After such a long time, Astrid finally began working on the engine she had been sketching. After finally working out the mechanics, she was finally getting started.
Her face was already dirtied. And her hands had a bunch of cuts on it from all the tools. She looked down at her lab coat. It was now covered in dirt all over. She let out a sigh, and went back to working.
At one point, the doors opened up. Astrid thought it was Bridge, but her lips turned into a smile when Rick walked in with ball in his mouth. Astrid took the ball away from him. "You want me to throw the ball?"
Rick let out a bark. His tail started wiggling in excitement. Astrid smiled and threw the ball outside the lab. Rick ran out and right past Boom who was coming in.
"Hi, Astrid." He greeted.
"Hi, Boom." Astrid gave him a slight smile. "Is there something that you need."
"Not me, but Kat. She wanted me to come fetch you for something." He said. Rick walked over with the ball and barked. "Sorry, Rick. Not that fetch." Boom apologized.
Rick let out a sad whimper. Astrid stood up and dusted off her jeans. "Alright, I'll started heading there right now."
"You should probably wash up first. You're covered in dirt."
Astrid looked down at herself. "I guess I should do that. Thanks for letting me know."
~
After washing up, she made her way over to Kat's office. "I was told that you wanted to see me."
"Yes." Kat answered. She grabbed Astrid's hand and dragged her away, making her sit on a random bed. "I think I've found a way to track down the equipment."
"Really?"
"Yup." Kat walked over to the other side of the bed. Right next to Astrid was a random machine with a few wired hanging out. "Bridge and I have been working on this em for a quite a while. If we can put you to sleep, I'm sure that we can pull out one of your dreams. If our hypothesis about your dreams being a message is true, then maybe I can use the computer to find it if it activates." Kat explained.
"Do you think it could work?"
"We have to try. And if we keep track of your heartbeat, maybe we can see if we can find something to help save you. But we only have one problem." Kat frowned.
Astrid already knew. "I'm going to wake up in pain, aren't I?"
Kat nodded. "We don't have to try if you don't want to. We could still find another way."
Astrid shook her head. "No, let's do it. We need to do everything we can to find it before Gruumm does."
"Are you sure?"
Astrid nodded. "Just make sure to wake me up in time before my heart rate gets too high."
"Alright."
Kat began attaching the wires onto Astrid. She placed the last patched right over her heart. Astrid laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. "You won't have much trouble falling asleep. If your heartbeat goes anywhere over seven hundred, I'll stop." Kat said. Astrid hummed in response. "Counting down now. Ten, nine, eight..."
~
Astrid had already fallen asleep before Kat could finish the countdown. After she had fallen asleep, Astrid had woken up again. Only this time, she wasn't in the lab anymore. Instead, she was back at her old home in the roof. But everything she owned was gone.
Astrid looked down at her hands. All the wires were gone. Not even the monitor on her wrist was there. She looked around her. Suddenly, she could hear someone running. She got up and walked to the edge of the roof. She looked down, but all she saw was Gruumm. Probably chasing the person.
Astrid got off the roof to go after them. But she kept a safe distance between her and Gruumm.
But she ended up just getting lost in the maze of alleyways. She heard movement behind her. She turned around, and her heart pounded at the sight.
The setting changed. It was the scene of her mother laying her down in the dumpster. She then hopped over the fence and tried to run away. Astrid slowly made her way to the dumpster. She looked over and saw herself as the baby.
She was tightly wrapped in a blanket with only a beanie on her head to keep her warm. She was pretty calm for being left alone. But Astrid knew it wouldn't be long before she would start to cry from the hunger and the freezing weather.
Astrid slowly began to step away from the dumpster. She ended up bumping right into something. She turned around to see what it was, but she was instead greeted with the sight of both her parents being surrounded by Gruumm.
"Where is it?" He asked angrily.
"You'll never find it. It's galaxies away." Her father spat.
"Tell me where it is or else!"
"Never!" Her mother shouted.
"You asked for it." Gruumm mumbled.
~
Before anything else could happen, Astrid woke up breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and her chest was in utter pain. She gripped her shirt over her chest and laid back down. She felt like her whole body couldn't move.
"Are you okay, Astrid?" Kat asked.
Astrid didn't say much. She was still breathing heavily. Every breath she took ended up causing her to cough. She couldn't bring any words out from how much pain she was in.
Kat frowned at the sight. She only wished Bridge was here to comfort her. She knew only Bridge could help her in a situation like this.
The doors opened up and entered Bridge in a panic, breathing heavily from running all the way over here. "Kat, have you seen Astrid?" He asked worriedly. But then he saw her in the bed breathing heavily. "What happened?"
"We did the test so that we could find what her parents had hidden and if we could possibly figure out the problem with her heart. She couldn't handle it. How'd you know she needed you?"
Bridge held up his morpher, which showed the numbers of her heart rate. The numbers were going back down to her normal heart rate, thankfully.
Bridge put down the morpher and ran to Astrid. "Feeling any better?" He asked.
Astrid gave a small nod. "Water." She coughed out.
Bridge quickly grabbed a water bottle. He helped her sit back up on the bed before opening it and handing it to her. Astrid grabbed the bottle and took a large gulp of the water. "You didn't find anything, did you?"
Kat shook her head. "Nothing seemed to show up. Perhaps there wasn't a message in your dream. Or maybe it's been dead for years. I'm sorry you had to do this." Kat apologized.
"It's fine. We can try another day. But rest assured, Gruumm is definitely nowhere near it."
Kat gave her a nod. Astrid tried standing up on her own, but her legs gave out on her. Luckily Bridge was right there to catch her. He instead picked her up bridal styled and carried her back to her room. He walked to her bed and laid her down. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again.
"I'm sure. I just need some rest."
"I'll talk to Cruger about dismissing your training again."
"Thanks. I need a day off." Astrid joked. Bridge let out a slight laugh. Astrid lifted her hand and lightly poked his dimple. "There's my favorite dimple."
Bridge's smile only grew. Astrid slowly began to sit up. Bridge stared at her a bit worryingly. "What are you-"
He was cut off when Astrid wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead on his shoulder. "Thank you for being there for me. I hadn't realized how much I really needed you to get rid of that pain."
It all came out muffled, but Bridge heard every single word. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his nose near her neck, then pulling her a lot closer and hugging her tighter. But not tight enough where she'd lose her breath. She was already tired enough, he didn't want to make it worse.
"I just wish it worked. I thought we would be able to find something. But I guess not. It was a failure."
"It's already more than I ever tried. You just keep trying. I'd pay you with my life if I could, but-"
"No." Bridge cut off. "You don't need to pay me for anything. All I wish is for you to be healthy. And I hope we can achieve that."
Thankfully neither could see how the other looked like. So Bridge wasn't able to see her sudden frown. Her worst fear had happened. He had grown attached. He still had so much hope, but she was going to die anyways.
"I hope so too."
That was a lie.
Sorry for the late update again. I finally made it back home to upload.
Updates every Friday and Monday!
Hope you enjoyed!