Fear

By Orenda

It certainly was not turning out to be a very good night so far for the young Prince Wolfram.

Bedtime had been normal enough, and he'd gotten his usual story read to him after being tucked under the covers; although he almost always fell asleep before getting to hear the ending. This particular time had been no different, except that Wolfram had had a vague awareness of footsteps walking away and the candle next to his bed being blown out. He'd slept for a little while after that, at least.

But then the dreams came, flooding his young mind with frightening images of evil humans kidnapping him and destroying the castle. In his head he saw bright burning flames dance around him, the heat tickling his skin and making it hard to breathe. Funny, he could even smell the smoke. What a realistic dream. In his panic, he squirmed and fought against blankets that were tied in knots around his small struggling limbs. In the end, his body fell off the mattress with a crash, the back of his head knocking into the floor hard enough that he'd be feeling a bump there for a day or two.

Jarred awake, the young boy realized that at least part of his dream was real, the sheets he was still entangled in smoking and starting to flame up. He screamed loudly.

The first person to come running in was Conrad, whose room happened to be the closest to his. Without stopping to think, he rushed over and quickly set himself to the task of untangling his baby brother from the clutches of the burning fabric. It didn't help that Wolfram was too scared to cooperate much, crying and unable to keep still. Moments later, Gwendal joined them, pausing briefly to gather his wits before focusing his own attentions on quickly putting out the fire, although their youngest brother was far too upset by that point to notice.

After a few moments that seemed to last much longer than they actually were, Wolfram was pulled free of the entrapment he'd gotten himself in, clinging tightly to Conrad and sobbing loudly into his chest. While his slightly older brother tried to whisper soothing words in an attempt to calm him down, Gwendal had managed to stop the flames from spreading to anything else in the room, the sheets completely ruined but no longer in danger of burning.

In-between his tears, Wolfram thought he heard Big Brother mumble something about having a fire-user for a brother, but he wasn't quite paying attention due to the fact that Little Big Brother was still talking to him quietly. He felt safe there and finally started to calm down after Conrad announced that Wolfram could sleep in his room for now. He started to tell them about his dream, of the men taking him away, and as they both listened quietly his fear slowly turned into embarrassment instead.

By that point, the commotion had caught the attention of their mother, and Cheri came through the young prince's doorway, Wolfram's name on her lips as she kneeled down beside them. However, he was unwilling to let go of his brother, and she settled for running her fingers through the golden blond strands of his hair that were just starting to get a bit long.

"I-I didn't mean to," he mumbled, voice muffled from Conrad's shirt that was starting to get a bit damp. Luckily Conrad didn't seem to mind too much.

"We know, Wolf," he was reassured softly by his mother. She seemed far more serious than usual, Wolfram noted as his tears finally subsided. "You were scared, right? Sometimes it happens with little Mazoku while they're still learning. Gwen used to cause tiny earthquakes in his sleep, you know…"

Small green eyes lit up in surprise, and he turned his head to look at the other occupant of the room. "Big Brother? R-Really?"

Gwendal seemed rather embarrassed by this revelation, and avoided their gazes. Even Conrad watched him curiously, this information news to him. "It was… a very long time ago, Mother."

She seemed to ignore the statement, attention turned back to Wolfram. "It just means that your instincts are sharp, and you'll be able to protect yourself if something happened. You'll have more control soon enough."

"And just think how strong you'll be then, Wolf," Conrad told him softly.

Wolfram shifted, nuzzling his cheek against Conrad's shoulder. He wasn't really all that upset anymore, but he was starting to get sleepy again and after all the excitement was determined to cuddle. "Like you, Little Big Brother?"

After receiving a laugh and a nod in reply, Wolfram was picked up and held close while they discussed what to do next. The mattress was unharmed, so the bed could be remade at a much more decent hour. Goodnights were exchanged, and the young blond yawned widely as he was carried into the room next door.

"You know I'd never let anyone hurt you or take you away, right?" Conrad whispered, setting Wolfram down on the bed and crawled in next to him.

"Mm hmm," was the affirmative mumble, and Wolfram curled up tightly against his brother's side as the covers were pulled up around them.

"Just don't forget that. And you're very brave, just like the heroes in your favorite books."

Sleep claimed the young prince again quickly after that, but there were no more dreams of fire for at least the time being.