Shiro POV
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I could hear them, leaning against the resolute door, as their metal feet struck an unending pattern across the grates.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"No." I whispered. I knew what they were coming for, somehow. After they dragged us off the ice of Kerberos, it had only been a matter of time before they decided to separate us. I cast a wild glance at Matt and his father, knowing that at any moment any chance of human contact was going to be ripped away, destroyed and trampled by the metal feet outside the door.
Matt stared back with fearful eyes, clutching at Dr. Holt's unmoving body. He was asleep, which we all knew, but in the terror of the moment, we couldn't bear to look away too long, or in that time his chest would stop moving.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It was getting louder and louder now, and I grabbed at Matt's sleeve. We couldn't let ourselves be separated, not now, not ever. Not if we were to maintain our sanity and health. I looked up again at Matt.
"Matt?"
Something was off, it had to be. This wasn't Matt before me; too small, too slender, and too... familiar.
The Matt impostor is dressed in a green and white armor (somehow I knew it was an armor), and (I racked my head for the right word) somehow too feminine. She (I knew somehow that this was a girl) stared back with trusting eyes, and I felt confused. The figure of Dr. Holt was gone, and it was just me and a stranger, in an alien ship. Where was Matt? Why is this girl here?
The door behind us opened.
I jerked my head around, and flinched as purple droids marched in. I fling up my arms, terrified, as one of them jokingly raises its weapon at me. The movement cues a jerky, unnatural robotic laughter from the rest of them, and one of them reaches for me with and outstretched hand.
Irrational fear flooded over me, and I cowered like an animal. But the hand didn't take me; it reached for the girl instead.
"NO!"
She screams, as the unforgiving fist clenches around her wrist. She tries to jerk away, and I reach out to help her, but suddenly they are far away. My surroundings are replaced with an suffocating blackness, and she is carried off kicking and screaming, as the Galran soldiers drag her away.
"Shiro!" She's calling, and I'm trying to stand up, to run forward, to help, because suddenly I know her. But my legs are trapped in a poisonous purple mud, and I trip as she calls my name once more, voice full of fear and pain and begging and betrayal. And right before the sludge drags me under, I call back.
"PIDGE!"
Shiro.
My eyes twitch, and I groan. Someones calling, and I can't comprehend who.
"Shiro."
I blink my eyelids open, and I gaze blearily at the person beside my bed. As my eyes adjust, I see a tiny familiar person clutching a pillow standing beside my bed.
"Who are you?" I mumble, glancing around my room. Clean and spotless, with my exercise equipment tucked away in one corner. The lights are dimmed, so the ship must be on night mode. And judging by the darkness, it's late.
"It's me, Pidge." She's staring at me with wide, worried eyes. Her short hair, unruly as it is, is even messier now, with a cowlick on the right side. "I couldn't sleep, so I came to your room."
I chuckle sleepily. It was a common occurrence for members of the team to drop by my room occasionally, from bad dreams or sleeplessness or whatnot. Apparently I held a comforting vibe to most of them, and I know Lance and Keith have both called me "Dad" by accident at least once while they slept on my bed (I slept on the floor when this happened; I didn't mind, as my I was used to sleeping on hard surfaces from my imprisonment).
"Alright, sure." I say gently, and I sit up and ruffle her hair before standing up to let her onto my bed. She lies down and curls up as I tuck the blanket around her. I move away to fetch the extra blanket and pillow that were always nearby for such cases, but just as I was about to lie down, her tiny hand reaches out and catches my wrist.
"Shiro." She whispers my name again, and I stare at her eyes, of gold and amber and hazel. "Shiro, can you sleep with me?"
"What?" My neck starts heating up. "Uh, I, Pidge, I don't think-"
"Nothing like that." She says back. Her eyes stare back at me, big and innocent. "I just...I feel a lot better knowing you're close."
I shift uncomfortably. I'd been in tough situations, sure. I'd been tortured by Galrans, beaten to within an inch of my life, but that's all nothing compared to the sister of a crew mate (former crew mate?) asking me to cuddle.
"Er-um-sure." I said awkwardly, and she scooched over to the far side of the bunk so I get climb in. I lay down on the bed, and she tossed part of the blanket over me before pressing herself against my side.
In case you don't know, it's the strangest thing to lie in bed with the little sister of one of your friends curled up and pressed against your side, with a pillow between you two. It was a while before I could really relax, and I think I was holding my breath for a while. After a while, I heard the deep breaths of sleep, and I look over to the side at her.
The thing about Pidge was that she was unbelievable, so ridiculously adorable in a nerdy sort of way. She was cute in the way that a kitten or puppy is cute, and my heart got a little warmer seeing her snoozing peacefully. I smiled and stretched out my right arm, before placing my hand gently on her shoulder.
Now that I think about it, I think Pidge has some sort of therapeutic powers too, because before long I was asleep as well, and this time there were no bad dreams.