That Which Lurks in the Shadows

Ketzie's eyes shot wide open as they struggled to free themselves from the bed. Their breath was ragged as they finally managed to extract themselves from what was trapping them. Gaze set on the floor as their mouth was open, panting. They struggled against the urge to close their eyes to shake the nightmare away, but couldn't risk closing their eyes. Not with the memory so fresh. Something moved behind them and they tensed up, ready to run or fight at a moments' notice. Whatever it came to.

Slow, uneven steps approached them before stopping to their left. "Ketz?" A quite, sleep muddled voice came.

Ketzie took a deep breath and felt some of the tension leave their body. "H-hey." was all they could manage along with a quick side glance. They were still breathing hard but attempted to rein it in as to not worry their partner.

It was quiet for a moment before Faust slowly slipped her paw over to gently rest on top Ketzie's hand; they flinched before realizing what was happening. It was light enough that Ketzie could easily pull away but heavy enough to help ground them in the moment. "Do you want to talk about it?" Faust's voice was less rough with sleep now and held a note of concern. Ketzie was willing to bet that Faust was watching them with that same concern reflected in her eyes.

"I-" Did they want to talk about it? It would be so much easier to just shake their head, crawl back into bed with Faust, and pretend this never even happened. Except they knew perfectly well that Faust wouldn't just let this go. Though she would also respect whatever they decided they wanted to do. Honestly they should talk about it, but really the last thing they wanted to do right now was bring back up the painful memory. Something bumped their arm. They briefly glanced down to see Flake staring at them as well. Ketzie entertained the thought that if the tion could cross her arms she would be doing so at the moment. They took a shaky breath before looking at Faust. Ah, they'd been right. There was that concerned look. "I... had a nightmare." A brief pause. "About..." They gestured down to their prosthetic leg.

Faust's face softened. She gently nuzzled Ketzie's shoulder before looking at them again. "You're safe Ketz. It can't hurt you anymore." She smiled tiredly. "And if it somehow went after you again I'd help you fight it off. It wouldn't stand a change against both of us." She yawned, a cocky smile on her muzzle.

"I know." They agreed quietly, because logically they knew that was true. Ketzie would never go back and the soyowas that hunted them down back then wouldn't magically decide to one day track them down to finish the job. Despite that the small, illogical part of their brain was still scared. They were usually quite good at not dwelling on the past, but every once in a while it had a habit of crawling out of wherever it went when they weren't thinking about it. Those were not typically pleasant times.

A bump to their shoulder pulled them from their thoughts. "Hey, don't get lost in your head right now." Faust shook her head fondly. "I know spiraling thoughts when I see them."

Ketzie managed a weak laugh. Their breathing had returned mostly to normal now; the tension in their body hadn't left though. "You're right. The last place I wanna be is stuck in my head right now."

Faust regarded them, tired eyes drifting to the softly glowing markings on their body then back to their face. "How are you feeling?" She asked, seemingly holding back a yawn.

Right it was late huh? Ketzie didn't really want to focus on just how early it probably was right now though. How did they feel indeed. That was the question. "Truthfully? Scared, stressed, and-" they thought for a moment. "-tired."

A sage nod from Faust was all the answer they got for a moment. "I get it. There's... a lot of stuff from my past that still haunts me. Sometimes I really do wonder why I got to live and not my mom. I know that it's not really my fault and all that but... that little voice in the back of my head can really make me doubt that sometimes." A yawn. "It's something like that for you right?"

Ketzie offered her a weak smile and small nod. "I just... always feel like I failed there. I should have known not to go, but I went anyway. All cause I thought I could do it. Look where that got me." They finished bitterly, pinning their ears back and frowning.

A tap on their hand brought their attention back to Faust. "Yeah." She frowned as well. "Look where it got you." She gestured widely with her other paw. "You might never have moved here. You may have never met Flake." She gestured with her muzzle to the tion in question who was currently plastered to Ketzie's side. When had that happened? "We-" she motioned between the two of them "-might have only continued to exchange those letters and not had this." A silent pause. "I might have never found the missing puzzle piece." She finished quietly.

Faust tucked her head into Ketzie's shoulder and closed her eyes. Ketzie's frown deepened, that hadn't been their intention but... They took a deep breath. They wrapped their tail around Faust best they could. "Yeah... you're right." They laid a hand on Flake's head and pet her while they attempted to nuzzle Faust despite the odd angle. There was limited success. Faust wrapped a tentative wing around them; Ketzie didn't fight it.

The two stayed like that for a little while, just taking comfort in each other's presence. "Plus-" Faust started, voice slightly muffled "-you're alive. Things could have gone so much worse." A shaky breath. "I was... so scared when I didn't hear from you for a while. When I got that letter from you... I was so happy and relieved."

"And I am sorry again for not letting you know sooner." Ketzie's eyes were drooping with exhaustion.

"I know." Faust adjusted herself to more comfortably curl around Ketzie. Flake took the opportunity to make herself comfortable as well. "Now I'm tired, you're tired. Let's get some more sleep and we'll talk more about this when we're not half asleep okay?" She tilted her head to get a better look at Ketzie.

They nuzzled Faust and more comfortably adjusted themself into the cuddle as their answer. Faust chuckled before settling down as well. Ketzie's last thought before drifting back into a peaceful sleep was just how lucky they were to have Faust.