Rift

Chapter 31: Here For You

The cold of night still hangs in the air, even with the shelter of Regan's cabin. Seems the officers from Mortal really view Regan as a sort of leader. It makes sense for them to follow Peace's orders without question. She is the mayor after all.

But Regan just took on that role of leadership seemingly out of nowhere. Never before had Cree imagined Regan would uphold such a level of authority, let alone over a small army. And because of this authority, he is given a few benefits. One being his own room on the ship.

But even with the comfort of four walls and a warm bed, Cree can't stay asleep. It's not even nightmares keeping him up, it's his own thoughts. His doubts.

The cold isn't helping much either. He knows he should get up and get dressed as his current lack of clothes is certainly not ideal, but the only warmth he has right now is from Regan's presence at his side.

Last night felt like he was given new life. To be held in Regan's arms again, and to be able to hold him in turn – well, as much as he could hold him with only one arm – was a feeling he hadn't realized how much he had missed, but damn does it feel good to be back.

But as nice as it feels, he can't help but have those lingering doubts.

Regan had to practically sneak Cree to his room. He claimed it was to avoid causing the officers to worry, but Cree knows what's really going on. He wants to keep him away from Reela. He would understand why, but the fact that Regan isn't telling him his reasoning is what worries him more.

But he's in no position to question anyone here, especially Regan. He was expecting nothing more than to be seen as a traitor and kept locked up below deck. He counts himself lucky to just be able to sleep in a bed at all.

To sleep in Regan's bed is nothing short of a miracle.

But his mind never allows him to accept the 'miracles' at face value. Perfect never lasts.

Especially when he doesn't deserve it to begin with.

With a sigh, Cree carefully pushes his only arm under him so he can sit up. The blanket falls from his torso, making him shiver but he doesn't pull it back up. He shifts to keep the blanket fully covering Regan, and as he catches a glimpse of his sleeping face, he stops all train of thought.

How can he look so peaceful? How is he able to sleep so soundly in Cree's presence when just weeks ago, he was trying to kill him?

Maybe he'll never understand.

Cree reaches down to touch his face, but his hand recoils before he can. He forces himself to look away so he can start pulling on his clothes.

He gets dressed, actually relieved to finally be out of that Imperium gear. None of his own clothes were salvaged from the Firefly, so he has to wear some spares that were brought over from Mortal. Black jeans and a dark grey t-shirt, with a dark brown bomber jacket. He has to tuck away the right sleeve to compensate for his lack of an arm, but it's warm so he doesn't mind.

As he opens the door to the cabin, he cautiously looks over the deck to make sure Reela isn't around before he exits and softly shuts the door behind him to keep the cold breeze from getting to Regan.

The sky is still relatively dark. The navy blue tint is just starting to break with the orange glow of dawn casting across the ocean waves. He can't believe it, but something about the waves gently rocking the ship is almost comforting to him now. There's still a part of him that remains uneasy about being on a ship at sea, but compared to the Imperium, this is a breath of fresh air.

He makes his way across the deck to stand at the bow of the ship and simply stare off over the water. Even with the jacket, the cold still somewhat gets to him but he doesn't want to return to the cabin just yet.