#claud writes

[nox-requiem]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Currently working on a fluffy Pen Pal AU for Owari no Seraph. I have two chapters so far, but am working to update frequently and make this as fun and cute as it possibly can be, just to escape the pain that is the anime and manga.

[nox-requiem]

Rich Boy

(The title was obviously gonna be Rich B—-ch, but bad words and stuff make it less.. appealing…)

Anyway, I’m posting this fic from mobile, so it may be quite a long post and it may be less organized compared to my usual stuff, buuut… yeah! Pendulumshipping with a money prompt because we all know Reiji’s the CEO of his company and may be the richest S.O.B. in the city and I have a huge thirst for pendulum fics.

I’ll try and edit this in HTML format so it’ll appear shorter later. I’ll just tag it as long post for now though.

Yuya Sakaki sat in the booth at the fast food restaurant, waiting (im)patiently for his friends to arrive. He was starving, but he would much rather wait for everyone to get there first so that they could eat together. With a sigh, the tomato-haired boy rested his chin in his hand and gazed out the window, watching people pass by on the sidewalk and keeping an eye out for his companions. Nope, no one was coming yet. He whined a little and let his head fall on the table, noticing he was recognizing some strangers as acquaintances and classmates on the streets and getting agitated that none was anybody he was waiting for.

"It doesn’t take that long to put your bags down at home," he grumbled quietly.

His stomach growled loudly and he instinctively wrapped an arm around it, hoping that the conversations of the other customers covered up the sound of his boisterous belly. He moaned and planted his forehead to the table, resisting the urge to get up and order food without his friends.

"Hungry?"

Yuya instantly sat upright, wide eyes locking on the source of the voice. Jeez did that scare him! But what scared him even more was the person standing by the booth; the familiar gray hair, red-framed glasses, and sockless ankles belonged to none other than the familiar (and extremely intimidating) Reiji Akaba. Yuya’s muscles tensed and he began to panic, pivoting in his spot to face the tall man with a frantic voice, “O-oh! You’re—! You’re Reiji Akaba, right?”

With a nod, Reiji gave him a small but amused smile. “I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me, Yuya Sakaki. It has been a while since our duel, hasn’t it?”

Yuya nodded in return, squirming in discomfort and averting his gaze. How awkward that he’d meet the man who gave hin so many questions here in such a random place. He noticed Reiji was hiding under the same large jacket he’d first seen him with, but didn’t say anything about it. “What brings you here, Reiji?”

The taller boy withdrew his hands from his jacket pockets. “I’m here to get something to eat.”

Obviously. Yuya tried not to look up at him, still too timid to look the other in the eye. Because of this, though, he hadn’t realized Reiji took the seat beside him until he heard a sound and saw the distance between them was reduced significantly. Yuya nearly squawked at that, scooting close to the window and pasting himself to it. Reiji glanced up at him with an indifferent look on his face.

"Any reason for the overreaction?" He asked.

"No! Sorry," Yuya relaxed his body just enough to peel from the wall, but not enough to escape the rigid position he sat in. "I just didn’t expect you to sit down next to me, let alone for me to see you of all people here."

"I’m sure." Reiji took off the hood of his jacket, reclining into the seat. "May I ask why you’re here alone?"

Yuya watched him warily, then sighed. “I’m waiting for my friends to come over so that we can eat together. But they’re taking too long, and I’m super hungry.”

The amused smile returned to the gray-haired boy’s face. “I’m aware. If you want, I can pay for a small snack so you’ll be held over until they arrive.”

Yuya laughed, waving his hands and grinning sheepishly. “No thanks! I’ll be okay. Besides, it’s your money. We hardly know each other, and you have better reasons to spend your money than on someone you’ve met one other time.”

Reiji slightly shrugged in response, and Yuya leaned back against the booth, frantically coming up with something else to keep the conversation going. Lucky for him, Reiji beat him to it; “Let me ask you something, Yuya… do you love me?”

Yuya’s mind went blank and he turned to stare at Reiji agape. What on earth kind of question was that?! And where did it even come from? He was silent for a while, busy reading the other’s eyes before responding. “No, of course not!”

"Is that so?" Reiji paused, his hand sliding off the table and into his pants pocket. Yuya stared long and hard at the other, eyes slightly widened in bewilderment. Reiji, he… he wasn’t serious, was he? Did he ask him in full honesty, or was he just trying to mess with him? The taller boy pulled his hand out and slid a small paper to him, and upon looking closely, Yuya saw that it was money. $20 to be exact. "What about now?"

Yuya was speechless. This guy was serious! It was laughable, incredibly insane. But even so, there was a slight appeal to it, the fact that it turned out not to be just a joke and something else instead. Sure, it was probably the silliest and weirdest way to approach it, but he couldn’t deny it felt like it was worth tapping into. He smirked a bit and tapped his fingernails on the tabletop, looking Reiji dead in the eye with a tinge of playfulness in his voice. “Hmm. Add two more zeroes to that number and then we’ll talk.”

While he was intrigued at the thought of going out with this man, it sure was brought about in the most insanely of ways ever. The demand for $2,000 to date him was something the younger boy knew he wouldn’t be able keep up with. It was definitely awkward as hell, and he wished he wasn’t in this situation, but there was almost no way out of it except for this. Oh well. At least he knew he was safe.

His heart skipped a beat as Reiji’s lips curled into a cunning smile, a glint in his eye and a chuckle escaping as he responded; “That won’t be a problem.”

[nox-requiem]

Mad

Title: Mad Rating: T Pairing: Very vague Foilshipping Summary: The war between Astral world and the humans against the Barians was like a game of chess to Vector. With a king piece as idiotic yet formidable as Yuma Tsukumo, the Barian lord went crazy trying to get rid of him before he himself would be placed under checkmate.

Notes: Wow, I haven’t written anything like this in months! I’ve been super busy lately. Anyway, this is still a part of the 30 Day Challenge, with this being Day 6. I haven’t practiced writing in a long time, so it may seem really rushed and a little sloppy. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Spoilers for episode 126 on.

He went crazy for him. Insanely crazy.

There wasn’t a day when Vector didn’t think about annihilating everyone and everything in his path. Destroying it all, watching everything in the world wither and rot and crumble to ashes and dust before him… like the weak, pathetic, fragile things they are. And with each and every passing day, he’d get closer and closer to his goal. Each scheme spelled out a victory; each move would result in another death, another assertion of dominance, and another step closer to spreading his reign on the ruins of the worlds he’d lay waste to. All of it was just so close…

… And so damn far…!

He thought of it much like a chess game. Vector was the king of the evil side, with Gilag and Alit as his bishop and knight, and Mizael and Durbe his rook and queen. He’d form his plans carefully, so that his comrades were useful enough to wipe out the opposing forces but still disposable in the end, so he can rid of them whenever he’d like.

If it were only that simple. His plans were easily foiled. Despite spelling out victory if they were to succeed, they weren’t fail proof, and the enemies easily exploited the flaws in the plans to thwart all attempts he made to take the numbers and run off with them.

And there was one person responsible for that. One person who he must kill, if he wished to get any farther at all…

… Yuma Tsukumo.

The very name made his teeth grit and his fists clench, as the redhead seethed in anger and pounded his fist in the cement wall. He was nothing but a boy, an immature, idiotic, and bothersome child. His smile made him want to cringe, his laugh made him want to throw up, and his dumb catchphrase made him want to tear him into pieces.

“Kattobingu da, ore!”

Please. The only thing this kid was able to do was run into walls and trip on his own two feet. He was only a threat when those like Ryoga Kamishiro and Kaito Tenjo teamed up with him. So why was he such a formidable foe? Why was it so hard to kill him?

He drove Vector mad. Insane. Desperate for a way to kill him. He will have his way with him, all in due time.

…

Time passed, and most of his plans succeeded. He awoke Don Thousand and turned the human world upside down, with almost no effort at all. Ryoga awoke as the Barian leader Nasch, and his sister Rio awoke as the princess Merag, who were just more filthy creatures Vector wished he could forget. But it didn’t matter much at all. Everyone began to fall like dominoes when the seven lords reunited, amd it was very helpful to have Nasch and Merag serve as his temporary allies.

Many of the humans died, which didn’t mean much to him. The pawns were always on the frontlines in a game of chess. That girl Anna died… the one who teamed up with the boy Fuuya… Who else? The man Gauche, the woman Droite, the old geezer Roku, his student Kage, Yuma’s friend Bronk, the bratty family that is the Arclight sons… was that it for insignificant losers?

Then it got more interesting. The little game of chess took a turn for the more exciting, when the higher-ups began to fall. Vector captured Nasch and imprisoned him for a while in a gap between dimensions, which allowed him to lay waste to Durbe and Merag. He turned Gilag on Alit and had them kill each other, finishing off the survivor and running off again. Word got out that Kaito died in his duel against Mizael, and oh man, was that great to hear! Yuma losing both of his closest allies, the two people that made him a thread to begin with! With Kaito dead and Nasch his sworn enemy, he was completely helpless! Ah, he could die laughing right now.

He waited patiently for Nasch to corner him and challenge him to a duel. He expected to win. He knew he would win. With Nasch’s moral support shot down entirely from the defeat of his sister and best friend, he had nothing to fight for but vengeance, and what kind of idiotic resolve was that? His defeat was inevitable!

And Yuma… Yuma decided to follow them to Barian world, possibly to challenge Vector as well… which was fine; after he got Nasch out of the way, which wouldn’t take long at all, he was going to do to Yuma what he’d been dying to do since day one of this madness: he was going to torture him, play with him like the dumb ragdoll he is, pull the strings on the little puppet, and make him realize just how useless he is without the help of his friends.

And… he lost. Vector lost against Nasch.

Again, his plans failed, and he was sent back from the blast of the finishing blow. The pain he received from the duel is no where compared to the agony of his final defeat. It was the last straw. He was going to make sure Nasch and Yuma rued the day they crossed paths with him!

…

But he didn’t want to die.

Vector dared not look behind him. A huge wind was blowing him back, trying to send him into the void that was Don Thousand’s eye; it morphed itself into a vortex that sucked away at the Barian, who helplessly clung onto the cracks in the floor to keep from being absorbed. Fuck, he was screaming. Crying, almost. He’d lost his grip and was being sucked into the vortex. He didn’t want to die. Not then, not there. He dared not shut his eyes again.

“Kattobingu da, ore!”

That catchphrase again. Even though he hated to hear it, at a time like this, it brought a strange sense of relief to him. Yuma had lifted himself from his spot, ran to Vector, and threw himself in harm’s way to grab his hand and protect him from flying away. ‘I won’t let you go, Shingetsu,’ was all he practically heard. ‘I’ll protect you, I’ll save you. You are Shingetsu, and you’re my friend! That’s your true self!’

The words drove him mad again, and Vector cackled, tightening his grip on his enemy’s hand and yanking on him. “Then let’s go down together! Come now, Yuma, won’t you die with me?” More words like that floated among his head, dying to let themselves be heard; ‘Why do you insist we’re friends? Shingetsu was a fake, and you’re a stupid gullible brat! Die already!’

But they didn’t.

The evil grin plastered on the Barian’s face instantly fell at the sight of water welling in the child’s eyes. Yuma was crying. His eyes were glassy, but he still gave him, his mortal enemy, the brightest of smiles. ‘Yeah, let’s do this, Shingetsu. I won’t let you go alone. We’re in this together.’

… No. They weren’t. Vector would not let him die.

The redhead released the hand that he was using to force Yuma into the void with him. ‘You’re so troublesome. An idiot. That’s all you’ve ever been…’ And it was true. He couldn’t count how many times, during this idiot chess game, that Yuma drove him insane. A stupid boy foiling his carefully laid-out master plans…It was more than enough to make anyone mad.

But Yuma did not deserve to die with him. No. He needed to live. He, who had faith in the little light inside of a monster of a person, even if it was nonexistent.

‘I can’t drag you down with me…So this is goodbye, Yuma-kun.’

And with that he released his hand, letting himself get sucked inside the void and consumed by darkness once again…

…

“Shingetsu?”

Vector opened his eyes to see the familiar boy standing above him, wearing the goofy grin he always did when around his friends. He remembered he was sprawled along the grass, gazing up at the sky until a light sleep decided to take over him. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Of course it’s me, Shingetsu,” Yuma laughed, taking a seat next to the redhead. The other pulled himself to sit up, glancing to his right and listening to the other talk. “After school, me and the gang were gonna ask you if you wanted to hang out with us! But you weren’t at school again today, so I wanted to come find you.” He tilted his head, smile slightly faltering. “Is this where you stay now?”

“For the most part.” The former Barian raked his fingers through his hair with a smirk. “I was just hanging out, and happened to fall asleep out of no where.”

Yuma let a soft hum escape, turning to grin at Vector again. “So, what were you dreaming about?”

Vector leered at him, his smirk growing darker (but it’s only playful, despite how scary he looks now). “About the time when I was destroying the world, back then.” Yuma’s mouth dropped, though no sound escaped, and Vector laughed. “Wish it were a joke, but it’s true. I was comparing the whole war between Astral World and the humans against Barian World to a game of chess.”

Yuma’s mouth closed and he beamed. “Oh, really? So you’re a fan of chess then, Shingetsu?”

“Not really,” the redhead answered, shaking his head. Not at all. “It takes too much thought. I’d never be good at a game like that. Let’s stick to dueling.”

“Uh… sounds good, I guess.”

Besides, games of skill are, and should be left for, the mad men.

[nox-requiem]

mizadoru :D

Perfect! :D Thank you so much, Em~ ——

"It’s your move, Mizael."

The blonde rubbed the back of his neck, staring hardly at the layout of the chess pieces across the board with a frown on his face. Since having been revived as humans, the Varians have been finding various hobbies to entertain themselves in between school sessions and sleeping. Gilag and Alit enjoy training out in the wild, Nasch and Merag stay home and watch TV, and Vector does that Nasch likes to call “trolling” (heaven knows what that means).

Durbe had developed a fascination for board and other card games, and in an attempt to impress him, Mizael challenged him to a game of chess, assuming it would be an easy victory for him. He wished his king piece was in a better position, though.

Durbe read the frustration on Mizael’s face and smiled. “I thought you knew how to play. You did say that, didn’t you?”

"I did. Now shut up, you’re distracting me," Mizael grumbled. What to do, what to do… It was only a matter of time before Durbe’s queen and rooks cornered him. He only had two options left, what with his king in check and no other piece flexible enough to reach the other side of the board to protect him. He took the white piece in hand and glided it to the right one space. His eyes shot up to meet Durbe’s just before releasing the king.

Durbe paused, eyes glued to the king. Mizael held his breath, eagerly awaiting his response. “You could have just said you wanted to impress me, Mizael. There’s no need to lie to me.”

The blonde blinked, breath hitching in his throat. “What do you mean?”

The gray-haired boy glanced up at him with a knowing smile that made his heart skip a beat, taking his black queen and moving it down beside the king. It wasn’t close enough for Mizael’s piece to take, but enough for him to realize what it meant. He had to suppress the urge to groan, leaning back in his seat.

"Checkmate."

[nox-requiem]

stolen panties

"Ryoga!!"

The purple-haired twin jumped when he heard the scream from his sister reverberate off the walls. Uh-oh. He’s in trouble. Instead of showing panic and racing out the front door, he stood up from the couch and stuffed his hands in his pockets, casually walking towards her room. “What?”

Rio stood by her dresser with one of the doors open, face flushed a dark red out of both anger and embarrassment. “Where the hell are my underwear?”

Shark blinked, stunned by the unexpected question. “Your underwear?”

"Did I stutter, Ryoga?" she growled, pointing to the space beside her bras. "My underwear is gone! What did you do with them?!"

Shark frowned, opening his mouth. “I didn’t—”

He stopped himself before he could finish his sentence. Out of the corner of his eye and through the window, he could see IV taking off from the Kamishiro house with a pair of his sister’s panties tightly gripped in his hand.

[nox-requiem]

Gilag asking Rio to give him a backstage pass so he can meet Sanagi in their next school festival

"Come on, Merag, please? I have to meet Sanagi!"

Rio sighed, rubbing her temples. It was a little strange to see someone as masculine and tough as Gilag fangirling over a pop idol. But whatever, she shouldn’t be judging; at least he has something to enjoy. “Here,” she dug into her skirt pocket and pulled out a pass, handing it over to him. “I promised to give this to another friend, but I guess you can have it. Just don’t bug her too much when you see her, ok?”

Gilag accepted the paper with a bright smile. “Wow, thanks Merag! You’re the best!” And before she could open her mouth to reply, the former Varian raced off.

Rio grinned, shaking her head. “Who knew someone as big as him could be so cute?”

[nox-requiem]

Ok, I need to say this now before I push this aside, and I will not be happy knowing I did such a terrible thing when writing is to become my career and dream job in life.

I really appreciate all of the likes, reblogs, and comments in the tags for my stories. So very much, yes. All of my drabbles get a lot of love from followers and nonfollowers alike, and honestly, it brightens up my day just a little more when I see someone had taken the time to look over and show that they liked my work. It motivates me to keep going, despite occasional waves of depression and low self-esteem, and gives me faith that my talent (or passion, really) won't go to complete waste.

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you to everyone who read my stories, to everyone who likes my posts, and to those who make cute comments in their tags (yes, I read them all~). Thank you all so very much! I can smile and look forward to every new day knowing that any one of my stories will make someone happy.

I love you all! //hugs and kisses for everyone/ <3

[nox-requiem]

Foreboding Dream

Title: Foreboding Dream Rating: T Pairing: None (maybe Keyshipping) Summary: Yuma wakes up one night from a terrible dream, and even though Astral does all that he can to console him, it's too difficult to dismiss it as just a nightmare.

Notes: This is the prologue of the Zexal/Future Diary AU I've been wanting to write for a while now. Yeah, the plot may not be an original one (it's from the anime Mirai Nikki), but I've so many ideas for this that I just had to put it down somewhere.

I'll also be publishing this to my Fanfiction.Net account. Even if it's just seen as a drabble, I hope you enjoy it!

… Dead End…

… What the hell is going on?

Yuma found himself running. He was surrounded by nothing but a black world, void of color and life, but filled to the brim with sounds, many sounds. He could hear his footsteps, the pounding of his heart in his ears, and the many voices that reverberated in the empty space. Screams proceeded words, cries for help after sobs, and—his stomach lurched at the sound of blood spilling and splattering on the floor (even though there was none). He lifted his hands to cover his ears in hopes of at least muffling the noises, but to no avail.

Dead End… Dead End…

Was he running in the wrong direction? He skidded to a stop and looked around himself, looking for some sort of light in the dark.

More voices could be heard, all sounding different from each other. Yuma gazed around, jaws clenched tightly in fear.

“There’s nowhere to run!”

“Stay out of my way.”

“I’m sorry…”

They were talking to him. The words swam in his head, going into one ear and out the other. He squeezed his eyes shut, the voices eerie and unrelenting.

“Until the next life…”

“I’ll kill you!”

“There’s no guaranteed victory.”

“You can’t trust anyone.”

“What’s the point?”

Yuma falls to his knees and curls up, shaking. He could feel his blood running cold, his teeth chattering. “Please,” he begged, hands gripping onto his hair, “don’t hurt me…”

“Don’t think, act!”

“I don’t want to die here…”

“I’ll become the next God!”

…

All was silent. The dead end chants, the screaming voices, the blood splattering, everything disappeared. All Yuma heard was his hard breathing and his beating heart. Thank God for that too. Had he been forced to listen to more, he probably would have broken down in tears. To think he would be surrounded by something so grotesque and sickening… it was a terrifying thought.

To make things worse… he felt like he heard it all before. It seemed so familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

He lowered his hands and stood back up, brushing himself off as though there was dirt and gazed around. The world which was once black was now entirely white. Ground and sky were still one, but everything was a different color now, which was nice, in that Yuma could finally look down and see himself again, but it was almost no different than before. There was still no life. Nothing spine-chilling, which was good, but it was still nothing.

He continued looking around, tempted to call out anyone’s name, to yell something random, just to see what would happen. As soon as he opened his mouth, though…

“Yuma.”

… He closed it again and spun around, looking up. There was a figure looming before, a purplish black figure, face shrouded in light. There was something glistening in his hand, and it took him a while to realize what it was, but when he did, his face paled.

... Was that a knife?

Yuma opened his mouth to shriek, trying to back away from the silhouette, but failed. He couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound, and couldn’t get away. He was stuck in his place, and all he could do was clamp his eyes shut and brace for the pain.

....

“Yuma!”

Yuma’s eyes snapped open at the sound of his name, crying out in surprise as he fell off his hammock and onto the floor with a loud thud. He laid there for a moment, groaning in pain and rubbing his chin, only to look up and notice Astral floating above him. “Oww… what, Astral?”

His glowing companion hovered closer to Yuma, seeming to look him over in what the boy assumed was concern. "You were talking and yelling in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?"

Yuma blinked, forcing himself to sit up. "Huh? I was talking in my sleep? What did I say?"

"You kept saying 'please don't hurt me.' What happened?"

 The boy frowned, lowering his gaze. "Not much, really... I was just in a world of black, and there were all these voices saying strange things, but I couldn't see anybody, and--"

Astral folded his arms over his chest. "What did these voices say?"

"I don't know, random things!" Yuma exclaimed, leaning back to look his friend in the eye. "They kept saying stuff like 'I'll kill you,' and 'there's nowhere to run,' and 'I don't want to die here,' and more stuff like that." He could see Astral's eyes widen slightly, perhaps in slight surprise, and his heart sank in dread. "The voices sounded familiar, like I've heard them before. But I couldn't tell who was speaking."

Astral remained silent for a few seconds before replying. "Is that all?"

Yuma shook his head. "No, there was something else... One other thing..." He paused for a moment; "... The voices stopped at some point, and then when I opened my eyes, the black turned into white. I heard someone calling my name, but when I turned around, there was this dark shadowy figure standing above me with a knife, or something like that, ready to kill me. And then..." he shuddered, glancing away again, "that's when you woke me up."

Astral looked Yuma over, wondering if there was some way he could comfort the boy. He was terrified, but what could he do? Sadly, Astral wasn't the best at understanding a human's emotions and behavior, and all he could do was just continue talking, in hopes of finding a way to make Yuma smile again. "It appears to be a good thing I did. Your face is lacking in color, and your body is trembling. It would not have been wise to let you continue sleeping."

"Yeah, thanks," Yuma gave him a halfhearted smile, reaching up to massage the back of his neck. He looked outside the window, only to see the sky was still pitch black. "What time is it? The sun's not even up yet."

Astral's gaze shifted towards the sky as well. "It is still dark. Perhaps you should go back to sleep."

Yuma stood up with a yawn. "Nuh-uh. I am not going back to sleep. Not after a creepy dream like that." He walked to his bed and climbed back on it, staring blankly at the ceiling. "I don't think I can go to sleep anymore."

Astral maneuvered closer to Yuma and stayed beside him, eyes still out the window. "I see... Do you think maybe that dream was trying to tell you something?"

Yuma laughed a bit. "I sure hope not, or I'm in trouble!" He turned onto his side to grin at his friend, holding the side of his head in his hand. "People get nightmares all the time, but they're usually not true, unless it's about failing a test in school, or having to get scolded big time by your older sister."

Astral peeled his gaze away from the outside to make eye contact with Yuma. "Nightmares are the dreams similar to the one you had, yes?"

"Yeah, that's what they're called."

Astral gave him a small nod, and Yuma lied back down on his bed, stretching his arms over his head before letting them fall at his sides. His stare returned to the ceiling, too awake to go back to sleep. So, what now? Does he just stay up and wait till morning? But how long would that be? There seemed to be no sign of the sun anywhere, so does that mean it would take hours for it to rise? Great… that was the last thing he wanted. He sighed, glancing off to the side to look up at the stars out the window.

“Yuma,” Astral said, catching the boy’s attention again, “there is something I must ask you.”

Yuma blinked and turned back to him again. “Yeah? What’s up?”

Astral appeared hesitant to ask, but he responded anyway. “Did you hear anything in your dream, besides the voices saying various things?”

Yuma slightly frowned. Did he hear something else? He stopped to think for a while. Besides the crazy number of voices… what else did he hear?

Dead end…

“… Yeah, I heard something else,” he said finally, a chill racing down his spine. He shivered and curled up a bit. “Why do you ask?”

Astral reached up to stroke his chin with his hand, appearing to be lost in thought. “While you were sleeping, I heard someone whispering something to me a number of times. It only stopped when I woke you up.”

Yuma blinked. “Huh? What do you mean it stopped when you woke me up? There’s no one else around here but us. What did you hear?”

“I heard someone saying ‘Dead End’ over and over again.”

The boy could have sworn he felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach, and it was suddenly difficult to breathe and swallow. How did Astral know this? How did he know that that was what he was dreaming about? It seemed too unreal, and it made Yuma’s head hurt trying to put two and two together. “Yeah. That was in my dream too.”

Astral lowered his head a bit. “Just as I feared. I’m afraid there’s more to your dream than we think.”

“Don’t say that,” Yuma shook his head, turning over on his side again, except this time he was facing away from Astral. “I don’t want to believe that. It’s just a dream.”

“We can’t be too sure about that anymore, Yuma.”

“What does it even mean?” The boy sighed, hand absently fiddling with his necklace. “What do they mean by dead end? What’s a dead end?”

Astral turned his head to look back out the window. “I don’t know. However, it looks like we’ll be finding out soon enough.”

He had just about enough of Astral speaking as though the dream was only a prelude as to what was to come. It was scary. The voices in his dream talking so strangely, the words ‘dead end’ echoing over and over again, the dark silhouette holding what he thought was a knife… he was practically praying that that was the end of it, and he would never have to see or hear of such a scary thing ever again. Yuma clamped his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, trying to sound more annoyed than scared. “Alright, thanks, now shush. I’m going back to sleep.”

Astral frowned, tilting his head. “I thought you said you couldn’t sleep anymore.”

“Yeah, but that’s your fault!” Yuma curled up even more, denying his voice slightly quivered in fear. “Please, just go away, Astral. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Are you scared, Yuma?”

He paused. Astral didn’t ask him out of mockery, or of condescension. It was of pure concern. And even though Yuma felt pathetic for answering the way he was going to, he couldn’t deny it. No matter how much he wanted to just shrug the entire thing off, he wasn’t able to, and the fact that Astral may be right, in that there may be more to this eerie dream than they think, terrifies him even more. He nodded a bit, voice shrinking. “… Yeah. I am.”

Astral could tell by the boy’s refusal to face him that he was ashamed of his insecurity, and again, he found himself despising the fact that he couldn’t console his friend in his time of need. He hovered closer to Yuma’s side, extending a hand out to stroke Yuma’s hair. Though he wasn’t able to move any strands, he could feel him, and he watched as Yuma turned over to look at Astral. He was being comforted by this gesture, he concluded, and tried to offer him his most reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Yuma. I will do all that I can to protect you.”

Yuma only stared at his friend, almost unable to react. “Really? You will?”

“You put your life on the line countless times for me. It’s only fair that I return the favor.”

Yuma couldn’t help but smile, and he lifted a hand to hold over Astral’s, closing his eyes again. “Thanks, Astral.”

“Now get some sleep,” Astral advised. “I’ll be here with you in the morning.”

Yuma chuckled softly. “When are you not here? Ah well… it’s good to know that I’m never alone.” He yawned and curled his fingers around Astral’s hand, slowly drifting off to sleep again. Hopefully this time, he wouldn’t be plagued with a nightmare. “Anyway, g’night.”

“Good night, Yuma.”