Central High

9. Long Nights and Short Mornings

It was late in the still night, no earlier than two am, when Alexander was startled awake by the creak of his bedroom door opening, making him shoot up out of bed and face the cause of his awakening. The figure poking their head in the door jumped at his sudden reaction, it's identity hidden in the darkness of the house. "Who's there?" Alex asked and the figure opened the door more and took a step in, a dog at their heels.

"I-it's just me," the figure replied, easing Alex's nerves with it's very soothing and familiar sound. He took a deep breath and laid back down, trying to settle his nerves. Being the Fuhrer's son and a general, he'd been trained to be able to wake up at the slightest sounds and react immediately if necessary to protect himself, so it was second nature to have gotten a rush of adrenaline when the door was opened. His heart was racing now.

"Bloody hell Ái... What time is it? It's still pitch black out." He groaned, running a hand through his hair and trying to calm his fired nerves. He looked over at her as she walked in, shutting the door behind her and the dog. Alex assumed that it must be Black Hayate with her; he's the only one allowed inside. She came closer as sat down by him on the edge of the bed and he could now see she was wearing his hoodie with the school tag on it, "Cougars" written across it in bold silver lettering and a silver cougar crouched below it, almost as though defending itself. "You ok? Not sleeping well?" He asked and she shook her head, her hair pulled over her right shoulder, draping down over her chest in a curtain of midnight locks. He pat the covers by him and she carefully maneuvered herself into the bed and under the fleece blanket.

Most people would find it weird to have a sixteen year old sharing their bed with their fourteen year old sister, but Alexander was used to it. Ái was prone to nightmares and restlessness and that went away when curled up to her brother. She tried to resist crawling in bed with him, but after a nightmare, she needed the comfort. She never talked about the nightmares, so no one knew what they were about, but Alex noticed she had an aversion to the larger kitchen knives and he began to question if she had nightmares about that night when she was little; when someone broke in and tried to kill her.

She'd been five at the time and she slept in her brother's room. He was seven at the time and knew the dangers of the family's work. One night, her father had a meeting and Riza had been away on business, a few towns over dealing with a smaller military base's problems. Their father didn't feel comfortable with them being home alone at night, so he postponed the meeting until the next afternoon, but the people who planned to use that meeting's implication that the children would be home alone at night, they didn't know about it being postponed; they didn't know Roy was home.

It was around midnight when they broke in and they didn't notice that Black Hayate happened to be laying outside the door, guarding it through the night and the dog was quick to attack the man upon seeing him leaning over the young girl, the knife in his hand glinting evilly against the moonlight. Black Hayate lunged and sank his teeth into the man's arm and the knife was dropped, gashing the girl's upper arm, startling both her and her brother awake as their mother's dog protected them.

Alex was quick to grab her hand and rush her out of the room, running to get their father. Helpful as Hayate is, he's old and he could only do so much before the man was after them again, assuming they were running to hide because he hadn't a clue the Fuhrer was home. Alex remembers seeing the fight between his father and the intruder, hand to hand because he'd left his gloves in his office, but he overwhelmed him still and it was minutes before he fell unconscious to the floor, having been stricken too hard in the head by their father to keep hold of his conciousness. Alex remembered it all, but Ái was too young to remember it clearly.

Since the mental impact it had was too strong to be completely forgotten, Alex worried that images from that night haunt her dreams and make her nervous around the kitchen at times, but he couldn't be sure since she never spoke of her nightmares. The fact they existed was all they knew. This fact always just added to his protectiveness over her, wrapping an arm around her and holding her close as she drifted off into sleep again after whispering a goodnight, her midnight hair splayed out loosely against the pillow they shared. Her small body shivered slightly as she slept and it was not unnoticed by the general; he was just used to it. Ái was easily chilled from her biggest weakness; her health. She was weak and feeble from day one and she often fell ill, shivering all through the nights. Apex pulled her closer, her small body next to his, her head against his chest as she curled up to his body heat, drawn to it's warmth. He wasn't sure when his eyes fell shut from watching her, but eventually, they slid shut as he eased back into that heavenly sleep that his bed and sister provided by feeling like home.