Night Conversations

By Chibi Hime

A hand hit Mike square in the face.

As he blinked his way to consciousness, he felt someone thrashing in the bed next to him.

Another rough night.

Usually it was him who had the nightmares, but lately he didn't have the chance. Charmcaster had been crawling into his bed after he had already fallen asleep and then waking him up around three in the morning with her night terrors. Previous nights, he had solved the problem by grasping her wrist and draining some of her energy. He'd only left a single eight pointed star mark on each arm in the last week. It wasn't enough to do anything...at least he didn't think so. She hadn't been clingy at all, but he didn't want to risk it either.

The slope was unbelievably slippery.

He settled for putting an arm around her and gently "shushing" her. Her struggles became less violent and eventually stopped. Her breathing evened out and she continued to sleep.

Mike smiled to himself.

He didn't even use his powers that time.

He didn't go back to sleep. He just stared at her for a moment.

"Who are you? What kind of trouble are you in if, geez, you come to someone like me for help? What's after you?" he whispered, brushing a lock of her white hair behind her ear.

She shifted at his touch and rolled over away from him. Mike swallowed before doing the same.

"We can talk about this later," he whispered reassuringly.

It didn't matter really. If it reared its ugly head, he'd beat it into submission.

He was good at things like that.

He scooted closer to Charmcaster's warm body before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.