Rubbing his eye hard enough to make colors bloom under his eyelid, he tiredly scratched his stomach as he walked down the cold hallway. He wasn't sure why he woke up, but what he did know is that he was going to get a drink of water before he went back to sleep. It was way too late for him to be up, and if he wanted to maintain his strength, he needed to have at least six hours of sleep.

Obi shivered at the cold air that was in the hallway, the cathedral their company was placed in was a little bit too old to have a good heater, but with the way all his men commented that it was the perfect temperature for their already warm bodies, he wasn't going to complain.

Besides, it was cozy to lie in a nice and warm bed, when everything else was cold.

His attention was caught by the sound of something being hit against the wall repeatedly. Obi started to frown when he realized that whatever was hitting the wall, was doing it with a decent amount of force. it was making the walls ever so slightly shake, but not enough to make anything that was hanging fall.

"Get out of my head, get out, get out," He picked up the pace when he heard the shaky whispers," Get out. Get out. GET OUT!" The whisper quickly became a shout, and the wall shook with force that time. Obi's heart sank, he recognized that voice, and he felt a pit form in his stomach when he heard what sounded like choked back sobs," No no no no no no no no no NO! N O!" The voice was trembling and was panicked. It was a miracle that no one else had heard him but considering that they were so far away from the dorms, it made sense that their cries weren't heard.

Obi nearly slipped in his socks as he ran around the corner, his mouth dropping open as he saw Shinra violently tugging at his hair as he leaned his forehead against the wall. He could see that his young soldier was trembling where he sat against the wall. Shinra was still in his sleepwear, but Obi could see that the hem of his sweatpants was singed at the top of his ankles.

"Shinra?"

"No no no no no no no! stop it!" As if the young man didn't hear him, Shinra frantically shook his head before resuming hitting his head against the wall, making the small bloodstain on the wall bigger and bigger with each hit.

"Hey!" Obi forcefully pulled Shinra away from the wall and tried his best to pull Shinra's hands away from his head. Obi's lips turned down when he saw the blood that was dripping down Shinra's face, the blood coming from the wound on his forehead. Tears joined the blood that was running down his face, and Shinra let out heartbreaking sobs that made his entire being shake. Shinra was shaking under Obi's hands, his breath coming out as gasped sobs, his red eyes full of pain and suffering," Stop it! Shinra!"

" Get out!" Obi managed to pull Shinra's hands away from his hair, letting a shower of black strands fall to the floor," No!" Shinra struggled against the hold his captain had on him, his back arching and his legs flailing as Obi tried to pin the young man to the bitterly freezing floor. Shinra's crimson eyes were wide, his iris flicking around the room as if he was looking at everything and nothing at the same time.

"SHINRA!" Obi folded Shinra's arms across and against his chest, using all his body weight to pin the young man's arms to his body and to the floor.

The sound of his name being shouted at him made him start and look up at Obi. Tears kept on falling out of the corner of his eyes as he stared up at his friend and captain," Captain…?" Obi let out the smallest sigh of relief at the sight of his man being sane again. But he didn't move from his position.

"Shinra…What was that? And don't lie to me."

Shinra pursed his lips at that, trying his best to keep his lips from trembling and to keep the tears from falling. He opened his mouth to say something, but his head snapped to the side, his eyes widening in what looked like fear and surprise.

Obi frowned even more and looked at where Shinra was looking.

There was nothing there.

He looked from Shinra to the spot the young man was looking and repeated the process a few more times. But no matter how many times he looked, there was still nothing there.

"Shinra, what's wrong? What are you looking at?"

He shook his head frantically as he spoke," She keeps on telling me to hurt you guys. I don't want to and she won't leave me alone, she won't leave me alone!" Shinra started babbling a mix of words that Obi was barely able to understand, all he heard was a mix of pleas for him to be left alone and pleas for whatever he was talking about to get out of his head.

He pursed his lips. Shinra said 'she'. The teenager had mentioned something about the first pillar being a bitter, and vengeful woman who was bitter about her sacrifice. The first pillar had taken control of the teenager before, it wouldn't be farfetched to say that Shinra was talking about the first pillar.

"Leave me alone!" Even though Obi was pinning his arms and body to the floor, Shinra didn't hesitate in picking up his head to smash the back of his head into the floor under him. Letting out a string of shameful curses, Obi pulled Shinra off the floor and into his arms.

Shinra's arms were pinned between their chests, but it didn't stop the young man from grabbing fistfuls of Obi's black shirt an in attempt to ground himself. Obi pushed the teen's head into his shoulder, making sure that the boy wouldn't be able to see anything, including the first pillar. The teens already warm body was running hotter than usual, showing just how agitated the young man was.

Rocking them side to side, Obi whispered in Shinra's ear," Focus on my voice Shinra, don't listen to her, ignore her, just listen to me…" Obi cupped the back of Shinra's head as he spoke, there was a stickiness to the back of his head, and even though he was hoping that it was sticky from sweat, a voice in the back of his head told him that it was probably blood.

As Shinra sobbed and hiccupped into his shoulder, making his black shirt damp with tears, Obi could only wonder how long he had been dealing with the first pillar alone. It was one thing to be seeing someone out of the corner of your eye, at least you could learn to ignore what you were seeing. But it was another thing to be hearing another voice in your head, telling you to hurt the people around you. Obi had heard about plenty of people going insane because of the voices that they heard inside of their heads.

His lips curled down further at the thought. He didn't want Shinra to lose his mind to the first pillar.

Much to his relief, Shinra calmed down and his tears slowly stopped, but that wasn't enough to stop the trembles that were racking the teen's body. Obi stopped whispering into his ear and started to hum instead, letting Shinra feel the vibrations through his chest.

Leaning against the wall, Obi held onto Shinra through the entire process and never stopped comforting the teen throughout the night.

"Captain?" A hand brushed against his shoulder and made him jerk awake. Blearily blinking his eyes, his eyes focused on the man that was crouching down in front of him. Hinawa's usually blank face was slightly twisted into one of concern. He shifted his position to relieve some of the pressure that was on his back, but as soon as he felt the weight that was on his thighs and chest, he remembered what happened.

Looking down, a smile graced his face at the sight. Shinra was sitting sideways on his lap, his head leaning against his chest with Obi's shirt still bundled up in his fists. With his captains' arms circled around him gently, Shinra slept peacefully on Obi's chest, a trail of drool going down his face. There were dried tears and blood on his face, but at least he was getting some rest.

"What happened here?"

Obi shrugged as he sat up straighter, cupping Shinra's head to make sure that his head didn't flop over as he did so," The first pillar kept on telling him to hurt us. Walked in on him trying to give himself a concussion." Hinawa's eyes widened and glanced down at Shinra, who was still sleeping peacefully on his chest.

"Ok," Hinawa pursed his lips, but was quick to get his thoughts together and back in order," Shall we take him to the infirmary to wrap his head?" Obi was quick to agree, but just as he was going to get his feet under him to stand up with the teen, Hinawa surprised him by gently gathering Shinra into his arms and carrying him.

With a gentle touch, Hinawa pulled Obi's shirt out of his grip, leaned Shinra's head against his shoulder, and made sure that his grip was secure before standing up. Shinra immediately grabbed onto Hinawa's shirt and almost curled into his lieutenant's hold.

If his face hadn't been stained with dried blood and tears, it would have been an endearing sight.

"Come on," Hinawa jerked his head to the side in a silent gesture for Obi to follow," We better treat him before the others wake up."

Obi stared at Hinawa with wide eyes for a few seconds, before bringing himself out of his stupor and replacing his surprised look with a smile," Ok," he stood up with a groan, his back aching at the position he had been sitting in for the past few hours," Ow, my back…"

The two of them started to walk down the hall, speaking quietly to avoid waking up their young teammate," I told you, you're old enough to be a father."

"I'm only 31, Shinra is 17."

"It is possible for a 14-year-old to conceive a child with their partner."

Obi scrunched up his nose at the talk of his 14-year-old self doing the deed," Oh shut up Hinawa."

"And he was hated for he spoke the truth."

If Hinawa hadn't been carrying their sleeping teammate, Obi would have punched him.

Honestly, he didn't hate the idea of being a father figure to their younger members.

But still.

"Shut up Hinawa."

The chuckle he got out of his lieutenant made him scowl even more.

If Shinra woke up to his Captain and Lieutenant sleeping in a chair next to his bed and if his heart didn't swell at the sight. He didn't say anything.

Although he did blush at the way he had a death grip he had on his captains sleeve...