Dib lay in his bed, eyes closed with his hands behind his head. He was breathing slowly and softly, the moonlight casting a glow across his room. The clock was ticking to show that it was well past midnight.

However, the raven-haired teen wasn't asleep. He had given up a long time ago trying to go to sleep, and just sat there. Letting his brain run. Thinking about whatever popped into it, or just listened to the noises of the night.

After a while, he realized that in the room across the hall from his, the occupant was sniffling softly. The bed springs creaked softly as she had turned over, then shrieked as the owner got out of her bed.

A pair of bare feet shuffled across the hardwood floors and the door to the black and purple room opened, then closed. A few moments later, there was a quiet, hesitant knock on his door.

"D-Dib?" he timid voice asked hopefully.

"It's open, Gaz," the older brother responded. He watched as the door opened to reveal his little sister. Her eyes were puffy, her face was tear-streaked, and her dark purple curly hair hung messily past her armpits. She hesitated for a moment so Dib could really look at her. She was wearing an overly large black tee that was showing one of her shoulders and bra strap, and she obviously wasn't wearing any shorts underneath. Gaz wiped one of her eyes before hurrying to her brother's bed and jumping on him.

Dib gasped and tensed, then groaned a bit as she landed on his stomach, but before he yelled at her, she buried her face into his paranormal t-shirt and whimpered. He sat up, ignoring any pain he felt, and held her as she slowly burst into tears.

"Gaz? What happened?" he asked as he cradled her to himself.

She didn't answer, but clung to him more, her fingers clutching to his shirt.

He sighed and rubbed her back, murmuring soft things to her and cooing softly. Dib sat cross-legged with Gaz sitting on his lap. "Gazzy… Did you have a bad dream?"

After a few minutes, he felt her nod.

"… Was it about Dad?"

She shook her head.

"… Me?"

She shook her head again.

"… Was your bad dream about Mom?"

Gaz nodded, clutching to him more.

Dib smiled sadly, then wrapped his blanket around both of them. They he lay on his side, Gaz lying next to him, "Do you want to see how Mom used to tell us stories?"

She looked at him and wiped her eyes before nodding.

Dib gently pried Gaz's fingers from his shirt, then reached under his bed to pull out a shoe box. Inside were some mini robots and he showed each one to Gaz.

"Mom made this one, and this one, and these two, and…"

He let her inspect every one of them, then watched as she smiled a little when he turned them on.

After a while, he started to tell her a story their mother would tell them when they were younger.

"Once upon a time, in a land that most people refuse to believe it exists…."

Dib recited the story as he had a million times before to himself, telling about all kinds of creatures, monsters, and heroes from every corner of the universe and galaxy, to their very own world.

By 3:30AM, Dib realized that Gaz had fallen asleep. She was holding onto one of the robots, keeping it snug in her arms, but not crushing it. He brushed back her violet curls and kissed her forehead gently.

"Night, Gaz…" he whispered to her, then stifled a yawn before holding her to his chest again, then slowly dozing off himself.