DEREK!
{Her eyes snapping open, she sat bolt upright, furiously scrubbing the sleep from her eyes.
It was a dream. Just. A. Dream.
@FunnyDerek was still alive. He was downstairs, perfectly safe.
Not lying, bleeding on the floor.
... Right?
Peering at the --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- But we're so /close/..
{The thought of averting JDay, of being able to stop Skynet before it obliterated everything and almost everyone making his heart soar, he looked to Derek, desperately hoping that his brother had the answer.}
They're not going to listen to me. --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- feel safe.
{Looking away from Derek and up into the night sky, he swallowed hard and straightened up, fingers splayed against his knees.}
We don't operate through fear. That's not how it's done. That's what /they/ do. I slipped, Derek. I slipped and I'm sorry. --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- he looked back at his big brother, regret blazing in his eyes.}
It was the way he looked at me. It's... It's a different world. I know that. That idiot isn't built for it, but he looked at me... and he was afraid. I didn't make him feel /better/. I didn't make him --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- Damn...
{Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he eased at the sound of #Derek's footsteps behind him, chin slowly dropping to his chest.}
You can dress me up, but you can't take me anywhere, huh. {quietly} I'm... I'm sorry.
{Pushing a hand through his hair, --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- {Blinking, staring dumbly at his cramping hand, he forced his grip to loosen as he pushed to his feet, running past his brother and out on to the cabin porch. Dropping to his knees, he closed his eyes and lost his lunch, hoping like hell that #Savannah was still asleep.} --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- lives ending in gurgled pleas and a crunch of bone that somehow seemed louder than bullets.
Tin Cans, bent over /people/, inflicting terror on /people/, like he was on #Hugo.
He was mirroring Metal and it made his stomach turn.}
{mumbling} Oh God... --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek -- Terror, and he was the cause of it.
His pulse thudding in his ears, bile rising in his throat, he fought the mirror image memories of the same pose in a different time. Fallen brothers who'd had their lives squeezed away by merciless metal fingers. Their --
@MetalsNocturne@Fated_Leader@FunnyDerek {Fingers tightening around @PlayOrBePlayed_'s throat, he gazed into the man's crystal blue eyes and felt his breath slip away. He didn't see respect from #Hugo.
No fight.
No strength.
All he saw from the man was fear. No, more than that.
Terror. --