Nightmarish Ends

He was having that dream again.

He was on top of a building. No matter how many years that it has been since he had last taken the serum, the nightmares always came back. No matter how far he ran, the nightmare always caught up. He knew that there was two ways that he could go on from this point; he could stay here until he woke up, or he could continue to the rest of the dream. He bit his lip. He didn't want to continue on, but she was in the dream. He wanted to see her clearly again; not in the bits and pieces of his memories. He closed his eyes. Even after all this time, it was still hard to think about her. Jumping off a building was almost easier than thinking about her. Almost. Don't get him wrong, he had plenty of good memories of her, but the bad memories of her and her before her death were there to outweigh the good. He sighed. It was time to make some more memories.

He jumped.

Just before he hit the ground, the scene changed. He was in a compressed space. Almost instantly, he felt as if he couldn't breathe.

"You know, most boys would enjoy being trapped in close quarters with a girl."

He sank down and closed his eyes. She had once been here with him. He realized how much braver he felt when she was there.

He didn't feel the scene change, but he knew it had when he felt the familiar shape of a gun in his hand. Although it had been many years since he last used one, he still remembered how much control he felt while in use of this weapon. It was almost reassuring, but then he remembered how she died from the use of a gun. He flinched. He couldn't afford to have those thoughts if he was going to see her in this dream. Reminded of the task before him, he reluctantly opened his eyes.

He saw his wife tied to a chair before him.

"Shoot." hissed someone from behind him.

He didn't know who the person was, but all he knew was that this person was in charge and that he was going to kill him if he wouldn't shoot her. He reluctantly raised the gun.

Tears were streaming down his wife's face. Just do it. she mouthed. He couldn't do it. He gave his wife a sad smile and let the gun drop to the ground. A bang came from somewhere on his right.

He closed his eyes.

He knew exactly what his next fear would be. He knew that he wasn't ready; honestly, he wasn't sure that he would ever be ready. He tried to gather up what was left of his courage and slowly opened his eyes.

She was there.

It had been many years since her death, and he had spent many decades thinking about her. She hadn't changed one bit.

She let out a strangled scream. Snapped out of his thoughts, he finally saw the situation that she was in. She was hanging off the side of a building, bleeding heavily. Her face had a look of absolute terror on it, as she desperately gripped onto the wall.

"Help." she croaked.

He ran over to her and caught her as she fell. He lifted her up with ease and held her close. He hadn't realized that he was crying, until he saw how moist her shirt was.

"I saved you. I saved you this time." he whispered half to himself.

Shaking from his sobs, he squeezed her even tighter into a hug. She squeaked and he then remembered that she was fatally wounded. He gently put her down as he analyzed her injuries. There were multiple bullet wounds. He desperately looked around for something to heal her with, until she put her hand on his.

"Tobias." she whispered.

***

Tobias Eaton woke up with a start. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, or what was left of it. A long time ago, Tobias had a whole head of hair. Tobias got up and splashed some cold water on his face. It had been a long time since he had that nightmare. Returning to bed, he noticed that his thrashing during his nightmare hadn't woken his wife. She often teased him of how restless he slept when he had nightmares. Tobias wasn't fooled. He knew that nightmares still plagued her.