[Rescue AU]

[bothbarrels]

North's facing off with his sister when he realizes it. South's not going to be persuaded to switch sides with him. And Wash—Wash has been left behind, helpless, disoriented, and without any clue what's transpiring as the ship goes down. North reluctantly leaves his sister behind and as the ship loses gravity he pushes himself off the walls, diving forward to get back to the medical ward, and finds himself tumbling downward as the ship goes down.

Gravity kicks in, and he quits floating, making a jarring landing outside the recovery ward door. "Wash?" he calls, entering the room with caution.

Comments

[goddamngrenades]

"...there's a base a few miles away. We can refule there, stock up, make our next move." Maybe? Hopefully. Pretty sure, at least, that there should be SOMETHING there. It's one of the sim trooper setups so there's bound to be something.

[bothbarrels]

"Good. I'm going to go check on Wash. Keep it level."

He goes back into the troop compartment and finds Wash still slumped over his crash bar. North pulls up Wash's vitals on his HUD—he's unconscious but okay. So North returns to the cockpit and climbs back into the gunner's seat. "Everything checks out okay. He's out like a light though. I'm going to keep an eye on his vitals."

[goddamngrenades]

"Can do." It shouldn't take that long to get where they're going- no one seems to be in pursuit. Clocking into autopilot and putting D in charge of watching everything gives him time to sit back and think about what he's just done.

Treason. He's just committed treason.

Fuck.

"Sounds good. If he's roughed up I can pop the healing unit over."

[bothbarrels]

"I don't think he is, he's just...out."

[goddamngrenades]

"It's been a stressful day." For everyone. That's kind of an understatement.

[bothbarrels]

"Heh. You don't have to tell me that."

[goddamngrenades]

"We're locked in." He can take a moment to turn and pop his helmet off. He needs air. He needs a moment to just breathe. "How you holding up?"

[bothbarrels]

"Other than freaking out that I left my sister behind?" But she'd made her choice. Didn't make it any easier to bear.

[goddamngrenades]

"Yeah that- how are you handling that? There was not talking to her?"

[bothbarrels]

"She didn't want to hear it." It hurt, the fact that she'd turned her back on him, threatening to find someone to turn him in to. "I had to get out of there before she did something rash."

[goddamngrenades]

"Christ. I'm sorry." He can't imagine what it'd be like to have that happen to him. To deal with that.

[bothbarrels]

He just fiddles with the controls in front of him for a moment. "I just expected her to trust me."

[goddamngrenades]

"...I'd hoped the same of Carolina." But where could he stand up against her father? He can't blame her for her loyalty.

[bothbarrels]

York can't see his face but North's gone tight-lipped. Carolina's loyalty was a lot easier to explain. He could only suppose South was afraid of reprisals should she leave. "I'll have to work through it later," he finally says.

[goddamngrenades]

"...we'll get somewhere safe to sit and process soon. I know the kid's probably going to need time. All that screaming..." God. He didn't envy Wash.

[bothbarrels]

"He seemed okay this time when he first woke up, but somehow I knew that wasn't going to last."

[goddamngrenades]

"We'll have a few hours. Then we plan our next move." Whatever that ends up being.

[bothbarrels]

"We hobbled them, at least." But the Director wasn't one to waste any time.

[goddamngrenades]

"Don't think the MOI is gonna be flying anytime soon." A beat. "They'll be looking for three of us. It's not ideal but if we split up maybe we'll have a better shot of keeping under the radar."

[bothbarrels]

North shakes his head. "Mm, I think Wash is going to need both of us. One to keep an eye on him and one to keep an eye out there."

[goddamngrenades]

"...that's fair. After what happened- the screaming, whatever Epsilon did in his head...i'm surprised he's this coherent." But the kid's always been tough. Bounced back from most injuries without saying much of anything.

[bothbarrels]

"When he woke up from Epsilon being pulled he didn't seem to remember any of it." It's clear from his tone he doesn't consider that to be a good sign by any measure.

[goddamngrenades]

"...this is gonna be fun." He turns his attention back to the readout, nothing behind, nothing ahead. Just a base. "Rest up. I'll wake you when we get there. Or, if, you know. We're about to explode.'

[bothbarrels]

"Well, I'll try." Though after the stress of the last little while it was true that one could only be keyed up for so long without feeling like crashing. North moves back to the back, to strap himself into one of the seats, so that if he's not awake when Wash awakens he'll be quickly available.

[of_all_time]

Black. That's how it started. A disorienting darkness and no way to count the time that passed. It felt like seconds-- no, not even. It was like he closed his eyes and opened them again to something new, and completely different. At the same time, however, it felt like /years/.

He started to dream, but this dream wasn't a dream, though. Or at least it didn't feel like one. It felt like he was in someone else's body, watching events of their life through their eyes while also seeing it from a third party view. He didn't... Recognize anything.

He saw a girl with gorgeous blonde hair. He saw a smile like no other. He saw eyes so beautiful it left him breathless.

Then... then he saw red. Red that blurred his vision and forced it's way down his throat until he could hardly breathe. He could feel warmth on his face, but when he looked down at his hands there was blood on them. Red... Red everywhere.

All except for a small bit of gold. It was different, and it made him feel safe so he moved towards it. Towards the golden strands peaking through a sea of crimson. When he saw the body... All he could do was scream.

It was enough to jar him back to reality, but maybe that wasn't for the best because when he woke up he panicked. He was restrained and it felt like the material of his own armor was closing in on him. He gasped and let out a startled yelp, hands clawing at and prying off his helmet before trying to free himself of his confines.