Hey Birdie

Chapter 5: Nightmares

I don't own Percy Jackson or Young Justice.

Darkness.

As far as her eyes could see. Pitch black filling her vision. No light, no noise, nothing.

A blinding light. It died down. Something....a figure. It stood before her. Darker even, than its surroundings.

Laughter.

She knew that laugh. She knew it all too well.

It was loud. Overbearing. Dark. Crazy.

Another light. This one much brighter. It was painful, searing. It burned.

It hurt. It was too painful. The light too bright. The laughter too loud.

It was too much!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Percy:
She woke with a start, sitting up in her bed. Her breathing was heavy and uneven. She could still feel the burning sensation lingering on her skin.

Once she got her breathing back to normal, she turned to look at her alarm clock. 3:17 am.

Huh. Later than usual. She usually woke from her nightmares at 2 am. Then she would stay up for the remainder of the night.

It wasn't so bad. The nightmares were...not sparse per se. But more of a weekly occurrence. She would get one once a week, every Friday night. She would go to bed at 11 pm, and wake up with sweat beading her forehead at around 2 am. Like clockwork.

She had tried one time to stay up all night on the Friday. It kept the nightmares away, but the next night she woke up in a pool of sweat. A scream caught in her throat. That nightmare had been one of her worst.

It's safe to say she sleeps on Friday nights.

She stared up at her ceiling, lost in thought. Her mind racing, not settling on one. She didn't notice the door to her room open.

Dick:
He had a nightmare. He wouldn't have them often, but when he did they were bad. Most times he would relive his parents' deaths.

On particularly bad nights, he would also see Percy, sometimes even Bruce, fall.

Tonight was one of those nights. He woke up from the nightmare, sweat dripping down his forehead. His heart beating frantically, seeming as if it would jump out of his chest. Seeing your parents and sister fall to their deaths over and over again can do that to you.

He hugged himself until his breath evened out. He kept muttering under his breath that Percy was alright, that she was alive. But his brain wouldn't believe it.

He needed to make sure that Percy was in her room, that she was alive.

Dick approached her room barefoot, careful to not make a noise. As he opened the door, he noticed that she wasn't asleep. Instead, she was staring up at the ceiling, her mouth moving in silent words.

It was about 3:30 am, so it surprised Dick to see her awake. Then again, this was the girl who would go on patrol with him and Batman. So actually, he wasn't really surprised.

He crept up to her bedside and saw her head turn to look at him. She smiled.

"Can't sleep birdie?" Her tone wasn't teasing, but more comforting.

"I had a nightmare, actually." He said. Percy nodded.

"The usual?" She asked.

All it took was for him to nod his head for her to get the answer. She gave him a small smile and lifted up the corner of her blanket. He crawled into bed beside her, snuggling into her side. Percy just smiled and wrapped her arm around him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She already knew the answer, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

He shook his head, already drifting off. Being near Percy always had a calming effect on him. The same feeling he had with his parents. Safe.

Percy:
She watched Dick start to fall back asleep and smiled. Here, in the middle of the night after a nightmare, she could see him. The real him.

Not a mask that he put on as Richard Grayson for the press. Not the one he put on as Robin, that was probably the one he showed his team. Heck, he even put a mask on with Bruce and Alfred.

No. She got to see the real Dick Grayson. Just a thirteen year old boy. Broken, hurt. A kid who has been through almost as much as her.

And that hurt her. The fact that so many kids went through things like that. That was the main reason she became a hero in the first place. To keep other kids from loosing their parents, from going through all the pain she went through.

Dick's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Hey Seph? Have you told Wally you're back yet?"

Her eyes widened. "Shit."

So that sucked.

Anyways, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update. I don't really have a reason other than being lazy.

Also, 800+ views and 44 votes! Thank you guys so much!

I'm already working on the next chapter so hopefully it'll be up soon.

Stay whelmed cupcakes - j.d