Ryot Naime's POV

"I'm gonna go sit up there," Damon pointed up at one of the walls. "Keep watch I guess." I don't think he was speaking specifically to anyone, but before he left he glanced at me.

I gave a slight nod and took into memory an image of him while he left. His armor made him look bulky, yet I could tell that beneath it all, he was nothing but muscle. His blonde hair was a bit spiky and he wore blue tinted goggles around his head. He wore boots like mine, although mine were much smaller. I could remember his eyes. They were crystal blue, but not lighter than mine. His skin was tanned, but not that much. When he smiled, his teeth were bright white and straight as possible.

"Ryot, let's go get us some food." Cole grinned at me as he followed Franklin. "I'll catch up with you in a minute. I want to see what his problem is," I called after him, then turned and jogged over the way Baird had disappeared off to.

"Hey Damon?" I called softly, not wanting to attract the attention of any of the stranded.

"What?" He answered, leaning back on his elbows up on the wall so he could see me.

"What are you doing up there?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest as I shivered. It was getting late; colder, and I was still only in my tank top and baggy pants. He smiled slightly, rolling onto his stomach and holding his arms down to me. "Come on," he said, "grab my arms and I'll pull you up."

I stood there for a moment, then huffed and attempted to wrap my hands around his arms, just below his elbows. In return, he wrapped his hands around my arms as well.

Baird pulled me up and set me down on the thick wall beside him. "Damn you're really small," he chuckled. I rolled my eyes at him, smirking.

"Sorry, we can't all be pure muscle. You must be on steroids or something," I laughed a bit. He looked at me with a smile before frowning. "We never got your arm fixed up, did we?"

"Nah, but I'm fine. It's stopped bleeding. I told you, I was only grazed."

"Oh. Well good."

"Yeah."

"So what'd you come up here for, anyway?"

"To find out why you're really up here."

He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I did it to get away from you."

"Oh but the funny thing is you didn't," I grinned, "or else you would've told me to go away."

"Not only are you cute, you're smart too, huh?" Baird chuckled, looking over the wall once again. I smiled a bit and crossed my legs so I was sitting indian-style, my arms crossed over my chest as I continued to shiver. "Cold?" He asked.

"Yeah.. A bit."

"Come here," he said and let his legs swing over one side of the wall. I slid closer and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, bringing me even closer. I felt a bit warmer with him shielding me away. I looked up at him before reaching up and pulling his goggles off his head.

"Hey hey hey, what're you doing with those?" He laughed, looking at me. I attempted to pull them onto my own head, but failed to understand how. He laughed. "That's not how you put them on, dumbass."

"Well sorry, we don't all wear weird goggles all the time." I made a face, handing them back.

"Here, let me help you. And they're aviator goggles." Baird said, turning to me. He moved my hair back out from behind my ears and slipped the goggles over my head, fixing them so the glass that you see out of were on top of my forehead and I could still see correctly. "There. Now, we should go grab something to eat."

Damon Baird's POV

"Kryll, huh?" I asked, taking a sip of the whiskey they had offered me. I knew better than to get drunk with a gun, but I figured it would be alright to drink just a bit. Cole looked at me and nodded. "Coming right this way. Franklin said to stay in the light and they wouldn't be able to get to you. Where are your goggles, by the way?"

"With Blondie over there," I pointed over at Ryot, who sat against the wall, her COG tags in her hand. I could tell she was studying them and thinking. As much as I wanted to go over to her, I knew it was better to stay with Cole in case of an emergency.

People began to flood the one building that this community actually had. Soon enough I couldn't even see Ryot over all of them. "What's going on?" I called to Cole over all the noise.

"The Kryll are here; it's night," he called back. I gritted my teeth and stood, pulling my Lancer off my shoulder. Cole did the same. "That means some Locust will be around."

"Alright, let's get out there," I said, pushing through the crowds to get outside. Ryot was already there, reloading her Lancer. Four Locusts lay dead on the ground, an open Emergence hole dispersing more. I looked at her. "How long have you been out here?" I asked, crouching behind the roadblock with her. The light barely covered us, but it was enough to keep the Kryll away. She answered me without looking up from her gun, "A minute."

"You alright?"

"Yeah Damon, just trying not to die here." She scoffed. I rolled my eyes and blindly fired over the blockade, listening at two Locust thumped to the ground. I then looked up to see that there were just two more. Cole launched a frag over near them and the blood spewed everywhere when it exploded. The all too familiar "COLE TRAIN BAYBEEE" was what he shouted, causing me to role my eyes once again.

Ryot let out a sigh, slugging back against the blockade, closer to the light now.

"Okay what's really going on?" I asked her, sitting down beside her.

"Coulda sworn that the Kryll would get to me while I was trying to hit the Locust."

"Scared of them?" Cole asked, sitting in front of us.

"Yeah. They're what killed my brother. Nasty bitches is what they are."

"What was your brother's name, if you don't mind me asking."

"Desperaux Naime."

Cole grunted. "Your brother was one of my best friends," he said quietly. "Killed by the Kryll?"

"So you're the Cole he was talking about! He had gone out and found you and the rest of Alpha Squad the day he died! Commed me and said he and the rest of the squad were coming to get me. You guys abandoned him!" She exclaimed, jumping up.

Cole fell silent, as did I. I could remember what happened with Des. We asked him to go alone; said we'd wait for him while he grabbed Ryot. He took too long. Figured he'd found her and we left him, we couldn't wait any longer.

"You killed my brother," she breathed, her Lancer clattering to the ground just beside her.

"Hey, we didn't ki-" I began, but Cole cut me off.

"It was Baird's idea. But I agreed with him. We waited for him for over seven hours. It was a 30 minute walk. It wasn't even dark then."

I winced, closing my eyes tight and gripping my Lancer. She would be pissed. No, she'd be upset. I'd prefer her to be pissed. Not even pissed; I'd rather her be furious that upset. Not with me.

"You're the one that came up with the idea?" She asked, looking at me. Her eyes were so sad. Guilt began to set in, but was quickly washed away with the feeling of my heart dropping into my stomach as she stood up, now furious.

"Disgusting scum. Self-centered. Idiotic. Damon, you're a bitch. I hope you die- no. I hope the Kryll tear you apart, bit by bit until you're barely alive, and then I hope a Locust comes and shoots you in your goddamned head. I hate you." She said, her voice barely a whisper as she turned and went back inside, weaving through the crowds of stranded. She had recaptured her Lancer and it was on her shoulder. Her back and arms were toned with muscle that I hadn't seen before. She was upset. Very, very, very upset.

"Good job Baird." Cole snorted. Even Fenix commed in, "yeah, that was just perfect." I shoved Cole back, as hard as I could, although I made sure to keep him in the light.

"Jackass!" I exclaimed. "Just tell her everything, why don't you? She's probably crying! And, you just had to go and com it over to the others, huh?"

"You shouldn't have killed her brother," he smirked a bit.

"What the hell is your problem?" I shouted. "Just gotta go around and ruin everyone's day?!"

"Baird, calm down. She'll be fine by the morning. Besides, you've got to talk to her again anyway. She has your goggles."