Heirs

Chapter 5

I jolt awake in a cold sweat. Looking around I see that my room is covered in ice and snow. Sighing, I get out of bed and walk out of the room. Looking out one of the windows in the hall as I walk, I see that it's only about 2 in the morning. Running a hand through my hair I make my way towards the kitchen. When I get there I'm surprised to see Ian frosting what seems to be a cake. I went to leave but one of the floorboards creaked causing him to look over. He looked surprised to see me awake. Sighing for maybe the hundredth time that night I walked over to the cupboards to find a glass. I could feel Ian watching my every move as I finally found one and filled it with water. Once I finished drinking it I set the glass down next to me and leaned against the counter looking over at Ian.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, finally breaking the awkward silence in the room. 

"I could ask you the same thing," he responded. 

Smiling slightly I let out a small chuckle, "I'll tell you my reason if you tell me yours." He nods in agreement before pausing in his icing.

"You want the long version or the simplified version?" He asked me to which I shrugged. 

"I'm not going back to bed anytime soon so…" 

He only nodded before explaining, "Well I have insomnia, but mine is because I have a spirit that possesses me. My sunglasses are enchanted to make it so he can only come out when they are off and my eyes are open. Over the years I've learned that baking helps keep him calm. I'm also plagued by nightmares of so things I have done in the past, before I had the glasses. I'm also afraid of what he could do if he were to somehow gain control while I sleep."

I chuckled a bit more when I heard his reason, "I guess we're in a similar situation then. I also have insomnia do to being plagued with nightmares of my past and fear of losing control of my abilities while I sleep. The only difference between us is when you've lived on the streets as long as I have, you learn that sleeping is dangerous to do. The recruits you have in my village like to beat people like me up. Its part of why I don't eat very often." I look over to see him leaning against the counter next to me, shocked by what I just told him.

"They beat you? Just because you don't have a home or family?" He asked, to which I responded with a nod. Groaning he rubbed his face, "once everyone else is up your going to have to tell us all about these recruits and what else they do. Their breaking their oath as recruits to the Sky Army." 

Nodding in understanding we agree to change the topic until the others got here. We continued to talk and joke around for the rest of the night, I was even able to convince Ian to let me meet Damian, or Derp as everyone called him, in exchange for helping him bake while I talked with him. He was actually quite nice in an insane way. When it was finally morning, me and Ian were sitting down at the table in the room he had convinced me to attempt to drink some tea and eat a single biscuit when the others came in. They didn't seem very surprised to see Ian there but upon seeing me with a small cup of half drunk tea and a half eaten biscuit in front of me they were surprised to say the least. 

"Frost? What are you doing here so early? Ian I'm not surprised to see but you? I would have expected you to sleep a bit longer," Seto said.

"Yeah, I figured you all would be," I said, "if I'm being honest, I'm awake for a similar reason to Ian. I too have insomnia, although its cause is somewhat different from Ian's." That said they all sat down around the table and looked at me expectantly. 

"So… care to explain?" Mitch asked. I could tell he doesn't like me much, and honestly I don't blame him. I hurt his friend, even if it was an accident, I still did.

"Of course. Much like Ian does, I suffer from insomnia caused by being plagued by nightmares created from memories of my past and fear of losing control, except instead of a spirit like Damion, or Derp as you all call him, that possesses my body, its fear of losing control of my abilities and hurting someone," I explain, "but there is another reason… you see… a few of the recruits you all have stationed in the village I'm from… they like to beat people like me. I-i understand if you don't believe me but it is true."