refuge.
Author: ariesrising
Character/Fandom: Yuuto [d2] / Kamen Rider Den-O
Prompt: 01. nightmare
Word Count: 638
Summary: A peek into Yuuto's dreams right before he discovers the Astral Plane, with a jab at his inferiority complex.
Author Notes/Warnings: I'M NO GOOD AT THESE. But here is my attempt anyway. There's nothing I need to warn about, I think, unless you're allergic to fluff.
refuge.
---
Sakurai Yuuto always paid a certain amount of attention to his dreams. Perhaps it was some long-buried artistic side of him, perhaps it was superstition, perhaps something else. Whatever the case, when his dreams began to change, he was concerned. While once he dreamt of practical things like trying to deliver coffee and bike downtown at the same time, he began dreaming of clear never-ending night skies and the distant groan of machinery. It confused him. And when he talked to his fiancée about them, she simply smiled and told him that his lucky star would escape him if he dwelt too much on the details. So, for a while, he thought nothing of the strange dream, and it faded from his memory.
But then there was that strange shop that moved in nearby. Yuuto wanted to check it out immediately, but that day, the Milk Dipper was particularly busy. Between that and the Imagin attack, the queer little place was forgotten.
And that was when the nightmares began.
One after another, like an self-sustaining chain of terror, Yuuto woke up again and again and still wasn't in reality. All he could remember were bits and flashes-- faces of people erased from time, screaming his name in anger as if it were his fault that they'd ended up this way; a pale hand clutching an engagement ring; whirlwinds of sand choking his throat. Sometimes the sand formed the grotesque mouths of monsters and sucked at his arms and legs, chafed his skin, trying to swallow him whole. And then he'd sit up, and the darkness would come at him again, and round and round the dream went for an eternity.
All at once, the darkness and the monsters slipped away. Yuuto was reeling, his vision filled with a pristine night sky. The stars were all out of place and there were galaxies he didn't recognize, but it was alien and serene and beautiful. A little girl stood not too far away with her back facing him. Her hair was dark and long and she wore some kind of pale dress. Something about her was achingly familiar, but as he reached toward her shoulder to turn her around, he began to fall again. The earth melted below him and the world went cold and damp. Gears moaned beyond the pressing silence.
And then he was alive again. Yuuto sat up for real this time, not screaming, but wide-eyed and panting nonetheless. His heart thundered in his chest. The last shivers of the dream faded away into the darkness. Belatedly, he realized his clock was blinking four A.M. "Just a dream," he whispered. "Idiot..."
"Yuuto?" Airi called vaguely from the mess of sheets beside him. Just hearing her voice was reassuring enough, but now he lay down again and tried not to disturb her too much.
"Sorry..."
"Mm..." She pulled free so that she could roll over and look into his eyes. They were dark and big and vulnerable. "You had a bad dream, didn't you? It's okay now." Bad dream? What an understatement. But Yuuto didn't protest. He was too tired, and too haunted by the gnawing fear that this wouldn't stay forever. She saw the uneasiness lingering behind his eyes and kissed him softly on the lips, cheeks, nose, forehead, and then she pulled him into her warmth. Yuuto relaxed visibly and sank into the solace of his lover's arms and fluffy blankets. Here, he felt like nothing in the world-- this one or the next-- could touch him.
Even if he could never capture that feeling again after spending time on the Astral Plane later on, Yuuto would deny it, because some things were just too precious to lose.
Character/Fandom: Yuuto [d2] / Kamen Rider Den-O
Prompt: 01. nightmare
Word Count: 638
Summary: A peek into Yuuto's dreams right before he discovers the Astral Plane, with a jab at his inferiority complex.
Author Notes/Warnings: I'M NO GOOD AT THESE. But here is my attempt anyway. There's nothing I need to warn about, I think, unless you're allergic to fluff.
refuge.
---
Sakurai Yuuto always paid a certain amount of attention to his dreams. Perhaps it was some long-buried artistic side of him, perhaps it was superstition, perhaps something else. Whatever the case, when his dreams began to change, he was concerned. While once he dreamt of practical things like trying to deliver coffee and bike downtown at the same time, he began dreaming of clear never-ending night skies and the distant groan of machinery. It confused him. And when he talked to his fiancée about them, she simply smiled and told him that his lucky star would escape him if he dwelt too much on the details. So, for a while, he thought nothing of the strange dream, and it faded from his memory.
But then there was that strange shop that moved in nearby. Yuuto wanted to check it out immediately, but that day, the Milk Dipper was particularly busy. Between that and the Imagin attack, the queer little place was forgotten.
And that was when the nightmares began.
One after another, like an self-sustaining chain of terror, Yuuto woke up again and again and still wasn't in reality. All he could remember were bits and flashes-- faces of people erased from time, screaming his name in anger as if it were his fault that they'd ended up this way; a pale hand clutching an engagement ring; whirlwinds of sand choking his throat. Sometimes the sand formed the grotesque mouths of monsters and sucked at his arms and legs, chafed his skin, trying to swallow him whole. And then he'd sit up, and the darkness would come at him again, and round and round the dream went for an eternity.
All at once, the darkness and the monsters slipped away. Yuuto was reeling, his vision filled with a pristine night sky. The stars were all out of place and there were galaxies he didn't recognize, but it was alien and serene and beautiful. A little girl stood not too far away with her back facing him. Her hair was dark and long and she wore some kind of pale dress. Something about her was achingly familiar, but as he reached toward her shoulder to turn her around, he began to fall again. The earth melted below him and the world went cold and damp. Gears moaned beyond the pressing silence.
And then he was alive again. Yuuto sat up for real this time, not screaming, but wide-eyed and panting nonetheless. His heart thundered in his chest. The last shivers of the dream faded away into the darkness. Belatedly, he realized his clock was blinking four A.M. "Just a dream," he whispered. "Idiot..."
"Yuuto?" Airi called vaguely from the mess of sheets beside him. Just hearing her voice was reassuring enough, but now he lay down again and tried not to disturb her too much.
"Sorry..."
"Mm..." She pulled free so that she could roll over and look into his eyes. They were dark and big and vulnerable. "You had a bad dream, didn't you? It's okay now." Bad dream? What an understatement. But Yuuto didn't protest. He was too tired, and too haunted by the gnawing fear that this wouldn't stay forever. She saw the uneasiness lingering behind his eyes and kissed him softly on the lips, cheeks, nose, forehead, and then she pulled him into her warmth. Yuuto relaxed visibly and sank into the solace of his lover's arms and fluffy blankets. Here, he felt like nothing in the world-- this one or the next-- could touch him.
Even if he could never capture that feeling again after spending time on the Astral Plane later on, Yuuto would deny it, because some things were just too precious to lose.