Callsign: Princess // Ghost x Reader/oc

21

Price waits for me at the end of the hall.

"Princess," he says, muscles relaxing as I walk towards him. "How you doing?"

"Never better," I reply flatly. "What's up?"

"I, uh, just want to ask where you'd like to sleep tonight."

I blink. "In my room. With Ghost."

He nods. "Alright."

I stop him before he can turn to leave. "Actually... could I get a light? Nothing too bright. Sort of yellow, maybe."

I feel like a fricken child asking for a night light. But I don't want to be stuck in the dark again. I don't want to wake up and not know where I am — that happened the first night in hospital. I had to be sedated after freaking out that I was back in the cave.

"Absolutely. I'll find one for you now."

"Thank you."

I head to the infirmary and ask for a sleeping tablet, then make my way back into the main block. Sure enough, when I reach my room, there's a faint orange glow coming from a light stationed at the base of my bed. I release a breath.

And then I realise Ghost is in here already.

He turns, wearing not his usual mask, but a balaclava with a skull. "Princess," he greets me roughly.

I didn't know how I'd react to seeing him again. Whether Price might have had the right idea after all — this could be triggering.

"You're still taking Soap's sentry duty. Set your alarm for 0300. If I have to wake you up again, you won't enjoy it."

I suddenly realise he's the only person I want to be around right now.

"Understood, Lieutenant." I aim for my words to be dripping in sarcasm. But maybe I misjudged, as he casts me a look before I slide beneath my sheets.

I curl up around myself, eyes half open, focusing on the warm glow of amber light. There's a periodic rustle as Ghost settles into his own bed. Words bubble through my throat until I can't swallow them down any longer.

"If I listened to you on the plane, we might never have been hit. None of it might have happened."

"Don't be a muppet," he says, his low voice filling the room. "That wasn't your fault."

But it's all my mind will fixate on. If I'd flown better. If I'd been more aware. If we'd ejected sooner, if I'd disengaged...

"You want someone to blame," Ghost says. "Someone to punish. And all you've got is yourself. But you're not to blame."

I don't know if I believe him. But still I murmur, "Thank you."

He says, "Now stop chewing my ears off."

I fall quiet. He shifts uncomfortably, like he's annoyed with my lack of response, which makes no sense at all. But a wave of tiredness overcomes me, owing to the sleeping pill, and I drift into sleep.

***

I soon learn the sleeping pill's a bad idea.

I'm stuck in a nightmare, a memory. I don't feel anything. I just see black. Never ending black. Blinding lights. Then back to darkness. Terror burning through my mind. Survival mode engaged. Utter exhaustion. An aching jaw.

The beeping of an alarm pulls me out, and I wake with a shudder. Only the orange glow reminds me where I am. That I'm awake. I'll have to buy Price a bouquet of roses or something — he might have saved my sanity.