Hey there sexy people~. ;D What's uuuup? I had some reviews from Guests, so I'm gonna reply to them here (if you review as just Guest, I'm putting the date of your review beside it).

Guest (March 1, 2014) (Chapter 3) - Well, I'm trying to stay in line with the whole 'Father/Son' thing that they imply in the show itself and I have major issues with parents raping their kids (or just having sex with them), so now you know why I chose not to do that. Plus, we all know those guards probably never got any, so they had a reason to lose their marbles and do what they did.

Guest (March 8, 2014) (Chapter 3) - Um... Who was cute and everyone loves who? *sweat drop* And what is SBAFF?

Hallelujah (January 27, 2014) (Chapter 2) - Yes, he can, but that's in Fairy Tail's universe. This is an AU, my lovely. ;D

Ok, enough of my weirdness, on to the chapter!

[xXx]

A little over three months had passed since then. Midnight and I were skinnier than before, the former's ribs beginning to peek through his flesh compared to my own, they having barely done so themselves just yet. Our hair had grown longer, as well. Unlike me, who got it cut back to be a little longer than it used to be, Midnight allowed his to grow out with just a tiny trim to get rid of the dead ends. The black portion of his hair was growing over his white hair, leaving only a couple of inches of the paler color to be left to the visible eye. The male's black fingernail polish had completely chipped away and left behind the natural color. I was right when I thought it would bother me to no end... It didn't help my case when he decided to remove his beads from his single white lock of hair in the front in favor of braiding it. Luckily, he didn't throw those away and chose instead to give them to me. Believe me when I say that it was a royal pain in my ass to hide those from the guards.

Currently, we were in the common room again, the guards having allowed one of us to change the channel on the television thanks to it being the start of a new month. Nobody really complained about what was on either. We actually got worked up over it! The show was called American Ninja Warrior, basically just the American version of the old Japanese show Sasuke, which happened to translate into English as Ninja Warrior. It was pretty fun to watch really. I had to keep quiet for a sleeping Midnight's case.

"Woah! Did you see that guy land the jump?" questioned Gajeel from beside me, practically on the edge of his nonexistent seat. "That has to be a tough one to land! All upper body strength, just you and the small ridges on the wall!"

"It would be so hard to try to do that ourselves. We would simply miss the landing and fall into a cold pool of water and simply die," I snorted a little bit sarcastically, shaking my head a little. I didn't bother to point out that I had performed such small-ridge jumping before a few times in the past and it really wasn't all that hard. At least it wasn't that way for me. "But I think if we tried to do that, we would be shot on the spot." I glanced down at Midnight's sleeping form, stroking his duel colored hair a little absently. He looked so peaceful... and he wasn't crying like he usually did when he slept. There had to be something about my presence that kept him calm...

"I bet we could somehow convince the warden to build us a court like that," Gajeel told me, looking twenty kinds of excited. Laxus snorted beside him. Shooting him a dirty look, the noirette growled out, "What?"

"If they gave us a court like the one in American Ninja Warrior, they would be stupid. You know how high that thing is? We could easily jump the fence and get out," the blond informed him with a bit of nonchalance in his voice. "They may as well just give us a giant, gaping hole in the fence and tell us not to go through it."

Gajeel huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, glaring a little at the television in agitation. After a couple of minutes of watching the contestants perform each and every task to the best of their capabilities, he visibly relaxed and went back to cheering for them. I, meanwhile, just shook my head once more and decided to loosely play with Midnight's white braid a little absently. The show wasn't really interesting to me at the moment, not with my thoughts raising twenty miles a minute and gaining speed.

What was on my mind? Honestly, it was about Midnight's crying every night. I didn't know what the reason was behind his nightly actions, but I think some of us were getting irritated by it. And I will admit to it. I was one of those people. He never had a problem before when he slept, back when we were with the others and not in separate jails. Nor did he have a problem when he slept on my lap or my shoulder. But whenever he was in his cell, that was when he would begin to cry himself to sleep. Glancing down at him with violet eyes, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness and guilt fill my chest. I wanted to stop his nightly crying... but I couldn't. I was completely and utterly unable to help him.

I didn't know what to do.

Releasing a small sigh, I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes. If only I could help him... if only...

It wasn't until about an hour later that I realized that I had fallen asleep, being shaken awake by Freed. Slowly tilting my head forward and blinking slowly to get rid of the remaining traces of sleep, I hummed softly. The greenette's voice was a low, droning sound at the moment, and I couldn't hear him tell me that it was time to go to our cells for the night. It took a moment, but I slowly woke up a bit more. "What did you say...?" I murmured softly, slowly shaking Midnight awake.

Freed grumbled a little, shaking his head a little. "I said it's time for us to go to our cells for the night," he repeated with the tiniest bit of agitation in his voice.

Nodding a little slowly, I looked down at a slowly waking Midnight. "Midnight... Time to wake up..." I said quietly. He made a small noise and nuzzled into my thigh, not exactly keen on the idea of having to wake up. I shook him a bit more, a little rougher this time. "Midnight. Up. Awake. If I can't sleep right now, neither can you, sir."

Midnight made a sound similar to a sigh and sat up, stretching a little and beginning to rub the sleep from his scarlet eyes. No. Eyeliner. Or. Lipstick.

Seriously.

The lack of both was beginning to annoy the ever loving fuck out of me.

His red eyes looked smaller and less pronounced without the dark layer of thick eyeliner, and his lips were much too pale, just the slightest bit darker than his normal skin tone.

He just didn't look right without makeup, damn it!

"Why did you wake me up...?" grumbled Midnight, pulling me out of my internal lament. I told him what Freed told me, and I swear to this day that I saw what I believe to be an averse look flash through his eyes at the mere thought of sleeping alone. I felt a little bit more of sadness and guilt fill me.

So, to hopefully try and ease his nerves, I told him, "If you have trouble going to sleep tonight, just imagine me sitting on the floor beside you, okay?" I took his hand in my own, standing. "Now, come on. Before the guards get mad at us for taking our sweet time." Lacing our fingers together, the male hesitantly nodded. Together, we stood and we left the common room with Freed leading the way.

That night, after all was said and done, with each and every one of us eased into our bunks under the warmth of our blankets with our heads on our pillows, not a single sound was made.

Not even from Midnight.

Not a whine, nor a whimper, nor a cry.

All was silent.

And even though I was the one who suggested the tactic to help Midnight fall asleep without a sound, it worried me.

The silence was deafening.

[xXx]

He was asleep. Again. How could that kid sleep like a rock like that? He was like a cat, I swear. Asleep twenty-two hours, awake for two hours. Even during the briefing as to what we were all supposed to do on our next task! I really had half a mind to walk over to him and shake him awake. Just as I started to, I heard a voice, one that was familar and distant.

"Don't wake him, Cobra. Let him rest."

I turned to see who had spoken to me, but there was nobody there.

In fact, the two of us were completely alone together.

I frowned to myself. I then looked back at Midnight. He had his classic eyeliner on, with his single lock of white hair holding his trade mark beads, plum lipstick coating his pale lips, and black finger nail polish painted delicately and evenly on his nails. Relaxing a little at the sight, I decided that I may as well sit down beside him. Once I did, he snapped awake, his head snapping as it turned to face me. His face was devoid of emotion. His eyes were devoid of life.

But he was there.

He was alive.

I could hear his heart beating from right beside him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"I dunno. One minute everyone is in here and the next, it's just you and me," I answered him. "So I decided to sit down beside you. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Midnight seemed to relax at my response. He then laid his head on my shoulder, closing his eyes again. "Lay down. This is uncomfortable..." he murmured softly. I rolled my eyes a little but did as he asked, even if it was seemingly ridiculous. I watched as the male laid down on top of me, using me as his official bed and pillow. He looked peaceful...

Like he always did in the common room when he was sleeping on my lap or my shoulder.

I very quickly realized that this was nothing more than a dream...

But it made me realize something.

Midnight was always on edge in the jail. He would cast nervous looks all around, unsure as to what he should do, as to how he would get out should something happen... He was afraid. He would grip his arms a little roughly and he would bite just the tiniest bit of his bottom lip so as to not draw attention to himself...

But whenever he was with me, with his head on my shoulder or on my lap, he would fall asleep and look at peace while he was at it.

I, at the risk of sounding like a cheesy romantic here, was his light in the darkness...

And that thought alone was a nice one...

"You're a comfy bed..." he murmured against my chest, breathing out a soft, breathy sigh. He lightly gripped my shirt and then released it, repeating the action several times. Wrapping an arm around him, he released another soft sigh. "Erik..."

"Hush. Rest, okay? I know that you want to sleep... Even if it is just a dream..."

For a few moments, we were both silent. Then he spoke softly.

"Erik..."

"Yes, Macbeth?"

"Do you think that my name is ironic?"

I gave him a small, questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"I never read it... but do you think my parents named me after the character in The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare?"

Pausing, I found myself taken aback. Then I shook my head. "No. Why would you think that?"

"Well, think about it. My life like a tragedy..."

I had to keep from smacking the male upside the head. "Macbeth. Your life isn't a tragedy. It's just not the greatest, okay?" I informed him. Before he could continue, I stopped him. "Rest. Sleep. And don't think like that again, okay? It really worries me when you talk like that..." Mainly because the last time he asked something like that, we - by that I mean the gang and myself from before the arrests - found that he had been cutting himself on the wrists for three days after he asked me the similar question.

The cuts healed, but the scars on his wrists were constant reminders of those days.

"Erik..."

"Yes?"

He leaned up, brushing his lips delicately against my own. It was needless to say that I was rendered completely and utterly speechless. After what felt like an eternity, I realized that he was waiting for a response from me. And strangely enough...

The only thing that I could think of to do in response was lean up and brush my lips back against his own, just as he had done to mine. It was wrong, I knew that, but... but... It just felt so right. In fact, nothing seemed more right than that, than the feeling that the actions brought up within me. The feeling of a large weight coming off of my shoulders and chest...

I felt light and relieved. Over what, I didn't know, but it was an amazing feeling.

Our lips collided, and this time, it wasn't for a brief moment. It wasn't a small brushing of lips against lips... It was a full out kiss. It was a sweet, gentle, loving kiss. It was something that neither one of us had ever really had the joy of having... And there we were. Enjoying it together.

It seemed like an eternity.

Then I was met with harsh reality.

It was only a dream.

I woke to the sound of the guards calling out breakfast time. I sighed heavily to myself, sitting up and yawning. I stretched and scratched my leg a little before getting up and out of bed. Quickly brushing out my hair, I left my cell and quickly found Midnight and the others, waiting on me. Then I saw it.

The sly smile on Midnight's face.

The slight blush across his cheeks.

His confident posture.

When I walked up to them, he leaned up and brushed his lips against my own.

Then I knew.

"You had the same dream."

He smiled.

As did I.

We both ignored the shocked look of Freed, the amused look of Laxus, and the freaked out look of Gajeel who I thought, later on in the day, was going to have a panic attack. We held one another's hands, lacing our fingers together. We held one another's gazes, his red and mine purple. There was only love.

There was only affection.

There was only him.

And there was only me.

[xXx]

Read and review, my pretties~! Sorry that this one took me a while to write!

~Dawn