When Worlds Collide

A not-so good night's sleep

The sun tore through the curtains, and a cool draft flowed around my room. I usually woke up early, but never got up until sometime after 10am- I didn't see the need to. I sat up, looked around, and realised that Tommy wasn't there. The bean bag was made neatly with the blanket I gave him lying on top, and the door was unlocked. I sighed, praying that he hadn't left altogether. Alchemist's End can be dangerous if you don't know your way around properly, and someone in Tommy's state shouldn't really be out anyway. I took my dressing gown from the bedpost, slipped it on, and went downstairs.

I wasn't used to being up this early, and it seemed I was the only one around. There was a light blaring from the back room, and it sounded like someone muttering. They sounded flustered, and rather alarmed, so I, naturally, was fairly concerned. I pushed the door open a little more, enough for me to fit through, and, to my surprise, saw Icarus. He was sat in the armchair in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth in anxiety. When I went into the room, he looked up immediately. His eyes were bright red, and he looked genuinely scared. I'd seen him nervous before, but never this bad. When we first met, he told us he rarely had nightmares, he wasn't really scared of anything, not to the point of him looking like this. I hastily sat down next to him on the puffy, and took his hand. "Hey, what's up? I've never seen you like this, are you ok?". He turned to me, and he didn't look at all like himself- even his hair was droopy, not light and fluffy like it usually was. His hands were hot, his wings floppy and shaking slightly, and his hands were trembling. This wasn't from the cold, I knew. I'd grown up in the Goblin Territories, for fate's sake, it wasn't something I was unfamiliar with. This was nerves.
"It w-was my d-dad...he left again...then y-you left, and so did everyone e-else...they left me alone a-again..."
"OK. It's not real. I swear. None of us would ever do that to you, you hear me? It's not true, even though it might seem it. Come here." I pulled him into a hug and he threw his arms around me. We sat like this for a few minutes before he sniffed, and said something.
"Aithne?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me something."
"Of course, what is it?"
"Promise me you won't leave? Please? Do you promise?"
"Oh my- of course I won't leave. I would never. And neither would any of us, you know we wouldn't. I promise."