A knock on the door startled the dazed boy as he turned around slowly.

                “Baekho hyung… I can’t sleep…” a small voice said.

                The boy smiled fondly as he recognized it as his little brother’s voice.

                “Come here, Ren,” he said, opening his arms to the little one.

                The boy ran straight into his arm, long, blonde hair falling about his shoulders elegantly.

                “You’re hair’s long, Ren,” Baekho chuckled.

                “Mhmm~ But I like it~” The boy grinned.

                “Now, tell me, Ren. Why can’t you sleep?”

                The boy frowned. “Monsters run around—this way, that way. Angels fly around—this way, that way. Spirits and ghosts float around—this way, that way, every which way. But we’re stuck—no this way, no that way, no any which way.”

                Baekho frowned as he glanced out the window, spotting the hint of a fire—the result of rebellion, the cause of his brother’s nightmares. He bit his lip as he saw the assassins storming down the gates. Laying Ren on his own bed decorated with thick cotton blankets, Baekho said, “Lay here. Close your eyes. Go to sleep and I’ll protect you, Ren.”

                “Who am I again, brother?” he said cutely.

                “Prince Ren.”

                “Right! Good night!”

                “Good night,” he answered solemnly. Baekho waited a moment or two for the five year old to feel safe and fall soundly asleep before he slipped down the hallway, closing the door to the room Ren rested in.

                When Ren awoke, it was still dark; black smoke rose in the air as muffled cheers and hollering could be heard outside, but he didn’t bother to find out what was going on outside. He wanted to know where his brother was.

                He carefully slid out of bed, shivering at the feel of the cool marble beneath his feet. Opening the door, he realized no one was around. Travelling further down the hallway, he found the staircase that led down to the grand hall. The pungent smell of copper invaded his senses as the horrid sound of swords scraping upon each other plagued his ears.

                Peering around the corner of the wall, there he saw Baekho, garbed only in his nightwear, armed with their late father’s bejeweled sword, the bright emeralds and rubies gleaming in the moonlight within the golden hilt. Ren watched in awe as his brother stabbed and slashed at his enemies, the monsters—shifters and shadow creatures.

                He watched as his brother turned his back to his enemy, charging at him with a raised sword. Ren wanted and tried to scream for his brother, but only silence came out of his mouth. The enemy’s blade pierced Baekho’s thin nightshirt; blood seeped through the thin silk as the shifter wolf’s sword receded from the prince’s paralyzed body.

                Ren looked straight into the eyes of the shifter wolf, its eyes a hard, steely grey, abnormally large fangs protruding from its lips as a grin spread across its face. Despite feeling as if his legs were made of lead and his heart was being shot with an arrow, Ren turned around and walked back to his brother’s bed chamber.

                Sleep… He needed sleep…and then this nightmare would be over. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Tell me what you thought, my lovlies~~ ;) Comments pwease~~ *^^* <33333