Nightmare On Grace Street

Posted on Fri Aug 21st, 2026 @ 7:54pm by Lieutenant Zachary Addams & Lieutenant JG Grace MacKenzie 'Sabre'

1,309 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Kintsugi

There was nowhere to run, the alley was a dead end and the walls were too high and too smooth to climb, no matter which way she looked and finally Grace plastered her back against the wall as growls echoed off the wall while eight pinpoints of light watched her every move. There were maybe two seconds before the eyes resolved into four wolves that prowled in such a way that there was no way past them.

Grace cried out loudly for help, sobbing as she scrabbled for purchase on the walls as the wolves slunk up on her, loudly growling, snapping their teeth towards her and lunging forward just to retreat again, taunting her. "ZED!" She screamed, "HELP!" but there was no one coming to rescue her and finally, once the last one breached some unseen line on the ground the four wolves finally made their move. One latched onto her leg, another to one arm and a third raked her belly with their teeth and came back for more. The last one watched her with malevolent eyes that were more than wolfish, they were blue, human and familiar. Then it lunged and Grace's shriek was cut off as the jaws clamped around her face.

***
"Grace, wake up!" The muzzy voice from above her said as something bounced off Grace's face, her eyes opening wide and a cut off noise came from her while she panted heavily, "Shuddup, 'm tryin' to sleep."

Grace's eyes flitted around rapidly, no wolves, blue eyed or of any kind. "Sorry Brandi..." She choked out, only to hear her roommate let out a light snore that indicated she'd already gone back to sleep. Grace swallowed hard and debated whether she should just try to go back to sleep, then looked at the chrono. It wasn't even midnight yet and the nightmares never came singly. To go back to sleep right now would be to tempt fate. But there was another option and she got to her feet and out the door without hesitating.

Tokyo at night was a lot less busy, the corridor lighting muted because the bulk of the crew was asleep, but she knew where she was going and it was a quick turbolift ride and a few corridors and she was in front of the doors to quarters she'd been invited to at any time. The doors slid open for her and she hesitated for a full second before she set foot inside. A couple days ago they'd had their little shooting exhibition and surely he wouldn't mind her, especially if she explained it, but his quarters were dark inside and the only noise was breathing coming from the bedroom.

Silently she padded in, her eyes adjusting to the darkness enough to clearly see that he was asleep and Grace bit her lip in indecision. If he hadn't been willing for her to arrive in the middle of the night, he'd have locked the door, right? "Zed?" She asked in a light whisper, just in case he was awake, but got no response. Then there was a choice to make and the shiver she got steeled her resolve as she lifted the covers from the side he was furthest from and began to slip into the bed.

"You okay, Grace?" his voice said from the dark before he reached over and turned on a light, softly illuminating the room.

Grace stopped where she was with a start, one leg already under the covers, but her back still to him, "Ah'm fahn, mostly.." she trailed off, twisting where she was sitting to somewhat face him. "Ah had a nightmare back in my quarters, woke my roommate up and thought Ah'd take you up on your offer."

Zed smiled at her and nodded, scooting over a bit to give her space and patted the empty side of the bed. "Make yourself comfortable," he said. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Grace finally committed to getting under the covers and scooting over towards him a little bit, reaching out with one hand for his, "If you don't mind. Ah really don't wanna disturb your own sleep more than Ah already have."

Zed took her hand and moved a bit closer as well. "The whole point of having you here is if you need me to talk to. So, go ahead and talk; I'm listening."

She squeezed his hand tightly, then pulled it over into her stomach, "Ah was bein' hunted, Zed, in a dark city, no one around, just me and them. Wolves, but not really wolves, because they were too smart, always two steps ahead of where Ah was tryin' to go. It was like they were herdin' me like Ah did with cows. Then they cornered me and, and..." She just shuddered as she remembered the eyes. "Blue... One's eyes were blue."

"Ironic," Zed said. "Natural wolves don't have blue eyes into adulthood, and in fiction, blue eyes are usually a symbol of morality. But, either way, you've escaped them, and if they come back, I'm here to chase them away." He smiled at her and pulled her a bit closer, kissing her temple.

She watched as he approached him and felt his lips on the side of her head, closing her eyes as he did. She knew the eyes and who they belonged to, but she didn't want to say the name. Instead, as she felt him withdraw, she leaned her face up to try to catch him with a kiss of her own. It couldn't hurt, could it?

Zed looked down to say something comforting, but as he did so, saw her turn up towards him and their lips connected. It wasn't a deep kiss, or even a particularly long one, but he gave a brief kiss back and held steady, looking at her and holding her hand, waiting to make sure she was okay.

It lasted about five seconds before she released his lips and reopened her eyes to look at him. He hadn't pulled away, hadn't pushed her away and that was something. She blinked up at him, not sure of what to say. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again, unsure of what was going through his mind.

They both stared at each other, playing a perverse game of chicken, seeing who would swerve first. Finally, Zed squeezed her hand gently. "Are you okay?" he said, quietly.

"Ah'm fine." She said, equally quietly, bringing up her other hand to the one he held hers with, "What about you, you good?"

"I'm good," he confirmed, smiling gently at her. "We may need to do that again at some point, but one step at a time."

"Ah think that would be great." Grace agreed, "Ah'm not ready for more, Ah know that much, but you've been just so sweet to me and Ah appreciate it very much. If anythin' is gettin' me through what happened, Ah think it's you, Zed."

Zed blushed and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm happy to be part of the process," he said. He knew there needed to be a lot more to that process, but midnight wasn't the time to discuss it. "Are you comfortable enough? Do you think you'll be able to sleep?"

“Almost.” Grace whispered and made her boldest move yet, but one that she’d never have considered if not for her trust in him. She rolled over to face away from him, never releasing his hand and snuggled up against him, planting his hand firmly against her stomach, “Is this all right? Ah just… Ah wanna feel safe.”

Zed let out a small sigh. "Don't we all," he said, quietly as he held her close.

A post by

Zachary Addams
Chief Engineer
USS Tokyo

and

Grace MacKenzie
Fighter Pilot
USS Tokyo

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