Rock-a-Bye Baby
Magnus stepped into a nursery.
He blinked, surprised. Nope. Still a nursery.
There was a crib in the middle of the room, and a baby girl in a pink and purple onesies was all curled up asleep on a fluffy yellow blanket.
Magnus’s children were all teens and adults when he had taken them under his wing so he didn’t have much experience with babies. If he had to guess he would assume the baby to be less than a year in age.
A little boy sat in front of the crib keeping watch over the peacefully sleeping form.
Magnus closed the door behind him and though he tried to be quiet, the little boy still heard and turned around and brought his finger to his lips.
“She’s sleeping” he mouthed. Magnus knew he was suppose to feel chastised but all he felt was a deep sense of affection.
Even as a child, his Alec was always taking care of others.
Raphael took note of the way the tension in Magnus bleed out as he quietly inched towards Alec, taking small careful steps to avoid startling the little boy.
Raphael figured the last room had done a number on all who loved the boy, but especially Magnus. Yet in here, he all but melted into the floor as he sat down.
The better dressed of the two vampires on this little adventure into the subconscious of Alec figured it might be due to the fact that despite the last room housed a broken and bleeding Alec this room held the most vulnerable Alec they had encountered so far.
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping too?” Magnus asked, voice hushed as he whispered.
“I’m watching for monsters” he replied, eyes darting to the sides before as if even mentioning them would bring them out of the dark.
“But we’re in the institute aren’t we? You’ll both be safe here.”
Alec glanced up at Magnus, fear glossing up his eyes.
“We weren’t safe in Indris… why would we be here? I saw monsters there all the time. My parents don't believe me, they think I want attenton…. Attentin...”
“Attention, darling.”
Alec nodded, with the assurance only a child could possess before continuing on.
“But I saw one here too.” Alec brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his little arms around them.
“You did?” Magnus prompted.
“Mhm. I woke up and a shadow was sitting on my bed.”
Everyone but Robert and Maryse, who even after all these years of knowing him still believed him to be a child giving into fanciful thoughts, felt a trickle of fear go down their backs.
“That must of been scary,” Magnus said, his voice wavering as he hoped that the assumptions building up in the back of his mind were wrong.
Alec shrugged. “It’s happened before, I just don’t want it to happen to Izzy. That’s why I got ta protect her. ”
Alec stood up and walked over to the crib.
He placed his face inbetween the bars and said, “Hodge believed me. He said if my parents couldn’t protect her then it was up to me. So I came and make sure the shadow doesn’t get to her.”
Most of the group’s hearts broke. He was too young to be burdened by this responsibility.
“I believe you too,” Magnus told him and Alec turned and beamed.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, and I think you’re very brave to watch over your sister.”
“It’s not brave,” Alec countered, “I just love her.”
Izzy had tears in her eyes as she walked over, bent down and hugged him.
Alec leaned into the embrace and for a moment, he sounded older than he even normally did.
“I just want for you to grow up happy and safe. I want you to have everything you ever want and need. I want you to always feel loved and supported. I want that for you, even if I never have it for myself.”
But Alec had already turned from the grown version of his sister, back to his little little sister.
As if waiting for his attention, baby Izzy then stood up in her crib and started crying. Alec left his sister’s embrace and walked to the left, swallowed by the shadows on the walls.
A ghost of a woman that resembled their mother walked into the room and picked Isabelle up. She walked over to a rocking chair to the right of the crib and rocked her back and forth.
Alec reappeared with a bottle which he handed over to the woman.
She was faded out like an old photograph or the memory of a person you longer recognize when you look at them.
It was hard to look at her face, like it was out of focus.
After feeding Isabelle, the woman that was once Maryse stood up and burped her daughter.
As she rose a sheet of glass began to cover the rocking chair.
By the time she placed baby Isabelle back into her crib, it was completely covered with a frosty gloss.
Baby Izzy yawned and went back to sleep.
Another ghost entered the room. It was probably Robert… it was difficult to be certain since this apparition appeared to have hair.
“You need to go to bed,” A faded version of Robert’s voice echoed off the walls but the image of his did not move his lips.
“Your mother and I expect more of you, do you understand? It’s time to grow up and stop these delusions.”
Alec didn’t respond or look over at his father.
The projected memory of a man darted over to young Alec and grabbed his chin, forcing Alec to look up at him.
“Do you understand me? Your sister will be fine and I expect you to be in bed when I tell you it’s time for sleep.”
Still no reply.
He sighed in aggravation and swiftly rose, yanking Alec by the arm. As he walked away from the crib the scenery around the group changed, revealing a room with blank walls. It was bare except for a small bed, a dresser and a small table with a lamp and an alarm clock on it.
“You’re a big boy now, it’s time to act like it and stop acting out.”
The image of Robert, long since changed and long since forgotten faded out with the sound of a door locking.
Alec sat on the bed, head down and looking down at a piece of ice in his hands, broken off from the icy chair from the nursery.
Alec’s shoulders shook but no tears fell and no sounds escaped him.
The shard of ice glowed and like an old film on the silver screen an image began to flicker in and out above his head.