Summary: A worn teddy bear becomes your dream protector, Corazon, a clumsy but devoted guardian who chases away your nightmares and eventually steps into your waking world to keep you safe.
— ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ — ✧ —
You've been suffering from insomnia for some time without knowing why. Maybe it was because you were more of a night owl, even though you couldn't sleep at night but never slept past seven in the morning.
But nothing was working for you. Pills, meditation, special music... nothing. You felt like you'd tried everything you could.
After a while, you got used to it and stopped worrying about it. You had giant circles under your eyes and you looked half dead, but you were functioning, and that was the main thing. And that was despite the regular nightmares you had when you tried to sleep. Even though you tried to control your dreams, it was like fighting windmills.
You'd come home late at night. The sky was already clouded with a black veil and the moon was hidden under dark clouds, so the street lamps provided the only light. But the city had saved money, so every other one was lit.
A freezing wind blew in, bringing full snowflakes that began to drift down from the sky. You pulled your scarf tighter around your neck, wanting to get home as soon as possible.
You were passing a dark alley when a lamp lit up in it. It startled you completely. You stopped in your tracks and looked into the alley to see if anyone was standing there. There were only trash cans and an ancient chest in the alley. You walked closer when you noticed that a teddy bear had been placed on the box.
The teddy bear had a hole in its chest, and it had plush coming out of it. There was a black feather coat over his shoulders that was burned and the teddy bear was generally dirty. Something drew you to him despite all this.
"You look worse than me," you muttered before picking him up. Even though it was just a stuffed toy, you decided to take it home. There, you cleaned it up and stitched up the wound on its chest. You noticed that he had more stitches on him than just this one.
That very night, a miracle happened for you. You fell asleep on the couch with the stuffed bear in your arms. But even now you were having nightmares. You were in the wilderness surrounded by nightmares that threatened to consume you.
The whole place was so loud that you held your ears and feared your head would burst. As loud as the noise was, you were paralyzed and all you could do was stand still and hold your ears.
After a while, however, a light passed by, creating a sort of barrier where everything went silent. You pulled your hands away from your ears and looked around. A few feet away from you, you saw a tall man in a black feather cloak who looked stern.
The man started in your direction, but when he was almost upon you, he tripped over his own foot and fell to the ground with a loud thud. You were startled, as you hadn't expected it.
The tall man groaned in pain before scrambling back to his feet and lunging at the nightmares, which he easily defeated and the rest took off running.
After this, he turned to you and wanted to walk over to you. As he approached, you noticed that he had a lit cigarette in his mouth. A few steps away from you anyway, he had tripped and fallen to the ground. What you didn't expect was that the cigarette fell out of his mouth and lit his black feather coat on fire.
You were surprised by this and ran over to him to make sure he was okay and that nothing had happened to him.
The Protector gratefully accepted your hand and you saw his face was as red as the cap he was wearing. He smiled shyly at you and nodded his head that he was fine.
Then he began to wave his hands and gesticulate as if he were communicating by signs. Only then did you realize that he was probably mute. You were glad you had taken a short course at school earlier so you understood some of the signs.
Your protector wasn't sure you understood him, but when you answered him and even used some of the signs yourself, he beamed all over.
When you woke up in the morning, you had no idea it was possible to sleep so well, even while lying on the couch. But you were still holding a teddy bear.
From that day on, you also started finding black feathers in your apartment when you woke up. You also smelled cigarette smoke, even though you were a non-smoker.
Now and then you would also find little sticky notes on your bedside table or other places in your apartment with short messages that always motivated you and made your day.
These little things reminded you of the man who appeared in your dreams every night and protected you from nightmares. You even practiced sign language with him in your dreams sometimes, when he taught you new signs.
However, he also took you on adventures to different kingdoms, hunting for magical fruit and the like. It was during these times in your dreams that you realized how clumsy he was. You even stopped counting how many times he fell, tripped, set himself on fire, and other such things.
One day, in your apartment, one of the notes left by your protector included a picture of a little boy of kindergarten age who looked sick. He was pale with black circles under his eyes and white patches on his skin.
You didn't understand what the photo was doing there. You looked at it a few more times, but otherwise, you left it on the table because you didn't know what else to do with it.
In the evening, when you drifted off, you found yourself in a dream in a familiar place where you spent most of your time with your protector. In the dream, you found the same photo of the little boy in your pocket and decided to ask your protector about it.
He took the photo from you and looked at it nostalgically with a faint smile. He confessed to you that he used to be the protector of a little boy who was sick and who was being hunted by someone very bad. He had sacrificed himself so that the boy could live and move on. He thought it was the best solution and he thought it was the end of him. Until he ran into you.
It's been a few days since you got your stuffed bear, and your sleep has improved many times over. You had no idea that sleeping better would improve your life this many times over. The circles under your eyes have improved, and so has your mood.
You went on a little shopping trip and came home. You waited at the crosswalk until the pedestrian light turned green before you could finally cross. You were crossing and you didn't notice the car coming towards you. It didn't notice the light and kept going.
You didn't notice it until it was almost upon you. You didn't have enough time to get away. Plus, you felt like your body refused to move even though you wished you could get to safety.
"Watch out!" you heard a voice call out to you. However, you had the impression that you couldn't control it.
You closed your eyes and expected the worst. However, the impact came from the other side as someone grabbed you around the waist and ran with you to the side. However, someone tripped over a curb and you both crashed to the ground.
"You? Are you okay?"
You asked as you opened your eyes and finally saw the man who had blocked you. It was your protector from your dreams. "Thank you so much," you added, hugging him.
"What about you? Are you hurt?" He asked, stroking your cheek before he began to examine you to see if you were really okay. You were fine except for some minor scrapes.
"You're talking," you said in surprise since it was the first time you'd heard his voice. You saw him get nervous and instead start mumbling that he needed to take another look to see if you were hurt.
"Um, I'm Rosinante... but you can call me Corazon. I'm your personal protector," he introduced himself after a moment.
"I'm so glad I can finally get to know you properly," you said before leaning in and kissing him on the lips. "You should be more careful too," you said honestly as you pulled away.
Corazon was red as a crayfish at the gesture and began to stutter. He didn't understand much, but then he said more clearly if you minded.
But you just shook your head. You were glad for him. For your clumsy protector.
