Chapter Text
“You can’t be serious, Bela, n-no, that’s not–”
“I am.. Cassie, you know I am..”
Hands reached out to cup her face, blood staining fair skin as Cassandra looked back into those silvery blues. Furrowing her brows as she watched Bela smile at her despite the way blood slipped from her lips, Cass immediately shook her head.
This was wrong.. This was all wrong!
“There has to be another way, I-I promise I’ll find one–”
“That’s not how it works, Cassie.. You know that S-St..Starlight..”
Blood was sprayed against her face as Bela coughed, her hands limp at her sides as she looked at her so helplessly.. Cassandra felt tears burn at the backs of her eyes, blinding her soon enough as her head just continued to shake.
“Please.. You.. You can’t leave me, Bela–”
“But it’s what you wanted.. Isn’t it?”
The scream that tore through the west wing of the Dimitrescu Mansion was bloodcurdling. Shooting up from her bed, Cass’ hand went over her heart, feeling how it beat rapidly within her chest, she furrowed her brows.
Dreams like that have become terribly common lately. One’s where she was reminded of the morality of all of her family. Cassandra had racked her brain one too many times trying to figure out what they meant, but she also wasn’t stupid enough to think too much into her dreams. Sometimes these things just happen. Recurring dreams could be a coincidence, or a sign. Cass wasn’t one to believe in signs though, not as a Dimitrescu. She could practically hear her mother’s voice and it made her cringe as she blew out a deep breath.
Golden orbs flicked away from the dark of the room around her, finding the light coming from the alarm clock beside her bed. Seeing that it was nearly two in the morning, she couldn’t help but sigh. Her heart had finally managed to somewhat calm down, but she still couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling. Cassandra was paranoid. That’s what this vexing feeling was.. Keeping her eyes on the clock for the moment, she tried to ignore those grating sounds that met her ears from the dark, the quiet whispers that tried to overtake her. Reaching for her phone, she shot her flashlight on before contemplating her options.
It was Monday now, she had school in about six hours.. Sleep sounded good, but after that horrible fucking dream.. Cass thought against it. So, her next best option was to see if anyone was up. Bothering Daniela was never something Cassandra did unless she was damn near desperate, and even then.. She would never burden her baby sister with a fucking trainwreck like her. Sighing, she pulled up her contacts before finding Bela’s profile and clicking on it.
Are you up?
Watching the message sent, Cass pressed her phone on the bed before leaning forward to turn the lamp on. With the room now mostly lit up in a warm light, Cass shifted out of her blankets, pleased as she heard the soft buzz the minute her feet slid into her slippers.
Sadly.
Smiling half-heartedly at the message, Cass didn’t think to send anything else. Knowing that Bela was up was enough for her, it meant that her leaving the safety of her room, meant she could go find security in another. Bela always made her feel as safe as she possibly could. Ever since their.. Incident.. Cass wouldn’t necessarily trust anyone else in moment’s of vulnerability.
The walk to Bela’s room wasn’t long. Cass had slid her phone into her sweatpant pocket and wrapped one of her favorite blankets around her. (Ironically it was one Bela had gifted her..) She held a fox plushie close to her chest, trotting down the longer portions of the hall before she arrived at the far too familiar door. It was dead silent from there, anxiety overtaking the brunette despite knowing damn well that her sister was up. Still, she hesitated before allowing her knuckles to tap against the door.
“Bela?”
Calling out quietly to the older blonde, Cass heard movement before a voice called back.
“Yeah? Come in.”
With the go-ahead, Cass opened the door before being met with a soft blue gaze turned her way.
Bela was located at her desk on the far end of the room. From the looks of it she was probably doing schoolwork. Her laptop was opened and papers scattered across her desk. As the door had opened, she turned to her sister, the unrimmed lenses bringing this highlight to her eyes that always made Cass’ heart skip a beat. Hesitating as she had shut the door, Cass offered a sheepish smile as Bela slowly turned around.
“Can’t sleep?”
With Bela’s back turned to her, Cass relaxed momentarily as she eyed her sister’s bed. Not much thought was needed as her legs moved on their own, her voice sounding in turn to Bela’s question.
“Bad dream.”
The movement she had heard before sounded and as Cass got situated on her bed, she blinked as she hadn’t even realized Bela was looking at her. Watching the blonde raise a brow, Cass threw the blanket over her head akin to a hood, hugging her plushie just a tad bit tighter.
“Oh?”
Bringing her glasses off of her face, Bela closed them before sliding them into their case. After working her ass off all night, maybe Cass coming in was the sign she needed to actually go the fuck to bed.. Running on little to no sleep when going into school never ended well. Majority of the time it just made her indulge in the intrusive thoughts to tell half of her classmates and teachers to go fuck themselves. Keeping that to herself, she continued shutting down her laptop and packing up her papers for tomorrow. With the ongoing silence, she opted to fill it. Clearly she isn’t keen on talking about it..
“Anything I can do for you?”
Finally turning around as she finished up, Bela took in the sight before her. Cass was huddled into the tiniest ball she had ever seen. Her chin was pressed overtop of the fox plushie’s head, practically breathing in the scent over and over again as she stroked its chest in a hope to calm herself down. Bela was pleased to see it did something for her.. After all, she had given it to her after everything.
“N-No. Just being here is good enough.”
Humming quietly at that, Bela opted to leave on her bedside lamp for now. The light was fairly dim so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to fall asleep if it came down to keeping it on throughout the night. Allowing her focus to fully remain on her sister, she was gentle as she ran her hand over the blanket, brushing it off of Cassandra’s head before she leant forward and placed a kiss to her forehead.
“Mkay.. Don’t be shy though, yeah~?”
Getting into bed, Bela brushed by Cassandra as she adjusted her pillows for the night. Her body ached and begged for sleep, but somehow she knew she wouldn’t get it so easily. It wasn’t like she was upset at that, but she knew that her lack of sleep could easily make hehr a fucking bitch when the moment had a time.
“Okay..”
The quiet, soft tone out of Cass always made Bela feel protective. She was gentle as she patted the spot beside her whilst lying down, tilting her head as those pretty golds turned to look at her. Keeping her arm open, Bela was more than grateful for how quick Cass opted to fall down into her grasp. With a soft hum, Bela allowed her lips to press against Cassie’s head in another short lived kiss.
“Are you gonna be okay going back to sleep? I know nightmares can suck.”
Staying mindful of that fact, Bela opted to just see what Cass’ game plan was. If the girl wanted to go to bed with her, then so be it. If she wanted to spend some time on her phone playing some silly game for a bit? That was alright too. Bela would adapt as she saw fit.
“You’re here..”
Looking up as she had nuzzled herself against Bela’s chest, Cass met those silvery blues and by god did Bela feel her heart throb.
“You’ll keep me safe.. I know you will..”
There was always this odd sense of pride that came with hearing something like that out of Cassandra. Bela knew where it stemmed from of course, but she still couldn’t grasp how after all of this time it still felt so heavy.. Knowing that her sister could still rely on her after everything though, Bela just held Cass a tad bit tighter as she nodded. Feeling Cassandra nuzzle herself against her chest, Bela purred as she heard the soft, near childish giggle in turn as she craned her neck down to brush her nose against Cassie’s in a few Eskimo kisses.
”Of course, Cassie.. You’re always safe with me~”