"And that's all?" Ned asks, skepticism heavy in his voice. He doesn't bother trying to disguise how urgent this question is to him, or how little he trusts Galen's answer.
Ned drops his forehead into his hand, speaking at the ground, "Because I can remember all of it, Galen. Not like a normal nightmare, where it gets blurry and confused and after a while it fades away and stops hurting. It's all there still, like I was really there and-" his voice is cracking again, getting thick with held-back tears, but he keeps talking, doesn't care if he sounds unstable. This is all far, far too close to the fragile parts of himself, the ones that he keeps locked in a trunk, inside a sealed room, in a bomb shelter miles beneath the surface of his mind, "-and there are th-things in my head I d-don't want anyone to see. Things I ought to be allowed to keep to myself, y'know?"
Ned feels his eyes getting hot, swipes away a tear with the heel of his palm impatiently. He has to get the rest of this out now before he completely loses it, "And I'm sorry if it makes me a bad person, but I can't even look at you without knowing exactly how much you know. So if you're telling the truth, that's cool, that's really really good. But... but who the hell would just have a n-nightmare about white and green and dirt and dust? And you knew it was a nightmare, and from the way you were talking just now you knew it was bad. So please, if you're trying to spare my feelings or cushion the blow, just... just don't. I'd rather you be honest with me now."
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Ned drops his forehead into his hand, speaking at the ground, "Because I can remember all of it, Galen. Not like a normal nightmare, where it gets blurry and confused and after a while it fades away and stops hurting. It's all there still, like I was really there and-" his voice is cracking again, getting thick with held-back tears, but he keeps talking, doesn't care if he sounds unstable. This is all far, far too close to the fragile parts of himself, the ones that he keeps locked in a trunk, inside a sealed room, in a bomb shelter miles beneath the surface of his mind, "-and there are th-things in my head I d-don't want anyone to see. Things I ought to be allowed to keep to myself, y'know?"
Ned feels his eyes getting hot, swipes away a tear with the heel of his palm impatiently. He has to get the rest of this out now before he completely loses it, "And I'm sorry if it makes me a bad person, but I can't even look at you without knowing exactly how much you know. So if you're telling the truth, that's cool, that's really really good. But... but who the hell would just have a n-nightmare about white and green and dirt and dust? And you knew it was a nightmare, and from the way you were talking just now you knew it was bad. So please, if you're trying to spare my feelings or cushion the blow, just... just don't. I'd rather you be honest with me now."