driftfleet | Deep Dreams Are Made of These

Who: Keith, Huntress crew, Shiro, open text message
Broadcast: Text
Action: Huntress
When: The night of and morning after the visions/nightmares

[Darkness. Stars. It’s nighttime and the ground trembles. A deep underlying sense of panic permeates everything, tangible in the way your limbs shake and the expressions on people’s faces, though specific features seem to melt away. The darkness turns to red, and the red turns to fire… fire everywhere, uncontrollable and hungry. It burns at your limbs and for a brief second, you see a world-- a planet-- engulfed in a wave of red-orange death.

The background noise is a strange alien wailing, neither male nor female, but it is deep and you find you can almost understand the words. They are strong enough to be word-feelings, which makes them a little hard to concentrate on with the chaos otherwise found in the vision.

<Fire.> <Run.> <Help.>]

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on the huntress

[Keith jumped up in bed with a yell, breathing hard. He didn't have nightmares often, but that sure was one. He rubbed his face. Was that... tears? He looked at his hands for a moment, noticing that they were trembling. Keith hesitated, but then eventually reached for the communicator.

After speaking with Shiro, he made his way out to the common area for a bit. He needed to get out of his room. After the common area, he went to the shuttle bay to beat up the punching bag for a bit.]

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private to Shiro

hey

are you awake

=====

next morning, after seeing a few posts on the network

so a few people had these nightmare vision things

i think we should compare what we saw

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He isn't surprised by this set up at all - he knows the feeling in fact. Been there, done that. But he's here to help, and he'll do so.]

Hey, buddy. [He makes his presence known before turning on a small night light, closing the door and approaching the bed slowly. He wants to give Keith time to react if he needs to.] How are you feeling?

[His voice is soft as he sits on the bed, not getting too close yet. He recognizes the guarded position.]

[It took a moment for him to respond. He was definitely pulled in on himself, and he seemed to be debating how much to share... how much he wanted to burden Shiro with. He felt bad even asking, really, but he was definitely clueless on who else to go to, and he really wanted to not be alone right now.]

I'm okay? I mean, it was just a dream, I think.

[He sounded uncertain of that.]

I just... I didn't know what to think. It was really bad.

[Nobody should be alone after nightmares, especially when they're so bad. This is no "I was naked in the classroom and it started to rain rocks" silliness. Shiro has his own darkness following him every night, the very reason why he's awake now. So honestly? He could do with the company too.]

You think - but you aren't sure. You think, but you also believe it can be mean more. [Keith has good instincts, knows how follow a hunch.] Want to tell me about it?

[Keith nodded.]

It was really intense, Shiro. I mean, I've had nightmares before, but not like this.

[Even his scary nightmares hadn't been this bad. The closest thing he could think of was...]

It was almost like the Trials again. Like, more of a vision than a dream. I could feel what was going on.

But, it wasn't anything I've seen before. It definitely wasn't from my own memories.

I don't think I was exposed to anything weird at the last stop... [His voice trailed off as he was clearly looking for a source as to why he was going through this... and a source that didn't have anything to do with him.]

[It really was bad if Keith brings up those damn trials again. Shiro comes closer, making their shoulders bump in a silent offer of comfort, but still letting Keith decide when he wants to leave his corner.]

It does sound like a vision. What you say matches what the others said too, right? [He didn't get the whole story, but that seems to be the general idea.] Maybe nobody got exposed. Maybe something is reaching out to you and the others - like it happened with the Blue Lion.

[Keith didn't pull back. In fact, he accepted the offer in kind by leaning towards Shiro so he was resting against him. He didn't uncurl himself from around the pillow, yet, though.]

There was something... like, a feeling. It was like when the Lions talk to us. Not actual speech, but I got... words.

Fire. Run. Help.

[He shivered a little, gripping his arms tightly.]

Ever since bonding with Red, any time I've had fire in my dreams, it's been her. It's not dangerous. It's actually warm, and safe. But... not this time. This wasn't her at all. It burned.

[And he'd felt it...]

[Keith can clutch his pillow all he wants, Shiro doesn't blame him for being so guarded. The fact Keith is now resting against him is already progress, and a good sign when it comes to his pseudo little brother opening up and allowing others to help him.]

And you felt the pain of that burning? I'm sorry. [There's raw sincerity in his words, a true understanding. He knows what waking up to that pain is like, even if it probably can't compare to actually feeling it through a magical connection.] When you told us about the weird waves from the desert, you said something was telling you to search. Was this like that? Did you feel like they were asking you for help?

[Because Shiro's ready to trust Keith's instincts on this. It's what gave them Voltron after all.]

This time, yeah. I felt it. [He was still a little freaked out that his arms weren't completely burned to a crisp after the way it had felt, but he was grateful they weren't, too.

He rubbed his face a little roughly, considering Shiro's next question.]

I'm not sure. It was hard to tell if it was a memory or something currently happening, or what. There was just this major sense of urgency everywhere, but I thought it might just be because of the disaster happening around me. It was just panic and yelling.

[He felt it, he says, and Shiro-- he just has to say something, no matter how hard it is, because he can't let Keith fall in the same hell he's in.]

I know how awful it can feel, so take as much time as you before leaving the room. Remind yourself that that pain is not yours. [Know what, Shiro, it would be great if you followed your own advice.] Concentrate on your body here and now. Test every muscle, hear your own breathing, your own heartbeat. Check what sensations are real. I'm not going to teach you to meditate in an hour, but I think you get the idea.

[This is obviously filled with his own experience. If it works for him or now, and how it makes him feel, it's a whole other deal, but there you go.]

Maybe someone with psychic powers can help you to at least understand if it's a premonition or a memory. You'll have a starting point after figuring that out.

Maybe... [Keith nodded a little, but the idea of going to someone else about this bothered him. He didn't want to admit that this could be just him, just another thing that made him something other than human.] I'll have to find out who is.

[He did understand what Shiro was telling him to do, too. Keith had never been good at things that required sitting still. He was a very physical and active person. But he wasn't ready to leave his room. Not at all. He needed to do something to alleviate this feeling, to distance himself from the dream in a way that he no longer felt it, but without forgetting it. It had felt like a message at the very least, even if he wasn't sure what kind of message.

But, was it just for him? He had seen a couple of other things on the network since he woke up, but nothing major, yet, and he'd been avoiding looking at the communicator since putting it down after Shiro had agreed to come over.]

I get it... I'll try.

From the sounds of it, you weren't the only one to get those dreams. If you ask the others, you may find some clues that may help you understand.

[He knows how hard it is for Keith to reach out to others, but there isn't much Shiro can help with here other than offering moral support. Which is important, sure, but definitely not enough. He knows by experience how awful it can be to live without answers.

An approving nod.] We can try together, if you want. I'd offer exercise too - getting your body tired also helps. But that's only for when you're ready to leave the room.

No, you're right. I think others did get them. I should probably find out what they were. They might even be connected.

[It was mildly comforting that he wasn't alone in this because it meant that, perhaps, it wasn't just because he was part alien, because he was different from the others in Team Voltron. But, still, if he was the only one on the team to get one, that would be a little weird.]

Okay. [He rubbed at his face.] That'll probably help.

Deep Dreams Are Made of These - Open

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