Niklaus woke up in a cell. His mind fuzzy and vision blurred.
'Where am I?' Niklaus looked around the room he was in and realized he was back at Blink's.
'What? No. How is this possible?'
"Good. You're awake!" Blink emerged from the dark corner of the dungeon.
"H-how am I here?" Niklaus's head felt heavy. It was almost like he had a sack of potatoes strapped to his neck.
"You don't remember?" Blink smirked. "My men dragged you back after defeating your new friends." Blink stepped closer to the cell.
"No. I just laid down." Niklaus winced as a ping shot through his head. "I just got out of the hospital."
"The hospital?" Blink laughed. "Must've been some dream you had. "No. We just dragged you back after you helped us find your brother."
"My brother?" Another ping shot through Niklaus's mind. "That was nine months ago. I was free."
"My dear, little wolf." Blink chuckled. "You've never been free."
Niklaus's mouth started salivate, he felt like he was going to be sick.
"Oh dear. You've turned pale." Blink turned back to his smirk. "Are you feeling alright, Niklaus?"
Niklaus's ears started to ring. He could feel his heart about to burst from his chest. The vein popped from his neck. He heard Blink repeat his question again until he was just screaming Niklaus's name.
"Niklaus? NIKlaus!?"
Suddenly he felt the pressure on his chest and someone pinning his arms. He could hear someone screaming. No, it was himself that was screaming.
"NIKLAUS!!" Neil was standing over him, pinning his chest down. "Calm down! You need to calm down!!"
Niklaus looked to his sides. Harper was pinning his arms.
Niklaus breathed hard as he calmed himself down and slowed his heart.
"I'm gonna let you go now. Are you okay?" Neil slowly raised his hands from Niklaus's chest, Niklaus looked at Neil's arms. They were covered in scratch marks.
"I-I'm alright. What happened?" Niklaus's eyes shifted between Harper and Neil as he sat up in the bed.
"You were having a nightmare." Harper sank onto the edge of the bed and looked to Neil.
"What were you dreaming about?" Neil stared at Niklaus trying to decipher the look on his face.
Niklaus shook his head and took a deep sigh.
"I- nothing. I don't remember." Niklaus stared at Neil's arms again. "Did I do that?"
"Yeah." Neil shifted his head slightly. "You punched me in the face too." Neil chuckled as he traced the bruise over his left eye.
"Sorry.." Niklaus placed his head against the backboard, sighing. "Our birthday is tomorrow." Niklaus glanced over at the clock, 4:47am.
"Today." Neil corrected. "Happy Birthday big brother."
"Yeah." Niklaus rubbed his face. "Happy Birthday little brother. 21 at last, huh?"
"Yup, which mean you're both allowed to finally drink!" Harper slapped them both on the arm, Neil winced due to the scratches he got from trying to hold Niklaus.
"No, no! You're not using us to get into a bar." Neil looked at Harper. "Especially after this." He gestured to Niklaus who was already falling back asleep.
"I think tonight is precisely why we should go to a bar." Niklaus grumbled as his head bobbed.
Neil and Harper exchanged looks and left the room to let Niklaus sleep. Neil lingered outside the door for a moment listening to Niklaus's breathing.
*Beep, Beep*
10:30am
Niklaus smacked the alarm and turned over to the other side.
A knock appeared was heard and Harper and Scarlett burst through the door. Scarlett help a single serve cake with a single candle in her hands.
"Happy Birthday!" Scarlett smiled bright. "I heard there was some commotion last night. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Niklaus sat up, scratching the back of his neck. "Thank you for the birthday wishes." Niklaus tried to show Scarlett a reassuring smile.
"Of course, breakfast will be ready soon. I think Neil is downstairs already." Scarlett leaned closer with the single serve cake to let Niklaus blow out the candle.
"I'll be down in a minute." Niklaus raised from the bed and walked over to the closet grabbing a shirt.
"Okay, Harper and I will go ahead downstairs to make sure everything is going smoothly." Scarlett turned with the cake and walked out of the room.
Harper lingered for a moment, wanting to ask again about last night but as he turned around he realized Niklaus was already changing. Harper glanced for another moment before leaving the room, he hadn't fully realized the extent of Niklaus's scars even when Neil had said 60% of his body was covered. He never thought about how much damage that was, until he saw Niklaus's torso covered in scars.
***
Scarlett had come down a few minutes ago. She smiled and returned to making with breakfast. Neil sat on a barstool still working on the gift he had gotten for Niklaus. Neil didn't really know much about him so he hadn't been sure what to get Niklaus from the mall, in the end he just got a T-shirt and a watch. Harper came down the steps with a doleful, downcast look on his face.
"Harper, you okay?" Neil stood from his seat and raised Harper's chin to face him.
"Yeah. I just- I wanted to ask Niklaus about his nightmare but when I turned around h-" Harper paused, swallowed the saliva forming in his throat, and took a drop breath. "I saw his scars. His torso is covered in them." Harper spoke softly to make sure his mother didn't hear and have her mood ruined.
He didn't want her to worry about anything, especially when it was Niklaus's first birthday in nine, now ten, years and Neil's first real birthday since losing his memory and being found by the Red Vine Pack.
"You saw his scars?" Neil scrunched his brows together, he almost didn't want to know. "How bad are they?"
"They're really bad Neil.." Harper's eyes turned to worry. "I don't even know how to describe it. There's so many scars."
Neil shifted his gaze behind Harper's head. Niklaus was coming down the steps. Neil motioned for Harper to stop talking, he didn't want Niklaus to hear them talking about his scars and have another panic attack.
"Happy Birthday." Scarlett finished setting the table and gestured to the chairs at the end. "Birthday boys sit there."
Atlas walked in from the foyer and licked his lips.
"Breakfast smells great Scarlett!" He'd been working outside for the last two hours.
"Thank you, everyone take a seat and I'll make your plates." Scarlett put food on each plate one at a time, placing them in front of everyone. Scarlett placed her own plate on the table and sat next to Atlas. "Dig in! There's plenty of birthday stuff to do today."
Once everyone had finished eating, Neil stood and grabbed his gift from the bar top and handed it to Niklaus.
"Happy birthday bro. Hope you like it." Neil scratched his head and sat back in his seat.
"I didn't get you anything." Niklaus shifted his eyes to Neil.
"I didn't expect you too. You just got out of the hospital a couple days ago, plus you don't actually have a way to go out." Neil chuckled and gestured for Niklaus to open the gift.
Niklaus held up the shirt, it was black with a blue eye on it.
"What's the logo?" Niklaus's brows scrunched.
"It's Broticeye. They're a band." Neil pulled out his phone and played a song. "I thought you might like them."
"Yeah. I'll check them out." Niklaus put on the watch and wound it to the correct time. "Thanks."
Neil stared at Niklaus's face, he seems to like the gifts but there was something wrong.
"You okay?" Neil put his hand on the back of Niklaus's shoulder.
"Yeah. It's just, birthdays haven't really been associated as a happy thing for me." Niklaus took a deep breathe and looked at everyone's faces. They all seemed to be worried about him. "It's good to have them again." Niklaus placed a reassuring smile on his face and stood from his seat. "I think I'm gonna go for a run. I should be back in an hour." Niklaus ran up the steps, returning shortly in a set of running clothes. Niklaus walked out of the front door before anyone could ask to join him. He needed to clear his head alone and figure out his dream from last night.