He meant everything to her. Three years later and she'd still do anything to keep him safe, sacrifice everything to protect him- even if that meant keeping him at an arm's length.
She was the one person who truly knew him. The one person he'd choos...
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— — —
Peia drifted in and out of consciousness, the fluorescent bulbs above her far too bright. It was all too bright. And her entire body ached.
She could feel a needle pricking her forearm, some unnatural drug likely pumping through her veins. Her head was pounding, a secondary heartbeat thumping just inside her skull. Her breaths came deep and slow, her heart rate dangerously low. Everything just felt so gradual, so lethargic.
As her eyelids fluttered back open, the ceiling and lights blurred together. She could barely make out anything in the obscurity. Nothing was making sense in her brain. She couldn't tell where the walls ended and the ceiling began.
A quiet moan pierced the air as she stirred. Peia attempted to lift her arm up, but found the sensation entirely too difficult. Her brain wasn't making the connections, unable to move even the smallest of her limbs.
She could also feel something hard digging into her scalp, slightly softer pieces pressing into either side of her temples. It was no doubt something measuring her brain activity or a way to torture her. She couldn't really tell the difference.
Peia managed to move her hand onto her forearm, fingertips grazing the IV dipping beneath the surface of her skin. Her movements were sluggish and heavy, no strength in any of her fingers.
"She's coming out of it." A voice said.
It sounded muffled in her ears, almost as if she was underwater.
"Hand me a syringe."
Peia's eyes opened again, taking in the hazy image of a male nurse. "No—" She croaked out, her throat suddenly paper dry.
"It's okay." The man said, picking up a syringe filled with a clear liquid. He lifted it in the air, flicking the tube a few times. A few drops of the drug spilled out the top before he met her gaze again. "It's time to go back to sleep. Close your eyes, Cass."
A sharp sting pricked her forearm, her breathing beginning to be more ragged. "No. No, I—" Her breath hitched in her throat, the words getting buried deep inside her chest.
Whatever they'd given her, it was working. Whatever drug was coursing through her system, keeping her sedated, was quickly spreading throughout her entire body.
"Prep the next memory." The man said, eyes darting to the other scientists to his left.
Peia felt her eyelids get heavy, her head lolling to the side. She couldn't—She couldn't keep them open any longer. Everything just felt so...difficult. So...
Heavy.
Cass opened her eyes and sucked in a breath. She flipped her dark curls off of her shoulders, dread brewing in the back of her throat. Her fingertips lifted up, twirling her gold necklace a few times.
