Chapter Text
“Stimulating the cardiovascular core.”
Vetra heard the blood rushing through her ears, felt her chest tighten and her breath become short, tasted copper on her tongue from biting it to restrain herself. She felt caged, dizzy; like a desperate wild animal, every instinct screaming for her to break loose at all costs.
“Zero response.”
A chill wracked through her body, her veins turning to ice, her jaw clenching tighter, tighter, a feral growl growing in the back of her throat. Her carefully constructed walls were crumbling, brick-by-brick. Every muscle strained as she tried to break loose from her shackles, but the effort was fruitless; she was completely and utterly helpless, hopeless, watching as one of the most treasured people to her in the entire galaxy – in two galaxies – heart voluntarily stopped.
“Stimulating the cardiovascular core.”
She would have given everything for that to be her instead, she would have given life and limb for Ryder. The Pathfinder was vital to the Initiative, yes, and vital to all settlers, but as Vetra’s muscle fibers screamed from the pain of her efforts and her throat sheared from the cry she withheld, Vetra knew Ryder was so much more. More than a beacon of hope, more than the innocuous flirting they exchanged, more than the friend who helped her rescue Sid.
With a gasp, Ryder sat up.
Relief flooded through Vetra so rapidly it was almost agonizing. Her muscles released, her throat loosened, her jaw let up.
It was the same relief she had felt when she saw Sid again.
In that moment Vetra knew – Ryder wasn’t just a friend, or a Pathfinder. She was family.
As Ryder released Vetra from her shackles, she had to restrain herself from embracing Ryder, as badly as she wanted to.
In that moment, Vetra made a decision to talk to Ryder. Life in this new galaxy was too short to push her feelings aside.
Perhaps Vetra would invite her to Kadara.