[OOC: (DREAM FROM PRIOR EDENSPHERE STAY)]
As a reminder, this is not a dream Seven has anymore; this was from the first time I played her in ES, and is kept for posterity's sake (among other things).
She stood in a field of rubble, a sense of urgency rushing through her. The sun was hazy behind clouds of dust, rising up and lingering in the air. Windless, the dust hung weightless in the sky, obscuring her view.
She wanted wind. Anything to cut through the dust. She took a step forward, but stopped, stifled and unable to breathe.
"Nnn-"
She felt something stir in the air around her. Wind picked up, a gentle breeze she found herself inhaling sharply, lungs filling with something fresh and bittersweet. Dust whirled and pooled to the sides, a cliff-face emerging in the distance. For a moment, she thought it was nothing but rock. She squinted, the slanting rays of the sun painting great shadows across the stone.
There were faces there. Three, maybe more. Only they weren't the faces they were supposed to be. She didn't understand why, but she knew instinctively the faces were wrong.
"Hey!" a voice called out, oddly familiar. She found herself turning around, and the dust began to fall. She almost didn't notice as it changed into rain, cold where it touched her head, shoulders, and back. Three people, maybe four, and they reminded her of something. The faces in the rock? She looked over her shoulder, but nothing was there. Just endless debris, which made her sad. She didn't know exactly why.
"Come on!" The three, maybe four people stood close together. One wearing bright orange waved. She felt herself smile. The one with black hair, he looked sour; and the one with silver, his lower face was covered up by something dark. The fourth she still couldn't see.
Behind them were others. She couldn't make them out either - a flash of black, maybe magenta - though that was the least of her worries. The rain fell harder, plastering her clothes to her body and turning the dirt and rubble into mud that sucked at her feet. The distance between herself and the three men seemed to grow even as she struggled forward.
"Wait!" she called out, slipping once, then again, pushing herself up with determination. She wouldn't allow those people to slip away. She felt a burst of energy shoot through her, and she was running, keeping her footing even as the rubble shifted, trying to crush her ankles.
She looked up, close enough now to see their eyes. All three of them shone red, and she stumbled again. Something about those eyes frightened her just as it solidified her determination to reach them. She had to be there. Whatever it was that drove her told her she had to be there. Those faces, earlier, on the cliff, had felt too much like tombstones. A disjointed vision of blood, of her hands, of skin re-knitting beneath them flashed through her mind - all that red - and then she was seeing their eyes again. Agitated, angry, sad; no one emotion she could pin down. What was she supposed to do?
I have to keep up.
Bridging the last gap, rainwater running in rivulets down her face, she crashed into them all. "Don't you ever," she said, pulling them into an awkward hug, "Think you can leave me behind." She knew, for a moment, why it mattered. They were a team, whatever that meant. "Team Seven."
"Team Seven." Four different voices, the same two words.
Team Seven. She'd never forget.
She stood in a field of rubble, a sense of urgency rushing through her. The sun was hazy behind clouds of dust, rising up and lingering in the air. Windless, the dust hung weightless in the sky, obscuring her view.
She wanted wind. Anything to cut through the dust. She took a step forward, but stopped, stifled and unable to breathe.
"Nnn-"
She felt something stir in the air around her. Wind picked up, a gentle breeze she found herself inhaling sharply, lungs filling with something fresh and bittersweet. Dust whirled and pooled to the sides, a cliff-face emerging in the distance. For a moment, she thought it was nothing but rock. She squinted, the slanting rays of the sun painting great shadows across the stone.
There were faces there. Three, maybe more. Only they weren't the faces they were supposed to be. She didn't understand why, but she knew instinctively the faces were wrong.
"Hey!" a voice called out, oddly familiar. She found herself turning around, and the dust began to fall. She almost didn't notice as it changed into rain, cold where it touched her head, shoulders, and back. Three people, maybe four, and they reminded her of something. The faces in the rock? She looked over her shoulder, but nothing was there. Just endless debris, which made her sad. She didn't know exactly why.
"Come on!" The three, maybe four people stood close together. One wearing bright orange waved. She felt herself smile. The one with black hair, he looked sour; and the one with silver, his lower face was covered up by something dark. The fourth she still couldn't see.
Behind them were others. She couldn't make them out either - a flash of black, maybe magenta - though that was the least of her worries. The rain fell harder, plastering her clothes to her body and turning the dirt and rubble into mud that sucked at her feet. The distance between herself and the three men seemed to grow even as she struggled forward.
"Wait!" she called out, slipping once, then again, pushing herself up with determination. She wouldn't allow those people to slip away. She felt a burst of energy shoot through her, and she was running, keeping her footing even as the rubble shifted, trying to crush her ankles.
She looked up, close enough now to see their eyes. All three of them shone red, and she stumbled again. Something about those eyes frightened her just as it solidified her determination to reach them. She had to be there. Whatever it was that drove her told her she had to be there. Those faces, earlier, on the cliff, had felt too much like tombstones. A disjointed vision of blood, of her hands, of skin re-knitting beneath them flashed through her mind - all that red - and then she was seeing their eyes again. Agitated, angry, sad; no one emotion she could pin down. What was she supposed to do?
I have to keep up.
Bridging the last gap, rainwater running in rivulets down her face, she crashed into them all. "Don't you ever," she said, pulling them into an awkward hug, "Think you can leave me behind." She knew, for a moment, why it mattered. They were a team, whatever that meant. "Team Seven."
"Team Seven." Four different voices, the same two words.
Team Seven. She'd never forget.