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You sit up straight with a gasp, holding yourself up with your hands as your weight shifts. You're shaking. You know you're shaking. Why can't you stop shaking? You blink blindly in the dark room, sucking in uneven breaths. Distantly, you realize you're in a bed. You need to stop shaking.
You wheeze, slapping a hand over your mouth a little too hard in your panic. It's still ringing in your head. Not a nightmare. A memory. All you can hear is screaming. You don't even realize your hand has fallen back to your side as you sit there, still shaking violently, your vision fading again as it creeps back up on you.
Why did this have to happen tonight? They were going to be angry. Someone had to be angry. That's just how it is. You're barely even breathing now. Quiet. You just have to be quiet. Maybe nobody will find you. Then nobody would be angry.
____
'How do you know??'
Moon sighs, caught in the same conversation he and Sun have had 4 times this week as they walk back through the daycare after his patrol.
"Sun, we've been over this-"
He's interrupted by a noise from their room, echoing down from the balcony. There's a sort of internal hiccup that runs through their programs then, all other thoughts grinding to a halt. You were supposed to be asleep.
Another sound, this one muffled, but by the time it had fully processed Moon was already calling down the wire, frantically clipping it to their hook to reach their room as fast as possible.
You were crying.
____
They drop onto the balcony and push past the curtains into their room, head already whipping back and forth, searching for possible threats before their gaze locks onto you. You were alone. Backed into the furthest corner on their mattress against the wall, staring blankly at the far entrance as your breaths came shallow and near silent, tears streaming down your cheeks.
Moon moves to your side in an instant, raising a hand slowly so as not to startle you, only to realize it made no difference. You were blind to reality, trapped somewhere else entirely. He switches tactics, leaning close but not touching, not yet. He lets his voice drop to a whisper, well practiced from years of naptime.
"Starlight… Can you hear me? I know it's scary but we're here, can you hear us?"
____
Your childhood bedroom never looked so large, even back when you were so small, when you kept it cluttered with things you loved. But now it feels like if you leave your bed it's going to swallow you whole. You hear crashing from down the hall. More screaming.
Underneath it all, you hear something else.
Moon… Why was Moon here? Where..?
The room around you is shaking, the walls warping, dim light pouring in through the cracks in the image. The screaming fades. A hand wraps around your own and you feel like a bucket of ice water has been dumped on your head.
It's not real.
____
Moon almost pulls back his hand when your tremors only seem to intensify with the contact. But before he can, your hand is gripping his so tightly that if he were human he's certain he'd be injured.
He moves to ask if you're alright, to offer comfort, but before he can say anything you've used that grip to drag yourself into his arms. The moment he catches you, heavy sobs wrack your body, arms wrapped around him like a lifeline. You mumble muffled apologies into his chest, you tried so hard to be quiet, you swear.
He brings a hand up to your back, shocked. They've never seen you this upset, not even close, you tended towards stoicism in your everyday life and this was frighteningly unfamiliar to them. Moon shushes you lightly, running a hand along your back soothingly.
"We've got you, Starlight. No apologies, you didn't do anything wrong, no. You're safe here. Always safe here, with us. Please don't be afraid anymore. You're okay now."
You sit like that in each other's company for a long while. As your breathing finally slows, Moon speaks up again, voice still barely a whisper.
"Are you- Do you want to talk about it? We don't have to but… We've never seen you like that before."
You sigh, breaths still a bit shaky. "It was just… dumb stuff. Back from before I had my own place. My brain likes to dig up old shitty memories to mess with me, but I'm alright."
Moon looks upset. Sure, he looks grumpy often but this was more genuine. It was sort of concerning, honestly. But his face quickly softens as he looks back down at you, raising his hand to your cheek.
____
Moon tried to ignore the anger bubbling up in his core, but he could feel Sun in their code, just as furious. What could someone have done to make you react so violently, so emotionally? It wasn't often Sun got truly angry but Moon could feel him seething. He sent out a quick signal in a gentle attempt to soothe his other half.
'Not now. We can be angry later, Sunlight.'
It doesn't work perfectly but it settles Sun enough that Moon can return his focus to you. You look worried. Silly, so silly, clearly they should be worried about you. He brings a hand up to your face, tilting your head up to press a kiss to your forehead.
He leans back, contorting to reach a stray packet of baby wipes before quickly wiping away the dried tears on your cheeks. He sits back, opening his arms for you again, and you gladly fall into them.
A quiet lullaby echoes in his chest from his music box, and you turn your head against him to listen.
Moon reaches down to stroke your hair, humming along to his song. As you drift off the soft melody and the quiet whirring of machinery, he lets out a quiet sigh.
"We'll keep you safe, Starlight. We promise."