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Xigbar didn't sleep well that night. He kept having nightmares of his previous life. Seeing that ring around Demyx's neck had triggered his memory.

It wasn't something he wanted to remember either but the ring linked back to it. It was the last thing he saw before Myed was taken away from him.

Now, the dream about the warehouse and the children made sense.

Briag, his former self, had been put in charge of taking care of four orphaned children after a great fire that swept through out the town killed their parents. He was entrusted with them because the orphanages didn't have four free spaces with all the children they had taken in already.

So, he took the four children and made a make shift home out of a nearby warehouse since he wasn't that rich. Briag was poor himself but he was sharp as a tack and had good fatherly instincts which landed him the job in the first place.

After a while, the little money he had to buy food for himself and the kids ran out. So, he started job hunting. The only thing was, he'd leave the kids alone for long periods of time while doing so which he felt bad about. But it couldn't be helped.

Day in and day out,  it was one disappointment after another until he finally got a job at a research lab. He'd been so happy, he couldn't wait to rush home and tell the children the good news. He had grown so close to all of them that they felt like his real kids.

All of them except Myed. There was something special about that boy. There was a special feeling Briag held just for him. And that was love. It was that love that made him get that ring in the first place. He had to bargain for it but he got it in the end.

It was so beautiful, just like Myed. It was something worthy of being worn on one of his slender ring fingers. But it looked to be too big for him so Briag put it on a white piece of string so he could wear it around his neck until he grew into it.

Yes, he had been so happy but then that happiness was shattered in an instant.

When he got home from his interview, he found their home in shambles. Lera and Sesa, the two girls, were dead on the floor in each other's arms with bullets through their heads. Alan was dead as well, a dagger stuck in his chest. Fire consumed everything. There was nothing Briag could do. Tears ran down his face as he choked on deep sobs.

Briag looked desperately for Myed, hanging on to the fragile hope that maybe, just maybe he was okay.

His searching took him outside of the charred warehouse. Then, that's when he saw the attacker. He was the man who caused the first fire that had orphaned the children to begin with. He was about to stab Myed with a knife like he did Alan when Briag leapt in front of the boy and shielded him.

"You're not killing him too! Not after what you did to the others! I won't let you!"

"Heh, tough talk for a run-down poor man who leaves his kids alone for all hours of the day." The fire starter sneered.

"I had no choice! I thought they'd be fine like they always are..."

"Well, you thought wrong. These kids were meant to die in that fire and I'll make sure every last one of them dies! Including the one behind you!"

"You'll have to get through me first!" Briag growled.

They fought long and hard, exchanging blows until they couldn't fight any more. Or so it seemed. Just when it seemed to be over and Briag had his back turned, the thug went rushing straight for Myed. The thug was strong and quick, but Briag was quicker.

The blade that was meant to stab the boy through the heart took out the older man's eye instead. Briag fought off the other man again until he was stopped for good.

As blood from his wounded eye spilled onto the hand that he covered his face with, Myed looked at his beloved in shock and horror, worried for him.

Briag brushed it off like it was nothing. He didn't care how much he suffered as long as Myed was all right.

Shortly after the fight was over, Briag called the authorities to haul the thug away. When they did so, they asked Myed some questions then proceeded to take him away.

"Wait! Where are you taking him!?" Briag asked, running after the officers. Damn it, he wouldn't allow anyone take Myed away, not even the cops!

"We need to take Myed to a proper home where he can live happy and healthy. After what happened today, it's for the best he goes into more capable foster care."

They escorted Myed into a cruiser car then drove off. They grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Briag ran after them as long as he could before his legs gave out.

"Wait, damn it! Wait!" He screamed into the horizon which fell on deaf ears.

Xigbar woke up with a tear streamed face and wiped it onto the pillow before Demyx woke up and saw him crying. He traced the scar over his bad eye and sighed, putting the eye patch back on. His head throbbed from crying so hard.

He felt tears gathering at the corners of his eyes when Demyx woke up, cursing the fact that he couldn't stop crying. Now the sitar player would know something was wrong.

"Xiggy..?" Demyx asked softly. "What's wrong?"

"I...had a nightmare is all." Xigbar couldn't lie to Demyx, not now. He was sick of making up excuses.

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really but...can you hold me for a while?" Xigbar asked in a shaky voice.

"Sure..." Demyx went over to Xigbar and pulled him close.

The younger Nobody spooned the older Nobody to his warm body and breathed softly on the back of Xigbar's neck. Xigbar instantly relaxed into Demyx's loving embrace, closing his eye. He was calmer now than he had been when he had gotten up.

He wanted to tell Demyx all about the dreams and nightmares he'd been having for the past few nights. He wanted to ask Demyx if he remembered anything from the past that he did. He wanted to escape with his beloved water mage from the cage of lost, broken birds.

But for now, he was content to simply be in the safety of Demyx's arms.