Hello, people who read this. I hope your day or night is awesome, and if not, remember you are a fantastic human being.

I tried to draw Irina and Gwin as chibis for my cover pic on this story.

(louisesyes is my username at deviantart.)

Anyways, I hope everyone likes it so far!


Clicking

Panic

They were Interceptors; a gathering mission should have been cake. The Frontier Nav's information gave them a few places to check for the Jagitos Copper, but there were so many liceors out at the 405 fn site, which is the one Irina chose to look first. She and Gwin arrived there to find a rather peaceful setting. It was almost placid; the indegens were all going about life without threat.

Knowing that most of the creatures there would do them no harm for passing through, Irina led the way to search. Gwin casually eyed a group of Pollen Lepyx grazing as they walked towards the masses of stone and ice North of there. He was very quiet as he kept a watchful glance around.

Irina noticed some Strange Liceor clapping around a sleeping Sand Aeviter, and she worried a little. Their presence wouldn't alert the bird-like creatures, but the aeviter was a different story. "Stay sharp," she said as she led them to look around the crystal-stone formations.

"Always try to be," Gwin responded, minding his volume. He hoped they would find the copper soon, but he didn't tell Irina that.

As they searched around the stone, Irina became irritated quickly. She actually hated gathering missions, even if it was an excuse to get out of the barracks. She didn't have the patience to look around forever until she found something. She thought Gwin might have the kind of mindset needed for it, but even he seemed a bit not-into-it.

Click…click…click…click

She heard that Elma's team took on quite a few gathering missions at once when they went out on bigger missions, and they would pick up the items as they passed through the lands before they returned home. She felt that it was cleaver but tedious.

Clickclickclickclick

Her eyes narrowed; there was the clicking again. It really wasn't her imagination. She stopped what she was going and began patting every pocket she had to find the source. A hundred things ran through her head all from a random pocket watch to a bomb in her chest, but she found nothing on her.

Clickclickclickclick

She the realized the sound wasn't on her, and she paused to listen again.

Click…

It stopped. She frowned, standing very still, listening as hard as she could.

Nothing.

She looked back to see Gwin staring at her. "Did you hear that?" she asked sternly.

He hesitated before he spoke, "hear what?"

"I heard it before. It's a clicking sort of raspy clicking sound," she told him. "I just heard it again."

He turned away from her and kept looking around for the copper, "no."

She hummed, "I could have sworn…" She paused again, but there was no more clicking. "Check your com device to make sure that isn't the source," she ordered as she pulled hers out.

Gwin did as he was told.

After that, they searched for nearly two hours. It would get dark soon, and Irina wasn't one to wait to set up camp. She told herself she would give it another forty minutes then take a break to make sure they had shelter. She walked around one of the weirdly-shaped growths on the ground and sighed. She was about ready to have a mental tantrum.

Gwin pointed his gun at her and shouted, "Lieutenant, get down!"

She felt a great movement behind her, and she ducked as soon as she was ordered to. She heard the bullets burst from his gun as she rolled out of the path and narrowly miss the Sky Aetrygon from charging her. She wasted no time in taking out her rifle and shooting at the enemy as quickly as she could. They flying indegen swooped down and pulled up to soar into the air again, but it didn't flee. She shot all her rounds at it and cocked her gun to get ready to reload. The Aetrygon flipped around to aim at them again.

She noticed that while she pulled out another pack of bullets, there was no more shooting going on. She cut her eyes to her partner and saw him standing with his aiming stance, but he didn't shoot. He was frozen, his eyes focused, but his demeanor was that of a statue. "Gwin!" she snapped as she almost began to panic. The Aetrygon's horn lanced right through Gwin's shoulder, causing sparks from the interworking's of his mimeosome.

Her assault rifle let out a series of shots, and the Aetrygon flailed its horn from Gwin and flipped a couple of times in the air before collapsing a several yards away.

Irina slipped her gun back into its holster as she rushed to her friend, who lied on his side motionlessly. She dropped to her knees and placed her hands onto his shoulder, "Gwin! Speak to me!"

There was a hole in his shoulder, wires and crumbled metal sticking out. A few sparks flickered as the oily substance that was their artificial blood seeped onto his clothes. His hand had a firm, unmovable grip on his weapon, and his longsword still strapped to his back. His expression was blank, but he said nothing. There was something else she noticed—the clicking noise. The sound was continuous clicking, accompanied by a humming fan sound. She then realized that the entire time, he was the source of that annoyance.

Carefully she rolled him onto his back and pulled up his head to cradle it, "Gwin, can you hear me? Gwin!"

His eyes focused forward. Suddenly his eyelids lowered, and the humming sound became louder. Something was wrong with his mimeosome…

She watched as a sound like a shutting down computer emitted from his body, and the light left his eyes. "Gwin!" she cried out before shaking him gently, but it didn't help. His body had gone into hibernation mode. The chilling winds slapped against her back as she debated on how to handle it. Of course she logically knew that even if his mimeosome was destroyed, his real body was in the Life Core…she would just be a little while without him if he…if he didn't wake up.

No, she couldn't handle that, and she soon found herself with her arms wrapped around his torso, dragging his body Northwest to a nook in the formations of the stone. The weather was kicking up a storm, and soon they wouldn't be able to see past their noses…er…she wouldn't. As soon as she had him lied in a corner of the rock , out of sight from the other indigens, she pulled out her com device and contacted the Commander.

Commander Vandham's voice was soon heard, "Irina?"

She finally noticed that she was panting, not out of fatigue but panic, "Commander, we've had a mishap." Mishap… "Something has gone awry with Gwin's mim, and I need a rescue team at fn site 405."

"Something up with his mim? What do you mean?" he asked, knowing that just about anything could happen from death, shutdown, to berserk mode.

"I'm not sure. He seems to be unresponsive," she answered as calmly as she could.

"Okay, I'll make sure someone gets out there to you now," he told her.

The wind picked up, singing around the corner and through the formation; the fog already began forming. "They will want to wait until this storm has passed. I will call back as soon as I think it will be safe for them to come for us," Irina said like the good little soldier she was. Her feelings for Gwin was no match for the safety of the others…

"Roger that, but if you believe he needs assistance now, I'm sure Elma's team can-" he began.

"I won't allow them to come while they cannot even find us due to the fog, Commander," she cut him off.

Vandham knew Irina to be diligent and very logical about protecting others, not so much herself. So he affirmed her suggestion, "Alright, I'll gather a team and wait for your call. Be careful."

She lowered her eyes, "over and out…" She hung up and bit her lip. Her eyes shifted to Gwin, who was lying on his back, his eyes still half-lidded and dull. Her artificial heart panged in her chest, but she knew they needed shelter. Working as quickly as possible, she pitched the tent for two and dragged Gwin inside to keep his body safe. It took about twenty minutes to get settled in the warmth of the tent.

As Irina sat in silence with his body, she stared at the hole in his shoulder; it was an easy fix if they could get back to New LA soon. But the clicking is what bothered her. She recalled Leon having an old laptop that would make a similar sound, and that piece of shit machine was eventually chunked to the curb. It hurt to think Gwin's body was in danger of having that happen. Honestly she knew now that she couldn't see herself with the idiot. He was sort of like a day-brightener for her, and if he was going to be absent from her life until the recovered the Life Core, she didn't know what she would do… Who would pump her up? Who would praise and idol her? Who would be her little punching bag then? She had no one else like that in her life, and she actually didn't want anyone else but Gwin to be that person.

All of that made her think about how she felt about him… She still didn't know for sure, but she always passed it off as big-sisterly feelings (that's what she told everyone). Alas, she didn't know if that was the truth, because he made her feel so many things. She wanted him safe, but she wanted him to keep her safe at the same time. She saw Leon in him, but she also saw a best friend and someone she couldn't be without. His loyalty, hope, generosity, and sense of justice made her oddly melt. If he wasn't going to be there with her every day, what was she going to do? And if he were to never wake again—real body or not—how in the world would she get along on her own?

Her eyes glanced at his frozen body, and she finally touched his gun, which was still tightly held in his palm. She pried his stiff hand from it and set it aside. He was like the dead… He was cold and silent… She wanted to cry… "Gwin…" she whispered, pressing her fingers to his cheek. If there was anything she could do to save him, she would do it without hesitation. Her heart screamed at her to contact the Commander, to have him risk a rescue team for them, but she knew she couldn't do it. She couldn't put anyone else in danger.


I appreciate any feedback!