It was the usual.

A mixture of pitch black, blinding white and all the other colors of the universe. A moment spanning to eternity and a lifetime compressed into an instant. Power beyond all measurement and yet against an obstacle no force could move. Fear, rage, hatred, longing, sadness, all these swirling in a dark vortex. A pair of red blinked in the far reaches before shattering and coalescing into a collection of bright golden petals.

And then only the emptiness remained.

Asriel just about jumped straight of bed from the force he rose with. A sharp bleat left his throat involuntarily, before he mashed both hands against his mouth to stifle it. Once the wave of embarrassment washed off, only the leftover fear remained. He slowly touched both his arms, his chest, his legs, just to clarify they were there. They weren't stalks. He had no petals. He had no leaves. He wasn't a flower.

He still double-checked almost every hour of the day, though.

The youngest Dreemurr sighed deeply, his eyes getting accustomed to the darkness of the room. He couldn't really tell what the time was, but neither was he really interested. He knew it was still late into the night and that everyone else was probably sound asleep. Trying to fall back after one of these was a pretty heavy gamble though. Not the he couldn't, but there was always that nerve-racking fear that it would all return twice as strong and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't wake up from it this time around.

"Nightmare?"

For the second time this serene night, a frightened bleat echoed across the room, before getting forcibly muffled. Asriel's eyes just about popped out of their sockets from the exertion and he could swear his pulse was jumping around more than Mettaton's ratings.

"Frisk!" he breathed. "Please don't do that again."

"Sorry."

Even in the dark, he could tell Frisk, while perhaps a little bit amused by the bleat, was genuinely sorry for startling him like that. His new human sibling was very perceptive of monsters in general and Asriel was perhaps was the best example for that. This was both a blessing and a curse, living under the same household. For this occasion though, Asriel considered himself very much towards "blessing".

"Don't worry about it." he said and shook his head. "It's just the usual. I'll go down to the living room to read a bit."

He sat up again, only to find Frisk grasping for his hand. They squeezed the prince's hand tightly and even through the dark of the night, Asriel could swear their eyes were glimmering with a beautiful and immensely powerful light.

"Never again." Frisk said. "Never a flower, never without love and never alone."

Asriel had to swallow several times before he could rightly speak again. A tiny hiccup was followed by a wave of chuckling.

"Geez, Frisk, don't make me cry all over again." he said. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope!" his newest sibling giggled, hopping onto the bed with one solid motion. "Gotta make sure you get some sleep!"

"Is that so?"

Asriel pulled the blanket around, trapping both of them under the covers. Frisk yelped and the two siblings rolled around with hushed giggles, alternatively trying to find and trap each other. There was virtually no chance at this point that either of them would have a full night's sleep.

Frisk lurched forward, freeing themselves from the soft prison long enough to stand and point at their brother with determination. "I know just what you need."

They jumped up and hopped straight over to their toy-box, dresser, shelves, one after another. Asriel couldn't properly make out what they were doing, but it did sounds like they were bringing a whole bunch of stuff over for unknown reasons. The final touch, which he could actually make out, was placing a flashlight under the bed. Frisk turned it on and it supplied just enough light to illuminate the various monster figures they'd piled around the bed.

"Frisk, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Rest easy, your majesty." Frisk said, lowering their voice as much as they could.

The monster figures were strategically placed all around the bed, the flashlight casting huge shadows of them upon the walls. While the general human population may have had some difficulty getting used to monsters, the monstrous shadows on the wall brought nothing but comfort to the two kids. Frisk got their blanket and tied it neatly like Papyrus would, before proudly turning back to Asriel.

"Your Royal Guard is here to protect you!"

The youngest Dreemurr nearly burst out laughing at the sight, but knew it would probably wake the rest of the house. Instead, he sneaked his amusement through muffled giggles, until he could compose himself. He cleared his throat and surveyed their 'army'.

"Howdy!" he said, trying to sound as kingly as possible

"What king greets the Guard with 'Howdy'?" Frisk teased.

"Dad does!"

"You're right." the human chuckled and awkwardly knelt down, trying not to trip in the long blanket. "My King, the Captain of the Guard stands ready!"

"Captain, I fear you may be missing an eye patch?"

"No, sir! I found my eye instead!"

"Hooo, where was it?" he raised a brow.

"Under the eye patch, sire!"

Both of them took a brief pause to snicker over that one.

"Well." Asriel coughed, trying to regain the regal tone. "Captain, I fear my dreams are under attack. I need you and your Guard to stand attention, in case the invaders return."

"Aye, sir!" Frisk pumped their fist into the air. "No force may get past the Royal Guard!"

"Not even a human?" the prince teased.

"Especially a human!" the target in question doubled-down on that promise.

"Good work, Captain." Asriel chuckled. As silly as this game was, he hardly even remembered his earlier fright. "However, Captain, I need another favor from you."

Frisk nodded, listening intently.

"The Guard can stand guard by the gate." he said, all the while noticing Frisk cracking a smile to the pun.

"But I also need my Captain here with me. This area is still open to attack and I need my bravest warrior right by my side!" he added, pawing his large pillow.

"Your Majesty!" his adoptive sibling gasped, sparkly eyes wide with mock-surprise. Asriel's raised a brow at the reaction. "I understand..." Frisk bashfully pulled on their blanket-cape to cover them ever-so-slightly. "If your Majesty needs someone to guard his heart... I guess I can do it..."

Asriel could swear he had just taken a jog through Hotland and back. His cheeks filled with enough heat he would not have been shocked to see steam trickling out his ears. He hid his face under the blankets, but it was far too late by then.

"F-frisk!" his voice decidedly lost their royal tone and were perhaps even a bit higher than usual.

Frisk doubled-over and curled up into the blanket, biting down on the edge to keep from laughing out loud. Asriel's reaction was just too precious to resist and they did love causing so much embarrassment to the little prince.

"Any other requests, your majesty?" the human managed to utter in-between the ongoing fight with laughter.

"EAT YOUR CAPE, CAPTAIN!" came the muffled, but very determined order from under a thick layer of blankets.

Asriel woke to the sound of birdsong. He stretched out and yawned with enough force he thought his jaw would lock up. He rubbed his eyes and gazed at the ceiling for a couple brief moments with a bright smile. No further nightmares plagued his sleep and because of that, he felt in every little bit of his body, just how good it felt to be alive.

He was here. He was not a plant. He was not without love. But most importantly...

He was not alone.

Frisk was leaning against the bed frame, their breath mixing with soft snores. The flashlight has long expired and most of the monster figures were toppled a good few hours ago. And yet, they were still standing, in a manner of speaking. A stout defender of House Dreemurr, proud Captain of the Dream Guard, the First to rise and Last to fall.

Asriel crawled out of bed and hopped by his sibling's side. He reached out and easily collected the young human into his arms. Perhaps they were just so light, or it was the innate strength of monsters, but he could hold them without much difficulty at all.

Frisk stirred from the sudden motion though and opened their tired eyes again, taking in Asriel's smiling visage.

"...your majesty..." they said, even the simplest words getting jumbled from fatigue. "...what happen?"

"Nothing, Captain." Asriel giggled. He set Frisk down on his bed and neatly tucked them in. Frisk's eyes momentarily fluttered open ever couple seconds, before a yawn seized them back into the world of dreams. He sat down by the edge of the bed, stroking his sibling's back as they slept.

"Just the changing of the Guard."

A/N: I decided to upload the recent Undertale stuff I've done here as well. Since there are several, I'll space it out though, so as not to be a dick to every other writer here.

Originally written for a lovely anon on /utg/, with the prompt "Frisk comforts Asriel after a nightmare" and accidentally titled "WE'RE THE DREAM WARRIORS", because Dokken is awesome and I often forget to delete silly titles.