Me: I'm The Edgiest Author Ever! I Write Super Dark Stuff!

Me: I'm the edgiest author ever! I write super dark stuff!

Random Ao3 Writer: Hold my tears.

Just one week until entries can be posted!

Prompts can be found here.

He had the appearance of a benign ape-man.

The Restless Vestra

Fire Emblem Siblings Week Day 2: Fears

Length: Best guess is around 1200 words.

Rating: E for Everyone.

Somewhere in the house, a clock ticked. Oswald lay under his blankets, staring through the half open doorway into the empty hall beyond. The clock was the only thing making any noise. Well, if you discounted the creaks the house kept making. They happened every now and then when he started to relax. He knew they were just caused by the wind, but that didn't mean he had to like them. He turned and looked out his window, and saw a bat flutter past in the moonlight. His brother had once told him that if a bat bit you, you could go mad. Which had left Oswald a bit leery of them, but also mighty curious.

He lay back down, tapping his foot up and down on the bed. He just wanted to sleep, but his body said no. And lying here was boring. Boring, but what else could he be doing? He couldn't read, because he wasn't allowed to light candles unsupervised. He still blamed the cat for the burn mark on the parlor rug, but rules were rules. Rules could also be broken, but he would have to find matches, and that meant venturing out into the dark, wide house.

He got off his bed and crept slowly over to the doorway. He peered out. There was no sound besides the clock ticking, and of course, the creaking. At least this creaking was quieter. He looked right, and then left, and saw nothing except closed doors and shadows. He was incredibly bored in his room, but he decided his mom would kill him if he stole matches. Well, maybe he could sneak a snack. She probably wouldn't be too mad about that. He slid one slippered foot and then another into the hallway, staring over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on a particularly dark shadow near his mother's room.

Walking one way and looking another isn't the best way of getting around. Especially when you step on something wet.

He stared down in dismay. It seemed to be a small animal. A mouse? Or a bat?! What if it was still alive and bit him so he went crazy, like Hubert had said? He backed away from it. He wasn't sure what to do.

Well, who better to ask for advice and a light than Hubert himself? Assuming he was awake. Oswald didn't know what time it was, and didn't want to rouse him, because he might get angry.

He quietly stepped over to his brother's door, trying not to shy from the shadows nearby. He put his ear to it. All was silent within. He didn't even hear the scratch of Hubert's quill. So he was asleep. Oswald hesitated. Who better to wake, his brother or his mother?

The door opened. Oswald yelped.

"Hush! What are you upset about?" said Hubert, his tall figure framed in candlelight.

"I didn't think you were awake," Oswald whispered. "But listen- I think I stepped on a dead mouse over there."

Hubert raised his eyebrows. Then he slipped past him and out into the hallway, where he crouched down in one swift motion beside the small, dark thing on the floor. Oswald watched him from the doorway.

Hubert looked at it for a few seconds, then scooped it into his hand and came over to Oswald. As he approached, the candlelight crept onto his grim expression.

"Hand," he said.

"Huh?" said Oswald.

"Hand!" Hubert whispered harshly, gesturing at him.

"No!" Oswald said, but seeing Hubert's face, he complied and held it out.

Hubert dropped the wet thing onto it.

Oswald uttered a quiet yell, turning his face away. Then he turned it back to look at the thing in his hand. It was a cat toy.

He looked up at Hubert, who was shaking with tiny chuckles.

"Very funny," said Oswald. "I can't see in the dark, I didn't know what it was!"

"Well, you didn't bother to look very closely, did you? Ah, well. Seems this fellow's had a swim in the water dish." Hubert tossed the toy back into the hallway, against the wall this time so it wouldn't find another foot. "Come on, before we wake Mother." He pushed against Oswald's back so he went inside, then shut the door behind them.

He went to his desk and sat down. Oswald came and stood beside him.

"You can sit," said Hubert, waving at his bed. Oswald got on it, and sat looking at him, kicking his legs.

"So, why were you stumbling around in the dark like a blindfolded monkey?"

Oswald huffed. "I can't sleep."

"Ah," said Hubert. "And why, pray tell?"

Oswald shrugged. "I don't know. Just not tired enough, I guess."

"I see." He picked up his quill with one hand, and one of the many papers on his desk with the other.

"What are you doing? Something boring?"

"Yes."

"Do you wanna do something else?"

"No."

Oswald looked down at his feet, and kept kicking them.

Hubert leaned back in his chair. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh! Uh. Nothing, I guess. I don't know. -Do bats really make you go mad, Hubert?"

Hubert let out a laugh. "Where did that come from? Yes, getting bit by one can give you an unpleasant mind altering disease. Can. Not necessarily will. But I don't know why you bring it up." He watched Oswald for a few seconds. "Are you just going to sit there, then?"

"Well...I don't know. Wait." He smiled hesitantly. "Will you read me a story?"

Hubert looked at his papers, then pushed them away. "Aren't you a little old for that?" He was already getting up and turning to his bookshelf.

Oswald kicked his legs again, this time out of happiness. "No," he said. "Well, maybe, but I still want one."

"Then move over, or do you want to make me sit on the floor?"

Oswald scurried to the side of the bed, letting Hubert sit down and stretch his long legs down the quilt. He opened the book, and Oswald huddled up against him. Hubert sighed.

"What are you, a little child?"

"No," said Oswald, clutching Hubert's arm so he couldn't escape. Hubert shook his head. He put his arm around his brother and read to him awhile, until he fell asleep. When he did, with his head resting against Hubert's side, Hubert rose from the bed. He carefully pulled the quilt down and then over him, sneaking off his slippers at the same time. He tucked him snugly, then looked at him for a moment. He smiled to himself.

"Good night, Oswald," he murmured. He went back to his desk, where he himself fell asleep soon after.

Good day, sunshine.

Obligatory drawings of David with his doggies.

Just in case anyone is interested.

@fefanevents is hosting a summer exchange event, kinda like a Secret Santa. I signed up, and just thought I'd mention something in case anybody else wanted to. Sign ups close on June 3rd.