One Family (KOTLC Oneshots)

Nightmares

Sophie was walking down the hallway of an old base. The Neverseen just attacked the Elven cities, and many refugees were taking shelter in the many Black Swan bases along with plain old buildings the Black Swan has never used before. Sophie finished talking about war strategies with the Stealth team (you will have another one-shot about them soon!) and was walking back to her room. She sped past the nursery and heard subtle crying coming from the room. Sophie stopped dead in her tracks and poked her head into the nursery. She saw almost all the children sleeping peacefully except for one squirming around in their cot. Sophie stepped over all the children and made her way to the kid. She saw a small head of strawberry hair rustling under their sheet.

"Bex?" Sophie asked. The head stopped and popped out from under their blankets. Bex's eyes were red and puffy, and her lower lip was quivering.

"Sophie!" Bex cried out. She launched out from under the sheets and threw her arms around Sophie's neck, sobbing into her shoulder.

"Bex? What happened?" Sophie asked quietly, slightly rocking her. Bex only whimpered into her shoulder. Sophie picked up Bex and stumbled out of the nursery. Sophie sat on the cold floor outside the nursery slightly rocking Bex against her shoulder.

"Sophie?" Bex asked after some time.

"Yes?" Sophie responded.

"Do you ever get nightmares?" Bex whispered to Sophie, pushing away from her shoulder.

"Oh, boy. Yeah, I do. I get them all the time because of my PTSD and the Black Swan, placing things into my head." Sophie explained putting Bex on the floor next to her. They started walking blindly through the halls.

"They can be very overwhelming, huh?" Sophie chuckled slightly.

Bex stayed quiet for some time before opening up.

"It was so scary, Sophie. My family was running away from Fintan as fire rained from the sky." Bex explained. Sophie made small circles on the back of her hand as Bex grasped it.

"Dex and the rest of his friends were doing everything they could. You were there too. You were fighting off three times more people. You jumped in front of me to try to help us, but they eventually overpowered you. They slammed you against a wall. You didn't get back up." Bex whispered. Sophie sympathized with Bex. They unconsciously walked to the tower that Sophie knew all too well. They walked over to a parapet and hung their legs off the sides.

"One day you will understand Bex. Why nightmares come, why they never go away. But I will tell you what a wise man once told me. He told me nightmares are manifested from all the terrible things in life. People who are hurting, using, and scaring one another." Sophie took a careful breath.

"There is a lot of darkness in this world, no matter how much the elves want to deny it. But keep in mind there is always light to fight against it. As long as the people of free will, there will always be light. No man is completely dark, and no man is completely light. But true good in this world is those who fight to pursue the light. And that is what we are all doing, you know. Fitz, Tam, Biana, Linh, your brother, Keefe, and I? That is why we are doing this. We have experienced so much darkness in our lives that we fight for light for those who can't. Those are the people you need to think about when your life becomes dark Bex. Think about those who fight for you and others and hope they can inspire you to fight as well. The best way to do it is to make a list in your head of everything you can remember about them. The way their laugh sounds, the way their smile can light up a room that is what you need to think of. Anything you can imagine. It will help, trust me." Sophie finished. Bex thought for a minute before looking back up at Sophie.

"What happens if the darkness wins?" Bex asked quietly as if trying to lower her voice so the darkness won't hear her. Sophie simply shook her head with a smile.

"We will make sure it won't. And remember, as long as there is free will, there will always be light." Sophie quietly explained, smiling.

Bex smiled back at her and leaned back against her, Sophie's hand wrapped around her and was quietly placed on Bex's forearm. They had to stay there for at least another half an hour before Sophie noticed that Bex was getting sleepy. Sophie picked Bex back up and right before heading down the stairs she stared at the tower again, silently thanking it for all the moments she had in it. Sophie brought Bex back down to the nursery and put her in her cot. As she was turning to leave, she felt a slight tug on her wrist. Bex had loosely put her hand on Sophie's wrist and was tugging her down.

"Please stay. I want you here if I have another one." Bex whimpered slightly. Sophie sighed and took off her boots and cape. She found some old blankets and pillows and laid down next to Bex. Bex had her hand resting on top of Sophie's. Right before Bex entirely drifted off to sleep, she asked one last question.

"Who was the one who told you all that?" Bex questioned softly.

Sophie smiled.

"My birth father told me the exact same thing in that exact same tower."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MWAHAHAHA. This last line is a bit of a teaser for my up and coming KOTLC fanfic. It will be coming out a little while after im out of school (which is in one week YAY!). First couple chapters will most likely be coming out in late June.

Please don't forget to vote, follow, and recommend to your friends! The more reads and support I get, the more inspired I will be to post!

_Sybilline_