Masaru slowly opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with his red-eyed brother, realizing he was spitting out a black liquid. The black-haired tried to look around to try to take in the situation; however, his brother held up his face, preventing him from turning around.

"Daiki... What's going on...?" Masaru asked. Daiki looked at him with tired eyes, his brother looking totally lost all of a sudden. Why?

"Masaru... Why are you asking that...?"

"Because I don't understand... we went to sleep a moment ago and I woke up in this place" explained the green-eyed to then notice the absence of the blond. "Hey... Where's Mitsuru?"

"I see... I think it's better you don't remember then" Daiki said as he continued to prevent him from looking away "Although I'm afraid you won't last long without knowing what's going on."

"Daiki... Where's Mitsuru and Rage?"

Daiki watched his brother, as seconds passed, he seemed to be understanding the severity of what had happened to him.

"Masaru... I'm sorry about all this, if I had tried to do something sooner..." said Daiki as he coughed up the black liquid. As he thought he had noticed something strange, the black haired tried to look down; however, his brother prevented him from doing so. Why? Why wasn't he letting him look?

"Daiki... What's going on? Why won't you let me see?"

"You wouldn't like what you'd see, so... just look at me" said the other. 

"You won't even let me look away..."

"Masaru, you shouldn't look anywhere else, just... look at me" Daiki repeated.

"You're acting so weird... And what's that substance you're coughing up?" he asked. Daiki looked at him sadly and just leaned his forehead up against his.

"I don't have much time left, Masaru..." said Daiki. Masaru couldn't grasp what he was talking about; in fact, the only thing he had managed to realize was that one of his eyes couldn't see.

"Daiki... I feel so confused, is this real?"

"I don't know, I've been wondering about that for a long time," said Daiki. "I'd like to think it's not."

"Daiki... your ears are bleeding..."

"Pay no attention to them."

"But... How can you hear me? What happened to you? What's going on?"

"I just... couldn't stand to see you suffer anymore" said the red-eyed "I want to be with you as long as I can before we're separated"

"Before we are separated...? What are you saying...?"

"I... really enjoy your company," Daiki said with a weak smile. "You were right..."

"About what...?"

"I'm going crazy... and I can't... do anything..." Daiki coughed up the black liquid a couple of times as his eyes slowly closed. 

"Daiki... Are you falling asleep? What's wrong?"

"Live, keep living and wait for me... I'll get you out of here, I swear" said Daiki as he used all his strength to stay awake and keep Masaru's eyes on his.

Masaru didn't think he could handle his own confusion, so he pushed Daiki's hands away from his face to look down, noticing... the black liquid spreading mercilessly where his brother's legs should be.

"Huh...?" As he muttered this, Daiki tried to hold his face again, which he couldn't do in time because Masaru had looked to one side of him to find Mitsuru face down on the floor and with the same liquid spreading under his head. "Mitsuru..."

The black haired looked at Daiki for answers while his emotions were mixed. He had started to shake more and more.

"Daiki... your legs... your... legs..." Masaru repeated as reality began to overwhelm him. Daiki's eyes began to lose their light, he resisted because he didn't want to leave Masaru looking so lost; however, he only managed to bring his foreheads together once again.

"Wait for me..." Daiki murmured as he lost consciousness in his desperate attempt to remain lucid.

"No... no... What's going on... I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Masaru watched Daiki lose consciousness and fall to the side. Masaru, frightened by this, grabbed him as fast as he could and gently placed him on the floor.

He took a few seconds to try and make sense of what was happening, thing he didn't manage to. All this was happening too fast and nothing seemed to make sense. Still confused, Masaru approached Mitsuru to see what was happening to him.

"Mitsuru! idiot, tell me what's going on!" exclaimed Masaru to Mitsuru, who wasn't moving. Why wasn't he moving? Had he fallen unconscious? Masaru approached him and slowly turned him over to inspect him... managing to see a deep wound in his forehead with a lot of black fluid flowing from it.

Scared  for not expecting that, he looked away. Why? Why did he have to experience something like that? As he thought about this, he realized that when he looked at the wall of the place... he could see his own reflection, which showed itself covered with innumerable wounds. He was wearing the set of clothes he most often wore, with the odd addition of a spiked choker around his neck.

His pupils constricted.

"This...must be a nightmare...” the black haired boy muttered as he lightly touched the choker. 

He glanced sideways at his siblings, inevitably having to close his eyes due to the graphic scene. 

How to even process what was happening? Nothing made sense, and his current shock wouldn't let him focus on Daitaro's absence. More than not daring to ask, it was impossible for him now that his emotions had stirred within him.

Taking a few seconds, he opened his eyes and looked at his reflection once again. He didn't know the reason, but... He couldn't do anything but see the choker imprisoning his neck. His eyes filled with tears and without being able to understand his own feelings, he just covered his face with his hands and remained crying devastated.

"...!" The green-eyed boy suddenly sat up. Masaru looked stunned to find himself in the room he shared with his brothers. 

His heart was pounding a mile a minute. He thought he could remember the unpleasant sensations of the nightmare... Although at the moment he didn't quite remember what it had been about, he only knew that it had been horrible and had to do with his brothers.

"A nightmare again..." Masaru turned to see his siblings sleeping peacefully on one side of him, he couldn’t help but watch Daiki for a few moments. He thought Daiki would wake up, but it seemed he hadn't even heard him.

Watching him closely, he could tell that Daiki had a frown on his face, this caused Masaru to arch an eyebrow.

“Is he angry even when he sleeps?" he whispered to himself. The boy moved closer to the redhead and watched his scowl more closely. 

As he did this, a good idea occurred to him. Masaru looked down at his own hand and immediately brought it to Daiki's forehead, then stroked his hair gently. The black haired watched his reaction closely in case he had to remove his hand quickly, in fact, he expected him to wake up right away... which didn't happen.

Instead, Masaru watched as his brother's expression relaxed and even formed a small smile at the gesture. The green-eyed could hardly believe his eyes: Daiki smiling without a trace of irritation. Why? Had he liked that? It was very hard to believe.

"Ugh..." Daiki awoke out of nowhere from his deep sleep, only to then notice that there was an empty space next to him. 

Masaru had fled to the living room, where he remained trying to calm himself from being almost discovered by his brother. 

"Ah... that was close," Masaru said as he let out a sigh. Of course, it didn't take long for the silence to be interrupted by a voice he didn't plan on hearing until morning.

"What was?" asked Daiki as he slowly walked towards the couch. He had sat beside him and was now eyeing Masaru suspiciously.

"Ahh... No, it's nothing," Masaru replied, offering a slightly forced smile. Daiki raised an eyebrow in response while still waiting for an explanation.

"Masaru... just talk or I'll punch you until you answer."

"Don't you think you're a little too aggressive considering the hour?"

"That's exactly why I'm aggressive, it's not funny to be woken up when I was sleeping peacefully"

"Well, you didn't really seem that peaceful..."

"Masaru... tell me what you did, I know you did something and that's why you left to hide in this room."

"I was actually planning on coming here for other reasons, it's not like that alone would make..."

"I'm not interested. Answer what I asked you."

"All right, I'll say it if you insist, but you're not going to like it"

"Go on"  Daiki replied as he crossed his arms while looking at him very carefully.

"Well... it's just that I woke up and saw that you were angry in your sleep..."

"Yeah...?"

"So, um... I..." the green-eyed mumbled, somehow feeling hesitant.

"You...?"

"I... I stroked your hair to see if it helped!" At the sudden revelation, Daiki changed his expression from annoyed to confused.

"Wha...?"

"I told you, I knew you wouldn't like to hear it and I didn't plan on teasing you with that... but it's true that your expression changed soon after" Masaru explained.

"Masaru... What? Why did you do that?"

"I just thought it was weird that you were frowning in your sleep and the idea just crossed my mind."

"..." Daiki was left speechless as he failed to understand his brother's actions. The red haired looked at his brother who looked slightly downcast. "Let me guess... you had another nightmare, didn't you?"

"Yeah..."

"And was I screaming or something? If you don't want me to judge you, at least explain to me what you dreamt... Maybe you'll be lucky and I'll act as if this didn't happen"

"I'm not quite sure..."

"Ah...? If you don't remember, why would you do something like stroke my hair...?" Daiki asked, looking at him really weirded out, Masaru looked worried about something he didn't even know about.

"I'm not quite sure what was going on, but... I'm certainly relieved to see you well."

"But... why...? You've never been like this before... I still think it's stupid of you to ask that, but..."

"I remember you holding my face insistently"

"Huh? Masaru, you're not helping me not to judge you..." said Daiki as he saw his brother getting closer, Masaru grabbed his hands and placed them against his face. Daiki just looked at him very puzzled.

"Just like this... You were holding my face like this."

"I'm not understanding..."

"You asked me not to look away..." Masaru murmured as he looked at his brother in a trance, he was trying to remember what he had seen in his nightmare. "You coughed up a black liquid... and kept asking me not to look away, asking me to only look at you"

"Why would I ask you to do something like that...?"

"You said I wouldn't like what I would  see and you kept repeating that I should only look at you..." Masaru said as he suddenly saw various images pass quickly through his mind.

"Masaru...?" Daiki uttered  as he felt his brother shaking, Masaru seemed to be looking at him really upset.

"But I moved your hands away... and saw that liquid spread where your legs should've been..." At the mention of this, Daiki was a little startled. What kind of nightmare had he had...? "You collapsed shortly after and I found Mitsuru..."

"Mitsuru?"

"He was on the floor, the substance from before was spreading under his head... I went up to him and tried to ask him what was going on, but... when I turned him over, I remember seeing a hole in his forehead..."

"What...?" Daiki didn't seem to be able to follow what his brother was saying, he just thought it was something really bad, because Masaru didn't look good as he spoke.

"I remember being really scared and in panic. I remember very well that I didn't know what was happening, I didn't know what to think or how to react...” Masaru explained this quickly,  until receiving a slap from Daiki.

"Masaru, calm down" said the red-eyed boy to his brother, who was now rubbing his cheek gently.

"Thank you... I think I got lost in what I saw, but, uhm..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. That's why you acted corny when you woke up" Daiki said as he hugged his legs to his chest.

"Uhm, but if it helps with your stress then I wouldn't mind doing it again" said Masaru with a smile. Daiki sighed at that and looked away.

"Nobody asked you to do that."

"But I can tell you liked it," said Masaru with a chuckle.

Both children were silent afterwards. Masaru was the first to look at Daiki slowly, wanting to know something.

"So... what do you think of the dream I had?"

"Not much, if you couldn't react to that, it wouldn’t be different for me. I can't think of anything."

"Nothing at all?"

"Well, it's not very nice to hear that I had no legs..." said Daiki noticing his brother's expression, who was evidently waiting for a longer explanation. "But you shouldn't worry about that, it was just a dream."

"Hmm..." muttered Masaru as he then grabbed one of the cushions and placed it over his brother's feet. The green eyed boy laid down so that his head was on the cushion, while Daiki looked at him still with his legs against his chest.

"What?" Daiki asked simply. Masaru looked at him curiously.

"I'm curious though... What would you do in that situation? What would you have thought if you had seen us like I saw you?"

"Do you realize how messed up your dream was to ask me that? No one in their right mind would know how they would take something like that."

"I see... Yes, I suppose no one could answer that easily" he considered. "So..., putting it another way... What would you think if one day we were gone?"

"Huh? That doesn't have any similarity to what you said..., it's not the same as me not having legs and finding Mitsuru with a hole in his forehead..."

"I know, that's why I changed the question to something less creepy," Masaru explained.

"I feel like I'm forced to say something cheesy because of everything you just said, but... I refuse to let myself be pressured."

"Haha, you're not answering the question" Masaru laughed briefly, he was quite thankful that his brother could distract him from that night terror.

"I don't care if one day I wake up and you guys are gone, I told Mitsuru the same thing and I'll say it again."

"Haha, Daiki, you say some pretty harsh things," Masaru said with a chuckle. Daiki raised an eyebrow at that, he looked at him intently while Masaru smiled at him without taking his comments to heart.

"And you laugh at the strangest things..."

"I'm just amused," said the black-haired as he flashed a toothy smile at Daiki, who was looking at him in disbelief.

"What's so funny about what I said?" Daiki asked as he frowned.

"It's nothing, let's just say I specialize in reading between the lines. I'm not as good as Daitaro, but at least I think I understand" Masaru said. "But it's okay, we're used to you being like that."

"What...?" Daiki was outraged by this, and did not hesitate to refute it. "It's true I don't care if one day you two are gone! It would even be a relief!"

"Really?" Masaru asked to then look at his sibling in silence. "Because I don't think you can go on without shouting at someone. Accept it, without us, you'd go crazy" Masaru added confidently.

"Well, if that helps you sleep at night..."

"What would you do if one day you woke up and we weren't here?"

"Are you going to ask that too?"