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They figured if they held on tight to each other, then the nightmares would take a turn for sweeter dreams that they started to get used to.
Percy can still feel the crushing weight of darkness and ash that seems to choke him. A mocking whisper echoes in his ear as he awakes with a trail of sweat on his chest and forehead. His eyes dart back and forth between Vex curled into his chest and the wispy trail of white smoke coming from the dying fire place. He tries to go back to sleep but swears he can hear the faint unearthly cackle as the embers glow for a while before extinguishing.
Vex still sees her brother’s face before flame and ash fills her vision, and a piercing roar echoes in the dark. No mother, no family to call her own as she cries out like a small girl with the sulfur filling her lungs. Before unseen vines pull her farther down into the abyss, she awakes with a loud gasp on silken sheets and goose feather pillows. Percy is still deep in his slumber as he unconsciously pulls her closer to him.
Whenever they open their eyes to meet each other, on the more trying nights, their interwoven hands try to become enough of an anchor to fall back asleep.
“It’s okay, you’re okay”, it becomes a quiet reassurance just to comfort the other. The only meditation that is possible in the late hour before their eyes fall heavy
Maybe the horrors will be kept at bay just a little while longer this night. Or, maybe the laughter from their children paints a lovelier picture this time around.