As the Colours Bleed
The sound of explosion, firearms being discharged and people yelling filled the air, disguising the sounds of peace that normally dominated the small area known as Teufort. Like every other day for the last sixty years, the Reliable Excavations and Demolitions, RED, and the Builders League United, BLU, were at each other's throats. The death count would have been astronomical of it weren't for the brain child of the TF Industries, Mann Co. and Radigen Conagher, the Respawn.
Tucked away in the basement of the BLU base, stationed in the intelligence room, sat Del Conagher, the BLU engineer. The beeping of his sentry was only interrupted by the rhythmic clunking of heavy boots against his dispenser. "Hur murph." The BLU Pyro seated atop the dispenser muttered as they tapped their fingers on the propane tank of their Degreaser, still lightly tapping their feet on the dispenser. "Wanna run that by me again?" Del asked as he glanced over at his companion. There was an audible sigh as the Pyro removed their mask, "I said I'm bored..." With the mask off, ebony flanks fell around the fine featured face of one Emma LePointe. Over the last week or so, Del had been spending most of his time with Emma slowly getting to know her better. There were still many things she wasn't ready to disclose yet but Del was a patient man. Trust was something that was earned and given freely not something you had to begin with. "Well I'm sorry to hear that firebug but Doctors' orders, ya stay here with me or ya wait in the safe room." Del replied, tweaking the aim of the sentry. Emma sighed and slumped her body.
Del gave her a sympathetic smile, "So what made ya come out here to fight with us firebug?" Emma glanced over then down at the weapon in her hands. "I don't know if Adolfo has said anything but I have Synaesthesia, my wires are all crossed, I see sounds, hear colours and taste smell, sensation and emotions. All of it ends up being a sensory overload, so when I was diagnosed, I was only six at the time, my mother couldn't handle the idea of raising someone as, unique as me, and surrendered me to a mental institution in New Mexico. They did the only thing they could thing they thought would help me, they put me in a white room with no stimulation of any kind. Until Miss Paulin and the Administrator came and took me away, I had forgotten what the wind felt like and the way the air smelled after it rained. Together they brought me here four years ago and kept me off the frontlines for a year before they let me join the rest of you, I guess they wanted to see how messed up my brain was. So once they had the information that they needed, they handed me my uniform, axe, shotgun and flamethrower. They took my name and in its' place left the Pyro. So in reality it was come here and brave the risks or live the rest of my life in solitude."
Emma's words hung heavy in the air as she rolled an incendiary grenade in her gloved hands. "Good to know I'm not the only sane one out here, for a while I was beginning to think it was just me and Jack." Del replied. Emma smiled a little, but just the one side of her mouth turned up. "So, if ya don't mind my askin', where'd you get that scar?"Del asked in his gentle Texan tone, one she'd come to associate with safety. The little pyrotechnic touched the scar that ran from her hairline, over her left eye, down her cheek and across the corner of her mouth to her jaw. Crossing the main line were hundreds of faint lines all evenly spaced. "A few years after my admission, I hit a low and tried throw myself out a closed window. I can still remember the taste the pain brought to my mouth, it was like battery acid, I've gotten used to that now but the doctors put something like a ninety to a hundred stitches in my face. Unfortunately, the nerve damage was so severe that I have little to no muscle control on the left side of my face." Emma replied, "I must be an awful sight..." Del opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the Administrator announcing a stalemate and that the teams were to return to their respective barracks. Emma hopped down from her perch on the Dispenser, pulling her mask back on and left without another word.
Emma returned to her room, showered away the days hardships and put her only other clothing on. Since telling Del about her past, she's had a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach which made green claw at her vision, the air felt heavy around her. "Fresh air..." She mumbled and headed outside. It was raining gently, not enough to do much of anything but dampen the ground and surrounding surfaces. Emma sighed and sat down on the concert floor of their bases battlements. Back inside the barracks, everyone was complaining over the stalemate especially, Jane Doe, the Solider. "All of you are weak!" He spat over everyone else's complaints, "Especially you..." He swung round to point at the Pyro, only to find the tiny bench under the window empty. Everyone glanced around the mess hall, "Where is leetle Pyro, they will miss dinner?" Vodka, the Heavy, asked looking rather upset with the Pyros' disappearance. "Zhe Pyro never came to zhe mess hall, while you vere all squabbling over zhe stalemate, zhey returned to zheir room." Gabrielle, the Spy, informed the confused mercenaries from a shadowed corner next to the window. "Zhey seemed rather upset judging by zheir posture." Jane and Luka, the Scout, both laughed. "Aww poor mumbles got their feelings hurt." Luka teased, "I'm Pyro and I'm a pansy..." Tavish DeGroot, the Demo-man, soon joined in on the fun poking. Jack Mundy, the Sniper, usually kept to himself but this was just wrong. "You all are cruel people, with the exception of Del and Vodka, but the rest of you make me bloody sick. Have some standards, be polite for mercies sake. Pryo's always been your back up when all else fails, even when injured." The room fell silent as they contemplated Jacks' words. "Now if I know that poor little fire starter, they're hiding somewhere in the base." Del stood and left the room with a frown set on his features.
Exactly as Jack had said, Emma sat alone on the battlements in her extremely oversized t-shirt and a pair of pants Vodka had given her. She was tucked against the doorway leading to the far respawn. Her face was pale in the cloudy moonlight, mismatched eyes unfocused and her cloths damp from the rain. She was hugging her knees to her chest starring up into the drizzle when one of the heavy emergency blankets was wrapped around her slim shoulders. Emma's unfocused eyes cleared and snapped to find Del crouching next to her, that queasy feeling returning with a vengeance. "Del... what are you doing out here?" Emma asked her voice rough from hours of disuse. He sat down next to her and removed his hard hat and goggles. "I came to see what was bothering you firebug." Emma looked at him in confusion. "Ya never let me finish when we were down in the intelligence room, ya see Emm's, you could be as blind as a newborn filly and have a face like Jane's backside and you'd still be as pretty as a postcard." Del began, "It's yer personality that makes ya so amazing Emma. So ya got a few scars and bad memories, that dun matter here. Here yer Emma, the Blue Pyro and nice young lady with a different way of seeing the world." Emma swallowed hard and looked down at her bare hands which bore several reoccurring scars. "Aww heck, Emma dun cry, yer too pretty for tears." Del said softly as he removed his glove and gently brushed away the tears she hadn't felt fall. "Del... why are you always so nice to me?" Emma asked as she locked her mismatched eyes with his baby blues.
Del was quiet for a moment, "Because you've never asked for anything more than that." Blue and grey orbs darts to the floor before her bare feet, Del slipped a calloused finger under her chin and made her look at him again, "And because ya need someone to show what kindness is Emma." She darted her eyes back and forth as she bit her lip, "Emma." Del said gently, once more mismatched orbs locked to his gaze, "Ya hide behind a mask because it makes ya feel safe... but ya dun need to hide from me Emma, cause I'm here to keep ya safe, just like ya keep me safe. I dun build ya a flamethrower just because ya need it but because that way I can keep ya safe even when I can't see ya." Emma swallowed hard as a stray tear rolled down her cheek. "Now, no more tears, ya hear?" Del said softly, the light rain almost wiping away his words. Emma nodded, "Good, now c'mer." With that said Del wrapped the firebug in a comforting embrace and rocked her gently. That's queasy feeling that had been plaguing her was beginning to fade.
Emma smiled her crocked little smile and snuggled into Del's chest, breathing in the scent of grease, sparks and the earthy tones that came for hours in Teuforts' dusty interior. These mixed to together to create little dust like swirls of grey-brown, silver and gold to dance behind closed eyes; for once she welcomed the colours. She relaxed dramatically and sighed as the light rain continued to fall on them, Del smiled, happy to see her happy. "Del?" Emma asked, her voice muffled as she spoke into his overalls. "Ya firebug?" Del replied as he subconsciously toyed with a stray end of her hair. "Your wife... why did she leave you? If you don't mind my asking." Emma said quietly as she turned her head to lay her cheek against the rough fabric. Del leaned more on the concrete wall behind him. "Well Emma to keep a long story short, she didn't leave me, I left her. I used to work the oil fields and I started to notice odd things, wasn't long before I figured it out. She was cheatin' on me with my co-worker, so I got the papers done up to get us divorced. I was nothing more than a pay cheque to her, she never loved and never would. So we went our separate ways and about a year after that, the Administrator picked me up." Del replied with a sigh. Emma shifted and turned her face to look up at Del, "Well stupid her, if it were me, I'd never let you go." Del chuckled and rubbed her back gently, not knowing what injuries remained from the week priors' incident, "Ya could give a man cavities Emma."
The two of them sat there in the gently hiss of the rain just, listening to the world turn. It was nice to forget for a while and try to be normal. "We should probably go inside..." Emma muttered from her position still tucked in Del's arms with her temple on his collar bone. Del sighed, "Yer probably right..." After gathering their respective belongings they headed back to the barracks. In the quiet hallways of the BLU sleeping quarters, Emma tugged on Del's sleeve. He looked back and felt a heat rise in his cheeks. The oversized t-shirt hung off one shoulder and she was looking at the floor as she held his sleeve in her little hands. "I... I don't really want to be alone... can... can I..." She trailed off and fidgeted. Del smiled and wrapped his much larger hand around hers', "You can stay with me if you want Emma." She smiled in her special way, "I'll be right back." She jogged down the hall to her room and disappeared for a moment before returning with something in her arms. As she drew closer, Del could see is was teddy bear that looked like a little engineer. She flushed and bit her lip, "I can't sleep without him."
Del ushered her into his room, it was dark except for a single lamp on the nightstand. "Get comfortable, I'll be right back." Del said as she disappeared into the bathroom. There was a flash then an ear shattering crash, the little sprinkle of rain had turned into a full blown storm. Emma flinched and quickly slipped into Del's double bed in hopes of hiding from the storm. Del returned in loose cotton pants and that was it, in light of the lamp he could make out Emma's form hidden under the blankets. He sat down on the edge of the bed and turned off the lamp before slipping under the covers and searching for the slim technicians' body. His large hand found her waist and pulled her over to him, "Nothing to be scared of Emma, just a bunch of light and noise, kinda like Luka." Del cooed in hopes of putting her mind at ease. She giggled a little and he felt the muscles under his palm loosen. She rolled over and snuggled up next to him, her plush bear between them. Emma yawned and placed her forehead against Del's chest. Not five minutes later she was sound asleep, waves of red rolling in her darkening vision. "Night Emma..." Del whispered and closed his eyes as well.
About a week after Emma spent the night in Del's bed, the blue eyed Engineer was sitting on the couch in the mess hall reading the newspaper when Emma walked in, mask-less. It was a Saturday and she had donned brown cotton pants much like Lukas' and a better fitting t-shirt with a light blue sweater on over top, her class emblem on the upper sleeve and bare feet, ebony hair hanging loose around her face. "Morning Del." She greeted with a crooked smile. Del gawked for a moment, "Mornin' Miss Emma." She giggled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. It was Emma's turn to cook breakfast, so soon the rest of the mercenaries were filing in, all in some degree of wakefulness. Jack walked over to get himself his morning coffee, "Morning Jack." Emma greeted as she placed a mug of the hot black beverage in his sluggish hand. Jack looked over and blinked, believing his eyes were playing tricks on him, "Morning to you too..." Emma turned, put her fingers to her lips and whistled loud enough to get even Lukas' attention. The six remaining mercenaries looked over and gawked much in the same manner as Del and Jack. "Now that I have your attention... umm, I'm Emma, your Pyro." The young woman said as she pointed to the emblem on her arm.
Vodka smiled and wrapped Emma in a bear hug, "Heavy is glad leetle Pyro final show pretty face to team." Emma smiled and hugged the giant of a man as best she could. "Thank you Vodka." There were various greetings and hesitant handshakes before Emma started on breakfast. Over the course of the meal, Luka made a few passes at the older woman but was shut down when she reminded him of the cruel things he'd said to her. After the meal though, Emma plopped down on the couch next to Del and leaned into his open side. "Well Emma that was a mighty fine spread ya made." Del commented, "How's yer back, I've been meaning ask?" Emma shifted and then settled. "Almost healed and thank you for asking." She replied. The labourer placed his arm around the flame wielder with a content smile.
With no warning at all Del spoke in a whisper next to her ear, "Ya know Emma, you've gone and done somethin' to me, I can't stop thinking about ya. And ya know somethin' I think it's time for a fresh start, with a certain firebug." Emma's eyes snapped to Del's and she blink in shock then smiled, a real smile, and nodded. "No more tears?" Del asked. Emma shook her head, "Good, now give ol' Del a little sugar." Del said with a deep chuckle. With another little smile, Emma placed a shy kiss to the engineers' lips. A collection of cheers and groans erupted in the mess hall causing the two BLU's to flush pink. "'bout bloody time..." Jack muttered before ruffling the two tone eyed woman's' hair. From that day forward you never saw the Engineer without the Pyro, as the days passed the colours bled away and left nothing but the love.
FIN