Seri frowned at the reaction. Why did the man seem to blush anytime he told him what to do? Maybe he was just imagining it?
“You can’t cry, or she is going to cry.”
“I won’t cry,” the Dweller sniffed and cleared his throat. “Promise, I won’t. Seri…there is…” Severo’s expression turned grim. “…one thing I haven’t told you about Nystras.”
Judging by the man’s expression, whatever he hadn’t been told, he wasn’t going to like it. “What?”
“When I destroy a Nystra, I see things… Clips. They aren’t the full thing, and they disappear quickly…but yeah, I see flashes. I don’t mean to. But full disclosure, I knew it would happen when I consumed them.”
“You see things…” Seri wrapped his arms around his middle.
Severo didn’t need to tell him what he saw. Seri knew what he saw. He lived it. That Severo now knew, that he’d seen who knows how much, made him feel…sick.
“I’m sorry. I knew it was an invasion of your privacy, and I knew you wouldn’t want me seeing it, but I…” Severo grimaced. “I suppose I’m just making excuses. I saw things I had no right to see, because I couldn’t walk away. And I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up, knowing the minute I left, you’d be in those nightmares again. Because Nystras, once they latch on to someone, they keep coming back until that negative energy is resolved.”
Seri bit his lip, and found himself saying, “Don’t do it again,” despite how happy he’d been at being nightmare free for these many weeks.
Because he didn’t want Severo to see what happened to him. He felt ruined by it all. And he didn’t want Severo to know how truly ruined he was.
The Dweller winced. “I…”
“I'd rather you wake me up…”
“I can wake you up?”
“Yes…”
“Can I…hold you after?”
Seri blinked, gaze meeting Severo’s. “H-hold me?”
“Not in a creepy way,” Severo said quickly. “Nystras…will stay away, if I’m that close. They don’t like our kind because we can absorb them. Not that it’s pleasant to, but technically, we can consume Nystras and Drayes in replacement of actual food. Don’t ask me how it works. I don’t know.”
As he stared at the man, there were questions running through his mind. Yet…he wasn’t going to ask Severo why he hadn’t done that in the first place. Because there wasn’t really a point. The fact was, Seri would have never even considered letting the man hold him that way a month ago, even at the chance of getting rid of his nightmares.
However, after a month of peaceful nights…among other various emotions he was ignoring, he couldn’t immediately shut the idea down. He didn’t want to shut the idea down. So…he didn’t…
“Okay…”
Severo’s eyes widened. “Okay?”
“Yeah…okay…”
The Dweller smiled. “Okay!” Then the smile dropped, and an almost perplexed expression slipped onto his face. “I didn’t manage to get around to the whole reason I confessed about what I’d been doing. I want to reach out to Ender and see if he has anyone in his group that you could talk to about…everything.
“Nystras are attracted to those who have gone through horrible things… But once someone has worked through, resolved, and found some peace from the things they’ve experienced, the Nystras will go away on their own. But more than the nightmares, it could help you work through your trauma, and maybe your fear of darkness.”
“Like…a therapist?”
“Yes…”
His knee jerk response was hell no, but Seri knew he needed help. He hated that he did. Found it frustrating even.
“I know it’s probably not something you want to do. I know it won’t be easy. And there is a possibility that Ender doesn’t have anyone secure enough. But please, let me try?”
Seri grimaced. “I…”
“If not for yourself…do it for Skya.”
