A Night of Dreams

Chapter 1:3

Ruffrunner

I went through the rest of that day feeling like total crap. I woke up so happy and excited that morning, and, now, I wished I could stab a kitten. How could Pouncer, my own brother, say all that stuff? After all we'd been through? I knew Crypto wasn't his favorite dragon in the world, but he could at least pretend to accept him. I can't help it that we share a soul! As I thought that, Crypto placed a paw on my shoulder. I gazed up at him, tears still in my eyes.

It's uncanny sometimes how he can read my mind and always seem to know exactly what I need. I smiled at him.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm ok. Just flustered is all..."

He made a low guttural noise in his throat that indicated worry. I sighed, "Really, I'll be ok. Forget Pouncer anyway! If he wants to run off with some girl and abandon us, then so be it! He just shouldn't come cryin' to me when things inevitably go wrong!"

Crypto gave me this weird look. I couldn't quite discern what it was, but it definitely wasn't agreement. I think it's safe to say he hates it when Pouncer and I fight, and I imagine he was especially broken up about this one. I spent the rest of that day trying to assure him that I was fine, that Pouncer was just being an idiot and would come around. I mean, that's how all our big fights ended in the past.

But, even I was having trouble shaking the words he had said. Had Crypto really come between us that much? Was he really suffering because of us? I tried to shake those thoughts away and chalk it up to just him getting mad, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to worry. That worry followed me well into the night, when Crypto and I returned home. We curled up together in bed like always. I was a bit surprised to see Pouncer wasn't home.

I guessed he was probably still upset and didn't wanna see me. Fine! He could have it his way! If he wanted to be a baby about this whole situation, then he could damn well do it! I didn't need him anyway! And, yet, I had trouble falling asleep that night.

The thing is, before Crypto, Pouncer was all I had. We had been taken from our home by humans before we had any idea what was what. We were all each other could rely on, and, though we fought at times, we never stayed mad at each other for more than a few hours, never a whole day. So, it really worried me that he still wasn't home. I snuggled close to Crypto's cold body.

Even though he's more freezing than a block of ice, I still find comfort in sleeping next to him. It doesn't feel weird, it just feels like I'm sleeping next to a bigger, stronger part of myself. I tried to accept the fact that I was small, that my body was wrong. Being next to Crypto, a literal zombie, kind of helped that. I think Pouncer always thought I didn't care at all, but I did...

I hated that body! I hated that I could never seem to do anything right, that my whole life had been one huge series of misfortunes! I tried to stay positive and strong, make the world believe I didn't care, but the truth is, it constantly ate away at me from the inside. And, moments like that day, when my own brother called me a freak, are what really got to my core. I fell asleep with those thoughts, quivering slightly from agitation at them.

Then, something really, REALLY weird happened...

•••

I awoke in darkness. Well, not total darkness, more like partial darkness. It was weird. I was standing in a black abyss, yet I could see everything perfectly fine. But the weirdest part was that Pouncer was standing there too, and he looked just as confused as I was. And, even weirder than that, that Dart chick was there, too, standing on my other side.

"Dammit, am I really having a dream with you two in it?" I groaned.

"What do you mean you're having a dream?" Dart asked in that snarky tone I already hated, "This is my dream! And you two are in it!"