Chapter Text
Ashley burst into the room, power crackling and sparking at her fingertips. “Victoria, what’s-”
Upon hearing the noises, she’d assumed them to be from a confrontation - Imp paying a return visit, perhaps. The window was closed, though, and there was no sign of a struggle, and it was only when she realised the room’s occupant hadn’t reacted to her arrival that the actual source became clear.
Pajama-clad, Victoria hovered a foot above her bed, curled into a tiny ball, knees pulled to chest and arms wrapped around them. She was rotating slowly in the air, hair hanging down - she was clearly still asleep, and very clearly in the throes of a nightmare. She was shaking as she clutched herself, letting out strangled screams or making incoherent noises of pain and terror. Her forcefield was nowhere to be seen, but judging by the gouges in the wall and the torn bedsheets, it had been responsible for the rest of the disturbance.
Ashley hesitated in the doorway, frozen. She had been prepared to deal with an intruder or a physical threat, not… this. Whatever this was. A part of her wanted to close the door, return to bed and let the entire thing go unmentioned - if Victoria wanted Ashley to know about it, then she would have said something, surely?
Instead of doing that, Ashley flicked on the lights, and cautiously began to approach. She was ready to throw herself back at the first sign of the forcefield reappearing, but the light remained distinctly un-warped, as she drew close enough to make out the tears dripping down Victoria’s face, the spots on her arms where she was digging her fingernails into flesh hard enough to draw blood. And to see other things as well, but Ashley did her best to steadfastly ignore them.
“Victoria?” she said, reaching one hand out cautiously. Her- roommate failed to wake, though, even as she made contact, cold fingers settling against the feverishly-warm skin of her shoulder. “Victoria?” she tried again. “You were-”
Instinctively, Ashley had given her shoulder a slight shake, the way she would if Kenzie had fallen asleep on her. Kenzie, however, never reacted the way Victoria did.
In a flash of motion, Ashley’s arm was seized by the wrist and dragged forward, and before she could even react, a hand was closed around her neck. Victoria’s face was inches from hers, a terrifyingly blank mask.
Ashley froze, unable to breathe
Then, after a second that felt like an hour, Victoria seemed to wake up, a degree of humanity returning to her eyes. They immediately widened, and her grip on Ashley released as she shot backwards across the room, pressing herself against the far wall.
“Ashley?” she asked, voice hoarse. “What… I’m so sorry, I don’t-”
Ashley lowered her arms, suddenly able to breathe again. There were faint handprints where Victoria had grabbed her, and they tingled as the blood flowed back in.
“You are very lucky that I have impeccable self-control.” It hadn’t been what she’d meant to say - she didn’t know what she’d intended to say, but it hadn’t been that.
Victoria laughed weakly, sounding more befuddled than amused. “I’m… yeah, I guess so.” Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground, although she remained backed up against the wall. “Ashley, what happened?”
“I heard noises, and came to investigate. Needless to say, I was expecting an intruder, not…” she trailed off.
“And…” Victoria’s face paled. “I just attacked you?”
“No,” Ashley assured her quickly. “No, you were… I tried to wake you, but-”
Victoria sagged. “Shit,” she murmured. “I’m sorry, Ashley, I’m so-”
Ashley waved a hand. “Already forgiven. Is this going to be a regular occurrence, then? That, I might find a little harder to forgive.”
Victoria shook her head, looking haggard. “No, it’s just- new place, I think. It’s been a while and I thought- I don’t know what I thought. I’ll leave the lights on. Should be fine.”
Ashley accepted the obvious lie for what it was, and let it be. “If there’s an actual intruder,” she said over her shoulder as she turned to leave, “then make sure to let me know.”
Victoria chuckled halfheartedly, following her to the door. “I’m half-surprised you don’t have booby traps set up.”
“Alas, they weren’t cost-effective.” She paused just outside the door, turning back to the other woman. “...good night, Victoria.”
Victoria smiled up at her. “Good night, Ashley. And… thank you for checking.”
“...you’re welcome.”
For whatever reason, Ashley found herself replaying the interaction as she returned to bed. She tried to go back to sleep, but her brain wouldn’t allow it. It felt like a piece of machinery, gears grinding on an obstruction, or a computer that had been fed two contradicting pieces of information.
The first was Victoria, eyes cold and hard, with her hand at Ashley’s throat, instants away from tearing her arm off.
The second was also Victoria, but when she’d smiled at Ashley before closing the door, bags under her eyes and dimples in her cheeks, one shoulder bared by her oversized t-shirt, hinting at everything else that only the flimsy piece of fabric concealed.
The contradiction was that she found the first almost as arousing as the second. Maybe more, in fact.
Ashley sighed in defeat, one hand reaching down as she pulled up her nightdress. Because of course she couldn’t just pine after a straight woman, no - apparently, she also had to make it weird.