FicWad

The rain came pouring down, and drops of water that should have been ice cold, splashed off of Rubedo's head. As he couldn't feel them so much, he guessed he was dreaming. But he hated this particular dream so much. It had haunted him for years and now he was being forced to relive it once again. He looked down, knowing he would see Nigredo's limp, bleeding body in his arms, and gazed at his brother's pained face, with anguish and crushing guilt rising in his heart. At that point, right on schedule, Albedo's maniacal laughter sounded off in his head, nearly ripping his mind apart with the psychic pressure.

Jr. woke with a start, still screaming from the non-existent pain and torment. Breathing heavily and dripping with sweat, as he sat up in bed, cradling his throbbing head in his hands.

"Shit! When will it end?" He whispered to himself, tears in his eyes. After a while, he tried lying down in an attempt to fall into a dreamless sleep, but every time he drifted off, the same faint laughter came creeping back, like a venomous spider stalking it's prey.

In the end, he gave up and threw the covers off the bed. "Screw this!" he spat as he stumbled out of the sliding door, which hissed as it opened. He made his way down to the cafeteria, where coffee and chocolate awaited him.

A bar of chocolate and about three mugs of black coffee (extra sweet) later, and he still didn't feel any better. He sat backwards in his favorite seat, his chin rested on his folded arms. He didn't hear chaos sit down in the chair opposite to him, and he wasn't even aware of his presence. Not until he spoke...

"Still having trouble getting to sleep?" he asked in his low, husky voice.

"AHHHGGHHH!!!" screamed Jr., nearly jumping a mile. He whirled around and went for his gun holsters, and remembered that he hadn't even put them on. Then he saw who it was...

He panted as he clutched his rapidly beating heart. "Don't...huff scare me pant ...like that, you... sneaky...little..."

chaos smiled, and interrupted him. "Now, now, don't say something you'll regret later... To tell you the truth, I couldn't sleep either...

Jr. slightly relaxed at this. Then he saw the look on chaos' face and knew instantly that something was bothering him. chaos always had this air of melancholy around him that would depress everyone within a five mile radius, if it weren't for the aura of kindness that overwhelmed it. Jr. was convinced that chaos loved everything and everyone, no matter what they are or what they do. The look on his face tonight, however, gave Jr. another small insight into chaos' mysterious character. How much did he really know about him, anyway?

He put this out of his mind for the moment, and turned to his friend, as he obviously had something on his unfathomable mind.

chaos sighed and sat down, pouring himself some of Jr.'s too-sweet coffee from the jug. He took a sip, grimaced at the taste, and set the mug down before sighing again.

"Sometimes, as I lay awake in my bed, I think of you," he began. He stopped abruptly and looked at Jr. in astonishment, for he had sprung up from his seat with a horrified look on his face. He stumbled back and fell over his chair. chaos realized what was wrong and chuckled to himself. "I didn't mean it like that!" he said, still grinning at Jr., who suddenly looked very relieved.

"What I meant was, well...sometimes when you have nightmares, I can feel your pain. It's not like I mean to, and I'm not spying on you or anything like that... I'm just..."

"...sensitive," finished Jr. "Yeah, I can understand that." He looked like he was going to cry. He never meant to hurt anyone with his memories, but he always managed to hurt someone.

As if he had read his mind, chaos said: "Don't worry about hurting me," he said with a kindly smile on his face. "I may be sensitive, but on the inside, I'm a tough nut to crack." Jr. had seen chaos in battle many times before, and he fully believed in chaos's capability to cope under pressure. At the same time, he always managed to view the enemy with kindness.

If that was the case, then what was bothering chaos?

Seemingly reading his mind again, chaos answered: "I was just wondering if there was any way I could help you? I mean, there's not much that I can do..."

Typical chaos, Jr. thought, his eyes welling up with tears. Always thinking of others, never thinking of himself. He walked around to where chaos was sitting, threw his arms around chaos' neck and finally broke down and cried. He felt worse for taking out his personal pain on chaos, but chaos didn't seem to mind. He cradled Jr. in his arms like a father cradles his son, and with a gentle smile on his face, took away all of Jr.'s sorrow and guilt.

Sometime after, Jr. got up and wiped his face on his sleeve. He was a little embarrassed that a man of his age had gone and cried in front of his best friend, but then he supposed that chaos was used to it, and he secretly suspected that chaos was much older than he looked, but he tried not to think about it too much.


Notes:
This was originally going to be a yaoi porn fic, but looking at it now, I think a sex scene or two would totally ruin it and block the message that I was trying to get across. And yes, I could write more if I really wanted to, but I'm stuck and I kinda like it the way that it is.

Item: Jr. and chaos are my two favorite characters from Xenosaga! You win a cookie for guessing correctly!!!