Everything has been a haze, time terribly blurred from the point he'd felt his brother vanish. Donnie wouldn't be able to reliably say what day it is, and while a sleep schedule is on a regular basis practically non-existent for him, everything last month had just hurled it completely out the window.

He'd passed out as soon as he'd felt a bed under him and a pillow beneath his head. At some point he'd reached out, relieved to feel his brother nearby, and it's been one of those rare times when he's allowed his personal space to be invaded. Subconsciously that paranoia that someone might just try and take Leo away again hasn't vanished, after all.

At least at first Donnie had been so exhausted that his sleep was dreamless, or he just can't remember anything that's passed through his mind while he was out. Some things eventually start to stick, images of grasping hands and hungering faces as they reached out. An imposing figure on a throne saying words Donnie can't make out, but then he sees his brother's face fading away before his eyes, and the panic sets in. He cries out-

His eyes snap open and he's not sure if he'd actually shouted or not, and for a split second he's not even sure where he is.