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He lay in their arms, fingers gently running through his hair.
Nightko held onto Poko, his legs curled upward and his arms wrapped around the half-puppet. The crying came in waves, brief moments of silence followed by sobbing.
“Shhh, I'm here now, Night…” Poko whispered, their other hand stroking Nightko's back in circles. They pulled him closer, hugging him tighter as Nightko tried curling into a smaller ball within his older brother's arms.
It hurt. The distress Nightko experienced more often than not was always a dagger to Poko's soft heart. Such a common occurrence for the two siblings to end up like this should not have phased Poko anymore but hearing any of their siblings cry triggered something in them.
Nightko's tears soaked into their hoodie.
“I'm sorry…” He whimpered, sniffling as he tried to catch his breath.
“What did he do?” Poko asked, gently encouraging him to open up.
“He… He forced me to watch the screens… There were awful things.”
“Do you wanna share?”
For a moment, Nightko did not answer, as if searching for the “right” words to use before realizing it did more harm than good as he became lost in his thoughts of what he'd been forced to view.
“Gore! Too much of it,” he sobbed. “I begged him to stop but I… I was losing control of myself… I couldn't move.”
“I'm so sorry…”
“I can't get it out of my head… all those poor people.”
Poko shushed him again, pulling him even closer as he continued to cry in their arms, his eyes widened so that he didn't have to see the horrid images in his mind every time he closed them.
Beside the two lay Nightko's teddy bear. His comfort object. One that greatly helped him but also one that his younger, tormenting brother, used to shame him. Dawktrap… always picking out things to put Nightko down for. But that bear was special to Nightko, Poko had made it. And he knew whenever he had it, he would always feel better. Like they were always with him.
Poko briefly removed one of their arms much to the despair of Nightko who had tightened his own grip. They reached for the soft bear and slightly pulled away from Nightko, showing him the plushie. Reluctantly, Nightko loosened his grip so Poko could slide the bear into his arms.
Nightko’s cries slowly quieted.
Despite there being hardly any age gap between Poko and Nightko —a mere one day difference in age— one could expect similar maturity in the two siblings.
That had stood true at one point, long ago. Until Dawktrap came along and corrupted Nightko's soul, turning him from a strong and brave young man to a weak and easily frightened lad. Something Dawktrap would always take advantage of as opposed to adjusting to Nightko's needs and treating him softer.
Dawktrap’s abuse never stopped… Why would it? He was the one that made Nightko this way.
But everyone hoped that maybe Dawktrap would have realized he went too far.
“I don’t… I don’t understand.” Nightko sniffled.
“What?”
“Why does he… Why does he treat me like this!?”
Poko did not answer, instead resting their chin on the top of Nightko’s head, bringing their hand up to stroke the back of his head again.
“I wish I knew.” They finally said.
“I love him, he’s my brother and I love my family,” Nightko admitted. “But it gets to a… a certain point. And I… I often wish he would… um—” he stopped, not wanting to finish his sentence. Poko waited for him to continue talking but he remained silent.
“He makes Darko look like a saint sometimes.” Poko chuckled, hoping their joke would lighten Nightko’s mood. Nightko only weakly nodded.
Poko had a guess at what the rest of Nightko’s sentence entailed. The kinder idea was hoping that Nightko was going to say he wished Dawktrap would change. But the reality was that Nightko most likely wished Dawktrap would go away.
Often, Poko never knew how to feel about Dawktrap.
He was a sibling. Poko couldn't hate him. However, they couldn't ignore how terribly he treated the rest of them, especially Nightko.
But Dawktrap couldn't be tamed. And despite how awful of a man he was, he was the favorite of both their father and Lewis’ audience.
If only Lewis knew the truth about how Dawktrap treated the others.
Poko looked at Nightko who was finally somewhat calm.
“You know I'm always here for you.” Poko stated. “You're still my little brother even if you're literally only a day younger than I am.”
“I know… Thank you.”
Poko smiled.
“Get some rest okay? If you have a nightmare, I'll be right here.” They said.
“I… I can try.”
“Love you, Night-light.”
Poko hadn't used that nickname since the two were younger, Nightko thought that his older brother had forgotten about it. It was a simple nickname from a time long gone, from when Nightko would brave everything and be the light for everyone else.
The smile appeared on Nightko's tearstained face as he further relaxed in Poko's arms, closing his eyes and holding his teddy bear close as he basked in their comforting presence.