TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS A GAME BY VALVE


It wasn't Soldier…Oh, God, it wasn't Soldier. Miss Pauling watched the man fall to the ground letting out a guttural sound after his throat had been split open in a quick movement from Pyro with her hatchet, she watched blood soaking his clothes as he changed back into his real form breathless, trembling. After the initial shock, her attention turned to Pyro, who was lying on the floor.

"'Pyro…P-Pyro…' She took her in her arms and shook her. 'Pyro…'
A part of her hoped that the mercenary woke up with the shaking. Maybe Medic could heal her in time. Her hands looked for the skin under her mask to find heartbeats but her shudder prevented her from doing so. Besides, a part of her knew it was pointless. She had seen the Spy shooting her in the head. She didn't move or emit any sound at all. She was dead. It was so terribly clear and yet Miss Pauling could not believe it.
Dead. She was dead.
The assistant felt a heavy burden that hurt her more than anything she had experienced before in her life. For a moment, she thought she would be unable to breath anymore. Tears started running down her cheeks and she, closing her eyes, embraced the corpse of the Pyro.
'Pyro…You…You saved me…Oh, God…'
The explosions two floors under continued, resounding in the room, but Miss Pauling didn't perceive them. Everything was so unreal…She felt really dizzy; she wouldn't have been able to stand even if she tried to.
Suddenly, the weight of the dead woman vanished, making her gasp. Pyro was completely gone, only leaving blood splatters as a proof that she had been there. At first, Miss Pauling looked around, too nervous to notice that the Spy was also gone. It took her a moment to understand that they had respawned. That thought comforted her. She had died but, luckily, within the respawn radius. She would be alright. She would come back. But that meant that the Spy would too, and he knew that they were trying to steal the briefcase while the other men were fighting. Curiously enough, Miss Pauling didn't care about it. She couldn't stop sobbing, even if she repeated to herself that Pyro was not really dead. Watching the mercs die from a screen was very different from seeing them just a couple of steps away from her. And Pyro had died to protect her, she had seen her standing in the way of his gun aiming for her.
That image in her head was making it difficult for her to calm down. If the Administrator saw her, she would be so disappointed. She would be probably watching everything from her room, smoking a cigarette calmly, as if she was just witnessing a match. Of course, why should she care if Pyro had given up her life for her?
'Mphh Phling!'
The girl cringed and her hand looked for her gun instinctively. She turned her head a bit to find Pyro herself running towards her, carrying her flamethrower. She had been really quick, Miss Pauling thought, or maybe time had passed and she didn't notice. She would have time later to feel ashamed of her irresponsibility. Pyro offered her hand to help her stand up and Miss Pauling cleaned her wet face before grabbing it and use it to stand up and immediately take Pyro in her arms. She couldn't help bursting into tears again and speaking with a broken voice.
'Pyro!' she couldn't find words to describe what she felt. All she could do was embracing her and cry, she knew it wasn't a good idea to lose time with that but she needed to do it. 'Pyro…Oh, Pyro…I was so afraid you-'
'Ssshhh…Hm here, Mphh Phling…Hm here…Hh you hright?' was all Pyro said.
Miss Pauling nodded. Nervously, eager, she pulled the mask up so that the Pyro's mouth was exposed and kissed it. It wasn't the appropriate moment for that, even Pyro knew it, but she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, embracing Miss Pauling tight, feeling her trembling. She would have made the kiss longer, she would have told her all the prettiest things that came to her mind, but the sounds coming from the other side of the building made her fear they didn't have much time, so, after the kiss, the pyromaniac simply cleaned the tears from Miss Pauling's face with her gloved hand.
'Come on, we have to go now.' Was the last thing she said clearly before putting her mask back on and grabbing her flamethrower ready to attack.
Miss Pauling sniffed and nodded before taking the briefcase. 'This way' she indicated as she started to run out of the base.


THE END