Hey guys thanks for the comments, I love the interactions. To answer LairaCapulet's question I call the banshee's dragons because they are awesome and are what I'd imagine dragons to look like. I think the movie just wanted to be more original calling them Banshee's but I can't. So I will keep calling them dragons, occasionally switching between the two bahahahaha! XD. Enjoy.

(Sophia's POV) *Two days later*

I stopped at the doorway of the med-bay and groan, it was late. Later then usual and that bone deep tiredness had already sunk into my bones. After another two days in a coma I was in the all clear. Jake had convinced my mother to keep me in the link and after Mo'at spent a few hours 'sucking the spiritual energy out of my body' I felt relatively normal.

Well as normal as one could after swimming through through an ocean of... something I didn't even have words for it. It was like I was drowning and actually breathing at the same time. I close my fist, seeing the ocean of bright lights crash over my like a tidal wave, all but begging to pull me under again. It was like a drug I shouldn't have had, thrilling beyond measure and now out of reach...

Jump, all you had to do was jump... My hand pulses, radiating into my first finger and back.

I force my eyes open, shaking my head. I needed to shower, brush my teeth and go to bed but the thought of choosing which parent to bunk with brought a whole other headache. They had been up my ass the last two days and every time something like this happened it grew worse.

"Fuck..." No matter who I picked someone would be bitching...

I wandered through the base, glancing at the sheet of ripped paper and the door. I stick my head against it, not hearing any noises and move my head to the frame as I knock. Four times. Just as I wondered if it was too light, my hand moving again the door opens.

"Sophia?"

I crack an eye open "Hey Trudy..." Trudy was in a white tank-top and shorts "Can I sleep here tonight?"

She pulls her hair from its pony-tail "Uh... sure?" she steps aside

"Sorry, I just didn't want another fight between my parents." I yawn

She snorts "Yeah, you guys are more a like then you realize."

I turn, looking at the two bags she pulls from the closet "Your parents dropped these off earlier."

"Wow." I smile, looking at the shampoos and clothes

She grins, using a knife to clean under her fingernails "Only you could bring those two on the same page kid."

"Yeah... I'm so lucky."

...

..

I shut off the shower, drying myself off and look in the mirror. A face I'd spent my whole life looking at almost seemed different. I wasn't sure if it was the trick of the light but I swore a small flash of yellow was surrounding the brown of my irises.

God I needed sleep...

I pull on some clothes, toweling my brown hair the best I could and toss it into a bun on top of my head. I lay a second towel over my pillow and climb into bed beside Trudy.

She smiles, pulling the covers up closer "So..." she grins "You like girls huh?"

I groan, covering my face. Of course she'd bring that up!

"Oh my god..."

"Hey" she grins, adjusting the smaller light by the bed "I'm not judging. Believe me."

I crack two fingers open "so you..."

"Played on the dark side?" She grins, eyebrows wiggling at me. I shove her gently, that laughter soothing something in me "I dabbled in it through out my college years yeah."

"You went to college?"

"Before I joined the military, I dropped out after two years but yeah."

I scooch closer to her "What did you study?"

"Wild-life. I wanted to be a veterinarian, but the courses were a lot of money and my parents needed help after my old man got sick." she shrugs "Did you ever want to go to school?"

"Well that's a little hard to do in space." I smile "My entire childhood was basically university."

"And the teachers?" she grins "Any hot ones?"

"Well I was eleven when max got here so no," my smile falls slightly "But mom... Grace doesn't really believe in all that."

Her face shifts "She has a problem with you liking women?"

"Liking anyone really. But yeah... she says that stuff should just be used for procreation."

Trudy sighs, holding her nose "Okay, maybe you shouldn't take sex advice from someone who was attacked." her head tilts slightly "On the other hand, I could see that... her being a up-tight scientist and all. -But seriously, you should ask people who have had sex in the last ten years." her hand grabs mine "There is nothing wrong with liking women okay? We are on a hostile planet, in the middle of space, where anything and everything is trying to kill you. You take love where you can find it." her hand holds my cheek softly "And if people think they can tell you who you can like out here, you send them my way. I'll make sure to educate them on our differing beliefs okay?"

I smile softly "Okay."

..

..

(Quaritch's POV)

I had left early this morning, wanting to get a jump on paper work, and hand Jake another scan of the tree. He plugs it into the console, eyeing the screen.

"No, see this is all wrong." he wheels closer, leaning over the table "your missing the whole inner workings of this thing," Jake's hands spin around the hologram "Its got huge roots and a spiral staircase running up the middle."

Sophia walked into the com room, rubbing her tired eyes with a yawn.

"Woah," Jake states

She spins, to look at him "What?" she glance down, checking her clothes.

"Your hair."

"I was working late last night okay?" she blushed "I barely made it to the shower before passing out." she reached up, pulling her scrunchie out and tries to straighten out the mess of tangles "I know its a mess…"

"No…" Jake states, wheeling closer to her "It's curly."

"What?"

"It's curly," he grins, grabbing one of the brown strands before pulling, the natural curls spring back up with ease. "Curlier than Augustine's,"

She spins, bending towards the metal plating to see her reflection

"It looks good kiddo," Parker adds with a grin.

Despite agreeing with them my smile fell. The look on Sophia's face wasn't happiness.

"Oh god…" She whispers "Oh god!"

Her hands fly to her head before she's running from the room.

"Kid!" I try, running after her "Sophia? What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She yells, swerving around people and b-lines it up the stairs.

"Kid?!" I ask again

"It's nothing!" She states, the worry clear in her tone.

Instead of heading outside she slides to a stop outside her room, hitting the door firmly.

"Kid," I try, ducking as she began tossing things out of a box in the bathroom "Sophia?"

"It's fine!" She comes out with a hair straightener, plugging it in "It's fine." She shoves some papers on the floor "I was just tired." she hits the button "Come on, work you stupid thing."

"Kid," I step forwards slowly

"Come on," she tries again, pushing the button hard "Come on."

"Kid."

"Come on! Work you stupid thing" she hits it on the counter "Work!" I take another step "WORK!" I grabbed the straightener, enveloping her shaking hand in mine "I can fix it." she whispers. I spin her, frazzled eyes looking everywhere but me and try to pull it from her hand but her grip tightens "I just forgot." I lift a hand, gently grabbing her chin as her hand clamps around the top "I can fix it."

"Sophia…" I whisper softly, her death grip on the machine wasn't loosening "Let it go. "

I hold those brown eyes, those tears flow freely down her cheeks but it wasn't for the heat "I can fix it…"

Flashback 12 years ago.

I was in the Com-room with Parker, trying to find a different route for the squad that wouldn't get them hammered by banshee's.

"Well we have to do something, its getting worse."

Augustine's school had been shut down three weeks ago and the attacks on our men had practically doubled. As the new head of security it was my job to keep everyone alive.

"Well, what if we-"

"Colonel!" A soldier bursts into the room

"I'm a little busy here Lyle." I ran a hand down my face

"You're needed down stairs."

"I'm trying to save lives here Corporal."

"I know but-"

"Unless someone's dying hit the road Wainfleet!" I snap.

When the door doesn't open I turn, seeing his saddened face.

He straightens his shoulders "Colonel, It's Sophia. Something happened with Augustine..."

I pushed open the doors, making it across the base in record time and freeze in the doorway of the bedroom.

"Sophia?" The small child was sitting on the floor, silent rocking back and forth, mumbling something to herself. "Kid? Hey, talk to me."

I take another step, checking her over and freeze when I notice it.

Her hair.

The lop-sided cut was all wrong. One side of the shoulder length brown curls was now chopped to her scalp, the ends various lengths like someone had hacked it off.

She mumbles again as I step further in the room, completely lost in shock.

"Colonel," Lyle whispers.

When my eyes flicker to the left I notice the bloodied metal sheers, and the fist-fulls of beautiful hair tossed on the counter and bowl of cigarettes.

"Sophia?" I whisper, stepping closer to the child. I kneel, holding her face, and examine the thin chunk of flesh running along the top of her ear was hanging from a thin connecting tissue "… Sophia?"

She wasn't even hearing me

"I can fix it…" she whispers, haunted eyes holding the wall "I can fix it…"

I reach forward, pulling the small child into my lap and hold her, trying and failing to stop my tears.

"It's okay now kid… I'm here. Colonel's here…"

It takes a few minutes but eventually drops of wetness hit my shoulders.

My palm slides under her ear to hold her head and neck, a barely visible scar where the wound once was and feel my eyes rim with tears.

"Let it go… You have to let it go…"

The straightener clatters to the floor. My hand grabbing hers to examine the burn but she was frozen, tears streaming down her face.

Grace had lost it that day. The stress of the attack, the loss of her school and the fact that Sophia was looking more like her father each day was too much for the scientist. Grace was put on a Seventy-two hour psych hold and forced to do seven months of mandated therapy but the damage was done. Sophia had never had curly hair again.

I pull her in for a hug, hands wrapping around her head and back. Slowly rocking the girl in my arms "It's okay now…." I bury my head in her curls as she folds into me "It's okay…"

"I can fix it…" A bitter sob ripping from her throat "I can fix it…"

..

..

(Sophia's POV)

"Sophia, just so you know, this isn't a punishment." Doctor Carter says

I tuck my legs into my body "It feels like it…"

"Everyone is just worried about you." she says softly "The level of fear you displayed yesterday tells me this is more severe then you let on, or might have been aware of."

I glance at my bandaged hand, the second degree burn had blistered badly "It was just an accident…"

"Then why don't you walk me through your thoughts." at my silence she continues "Have you been journaling? With everything that's been happening lately, have you been writing down your feelings?"

I toss my hands up "Who had time for feelings? I barely have time to shower most nights."

"Are you saying your busy schedule is affecting your mental state?"

"No!" I state "Maybe… I don't know…" I hold my head

"We don't use I don't know statements in here remember? You don't need to have a reason for everything, sometimes things just happen."

"I know that," I growl

"Do you?" she grabs a tablet off the desk "I've been going through your recent video logs-"

"Seriously?!"

"As the head psychiatrist I have access to everyone's logs Sophia." she taps some buttons "But your latest posts worry me. You seem to be concerned with everyone else's feelings instead of your own."

"Well its not like I have an entire village depending on me or anything." I snap

"Is that how you feel? Like all their lives are on your shoulders?" I feel myself tear up slightly "That's a very heavy burden for a seventeen year old." they spill down my cheeks "I'd feel overwhelmed and I'm forty-two. But the need to be perfect is a lie," my eyes flicker to hers "It's a lie, you know this Sophia… You can't be perfect for everyone, that's not your job."

"But it is my job to keep them safe!" I sob "I have to keep everyone safe..."

She lets me cry for a few moments, head tilting slightly "It's your fathers job to keep people safe, and even Mile's Quaritch can't save everyone. You know his speech, I've heard you saying it to others. As head of security, it's my job to keep you alive."

"I will not succeed…" I whisper

She leans forward, soft eyes holding mine "Not with all of you." she smiles gently "The only thing you can do Sophia, is try. That's it. Try, and do better next time."

My eyes rim with more tears "But its not enough… I will never be good enough. No matter how hard I try, I will never be good enough for her." they roll down my cheeks "Every time grace looks at me she see's my dad. It's a constant reminder of what happened here and it's not like I can even get away from it! Because every time Tsu'tey looks at me, he see's Sylwanin's dead body. All I'm doing is trying and its... it's not enough!" my hands hold my hair "It's never enough…"

Doctor Carter puts her hands on her knees "What would be enough for you?" I open my eyes, looking at my legs "What would be enough for Sophia? If you could make a perfect world and solve all the problems, when would it be enough for you?"

A few tears hit my thighs "I don't think I can make a perfect world…" I lift my head "No matter what I chose, someone loses."

"And you want both sides to win?"

I lean my head on my fist "I just want all the fighting to stop…"

"Sophia, how do you expect to stop a war when no one else wants too?"

She sits back "Why don't we stop focusing on everyone else for a minute, and start dealing with what's in here." she puts a hand on her chest "I think that little girl is finally ready to start talking, and she needs you to listen…" tears fall down my face "Can we do that?"

"… we can try."

Read and Review, peace.