In The Shadow of Steel (Paladin Danse)

Part Fourteen

The weather was absolutely beautiful. The sky a gorgeous blue, clouds hiding away from the blinding rays of sunshine. Everything was perfect, at least, it had been.

"Sir? Mum? You should come and see this!"

My husband and I were in the living room then, baby in his arms. The weather was changed. The sky had gone black, darkened by clouds of horror. The rumbles of thunder the screams of panicked people, sheets of lightning resembling the headlamps on the soldiers' armour. As if they would have protected them.
The streets of Sanctuary Hills had erupted into chaos, and this was just one small corner of the world.

"Followed by....yes, followed by flashes, blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions."

"We're uh, trying to get confirmation."

"Seem to have lost contact with our affiliated stations."

"W-we do have coming in, that's um, confirmed reports, I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and P-Pennsylvania. My God -"

The world had frenzied into panic underneath the words that read 'please stand by'. The clock was ticking, there was only so much time left. It was nearly over.

My body lifted from its sticky clamp to the mattress. The headache that came with the head rush was deafening, my breaths short and ragged. The nightmares had been constant. There hadn't been a night's rest since I'd been welcomed into this world that wasn't plagued with the memories that would haunt me until my last.

My brows furrowed at the realisation that I was in bed. I hadn't recalled coming upstairs. With dreams like these I'd always tried to avoid sleep, for it's easier to survive in a world where being awake there's no hiding reality. There's no chance of things being masked by the scent of lives lived long ago, no room for good things to be replaced. Bad things can't be worsened.

"Oh, you're awake." Paladin Danse approached the top of the stairs, holding a bottle of water and a sweet roll. His expression dampened upon meeting my eye. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm OK. I have a bit of a headache but it's nothing a cold shower won't fix." Allowing myself to have a small stretch, I lifted my body away from the bony fingers of the mattress. Danse offered a small smile as he handed me the items, to which I tiredly reciprocated.
"What time did we crash? I don't remember falling asleep. And how did I get up here? I thought I'd sobered up pretty well in the end." My mind was blank, flashes of the panic on my husband's face spawning through my vision. The sound of my son crying rang in my ears as I climbed to the bottom floor of Homeplate, the Paladin close behind.
"I'm not sure what time exactly, but it got pretty late by the time you finally fell asleep. I'd say it was around 2am when I carried you upstairs."

The dreams left my head, kicked out by the flush that crept up the back of my neck. I turned to face him, "you carried me? God, I didn't realise I was that bad. Sorry to have been a burden."
"No, you were fine. I figured you'd have been more comfortable in your own bed, that's all. I wanted you to have a better night's sleep."
"Yeah, uh, thank you."

One decent night's sleep would've been all I could have wished for at this point. One peaceful dream that didn't turn sour as soon as it started. Just one, that would be enough.

"I'm going to have a shower. Feel free to use it after if you want. We've probably already been here too long. We should get back, and I want to see my son."

Danse nodded and watched me head towards my makeshift bathroom. I wasn't blind to the concern that he showed in his face, the crease in his forehead above his furrowed brows, the slight downturn of his lips. It was mostly shown in the eyes, the way they rapidly scanned my own for a glimpse of an emotion left unspoken. It was nice to see that he cared, as a friend should. But there were some things about my life that even my closest friends didn't know about, and I wasn't prepared to tell them to someone I was still learning to trust.