remaining one bobbing in a separate tank. Her slacked jaw, almost like she was forever stuck in an agonizing screech, just like the ones that erupted from her during those relentless “experiments”.
More like relentless torture .
“Nai?”
Knives begged that when he turned around, he would see some version of his brother. He hoped he was just reliving that day again. He would much rather see all of that again than have to look at her again. But he knew well that the voice did not belong to Vash.
He didn’t turn around completely, he only craned his neck enough to see her black hair and those shredded jeans. He sighed.
“Go away,” he said. But his own voice sounded different. He meant to snap at her, scare her, make her step back. Instead he sounded like a little kid found crying in his favorite hiding spot.
“Oh, Nai, you’ve gotten so big! Just look at you!” Rem stepped around him, forcing him to look at her. “You’re much taller than me now– and your hands!” She took his hands in hers.
Knives didn’t understand why he didn’t pull away.
Nai felt like a kid again.
“You’ve really grown up, Nai!” Rem’s smile was big, and bright. Her eyes were dull. They seemed blurred from his vision.
I believe I’ve forgotten what she really looks like.
“I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home…” He murmured. Half to Rem and half to the dream itself, as if someone was there, watching and tormenting him in silence, that could just rip him away from her and back to the waking world.
Rem’s smile softened. “Are you tired, my sweet boy?”
Nai nodded.
“Are you angry?”
Nai wiped away tears that he didn’t even feel gathering in his eyes, and nodded. He lurched forward, wrapping his arms around her in a strong hug. “ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ” spilled from him over and over.
He really was a kid again.
“I know, sweetest, don’t worry, I know…”
I had this dream.