GUYS I AM NOT OK. Just fair warning spoilers. Please watch the most recent episode before reading this.
Felix feels the grit against his teeth, the debris in his lungs, the weight of the jagged rocks above. Every part of his body is sore, unresponsive. The air filter is malfunctioning, his leg piece is dented beneath a boulder. His arms are crushed beneath the rubble. While the mercenary is unable to move, a quick analysis with his helmet tells him nothing is broken, besides the heart rate monitor which breaks half way through his vital scan. The machine is beeping irregularly in his ear, having found an anomaly. Felix's heart is pounding much much faster than it should be.
"Fuck!" The voice amplifier in his helmet is damaged as well, distorting his voice.
With his brain screaming for his muscles to move, Felix fights against his stiff muscles and finally his hand breaks through the debris above. Despite his muscles and bones protests, Felix crawls his way out of the rubble that had buried him alive. His arms give and he collapses into the red dirt beneath, the impact unhinges the clips on his helmet which rolls off to the side.
"Locus!" Felix's voice is raw and scratchy, throat clogged with dirt and tight with anger. The sound of his naked voice takes him by surprise, it had been so long since he had shed any piece of his armor.
Where had things gone so wrong? They had been on top of the world. Earning money and climbing their way to the top as the cream of the crop in the mercenary world. To buy their services cost a pretty penny, it had taken them such a long time to climb to the top.
He tries again.
Nothing.
The panic sets in.
Felix can't remember a time that he had ever felt so weak and scared, dare he say it. Buried beneath one of the floating platforms, caked in dirt and boulders beneath was Locus. Who had yet to surface.
Felix's mind goes blank at the realization. The only thing playing over and over in his mind is that Locus had been so interested in what he was scared of. Felix really hadn't made much sense of it himself. What he had seen when he jumped through the pillar of warm light had been Locus.
Felix is ripping his kelvar gloves, his fingers bleeding with each frantic movement to unearth Locus.
What was he afraid of?
The brunette is digging through the rubble frantically searching for his other half. Who again, had not yet surfaced.
"Don't do this to me..." His voice is broken, "You wanted to know what I was afraid of right!" His fingers are littered with scratched and caked in crusted sand. Felix doesn't care.
The claws of hysteria pierce through the hardened exterior of Felix's black heart. His humanity had long since been cast aside, his previous ideologies had long since been chased away. Felix had enlightened himself and satisfied the deep urge in his chest to slaughter. He had executed their military squad and drenched himself in their blood. His true colors as a sociopath had finally grown tired of being suppressed and festered, throbbing with the need to be satiated.
Despite abandoning his conscience, the mercenary had one weakness he was unable to shake.
Alone he was a formidable opponent, yet when paired with Locus, his true strengths came to life. Alone he was an incomplete soldier, when paired with his other half they where unstoppable. Despite their misgivings and arguments, Felix felt a strange reliance towards the man he had grown to loathe.
Yet here he was digging through the rubble like a mad man.
He held Locus in such a high regard after they started the genocide against chorus. Especially after the sim troopers and their freelancers had been pulled into the planet's atmosphere. Much like the Tartarus, now scattered scrap metal. While the later had also grown to rely and lean more on his partner. Mutually the two of them had grown even closer and seamless in their partnership. They had begun to learn the vast importance of trusting one another.
Felix had one fear, and he was living it right now.
It was a fear reminiscent of Dr. Leonard Church, the inability to let go.
Felix's eyes are stinging, puffy, red and dry against the harsh heat of the impact, he lets out a scream of frustration as the beeping inside his malfunctioning helmet grates against the shreds of patience he's still managed to keep. Felix stands and wipes the bloody grit off his fingers, wielding the hilt of the temple key Felix takes his frustrations out on the once hovering platform, slicing it in half.
That's when Felix sees a kelvar covered hand. He lets out a shaky breath and bends down to pull his partner out of the rubble. With a harsh tug Felix hears a loud groan. The sound is music to his ears. He pulls harder.
Locus' head is swimming, the pressure of his arm being pulled in enough to shock his muscles into moving. The green merc is running on adrenaline alone as his joints pop with each movement.
Felix feels his tears scorching fire down his cheeks as the relief floods his system in waves. The overwhelming tightness in his chest slowly dissipates.
Felix was afraid of loosing Locus. His one weakness had been the realization that he had fallen in love. Fallen so hopelessly and honestly in love with the mercenary who had stood at his side since their days in the UNSC together.
With a heavy groan Locus collapses, and with him Felix.
"Get off of me you're too heavy..." Locus manages to wheeze out against the grit in his lungs.
Felix unhinges his partner's helmet and stares into Locus' jade eyes before connecting their lips. It's sweet, soft, tender and Felix feels the last bit of hysteria as it drains from his system. Locus is alive. All that mattered was that Locus had survived.
Much to Felix's surprise, Locus returns the kiss and threads his gloved hand through Felix's chestnut hair.