Origins Stories

Nightmares - Shino (Hurt Comfort? Idk)

Shino's POV

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"Shino, be a dear and kill your father."

I bolted upright. I was drenched in sweat. I couldn't breathe. I slowly grabbed my phone off of my nightstand and looked at the time. 2:00 AM. I assumed nobody was awake except for myself. I stared at my phone for a while before I realized my hand was shaking violently.

I was horrified at what I had heard. No. What I kept hearing. The same voice every night, saying the same thing. I put my phone down and sat up. I tried to get my breathing under control like I would any other night.

Around 10 minutes later, my breathing was steady and I wasn't shaking as much. "Maybe I should just get something to drink..." I thought to myself. I stood up. Everything was a bit blurry because of my lack of sleep. I was surprised nobody has noticed how tired I was the past few weeks. I barely got any sleep at night. I walked over to the door, and opened it as quietly as possible. I didn't want to wake Rikku up.

I went upstairs and to the kitchen. I got a glass cup and filled it with water. "Why do I keep having these nightmares...? Why me... and why is it always that women's voice...? And why was she in the nightmare Kane gave me during the training? Why was she in the vision Ana made me see? How is she even my worst fear? I've never even seen her before..." I thought to myself. I hadn't realized I had the glass of water in my hand until I heard glass shatter. I snapped out of my thoughts and started to panic thinking someone had heard it. I would feel really bad if I woke up Artemis or Rikku.

I tried my best to clean up the glass shards on the ground so nobody would get hurt because of it. Halfway through cleaning up the glass shards, I zoned out, thinking about the voice and what it kept saying again.

Artemis's POV

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I had woken up to the sound of glass breaking.

"What was that...? Is it a villain!?" I thought to myself. I checked the time. 2:12 AM. Perfect for a robbery... I got out of bed and crept downstairs. I was scared of all the possibilities that sound could have originated from. What if it really was a villain? What if someone was about to get hurt? What if something happened to Rikku? Or Shino?! I started to get nervous.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. Nobody seemed to be here. I felt relieved that it wasn't a villain. But the sound was definitely caused by a person. Maybe Rikku was awake? I knew she would sometimes watch anime with Shizu really late at night. But 2:12 AM? I didn't think Rikku would be able to stay up that long. Besides, Rikku would've mentioned Shizu coming over. Maybe it was Shino? But what would Shino be doing up so late?

I slowly walked over to the kitchen, where I assumed the sound came from. As I approached the kitchen, I heard someone muttering something. I walked around the kitchen island and saw Shino sitting on the ground staring at shards of glass in front of him. "Shino...? What are you doing awake? Why is there broken glass here? Are you hurt!?" I said in a rush. Shino didn't respond. It was as if he hadn't even acknowledged my presence.

"Shino...?" I said again. I was starting to get worried. Shino was awake at 2:12 AM, sitting on the floor, with glass shards in front of him. I knelt down to Shino's level. He kept saying something to himself. But I could only make out a few words. Something about a woman and a voice.

I didn't know what to do. I was getting even more worried than I already was. Was Shino in some weird catatonic state...? I honestly had no idea. Could people in a catatonic state talk? I put my hand on his shoulder and his hand immediately grabbed mine. I yelped in surprise. Shino turned his head to look at me. He seemed scared. He let go of my hand.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that..." Shino said. He seemed ashamed. Upset. "It's ok. What's wrong? You seem off..." I responded. Shino stood up. "Careful of the glass. I don't want you to get hurt." Said Shino. It was obvious he was trying to ignore my question.

Shino started walking off. I grabbed his hand before he could make it downstairs. "Why aren't you answering my question?" I asked. "I just wanna know what's wrong..."

Shino turned to look at me. He looked... afraid of me. Like I was gonna hurt him. Then all of a sudden tears were falling down Shino's face. I stared at Shino for a few seconds before I pulled him closer to me. "Shino... what's wrong...? Please, tell me..." I said.

Shino's POV

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Artemis pulled me closer to him. "Shino... what's wrong...? Please, tell me..." Artemis said to me.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to lie to Artemis, but I didn't want to tell him what was wrong either. "I..." I started. "I had a dream... a reoccurring dream..."

Artemis looked at me. I could tell a look of sorrow and guilt was painted across my face. Before I knew it, Artemis was guiding me to his room.

We sat down on the bed together and Artemis pulled me closer to him. "Ok, now explain what happened in this dream of yours..." Artemis said to me. He sounded genuinely concerned and worried. "Well... I've been having this dream throughout the week... It's always the exact same dream. There's a woman in the dream. She keeps saying things to me while a bunch of hands come out of her back... I could feel her hands on my cheeks... they were cold, like ice. She keeps telling me to "let go." But I don't know what that means, or if I should trust her. Tonight though... she said something different... I don't know what it was..." I said. My voice was plagued with fear and sadness.

I could sense Artemis staring at me. I turned my head towards him, expecting to see a shocked look on his face. But there wasn't. There was no shocked expression. No anger that I hid this from him for so long, he just looked concerned. He hugged me and kissed my forehead.

"Shino... You should have told me sooner... I could've tried to do something to help..." Artemis said.

Artemis POV

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I sat there on my bed for a while, holding Shino in my arms. I didn't receive an answer from Shino. He was really quiet though. I was getting a little concerned. I looked at Shino. He was asleep. I didn't want to wake him or risk moving him to his own bed in fear he might wake up. Besides, I don't think I could carry him anyways. But considering he looks like he hasn't gotten much sleep, I held him closer to me and closed my eyes.

Words: 1200