[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

[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.

[bothbarrels]

The sounds of Wash thrashing is what wakes him and he lift his rocker bar to rush to Wash's side. "Wash, hey," he says, trying to sound calming, releasing Wash's rocker bar for him. Wash is panicking and North knows he needs to be a steadying influence. He hesitates, then chooses not to touch Wash. He doesn't want Wash to feel North is trying to restrain him.

[of_all_time]

Like a scared animal, Wash reacts by stumbling away from North. Of course, his balance is iffy at best, so he ends up tripping and falling backwards where he proceeds to try and crawl away from North before he fully realizes he's not dreaming anymore.

It's then he stops and looks up at him, pupils blown wide. He's breathing heavily, and he can feel sweat causing hair to stick to his forehead while tears dampen his cheeks.

"N-north...?" He mumbles quietly, and cautiously.

[bothbarrels]

"Yeah. You're safe here, Wash. We got away from the Project." Whether their luck would hold was another matter, but for now what he said was the truth.

[of_all_time]

It takes him a few good, deep, breaths before he feels like he can stand up again. When he does he finds his way back into one of the seats and tries desperately to block out the memory of what he just saw.

"I know.. I.." He looks away from him, "I'm just... I'm fine.."

[bothbarrels]

North moves to sit in the seat alongside him. "You sure?"

[of_all_time]

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. It's okay, I just... Had a bad dream is all." He swallows and looks at his hands. He notices that they're trembling slightly and curls his fingers into fists hoping to make it stop.

[bothbarrels]

"Okay," North says, though he tucks this away for later. He's not going to press Wash but he does pay attention. "York's doing recon to find out if we can use the base here."

[of_all_time]

Wash listens to him, all the while taking a moment to just breathe.

"Wait... Where are we?" He asks. Only now does he feel the need to question how long he was out. Not verbally though. He doesn't want to keep the subject matter on himself as long as he can avoid it.

[bothbarrels]

"York's taking us to a sim base. We're going to try to requisition it for our use. I think we'll be arriving soon. You want me to go find out?"

[of_all_time]

Wash nods slowly, looking back at North, "Y-yes.. Please."

[bothbarrels]

"No problem, Wash. I'll be right back." He heads to the front to the cockpit and opens the door. "Hey York. Got an ETA?"

[goddamngrenades]

"About fifteen. Scans show no real activity in the area, we should be good." He scrubs the back of his neck and turns to look to North. "He up?"

[bothbarrels]

"Yeah. He seemed to have a nightmare or something."

[goddamngrenades]

"Considering how much he'd been screaming and what we read? I'm not that surprised." Maybe Epsilon knew what had been done to him- god. If Wash is breaking apart in the back they'll need as much security as humanly possible. "If he's real bad we're gonna have to curb our bouncing around."

[bothbarrels]

"Well, he's not strapped in his seat anymore." Maybe he'd better see if he could do something about that situation. It was best to be strapped in for the landing. He goes ahead and heads back to the troop compartment to see what kind of state Wash is in now.

[of_all_time]

When North comes back Wash is cradling his head in his hands, breathing in and out at a very slow pace. Even though he knows it's over-- it was just a dream-- he can't shake the feeling it left him with. The feeling of emptiness, and fear, and guilt all coupled together in the pit of his stomach.

[bothbarrels]

North approaches him. Were he unarmored North would lay a hand on his shoulder but such a gesture wouldn't mean much if it weren't felt. "Here we go, Wash," North says. "We'll want to strap back in for the landing. Should be soon."

[of_all_time]

Wash flinched at first, but when he saw North he managed to calm himself down enough to nod and slowly get to his feet. God, he was probably a burden to the two of them. If only he could just... Relax for two seconds.

[bothbarrels]

"Hey," North says, inclining his head in the kindest way he can and approaching Wash to put his arm around the other man's shoulders. "We're going to be safe soon. Just hold out a little while longer."