Slim x Sunny
Chapter 1
The awakening
"Slim! Wait!" Sunny calls as she runs after him. Her white training sneakers pound against the concrete ground of the dropship as her light brown curls fly all over the top of her head. "Don't," the bug-like man growls back, breaking into a sprint. "Slim!" she desperately calls, trying to keep up. Before she can open her mouth to call again, he suddenly stops and sighs, then turns to face her, his bug eyes emotionless. "I-I'm s-sorry," Sunny pants, slowing her pace to a speed walk. She stops as she stands in front of him, and she gently looks up, still seeing no emotion in his bug eyes. "It's not your fault, so why apologize?" Slim says gently, trying to control his anger.
"I know it isn't my fault, but trust me Slim, it's not yours either. They told us to run! They're going to make it, trust me!" Sunny puts her right hand on his shoulder gently, her brown eyes looking into his bug eyes, trying desperately to see any emotion coming from him. "I didn't say that it was my fault, but I'm not just going to sit here while our friends are down on Shear, trying to get out of that living hell," he says quietly, gently brushing away from her touch and walking away again. Sighing, Sunny lets her hand fall down again. Her eyes well up with tears, remembering the last few moments in battle before everything went wrong.
She remembers seeing Slim smile and laugh, enjoying himself and finally forgetting about his past. After the Goliath knocked out the power relay, they had to flee, but only Slim and Sunny survived, leaving Parnell and Abe stuck on Shear until they found a way to contact us with their coordinates. Sunny looks down, putting her hand on her elbow before hearing voices from not too far away. "I don't care! I need to look for them!" Slim yells from across the hall. "Not now Slim, we don't know where they are. They'll contact us, they're smart," Cabot, the boss of the team of hunters, replies. "Sunny?" a familiar female voice says from behind her. Sunny turns and sees Caira standing there, worry in her eyes. "I'm glad you're alright and all, but where's Abe and Parnell?" she asks, fear in her voice. "I'm sorry Caira," panic floods into Caira's eyes as Sunny speaks, "they're trapped on Shear, desperately trying to make contact with us."
Her head nods slowly, her jet-black hair shimmering in the hallway light. "Fuck," she simply says, starting to shake. "It's alright, they're smart they'll get out, I promise," Sunny says as she walks towards Caira. "No, it's never okay when you're hunting giant monsters!" she yells, putting her face in her hands as she leans against the hallway wall. "I know Abe and Parnell well, they've been in much worse situations before," Sunny says, approaching the practically crying Caira and putting her hands on Caira's shoulders. Caira stiffens at the sudden heat from Sunny's hand, but doesn't back away. "It'll be okay, I promise," Sunny sighs into Caira's pale ear. "Sunny?" Slim's familiar voice says from behind her. "Yes?" Sunny turns around quickly to see Slim with a confused look on his face. "Did I miss something?" he asks in a shocked tone. "It's hard to hear news like this," Sunny simply says with a shrug. "I'm alright, thanks Sunny," Caira sighs out as she backs away and starts walking towards her room. Sunny turns her whole body towards Slim and smiles warmly. "I heard what the boss said to you, and if it makes you feel any better, I disagree."
The corner of Slim's lips gently tug up, but his joy soon disappears and a frown takes its place, "I knew you would. It's just so unfair. We decided to completely trust Cabot when we came here, but now everything's gone to hell and he won't trust anyone, even me," Slim explains sadly. Sunny pulls Slim into a hug, and though Slim stiffens at the sudden embrace, Sunny can feel him smiling. She backs away, stifling a laugh as she looks at him. "We'll figure it out Slim, we always do," she says through the silence. Slim nods and the two walk back to their rooms.
"You alright?" Sunny's room door snaps open and Slim pops up, looking at her with concern. "Ugh, what time is it?" Sunny asks, her eyes closed tight as she pushes her blankets off of her. "Uhh like ten a.m." Slim sighs, looking at the messy curls Sunny has and smiles. "Your curls are all over the place," Slim says with a hint of laughter in his voice. Sunny snaps her eyes open and jumps off of her bed, and her bare feet hit the solid ground soundlessly. "I figured," Sunny says teasingly as she lightly punches him in the elbow. "Love you two," he groans, rubbing his elbow. Sunny stiffens, she's never had Slim joke with her like that before. He senses her distress and puts his three-fingered hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "What is it?" he asks softly, leaning closer to her. "It's nothing," Sunny replies quickly, pushing a loose curl of hair behind her ear.
He backs away and nods. "So, where to now?" Slim asks through the silence. Sunny giggles, suddenly forgetting the past thirty seconds, "Wherever we want." Slim smirks and walks out of her room, signaling her to follow. "So which part of Shear are we searching first?" Sunny asks as she walks up next to him. His gaze snaps over to her in a look of shock, "What?" Sunny rolls her eyes jokingly and elbows him playfully. "Well, we can go wherever we want. Why not take the time to look for them since no one else is." Slim nods, suddenly understanding. "If you're serious about this, then we should go to higher ground near our mission site, that's where they'll be. They'll be probably trying to get the best signal on their short-range communications devices," Slim explains slowly, unsure if Sunny really wants to do this.
"Good idea, let's go," Sunny says, leading Slim down the hall to a short-range emergency escape shuttle. The two pile inside and take their seats; Sunny in the pilot's seat and Slim in the co-pilot's seat. "I assume you know how to fly one of these things?" Slim asks as Sunny powers it up. "No idea!" she says cheerfully. And they take off.
"Okay, maybe I should fly next time!" Slim yells as he stands up from the landscape he was just kneeling on. Sunny lightly giggles as she edges closer to the end of the mountain. Slim runs up to join her, his bare feet feeling the cold of the snow on top of these mountains. "They don't seem to be near here," Sunny says, scanning the area below them. "Let's get back inside before we freeze to death," Sunny says as she rubs her hands against her elbows. Slim nods and the two of them run back inside the shuttle and quickly power it up again. "Let's try to hover around and see if they find us. Hopefully they're near here," Slim says as he straps himself in. Sunny nods and descends down the mountain and into the deserts of the destroyed world of Shear.
Slim scans the land below and sees nothing but small, dark caves. Wildlife, and sand. Sunny slows her pace and gasps, and Slim notices it as well. Abe's shotgun, lying in the middle of the landing platform in front of them.
