[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]

"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."