Whump Girl Summer!
Team Whump - Nightmares
First Marra-centric fic I've written despite her being my oc for 10 years? Yup. @whumpawoman
“Who would’ve guess an alien society would have problems quite similar to our own?”
Marra nodded in reply and took a sip of her tea. She and Admiral Jentari looked out through the window of the viewing deck at the blue and green planet below. Clouds swirled over its land and oceans like dusted snow. It was pretty, she thought, when you ignored the good point the Admiral made.
“I guess you’re bound to see the same problems in a galaxy as big as this.”
The tea was warm, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint the taste. It was far off, more like a memory on her tongue than she could describe in the moment. She felt a smile of excitement coming on, but did her best to keep her composure. A personal meeting with the Admiral was no small thing. It was a great honor, everyone always said it meant future favors and opportunities very few would ever hope to achieve. Marra wouldn’t deny she felt excited sitting here with her.
Even if she couldn’t quite remember why she’d been summoned.
“Always the same problems,” Jentari mused as she took a sip from her own cup, “Traitors everywhere.”
“What?” Marra suddenly felt a growing feeling of worry when she saw the look of disdain on the Admiral’s face.
“You’re a traitor, Jylrosh,” Jentari growled as she stood up from her seat. The feeling of worry turned to dread in Marra’s stomach as she dropped her cup to the floor. The table between them was gone, but she couldn’t bring herself to get out of the chair and run. She was prey in the face of a terrifying predator.
How did she know? She can’t know!
I have to get out of here. Why can’t I move?!
“I should’ve known you were a spineless coward,” Marra struggled not to scream at the sight of Jentari’s signature blades eject from her fingertips, “My only regret is that I didn’t deal with you sooner.”
“Admiral, I—I didn’t—Please, I would never—I mean, I—”
“A traitor’s blessing won’t be enough punishment for you, Jylrosh,” Jentari raised her hand in the air. “You will die like the rest of them.”
“No, please!”
Jentari’s knives came down and plunged deep in Marra’s chest. She felt every inch of sharp metal cutting through her, slicing through muscle and bone as if it were paper. She screamed as Jentari pulled back, her blood spraying into the air before she stabbed her again. The smell of blood was overwhelming. It choked the air and bubbled up from her throat. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she was stabbed over and over again. She stared up at the Admiral, still hoping she could somehow beg for mercy in that icy cold stare.
In Jentari’s expression, Marra didn’t see anger or hate. Only disgust and disappointment.
Traitor.
A scream ripped through Marra’s throat as she bolted up. Her heart raced painfully as she reached up to her chest, desperate to stop the flow of blood. But there was no blood. She thought she could still smell and taste it, but none came away when she looked down at her hand. As the seconds passed, she saw that the room was dark, and she sat upright in a bed. Her bed, with her own blankets and pillow in the Pax Rebels’ sleeping quarters. There was no viewing deck, no Earth to see, no tea, no gaping wounds in her chest.
No Admiral.
It was just a dream.
Even so, Marra trembled and pulled her knees close to her chest. Maybe Jentari wasn’t here, but the fear of her was. She tried to put it out of her mind, tried to forget that look given to her in the final moments of her death. The image had to leave her mind in time, right? She just had to think of something else, anything else. Something funny, some chore she had to think about for the next morning, even something more frightening than her just to get that look out of her head. But there was nothing more frightening than the Admiral as an enemy. Try as she did, the nightmare stayed with her the rest of the night.
And the taste of blood was still on her tongue.
