United [A Superhero AU] - Book Two

Chapter Thirty - Important Connections

Eventually, the villains pull themselves up and head to their own rooms. Although they don't say it, none of them are very confident in their ability to sleep tonight. Cry waits until Matthew and Jack go to bed before wandering the halls, anticipating the nightmares that will most likely happen. He can't sleep anyway. Between the stress of meeting with Mr. Vincent in the morning and the nightmares that never seem to go away, he doesn't have much hope for rest.

He parks himself outside of Matthew's room, keeping an ear out for any sounds that might come from inside the room. Jack has always been one to scream if he has a nightmare, but Matthew just thrashes and breathes sporadically and altogether stays silent. The shock therapy worked too well on him, apparently.

Cry settles onto the floor and wraps his arms around his knees, his grey eyes slipping shut behind the mask. If he sits here, he can hear both of them when they inevitably start panicking.

The unsettled sound of rustling bedsheets fills his ears first. He shakes off the drowsiness that clings to his eyes and stands, pushing the door of Matthew's bedroom open slowly. The sleeping villain clutches his pillow to his chest in tense fingers, flinching and kicking at the blankets that are tangled around his legs. He gasps and exhales, the sound wet and ragged as tears pour down his face. Cry's heart shatters and he slowly moves to his bedside.

"Matthew, hey, wake up," he says, using his voice as opposed to touch. Touch works for Jack, but Matthew has always jerked and panicked if anyone lays their hands on him during a nightmare. He slowly removes his mask, letting his glow brighten the room a bit. "Matt, it's not real. Come on, wake up."

Raising his voice ever so slightly seems to do the trick, pulling Matthew from his nightmare. He startles in place, but upon seeing the glowing villain beside him he relaxes slightly. Matthew wipes uselessly at the tears on his cheeks and pulls himself into a sitting position, inhaling shakily.

"Thank you," he whispers. He bites his lip, barely able to look up at Cry. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, Matthew. It is," Cry replies, reaching out his hand and risking a touch.

A scream breaks through the soft atmosphere and Matthew flinches, his eyes squeezing shut. Cry glows even brighter and scrambles for his mask, shoving it on his face and plunging the room into darkness again.

"I'll go check on him," the masked villain says, pulling himself to his feet.

Matthew takes a shaky breath and tosses his blankets aside, standing up slowly. "I'll come with you."

Cry nods and the two villains hurry down the hallway towards the Irishman. A mixture of wordless screams and Mark's name fill the air, accompanied by harsh sobs. Cry shoves his door open and moves to his bed, pulling Jack into his arms just like he's done so many times before. Jack wakes with a gasp and a sob immediately rips through his chest, his fingers gripping at the collar of Cry's shirt. The masked villain can feel every tremble in Jack's muscles beneath his fingers, which only serves to break his heart more. Matthew crawls into bed beside them, curling up against Cry's body and wrapping his arm around Jack. Here, he can hear every beat of Cry's heart and feel every one of the Irishman's sobs through the nerve endings in his arm.

Cry sighs heavily, his heart and mind aching. He's so tired, but these are his brothers. He has to take care of them, no matter how exhausting or heartbreaking it may be.

——

Mark's eyes snap open, sweat drenching his back and tears soaking his face. Time slows around him for a moment, but when he realizes what's happening he regulates it again. His hands shake relentlessly and he finds himself looking to the space next to him, trying to find Jack. Jack isn't there, of course, and the reality of it sends his face to crumpling. Tears well in his eyes again and he wipes them away to no avail. He's not going to sleep again. What's the point in trying?

As he gets up and moves towards the door, a broken stream of panicked Swedish permeates the air. A jolt passes through Mark as he whips around to face Felix's room. This is new. This is definitely new.

He moves down the hall and pushes open the door of the Swede's room, a strong feeling of helplessness washing over him. Felix's blond hair sticks to his sweaty forehead as he tosses and turns, babbling in Swedish and sobbing. Mark moves towards the bed and lays a hand on his shoulder, shaking him in a desperate attempt to wake him up.

"Felix? Come on, Felix. I don't like this," Mark pleads, his own voice still rough from crying and gasping.

The Swede bolts upright and jolts away from Mark's hand, his blue eyes blown wide with panic. "Marz—" He cuts himself off when he locks eyes with the American, his face crumpling. "Mark... What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um, you were having a nightmare... I'm sorry, I'll go," Mark rambles, backing away from the bed. Felix shakes his head, his fingers fidgeting as he wraps his arms around his knees.

"It's okay, Mark." He hesitates, then speaks again. "I need... I need someone to talk to."

The American pauses in his tracks and watches the Swede for a moment before settling on the edge of his bed. Silence hangs in the air around them like smog, leaving Mark squirming and shifting in his seat.

"I'm guessing you had a nightmare too, if you're here..." Felix says finally, his eyes trained on the blanket around his legs.

"Yeah." Mark rubs the back of his neck and hunches his shoulders. "Usually I can go back to sleep because I wake up and see and feel that he's safe, but..."

"Jack left."

"Yeah."

Felix turns his head slightly so his blue eyes can bore into Mark. "You told him about the plan, didn't you? I figured that conversation would come up after the meeting with the rebels."

"I had to tell him. I couldn't just leave it, but now I feel like an idiot because I yelled at him and tried to justify a plan I don't necessarily agree with."

"It's the easiest solution. Plus, if we spare all of the villains and just let them go, the citizens will turn on us and accuse us of siding with them. That's the reason we're going with it, not because it's a great plan," Felix explains.

"I know that, but... I could have explained my side of it rationally, but I just yelled. That's the problem here." Mark sighs heavily, leaning his head on his hand. "I just want him back."

Felix nods, a light scoff escaping him. "I know the feeling."

Mark exhales shakily, his head bobbing lightly in agreement. When he had woken up from a nightmare, this was not what he expected. He finds, however, that he doesn't mind talking with Felix at all. In the end, they're still teammates, and Mark will never stop being grateful for that.