Sleepless - One-shot

Hot.

It was so hot in here, Ryuu thought as he turned in his bed for the hundredth time, exhaling a deep breath. He didn't know why either; usually he was constantly feeling too cold, but now it was the exact opposite. It felt like his blood was boiling inside his veins, burning lava trailing through his limbs and heart, and it made him feel awfully dizzy to the point of feeling sick. He let his arm hang from the side of the bed, hoping that a somewhat fresher breeze would pass by, and closed his tired, heavy eyes.

Once again, he had slept not even an hour before a nightmare befell him. He wouldn't be able to remember it; an amalgamation of nonsensical things all mashed together, happening all at once. Everything was always so frantic in his dreams, he could never truly recall them; but lately… it felt like it was even worse. He would wake, drenched in sweat and tears, his covers kicked off by violent movements, with a heart drumming so wildly in his chest he thought it would simply burst out. Now, he laid on his side, feeling overly… empty inside. He was so exhausted, he didn't know how to feel about all of this anymore. He was afraid that if he dared to close his eyes, those dreams would come back to haunt him.

At least, he thought to himself, he didn't have to be afraid of waking up Azelea with his wild kicking. That Wyngling could sleep through the worst of thunderstorms, so it wouldn't be his own noise that would get through her. Right as he thought that, he heard her snoring echo from the top bunk, reverberating through the room and probably outside in the corridor. At this point, the whole Nook knew not to worry about those horrible sounds; all the neighboring rooms knew it was simply Azelea, sleeping soundly. Ryuu sighed; if only he could sleep as deeply as she did…

With a slight grunt and a loopy head, the young Wyngro stood on his bed on shaky legs, and silently walked over to the window. It was too hard to breathe, it was too warm in here; and so, he pulled the window up, just enough so that he could slide his head through outside. Immediately, a cold winter breeze blew in, sending awful shivers down his spine, but the breeze quickly did as he hoped and carried the hot air away from him, taking it right out of his fiery lungs. Closing his eyes, he let the air refresh him, and a small smile crept up on his beak…

"Mmh… R… Ryuu…?"

Ryuu brought his head back in and turned back, only to hear Azelea move on the top bed. Her upside-down head popped into his vision from above, tired, half-asleep eyes looking at him quizzically.

"What's with the opened window…?," she mumbled, making him stutter a bit as he searched for a reasonable response.

For once… he decided to be honest.

"It was just too hot in here," he answered. "Sorry I woke you up. I'll close it…"

"Oh," she slowly blinked. "No, it's okay, was just wonderin'… You okay…?"

He quickly nodded his head and waved a claw, gesturing her to go back on her bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," he responded quickly. "Go sleep, I'll be fine."

She appeared somewhat unsure of his words at first, but quickly shrugged and brushed it off, saying:

"Alright. Don't forget to close the window when you decide to sleep."

And she crept back into her bed, allowing him to silently sigh. Well, there went his plan of being honest with her. Maybe he would tell her about his problem another time… Now didn't seem like the right moment.

Turning back to the window, Ryuu slid his blushing face back outside, once again letting the winds carry all of his conflicting feelings away. The moon was out and full tonight, basking the land in its white glow, and he was surprised at how far he could actually see from his window. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground, and the moon shining down upon it woke a sea of a million twinkling diamonds, and he sat there, thinking about how beautiful it was… until a bad shiver slowly and painfully ran down his whole spine. Goosebumps tickled his arms relentlessly, as sudden as the breeze that had just flown in, and suddenly, the outside wasn't as beautiful as it once was.

He blinked.

What… was that thing, over there? By the tree?

The area around the tree was awfully dark, and… focussed. It was one mass of shadows, occupying the whole region under the pine tree, like a bubble of darkness. Was it just his mind playing tricks? Maybe the light of the moon was brighter than it seemed, and it just came from the tree itself. Still, he suddenly felt very unwelcome outside, and so he slid back inside and closed the window with trembling claws. Unnerved, he turned away and rolled back on his bed, grabbing his covers and holding them tightly against him.

Yes, now he felt refreshed and the dizziness had finally left him, but he was also terribly, terribly afraid… 

Above him, Azelea had resumed snoring, oblivious to the world and his fears.

This is the last piece of Wyngro where Ryuu is a child! I'll be growing him up this week-end, and what better way to end than with something angsty and foreshadowing!