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[flamekthunder]

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[flamekthunder]

Tifa!

[A hoarse, strangled cry as he tries again to break free, but he ends up not putting as much effort and the hands that were pushing away start to cling to her instead.]

I... Again I...

[starshower]

[She shakes her head, still holding him tighter, if such a thing is even possible.]

Nothing. You did nothing.

[He would never hurt her so willingly, and whatever had snuck into her dream to take over him—now that she knows it wasn't just an illusion of a nightmare but really him, and her stomach sinks all the more for it—had only been able to do so because of her. Something she won't voice yet... not until he comes down from his panic.

Her hand caresses his cheek, the other threading into his hair gently to keep him still, as if she was the only thing to keep him from trembling so much. Even though she is the one shaking with a fury that she's kept bottled up for so long...

That this world would keep being so cruel to him...]

[flamekthunder]

[Just shaking his head, unable to control the way his body trembles even at her painfully soothing touch. Unable to stop the thoughts of how he once again lost his mind and tried to hurt her.]

Tifa,i could have killed you—! I wanted—the things I thought—

[Too horrific, sickening, and revolting for him that it sends another wave of nausea through him.]

[starshower]

[Tighter... tighter...]

It's my fault.

[The words spill from her before she can stop them, her heart teeming with so much regret that it had nowhere else to go but out.

No matter how many times they tell each other to stop trying to shoulder all the blame and burden, it's still a hard habit to break. Especially when—]

It was my dream. I should've been more careful...

[Was it the thrill of it? Was she too caught up in everything that she hadn't noticed that something was wrong? And slowly, that realization sinks in.]

I should've known...

[flamekthunder]

[Another fierce shake of his head.]

No, it's not—

[Of course he would refute it. Would never blame her.]

This was... I...

[And then he feels a pain at the back of his neck and it's enough to bring some clarity in his grief.]

...There was something else...

[starshower]

[Refute it all he wants, she is and will be stubborn on this one. Stubborn, but patient, as she listens and waits for him to sort through his thoughts and let them out, and one hand moves to find his hand, to thread her fingers through his. He'll feel them shaking between his own.]

I... I think I could feel it. Whatever it was.

[But she remains steady and present as she rests a kiss against the side of his head.]

You can tell me.

[flamekthunder]

I'm not... Sure.

[He takes a steadying breath, trying to sort his thoughts against the swirling emotions that still torment him.]

But I think... Something bit me back there.

[He frowns a bit, reminded of this happening somewhere else, but... Where?]

[starshower]

[Tifa looks him over in a bit of a panic, her hands slipping away from him to move his arms a bit and to brush his hair back away from his face, as if trying to search for any bite marks he may still have.

Though, if her own is gone, then would his not be, too?

Doesn't matter. The fact that anything managed to at all in her dream...]

Bit you? Where?

[flamekthunder]

[He's still unsettled and riddled with guilt and disgust, but with something to actually focus on helps a bit, oddly enough. There's another shaky breath as he remembers that sharp prick he had felt.]

Back of my neck. I didn't think much of it at the time...

[starshower]

[At his breath, Tifa gently runs her fingers through his hair, giving the base of his ears a light scratch in that exact way that she knows helps to relax him before she's urging him to straighten a little.

And there's an unsettling feeling that swirls in the pit of her stomach.]

... Can I check?

[flamekthunder]

[He'll briefly close his eyes, again caught in that mixed feeling of relief and guilt, as if he doesn't deserve such treatment from her...]

...Yes.

[And he'll straighten up, turning slightly for her.]

[starshower]

[They have been through this so many times before that she wouldn't have even let him protest to it, so she is already combing his hair away from his neck by the time he moves to sit up.

And as soon as she sees it, there's a ripple of heat through the room as her dread only sinks in further.

There, on the nape of his neck, almost hidden beneath his hairline, is a mark. A bruise where the skin has blackened.]

... There's something here.

[Her fingers will graze along the line of it, never quite touching it... too scared to touch it for fear that it will bring him pain or only make it worse.]

Can you feel anything?

[flamekthunder]

[He stiffens at her confirmation, thoughts spinning through his mind at the implications.]

...No—

[And now he's reaching back to touch it for himself, fingertips brushing over the bruise. Only then does he twitch at the cold sensation, dread sinking in.]

But I can feel it now. It's nightmare energy.

[starshower]

[That was exactly what she had been afraid of when she saw it... She's tended to a lot of bruises in her life, and that did not look like an ordinary one.

Her fingers inch closer, brushing over his as she does, and she pulls back suddenly at the cold touch.]

Did it... put nightmare energy in you, or...?

[flamekthunder]

Trigger mine? Or absorb yours?

[A grim thought as those memories return...]

I think both.

[starshower]

[A ringing silence follows, the heat around them abuzz with Tifa's thoughts.]

... What did you feel anyway? In the dream?

[Another pause, as she chooses her next words carefully.]

You kept talking like you needed more? From me...

[flamekthunder]

[His eyes close painfully as that sensation comes to mind and for a moment he's afraid it will take over him, but... It's dull, like remembering a sensation from a normal dream, where you remember it but it's just a small vestige of the original emotion.]

I... Wanted your nightmare energy. And to do so, your dream had to change...

[starshower]

So... That was you changing the dream?

[She remembers that sense of control being lost... and like she was lost. Like trying to grapple one's string of consciousness and falling short every time until it all spirals out of control... Certainly not the first time she's felt that way, but to have it manifest like that...]

I thought I was the one that couldn't control it. Or... there was someone else in there with us.

[flamekthunder]

That... I'm not so sure. I know some of it was because of my own efforts, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something else.

[starshower]

What for, though...?

[Tifa's hand instinctively goes to rub at her neck where he had tried to bite her... where the blackened blood had come from her, and there's a small furrow of her brow.

Did that mean that she had some of it, too? And she never knew? That she isn't so immune to its effects, or was that just another symptom of the nightmare?

Her fingers press down on the spot before she shakes the thought away.]

Were you... even aware of what was going on?

[flamekthunder]

In a way, yes. I was aware, but... Not aware that what I was doing was wrong.

[A small sigh as his eyes go to her neck... And then quickly averts his gaze as he feels even a small hum of that craving.]

[starshower]

[She sees the way his eyes suddenly glance away, and Tifa reaches out for his cheek, pressing her hand to it to guide it back.]

Tell me what's on your mind? Please?

[He would do the same for her, wouldn't he?]

[flamekthunder]

No...just...

[She can force his face back, but he can't look at her straight just yet, eyes downcast.]

...Everything. From what I did, to feeling it even now.

[starshower]

What do you mean... feeling it now?

[Those words don't sit well in her stomach...

But she wants to know and understand, and more importantly, she wants to help, which is why there's a look and a small sigh of sadness when he still doesn't meet her eyes.]

[flamekthunder]

It's not as strong as back in the dream, but... It's like I can feel a dull stirring in my chest just looking at where I...

[No, he can't say it. It's not just this time that the notion of biting her until she bled upsets him. It's the other times. That very first attempt on that first Halloween. That time when he was a lindworm and killed her by it.

That taste of her blood filling his mouth...

It's also vivid still even now, and again he feels sick to his stomach, his expression worsening before he roughly jerks himself away from her to get off the bed.]

I need some water.

[Something rinse out this horrid aftertaste that lingers even now, phantom or not.]