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Wild woke with a start. He could still taste the ash from the wrecked Fort Hateno on his tongue, still feel the heat of the guardian's beam as it blasted a hole straight through his chest. The details of the dream were quickly fading, but the terror lurked right beneath the surface of his consciousness. Like a dark sea, waiting for him to drown in its cold depths.
Wild sighed. It would be a sleepless night, then.
The nightmares had been common lately, and nothing he did seemed to stop them. Every night was a new memory, all of them filled with death and destruction like his subconscious wanted to remind him of his failure. This is what happened last time you played hero. Don't you have enough blood on your hands?
Wild shook himself, trying to get rid of that thought. It was better not to think too much about it. He had the whole night ahead of him. If he began spiraling now, it would prove a long time till dawn.
“Trouble sleeping?”
Wild turned his attention toward the campfire and realized Legend was watching him. Which wasn't all that surprising, he supposed. The veteran had been on watch, after all.
“Just a nightmare,” Wild said. He untangled himself from his blanket and went to sit by the fire at Legend's side.
“I think I'll stay up for a little while. I can take the rest of your watch.”
It wasn't, technically, a lie. He just didn't mention he was planning to stay awake for the entire night. There was no reason to worry Legend by saying that.
Legend leveled him with an unimpressed stare. Wild cursed inwardly. Just his luck that the veteran had been on watch. The man was impossible to fool.
“I get them too, you know,” Legend said, usual gruff voice replaced by something gentler. “The nightmares, I mean.”
Wild looked more closely at his brother. He was leaning forward, resting his arms on his thighs as he stared into the fire. He looked ... tired. Defeated. Wild could only imagine what going on that many adventures could do to someone – Wild himself had only been on one, and the nightmares he had from it were relentless.
“How do you handle them?” he asked quietly.
Legend sighed. “There's no good answer to that. I wish I could say that they disappear with time. Or that you get used to them. But the truth is that my nightmares will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
His eyes caught Wild's.
“I hope yours aren't like that. But in my experience ...” he hesitated, as if searching for the right words, “... dreams have a tendency to linger.”
“That's not very uplifting,” Wild mumbled.
Legend smirked. “If you wanted comfort, you should have asked the rancher or Sky. I say it as it is.”
“I appreciate it,” Wild said honestly. “A lie wouldn't be very comforting anyway.”
The fire crackled, and Wild let the calm of night wash over his senses. The clicking of cicadas. The wispy lights of fireflies. The gentle breeze.
“If you're looking for comfort...” Legend said quietly, “someone once told me that it's the nature of dreams that they end. No matter what, you'll eventually wake up in the real world.”
Something about Legend's tone sounded off, but Wild was too drugged by sleep deprivation to figure out what.
He smiled. “Hey, look at that. Rulie's right, you are a big softie!”
Legend huffed.
“Don't you dare go spreading that rumor to the others. My reputation will be ruined!”
The conversation turned into lighthearted banter. Neither said any more about bad memories or dreams. But Legend stayed up with Wild long past the end of his watch. And when morning finally came, the others found them sleeping next to each other, snoring softly.