A long Forgotten Comfort
L'dael...
The voice was echoey and muffled, as if shouted from the other side of a wall.
L'dael...
This time it was closer, sharper, slicing knife like through the fuzzy haze that was L'dael's mind.
L'DAEL!
His eyelids snapped open. He was staring up at the roof of the small Tenno extraction craft - and also into the shimmering blue eye's of Crane, a Nyx class frame operator. With a moan he slid his legs off the bench along which he had lain and hauled himself upright. To a common human, he would look like an average twenty four year old guy, and a rather unkempt one at that; scruffy brown-blonde hair, a shadowy stubble dominating his face. His eyes, however, were what set him apart.
They were bionic: Fake.
Where there would have been white there was grey, and the entirety of his irises were a most amazing shade of blue. L'dael lent back, one hand supported his unsteady body which threatened to give way at any moment, the other went to the stark white scars the ran from the outer corners of his eyes almost all the way to his ears. The wound that bore with it the loss of his natural eyes and so much more. Too much more. With a sigh, he turned to inspect his companion that had been kneeling on the bench behind him. Like L'dael, Crane didn't look much older than twenty four. Her almost-white blonde hair shimmered brilliantly under the synth strips that ran along the roof. Her aristocratic features that were typical of most Nyx users were creased with concern, her eye's searched his for some sign that he was okay. She always did it, even though his eyes were no longer able to express emotions, she still searched them for a sign.
He hated seeing her - well, anybody, but especially her - likes this; worried about him. He wasn't worth worrying over. He gave her a small smile.
"I'm fine." He said, in his best, soft spoken, you-don't-need-to-worry voice.
Her features eased slightly.
Only then did he think to check his injuries.
Looking down, he found his undersuit was undone to his waist, the arms tied off in a knot to keep them out of the way. His torso was covered by a menagerie of scars from a hundred different battles, and it would appear more were still to be added. A hard nanotic pack was spread from his left pec, across his entire chest, and hooked over his right shoulder.
Memories of the fight swept back into his mind. The wound had been inflicted by a Grineer sawman. Lucky for L'dael, it was only tissue damage, thanks once more to his unfathomably lucky excalibur frame saving him from a would-be fatal wound.
"How long have I been out?" He asked. He remembered staggering back to the craft, one arm slung over Crane's shoulder, the other held his bratton at the on-rushing Grineer, barking out rounds that hit with unerring accuracy even with the wound across his chest oozing blood.
"A-about an hour...I think..." Crane's voice was almost a whisper. Her eye's were shimmering, as if she was about to break down crying.
She did.
Taking him by surprise, Crane threw her arms around L'daels neck and wept into the exposed skin of his left shoulder.
"I thought you were gone...for sure this time..." Her voice was a hiccuping whisper, full of all her fear and relief in equal measure.
L'dael was stunned. It had been so long since he had any physical contact with another tenno. Ever since the incident that robbed him of his sight and his entire clan, he had tried not to get attached to anyone, so that he could save himself from the pain of loss. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to be cold to Crane. She was more than a couple of centuries younger than L'dael, pretty much new in comparison, and so woefully naive it hurt, but she was a demon of a fighter, it was the reason he picked her to be his partner.
His stunned surprise quickly turned to a warmth within his chest. The feeling was the comforting embrace of a friend, something L'dael had long forgotten, the surge of emotions almost overwhelmed him for a moment. He smiled down at her gently shuddering back as she tried to calm herself down. L'dael wrapped one arm around her head and pulled her close before lowering his head to her ear.
"I'm fine little one, don't be afraid." He whispered tenderly in the voice a parent uses to calm a frightened child. She pulled back from him. Eye's still brimming with tears. L'dael brushed a lock of brilliant hair that had fallen across her face back into place behind her ear. "It'll take much more than that to put me down." He smiled at her. She looked so innocent, so childish...not the beautiful goddess of death that she truly was. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath, finally snapping out of her fear, she smiled back at L'dael.
"How long 'till we reach the Dojo?" L'dael asked.
Crane glanced at the underside of her wrist where a small holo-chrone glowed. The extraction craft was entirely automated, it's destination and return point were pre programmed into the datacore.
"Uhm..." Crane coughed, trying to dislodge the lump that she still felt in her throat, before continuing. "Five minutes or so."
"Okay, does Arkas want to see us?"
"No...he said the frame logs would be enough this time."
"Good, couldn't frigging stand having to sit through another lecture on reckless actions costing lives." l'dael stretched his arms up above his head, releasing a groan as his muscles stretched out before resting against the wall of the craft. "Think i'll just head up to my room then, try to get some rest."
"Uhm..okay..." Crane looked like she was about to say something else but thought better of it.
"What?" L'dael had one eyebrow raised toward her. She had started to blush heavily, which surprised him given how she had just acted in comparison to how she usually acted around the other clan members - quiet and shy, easily embarrassed, much to the glee of Cloke, the clans resident Loki operator.
"n-nothing..." She whispered, lowering her head to stare at the multitude of small scratches on the bench.
"Look, Crane...given how you just reacted to me being alive, I think you're a little too late to be embarrassed." L'dael said chuckled.
"It's nothing Dael." She snapped back, head rising to look him in the eyes once more. Now that was the normal reaction he got for his teasing jibes.
"Alright alright, i'll drop it." He smiled.
This is chapter one of hopefully a few, i'm still sorta a novice at this so feel free to drop me a PM with your opinion or some advice or whatever.
Anyways, Thanks for reading ^_^