Mein Liebling

Untitled Part 11

Sirens blare, ringing in your ears as you struggle to pull yourself up off the floor. You must have been thrown back when the portal opened, but when you lift your head, you're met with the dark silhouette of a man. The flashing light behind him is too bright, you can't make out any of his features, but something seems wrong.

Quickly, you scramble to the control panel, feeling that you must close the portal immediately; everything must be sent back! This was NOT how things were supposed to go!

The strange man moves closer, still a vague, blurry shadow as you blink against the disoriented state of your mind trying to focus on which buttons needed to be pressed.

It's too late.

You hear Edward scream your name as you feel the hands of the strange man at your throat, lifting you until your feet no longer touch the ground. Gasping for air, you clutch at the man's wrist, struggling to get away, but all you manage to do is lash out and scratch his neck before darkness claims the last bit of fight you had left.

The sounds fade away, but a soft hand caresses your hair, gently combing through it.

You jump awake, heart still pounding, gasping for breath as you clutch at your throat.

Edward wraps his arms around you, tucking the hair out of your face as he whispers softly, "Hush meine liebste, it vas just a dream, you're here now, it's alright."

With slow, deliberate breaths, you manage to settle yourself and remember where you are.

He kisses your temple lightly as he waits for you to calm, and rubs soothing circles at the small of your back. "Vas it Samantha again?"

"No..." You shake your head, still uncertain as to what exactly happened. "There was a man, and you were there but you looked a little... different. Younger maybe? It seemed to be some kind of lab, and we had let something through a portal but..." Brows furrowed, you struggle to remember the rest. "Honestly it's all fading pretty fast."

He hums against the side of your head, "I'm sure you vill vork it out in time meine liebling, don't push yourself too hard."

Wrapping your arms around him, you nuzzle your face against his neck and let the world fade away. Though, only briefly; someone stirs nearby and you both reluctantly pull apart. Even though you didn't want to deliberately hide your feelings for each other, it seemed you both agreed it was best to wait. There are much more important things to worry about in the present, and with how much distrust and uncertainty everyone seemed to foster for Edward, you didn't want to risk tensions running even higher by letting everyone in on the new situation too soon.

For now, readying yourselves for the day was priority one, and then getting to your first campsite within range of the next signal towers.

Too anxious to get a move on, and with the first hint of daylight on the horizon, you finish waking the rest of the crew and everyone silently seems to agree on skipping breakfast. The day had just started, but you already felt like there wasn't enough time left.

The hardest part of the trip is always the beginning; you know how much is left, but have no idea if things will go wrong, and if so, how bad. Things like this are a constant gamble, and you were ready to be home already, back with your friends and able to start finding answers.

Your dream still sits uncomfortably in the back of your mind, itching at your memory like it yearned to tell you something; something important. Who was that man? Why did he seem to stop you from closing the portal? Why was there a portal to begin with? And why was Edward seemingly younger in your dream?