Chapter Text
Hailey gasped, sitting up in a rush and slurry of fear.
A month. A month since coming here, and a month of nightmares since.
She couldn't take it anymore. She watched Becker fall asleep next to her, watched Sabrina and Lyn go into their room.
Now she was alone.
Now, she was allowed to cry.
It felt like the floodgates had been opened, she couldn't keep her own eyes open, like they were never truly her's, like all that control was facade. Made to trick just for cruelty.
Everything felt heavy, like she was Atlas' descendant, not quite powerful enough for the job but condemned to doing it anyway.
There was a sort of poetry to panic, like all your emotions had come together and gotten confused. There was no way to sort it out either, they just got angrier, and sadder, and should be happier, and everything else the more you tried.
Beta actually might like that one. She could tell it to him when-
If she got back.
She bit her lip, she could cry, she couldn't sob. Becker would hear. Becker couldn't hear. Becker couldn't…
"Hails? You okay there?"
"No."
Backer must have been considering something very important to her. "Do you want to hold my hand over the pillow wall until you fall asleep?"
Hailey's breath hitched.
"Yes please, I would very much like that, thank you." She said quickly, half worried the opportunity would disperse if she responded too slowly.
Becker grinned, but it was a little forced.
And Hailey had a feeling in her stomach she couldn’t quite place.
Becker's hand soon sat on top of the mountain separating the sides of the bed.
"Well there's one bonus to There only being two beds here."
"What?"
"I get to make sure you're okay."
Hailey swallowed. She watched the light on Becker's face bounce off. Her soft nose, and pretty long eyelashes…
Was she always this… Breathtaking?
-
God damn it, what was she thinking?
She had to kiss a girl, and to do that she comes up with the worst pick up lines known to man?
This wasn’t her! It wasn't even something a decent person would say, more like a frat boy with no alcohol tolerance.
She didn't even know what damage she had done, because she couldn't ask Hailey.
If she'd told her then-
The night they got… The night…
If she'd told her? It would seem like she was trying to be genuine, like she really was.
But now?
She would have been hiding it, this whole time, right under Hailey's nose! It would look like every nice word, or caring gesture, was just for an ulterior motive.
The worst part was, she knew that was technically true too.
-
So…. Maybe working at a bakery as a barely legal to work couple of teenagers, with little to no training, wasn't so easy.
It was actually a miracle that the age limit here for working and handling machinery was thirteen. Either that… Or it was horrific. Becker couldn't really fully decide no matter how hard she tried.
Becker stared down at her fingers, locked up in pain.
Or at least she tried to, it was dark. So dark her fingers almost blended into the nothingness. Her eyes received static in place of actual images, like her optic nerve was broken. Which was terrifying because- Wait… No! Could it actually be?
She couldn’t fully move her fingers anymore.
This must be somebody’s nightmare
This might just be the scariest thing that had ever happened to her. Except the fact that someone was outside the storage room yelling “Chaos!” and actually denting the door, that was a little scarier.
God, she’d spent one whole month here, why was this world getting even more dangerous?
A month ago she would have burst down the door herself, but she knew better. Whatever it was, in this world? She did not want to mess with it.
That was when she heard Hailey.
"Gah!"
"Hailey? Hailey! Fu-"
Banging, and the sound of metal filled the air. Then, "I'm fine Becker. Are you?"
"Yeah… I'm… I'm fine!" She detested the facts of how her voice sounded, broken, and scared.
She wasn't allowed to be scared here! Hailey needed her to remain calm, just like Mom and Scott had. Just like Chainsaw when he lost his mom! And… And everyone else. She could be calm! Totally. She just needed to breathe, and the rest would take care of itself.
Or…
Maybe she didn’t even need to actually be calm. Maybe it was like when she was little, and even when she felt about ready to burst, she just needed to take a breath and push it down. There had be something to take it out on, right?
Violence would be frowned upon. So would doing literally anything else remotely helpful.
So, what other options did she have?
Punching a pillow? Never worked. And she would never go to alternate universe therapy. Maybe if she-
Just then, Hailey opened the door, and stared at Becker’s hands.
The fingers were white.
A stark, almost sort of blinding white, like a horror movie bone prop, like some sort of white Angel's afterlife issued wings.
"Becker?"
She looked up from her hands, trying to look calm, trying to be calm but… It wasn't really working.
God, she had to get herself under control. Showing emotions at a time like this was the worst possible move!
"Becker, are you okay? Oh my god-"
"Hailey, I'm fine. I just…" She swallowed. She could do this, right? "I need some heat. Now!"
"I'll go get some!"
"Get Merida!"
Merida, was their eighteen year old manager. Who frankly, probably couldn't do a thing in the situation they were in right now.
Becker winced as she felt her numb fingers start to turn to burning. Which, was never a good sign.
"Mother of-"
"Not now Merida!"
"Right, got it… Let's get you to a hospital."
"What makes you think I can afford a hospital on a coffee shop salary?" Becker snapped.
"Well don't your parents make more?"
"No!"
"Okay! Well, I'm just trying to-"
"Sorry," She started again, as she saw the look on the high schooler's face, "I'm a little panicked, but I don't want to take it out on you."
Merida paused.
"It's okay, you're just a little frazzled is all, I get it."
"Yeah… Frazzled."
"We'll run it in some warm water first. Do you need help getting up Becker?"
"No, I've done worse, I'll manage."
-
Sabrina had come home with a gash through half her right hand. Both Sabrina and Lyn refused to share as to why.
Becker, naturally, was the one most capable to treat it.
Now, Becker sat, chewing her inner lip, unable to stop and silently praying to herself or whatever was out there that it wouldn't bleed. She didn't want anyone to notice she was in pain. It would lead to more.
"You sure you don’t want like, a tourniquet for that?" She asked, helping bandage the older girl's wound.
"Although I get the terrifying feeling you could actually make a working one, no. I'm good." Sabrina said, lifting the pressure bandages to check, "And I think I'm fine. My fingers will heal… Eventually. I'm more worried about you. You got early stages of frostbite? That's serious Becker, these attacks-"
"Attacks? Plural? None of whoever it was ever pulled anything on me or Hailey before."
Sabrina stared at the suddenly very intriguing floor. "Those people, the ones yelling Chaos… They're not from this timeline. Or this universe. Are they?" Becker questioned.
"No. Becker, I… Am so-"
"We're back with supplies!" Lyn burst in with Hailey, and Becker watched Sabrina go from actual person with emotions to living doll in a matter of instants.
"Hailey! Are you okay? I didn't get to ask, but the- The people didn't hurt you, did they?"
"No? Why?"
"Nothing! It's all fine."
Becker listened to the three other people, the only people she had actually trusted her life with without choosing to, or at all.
And she wished they would stay happy, if she told them about everything. That if they did they'd still love her, doubts, and fears, and emotions and all.
But they wouldn't. She wanted silent pain. She wanted pain. Not physical! But still. She wanted to know she wasn't broken for no reason, that something was behind it.
She wanted her lip to bleed.