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The wind blew into the twins shared room, their curtains billowing rapidly. The chilly weather wasn’t something that they disliked, but too much made it impossible to sleep.
Lyney got up, lighting their lantern to be able to see.
He closed and locked the window, but opened the curtains for some natural light.
Once the wind was no longer whistling, he heard a faint noise coming from the bed to his right. It was Lynette. The entire reason he had gotten up was because he knew she would wake up eventually, and didn’t want her to have to worry about it.
“Lynette…?” He whispered, walking over to her.
Her hair was standing up, and her ears were twitching erratically.
“Oh dear-” Lyney muttered, realizing what was happening.
Every so often him and his sister would get nightmares about their time before coming to the House of Hearth. It was difficult at first, as their Father never wanted them to show any weakness. Eventually, they realized that they would always have the other to look out for them. That certainly made it… tolerable.
So, Lyney did what they always had planned; he made the lanterns’ glow brighter, grabbed his record player from the chest at the foot of his bed and turned on a bit of soft jazz music (Lynettes favorite).
“Please- no…” He heard her whimper.
It made him angry. Angry that there was a time in which he wasn’t there for her. Angry that he couldn’t have protected her.
The only thing that made him feel better was the memory of his bloody dead body, laying at their Fathers feet. That vile and disgusting monster. The first encounter with the Fatui Harbinger- and he was forever grateful. The only thing that bothered him was that he couldn’t have-....
Stop thinking about the past, your sister needs you right now. He thought to himself.
He then brought the lamp a bit closer to his sister, both warming her up and allowing the light to wake her.
As her eyes started to peak open, he pulled away and set the lantern down, allowing her to have some room.
She then sat up, looking around the room in panic till her eyes landed on Lyneys.
“Its okay, you're okay…” He whispered, enveloping her in a soft hug.
He was careful to not touch her tail or ears, as they were usually sensitive after intense emotions are experienced.
“I- I cant breathe-” She choked out, a sob escaping from her lips.
“You can, you can, just breathe with me, okay?” He soothed, holding her at forearms length.
“M-mhm…” She nodded a bit.
“In, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… pause… Out, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.” He guided her, counting with his fingers.
She followed, breathing as instructed. Once she seemed calm enough, he handed her her cup of water, and assisted her in holding it up to her mouth.
“Are you feeling any better?” He asked softly, now just holding her hand.
She looked away, her eyes seeming more distant than normal.
“Yeah… I think…” She whispered.
He could tell she was lying, as her ears were still pinned back, and her tail was tucked neatly under her slightly.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked, hoping that might help.
Depending on the severity of the nightmare, sometimes talking about it would relieve them, other times it would just make it worse. So whenever the other had a nightmare, the awake sibling would leave it to the other on if they wanted to discuss it.
She looked at him, her eyes starting to fill with tears once more. Not many people could imagine the silent girl crying, but for Lyney, it was one thing that he wished he never had to see.
The idea that there were things he couldn’t protect her from- the things in her head- it hurt him. Safety was all they ever wanted for each other, so when nightmares occurred, they felt stuck. There was only so much they could do to help the other.
“I- I can’t… I can’t do it…” She shook her head, wiping her tears away.
“And thats okay. Thats completely okay. Im here if you want to talk about it at any later time.” He comforted her, giving her another hug.
“Thank you…” She said, her voice was just above a whisper.
“No need to thank me.” He told her.
They soon exited the hug, and Lyney turned the music up just a bit.
As Lynette started to hum along to the soothing music, he himself felt calmer as well.
“We’ll be okay, alright?”
“Yeah… we’ll be okay…”