Youngbloods of the World, Stand Up and Fight

Nightmares

More brotherly/sisterly fluff near the end.

You're welcome

~~~

After that little episode that night, everyone had trouble falling asleep. Some more than others. Namely Hope.

She didn't exactly know if she wanted to sleep, but she was exhausted. If the re energizing of her body took facing nightmares, then so be it. You didn't exactly need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that you'd need a lot of energy for what was to come.

But she was right about the nightmares. They started as soon as her eyelids closed.

The entire room was dark at first. Her arms and legs were both secured to something. Most likely the chair that she was sitting in. Whatever the case was, it was impossible to move.

And then a door opened and a light clicked on, filling the entire room with light. Hope squinted at the sudden exposure to light, her entire body tensing as she heard the clicking sound of heels echo across the room. As her eyes began to adjust, she saw that she was in the chapel again. Surrounded by a million different deadly-looking machines. Without even noticing, she started shaking in fear. What did they want with her?

"Well well, look what the cat dragged in," snickered an oddly familiar voice from above her.

Hope looked up, almost choking on air when she saw the speaker.

It was her. Well, it resembled herself at least. Same features and everything. However, the two couldn't be more different.

Her doppelganger was wearing all black, just like the women of the cult. Black skin-tight jeans, and a black crop top. The dirty-blonde hair on her head was pulled up into a tight high pony tail, and her eyes were heavily lined with dark black eyeliner. By the smirk on her face, Hope could tell that this... other her, was really enjoying seeing her in this state.

"Confused, hun?" her double asked, cocking her head as she came closer. "It's not so terribly hard to figure out, dear. I think you know who I am," she said, leaning down in front of Hope, a fakely innocent smile plastered on her face.

Still shaking, she slowly nodded, while trying to find her voice. "Y-you're me... the me that they're trying to turn me into..."

Hope's copy laughed, standing up. "You could say that, yes. Let's go with that."

Deciding to stay silent, Hope watched her double go around, flicking the machines on. "You know, I'm kind of looking forward to taking over you. It should be a ton of fun."

Before Hope could say anything in response, a machine was activated and a shock of electricity burst through her body, causing her to scream.

Never letting her smirk falter, the alternate version of Hope continued the electrocutions, seemingly enjoying it. The real Hope never stopped screaming. It felt as if the pain was never stopping. As if it would never stop.

"Are you done yet?! Are you ready to give in?! Come on, just let me take control and the pain can end!" she yelled, turning up the power even higher. All she got in response was louder screams as her victim started shaking in her chair.

"Come on Hope!"

"Hope!"

~~~

"Hope! Hope wake up!"

Hope jolted awake from sleep, panting and sweating as she tried to get her bearings. Several people were gathered around her. Kayla, Rina, and Patrick. All three were looking at her worriedly, and Patrick was squeezing her hand.

"What... what happened...?" she asked, sitting up a bit and rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

"You just started screaming in your sleep," Kayla said quietly. "Scared the hell outta Rina and I. Neither of us knew what to do, so we ran to get Patrick. You were only able to wake up after he came in and tried."

Patrick tightened his grip on her hand, a severely worried expression on his face. "Are you alright?"

"I... I think I am..." Hope answered, shaking her head. "I dunno..."

"Girls, why don't you try to go back to sleep?" he suggested quietly. "I've got her."

After a few more moments of protesting, Kayla and Rina finally gave in and went back to sleep. That was when Patrick gently tugged Hope out of her bed and led her down the hallway to the main room. The two of them plopped down on the couch, Patrick sliding his arm around Hope's shoulders. "What was the dream about, Hope? You know you can tell me."

"I..." she sighed, leaning her head into his side. "I don't wanna... it's hard to explain... and I don't exactly wanna talk about it..."

"Hope... please...?"

She continued to stay silent for a while before sighing again, picking at the sleeves of the shirt she was wearing. "I was in the chapel again... and I was hooked up to the same machines that I was when you found me... but then..."

"Then...?"

Hope rubbed her forehead, pulling her legs up underneath herself. "This alternate version of me... like, if I turned out to be one of them... she was torturing me... That's who I saw in my nightmare... And it..." she shivered, curling up even more, biting her fingernails, "it scared me, Patrick. What if I do turn out to be like one of them? What if-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Patrick gently placed his hand over her mouth. "Okay, first off, that's not gonna happen. You'll never turn out to be like one of them. Is that understood?"

Her eyes widened slightly at the sudden interruption, but she nodded anyway.

"Good. Secondly, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. At all. Ever. Not as long as I'm around to protect you. That, I can promise you. Alright?" he said, slowly taking his hand away from her mouth.

A small smile carved itself on her lips, as Hope nodded again. "Alright."

"Okay," Patrick said, smiling back at her, before squeezing her into a tight hug. "Now, do you wanna try to go back to bed?"

Shaking her head, she curled into his side with a yawn. "I feel safer here with you..."

Patrick opened his mouth to say something else, but he fell silent. Hope just smiled again, before closing her eyes and falling asleep almost instantly.

~~~

"I feel safer here with you."

Those few words echoed through Patrick's mind, as he sat alone, hugging Hope close and running one of his hands through her hair. Part of him was confused. Why him? Why did she feel safe around him when he got her into this mess in the first place? And why did she trust him so much?

Once again, the familiar aching in the back of his leg started up again, causing him to wince. It was bothering him more and more often now. By now, he was quite sure that the girls did something to him. But what exactly did they shoot into his leg? Whatever it was, it sure did hurt a whole hell of a lot.

Deciding to worry about it later, he just hugged Hope tighter, leaned back against the back of the couch, and fell asleep himself.