C4 - Unwanted Visit

Narrator's POV

"This is a huge bedroom." - Raziri

Raziri was escorted to one of the mansion's guest rooms located on the second floor. He was currently in his pajamas sitting on the wide bed he never imagined he'll sleep on for the night.

He plopped down, now facing the ceiling.

"This feels like a dream." Raziri muttered to himself.

"But it's the real thing."

Raziri instantly sat up as he heard a response near him. "Stop scaring me like that E'rald." He glared at him.

E'rald only chuckled at him, who's leaning by the doorway. "You didn't notice me here Ri?"

"Yea, no. I was just, thinking of some stuff." Raziri responded, slowly his gaze looking at another direction.

But his gaze focused again on E'rald as the teal-haired lad closed the door. Then he walked his way towards Raziri and sat beside him.

"So, are you still wary of me?" - E'rald

Raziri hummed. "I'm not. . . wary of you though."

"I can sense a little." E'rald then attempted to lean closer to Raziri, but the pink-haired lad leaned away from him.

"What are you doing?" Raziri asked. He only saw E'rald smiled in response, but not a happy one.

"Don't worry, I won't harm you." E'rald softly says to Raziri.

"Right. Shouldn't you be in your bedroom now?" - Raziri

E'rald then fell down on his back while the bed was under him. "I'll be sleeping here with you, as I mentioned back there."

Raziri blinked twice. "No way."

"Yes way." E'rald joyfully responded back. "It's been a while since we slept together too."

"Obviously." Raziri then fell down onto the bed too, his tone expressing disbelief.

"To continue what we had earlier on," E'rald faced towards Raziri, "I can temporarily erase the nightmares you have by sleeping with you. Or, more specific, right next to you."

Raziri's gaze then landed on E'rald. "How do you know this will work?"

"Did you remember the notebook I showed you when we were kids?" - E'rald

"Yea. The one you told me your lola passed on to you." - Raziri

"I never let you read what's inside since," E'rald paused before continuing again, "Let's just say there are many things in that notebook you'd find it hard to believe it exists."

"Still," E'rald said, "I want you to trust me."

Raziri could only listen to what his old friend told him. He sighed. "Like I have any other choice."

"There is a way to stop your many nightmares." E'rald responded with a serious tone.

"Really?!" Raziri excitingly replied. "Then, what should we do?"

"Let's try discovering it on a day when you're available." E'rald then sat up and positioned to lay his head on the pillow. He then laid down and patted the free space on his side. "It's getting late, let's call it a night."

Raziri watch him do that with surprise. He couldn't help thinking it was cute of him to do so, but he disregarded the thought afterwards. He crawled towards his side and also laid down. "Maybe on the weekend, like Saturday? I'll contact my manager to tell him I'll be unavailable."

"Alright." E'rald pulled the blanket, covering both him and Raziri, then turned himself towards the person beside him.

"I am wondering," - Raziri

"Hm?" - E'rald

"Earlier in the car, Mr. Lei told me you guys tried to find me." Raziri looked at him. "You do know phones and social media platforms exist in this era, right?"

"Yes but you never placed your location in them." E'rald responded. "I did however, followed your accounts."

Raziri snickered. "Let me guess, it's an anonymous account?"

"Close enough." - E'rald

"You could've hired someone who can track my location too." - Raziri

"Never thought of that before." E'rald placed his hand on his chin. "Thanks for the tip." Then he winked at Raziri.

The pink-haired lad sighed at him and faced the other way. His face lightly blushed by what E'rald just did.

Unbeknownst to him, E'rald noticed his ears slightly reddened in color. He smirked. "Goodnight Ri."

"Goodnight." Raziri slowly closed his eyes, feeling himself weary after a long day. "Edra. . ."

Although it was a subtle mutter, that did not escape in E'rald's ears. He smiled, knowing his best friend calls him by that nickname.

E'rald didn't go to sleep after Raziri did. He waited a few minutes, staring at the back of the lad's hair.

He lightly pulled away the blanket and leaned closer to Raziri. He kissed his forehead, "I'll protect you, no matter what." Then he smiled before heading back to his position and fell asleep.

[ Dawn at the Mansion ]

Raziri felt himself waking up. He thought about going to the toilet room.

As he sat up, he glanced at E'rald who was peacefully asleep by his side.

Raziri smiled. He was about to get out of bed when his arm was suddenly grabbed by a hand.

"Where are you going?" E'rald, who's now awake because he sensed Raziri moving, asked him.

"Toilet." Raziri responded. "Do you wanna come with me?"

"If you want me to." E'rald responded with one of his eyes opened and a smirk. Raziri shook his head, then told E'rald to go back to see as he'll be right back. E'rald then let go of him and Raziri headed towards the toilet room.

As Raziri finished his business, he washed his hands on the bathroom's sink. Once he did, he noticed something strange in the mirror so he looked at it.

Instantly, he felt frozen and terrified.

A distorted dark figure was seen, and its eyes with a familiar haunted hue - the one he saw in his nightmare with E'rald.

"You can't escape from me." The dark figure said menacingly. "You, and your disgusting friend. You two will rot together in my world and will never see the light nor the day, ever."

A deep yet loud screech was then heard in the room, and a scream left Raziri's mouth. The door quickly opened with E'rald rushing towards Raziri's side. He quickly hugged his friend, muttering him soft words of comfort and reminders to breathe slowly.

E'rald then glanced at the mirror with an intimidating look. A faint glimpse of the distorted figure appeared with another dark laugh. It then faded away, and the mirror was back in its original state.

Raziri however, has yet to recover himself. E'rald carried him in bridal style as his best friend hugged himself, shivered from the fright he felt.

"Riri, I'm here." E'rald softly muttered while sitting on the bed as he's still holding Raziri. He made sure they were both on the middle as to not fall on the edge.

"Deep breaths Ri, deep breaths." E'rald caressed his hair and gently pushed Raziri's head, leaning on his shoulder. Thankfully, Raziri was recovering gradually, but the slight shivering was still there.

"I'm here Ri. I'm here." - E'rald

Raziri closed his eyes, holding himself back from crying. "I-it said something to me. . ."

"I'll listen. Let's calm you down first okay." E'rald gently responded, making Raziri reassured.

"Thanks. . ." Raziri took some deep breaths. E'rald can only watch him and mutter a few gentle reminders, worryingly yet earnestly waiting for Raziri to calm himself down completely.

After a while, Raziri was no longer shivering. He still took some deep breaths.

"Can I. . . tell you now?" E'rald then nodded while looking at him.

Raziri told E'rald what had happened in the bathroom. E'rald nodded. "As long as I'm right here with you, rest assured that he'll never take you."

"Us." Raziri added. "He'll take both of us Ed."

E'rald pinched his cheek. "Calm your thoughts. We'll find the way to end this."

Raziri looked down. "I hope so. . ." He then realized he was still being held in E'rald's embrace.

"By the way, if you'll excuse me, I have to -" Raziri was about to remove himself from E'rald's grasp when the teal-haired lad suddenly hugged him tight and fell back down on bed. Raziri yelped a bit in shock, and was processing what had happened.

He could hear E'rald laughing. "Sorry bud. You're not going anywhere."

Raziri's face scrunched up, before bursting a laugh as well. "I," Raziri continued, "really hate you."

E'rald then held his head and moved it close to his chest. His face had a smug expression. "I know."

Raziri relieved a breath. He felt lucky that E'rald was there for him. Still, he doesn't want to get his hopes high.

"After this, will you go back to wherever you've been and leave - Ed?"

Raziri noticed the deep breath E'rald had let go. He glanced and saw the lad back to sleep. The pink-haired lad sighed. He'll ask him next time. "For now, a little rest wouldn't hurt to have," is what Raziri thought before going back to sleep.

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