★~Vintage Soul~★ (Welcome Home AU)

Chapter 6 - Nightmares

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My eyes flutter open, and I look around to see the surrounding area is pitch black, with no walls, ceiling, or floor in sight. "What... h-huh?! Where-" I panicked as I looked around into the nothingness, trying to get an idea of where I could be. It was like I was in an endless void. It was like what I was seeing wasn't real, like I was...

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" My voice echoed a slight bit as I spoke. After a few seconds, someone responded. "Well, not exactly." Turning around I see a woman with long black hair with gray streaks and deep blue eyes, dressed as if she was from the 70s with a red long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Her voice was cold and hoarse, and she stared me down with a serious look, before looking around at the nothingness surrounding us. "I mean, It's kinda like a dream? I'm not quite sure how to describe it."

"Who?... where is..." she chuckled coldly. turning back to face me, she put her hands in her pockets. "I see you're very confused, so let me make this short." she takes a step towards me, making me Involuntarily back up. A warm, but strained smile displayed on her face. "You are playing a very dangerous game, and I would advise against revisiting things that are better off being forgotten." a cold shiver goes down my spine, but I stand my ground. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Her smile fades slightly, her cold dead eyes looking down at me. "Don't play dumb with me Y/N, you know exactly what I mean. You should've left that damned doll in the attic to rot." my eyes widen, and I sigh, looking back at the woman with a serious glare, starting to feel defensive for some reason. "Whatever. you're probably just my subconscious right? Just my brain trying to fuck with me while I sleep." The woman takes a step back, seemingly surprised by me standing my ground, her warm smile wiped off her face entirely now. "Oh, I can assure you, I am very real. and I'm trying to warn you."

"Uh-huh, sure. Now can I wake up? I'm not gonna listen to a figment of my imagination" Another chill goes down my spine, and I see her white wings puff up. Wait, since when did she have wings? "You're messing with demons, horrors you couldn't even fathom, I'm trying to warn you to turn back now before it's too late." Her voice seemed like she was straining to stay calm. Gritting her teeth slightly as she tried to keep her composure. "Yeah yeah, okay. I want to wake up now-"

"Y/N, LISTEN TO ME!!" everything shook as she screamed out. I tried to cover my ears from how loud it was, but I couldn't move anymore. She takes another step towards me, now towering over me with a very furious glint in her eyes. "I'm trying to warn you. don't you get it? That puppet is going to be your end, and if you don't do anything about it, you will have to face the consequences." She sighed, her gaze going soft for a second. "Don't you see I'm trying to help you?" she gently held my face the same way a mother would when comforting their child. And yet I still couldn't move or speak, being forced to look her dead in her dull blue eyes. Taking another deep breath, she takes her hand away and returns to her serious glare, backing up a small bit. "But if you want to continue taking care of that monster, go right ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you about what happens next..."

She glares at me one last time, before starting to walk away. And before I could try to speak up or say anything, I feel a sharp pain in my chest grow. Looking down, I see that what looked like a black spear had stabbed me through my chest. feeling the blood drip down my torso, I start to cough up blood, quickly falling to the floor in excruciating pain. If this was a dream, how was I feeling pain? My thoughts quickly become overwhelming as I start to panic. oh god, It felt like I was dying. Was I dying? I don't want to die, not yet, I-

"Y/N wake up!" my eyes shot wide open as I sit up in bed, my breathing was heavy and panicked as I looked around the room, my eyes meeting with a very familiar face. His expression was scared and worried but looked slightly relieved that I was now fully awake. "Are you okay? You looked like you were having a nightmare, is everything alright!?"

"I... I can't..." I try to take a deep breath, attempting to calm myself down as I looked around, trying to ground myself, but failing miserably. "I don't w-want to d-die yet..." My breathing gets heavier and heavier as I start to go into a panic, tears stream down my face as I curled up into a ball, as if to hide from the horrifying thoughts of what I had just experienced. I then feel something shift beside me, feeling two small and soft hands grasp mine gently.

"Y/N, can you look at me?" After a second, I nod, and slowly move my head to look at him, his voice was full of concern, but soft as if he was trying to put aside his fear for me. "Can you name something in this room that's red?" Wally gently rubs circles, stars, and other random shapes into my hands to soothe me. I look at him with slight confusion, before nodding, looking around at the dimly lit room.

I gently let go of one of his hands to point at what my eyes had landed on. "C-Cup..." I gently mutter out, looking over at a red cup left on my desk. He nods in approval, smiling softly as he holds my hands gently. "Good, now something orange?" I nod once more, sniffling slightly from some stray tears as I look around the room again. "The p-poster has orange on it..." he nods, a proud look on his face. "Good, now yellow?" I look around the room once more. "My sweater..." my breathing settling a little bit as we go through the different colors in my room. "Green?"

"I-I..." I frantically look around for something green in my room, my panicking slightly returning as it's hard for me to find something green. "Hey, hey, it's okay." he continues to rub shapes lazily into my hands. "How about that over there?" He points to a painting on the wall, which has some green on it, and I nod softly. "Can you find something blue?" I take a deep breath, before my eyes look around the room once more, landing on him. "Your hair, and y-your jacket..." Without realizing it, I reach my hand up and twirl a strand of his blue hair in my hand, causing his fabric to blush a small bit.

"G-Good! You're doing amazing." I smiled at the words of reassurance, my breathing almost returning back to normal. "Lastly, purple." nodding, I look around my room once more, the lamp on my bedside table and the sunrise shining through my window illuminating the room slightly. "Umm..." It takes me a second, but I soon point to the blanket on my bed, it had hints of purple and blue, like a galaxy.

"Good job Y/N, breathe in..." I take a deep breath in, it still hurt a bit to breathe from the panicked state I was in, but my breathing was slowly returning to normal. "And out..." I breathe out, smiling at him with a thankful look on my face. "Where... where did you learn grounding techniques?" he chuckles softly. "Remember how I had a show?" I nod softly. "One of the episodes was us teaching the viewers different grounding techniques, like using your senses and breathing skills. Mine was using colors, because-"

"You're an artist?" I finish his sentence for him, and he laughs softly. "Yep! I guess they thought it was fitting, haha!" he looks down, and realizing that I'm still holding his hands, tries to pull away. but I quickly bring his hands back to me, intertwining them gently with mine. "I'm not gonna break Wally, it's okay to hold my hands." his eyes widen, and he nods, looking away slightly flustered, and squeezing my hands carefully. I smile warmly at him, taking another deep breath as my breathing returns fully to normal. "Thank you, Wally."

"It was nothing! Neighbors got to look out for each other, you know?" I chuckle softly, "Neighbors? We're technically roommates Wally..." he laughs, slightly embarrassed with himself for letting the name slip out. "A-Ah, well I guess that's true. But I guess calling you neighbor is more... natural to me?" I nod, and yawning faintly, rub my eyes. "Well then, you can call me neighbor then. Though we might want to try to get some more shut-eye, since I've got work tomorrow." nodding, he gently tucks himself back into bed, signaling for me to get comfortable as well. Once I get comfortable, I gently held him close, making him become a stuttering mess.

"N-Neighbor? What a-are you-" But I was already asleep, softly nuzzling into his hair like he was a plushie. He sighed, blushing a bit, he got comfortable in my arms.

"Goodnight Neighbor, sweet dreams..."

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