.•What Once Was•. (vixreader)

Talk about It.

TW: Mentions of PTSD, as well as a slight anxiety attack.

A day after, Ekko had to go on another job; this time more urgent than you anticipated.
A fellow Firelight had whispered something in his ear, and immediately he stood and headed on over to gear up.

"What's happening?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it... just stay here."
You scoffed.
"It's been three days! My injury doesn't even exist at this point, I'm going."
He stopped you.
"No. You're not."
"And what's stopping me?"
You asked, your brows furrowed in anger.

"The fact you don't have a hoverboard at the moment." You gasped, finally realizing why you hadn't been able to find it.
"What the fuck?! Give me back my hoverboard Ekko or I swear-"
"No can do. Now I have to go, take care."
You watched as he and the others got ready, standing on the hoverboards and hearing as the engines started.

You gritted your teeth, but regardless told Ekko one last thing.
"Don't die! That's an order!"
He turned to you before waving, a small smile on his face.

When they all left, and it was quiet again, you groaned. Today you had a mission of your own; Finding out what that was about.

•. •. •.

"Hey Alice! How you doing?!" You asked in an enthusiastic tone, approaching the purple haired girl. Surely she most know something, right? She was a pretty responsible Firelight.
And she had always been very nice to you, there was no way in hell that she was not gonna tell you-
"No, I'm not saying anything Y/n."

You groaned.
"Pretty please? Just a little hint?"
She shook her head.
"No can do. I have to keep quiet for a reason, god knows what mess you'll get into with this knowledge."
And with that, she walked away, leaving you shocked.
She wasn't wrong though.

You continued to ask several other people until it was practically dark, but to nobody's surprise, you failed the mission.
Absolutely nobody would spill, and everyone kept their mouth shut.
It frustrated you how loyal everyone here was.

When you made your way back, Bex was nowhere to be seen in the room. Though as you were about to call out to her, she jumped from behind the door and let out a 'boo!'.
Thankfully, you were able to catch yourself before you had accidentally smacked her.

"Bex don't ever do that again!"
She laughed uncontrollably, doubling over.

"Then how come you did it to Ekko?!"
She said, squinting her eyes in suspicion.
"That's different. Very different."
She thought for a second.
"Hmm. Not really."
She only continued laughing, and you rolled your eyes. You exhaled, patience running out.
"Come on little lady. It's nighttime, and it's also bedtime so get your ass into bed."
She complied, but began giggling when she got under the covers.
"Your face was so funny monny."
"I'm sure it was. Now go to sleep."
"Finee."

•. •. •.

The room was quiet, and everyone was asleep.
You were deep in slumber when suddenly you weren't, and instead of being in your room, you were back to that dreaded day.
It was like you could practically smell the smoke, feel the weight of the rubble on you; the sensation of your eyes burning.
Though different to the original day, you were fully conscious.
Everyone was dead in front of you.
Unmoving and eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

You felt tears stream down your face as you tried to push off the piece of rubble, but couldn't.
It got heavier and heavier as the seconds passed, and you felt like you couldn't breathe.
Black creeped at the corners of your eyes, and you finally awoke.
Sitting straight up, you panted as your heartbeat was frantic. You were a sweaty mess, and a mess in general too.

Turning to the side, you made sure you hadn't awoken Bex.
Though thankfully, she was still sleeping soundly.
So as quiet as you possibly could, you stood from your bed and left the room, shutting the door silently.
The moon was out, and the faintest of stars could be seen.

Your feet moved on their own as you went towards the mural and sat by it.
Sighing, you could only do the one thing that came to mind. You pondered for a bit before actually doing it... given how it would seem stupid.

"Ekko said I needed to rely on him when I needed help, but he isn't here right now, so I'll just talk to you instead, even though I know you can't hear me."
You wrapped your arms around you.
"I miss you. A lot, but even that is an understatement. Things haven't obviously been the same without you, and it hurts. It hurts that you aren't here next to me, so that I wouldn't have these stupid nightmares. But that's not gonna happen, and really, I just have to deal with them myself. Well, I don't have to, but you know what I mean."

You hummed, looking down at the floor.
"I wish you could've met Bex. Or seen Ekko nowadays, sometimes it dawns on me how much he's grown. Or that you'd seen everyone here, and how we take care of one another."
You engulfed yourself in the silence, finding it somehow comfortable.
Obviously you weren't expecting a response, but the sole fact that you talked about it made you feel slightly better.

"Monny?"
You jumped, turning to face Bex as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"Bexie?! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be asleep." You stated, brows pinched together in worry.
Did she hear all that?
You hoped not.

"You weren't in bed, so I went to look for you and found you here. What are you doing?"
You smiled. "Just thinking."
She hummed.
"Can I think with you?"
You breathed out a laugh, making a spot next to you.
"Of course you can honey."
She smiled and proceeded to sit next to you.

"Were you actually talking to Vi? I thought I heard you talking." Yawning, she looked over you.
"I was, actually. Silly isn't it?"
You replied, twiddling with your fingers
"No. I talk to my teddy all the time, and I know he wont talk back, but I still like to do it."
You smiled, looking down at her pretty red hair and placed a gentle hand atop of it.
"Ekko told me once that It's okay to talk to in.. inmanite objects or things if it makes you feel better. How do you say that word?"
"Inanimate."
"Yeah! Did talking to the painting make you feel better monny?"

You exhaled.
"It did."
She grinned.
"That's good."
With that, she proceeded to lay her head on your lap as she drifted away, quickly going back to sleep.
You looked down at her and brushed the hair out of her face.
"You curious little human, always saying the right things at the right time."

You stayed like that for a while, simply just staring at the moon or looking at the stars.
When you deemed it time to go back, you gently carried Bex in your arms as you returned to your room.
You placed her on her side of the bed, and you got onto yours.

And for once, had you actually gone back to sleep after a nightmare.