Echo, Hunter, and Wrecker had finally fallen asleep after a few hours of being up restless in their rooms. Tech was still up wide-awake working on his projects. Why did he build some of the things that he built? He didn't know, it was just his thing. Was staying up all night messing around with that stuff a good idea? Probably not and he knew it but it was helping him getting over what happened back on Kamino.
Ryla was sleeping soundly in Techs room still. Though not for that much longer. She began to have a bit of a bad nightmare. She tossed around a little in her bed, whimpering and shaking in her sleep. In a minute she finally woke up with a gasp, shooting up from her pillow. Tears silently rolled down her cheeks as she looked around. She tried her hardest to remind herself that she was safe on the ship. Begining to cry a little harder Ryla looked to her left she found that Tech was missing from her bed. Where did he go?
"Tech?" Ryla whimpered, hearing no response, "Tech?" He wasnt anywhere to be found in the room. Carefully Ryla got up from her bed and left the small room. She walked down to the cockpit of the ship and found no one. The ship still remained in full auto-pilot. She then just made her way back to the makeshift living room area in the middle of the ship, standing around with worried eyes. She was a brave child but her nightmares were always really bad. She has struggled with them for a long time.
Ryla began to softly cry to herself again, wondering if she should go get Hunter or Echo if she couldn't find where Tech went. With no warning she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Ryla?" She didn't see him coming at all causing her to get startled and flinch at the sudden voice and turned around quickly towards the source of the voice, also taking a step back.
"Easy, Ryla," Tech spoke in a soft voice not to wake up the others, "easy now. What are you doing up so late?"
Then Tech finally noticed the tears in her eyes and the fresh tear stains down her face. He saw the scared look in her eyes and her shaking hands. Tech's facial expression then showed more concern towards her.
"Ryla, what happened? Why are you crying?" Ryla stepped closer to Tech. Then she just closed the distance between them and hugged Tech, crying.
Tech at first was surprised but then eased into it, knowing she needed someone. He hugged her back in his arms.
"Hey, it's alright, Ryla. Come on, let's go back to my room and talk." He took her with him and sat on the edge of his bed together. Ryla hugged onto him again.
Tech had never dealt with child woken up from a nightmare before but knowing all of the other facts about children he already knew, he decided to try something to attempt to comfort her.
Tech could feel her while body shaking as he easily pulled her onto his lap and allowed her to lay back on his chest. Her head rested under his chin. He kept one arm around her and took his other hand to start to gently and slowly comb his fingers through her hair.
"I'm here now Ryla, I've gotcha. Tell me what happened," he said quietly, "tell me what woke you up."
"It - it was just a dream."
"Did you have a nightmare?" She nodded, letting out more soft cries.
"Shh, it's alright, it's okay. Those nightmares can't hurt you. It's gone now, it's over and I've got you right here, okay? What was it about?" She didn't respond to that.
"Was it about Crosshair?" She nodded her head.
"It's just - what's wrong with him? He - he shot Wrecker," through her shaky breathes, she felt herself struggling to talk, "he wanted to kill you guys."
"I know, Ryla, we're gonna figure this out. Everything will be alright, you'll be okay. He's not going to put a finger on you again, we wont let him. Okay?" She nodded as she continued to cry. Tech continued to hold her there on his lap, still running his fingers through her hair.
"It's okay, Ryla, it's okay little vod'ika. I'm here. Trust me when I tell you, it's all gonna be better soon." Ryla finally began to breathe more normally and calm back down a little.
"Do you think you can try and fall back asleep now?"
"I'll try, I'm tired."
"Okay, let's get you back in bed." Ryla got back in her bed and pulled the sheets over herself.
"Goodnight Ryla, sleep well."
"Goodnight Tech." Tech got back in his bed too and the room was silent. After talking to Tech for a little bit she felt better and was able to sleep better.
However that peaceful sleep wasn't going to last as long as Ryla thought. She woke back up again a while later with very bad pains in her injured arm. The medicine had begun to worn off. Ryla layed there holding her arm, trying to ignore the pain but that was easier said than done. She could feel the pain shooting up and down her arm. Ryla didn't want to wake Tech up again so she went to go see someone else.
Ryla got out of bed quietly and walked to Hunters room. He seemed to have kept his door open. She heard his soft snores as she walked in to his bed. Using her good arm she tried to shake him awake.
"Hunter?" Triggering his senses, he immediately woke up. He turned onto his other side finding Ryla.
"Ryla? What are you doing up?" He sat up from his bed, "What's the matter kiddo?"
"It's my arm, it hurts really bad."
"You probably just need some more stuff for it then. Just sit down here," he patted a spot on his bed next to him, "I'll be right back." She sat down on his bed and waited for him to come back.
Hunter soon came back with some more of that medicine in another syringe, some pain-killing cream for her arm and some fresh bandages.
"Just hold still for me okay? I'm going to take these bandages off to replace them after."
"Okay."
"Give me your arm kiddo," he told her gently. He gently took her arm and began to take off the older bandages. He looked up at her in her eyes. He softly smiled a closed smile, taking a hand and brushed some loose hair out of the way of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She smiled back a little.
He finished unwrapping the bandages. She winced from some pain.
"Shhhh, I know it hurts. It's okay. I'm gonna do this first okay?" he said grabbing the syringe.
"Okay," she replied nervously. Hunter could feel her arm shaking.
"I need you to relax," he told her gently, "take a deep breath." In a moment she relieved herself of her nervousness. Hunter injected her with the medicine fast.
"Okay, and this will help with the pain too alright?" She nodded her head. Hunter opened the container of cream and took some with his fingers.
"Hold still" he reminded her in a whisper. He carefully spread the cream around the healing wound, being mindful of where the skin was still slightly open but not bleeding. Ryla found his touch relaxing, his calloused fingertips against her smooth skin made her forget about the pain.
For once in her life she felt safe.
"Does that feel better?"
"Yeah, a little bit."
"Good, let me just put some fresh bandage over that." He wrapped her arm back up and Ryla felt a bit better.
"Have you gotten any sleep tonight?" Hunter asked her.
"Um, a little bit."
"A little bit?"
"I - I had a bad dream, but Tech helped me go back to sleep."
"Oh I see. What was it about?"
"Um, can I talk to you about it tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure kid. That's okay." They just sat there quietly together, Ryla was trying to decide if she wanted to try and fall back asleep or not.
Hunter was kicked out of his thoughts when he felt a small pair of arms wrap around his torso and a small body lean closer against him. He hugged her back tightly when he heard Ryla start crying. He kept an arm around her body and moved his other hand over the back of her head.
"I had a nightmare about Crosshair" Ryla choked out.
"It's okay, Ryla." Hunter kept her close as Ryla calmed down again.
"Do you want to go back to bed now?" He asked her.
"I don't know."
"Hunter?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"When Tech was helping me get over my nightmare, he called me something but I don't know what it means."
"What do you mean?"
"He called me 'little vod'ika'. What does that mean?" A small smile appeared again on his face.
"He called you his little 'sister', Ryla. Vod means brother. And vod'ika means sister."
"Really?"
"Mm-hm."
"I have an idea." Ryla listened closely with her eyes closed as Hunter told her some short stories about his life as a soldier. Ryla looked ready to fall asleep again afterwards.
"Ready for bed?"
"Yeah, but you can go back to sleep Hunter. I'll walk back to my bed."
"Okay then. Goodnight Ryla, we'll see you in the morning. Sleep well."
"Goodnight Hunter." As she left and walked past Wreckers room, she heard Wrecker mumbling in his sleep. She walked into his room to make sure he was okay. It turned out he was having a nightmare now. She didn't want to wake him up from his sleep though. Ryla smiled down at him and took her hand and ran her fingers through his hair. Wrecker instantly calmed down and fell back into a peaceful sleep. Feeling better knowing that Wrecker was okay she went back to bed.