>>5182705There's a scene in the OVA where we see how traumatized Alabaster and Rose are by living through the worst events of 421. It's one I think about a lot. For me personally, it was one of the most affecting things I've written in FQ.
>Every once in a while, it happens to Rose, and every once in a while, it happens to you. Tonight it's Rose's turn: she wakes up beside you all clammy, her breaths shallow and rapid, and she's sobbing so hard that it makes her halfway asphyxiate.>Her trembling is full-body and violent as you pull her into an embrace. You lie there in bed on your side with her, half atop her, pressing your body firmly to hers, while you nuzzle her and kiss her face.>"It's okay," you softly repeat, "it's okay," as meanwhile she begs in a voice so choked it's close to unintelligible: "Don't leave me. Don't leave me. Don't leave me.">"I'm not leaving -- it's okay --">"Oh my god," she gulps. She emphatically shakes her head, rotates in your strong grip to face you, hugs you back. "Don't leave me... don't leave me..." she cries into your chest.>You brush her hair from her eyes and stroke her shoulders, as she sheds the vestiges of her night terror. Her breathing, along with her frayed mind, settle over the course of a long five minutes. She goes still and quiet.>"I'm sorry," she mutters when it's over at last, her customary apology. And this gets your customary response: "don't be.">You wonder what will come of the night when it happens to both of you at once. So far, your cycles have synced well enough. Whenever it's your turn, Rose is always there at your side, awake already and calm, just as you have been for her -- there to hug you, and talk you down. To tell you that she's here to stay -- that everyone is here to stay -- that It's All Okay.Whitney wouldn't be alienated by the shared experience the two of them have. On the contrary, she would be a fantastic rock for them cling to when they need it.
I also think her outsider's perspective and often-unexpected wisdom would ground the two of them and help them greatly, not only in the moments where their PTSD flares up, but whenever and wherever they consider the implications of the weird universe they inhabit. Alabaster and Rose are naturally neurotic people who overthink, overanalyze, and overworry. Whitney would help with that too.
