Between the Black and Grey (Starlight Brigade AU)

21 - Sister

"What're we going to do if he doesn't calm down? He's the only one who can fly the ship," Phobos pointed out.

The brigade (excluding Meouch who had gone to take a nap) were all sat in the communal bay that Nad had made them. You could call it a common room of sorts; scarily soft sofas that could easily swallow you up protruded from the floor in a circular formation, facing a low table in the centre upon which some well needed relaxing beverages were placed. Sung picked his up and leaned back in his chair, feeling mentally drained from the day that wasn't even half over.

"Honestly, Phobos, I don't know," he sighed, shaking his head wearily.

"Can't we just hotwire this hunk of junk while he's unconscious?" suggested Widget with a shrug.

Using the medical supplies he'd retrieved from the craft before they left, Sung had been forced to sedate Nad temporarily, since he was still screaming bloody murder by the time they reboarded the ship. They couldn't exactly detain him since he could bend the entire ship to his will, so sedation was unfortunately the only option for the time being.

"I don't think this ship even has anything to hotwire..." said Phobos.

"Well how the heck does it fly then, genius?" scoffed Widget, "It's gotta have some internal wiring, or something. I bet I could figure it out and get this baby flying without that freak."

"Don't call Nad a freak," Sung warned, matching Brian's protective glare in response to that comment.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm a speak-my-mind kinda guy, you should know this by now."

"Well I'd appreciate it if you kept your opinions about my crew mates to yourself," hissed Sung.

"No promises." Widget winked, but stopped his joking demeanor when he saw the look on everyone's faces. "Right, this is serious. Sorry."

"I can attempt to connect to the ship. Maybe I could fly it," droned Havve.

The robot was stood behind one of the chairs, towering over the group as he absorbed the discussion. Sung nodded at his suggestion and gestured towards him.

"It's worth a try."

Wordlessly Havve made his way over to the wall. His robotic claw made contact and his eyes sparked up a vibrant blue as he tried to tap into the ship. After a pause, his hand dropped and the glow faded. He snapped his head over to them.

"I cannot connect to the ship. It is completely organic."

"Organic? What, like, alive?" Widget repeated incredulously.

"Unknown. But the ship is not mechanical."

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder..."

"So, there's no way to fly this ship without Nad?" wondered Phobos.

The silence that followed gave them their answer - looks like they had to try and get through to Nad after all. If not, they'd be stuck on Earth. Sung huffed, pushing himself up to stand and downing the rest of his drink.

"I'd better be the one to do it," he decided unenthusiastically.

"You can always get through to him, Doctor," assured Phobos. "If anyone can get us out of here, it's you."

"You give me too much credit, Phobos, but thanks." He forced a smile.

And with that he turned and left. The walls pulsed to life, lighting his way to Nad's room where he'd been sedated. Sung figured that a comfortable bed would be a more relaxing place for him to come to in than in a cell of some kind, and hoped that would help him calm down some.

Thankfully he heard no commotion from inside and as he opened the door he saw Nad just as they left him. Tear tracks from his breakdown stained his cheeks, but at least in sleep he was no longer red faced and screaming. Sung went over and checked he was still breathing, which he was. He wasn't under heavy sedation, just something to knock him out while they figured out what to do about the situation, so it shouldn't last long. Sung didn't have the medical equipment at hand to force him awake. This was a waiting game, and so he simply sat himself down next to Nad on the reasonably large bed and made himself comfortable. He occasionally glanced down at the boy for any signs of consciousness, but gradually he felt his bored mind begin to wander. And what it found was a memory, clearer than the last time he'd seen it.

But most certainly not his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He opened his eyes to darkness. He sat up in an familiar bed, looking around groggily to see his sister still sleeping across from him. It was far too dark to really make her out, but he could hear her soft breathing and occasional snore. He didn't feel all that tired, however, and trying to be as quiet as possible he climbed out of bed, wincing as the floorboards gave a creak. His sister merely grunted and turned over. Outside two moons floated slowly from behind the clouds, and in the new moonlight that bled through the window he could just about see a mop of white hair on the sleeping girl's head, unbrushed strands falling in front of a pale blue face and quite long, reaching to the middle of her back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sung blinked as the vision fizzled away. Something about it chilled him, and yet at the same time it felt so familiar like he'd seen it somewhere before. He chewed his upper lip thoughtfully, catching the tips of his mustache in his mouth in a nervous habit. His contemplation was interrupted too soon by a movement beside him. Sung's attention snapped to Nad, watching cautiously as he began to stir, moaning as the sedative induced fog cleared from his mind. A pause, and then he suddenly shot up.

"NO!" he shrieked in pure terror, his mind clearly somewhere else for a moment before his teary eyes homed in on Sung.

"...Nad? Are you there?" Sung asked slowly in a soft tone.

Nad's eyes wandered around the room. He took particular notice of the bedsheets, and Sung watched him grab them in shaking hands and bring them up to his face. He inhaled deeply, and then squeezed his eyes shut as he started to sob.

"She was right there..." he whispered.

Sung's eyebrows rose at that comment. She? The girl in his fake memory? Then... maybe that was another shared dream. They'd shared this one before, so why a second time?

"Nad..." Sung started, trying to get his attention.

The boy opened his puffy eyes and gazed up at Sung sadly. Without a word he launched himself at Sung, burying his face into his chest and holding onto him for dear life. At least he wasn't screaming anymore, Sung couldn't help but think. This he'd dealt with before. "What's wrong?"

"I left her behind, I let her down, I let her die," came the reply, sentence split up by choking sobs.

"Who, Nad?"

"I couldn't stop it, I couldn't save her!"

His voice was getting more agitated by the second, and Sung sensed a building breakdown like before. He decided not to push it any further and settled for stroking Nad's hair, pulling his small frame into his lap to shush and rock him to try and calm him down.

"Shh, it's okay, it's over. You're here with me, you're okay," he soothed, hoping to pull him out of his own head and back into reality.

Excruciatingly slowly Nad began to quieten down, though true calm was still far off. He clung to Sung like a koala, sniffling and muttering to himself incoherently. In the end he was stuck in a loop, whispering a single word over and over like some sort of a mantra.

"Nira."