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Two forms laid limp on the ground. A third, trapped and screaming. Something moved his limbs for him, moving lightning-fast, hand open like talons reaching for prey. It wasn't a rodent or bug that hand grasped onto, but instead, the soft skin of a throat, vibrating with desperate calls.
His fingers flexed without his permission, claws that weren't there previously digging sharply into flesh. Large feathery wings spread out as a figure was held high above him by the throat. Attempts at breathing, at making noise, pulsed beneath his hand.
Cold eyes glared upwards, grip tightening. If he could scream, he would've. Any sound he made didn't pass through, any action he attempted gave no response. The thing using his body like a puppet refused to let go, refused to give to his desperate attempts. They made a choked noise, still dangling above him, clawing desperately at his arms, trying to get it to let go.
It kept tightening its grip. It didn't falter, didn't direct its power towards anything else. It tightened, and tightened, until they stopped making noise, until they stopped moving.
This wasn't how it went—
He tried to let go. He tried to scream, begging in his mind for it to let go, to do anything but this. No response came. Nothing at all, not even a slight acknowledgement. It was like he didn't exist. No noise was made for far too long.
Not from it, and not from them.
Finally, suddenly, it let go. Their body plummeted to the ground, dropped like a dead weight. He couldn't scream. He couldn't do anything. Their name sat unspoken on his tongue, bubbling up in his throat never to be released. He felt like he couldn't breathe, couldn't see, and yet his body continued its functions as though nothing had ever happened.
He couldn't do anything.
It turned away from their body, and his vision grew dark.
Then his eyes opened. Eyes he swore were already open, kept open by that thing, despite his darkening vision. The room he was in was still dark, but there was a dim light to it, green stars projected onto the ceiling. Orange had seen a projector night light in an ad and begged to add it to the shared room.
Slowly, Yellow shifted to sit up, a small groan escaping his mouth as his back popped. The noise, quiet as it was, made him choke on air—bringing a hand up to cover his mouth as he coughed—he was finally capable of making noise again.
He was in control of himself.
His limbs responded when he willed them to move, his voice worked, everything was fine.
So why was his heart beating so fast? Why couldn't he shake the things he saw?
It was just a stupid nightmare.
Yellow breathed in deeply, but it caught in his throat, morphed into a sob. He bit his lip in an effort to mute the sound—while knowing he could control his body was reassuring, he didn't want anyone to wake and hear him.
There was a slight shift above him. Immediately, Yellow covered his mouth with his hands, ducking his head low. Large, feathery wings shifted into his field of vision.
The image of their body, hung lifeless from his hand, seemed to come hand-in-hand with the sight of his wings. Yellow couldn't quiet his next sob, choking on the noise. He forced himself up and out of his bed, careful to not hit his head on the top bunk. He fumbled for his glasses, unable to find them, covering his mouth all the while. He kept moving even without his glasses, he didn't particularly need them to run off and cry somewhere else.
Before he could make it to the door, intent on leaving the room so he wouldn't wake anyone, he heard another shift.
"..Yellow?"
No, no, not now.
Slowly, Yellow turned just barely, hoping the dim lighting obscured his expression. He could barely see, Blue had sat up on the top bunk just above his. Yellow remained still, struggling to find his words, as Blue reached for the ladder.
"I, um—I just—I couldn't sleep." Yellow lied, his voice trembling. He took a slight step back, reaching for the doorknob. "You, you just go back to sleep, um—it's fine, you can sleep. I was just going to... work on a project. I'm sorry for waking you."
His hand had barely grazed the doorknob before Blue began speaking once more, their tone concerned.
"Yellow, what's wrong? Your voice is shaking." Blue slowly climbed down the ladder, their voice soft. It took them no time to stand in front of him once they were on the floor, slowly taking his face in their hands.
He only then processed that tears were streaming down his face.
Yellow failed to come up with any response, swallowing hard as he tried to suppress another sob. Blue carefully brushed their thumb over his cheek, wiping away tears.
"What happened, buttercup..? You're crying..." Blue hummed, shifting one hand to hold onto Yellow's hand—drawing him away from the doorknob, away from leaving.
"It—It's just—It's stupid, illogical." Yellow stumbled over his words, trying to keep his voice hushed enough to not disturb anyone else. The feeling of Blue's hand against his face was a cool comfort, a sharp contrast to the constant warmth that plagued Yellow. It was hard to not lean against Blue, but Yellow held himself back. He needed to be alone, right? That was how to fix this. Being alone for a little bit, where there was no risk of being a threat to anyone.
But Blue began stepping back towards the beds, keeping their hands on Yellow's own hand and cheek, and Yellow followed without hesitance.
"It's not stupid if you're stressed about it, Yels. Come on, dear, let's sit down. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Blue carefully guided him back, until they came to sit down on Yellow's bed. They patted the spot next to them, shifting to sit so that they'd face him when he sat down. Yellow hesitated, before finally sitting down, wiping away his own tears. More still poured.
"...It was a nightmare. About, um..." The thought of voicing the incident made his skin crawl. The thought of speaking of what he dreamt, it made him feel sick. Yellow could only trail off, staring at Blue with a broken expression. His eyes focused solely on watching Blue, making sure they were still breathing.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Blue reassured, shifting to pull Yellow into a hug. Slowly, Yellow wrapped his arms around Blue in return, lowering his head to press an ear against Blue's chest. Listening for their heartbeat, latching onto it like a lifeline.
Blue placed a hand on the back of Yellow's head, gently running their fingers through his hair. The pressure was grounding. Yellow let out a small breath as Blue began shifting to let the two lay down on the bed, still holding Yellow close the entire time.
They stay laying like that for a while. Yellow had shifted to simply rest his forehead against Blue's chest, content to focus on the feeling of Blue's breathing. Blue's hand continued its ministrations, fingers carefully picking tangles from his hair. Their other hand had tucked under his wings to rest against his back, buried in scapular feathers. Yellow's arms remained wrapped tightly around Blue's torso, the fabric of their shirt bunched up between his tense and twitching fingers. His entire body refused to relax, even with Blue there and breathing and alive.
Finally, after what felt like an aeon, Yellow spoke.
"...The nightmare was about me killing you." He whispered, voice on the edge of shattering. "When the... orb.. was controlling me, but instead of just possessing everyone, it—it killed everyone. And I wasn't outside my body, I was still in it, but I couldn't control it."
"Oh, Yellow..." Blue began softly, never pausing their gentle movement, only leaning forward to press a small kiss to the top of his head. If Yellow had any more tears left in him, he'd be sobbing, but he'd wasted them all in his failed attempt to get out of the bedroom earlier. "Buttercup, it's okay now. I promise you. That wasn't real, we're all here, we're all safe. You're okay. It's not there anymore."
It's still there, he almost wanted to say, all too aware of that presence that lingered forevermore within his mind like a virus eating away at his confidence. But he couldn't.
"It felt so real." Yellow breathed instead, voice trembling once more. "It was focused on you, the nightmare—and I could feel it all. I couldn't do anything. But I saw... I felt it all... I, Cursors, Blue, I saw the life fade from your eyes, I felt you stop breathing..."
He was shaking. He couldn't stop shaking, he couldn't stop tears from welling up in his eyes. Turned out he hadn't cried himself dry yet. He couldn't stop his trembling breaths, nor the way he held onto Blue tighter, as though they'd vanish otherwise. His throat felt tight, like no air could get through.
"Hey, hey, Yellow, I need you to keep breathing, okay?" Blue's voice now held worry, concern. Shifting to tilt his head up, making sure Yellow was looking at them. "Breathe, Yels. It's okay. I'm okay, we're okay. I'm right here, I'm breathing, I'm alive. I need you to focus on breathing too so you can calm down, alright?"
Yellow nodded, taking in shallow and short breaths as he held Blue tighter. They didn't seem to mind, instead beginning to count.
"In for five, hold for two, out for five. Does that sound good?" They asked, a small smile on their face as Yellow nodded once more.
They stayed like that for minutes on end, Blue counting to keep Yellow on track, until finally Yellow could properly breathe without entirely relying on Blue's guidance. When he could breathe again, Yellow loosened his hold on Blue, mumbling a quiet apology as he realized how tightly he'd been holding on.
"Don't apologize, Yels. It's okay." Blue hummed, cradling their arms around Yellow like before. "It helped you know that I'm here, right? Then it's okay."
Another shaky nod. Yellow buried his face against Blue's chest, making a small hum in response. Blue tended to be colder than he was, it felt like a relief to be surrounded by them.
A small moment of silence passed, and then he felt Blue's lips pressed against the top of his head, leaving tiny kisses across his hair. Yellow hummed contently, his wings fluttering. Suddenly, Blue shifted down, their face level with his.
Yellow blinked in confusion for a moment, only for that confusion to be entirely broken as Blue started peppering his face with kisses. He squeaked in surprise, a quiet laugh finding its way out of his mouth as his face flushed, eyes closing. Blue's affectionate assault seemed endless, each cool kiss pressed against his cheeks and forehead seeming all the more comforting. That pattern was only broken when Yellow pressed himself closer, bringing their lips to meet.
They both reveled in the kiss for a short while, until Blue broke it to press another gentle kiss to Yellow's forehead. Right against the star marking that the orb had left on him.
It felt like love in its purest form, to so gently cherish every piece of him, even the piece that haunted him.
"I love you, Yels. I'm here." Blue whispered, cradling Yellow's face in their hands. Yellow couldn't help but melt, a smile finding its way onto his face as he leaned ever closer to Blue, his face still hot and flushed. Blue's thumbs ran across his cheeks, bringing cool relief.
"Love you too..." Yellow murmured back, voice no longer shaking, instead edged with a drowsy tone. "I love you so much, Blue. You always know just what to—"
His sentence was cut off with a groan from the other bed, and a pillow hitting him on the back of the head. Yellow yelped, his head knocked forward, right against Blue—who yelped as well, jerking their head back and rubbing at their chin.
"Shut upppp." Orange groaned, turning over in their bed. "And throw my pillow back, I need that."
Yellow could feel his face burning with embarrassment. He mumbled a near-incomprehensible "sorry..." that wasn't heard, hiding his face against Blue. Meanwhile, Blue only tossed the pillow back, giggling lightly.
"Sorry, Orange. Yels, how about we get some sleep?" Blue shifted their attention back to Yellow, wrapping their arms around him.
"Mmhm.. Stay with me?" Yellow asked quietly, keeping his own arms around Blue. He wasn't sure he'd be able to fall asleep otherwise.
"Of course, buttercup."
They stayed like that, in each other's arms, for quite some time. Eventually Orange's snoring was audible again.
Blue was the one who fell asleep first, their quiet but consistent snoring a familiar sound. They remained curled around Yellow, holding him like something precious. It took longer for Yellow to slip away into slumber, but for once, it didn't feel like he was doomed to another nightmare.
His dreams were peaceful, calm.
Maybe it really would be okay.