Nebula (Andromache×fem!OC)

IX

Nicky and Joe left their room, expecting to see Nebula stretched out over the couch. When they didn't see her, they wondered if she was with Copley having breakfast at the table. Yet, there he was, typing away on his laptop with the young woman nowhere to be found.

It seemed fine at first. They assumed she was listening to music or chatting about things happening in the world left behind with Nile. However, when she came in through the front door with no one else in tow, they began to wonder if she and Andy had finally gotten their shit together and shared their feelings for each other. They were the only ones who were gone, after all.

Andy returned to the house a shadow of herself, slow and disoriented, practically collapsing on the couch. Nebula wasn't with her, either.

"Do you think she ran away? That she left us? I thought she was happy to be here. She was, wasn't she?" Nicky whispered to his partner, doing his best not to panic. Even if she had decided to remember all this began with a kidnapping, making her escape in the dead of the night, how could she possibly have made it back to town without any help? What if she was lost or injured? Or worse? His mind swirled with possibilities, the anxiety he felt only calmed somewhat when his lover pressed a gentle kiss to his shoulder.

"I think I know someone who can give us an answer." With that, Joe got up, holding his new mug with the word 'BABA' written onto it in big letters. Nebula might have meant it in a playful way but their fondness for the young one had only tripled when they found her gifts for them on the kitchen table. He sat beside Andy wordlessly until she caved about two minutes later, already irritated with the conversation to come.

"I'll tell it to you straight. She came to me around 0400 and finally asked to be taken ba-" The memory of tucking a few loose feathers behind Nebula's ear earlier that morning as she asked her what was wrong rather violently jolted Andy off her path. She swallowed and continued as smoothly as she was able, even as everyone heard the lull to her monotonous speech. "It was her choice. I wasn't about to act like an actual kidnapper and force her to stay with us."

"How did this even happen?" Joe mumbled slowly, the calm before the storm. Nicky began to move towards him, knowing his lover would want his support as much as he desired his in return. As they did so, the woman with all eyes on her reluctantly drifted back to the frenzied, almost desperate look in Nebula's eyes as she poked her awake.

"Andromache."

She had never seen the raven up so early. Had she even slept at all? It was deeply strange, causing a pit in her stomach once she remembered what happened the day before. She tried to open up and explain herself, yet the words stayed swollen in her throat, dying out completely when Nebula gently took her hand and whispered, "It's time. Take me."

Heat filled Andy's body, burning brightly underneath her skin as she gazed at Nebula. Not expecting her to be so bold, she attempted to ignore it in case she was drunk again, even as there wasn't a single sign to suggest the young woman wasn't sober. "I... Don't think you know or mean what you're saying."

"No. I do, Andy. I've thought about it a lot and it's... It's about time I left."

"There's no way. She liked it here! She really liked it here so why would she... Did you say something to her again, And?" Nile's gaze and tone were accusatory, causing a rather different kind of burn that the warrior deeply hated but felt she deserved this time. It certainly seemed it was her fault to everyone else and her own mind, despite the fact that she didn't have an answer to the question.

What could she possibly have done wrong?

"Tell me why." They were outside the car now. Nebula was all packed up already with a couple of things the rest had gifted her. They were a spare pair of earphones from Nile and a small and worn poetry book from the sweet couple. She'd swiped a pack of Copley's cooking too, hoping he wouldn't mind or notice. She'd left all the clothes they lended her clean and folded on the couch, ready to go in the ones she came in wearing. All that was left was to be back home. Her empty apartment. It wasn't so bad in the past. Not always.