Behind Cold Metal

Chapter 12: The Rain

When Meta Ridley had chopped up the meat and made each one into a kebab before splitting the share 80-20 (Meta Ridley naturally ate a lot more than Samus).

"Well, here it is, our food for the night" he said. At that moment, he saw something he had never seen his entire life. Samus, who obviously couldn't eat with her helmet on, took it off. Meta Ridley suddenly felt his heart skip another beat as he laid his eyes on her face. He watched quite stunned as she tied her hair back.

"Uh...uuhh........" he grunted. Samus picked up on this and looked at him, with her usual frown.

"What?" she asked. Meta Ridley realized that he was almost gawking and snapped out of it.

"Er, nothing. Just...just passing...uh...gas?" he said quickly. Samus looked back down and started to eat. Meta Ridley quietly sighed and started to eat himself.

Another half a hour passed and the both had just finished their last kebab. The both were quite full and content.

"Ahh....why can't my Pirate chefs cook meals like this?" Meta Ridley said. "I ought to take over the kitchen"

"Yeah, that way, perhaps my food will taste better" Samus added. "I hate to say it, but you can cook"

"Really? That's nice to know" Meta Ridley said. The both felt curious still about each other's behaviour, but it was Samus who wanted to raise another question, this time about Ether.

"...You know...I don't understand why you haven't touched this planet, or raided its materials, seeming it's so close to your planet" she said. "Why haven't you come here yet?"

"...Well, even I have to get away sometimes. This is the closest planet that doesn't have any noisy inhabitants on it. I prefer to keep it this way. Plus, the food is good. My minions don't even know this planet exists. It's my secret abode" he said.

"I didn't know you had a soft spot for nature Meta Ridley" Samus said.

"Soft spot?" Meta Ridley asked. "I prefer to think of it as...as..." he added. But he couldn't think of a different word for it. In secret, he loved Ether as a planet. The forest and the clear sky was just so compelling to him, he didn't want it to get raided. He'd much rather every other planet gets destroyed first.

He was about to provide yet another haphazard explanation when a drop of water fell on him.

"Uh?" he said.

"Huh?" Samus said, reacting to Meta Ridley.

"I swear some water dropped on me just now..." he said. Then, a huge gust of wind blew and a torrent of rain begun to fall, wiping out the fire.

"Dammit!" Meta Ridley shouted. "Darn this stupid rain!" Samus sighed and put her helmet back on, but the rain made her feel uncomfortable. She found it extremely hard to go to sleep when she was wet. She took her helmet off again.

"Urgh...how are we going to sleep? This rain is so distracting..." she said. Meta Ridley could sleep in the rain by hiding under his wings, but he was bigger than Samus, and much more resistant. Plus, he was used to sleeping in the rain, for he spent some of his recon missions in the rain, forced to sleep in it.

He turned to Samus, whose head was getting quite wet. Slowly, he started to develop a feeling of guilt inside him. Plus, every time he looked at her face, he felt incredibly nervous and he felt a strange weight on his heart, like any normal person would.

"Oh...what do I do...should I?" he thought. Then, he made his decision. As Samus, looking rather unhappy, sat against a tree, Meta Ridley sat down right next to her and used his orange wing to shelter Samus beneath it, stopping the rain from reaching her.

"Is that better?" he asked.

"But...you'll get wet..." Samus said, looking at Meta Ridley, who was getting wetter and wetter.

"I'm used to it. Now go to sleep" he said. Samus rested against the tree to start with, but as she got more and more tired, she slumped more and more. Meta Ridley was about to fall asleep himself when he felt something against his dry leg. He looked down to see that Samus, with her helmet off, had fallen asleep against his leg. He was about to move, but he felt rather kind and breathed warm air on her, keeping her from getting cold.

Soon after, Meta Ridley also fell asleep, and the two stayed huddled beneath the tree through the stormy night.