Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2016 0:03:20 GMT -5
Episode 2| Week 3| Day 1| 2 AM
She probably should have been resting right now. Lying in her quarters with all the lights off in a valiant and desperate attempt to recharge. But she couldn't even if she wanted to. Instead she was sitting against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest, as she stared toward the doors to the medical bay anxiously. Using what little patience Shale had to wait for him.
Hazmat.
Just hours ago she was fully under the assumption that he was dead and that he had been that way for a very long time now. She'd made peace with that thought even if she hated it. This damn war had claimed so many already, she was beyond lucky to have lived the way she did. But Haz had been in the thick of it. Smack in the middle of the fight. The last she had seen him she'd seen the results of such gore. It only made logical sense that eventually in their time apart he'd become another casualty; even now that thought left her with a very bitter aftertaste.
Then to her immense surprise just yesterday evening he'd come waking through the ground bridge. Alive, limping, but very much functional.
She'd just been hoping to get a cube by herself when she'd spotted him out of the corner of her eye. Shale could never mistake that build for anyone else in the universe. It took a long moment for her to process just what she was seeing right then, under the wholehearted belief she was dreaming right then and there. Yeah, she'd fallen asleep without noticing again and her head was playing cruel tricks on her. This was by far not the first time this had happened; her brain feeding her happy memories with her big lovable oaf before reminding her that's just what they were: memories.
But this was different.
She didn't remember approaching him or reaching for his hand but she did remember that painfully familiar warmth they had. So foreign after so long that it startled her at first. But it then slowly dawned on her that he was real, that she could touch this one. It didn't take her five seconds after that to immediately throw her arms around him in the tightest hug she'd ever given him. If it weren't for the fact he needed medical attention she most likely would have never let go again.
Shale had never been so happy, relieved, and overcome in her entire life. But then all the bad memories came back again. The last they'd seen one another had been a very ugly affair to say the bare minimum. Hazmat had practically begged her to sign up, throwing promise after promise that he'd pull every string he could reach so they could be on the same squad. But she knew better, and she was sure he did too. The two had left on very bitter terms after she'd refused one time too many. Her anger and disgust over the sight of the wounded and dying overruling her better judgement.
He just wanted to keep her safe. She understood that now.
It wasn't long after the jubilation had started that she began to think. What if he was still angry at her? Was he still upset about what he'd seen her do? By what she had said to him before they'd gone their separate ways? There wasn't a day that went by after that she didn't feel regret about it. Hazmat had always been that one mech who got to her, the one who mattered. She never knew why but she never found reason to question it either.
She'd missed him, and whether he wanted to hear it or not the weight in her chest needed to be lifted. She needed to apologize. To give him the apology she was wholly convinced she'd never be able to deliver. She also needed to know... everything. How was he still alive? What happened? How did he get to this miserably little ball in the middle of nowhere?
So she waited, and would continue to wait as long at it would take to see him.
Even if her back was starting to ache.
She probably should have been resting right now. Lying in her quarters with all the lights off in a valiant and desperate attempt to recharge. But she couldn't even if she wanted to. Instead she was sitting against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest, as she stared toward the doors to the medical bay anxiously. Using what little patience Shale had to wait for him.
Hazmat.
Just hours ago she was fully under the assumption that he was dead and that he had been that way for a very long time now. She'd made peace with that thought even if she hated it. This damn war had claimed so many already, she was beyond lucky to have lived the way she did. But Haz had been in the thick of it. Smack in the middle of the fight. The last she had seen him she'd seen the results of such gore. It only made logical sense that eventually in their time apart he'd become another casualty; even now that thought left her with a very bitter aftertaste.
Then to her immense surprise just yesterday evening he'd come waking through the ground bridge. Alive, limping, but very much functional.
She'd just been hoping to get a cube by herself when she'd spotted him out of the corner of her eye. Shale could never mistake that build for anyone else in the universe. It took a long moment for her to process just what she was seeing right then, under the wholehearted belief she was dreaming right then and there. Yeah, she'd fallen asleep without noticing again and her head was playing cruel tricks on her. This was by far not the first time this had happened; her brain feeding her happy memories with her big lovable oaf before reminding her that's just what they were: memories.
But this was different.
She didn't remember approaching him or reaching for his hand but she did remember that painfully familiar warmth they had. So foreign after so long that it startled her at first. But it then slowly dawned on her that he was real, that she could touch this one. It didn't take her five seconds after that to immediately throw her arms around him in the tightest hug she'd ever given him. If it weren't for the fact he needed medical attention she most likely would have never let go again.
Shale had never been so happy, relieved, and overcome in her entire life. But then all the bad memories came back again. The last they'd seen one another had been a very ugly affair to say the bare minimum. Hazmat had practically begged her to sign up, throwing promise after promise that he'd pull every string he could reach so they could be on the same squad. But she knew better, and she was sure he did too. The two had left on very bitter terms after she'd refused one time too many. Her anger and disgust over the sight of the wounded and dying overruling her better judgement.
He just wanted to keep her safe. She understood that now.
It wasn't long after the jubilation had started that she began to think. What if he was still angry at her? Was he still upset about what he'd seen her do? By what she had said to him before they'd gone their separate ways? There wasn't a day that went by after that she didn't feel regret about it. Hazmat had always been that one mech who got to her, the one who mattered. She never knew why but she never found reason to question it either.
She'd missed him, and whether he wanted to hear it or not the weight in her chest needed to be lifted. She needed to apologize. To give him the apology she was wholly convinced she'd never be able to deliver. She also needed to know... everything. How was he still alive? What happened? How did he get to this miserably little ball in the middle of nowhere?
So she waited, and would continue to wait as long at it would take to see him.
Even if her back was starting to ache.