...𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 || gameknight999

CHAPTER TEN

COULD YOU TAKE A LOOK AT ME?

===

Angel had felt the effects of nightmares several times, but never before had she seen them happening to someone else.

Everything seemed normal when Angel had woken up - despite the fact that she was sweating from the heat of her blanket combined with Erebus's body warmth, she was perfectly content. It wasn't until she heard him let out a shaky whimper that she began to realize that something was wrong, and she sat up slightly to see what was going on.

"Erebus?" she called softly, her eyes widening as she saw the state that he was in. How she hadn't been able to feel his body shaking under the blanket was beyond her, but she knew she had to do something to help him. Reaching out, she placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him gently. "Erebus, are you-?"

Erebus awoke so violently and so suddenly that Angel jolted back in alarm. He shot bolt upright with a choked scream that tore through her heart, and he scrambled away, panicking as he backed himself into the corner of Angel's room, breathing raggedly and desperately as if he had run a marathon.

For a moment, it seemed that he didn't know where he was, like he was in a mental state between dreaming and reality. The visions plaguing his nightmare were far from leaving his mind; they terrified him, forcing themselves into his mind's eye, the cruel words of all those who had spoken to him echoing, echoing, echoing in his head. He was paralyzed with an overwhelming fear, a fear that coiled around his body like a serpent made of steel, restrained from striking only by the gentle sound of Angel's voice.

"...me? Can you hear me? Here, take my hands, take my hands, you're okay..."

Erebus was trembling so hard that he could barely lift his hands to take Angel's, but once he did, that now-familiar warmth that seemed to emit from Angel herself coursed through his body. He felt so guilty for receiving it, however.

"Can you hear me?" Angel asked again, her words becoming more clear to him now that he was focused on her warmth. He nodded, and Angel smiled. "Good, good, that's good - you're doing a good job, okay? Keep focusing on me, feel my hands, alright?"

She brushed her thumbs against the back of his hands, allowing him to grip onto them as tightly as he wanted.

"What else can you feel, Erebus? Can you feel the clothes on your body, or the bed underneath you?" This was a technique that Clara often used to calm Angel down whenever she was deep in a panic attack, or when she couldn't pull herself out of disassociation as easily as she wanted. It seemed to be working - Erebus nodded at the question, looking down and concentrating on the things he was able to feel. "You're doing so good, Erebus, you really are... keep concentrating on me, on my voice, okay? What you saw wasn't real."

Erebus quickly shook his head, looking back up at her. "No..." he whispered. "No, it- it was real..."

Angel tilted her head slightly. "Erebus, it was just a bad dream-"

"Dreams are real, Angel," Erebus muttered, almost frantically. He looked away in a weak attempt to hide how distressed he was, despite being calmer than he was when he had woken up. "In the- In the Land of Dreams, things are as real as the dreamer makes them. You have to- Angel, you have to understand that, it was real, it was all real, and it hurt-"

Angel was slightly taken aback by how much sense this made to her - she had been trying to ponder what exactly had happened to Erebus in the Source before she had saved him ever since that day in Minecraft. Nevertheless, that wasn't important right now, she would deduce the rest of the story later. Letting go of one of his hands, she reached up, gently placing it on his shoulder and leaning over him slightly.