Chapter Text
Louis glares at the ceiling of his bedroom like it personally offended him as he tries, in vain, to sleep.
For the first time in a week, he’s going to sleep alone. He’d flown into a furious tirade the night before after he woke up half on the floor and half on the bed, Domi digging her nails into one of his legs and Noé gnawing on his arm. The two were banned from sleeping in his bedroom for the foreseeable future.
…At least, that was what he’d said last night. Now Louis misses them.
He’s become accustomed to their nightly habits of chatting before bed until they start to drift off, or burrowing under the covers during a storm and huddling close for (Domi’s) comfort. Even when Domi wasn’t at the castle, most nights Noé would come into his room until he dozed off somewhere (half the time, that ‘somewhere’ wouldn’t be the bed). Louis would always follow suit, comforted by the simple fact that he wasn’t alone.
He blames Noé. Before Noé, Louis was alone more often than not. He could sleep just fine back then. It’s all Noé’s fault.
Louis rolls onto his side, grumbling. He almost wishes that it would start storming so that Noé and Dominique would try and weasel their way into sleeping together again. After the verbal lashing he gave them yesterday, nothing short of that (or Louis himself going back on his demands) was going to get them to come back.
In the dark of his room, Louis finds himself acutely aware of how empty it feels when he’s the only one inside. It’s too big for him alone. Maybe he’s too small. Regardless of which is true, he still feels like he could be swallowed up by it no matter what. Staring at the wall, which was only slightly closer to him than the ceiling, does nothing to help that feeling. Louis grumbles again, even more frustrated than before as he sits upright in bed.
He misses Noé and Domi. Maybe he should just go to them instead… no. Nope. No way.
But he doesn’t want to be alone.
Ah, but he already said he wouldn’t sleep with them anymore… knowing how straightforward he is, Noé definitely might say something embarrassing about it, and then Domi would try to comfort him. Louis is very picky about when he wants to be comforted, and this isn’t one of those times.
Louis decides the next target of his glaring is the bedsheets. He glowers at them so intently he might just burn a hole in them.
Louis hates being alone. He always has. Louis hates being with Grandfather, yes, but even that person’s presence was just slightly more tolerable than being all by himself and knowing that he would spend more time like that than he ever would with someone he cared for.
And then Noé comes along, and suddenly, Louis is rarely ever alone.
Louis’ vision starts to blur, and he feels warm tears spill from his eyes. It’s all Noé’s fault. There’s no other explanation.
He doesn’t want to be alone. He doesn’t want to be alone .
As Louis sniffles and wipes his face, cursing the tears as if that will make them run away instead of down his face, his pleas seem to be answered.
There isn’t any particular reason why, but when his vision next clears up enough, he looks up. That’s when he sees it in the dark.
A single eye in the darkness, gleaming like the blue moon.
Louis screams. The eye blinks.
Louis belatedly realizes that the eye might be able to move. He isn’t sure, though, and it’s that possibility that has him moving backwards in his bed until his back is pressed firmly against the headboard. He pulls his blanket as far over himself as he can, only keeping his eyes uncovered so he can properly observe the eye and the movements of whatever figure it may or may not have.
The eye glances around the room, but says nothing. Louis distantly wonders if it can, but doesn’t dare say a word. Not yet. The eye doesn’t seem to otherwise move.
After more silent observing, the eye’s gaze settles back on Louis. He’s unsettled by its striking color and tenses slightly. He doesn’t scream. Doesn’t allow himself too.
“Where am I?” the eye asks.
So it can talk, Louis notes. He’s hesitant to actually say anything to it, though. He’s still too scared to get his mouth to open. After a moment, it prompts him again.
“Out with it.” It doesn’t come out harsh - just tired.
Louis decides that if the eye doesn’t seem to want to hurt him for the moment, it would be in his best interest to answer its questions. “...A-Averoigne. A castle in Averoigne.”
The eye lets out a breath, somehow- ah, wait… is that a mouth? Louis scrutinizes the eye, inching just the slightest bit closer, and thinks he might be able to see the silhouette of a body. Somehow, though, it’s almost translucent. So it’s not just an eye, then, but a person?
Before Louis can even think to ask, the… being, speaks again. “...Strange. I’ll admit, I was expecting a bit more… fire and brimstone, if those places actually existed.” The words seem like they’re supposed to be of relief, but they only sound weighed down by melancholia.
The being turns their focus back onto Louis. “Is this where I’m to spend eternity, then?”
Louis swallows thickly before responding. He doesn’t really think that this being is dangerous, but he doesn’t like that they’re in his home, in his room, acting as if they own the place. More importantly, he doesn’t know what they are, how they got there, or what they want. He figures it’d be best to find that out if they weren’t going anywhere.
“Who are you?” Louis asks, ignoring their question. He tries to summon his usual boldness and lets the blanket fall some. “Why are you here?”
The being blinks a few times. “...You…”
For a moment, Louis fears that he’s in danger now. That he’s upset the thing that was only being cordial for its own convenience, and that he’s going to be killed. He sucks in a sharp breath, squeezing his eyes shut and bracing himself for whatever comes next.
The sound of a loud slam fills the room, soon followed by frightened shouting.
“LOUIS!” Dominique and Noé scream in unison as they burst into Louis’ room. Louis can’t help but yelp in surprise as his eyes snap open, greeted by the sight of the pair clambering onto the bed with him. He barely has a moment to process that the being is gone before a barrage of concerned questions assail him.
“Louis, what happened!? Why did you scream like that!?” Dominique asks urgently, checking him for any visible wounds. And… is she holding a candelabra?
“N-nothing, Domi!” Louis says hastily after he recovers from his shock. “I’m fine!”
“But you yelled really loudly,” Noé pointed out. His expression had gone back to its usual neutral default, albeit tinged with much worry. Louis fought at the guilt that suddenly started gnawing at him.
“I already told you-” Louis was about to insist that he was fine again, but Noé and his infuriating lack of a concept of personal space stop him in his tracks. Noé notices something off and leans close to Louis, observing his eyes closely.
“Louis, were you crying?”
“N- no !” Louis hisses, but it’s too late. They’ve already noticed.
Gentle concern blooms on Dominique’s face and understanding grows on Noé’s. “I get it now,” Noé says, sounding sure in a way that makes Louis think that he doesn’t actually get it at all. “You had a bad dream, didn’t you?”
Louis opens his mouth to correct him, to say no, of course I didn’t, only a little kid like you would scream over a nightmare . But he doesn’t. The two looked like they’d just woken up specifically because of him, and ran all the way to his room, to boot.
Louis lets out a small breath through his nose and looks away, sulking. Domi and Noé react almost instantly, Dominique hugging him from one side and Noé leaning against the other to pat his head. Louis makes no move to push either of them away. He vaguely remembers that the day that he and Dominique met Noé, they were in almost the same position. This time, Noé was the one comforting him.
It’s fitting, considering it was entirely his fault that he was crying in the first place.
Louis’ eyes begin to water again. He hates the fact that he can’t stop the tears from falling.
“There, there, Louis,” Noé says soothingly, continuing to pat his head. “It’s okay. It was just a dream. Me and Domi will stay with you in case you have any more bad dreams. Right, Domi?”
“Right,” Domi agrees. “And we’ll protect you from any bad monsters that show up, too!” Louis remembers the candelabra she was clutching before and chuckles.
“Maybe Noé would,” Louis starts quietly, sniffling, “but you’d be too scared, Domi.”
Domi huffs, but doesn’t pull away. Louis can feel her nose nuzzling his hair as she shakes her head. “Not true! I’d fight a monster if I had to do it to protect you! And I’d protect Noé, too!”
Louis hums in acknowledgement. “I see,” he says, followed by a yawn. “It’s late… we should go back to sleep.” Or sleep at all, Louis thinks, but doesn’t say.
At that, Domi and Noé do pull away, but only to give him matching pleading looks. Louis grumbles.
“I said ‘we’, didn’t I?” is all the response they get before Louis lies back down under the covers. It isn’t even a full second before the three of them are all lying together again.
Sleep comes easier now that Louis is once again surrounded by the two people he cares about most in the world. He’ll be able to sleep on his own again eventually. For right now, though, Louis sleeps between Domi and Noé without a care in the world.
Before he drifts off, he spares only one fleeting thought to the strange entity. By morning, it would be nothing more than part of a dream.