Nightingale - Dreamnotfound

||Night Watch||

I had only sat on the top of the apartment building once before. It was when I was ten years old. The day I had lost my whole family in a matter of an hour, I found myself at the top. Not necessarily to jump, but to look down at the view. To see where I came from. The slums out in the distance, constantly restless as the remaining survivors scavenged for food or any true hope of survival. The neighborhood across the street that'd be familiar to my new home. I had never gotten to see a grand scale of where I had grown up, and when I did, I never went up to see it again.

And eight years later—right back where I had stood when I was only a child— nothing had changed. Every so often, I'd look out to the slums in the far distance. Acres upon acres of crowded box-like houses. I couldn't make out the specific details as it was barely an outline. There were no stars in the sky to shine down and bring any sort of light to the grounds, leaving it totally dark. However, every so often I'd see some sort of light shine from the slums. It was always brief, probably a flashlight. It moved in erratic directions in the sky before disappearing deep in the depths of all the poor run down houses.

"This is so boring," The trainee next to me groaned. I tore my eyes away from the slums and over to him. The flashlight being held between his legs illuminated his fluffy blond hair that fell just above his eyes. As he took a bite of his sandwich, his blue eyes traveled up to me.

"Just eat," I said. 

"Why did you drag us out here?" He continued.

"Wilbur made us."

"Well, we offered," Sapnap corrected. "But he would've said no if we didn't bring you two."

"Well this is so fucking boring."

"Well, I guess since nothing's happening right now, we can train you guys." Sapnap pointed his flashlight straight into my eyes, and I squinted.

"Yeah, we could." I held my hand up to block out the light. Sapnap dropped his flashlight and pulled himself off the ledge where we all sat and down on the solid floor of the concrete rooftop. Our trainees followed suit.

"Have you guys come up with code names yet?" Asked Sapnap as I continued to gaze out over the slums. If only we got assigned over there. Maybe more would be happening.

"No," One trainee said.

"Yes," Said the other.

"What is it?"

"Tubbo." I turned to see who said that. Sapnap's blinding light was pointing to the young boy with brunet hair. The light later fell on the blond boy who was taller than the both of them.

"What's your name again?"

"Tommy," He said as he continued to munch on his sandwich.

"Alright—" He turned his light to me. "Clay, get over here."

"Clay?" Tommy looked over at me with a smile as I stepped off the ledge and approached the three of them. "His name's Clay?"

"Don't call me that," I shook my head. "You barely know me."

"I didn't know his name until we got in so much trouble that Wilbur shouted our real names throughout the entire apartment building," Sapnap laughed. I still remembered that day. For years before then, the only people who knew my name were Techno and Wilbur. It was like my own secret. The last I had of my own identity. And Wilbur took it all away just because Sapnap and I tried throwing Fundy off the fire escape when we were thirteen. Don't ask for context. The fact that it was Fundy explains enough. "I don't get why it's such a big deal. It's just your name."

I shrugged it off. "Dream's a cooler name."

"Clay's a cool name too," Tubbo said. "It can be made into cool nicknames like pot or ceramic bowl or something."