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The darkness was becoming familiar in a way that it shouldn’t be. The mounting pressure against Ryder was overwhelming enough without the crushing weight of the entire galaxy’s faith in her as their sole saviour, and that was without even mentioning the deaths of both her parents and her brother being in a coma. She couldn’t even think about all the events that had happened in her personal life, all she left behind and all the things she’d lost. There was too much to do, too many things to fix and so many needing help. She barely had enough hours in the day to take care of the tasks that needed to be done, much less to care for more than her basic needs.
When it was quiet the darkness crept in, tidal waves of thoughts and emotions that threatened to drown her. A faceless monster lurking in the back of her mind, coming forward only when her thoughts went idle. The crushing weight of her world bore down on her, so intense she could focus on nothing else, only what was happening in her own mind.
Well, almost nothing else. The soft touch of a warm blue hand, usually on her hip, registers through the fog. “Ryder,” says the voice it belongs to. “Come back to me.”
Ryder takes a few deep breaths, and Peebee slowly comes into focus. Neither say anything, they just press closer and twine themselves around each other. Cradled in Peebee’s strong arms, Ryder runs her fingers over any skin she can find, mapping the familiar planes and details of Peebee’s skin. Peebee knows this action, she doesn’t have to ask why it helps, or about just how the action grounds Ryder. She’s felt it through melds during vulnerable moments. She stays silent, permissive, letting Ryder move her as needed.
Eventually, when the darkness recedes to a shadow at the back of her mind, Peebee tilts Ryder’s face up so their eyes meet. They take a moment to just look, taking in each other and the invisible strings that tie them together. Neither knows who moves first, but suddenly their lips meet, soft and warm and filled with so much love, and for just a moment, Ryder’s world burns with the light of a thousand stars.