ALBATROSS AROUND YOUR NECK / nightmare

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

It was not entirely unknown to Aurum that his son had some form of sleeping problem. Despite Roy's attempts to fake rest and appease any worry from rising up in his Father, it wasn't as if Aurum was an idiot – at least, he liked to think he wasn't an idiot. He noticed the way that Roy would shift around in a way someone who was sleeping would not, or the way that the tiger's eyes would occasionally flicker open, glancing over curiously at him. However, this didn't mean that Aurum knew the full extent of the other's insomnia. He figured it was maybe a couple of nights a week, maybe three, where his son would have problems. Part of him wanted to try asking Roy about it, or offering to somehow help with it, but another part of him didn't want to try and push the other to share, especially since Roy had been trying so hard to hide the tendencies. He didn't know why his son was hiding such a thing away – surely to stop his already fretful Father from being more worried – but he also didn't want to inadvertantly push Roy away through his concern. Adding onto this, the Captain had no idea about the night terrors and nightmares that gripped his son on occasion, mainly due to the fact that, most of the time, Aurum was already asleep by the time Roy could also fall asleep and experience such unpleasant things. Aurum wasn't an exceptionally heavy sleeper – a trait he had learned from his Father, since you needed to constantly be on guard when you were next in line for the "throne" – but that didn't mean he could snap awake at just the faint sounds of Roy tossing and turning during a night terror.

However, this time, Aurum definitely heard it when Roy awoke. Maybe not at first, but as the tiger stumbled out of bed and raced out into the open air, Aurum found himself groggily blinking his eye open. As he saw the blurry image of Roy rushing out, he immediately felt a frown come to his face, and he slowly pushed himself up to his paws, moving down from the bed and following after his son. His footsteps were heavy, mainly due to the fact that he had just been woken up in the middle of rest, but soon enough he had taken on a quick pace, quickly following after Roy and following the direction his scent lead. Worry wormed its way evilly into the lion's chest as he raced along, the cold grip of anxiety curling fingers firmly around his ribs, petrified that something horrible was going to happen to Roy out there in the night, or even worried something had already happened. Soon enough, Aurum came upon the clearing that Roy had stopped in, the boy's body crouched close to the ground, his voice coming out in ragged and upset breaths. Aurum's gaze softened as soon as he saw the state the other was in, wanting to wrap Roy up in his paws and soothe him until everything was okay. He knew better than to think everything would magically cured by him being around, but he still wanted to reach out, even if his efforts ultimately became for naught. However, he found himself recoiling slightly when Roy's body flared with flames, only for those flames to be effectively extinguished in seconds, by none other than the boy himself, and his other powers. After that surprising display, the lion found himself staring for a long moment before he took a few more large strides forward, moving around to the front of Roy. A faint worried frown curled on Aurum's muzzle as he rumbled to his son, eying the vines around Roy's legs carefully, checking to see if they were hurting the tiger, "Roy...? Are you okay? What happened... what caused you to run out here like that?" His voice was soft, and only gently prompting the other to speak, not wanting to shove the other in the deep end of needing to explain right this minute.

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