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He sits up in his bed with a jolt, one hand rushing to the hilt of Zweihander while the other rests over the armor of his chest. He’s gasping for breath, tears streaming out of his eyes. The only reason he doesn’t reach to wipe them is because his body has long since learned it would only touch metal. Owain’s hand twitches over his sword, flashes of blood, of death, of screaming filling his ears. He chokes back another sob.
Only the barest scuffle of sound catches his attention. He jerks his head up, eyes finally landing on a figure across the small room, the figure resting on his small table. Kitty. She stares back at him with her wide green eyes full of concern. The hand that had tightened on his sword loosens immediately, it's only her. He scoffs, but the impact is lessened by the sniffles and tremors still racking through his body.
“Are you ok?” She asks quietly, gracefully standing from his table and approaching closer, tilting her head back and forth as she analyzes him. There’s something calming about her presence in the dark, unlike the annoyance that usually follows during the day. He…doesn’t want to like it.
“Go away.” He murmurs, full of exhaustion, not having the mental strength to get angry at her. Owain looks down at his hands, trying to ignore the phantom image of blood that seems to coat his fingers, a revulsion bubbling deep in his chest. A smaller hand reaches out to take his, gentle but firm, holding his plated fingers as if without care for what they’ve done or can do. As if he couldn't crush the bones in her fingers in seconds. He shudders again at the thought.
“It is ok.” She says assuredly, smiling at him. "You are safe." They sit in silence for a few moments, the only sound the bugs chirping outside. Kitty is patient, content to simply hold his hand as his breathing slowly settles and the tear tracks beneath his eyes dry. Owain finally let's go of his blade. “To make you feel better.” She says kindly, then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a mouse.
“AH!” He flinches back in disgust, shocked out of his stupor, their hands breaking apart. “Stop handing me rats! Wait- why are you in my HOUSE?!” Owain suddenly shouts, the realization hitting him at once. It’s the middle of the night and he had been sleeping, why on Earth was she there? Was she watching him sleep??
“I was sitting on my table!” She says with all the offense of someone who’s been slighted, despite being the one who’s done the ‘slighting’. She frowns, tucking the mouse back into her pockets and pulling out a bundle of torches instead. “Here. You like more right?”
He hesitantly takes them from her, finding a secret appreciation in the way they light up the room. He was always so proud of the way his armor shone in the light, always unnerved when there was none to chase away the shadows. Owain thinks for a moment. “A-are these mine?! And that is not your table! It’s mine!” The annoyance is back, at her going behind his back and ruining his effort, at her claiming part of his home when his home is already so small.
Her face does something strange, it becomes something…sad, almost. She turns away, her whole body drooping it on itself. He sighs heavily. “Thank you. For the torches. And for the…for the ‘help’. Please don’t watch me sleep again.” Kitty reanimates. Her smile is blinding, her body buzzing with sudden energy. She nudges her cheek into his shoulder for a second, oddly like a cat, before nodding at him and disappearing right in front of his eyes. He has a feeling she ignored the request.
“What an odd woman…” He mutters to himself, but in the privacy of his room, of his helmet, he smiles.
The nightmare is forgotten.