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Steam hissed next to Omega’s face, the hot water vapor nearly singeing her cheek. She’s backed up, surrounded by darkness that was only broken by lines of glowing red. She breathed heavily, fear making her heart pound against her chest. She could hear heavy footsteps stomping towards her, and she whipped her head around, trying to find a way out. The rusted metal walls stretched upwards, disappearing into the black. She was trapped.
A fierce, low growl had her shrinking back. She wants to move back farther, but the wall behind her is radiating heat, and she needs to stay where she is to not get burned. A shadow somehow falls over her, cast by a hulking figure standing at the end of the hallway in front of her. One blind eye shines dangerously by the light of the superheated metal, the red light reflecting off the milky white.
“W-Wrecker?” She called. She felt dizzy with fear, her chest heaving as she inched back as far as she could go.
She turned her head, her pupils constricting when she sees leaping, flickering flames engulf the wall behind her. She looked back, and couldn’t suppress the shriek that leaves her lips when the shadow is now right in front of her. A cold, clawed hand gripped her throat, the sharp clawtips sinking into her neck like knives. She grabbed the hand, thrashing and clawing at the shadow.
She tries to reach out to the Force, to summon the power that she know she has access to. Yet all that greets her is uncaring silence. She’ll find no help there.
“-ga?”
The hand’s grip tightened, and Omega finds that her breath has been stolen away when she is forced into the wall of fire. The flames lick at her skin as she screams silently, the heat melting the skin off her muscles and drip onto the floor. The exposed nerves screech in pain before they too are burned away. The fire eats away at everything, the snapping, crackling heat greedily consuming her. Any tears that had started to fall were now sizzling beneath her eyes, the steam and smoke from her own burning flesh choking her more than the hand already was.
“-mega?”
The figure grinned, white-hot flames that were shaped like teeth greeting her. The shadow’s jaw unhinged, revealing row after row of those flickering, burning teeth. It lunged forward, and Omega felt those same teeth sink into her face.
“Omega!”
Omega screamed, her legs kicking wildly as she was wrenched free of the nightmare’s grasp. She landed on her back, the pain of her burns not helping her come back to reality. Suddenly, there were two hands on her, close together as the grabbed her own. She felt her hands being squeezed, firm but not hard enough to hurt. Through her sobs and tears, she could just make out the worried face of Cal, his bright green eyes wide with concern.
“I-I-I,” Omega choked, fat tears rolling down her fear-paled cheeks, “Wh-what? Cal?”
“You were having a nightmare. Looks like it was a bad one.” He said, still holding her hands.
“Mhm.” She sniffed, hiccuping as she rubbed her eyes against her shoulder.
Cal gently eased her up, letting Omega curl up against him. She rested her head on his shoulder, her body trembling as she sought out any comfort she could get. He lifted his arms above her head, moving them down over her shoulders so that he could give her the best hug that he could for the time being. She’d done the same for him when he been crying his eyes out the other day, and the closeness brought him comfort as well. His nights had been filled with the memories of his master’s death, and he had wanted nothing more than a warm hug at the time.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked quietly. Pillow, who had been sleeping up until Omega had awoken, swung his head around and nuzzled Omega comfortingly.
“I-I was back on the Jedi cruiser,” She started, “that’s where me and my squad went to get their chips removed. When we were there, one of their chips activated, and he-he chased me do-down into the bottom of the ship. It-it was hot down there because there was steam leaking in, and he… he pinned me against one of the burning hot walls.”
She shuddered, sniffling again.
“In my dream, I was in that room again, only this time it wasn’t Wrecker, it was a- a shadow monster. A-and it grabbed me, and there was fire, and I was burning, and- and- and.”
She started crying again, her tears making a wet spot on Cal’s shirt as she cried. The redhead brought her closer to him, letting her cry. Pillow crooned sadly and curled around them, shielding Omega from the view of any possible unwanted guests while she was in this vulnerable state. Omega’s head hurt, whether it was from the crying, the lack of food, or both, she couldn’t tell.
“I,” She sniffed, her chest heaving from the lack of oxygen, “I miss my family. Hunter always knew how to make things better. I wanna go home.”
“Me too,” Cal whispered,
“me too.”