Cassie was used to the occasional nightmare, she could normally handle them by herself with the tried and true method of curling up under a blanket, rolling herself into a ball, and squeezing her eyes shut. But this nightmare was different.
Todoroki had snuck back to the foster house with the help of Cassie and Ray and now lay in bed next to the small girl, his back facing hers, a pillow separating the two children. The warmth of his body caused by his quirk lulled Cassie to sleep well enough on its own.
At first her dream was sweet and cheerful as the girl found herself transported to a fantasy forest type of setting with big lush green trees and vivid flowers as far as the eye could see. As she frolicked around however, she began to notice small unsettling details.
No matter how long she walked her setting never changed to accompany her movement, not to mention the grove was completely silent. If she had dreamt up any birds and animals before they were certainly not there now.
And this tree, a dead tree to be exact. The only tree in the entire dream that was dead, contrasting noticeably with the rest of the foliage. In front of the tree was a gravestone with handwriting the girl couldn't make out. She wasn't going to get close enough to read it in the first place.
The grave was cracked and covered in moss, the grass around it dead with wilting flowers sprouting from the dirt it lay upon. But what kept Cassie's carefree childhood self so on edge was the large ax that lay at the base of the dead tree, seemingly made of shimmering slightly translucent gold light.
She wasn't a stupid kid, she knew when something was bad news at that whole area screamed danger upon further scrutiny. So the little girl tried to run, but she felt her body getting dragged back, closer and closer to the gravestone she didn't want to see.
Cassie struggled kicking and screaming against the invisible hands that tugged her backwards, shrill unintelligible chattering of ghosts that had erupted from the ground to surround and corner the poor child filing the silence which the pinkette felt herself suddenly wanting back very much.
The closer she got to the grave the more she wanted to cry. She felt her body being jostled around by the apparitions around her like some kind of human rag doll in a violent game of toss the child. She just wanted to wake up, why couldn't she wake up?
A warm sensation enveloped the girl and her large green eyes shot open as she was rocketed out of her dream and back into reality. It took a few minutes for the girl to catch her barings, her small hands clutching at her chest that rose and fell rapidly with her erratic, panicked breathing pattern.
She felt arms around her and she knew it was Todoroki. The boy had been woken up by her tossing and turning and had taken it upon himself to comfort the girl. Todoroki didn't say anything even at the age of seven he knew when to keep quiet.
Both children lay in silence, the duel haired boy stroking his fingers through his friend's hair to calm her down like his mother would do when he had nightmares. This seemed to work as Cassie's breathing seemed to slow and it only took about five minutes for the tired girl to fall back asleep curled up in a blanket Todoroki had managed to somehow cocoon her in.
Todoroki stayed awake for a bit longer watching over the sleeping pinkette removing his arms from her shoulders rolling back to his side of her bed laying on his back so he could keep an eye on her incase she had another nightmare.
He didn't know how long he stayed awake but eventually he also managed to fall back asleep and by morning time both friends were cuddled up sleeping peacefully while Ray glared at the duel haired boy from her bed across the room.