Nightmares [The Unlimited Hyoubu Kyousuke][complete]

Nightmares

Characters and concepts belong to The Unlimited: Hyoubu Kyousuke. Cover art from plamoya.com.

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"Major! The kids!" Yoh's voice in my ear woke me, and I was moving before I even opened my eyes. I rolled out of bed, landing in a crouch, and focused my mind on where I wanted to teleport: third deck, near the stern, where Patty and most of her charges bunked. I reached, felt the power flex to my will—

Nothing. I couldn't teleport there. Which meant that either someone was using an extremely powerful ECM on board the Queen or Agent Hinomiya had decided to make his move. It had been a fun game, I reflected as I searched for a place on third deck I could teleport to, but if I'd suspected for even a moment that the agent would go after the kids... I'd have torn him limb from limb when we first met. I didn't feel my teleportation connect until I reached for a spot a full ten meters down the hall from the kids' room. It seemed Hinomiya's range was growing.

I sprinted down the hall, muffled cries of fear and pain and one child's wail echoing in my ears. I reached for my power—dammit, still mostly blocked, I could barely yank the door off its hinges. I took in the scene in one glance: most of the children were out of their beds, sniffling and clinging to each other; one had a split lip and another's eye was swelling shut; Agent Hinomiya had grabbed the wailing one and was trying to shush him. Too little, too late.

I grabbed the agent by the collar of his stupid red coat and yanked him off his feet, sending him and the crying child crashing to the floor. The child, startled, stopped wailing; Agent Hinomiya gave a startled shout.

I reached for my limiter.

The agent stared up at my rage. His guileless mismatched eyes blinked and he smiled.

"See?" he said to the child. "Everything's okay. Hyoubu-san is here."

The four-year old looked up too, his blue eyes bloodshot from crying. "Major?"

"Don't worry, the major will scare away all your nightmares, okay? He's way badder than any of them."

The little boy nodded. He looked around and started wailing again. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt anybody." He buried his face in Hinomiya's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." 

My panic and rage drained away, leaving me empty. The little boy's name was Philippe: four years old, and already a strong telekinetic. He also suffered from nightmares. Nightmares I gave him. Looking at the room with new eyes, I could see the destruction: dolls and teddy bears tossed on the floor, smashed bedside lamps and a baseball. "Where's Patty?"

Hinomiya pointed at a damaged overhead light. "One of the kids got glass in his arm, so she took him to the infirmary. Um, did you want to . . .?" He tried to hand over the child still crying into his black tank top, but Philippe was clinging like a baby monkey.

"No, you look like you've got it all under control." Hinomiya looked at me like he was going to panic. "You might try putting him back in bed."

I indicated the correct bed and helped him tuck the child in.

"Is Mommy here?" Philippe asked.

Hinomiya looked stricken. "I'm sorry, kid—"

"She's not here. She is not here and she is never, ever coming back. I won't let her."

Hinomiya stared at me, but I only had eyes for Philippe. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart. You're safe here."

"I'm sorry. It was an accident."

"I know, Philippe. Everyone has nightmares sometimes." How I wish that weren't true. "In the morning, you can help Patty clean up." The little boy nodded, eyes locked on mine; he was too young to have such old eyes. I gave him my gentlest smile. "Sleep now. I'll keep the nightmares away."