Nebula (Andromache×fem!OC)

V

Andy woke, her brows furrowed as she took in her surroundings. Her room looked the same as ever, other than the smaller woman who had shifted closer to her, whether purposefully or accidentally, at some point through the night. She cracked a small smile and tried to get herself to sleep once more, forcefully ignoring how Nebula's scent seemed to stain her sheets and that the slightest stretch of her hand would easily brush the woman's skin.

Everything felt so much more vivid with her around. It was deeply irritating to know she wanted to stare at her a little longer to make sure she was okay.

Her eyelids only briefly fell shut for a moment of respite. This was all it took.

She had been right about something feeling off. What she didn't expect was for Quynh to appear, seemingly out of nowhere, a knife raised to the still unconscious raven she needed to keep safe. She looked so peaceful and undisturbed as she lay there that one would think she were already dead. Andy's sharp eyes caught the glimmer of murderous intent in Quynh's eyes before she spared a single glance at Nebula, horrified that it might be for the last time. She wasn't sure she would be fast enough but she had to try, she just had to.

Her gun was firm in her hands as she toppled them both to the floor, gaze unsteady and unfocused as she pressed the nozzle to her forehead. However Quynh had managed to survive, she was too much of a danger to the raven to be trusted. The decision to end her was easy, painful as it was, once Andy had thought about who she might lose over any hesitance. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to make a hard choice.

Then she slowly began to notice certain differences. The paler skin, the texture and colour of her hair, that scent...

"Uh... Is this some sort of kink? Do you do this with all your kidnappings, Andromeda?"

The gun clattered to the ground beside her. Andy ran her hands through her hair, arms shaking for a moment as she struggled to keep everything inside. She had to. Weakness would only drive Nebula farther into the feeling that she was safe with her and she wasn't supposed to want that. Slowly, they sagged in defeated relief as she let go, the very same moment Nebula got on her knees in front of her, holding her face with a gentle, almost reverent touch and whispered, "hey, it's okay... You would never hurt me..."

She was so certain. Quynh had been, too. She'd allowed the first person she had ever fallen in love with to suffer a fate worse than death, then abandoned the search for her when it hurt too much to keep looking and hoping and being thrown into grief and bittersweet memories over and over. Her eyes wandered Nebula's face as the raven wiped away the tears Andy hadn't meant to cry for her, trying to form words that came out in forceful, intelligible croaks.

"Andy... Hey... Let me get you some water and then we can talk, okay? Had a bad dream?" She hummed a bit to herself as she rubbed Andy's shoulders, too focused on her sudden outpour of pain to consider feeling awkward over how close they were. Perhaps she would always feel comfortable coming near like this only when there was some Andy-is-in-trouble crisis to be solved, the warrior thought, irked by the sadness it brought her.

Only Andy could sense that something different came with Nebula's proximity, a feeling she didn't want to understand. She didn't need anything from anyone but herself. That's how it had always had to be and every time she let people even slightly closer, she'd be putting them in danger somehow.

Now that she was dying - or rather, capable of doing so, the rest were getting hurt rather often to save her ass. It made her feel hopeless. Incapable of anything. Sometimes, she even wished death would hit her in the forehead with a bullet so they could move without having to worry about her. Yet, she couldn't give up her place on the team either, she couldn't make that one sacrifice so they'd work without her as a hindrance.  It when she needed to make sure they were okay and would blame herself if anything happened to her group.