i could be the reason you can't sleep at night
Sipping in a shivery breath, Flora could feel her thoughts shifting and flinching as her mind became a more and more wild place, fraught with the idea that after all the hours that she'd had to endure in order to get back to Jack, that a stupid door was going to be the thing keeping them apart. The frustration flared as something like a scream rose up in the back of her throat, the pressure of it nearly unbearable. Leaning against the door, her eyes squeezed shut, it was pure chance that had her opening them again just in time to see a trickle of water weeping from the lock.
Straightening, hope fluttering faintly within her, Flora reached for the handle again. Though it was still cold and biting against her palm, it turned easily this time. "Jack?" She called out, her voice small in the thin quiet, as she stumbled uncertainly into the cabin. The interior was dark, pitch-black for the way her eyes failed to adjust. She blinked stupidly for a moment, her gaze struggling to make sense of the shadows until she saw the shape of a cot against the back wall and the huddled figure upon it little more than a heap of trembling blankets. Having been healed any number of times by Ronin while she slept, Flora was farther along than Jack was, so she might have guessed that he'd not be in a position to be mobile the way she was, but nothing prepared her for the smell of sweat and ice and lingering death that coated the inside of the cabin just as surely as snow coated the outside.
"Jack," she said, her voice breaking on his name. She shoved the door closed behind her, sealing away the rest of the world before stumbling toward the cot. Her movements were clumsy, her body aching, but she was careful of the captain's injuries too as she sank onto the thin mattress beside him. Every instinct screamed at her to be close, to reach out for him, but Flora forced herself to move slowly, mindful of the broken man she knew lay beneath those blankets.
Straightening, hope fluttering faintly within her, Flora reached for the handle again. Though it was still cold and biting against her palm, it turned easily this time. "Jack?" She called out, her voice small in the thin quiet, as she stumbled uncertainly into the cabin. The interior was dark, pitch-black for the way her eyes failed to adjust. She blinked stupidly for a moment, her gaze struggling to make sense of the shadows until she saw the shape of a cot against the back wall and the huddled figure upon it little more than a heap of trembling blankets. Having been healed any number of times by Ronin while she slept, Flora was farther along than Jack was, so she might have guessed that he'd not be in a position to be mobile the way she was, but nothing prepared her for the smell of sweat and ice and lingering death that coated the inside of the cabin just as surely as snow coated the outside.
"Jack," she said, her voice breaking on his name. She shoved the door closed behind her, sealing away the rest of the world before stumbling toward the cot. Her movements were clumsy, her body aching, but she was careful of the captain's injuries too as she sank onto the thin mattress beside him. Every instinct screamed at her to be close, to reach out for him, but Flora forced herself to move slowly, mindful of the broken man she knew lay beneath those blankets.
