#OOC: might be spelling mistakes here. Too tired to edit right now gwah

[mentally-amoral-armourer]

[Flick sat in the darkened armoury. A regular night like any other.]

[Right?]

[Something felt off. The team was back, should… should be back. And yet, no sound. No chaos, no shouting, no laughter.]

[Just silence. Usually they’d be grateful for that. Tonight, though, it only felt cold.]

[Perhaps they’d had an early night? Unusual, but it would explain the odd quiet.]

[Perhaps he should go check.]

[Rising from his seat, he exits the cramped room. As they walked, the halls seemed to get longer… and longer… and longer.]

[After far too long, he reached the common room. It lay abandoned, far too clean for the team to have been there.]

[Now that was worrying. His heart starting to thump, he turns down a corridor. This was the way to the rooms, he recalls.]

[He turns down another hallway. And then another. And then another. Admittedly, they rarely visited any of the rooms, especially his own, but… It never remembered the base as being this large.]

[One foot in front of the other, just a little further… Just a little further… Just…]

[He paused. Looking down, instead of the familiar tile of the base, their foot made contact with half-dead grasses and muddy ground. A fat raindrop fell onto his head, followed by another, and then a curtain of rain fell onto the shifting scene. The moon shone brightly above, a sharp crescent piercing through the dark.]

[Where…]

[A snap, like a twig being stepped on. A jolt of panic spiked through their mind as they snap to attention, stumbling and tripping as he attempts to break into a sprint.]

[Run.]

[Run.]

[RUN.]

[And quick as it started, he came crashing to a stop. A root from a nearby tree had caught their foot, sending him to the floor.]

[A cold horror settled over him as a shadow blotted out the pale moonlight.]

[Weakly, he attempts to pull himself up.]

[And as a single, loud blast rings out…]

[…they jolt awake.]

[Catching his breath, reason begins to return. It was… just the base’s door. Being slammed open. Sure enough, the sound of conversation had returned to the halls, loud laughter and the occasional shout filling the complex.]

[He sinks down into the chair with a relieved sigh. Hand drifting to that spot on his shoulder, they reassure themself.]

[It was just a bad dream.]