By the time the team managed to lead the Guardians back to the Hellicarier and leave them in the capable hands of Fury, Sam had retreated to his room. The door was securely locked and Sam had piled all of his reasonably heavy belongings in front of the door. He lay on his bed, back to the door, arms curled around his helmet. His ultimate decision on how to deal with the problem was to blot it out with sleep. Not that this worked very well. The more he struggled to keep the memories down, the harder they fought to come up for air. And there was the problem with the dreams. Each time he managed to drift off, they started. Or rather, it started. It was always the same dream, and it always started the same way.
It was dark in the ship. Sam was staring through one of the windows toward the planet they were orbiting. The sunrises were supposed to be amazing here, washes of color and streaks of white light. He wasn't sure how long she'd been there; just that he suddenly became aware of her presence.
'Somebody should put a bell on her.' Sam thought as he glanced at her. She was about his height. Shrouded in her dark cloak, she looked more like his shadow than his teammate. She took a few more steps toward him, looking over his shoulder out the window. He scooted over a little to give her a better view. The star broke over the lip of the planet, and Sam sucked in a breath. It was one of those views that couldn't ever be replaced. You had to see it in person to understand the awe of it.
"Wow." The voice was quiet and silky.
"Yeah," Sam whispered back. His speaking shadow shifted, slipping a hand out from under her cloak, pressing her fingers against the glass as if she could reach out and touch the beautiful sight.
Sam woke with a jolt. Someone was shaking him roughly and saying something to him.
"Sam. Sam, wake up! Sam!"
Sam felt annoyed, slapping the person's hand away, harder than he meant to.
"Jeez, Sam, you could just say you were awake instead of hitting me," Luke said.
"It's not like it hurt," Sam grumbled. His shoulders were stiff from being curled around a hard metal object. "How'd you get in anyway? Even you shouldn't have been able to get past my barrier."
"You mean that pile of stuff you stacked in front of the door? That would've only worked if the door opened inward. This isn't Peter's house, the door slides into the wall," Luke said, pointing over his shoulder at the open door. Sam glared at the door. It would pay for this betrayal later.
"What do you want, anyway?" Sam asked, stretching to ease the dull pain in his muscles.
"Dinner's ready. I figured you'd want to know."
"I'm not hungry," Sam said sullenly.
"That's a first. I remember one time you ate a whole turkey by yourself. All the stuffing, too. That was an awkward Thanksgiving. We had to eat the tofuloaf instead of turkey. I thought Ava was going to stuff you in place of the turkey."
'It wouldn't be the first time someone wanted to kill me,' Sam thought. A memory stabbed through him. Dark magic, lost in darkness, a flash of light. Sam curled into the fetal position, gripping his head.
"Woah, you okay?" Luke asked, concerned.
"Fine. I just want to be alone, okay?" Sam said through gritted teeth.
"Alright. Your leftovers will be in the fridge, then." Luke backed out of the room, door sliding shut behind him. Stupid door. It couldn't even keep Luke out.