Uncharted System 37

[Sombs]

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February 23nd, 829 A.S. - Uncharted System 37

Warmth. I looked out of the window into the nightsky of Curacao. The streets were lit in colorful lights, many couples were walking around in the streets and the promenade. Mojo was cleaning his fur, sitting on the window sill, basically presenting his brown star. Funny cat. Didn't matter to me. I felt extremely cozy. Their air was full of nice scents, almost aphrodisiac. There was music coming from the promenade.

I turned around, looking around, checking whether everything was perfect in the little apartment. Not much space in here, but there was a lot of this maritime charme about the decoration. The wooden walls, the dark carpet, the couch, the big screen below the window. Everything seemed fine, I thought. Food was prepared in the kitchen, even a bottle of wine. I never was interested in alcoholic drinks, but a friend of mine always praised red wine for taste and effect, claiming it definitely was a must-have for a date. That, and candles. Because of Mojo I had to improvise with the candles, only buying fake candles so the cat wouldn't set the apartment on fire when pushing them off the surface.

The door opened, Sombra entered. She looked beautiful. A black dress, very modern, but of course not very long. It didn't take long for us to sit down on the couch and get comfy. It was one of those pull-out-couches that turn into beds - for the lack of a bedroom, this was the best deal I could have made with my bit of money. I didn't waste a thought about my job this evening. All I had in mind was Sombra.

Everything went according to the plan and I soon found myself beneath her. It was incredible. Her gaze, full of love. Her touch, electrifying and warm. I felt like hot butter in her hands.

It was great. I wanted to be on top. It went on like this for a while. She had her arms wrapped around me, and I looked down at her, feeling the love. It was perfect.

And then... something felt wrong. I suddenly lost control over everything. I couldn't move my body. It was moving on its own. Her smile vanishes. I felt the urge to vomit. Something was moving up my throat. She panicked, then froze. I felt the slimy tentacle pushing my mouth wide open and then saw it entering her mouth. Inwardly, I was screaming in panic and fear. I started to remember.

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Screaming I woke up. It was dark. I looked around. Sombra was not around. It took a few seconds to realize that I was on the Apahanta. This was our room. Just a few tiny light diodes and displays showing some letters and numbers. My heart was still pounding like crazy and I was drenched in sweat. "Apahanta, light to 20%", I mumbled, but the ship's AI was able to understand it. The spot next to me was empty. Sombra was not here. "Apahanta, where is Sombra?"

"Observation Deck."

"Huh." I glanced over to the clock. I was 2.55 AM.

I was sitting there for a moment, just thinking about what I had dreamed. It was the first nightmare in a very long time. The fear and the panic were still the same. It was been years since that incident, but I never fully recovered from it, and likely, never will. Some wounds heal, some leave a scar.

Sleeping was out of question for now. Especially not without Sombra next to me. I got out of the bed and grabbed my Apahanta suit. A minute later left the room, heading for the observation deck. When I arrived there, I stopped as I heard voices. It was Sombra, and apparently Ezrael. They didn't seem to have noticed me approaching, so I decided to remain at the entrance for a moment, simply to listen what they were talking about. Sombra sat on the couch in front of the large window. Ezrael was standing in front of it, topless, his arms crossed. He was looking at her.

"... yeah. It's... I don't know, it just felt more real. But then again, that's usually always the case, right?"

"What was it about?" Sombra asked in a rather weak voice.

Ezrael exhaled audibly, shook his head and began to walk up and down, every now and then looking out of the window, then back at Sombs. "Curacao. I was at the beach, looked up at the sky. The Apahanta was there. Nomad warships, too. Osirises and Gebs, Makos and Bullheads, Gallia, Liberty, Bretonia, Crayter. In hindsight, nonsense, but, you know, you don't think like that when it's happening. Debris was falling from the sky, hitting the buildings left and right. Explosions, loud noise, corpses in the sand and in the water. I try to run away, but where can you run when thousands of ships fight in the sky above you."

Once more he exhaled audibly, obviously hassling to continue. I didn't see it but I heard Sombra patting the place next to her, so he sat down. "Paradise Lost..."

"It wasn't just that. The Apahanta was in the middle of all of that, and I didn't really see who was fighting whom. I got distracted because... Maren was there, hugging me from behind. It was scary. I didn't feel safe at all. It was less like a hug. More like an attempt to keep me in place. I heard her voice, and suddenly all kinds of horrible people showed up around me. Loyola, Golanski, Nodtviet, Dagon, Raven, Yoshida... It was extremely intimidating. I heard the telepathic screaching of the nomads, the chanting of Gloria Eterna Est, more explosions. And Maren. They all had guns, except for her. She just kept hugging me. I can still feel her hand on my cheek."

"Buttcheek?"

He smiled about that, a shot of air leaving his nose about that question. "No. Not my buttcheek. These people were around me, and between them, in the sand, I see the mangled corpses of... Sherry and... Leon... and Abigail, and Noel... and you... and I wanted to cry. Maren try to soothe me, saying Shhh... everything is alright... you're with me now... and I looked up at the sky and see the Apahanta burning, breaking apart, falling down like a fireball, directly heading for me. The air started to boil and as the nose of the ship hits me, I wake up. The nightmare was over. Maren is very, very, very far away. No Loyola, no Nodtviet, not Golanski, none of them. No nomads."

"And no Curacao." There was a moment of silence. "I'm sorry. I miss it, too. Maybe not as much as you do, but... I think it is a small price to pay. We needed to leave Curacao behind to stay alive."

"Yeah. Probably..." Again, silence. "I'm happy you're not dead. After all we've been through, I don't know if I could handle losing you or Noel or any of you..."

"Mhm... same here."

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" he asked.

She hesitated. "... It's not that big of a deal. I don't know..." A moment of silence. "The Apahanta was under attack, no idea whatsoever. Red alert, and I tried to find Noel. The AI was offline, the ship was shaking. I was in panic, running around while the ship was breaking apart. I just couldn't find him. I cried. Didn't see anyone, so I decided to check the bridge. Both of you were there, and then something exploded and... you died. It was horrible. Noel got hurt but survived, so I picked him up. I felt strong, wanting to save him at all cost. So I ran, trying to find the escape pods. At some point, I found them. Noel was bleeding, unconscious. I opened the airlocks, wanted to put him in the escape pod, but instead he somehow tossed me in and closed it without joining me, and he shot me into space. I screamed and cried, the Apahanta blew up, Noel died... and I was all lone in the pod, with nowhere to go. What a stupid idea..."

"That's... a nightmare, indeed."

"It wasn't that I was trapped in there, Ezrael. It was that... he wasn't with me. Neither you nor him... what's the point of surviving if you can't be with the ones you love?"

There was a minute or two of silence. He took her in his arms and she started crying. "It was just a dream. I'm here, and Noel is alive and happy, too." He held her for a while until the sobbing stopped. "So, you had a nightmare about losing Noel and the first thing after waking up is not staying with him?" he asked her, more jokingly. For a moment, I had the same thought.

"I didn't want to wake him up. He sleeps like an angel." Unlike her, who steals blankets and pillows in her sleep. "It felt good to see him after the nightmare. But, you know, after a nightmare, can't go back to sleep, otherwise the next dream will just be another nightmare. So I came here, and then you came here, too."

I thought about joining them, maybe even telling them about my own nightmare. But then I wondered how that would look to them, we all sitting there, talking about having had nightmares. So instead of doing something, I did nothing. I just remained in place, looking at them. Sombra stood up, Ezrael then, too. She turned to him, smiling.

"Well, thanks for listening. I'll... I guess I'll try to get some more sleep. I don't want Noel to miss out on our morning ritual." She leaned in to hug him. He wrapped his hands around her.

"He's quite lucky to have you. I miss the things you do."

She chuckled and leaned in for a kiss. He accepted. It took me a moment to realize that they were kissing a bit longer than I would have expected. A few seconds later, she abruptly pulled her head away, made him let go of her and took two steps back. For a while, they just stared at each other, remaining silent. "... just keep us alive, alright?"

He nodded. Sombra walked off. It was the moment where I started to run, too, wondering what that was all about.

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Uncharted System Stories: 18 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 85

Templates: Character | Transmissions

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