#systemofthehorde

  Although he didn’t dare move, arms dutifully wound around his partner, he kept cautious note of the way his breaths grew shallower as the thoughts swept over him in waves. Thoughts of himself, and his brothers, and his friends, and their collective pasts and futures. Thoughts of overthinking, and overthinking about overthinking, and whether or not one’s brain could be manually rewired. Thoughts of what others would think.

  It had all but consumed him by the time the spell broke. Entrapta shifted the slightest bit against him, brought the vaguest amount of attention to the fact that his arms had long since fallen asleep, and Hordak was snapped back to reality with an explosion of lancing pain.

  Entrapta was still tucked securely against him, holding him, being held by him, but the pain was enough to finally spur him on. With as much grace as his agonized limbs would allow, he began to shift away, delicately disentangling himself from her hair and grasp, biting back hisses of pain each time locks or limbs came into contact with his skin.

  Lord, he hoped this wouldn’t wake her.

  Once upright, Hordak shifted to the side of the bed and took stock of his current state. His arms still tingled uncomfortably, but so long as he maneuvered them with care, the flares of pain seemed generally avoidable. He let out a sigh he hadn’t realized he was holding, glanced back at Entrapta, and stood.

  The clock confirmed that nearly an hour remained until sunrise, but the sky already seemed to be lightening on the horizon. There wasn’t terribly much he could do to kill the time, but hovering around while Entrapta slept felt a bit too risky for comfort.

  He carefully made his way towards the door, planning to wander the castle until he found something to put his mind to, when-

  “Hordak?”

  He whipped around, ears drawn back in an unpleasant mix of defensiveness and shame, and found himself struggling to meet Entrapta’s eyes. Thankfully, she seemed more interested in keeping them shut, for now.

  “Sorry if I woke you,” he murmured, already trying to prepare for whatever she could possibly have to say to him. She was already aware of his distaste for nightmares. There wasn’t much more he could think to defend himself with.

  Entrapta, for her part, hardly seemed inclined to attack him; rather, she managed a slight shake of her head, and a soft laugh.

  “I know you haven’t slept at all. I have it good, trust me.”

    Hordak merely sighed in response, an ear flicking involuntarily before a yawn overtook him. Before he could take another breath to speak, Entrapta cut him off.

  “Unless you were gonna go get something, at least come back and rest…?” She blinked up at him, knowing full well he’d already cracked, and grinned as he sighed again.

  He glanced once more at the clock over her shoulder, at the dim horizon outside, then at the ground. Another flick of his ears set Entrapta on edge, but then he spoke.

  “Would you mind staying up with me?” His voice came out a bit clipped, choppier than he intended, too accusatory, and she couldn’t possibly feel inclined to agree, but-

  “Sure!” Invigorated with a sudden burst of energy she seemed to lack entirely prior, Entrapta swung out of bed on a chaotic and slightly tangled wave of hair. “You make yourself comfortable, and I’ll be back with some hot chocolates in a minute. No coffee,” she added promptly, catching the way Hordak had begun to raise a hand to interject. He lowered it with a good-natured roll of his eyes, and paused next to her on his way back to bed.

  “You don’t… have to do any of this, if you’d rather get back to sleep. I was just on my way to keep myself occupied before you woke up.” Hordak couldn’t stop himself from fiddling nervously with the hem of his nightgown as he spoke, the nerves in his arms slowly recovering as he used them, and his eyes once again wandering around the darkened room.

  “I mean, of course I don’t have to. But… I want to, so I’m gonna!!” As she spoke, she wound her way between Hordak and the door, pushing her hair between them to guide him closer to the bed. “Besides, you need some more rest.” She fumbled with the optimism to imagine he’d get any amount of sleep, but reigned it back in just as quickly. There were some nights when she didn’t want to sleep, too.

  Hordak nodded vaguely as he returned to the side of the bed, slowly reaching up to lay a hand on the tendril of hair that lingered on his shoulder. “If you’re sure. Thank you.”

  Entrapta beamed at him, outshining the imminent sunrise as she moved the tendril to cup behind his jaw and ear. “Sure I’m sure! Anything for you.~” With that, she pulled away, slipping out into the hall and shutting the door behind her. Hordak, for the nth time in his life, could only gape.

  He’d already reached for the crystal embedded in his sternal port without realizing it, gripping its smooth edges in an effort to remain grounded.

  Anything, she’d said. There was no possible way he could have misheard, and there was no possible way he could disagree; unless he wanted to make a hypocrite of himself. He felt the same.

  A deep, lingering breath was enough to steady him, finally. As he shifted to lay back down, Hordak took stock of himself once more. His arms no longer hurt, and were comfortable enough to use. He was exhausted, but he was in good company, and morning was quite literally just over the horizon.