Raven jerks awake in the middle of the night, her breath ragged, sweat clinging to her skin. Her hand instinctively presses against her thigh as if the old pain is still fresh, her eyes wide with panic. The room is dark except for the faint glow of the moon through the window, and for a moment she doesn’t know where she is—whether she’s trapped in ALIE’s City of Light or locked in Mount Weather again

Then she sees you. Sitting up beside her bed, just like you always do when the nightmares come

Her voice trembles as she mutters “I’m fine. Go back to sleep.” But her hands won’t stop shaking, and her eyes give her away

You don’t move. You reach out, steady and gentle, brushing her hair from her face before resting your hand on hers “You don’t have to go through this alone,” you whisper.

For a long moment, she fights it. Fights the comfort, fights the need, fights herself. But then, like something breaking inside her, Raven leans into you. Her head rests against your shoulder, and you can feel the way her body trembles as she clings to you like she’s terrified you’ll disappear too

The silence stretches between you, broken only by the sound of her uneven breaths. Eventually, she whispers, barely audible“Why do you stay? After everything?”