Night Terrors

Caring arms

Pidge took in heavy breaths as she hid behind the wall while the Galra sentry patrol walked by. As soon as it was safe she darted out to the next spot quickly, mere seconds before the next patrol came.

Steady now... She thought silently as the next patrol came. They were close, she could feel it. She couldn't snap under the pressure now. She calmed herself and forced her breathing to steady.

Repeating this all the way down the hallway, Pidge felt her heart beat faster as she neared the end of the hallway. Every step she took got her closer to them. Every mistake could send her further from them if she got caught.

When she reached the end and saw the large block of cells, she breathed a sigh of relief. So close. Just one more step. You can do this, Pidge.

Opening her screen, she began to override the controls of the cell block. Galra symbols appeared on one side and were translated into English on the other. She planned to open each of them and deactivate the sentries, and she did this swiftly.

After hearing the whirring buzz of the cells force fields powering down and clunks of the sentries and drones falling to the ground, Pidge couldn't help but let out a grin and fist pumping.

She stood up and ran up and down the hallway, searching every cell she could. There were so many prisoners, and they all started swarming out of their cells and surrounding her as they went to escape the prison ship.

But as they flooded past her, she felt the ground stretching away from her and the last cell. It had to be them. And here she was, being pushed away.

Taking out her bayard, she aimed up and her blade took off to grapple around the metal support. Pulling herself above, she climbed onto the rail and waited for the sea of prisoners to part.

Once there was and opening, she let go and ran over to the cell, her heart pounding. This was it. She would see them again. Her heart felt like it would go right out of her chest.

But then it stopped.

Her father and brother were both on the ground, starving, and they looked half dead with glossy eyes and ribs showing through their clothes. She didn't mean to, but a whimper escaped and she collapsed to the ground. She grabbed Matt and cradled him in her arms, tears flowing.

She could save them. She had to. Why did she come so close only to be too late?! No, there had to be a chance.

But this was all for naught. She was too late. Her brother was dying in her arms, and there was no way to fix it.

Her brother coughed and looked up at her with dead eyes. "You... Failed... us... Ka..." But he couldn't even finish saying her name. With that, she broke down into a mess.

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry!

Tears flowed down her cheeks as she cradled Matt's body. He was gone. It was too late. It was her fault.

But somewhere in the sorrow, the pain of loss, she felt arms close around her. The illusion shattered around her into a million shards of light, and as she cried, reaching out to grasp the fragments of her brother, she felt those strong arms holding her.

They held her tight, and even as the nightmare faded, she was held still in the darkness. Soothing words seemed to echo around her and the tears slowed. She wanted so badly to see them, but she knew that this wasn't real. The arms were just something she made to comfort herself.

But even as she calmed, she still had those arms around her. Suddenly, she was lifted up and carried off somewhere. Someone carefully put her down onto something soft and was covered by sheets.

The arms left her, but she felt safe. As she was lulled into a peaceful sleep, the memory of whoever held her still remained. Just in case they could still hear, she mumbled "Thank you..." as she fell into a dreamless sleep.