I screamed and jolted upright. Panic flared in my heart and my whole body shook with a sudden fear that didn't go away.My heart was palpitating and my breath ragged. I could just feel my eyes wild as my hands shook and my forehead was cold with sweat. Most of my sense were failing me.

"SIR!"
"MY LORD!"
"DAD!"

Three different sets of voices scared the crap out of me and I jumped again, eyes flying to where the sound was coming from. There stood two Illithids and my son at the foot of my bed. All of them were locking their gaze onto me. I gulped and finally spoke. "W-what?" I croaked out, my voice was weak from screaming. All of them had wide eyes and stared at me in disbelief. "Dad you were screaming and thrashing around! You even have tears in your eyes, what the heck were you dreaming about?"

Dream... The word brought me back to reality and I could breath again. All just a dream... I managed to slow down my breathing but my heart was not slowing and show no sign of it either. "I-... It was just really intense." I shook my head and sighed, climbing out of my bed. The three all rushed to me but I pushed past them. "I'll be fine, I just need to get outside for a moment. Blooper, go back to bed and guards, keep him safe." I ordered before leaving the room. I didn't look any of them in the eye, but the tears hadn't left

Though I knew they wanted to follow, they didn't which was lucky for me.

I just wanted some alone time.

Descending down the stairs, I found myself at CrankyCrab's restaurant. I quickly made my way over to the exit through the hole in the wall and just stood there, gazing out and taking deep breaths. None of it was real. I repeated. It was all just a dream. Just a dream...

But no matter what I did, I couldn't stop the feeling in my heart that there was something very wrong. CrankyCrab came to check on me, asking if I was okay and I just nodded, unable to say a word. He left me alone after that.

I focused on breathing for a time, just looking around when I saw it. His house. The giant crab shaped house that beckoned me. My heart rate sped up again. I had no choice but to follow. I needed more proof that it wasn't real.

Rushing in the house, I cried out his name. "CannibalCrab? Are you here?" I dashed down the stairs only to come just as fast up when he wasn't there. Soon, I checked his bedroom calling out again. "Cannibal?" I voice turned hysterical. He wasn't there either. Where is he? I tried to swallow the fear down but it wasn't working. I checked around the kitchen and living room but  he wasn't there either. My heart pounded out of my chest. "CANNIBALCRAB? HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU?"

I was screaming it now, tears now flowing freely from my eyes. "No no no no! It can't be real! It can not be real!" Before I could became worse, the sound of a button clicking came from behind. I whipped around to see a very confused and concerned crab. My general.

"Sir? What are you doing at- Whoa!" His eyes widened at the sight of me. For a moment, he couldn't speak, but it passed. "Are you... Crying?" I didn't answer and surprised him again with another action. I slid forward and tightly hugged him, wrapping my tentacles around his body and assured myself again that this was real and he wasn't dead. Tears were still pouring from my sockets and my body shook from a sob. "Are you hugging me now? What has gotten into you today? I mean I'm not complaining but-"

"Shut up and hug back!"
"O-oh okay then."

When he finally returned the hug, I managed to stop myself from further embarrassing myself. See Kraken? Just another dream. He isn't dead. I took in long breaths and closed my eyes. He's not dead. The crying stopped and I had control again. After what seemed like eternity, I pulled away and used my free hand to wipe away anything that was left. CannibalCrab was staring at me in shock. I blinked. "What? Have you never seen a man cry before?"

He didn't stop. "Well, I mean, I've seen you cry before but never like this. What happened? Did-" His face turned serious. "Did someone die?"

For some reason, I managed to find humor and chuckled in the comment and chuckled. How ironic that he said that. "No. Not really anyways." From serious, to perplexed, the crab was changing emotions fast and had no idea what to feel. "Not really? Wha- Okay hold on. Come over here, let's sit on the couch and discuss it."

Gently, CannibalCrab nudged me in the right direction and together, we plopped on the couch. The general cleared his throat. "Okay so for some reason that I hope you'll tell me, you came into my house screaming then started crying and then I came out of my closet and you hugged me for some reason and cried some more. Am I correct so far?" He said. I nodded. "Y-yeah. That sounds about right." He nodded back.

"Okay so the real question is, why?" I took in a shaky breath in an attempt to calm down. "I-I had a dream okay? A really bad one." His eyebrow raised. "A dream? What happened in it?" I cleared my throat the best I could and spoke, my voice still raw. "You-"

I paused. I didn't want to say it. The cannibal waited patiently, eventually pressing me to go on. "I? I did what?" Taking in a long breath, I admitted it. "You died." His whole face turned shocked. "I DIED?" CannibalCrab exclaimed, clearly alarmed. "Twice." I added in. His expression only became more horrified. "I DIED TWICE? WHY? WHY WOULD I DIE TWICE? HOW WOULD I DIE TWICE IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

I sighed. "Well, the first time I dreamed about how after a battle with Atlantis, which we won, I was talking to your grave. In the battle, you shielded me from a bullet and died yourself. The second time it changed and you were dying from old age. I, being a kraken, outlived you and watched you die again. When I woke up, I forgot it was a dream because... It felt so real man! I thought you were actually dead for a while there. Then I began to question it and had to check to make sure you still existed. That's why I'm here." I explained to him. He smiled making me confused this time. "What?" He only became happier. "You care about me that much? Awww KrakenKid!"

I froze up and immediately denied it. "What? No I don't!" He just giggled. "Come on, admit it! You really care about me!" Words seemed to fail me. I fumbled for them but nothing came out correctly. "I-uh-no I- just." It was as if at that moment, the Nexus wasn't translating what I was speaking. This only made his smile more annoying. "You really do care! I knew you did! Buddy! You didn't have to scar yourself for life by having a night terror just to tell me." He cooed. "I didn't-... OKAY FINE! I CARE ABOUT YOU! IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The smug smile was still plastered on him.

"It's not but... You never show affection to me so this is special! You wanna hug?"

"No! I don't want to hug you!"

"Come onnnnnn!!! Someone wants to hug his best frieeeennd!"

"I- CANNIBAL!"

I tried to shout in protest as the large crab rapidly approached and pulled me into his embrace. "WHAT DID I SAY?" I attempted to squirm out of it, suddenly my face turning red. However, his arms refused to budge. "No, no! Hug back first." Though I grumbled, I complied in the end. He let go and we sat down once again. Silence passed and neither of us spoke.

Words came to me and I could speak again. "You know I do care about you right? I always have, even when you frustrate me. I just... Have a weird way of showing it."

Cannibal only snickered. "I know." I huffed, shaking my head. A thought occurred to me. "Hey buddy?" His head perked up. "I think I know why these dreams effected me so much." The general became more interested and gave me his full attention. "And what is that?" I drew in as much air as possible.

"Because it can happen. The reality of it is, you can die by saving me or I can outlive you and either way, I lose you painfully. I'll have to run things alone...." My voice trailed off. His expression changed. His eyes more sympathetic this time. "I noticed something about the dreams too you know." Yellow eyes met his in wonder. "What's that?"

"Listen, I know I'm going to die some day, but I'd rather it be me than you.

To die in battle, or of old age, either way, I want to be by your side."

I laughed lightly. "Dude that's so cheesy." Cannibalcrab laughed with me, but when I stopped, I couldn't help but say, "Thanks buddy. I needed that.' He just smiled back. "That's what friends are for."

*******************************************

WOW! Look at that! I actually gave it a happy ending!

Anyways, this is the last part which makes this not only completed but also my first complete book! Exciting right? I hope you all enjoyed this roller coaster of emotions and look forward to anything else that I might release in the future. (Totally not implying anything.... Trees? What? Ha ha... I said nothing about trees... Psh, what are you talking about? Heh heh....) ANYWAYS, be sure to comment and tell me how I did on this story! See ya!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter