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Lucy woke up to screaming. She spent the first few moments of her newfound consciousness to determine if it was her screaming. She didn’t often have nightmares, but they weren’t an unknown phenomena. Even less uncommon was rolling onto a wing or an angry joint and waking to her own shout of pain. It seemed this particular evening featured neither, as the screams continued as she rose to consciousness. She spared half a glance for the clock at her bed side (three in the morning), before grabbing her crutches and following the screams to her friend’s room. Friend? Charge? Ed, whoever she was to Lucy. She was neither awake nor handling the screams well enough for that particular question.
The scene that greeted Lucy when she pushed open the door was both exactly what she was expecting and infinitely worse. Ed was bolt upright in her bed, screaming furiously. Her hands balled the sheets and she nearly tore into them with her fervor. Lucy couldn’t see her eyes well, between the light, the angle, and Ed’s expression. But she could swear they were bloodshot black. Lucy had never seen anything like it. She wavered in the door for a moment, having no idea if Edison could be dangerous in this state and so clearly absent. She chided herself for that thought as quickly as it crossed her mind. Lucy was her guardian angel for god’s sake.
The overwhelm from the noise pushed in on Lucy’s mind, a bubble growing smaller, threatening to pin her where she was. She pushed back against it with all her strength, angelic and very, very human. She needed to bring Ed back to herself. Moving closer to the screams felt like moving through molasses, but she made her way to Edison’s bed, kneeling in front of her and spreading her wings wide before the other woman. It seemed to startle Ed for a moment, her grip loosed and the screams broke slightly. Encouraged, Lucy began to beat her wings gently, trying her hand at comfort by cooing reassurances to the other woman. The cooling air on Ed’s face seemed to have the desired effect, her screams subsided and the black receded from her eyes as she seemed to see and registester Lucy in front of her. All at once, Lucy found herself with arms, and wings, full of sobbing Dr Tucker. She was clearly back to herself, not in the state Lucy had found her in, but whatever it was clearly shook her up something awful. The screams had bored into Lucy’s head and the overwhelm had frozen her. The sobs, while less hard on her head, bore into her heart in the same way. She felt woefully unprepared for the scene she found herself in, nearly finding herself wishing she was able to address it like a nasty demon. Protecting Ed without her sword still came as natural an instinct as walking, but she felt as though she was a babe again relearning the skill from scratch.
She forcibly brought herself back to reality. Absent spiraling about her ability to deal with this did nothing but worsen said ability. She squeezed Ed tighter with her arms, and brought her wings around to shield her, creating a safe bubble for the both of them. Ed buried her face into Lucy’s shoulder and began a broken babble through her sobs.
“He was back! Lucy, Lucy I swore he was back and I didn’t have control! Lucy I was stuck I couldn’t move I was stuck he was taking me again!”
Lucy didn’t have a clear picture of what happened, but she certainly had a guess.
“Hey, Edison, You’re alright. You’re safe. Your body is yours, you’re driving. You’re in control”
Unfortunately, this only made Edison cry harder, which was not the intended consequence. Lucy took a deep breath, opting to wait out the crying instead. Edison clutched to her like a lifeline, so she didn’t think she could escape if she wanted to. That thought surprised her, she topped and sat with it. She realized, suddenly, that even though this looked like the textbook example of her worst nightmare, she didn't want to. Even beyond the instinct of protecting Edison, she wanted to be here, holding her. So she tried again.
“I’m here. I’ve got you, Edison”
That had a better effect. Edison took a deep, shuddering breath. She was still weeping, and Lucy could feel a fine trembling in her arms, but the sobs waned. After what felt like an eternity, but was likely only a moment, she heard Edison, in the smallest voice she’d ever heard.
“You’re here. You’ve got me.”
Lucy hugged the other woman tighter, and kissed the top of her head. She wasn’t sure where that came from, but it drew another deep sigh out of Edison, and she started up again.
“My name is Edison Tucker. I have 4 Doctorates. I have occasional sleep paralysis, that was sleep paralysis, not possession. I am being held by Lucille Kensington. Hi Lucy.”
Lucy huffed a laugh, “Hi Edison. Do you want some water?”
“Yes. But not yet”
Lucy felt the grip of her charge tighten to a vice around her middle, and resigned herself to staying precisely where she was til Ed was ready. She was surprised to find she didn’t mind it.