Darkness.

It was the first thing Tenna saw when he opened his eyes. An overwhelming darkness and... Yellow. A field of bright yellow flowers, as far as the eye could see.

Tenna had been laying down, the sight of the strange location keeping them frozen in place. The darkness felt tangible, with the yellow flowers almost serving as the only source of light.

What was this? Where was everyone?

...Why couldn't he move?

Paralyzed, they glanced at their hands, fingers twitching, the overwhelming fear was just completely taking over. Suffocating.

He couldn't move.

Vines began growing from the ground, wrapping around his hands, legs and torso.

Get up. He internally yelled at themself, but his body remained unresponsive, get up get up get up! In the distance, they swore they could see a shadow of a person, watching him silently, looming, like waiting for the right moment to attack.

His eyes were fixed on it, and Tenna had a feeling that it could see them too. Get up! Run Away!

Run where? There was nothing but darkness all around him, and as his eyes remained transfixed on the figure, he realized the growing vines had locked his body in place, preventing him from moving.

The figure in the distance made him dizzy, and Tenna's heart froze when they saw it get closer. Slowly at first but quickly pick up speed, not running but almost... floating in his direction.

He could feel his heart pounce, shaking but completely frozen despite the approaching ghost. Before it got close enough where he could make up its features, Tenna suddenly gasped, sitting up and panting heavily.

The flowers were gone, the flowers and the entity were gone as his eyes glanced at the glow in the dark stars on their room's ceiling. He was panting and wheezing quietly, mouth quivering but no tears fell no matter how much he shook.

He felt terrified, fearing the thing he saw would show up once more and chase him outside of his nightmare. Whimpering, he grabbed his pillow, quickly but quietly making his way to his parents room. He stopped by their door, quietly opening it and walking up to their bed.

They were both sleeping soundly, with Mike comfortably curled in Host's chest, his tail plugged in to them as they slept. However, Host's dim screen ever so slightly lit up when they heard their child quietly place the pillow on their bed and try to crawl in with them.

Tenna seemed to freeze with this, looking at them with a terrified look, trying to muster words, but they seemed to get stuck in his throat.

Host quickly recognized this and smiled worriedly, making space in the bed and carefully holding Mike to make sure he didn't wake up.

Tenna simply crawled in bed, hiding underneath the covers, tail wrapping around his own body, a habit that couldn't help but remind Host of Mike, who still quietly slept, tail similarly wrapped around himself.

With their hand, Host gently lifted the sheets, seeing their child quietly whimpering as they affectionately passed a hand on the side of his head.

"Want me to wake your dad?" Host signed, but Tenna didn't respond, eyes glancing away as he was still panting quietly. Worried, Host very gently caressed his face as Tenna scooched in closer, his breathing still laboured, but much calmer now as his parent focused on soothing him.

Part of Tenna felt embarrassed for still doing this, they weren't a little kid anymore, but yet, old habits died hard, and in that moment, they needed the comfort.

Words were stuck in their throat and his hands were too shaky to even begin to sign what they had seen. It was just a dream after all... a blurry mess of darkness and yellow... And a scary ghost...

Host noticed how Tenna had his antenna flicked back in fear. "Nightmare?" They signed as the teen nodded apologetically.

"Don't wanna talk about it..." Tenna shakily signed back. There wasn't anything new to tell. Host knew what the nightmare was. For the longest time, Tenna had had recurring nightmares about being stuck in a silent flower field. The ghost was a new addition, but his mind often liked to mess with the visuals of their dreams to keep them on edge.

As such, the older darkner nodded, gently nuzzling their screen against his head, doing the TV equivalent of a kiss, to which the young darkner quietly whined in response.

No Monsters would take him while they were around. Host would make sure of it.