Chapter Text
“Shh… shh… it’s alright. Come here…”
Gale reached for you the instant he sensed your panic, pulling you firmly against his chest. His arms wrapped around you in that instinctive, protective way of his. You could feel your own heartbeat hammering against him, wild and frantic, as cold sweat clung to your skin.
Your breath hitched again, catching in your throat as you tried to separate waking from dreaming. The nightmare still clawed at the edges of your mind—faces, shadows, screams you could not name—something terrible slipping through your fingers each time you reached for it. You didn’t remember it, not truly, but the terror lingered like smoke in your lungs.
Gale held you tighter.
You clung to him as though you might fall without him; your hands fisting in the thin fabric of his sleep shirt, knuckles white, nails digging just slightly into his shoulder. You pressed your face against him, inhaling sharply, greedily, drawing in the familiar warmth of his skin and the faint traces of parchment and spice that always seemed to cling to him.
“It’s alright,” he murmured again, his breath brushing your temple. One hand stroked the back of your head, slow and rhythmic, while the other anchored you by the waist, holding you as if you were something precious he refused to let slip away. Because to him, you are.
Your lungs stuttered with each inhale, your chest rising against his in short, uneven bursts, but his presence began to ease the ache. You felt the nightmare loosen, dissolving like mist, replaced by the steady cadence of Gale’s breathing. It was quiet, patient, grounding and so achingly familiar. A tether to the present.
Your trembling softened. Not gone, not entirely, but dulled under the weight of him, the warmth of him.
You exhaled finally, a shuddering breath that shook through your whole body, and Gale only drew you closer, his chin resting atop your head, his hand smoothing down your back in gentle, reassuring strokes.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, so soft you almost didn’t hear it. “You’re safe.”
And pressed against him like that, wrapped in his arms, you let yourself believe it.