Log // Alison, Haroun // Night Terrors

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Sometime in the early morning hours, between Wednesday and Thursday. Haroun has a nightmare, one in a series of many following a similar theme. A temporary solution to help tide him over from the feeling of being grounded is found, however.

It was about three AM when Haroun woke up with a strangled cry that could almost have been a scream. His eyes were wild and unfocused in the darkness, and his breaths came roughly, as if he had been exerting himself greatly.

There were time, Alison reflected, as she took a slow breath, that the current sleep method they'd worked out came in really, truly handy. Such was the case this time, really - the wild kicking and lashing out had entirely avoided her, installed where she was near the top of the bed instead of the usual side by side sleeping arrangement. Speaking softly she reached out, one hand resting lighlty on Haroun's shoulder, the other bracing her up so she could look down at him, the low glow enough for him to make out who was nearby rather than take the chance that he might still be half awake and only make out a looming shadow in the dark.

Haroun took a few moments to come fully back to his senses. The nightmare retreated as awareness advanced. "Nightmare." he said, disgusted with himself. "It felt so real..." he said with a shiver, collapsing back against Alison. "Same damn thing night after night."

Once it was clear he was awake and aware of his surroundings, Alison shifted closer to him, wrapping her arms around him as he leaned against her. Stroking the side of his face gently she murmured in a low, soothing voice, waiting for him to go on.

"I was looking up at the sky. Impossibly blue, perfect sky. I wanted to fly. I needed to fly. But something was holding me back. Something cold, covered in sharp edges. Something inside of me. It was watching me - studying me." he said with a shudder. "I need some air." he said, sliding out of bed and walking over to the flight deck. He wasn't wearing anything save his sleeping sweatpants, and the air dropped in temperature noticeably when he opened the door to the flight deck.

Pausing only to slip on a nightrobe and grabbing the longcoat she kept by the door leading to the small flight deck slash balcony, Alison followed, closing the door carefully behind them to keep the night's cold from getting inside the bedroom. She didn't say a word as she stood next to him, ready to lean in against him when the moment seemed right and otherwise giving him time to think and breathe, the crisp evening breeze racing across the grounds as they stood in silence under the stars.

Haroun was looking up, not over at Alison. He was gazing at the sky with something approximating naked longing on his face. "I wish I could fly." he said softly to no-one in particular. "I miss it."

Stepping closer, Alison wrapped her arms around his middle, leaning in against his back - both for warmth and just for the fact that being able to do so, knowing he was fine and with time would recover fully was still a wonder to her. "You'll fly again. The therapy's going well and your body's accepted the implants fully. It's just about adjusting to the fine tuning now..."

Haroun sighed deeply. "I know." he said. "It will just take time for everything to get happy." he sighed. "Just wish I could dream of something else other than that presence. It's always so cold, so rigid. Alien. And it's always watching. Waiting." he said, and then shuddered violently in reaction.

Pondering his words, Alison remained silent for a moment, light filtering from her slightly as she tried to bleed off some heat to compensate for the cold weather. "Have you spoken to Charles about it?" she asked softly, frowning a bit in thought.

Haroun nodded, shivering a bit from the cold. It seemed his internal fires were also offline along with the rest of his power. "I've been talking to Charles as well as with a specialist he recommended." he said. "They stress how it will take time, how we are charting unknown seas in neurokinetics and cybernetics." he explained. "But I miss the sky."

She nodded at that then moved just a bit, enough to shift her hold on him and move further, to look up at his face. "You can't fly just yet, though you will soon, but..." she paused, then offered him a small smile, "...maybe there's something else we could do about flying, in the meantime?" She looked up as well, briefly. "Pretty sure I can justify a night run on the 'Bird."

Haroun was sorely tempted, the devil and angel sitting on his shoulders whispering into his ears their honeyed words. "Awfully expensive to indulge one man's desire to soar..." he said doubtfully. "Allah knows I want to, but..."

"I need to log in more night flying time," Alison said softly, knowing perfectly well Haroun had not been cleared to fly yet. "Won't be the same, but it's up there and you won't have to think for a while..."

Haroun smiled tenderly at Alison, a look he didn't show anyone but her. "As your flight instructor I -insist- on riding shotgun for your very important night-flight training." he said with a grin and a violent shiver. "Now let's go put something warm on before I catch my death out here." he grumbled.

"Men and colds," Alison teased gently, not at all upset about following him back inside. "Why don't you get changed and I'll put it in official notice of supervised night flying up, mmm?" She grinned and headed for her desk - and the portable - infinitely relieved to have found a solution, however temporary, to soothe Haroun's troubles.

"Hey, I'm the one who contracted the Sniffling Death a week or so ago. I catch a cold, it's a life-threatening spore that threatens to kill everyone within a few miles." he said as he dug through his closet for something to wear. "You're the one who throws on five hundred thousand and four additional blankets and demands chicken soup with dumplings in among her intravenous Vitamin C intake..." he mock-grumbled.

"Yeah, but I look cute while doing all that," she quipped back at him shamelessly, even as she flipped the laptop shut once more. "And we're all set - let me get changed and we're ready to go!" She vanished in the bathroom in one of those motions which said she'd be ready under a minute, leaving him alone in the bedroom for a few moments.

Haroun watched her retreat into the bathroom to do Unspeakable Female Things, and chuckled despite himself. "Not as cute as Drooly Alison." he said quietly, forgetting for a moment that her hearing was insanely sharp.

"Pbhhhhhht!" was the reply to that from the bathroom, before Alison bounded out once more, diving into the wardrobe to claim a pair of jeans and one of Haroun's own shirts. "C'mon! Ship to fly, birds to freak out! We've got stuff to do!"

Haroun blushed just a bit and then swatted Alison on her butt. "Lay on, MacDuff!" he said with a smile.