The First Nightmare

Vinnie dreams, and what dreams may come must always give us pause.....

Disclaimer: He’s not mine, she’s not mine…damn it. Oh, and its cho-dan's series, I just give my humble additions with her permission.

The First Nightmare

He hated falling asleep after a battle. It never failed that whenever the adrenaline faded away, when he crashed after the high of victory, he would dream.

It always started the same.

His bros around him, laughing and joking like normal, the red sands of Mars blowing behind them as they raced across the desert. She was sitting behind him, her arms wrapped tight around his waist. Her blues eyes danced in mischief when she looked at him, her smile so sweet and bright. She would nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck in complete trust as they sped across the rocks and sand.

He would lean into her touch, reveling in her embrace. She had chosen him, of all the Martians she could have had, she had chosen him. He knew how lucky he was to have her, too. A smart, beautiful, loving woman was hard to find, but she had come to him. She had willing come and walked by his side, taken his hand and showed to the world that she was with him. He could never remember being so happy. “God, I love you, babe.”

And then the bombs came.

Screaming down from the Plutarkian warships, huge explosions tearing apart the desert.

They filled the sky with laser fire and battle cruisers, the stench reeking even from this far away. Suddenly his bros were in battle gear, their lasers firing as they fought to defend their home. He was shooting for all he was worth, trying to protect the girl that clung for dear life behind him.

Clawed hands suddenly yanked, dirty brow fur staining the uniform she wore as she was taken from him. Her terrified cry was the last thing he heard as Mace laughed. “You pitiful mouse, you thought you could protect her from me?!” the rat howled.

He screamed her name as the battle grew louder, drowning out his cries. It pulled him further and further away, stealing his only chance to come back for her—

“Vinnie!! Bro, wake up, you’re dreamin’!”

“Come on, mouse, snap out of it!!”

The white mouse jerked away from his bros, snapping upright as he tried to clear the dream from his mind. He panted for breath as Throttle and Modo stepped back. It took a bit to get his composure back, and a blush spread across his face in embarrassment. Crying out like a little kid in the dark, how macho was that? “Sorry, bros.”

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Throttle shrugged as he turned back to his bed.

“Yeah, just get some sleep, bro,” Modo said softly as he walked to his spot. He glanced back at his white furred friend, wanting to say something, but thought better of it. Vincent would have to deal with it on his own.

The white mouse got up from his hammock, climbing the ladder to the high catwalk that spanned the scoreboard. He walked out into the late night, staring up at the stars as he found a place to sit and think. And he had much to think about.

Because this was the first time that the dream was different.

Not in loosing her, he always lost her. He could never hold onto her, was never fast enough, clever enough, strong enough to keep her. Not in her painful cry as Mace stole her away from him. No, nothing was different about the dream.

She was different.

Instead of russet fur the color of the sand, there was pale peach skin. Instead of a medic’s coat and uniform, there was a blue work shirt and black jeans. Instead of a fiery mane, there had been soft auburn hair. Instead of baby blue eyes, there had been jewels the color of the ocean, a perfect aqua.

Instead of calling the name of his first love—

He had called out for Charley.

Vincent was not stupid. Dense, but not stupid. And even he couldn’t ignore what the dream was telling him. He was falling in love with Charley, a human girl. He knew he was in trouble with her.She was brilliant, coming up with inventions and upgrades that he never would have thought of in a million years. She was beautiful, on the outside as well as in. He was no match for her, couldn’t impress her. Hell, she could match or surpass him in any field she chose. How could he not love a girl like that?

How could he fall in love again, was his real question.

Love had never gone well for him. He knew that. How in the universe he had ever caught Harley, he would never know or understand. How in the world he could keep Charley, he had no idea.

How he could stand loosing her? Now that he knew right off the bat. He would die if he lost another girl. When he loved, he loved whole-heartedly. The flirting had been his lame attempt to keep himself from falling in love with the human, and look how wonderfully that had worked out.

Those words, those three damn words, they were cursed. They had to be. He told Harley those words, and she had been stolen from him almost instantly. What if that happened with Charley? Was he cursed to never love?

He snorted at himself. ‘Cursed to never love?’ Since when am I so melodramatic? (sigh) Since I met her, he thought. He knew he had to figure this out. Or there was a really high chance that he would never be able to sleep again.

He sat out under the stars until the light of false dawn came over the sky. He had reached a decision about Charley.

He just prayed he would have the strength to carry it out.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&

I let the reader draw their own conclusions about what he decided.