My Father From Another Continent

Day 10: Nightmares/Dreams + Consolation

Waking up in the middle of the night because of someone screaming wasn't exactly how Damian thought his sleep would be interrupted. He imagined it'd be because Robin is needed because of some late-night villain escapee or something; not screaming and heat-wrenching sobs that break his heart.

Deciding that it was getting too much (it hurts too much to listen further, actually), Damian gets out of his room and sneaks a peek in his newly obtained sister's room.

When Damian first heard her voice, it was always meek and awkward. Maybe it was because she was overwhelmed with the new change of scenery (them) or maybe it was because she really was just like that. Either way, after he'd met her officially, he began hearing her talk joyfully and laugh more. So much so that he already felt to hearing her laugh somewhere in the manor and that her laugh would always be the first thing he thinks of whenever somebody asks him about his sister.

It was also one of the reasons why he likes her more than he does his other siblings. He laughs and wordings don't make fun or tease him all the time ad, as weird as it sounds, he would often find himself bonding with her through some of their similar situations in life. Being with her was peaceful; something he could never achieve with his other siblings.

So now, hearing her cry and hiccup like she was underwater and someone was pulling her down felt... unpleasant. He couldn't understand why but seeing her cry out helplessly made something in his chest throb, made his heart ache.

"Sister?" he whispers and feels his throat tickle. He hates how his voice sounds hoarse and cracked, he didn't want his sister to think that he's pitying her!

"Damian!" he sees her flinch at his voice and hurriedly wipes her tears and fixes herself. "It's late! W-Why are you still up?" she averts her eyes. He could tell that she felt anxious and didn't want him to see her in that state with how she keeps fiddling with her hands and tugging at her messy pigtails.

"I—" he doesn't know what to say. Better yet, what should he even say? That he heard her screaming and sobbing like someone just died, so he decided to go see what's wrong? To try to maybe comfort her? How would he even comfort her?! He's just as good at emotions as his father is! And that's saying nothing! "Couldn't sleep..." he drags on and shrugs his shoulders. "I thought that maybe you were still awake so..."

He hears her quietly laugh; a laugh so different from what he usually hears yet just as lovely. "Yeah," she nods her head and pats the part of the bed near her while smiling at him. "I could use some company."

Damian walks over and sits down next to her; he feels akin to a little duckling following his mother's footsteps for some reason.

They sat in silence for a while, neither talking nor moving. And all he could hear was her breaths, gasping for air like she just finished running. "Want to talk about it?" he braves himself and asks. He may not be the best at giving advice and dealing with emotions (that's Grayson's department), but he'll be damned if he didn't try!

he hears a few shuffling on her end. "Oh, you know, just a regular night. Lying in bed, tossing and turning, trying to sleep. Eventually sleeping and dreaming about—" Damian looks up at her, wondering why she stopped, and sees her eyes welled up in tears and her hands balled into fists and shaking. "...some various things," she continues in a hushed tone that, if it weren't for the silence enveloping them, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to hear her.

A nightmare. She had a nightmare, huh? Something he knew all too well yet had been having less and less ever since he came to the manor. Something he hates to his very core since he really does feel like drowning whenever he has nightmares.

Damian scootches over and presses himself against her side, something about her warmth felt comforting and reassuring. He reaches for her hands and unravels her fists, holding them to somehow provide her comfort. "What kind of things?" he prods her.

He feels her hold in his hand tighten as she curls in on herself. "Death." Oh, so he was right. She was crying because she dreamt that someone died. "Blood, screams," she continues as her whole body shakes and sobs escape from her mouth. "Lonely."

Damian continues to listen as her cries reverberate around the room, something about his sister's cry made his throat dry and his own eyes well up in tears. He wraps his arms around her as best as he could and rests his head against hers. She was significantly taller and a bit bigger than him yet as he cradles her in his arms, she feels smaller and more fragile.

"It's okay, Sister. I'm here," he assures her as few tears slip from his eyes. "We're all here."

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This actually got way longer than I thought it'd be...

[EDIT: Okay, I changed (well, not really change change but like just deleting the Arabic words and replacing it with something else) the part where a lot of people are confused because honestly when I saw it, I was confused too and when I tried to fix it, it just won't be fixed. Like the sentences are correct but for some reason whenever I put the Arabic words, it just won't sit right. Alsooooo, I forgot to put a legend for the Arabic word so ummm yeah it means "Sister". At least that's what Google tells me because I do not speak Arabic so for those of you who do, please correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you! ^^]