VVVVVV Shorts (Dead)

Dreams Tell

   Vermilion sits up straight as a pole. He clutches at the bedsheets, and his face pales with fear and anger. The strong heart pounds against his chest like the drums he mercilessly beats, and his lungs can only take in so much air. He growls softly and flops back down, and he smothers his face with the pillow.

He freezes as he hears the door creak open. He squeezes the pillow, his heart thumping in his ribcage, and he prays that whoever is there will leave.

"Vermilion? Are you ok?" She whispers softly as one does to a wild animal. She eases herself through the door, careful as to not wake the others. "Vermilion?"

He doesn't respond in the hopes that she finds him asleep. He relaxes his body to be more convincing, but he has the feeling that Victoria will not be so easily duped.

  He feels Victoria silently climb onto the bed, and he gulps as she places a hand on his shoulders and senses him flinch. "Come on Vermilion, what's wrong? I know you're awake, silly."

  He gives up and pushes himself up to face Victoria. "Nothing," he lies bluntly. "I just tend to wake up at this time." He forces a cheesy half-smile, but that only earns him an unamused look.

   "Come on, Vermilion. It's the middle of the night, past that, actually..." She trails off and sighs sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

   "No, you were right," he corrects, albeit hesitantly. He just doesn't want her to feel embarrassed. "I had a bad dream."

"A bad dream? What was it about?" She leans closer, as if she is prepared to give him a hug if he needs it.

"You wouldn't understand, Vic," he suddenly spits, and she recoils. She stares at him with fearful eyes. His regret washes over him in waves. "I'm sorry, it's just... I don't want to talk about it."

"It's ok." She says in her typical small voice. He watches her run her hands over her sides, and he opens his arms.

   "Do you need a hug?" He asks kindly.

She pauses, but she chooses to crawl into the embrace. "I had a bad dream, too."

"You did?" He asks in surprise. At the same time, his mind is preoccupied with the tiny, blue form who is nestled into him. He knows he is being entranced by how adorable she is, but he can't help it. In fact, he doesn't think anyone can.

He notices her nod. "Do you want to talk about it, or are you good?"

She curls up against him, and by instinct he surrounds her. But he makes no more moves, since he is fairly certain that it would be a bad idea to attempt to romance her in that moment.

"I... I was in the forest, I'm not sure which one. I was holding my mother's hand, and she was right there, right there, when she just disappeared." Her eyes start to water. "And everything turned to black, I couldn't see, and I saw the eyes of more villis in the shadows. They slowly walked into view, and then... Then I saw him." She ceases to move around, and she breathes heavily.

"Victoria? Are you ok?"

He is plenty concerned, but not only for her, because his dream was strikingly, strikingly similar.

"He was in a cloak. My mom, she kept screaming at him to go away, to take her research and go. But it wasn't her research, it was mine. She was lying. And I think he knew it. He watched me turn around and run, run back into the dark. She stopped screaming, and I couldn't hear anything, anything at all." She stopped and took a breather. "I woke up."