03-Jan-2001
Just a way small fic to prove I'm still alive and kicking. I've been a little swamped by some other fics lately. ^^;; It's -not- part of the arc, sort of a stand alone. At least until my muse decides it needs a companion.
Jude: ehehehee
<sigh> Anyway...
Title: Nightlight
Author: Dan
Archive: GWA! <snuggles Tyr-sama>
Pairings: D+R (or would it be R+D?)
Warnings: none! (unless you're scared of the dark...)
Category: Sap? Fluff? <shrugs>
Notes: I -like- Dorothy. And I -like- Relena, if you don't then go away!
Someone... Please... Just turn on the light.
There are things in the dark waiting for me to open my eyes. I can hear them breathing as they wait, so patient; sometimes they make swishing sounds as they creep along the corners. I can't leave the bed. If I do things in the dark with teeth like knives will appear.
Help me... Anyone... Make the darkness go away.
The darkness towered, reaching for me, and all of a sudden I was three years old again, listening to my world get shattered around me. The monsters were coming out of the night to take everything I loved. Coming, this time, to kill me too. I curled myself into a little ball and tried not to whimper. Crying draws their attention, and that was bad. If I could make myself small they wouldn't notice me.
Please. I need the light.
Something whispered in its stealthy movements and I shuddered to hear it. Biting down on a scream, I whimpered instead. The sweat slid cold and uncomfortable down my back as I huddled under the corners. If you were small and quiet they wouldn't hurt you.
Someone... bring back the light. Please.
I was fighting the urge to scream when the door opened sleepily. Tears slipped past me when the warm glow chased the monsters away. The old fear was replaced by a new one, quick and thundering. I wasn't supposed to cry. Couldn't. I huddled in the blankets, trying to hide myself.
Someone... help me... bring me back.
The bed grumbled in protest as another's weight settled onto it. I resisted briefly, half-heartedly, when warm arms reached out to cradle me. I was a stupid, foolish girl to cry in the night. If I had been a boy this wouldn't happen. I knew the open handed slaps were coming. They always did before.
That voice, calm and cool, whispered around me-soothing, not like the hissing whispers of the shadow monsters. A hand stroked my hair, gathering it up and pulling it around me. That voice, so gentle, told me to breath slowly. Quiet encouragement for such a simple thing calmed me.
I looked up at my sleepy rescuer. My warrior. I know my warrior fights battles that I've never really understood. I've tried, but I don't. Those ideals aren't mine, but they carry the light with them. My warrior wears the light like a cloak, uses it like a sword. I let the arms pull me down in to the soft warmth and hold me close. It's been a long time since I've been protected like this. So long.
I tried to explain the monsters in the night-hissing my name from the corners. I knew my warrior would understand. No harsh words came to tell me that I was a stupid girl for being afraid. Instead my rescuer promised to cut them up and toss them out the window. A silly promise for a silly fear, but it made me feel better. I burrowed into the warmth, and let myself slide a little.
"Don't leave me."
Was that my voice? So high, afraid, and girlish? I hid my face against my warrior and let my hair cocoon me. A curtain between the world and me. If only it were so easy to draw away.
"I won't."
I knew my warrior would say that. Why had it taken me so long to ask? Warm hands stroked my back in slow circles. Our movements were getting a fuzzy edge of sleep. I snuggle close to her and let her breathing fill me. She chuckled just a little against my hair before she pressed a kiss to my forehead.
"Maybe we should invest in a nightlight."
I lay still until her breathing evened out and I knew she was asleep. My warrior, my rescuer, I had pushed her aside for so many years. Now I know that she is the light. She reaches out to all of us like a voice in the wilderness, lighting the way home. I kissed her back as she lay next to me dreaming. "You are my nightlight, Relena."
I was lost... and crying before you. Light my way home... and I will always follow you.
The End
(:./dan/nightlight)
