Morgan had problems sleeping even before their time on the ship; insomnia and frequent nightmares saw to that. They had been prescribed some sleeping medication, but some nights those didn't work as well as Morgan hoped. And when they did? It was a coin toss as to whether or not they'd have a nightmare so intense it yanked them out of a deep sleep. They had tried to get a stronger prescription, but had been denied because they "couldn't be trusted not to self-medicate". (The Chief Medical Officer was just doing his job; it wasn't fair for Morgan to hold it against him. And it wasn't as if they could refute his claim either, nor could they explain that their circadian rhythm was so fucked up because they had been caught in a loop)
On this particular night, Morgan woke up with phantom pain in their left hand and tears drying on their cheeks. Another dream about their confrontation with Atlas in the warp core room. Teeth clinking together and stars exploding before their vision as the fire extinguisher collided with their head. The vice-like grip on their wrist and the sharp, burning pain as the crystal was ripped from their palm. The agony of clinging onto Atlas with that hand as the wormhole tried to rip him away. The dread sinking like a stone into their stomach as he slipped away.
Sleep constantly evaded Morgan no matter what they tried; jumping jacks, folding their laundry, organizing their craft drawer. Every time their head hit the pillow and they began to drift off, another terror would jump to the forefront of their mind. Even their infamous stubbornness had its limits, and eventually Morgan resigned themself to not getting any sleep for the remainder of the night. Thin cotton blanket draped over their shoulders like a cape, Morgan padded down the corridor. Gunther's ear-rupturing snores and the gentle hum of the ship's insides reminded Morgan that The Invincible II was alive. They hadn't woken up to a cold, dead ship.
They had no destination in mind, just movement for the sake of movement. Their mindless wandering eventually led them to a part of the ship they hadn't spent nearly enough time in; a more recreational section that housed the galley and break room. The windows- shattered with a loud crash that was swallowed up by the void of space. Alarms blared as Morgan was swept off their feet into the endless, glittering abyss of glass and stars. The cold seized them and the air in their lungs caused them to burst. They only felt that agony for a mercifully brief second before death claimed them.- Morgan squeezed their eyes shut and sucked in a breath. They curled their toes against the cool linoleum floor. When they dared to open their eyes, the break room was peacefully silent. The stars on the other side of the glass twinkled. Morgan took in a deep breath. They were fine. They were safe. They would only have to be on the ship for a little while longer. They were...
Silhouetted against the stars was a figure, occupying one of the small square tables. Too broad to be Lady, but not broad enough to be Wug. Someone else? No, no, no, not possible; Morgan had increased the ship's security. Everyone who was currently on The Invincible II were supposed to be there; not a single outlier. Morgan took a breath, wishing they had grabbed their PDA at the very least, and tip-toed towards the other person.
It was Atlas, looking out into the blanket of stars with a distant look on his face. Dressed down as he was, Morgan could see the dark blotches of skin tissue across his arms and shoulder. Their stomach lurched and their heart jumped into their throat. Whatever he had gone through in the wormhole... whatever he had been subjected to in that eternity, it hadn't been kind to him. Morgan still had scars; burns, gashes, and of course the electric burn like scars on their left arm, staring from the meaty part of their palm. Whatever Atlas had encountered seemed to have taken out chunks. And that was only on his arms.
(They remembered the stink of burning flesh and ozone as Lady's blaster melted through cloth and skin and muscle and bone. The horrible, rattling breaths Atlas took as he defended his Captain; somehow still alive despite the smoldering crater in his chest.)
Morgan shook their head again and waved a hand to get Atlas's attention. "Couldn't sleep either?"
Everything was too loud. While alone on the Invincible II, he could hear everything. Every clicking signal, every whirring machine, every fluctuation in energy as the engines fell into a rhythm of periodically bouncing between speeds. He could still hear all of it, each breath of the ship β all of it, and everything new.
Everything there, and everything beyond. Not all the time; there would be times of relative peace, where nothing would be going horribly out of place. Yet, at other times, heβd see it from the corner of his eye. Pieces of the ship not completely loading in, or a wall that wasnβt metal but instead just patterning over wood planks. Sometimes, heβd hear the chatter. People talking. People he couldnβt see, but who could see him.
He couldnβt sleep. He didnβt need to anymore, anyway. He wasnβt real ! He didnβt need rest, didnβt need food !
Then why was he so tired ?
He tried working. Tinkering with anything he could find. He had to stop tinkering with the ship itself, or someone would scold him for doing pointless work for the sake of work. Heβd taken up a few crafts during his eternity, but those were too loud to do during the night cycle β¦ not to mention that most required designated stations, which he had built in his time and had been wiped away by the wormholeβs resetting of the timeline.
β¦ So that night cycle, when heβd awoken to a cut - off silent scream, choking feeling in his throat and hands tense and shaking, he hadnβt delayed in moving elsewhere. He had no expectation in his ability to fall back asleep.
So, one of the less - used rec rooms it was. To sit, and stare out at space.
Atlas almost jumped when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. A delayed reaction of responding, after looking over to Morgan with wide eyes. β β¦ No, I β¦ I couldnβt. Havenβt been able to, in general, recently, β Atlas half - mumbled, voice low. He looked down, staring at the surface of the table he was sat at rather than looking at the Captain as he confessed. Leaning back in his chair, he gestured to the other empty seats. β You can sit down, if you want to. No one else comes here during the night cycle β¦ except for you, now, obviously. β
The surprise of seeing the Captain quickly shifted to realizing the Captain was there. The longer he thought about it, the more sick he felt β there they were, alone together. On the bridge of the ship, with the gaping emptiness of space only a window away. A window heβd wanted to installβ no. Not now. He shook his head to himself, pressing a palm against his eye with his free hand. It struck him, then, how bare he felt β he hadnβt anticipated being seen by anyone, so no uniform had been donned. Merely his sleeveless turtleneck, and a pair of working trousers. No sleeves to hide himself, no patches and badges to hide behind.
Were they really the Captain and the Engineer, in that moment ? Or were they Morgan and Atlas ?
His hand went to his shoulder, thumb subconsciously self - consciously brushing across the skin, the faintly dipped line where skin turned to scar. His gaze wandered, anywhere but directly meeting Morgan. The table, the wall, back to the window.
β Do you β¦ want anything ? I could go grab you a water. β β something that might be helpful after waking from a nightmare, which he could assume their situation was. The look on their face was tell enough.