The Enderdragon's Baker (A Minecraft Story)

Late Night Nightmares

'He's so cute.'  She cooed in her head. Ed fell asleep on her lap and she wasn't planning on waking him up either. She simply got comfortable and opened her book to continue reading.

Ed and Anna have been in his room for awhile now, the crystal slowly healing him as they sat on the couch. He was far more tired than he admitted to her. It wasn't long before the warmth of the fireplace and her comforting presence lulled him to sleep.

After about an hour he'd woken back up, surprised to find she'd started absentmindedly stroking his hair. When he was waking up, she froze in realization that she'd been petting him for possibly the last hour. She tried moving her hand but he swiftly held it, putting it back on his head.

"Please. Don't stop." He mumbled, tiredly. His face bloomed in warmth at what he just said but she just giggled and continued. "How long was I out?"

"I have no idea." She answered, setting her book down again. "How do you feel?"

"Drained. It's like all the energy in my body just up and left."

"Do you want me to make you anything?"

"The only thing I want right now is to stay like this."

"Don't you need to go back to fight anyone?"

"Anna, I came back at 8pm."
"Oh snap, really?"

"Pft-" They laughed quietly, a comfortable silence filled the room. Anna lied back and continued patting the dragon man's head, listening to the cracking fire and feeling her own tiredness starting to close in. They could feel it getting later, but they couldn't care less right now.

"Sorry I was patting you in your sleep, Eddy. I didn't even notice."

"If you haven't noticed," He held his hand up and pointed down at himself. "I'm loving it. Pat me whenever you want." She laughed, tiredly. "Why? Is it too weird for you?"

"No, no. It's just new. Not to mention quick. I stayed with you for two days and now I'm patting you as you heal."

"I see your point. But I counter it with the 'I'm a dragon' defense." She rolled her eyes as he chuckled. "Getting attached only takes minutes for me, maybe less."

"I see your point." She replied. "So, I'm  your rabbit?"

"And I'm your dragon. Fair is fair."
"Fair is fair."

"You getting tired, Anna?"
"A little, yeah."

"Go ahead and sleep in my bed, I'm staying here."

"You sure?"
"Yep." He sat up, stretching a bit. "Just hand me that cover and I'll be fine. The crystal should help my energy in time and the closer I am to it, the better."

"Ok. Goodnight, Eddy." She handed him the cover before going to his bed and crawling under the heavy blankets. She huddled into the covers, waiting for everything to warm up but enjoying the coolness.

"Goodnight, Annie."

~~~

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.
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"You left us to die!"
"How could you?!"
"We trusted you!"

Anna's eyes shot open, the small woman shuffling out of the covers enough to sit up. Her heart raced far faster than it should be, her face feeling wet. She touched her cheeks, recognizing that she'd started crying again. She sniffled and tried wiping the tears away but they just kept coming. As quiet as she was trying to be, Ed had heard it and woken up.

"Anna? Is that you?"
"Y-yeah." She answered, softly. He frowned at this and sat up, looking over towards the bed.

"Are you OK?" He was already up and walking over. She tried hiding her tears again but they didn't stop and refused to stay hidden. She resorted to hiding her face in her hands, worrying Ed to no end. He gently took her hands away and she looked up at him with red eyes. Before she could hide again, he sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Anna. What's wrong?"

"N-nightmare." She murmured. He sighed and rubbed her back. Rocking them gently. When Endie mentioned not sleeping because of nightmares, he didn't expect this. Seeing her cry didn't feel right.

"We'll talk about it later, OK?" She nodded. "Just try calming down for me. Just breath."

She made no attempt to hug him, opting to hugging herself as she waited for the tears to stop and the voices to leave. She's been haunted by it all for the whole month. She didn't have the heart to tell Endie, afraid he'd start blaming himself or Brine. She thought about talking to Creeps or Bones but they worried about her enough as is. Brine isn't even in the running, surprisingly bad with anything emotional. Creeps was upset about a fight she and Bones had and he awkwardly tried comforting her before practically throwing Anna to her.

"Better now, hun?" He asked, still rocking back and forth. She hummed a response and he smiled softly. There was no way he was going back to sleep without her doing the same. "Not going back to sleep, huh?"

"Can't." He hated hearing her so upset.

"How about we go make some hot cocoa? How's that sound?"

"Wonderful."
"Ok, let's go do that than."

Dragon intuition/wisdom:

'I'm going to break Brine.'