❛ night terrors . hold my muse after they wake up from a nightmare .
weathered lungs still ache from running. ( she thought she was done with this part -- she thought she was done with the capitol. ) now, she sits, her arms cuffed too tightly behind the chair. sweat pours from her forehead, her heart pounding so loud she can barely hear her surroundings. tempest opens her mouth, ready to scream and shout until her last breath -- only, she finds a cloth wrapped around her head, keeping her silent.
hands pull at her binds, soft -- scared -- whines past through the cloth. then, she hears his voice. a voice she has memorized, a voice that makes her freeze, a voice that will always hold onto her life. eyes blink the sweat, and tears that form around her eyes as she looks up. he looks the same as he always does. white hair, the smell of metal covered with roses. ( he thinks no one knows -- but she does. ) she tries to speak around the cloth, ready to use everything she knows about him to steal her way out of this. but, it all muffled together. new frustrated tears start to form in her eyes. ( she supposes she’s had longer than she deserved -- living when she’s taken other’s. she wonders how they could have changed this world. )
she expects him to say something -- to interrogate her, to scare her, to threaten her. he doesn’t. instead he turns, her head following his movements. ( how could she not notice the chair next to her ? how could she not notice alexi next to her -- in her same position. only [ . . . ] he hasn’t woken. ) fresh muffled screams slip around the cloth. her head shakes violently, as she tugs harder against her binds -- so hard she can feel skin tear, she thinks she may break her arm. then she sees it, the gun gleaming from the little light around them. now, her chair is wobbling from her tugs, ready to throw herself in the middle. she watches in horror as snow’s arm lifts, his focus intently on alexi. more muffled scream sound around her just before she hears the fire.
eyes flash open, a scream already escaping her lips. sweat pours on her face, her back, some glimmers off her chest. tempest violently shoves sheets off her body, as she scrambles to the head of her bed. arms wrap around her knees, trying to make herself as small as she can. more screams are ripped from her lungs, even as she recognizes the room she fell asleep in. but, she can’t stop. even when she hears the door open, and alexi’s voice. eyes close hard, as tears begin to pool. she jumps, a new scream pulling from her lips when she feels a hand against her shoulder. ‘ hey, shh. you’re okay.’ his voice is light, softly than she’s heard.
her head shakes, as a loud sob falls past her lips, both her hands cupping over her face. his hand vanishes from her shoulder. and for a moment, she hates it. the absence of grounding warmth to hold her here, alive, away from snow. another sob falls from her lips, though this one muffled by her palms. she wants to ask him to stay -- to beg if she has to. just as she starts to lower her hands, she feels a dip in her bed. then, arms wrap around her ; one around her back, one around her knees. he all but lifts her closer to him. tears and gasps of breath still leave her, as she does her best to focus on the tight embrace he’s offered. ( she’ll be sure to thank him later. )