A/N: Angsty turn for the heroes who witness more horrors than usual. Intended as strong friendship.
English not my native language. Sorry for the mistakes.
Disclaimer : Don't own anything but the story
A new mission accomplished. New friends made. New Vlagos defeated. And another time risking their lives.
But this time, the Vlagos weren't the only ones being on the bad side. Their allies – ironically the ones who had hired Valerian and Laureline in the first place – proved themselves to be even more despicable, more ruthless, more violent and more immoral than their tentacle-armed friends. The couple had to witness the slaughter of an entire people without being able to do anything against it. At one point, they even got separated and lived agonizing hours, not knowing whether the other was safe in that dreadful hell.
The mission fulfilled, they barely took time to receive their praise before retreating to their ship. Not even Valerian had a joke to lighten the mood. After a dinner were neither one ate much, to Rondha's concern, they withdrew in silence to their respective rooms.
After a few hours devoid of sleep, Valerian hears his door opening. Immediately on the alert, he relaxes his stance as he recognizes his redhead friend. But far from the fierce acrobat always ready to prove herself, he is now facing a shy, somehow trembling young woman.
"If you wanted to get into my bed so badly, you only had to ask." He tries to make it dirty, wanting to elicit any kind of reaction from her, a frown, a disgusted pout – heck, he'll even go with a deafening 'Valerian!' if that means that they are back to a somewhat normal behavior.
Total failure. If possible, she looks even more vulnerable.
Sobering up, he pushes the covers aside and opens his arms.
"C'mon, I could use the company too."
Wordlessly, she slides on the bed in his arms, clinging to him probably as much as he is clinging to her. The events of the last forty-eight hours are still etched in their minds, scorching, scarring, scaring. They want to forget so badly, but the images are burnt to their retinas, the screams of agony ringing in their ears, their helplessness felt above it all. Before long, Valerian feels his T-shirt getting wet, having himself some tears prickling in the corner of his own eyes. He tightens his hold, wishing the horrors away. In that moment, finding Earth or preventing the Vlagos from invading the galaxy seem petty tasks comparing to just be there for one another, grateful that no physical harm has been inflicted to either of them, sole Earthlings in the galaxy. The brunette doesn't want to admit it often, but he would have gone crazy long ago if it wasn't for his pixie friend. Even if most of the time, she does indeed her best to drive him crazy.
They stay the night, drifting in and out of sleep. Several nights in a row, one is seeking the other for nighttime, seeming the only solution to get any sleep. They go on other missions, get invited to Aldebaran balls, fight Vlagos. But they still feel the need to know where the other is each minute of the day, reassurance that the other is safe and sound
Life goes on for them. But there are scars that even time cannot heal.