With the power of teamwork~ (Admiral Dillon would be so proud), the four bounty hunters had each located their artifacts. The only thing standing in between them were about 50 robotic space pirates, 3 other Beserker lords, and a whole-ass dragon, and a metroid. They all carried multiple burns and bruises, and Gandrayda a serious case of acute stress disorder from being fed on by the aforementioned Metroid.
Unfortunately, all of Sylux's crew had also succeeded in finding their artifacts.
Anyway, Samus currently sat with Rundas in her room as he held ice to her grossly swollen ankle that had happened during her tussle with the Metroid while saving Gandrayda. They were both exhausted.
"You know, you don't have to do this., Rundas. You should probably go rest your head."
"You saved me Samus, so this is the least I can do. Plus aren't I not supposed to fall asleep with a concussion?"
"I think you can but you have to be woken up every two hours."
"See, that sounds pretty awful so I might as well hangout with you. Unless you need some rest yourself."
Samus shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know if I would be able to even fall asleep. Th.. that dragon. My parents were killed by something similar. Well someone similar. It's a lot to process."
Rundas turned to her in surprise. "Are you opening up to me?"
Samus sighed. "I might as well since you're here. And after realizing how scared I would be to lose you when you got hurt, I've decided it's probably not best practice to continue to shut you out."
Rundas gave her a cocky grin. "See, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me forever." Samus just shook her head. "In all seriousness, you can always open up to me. I think we can relate on our pasts more than you realize. Samus, what was the name of the creature who took your loved ones."
"The space pirate, Ridley," she replied bluntly.
"Large, purple dragon-like creature?"
"Yep."
"Well, I think he killed my family too."
Samus turned to him suddenly. "Rundas I am so sorry. I didn't even realize. Here I am moping and shutting people out and I didn't even consider that other people could have experienced tragedy. That my… my best friend went through exactly what I did."
Rundas put his arm around Samus and held her closely, being completely serious for the first time since they had met. "Well your best friend completely understands. We all process things differently."
"What happened to your family, Rundas?" inquired Samus as she pulled away.
"I was really young when it happened so it is sort of a blur. But my entire village was wiped out in an avalanche. We had been attacked by a purple dragon, who must have been the space pirate Ridley. My dad tried to shield me and my sister from most of the damage, I was the only one from the entire village pulled from the rubble by a galactic federation trooper." Rundas shuddered, remembering the scene nothing but a mountain of snow covering the once-proud mining village, debris scattered about and not a living soul in sight.
Samus looked at him with wide, blue sympathetic eyes. "Rundas, I'm sor.."
Rundas shushed her, putting his large finger-like projection to her mouth. "I didn't tell you this to make you feel sorry for me, just trying to relate."
Samus nodded, her personally knowing the annoyance that sympathy can bring despite someone's best intentions."Rundas, what I admire about you-"
"Now I will take flattery," Rundas interrupted with a cocky grin.
Samus gently punched him and sighed. "What I admire about you is how optimistic and outgoing you are despite your tragedy. How you let people get close. I have been withdrawn most of my life, afraid of loving people only in order to lose them," she paused, staring off in to the distance. "I know I put on this image of an unphased, badass bounty huntress. But really it is to cover all the hurt I am feeling."
Rundas looked at her seriously. "Samus, you are a badass bounty huntress. And you're sad. You can be both."
"Now, I will take flattery," Samus smirked.
"Oh, so she has a personality and makes jokes, awesome!" replied Rundas with a wink.
Samus laughed, but then resumed her serious demeanor. "How do you do it, Rundas?"
"Okay so I'm only being this open because I have a head wound and you just opened up to me. Do you think that I work on putting up an image as well? I do consider myself and optimistic person, that is how my mom taught me to be, but I can feel the pain sometime too. Some days the wounds feel fresher than others. Like large, oozing stab wounds. But I can tell you one thing- that ever since you got here the pain hasn't been has severe."
"I can say the same. You, Ghor and Gandrayda have taught me how to live and feel. That maybe it is okay to let others in. I mean, this could come back and bite me in the future but I genuinely view you all as friends."
Rundas pulled her into an embrace. "I promise that I will not make you regret letting me in, Samus."
"I'm holding you to it," said Samus with a yawn. "Now I am going to bed and since you said you're not going to make me regret letting you in, you are going to go to the infirmary and get your head checked out so you don't die in your sleep."
Rundas rolled his eyes, "Fine, but only if you try to get some rest. You deserve it."
"I'm not used to you being this nice and agreeable."
"Same. Once I get over this head injury, I hope it stops and I can go back to teasing you and competing with you," smirked Rundas as he exited the room.
Samus could only roll her eyes in response as she watched him leave, feeling truly warm and happy for the first time in many years. "Hey Rundas?"
Rundas turned around in the doorway. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Anytime, Space Princess."
xxxx
A/N:
Sorry I skipped out on writing about the rest of the action of the first trial, I felt a calling to write an emotional dialogue between Samus and Rundas because I love them so much. I can't promise when I'll update but I am officially done with all my schooling so hoping I can keep this story going. And I seriously appreciate all my followers, favoriters, and reviewers 3
Also- this conversation makes the events Metroid Prime 3 so much more depressing. Ugh. Rundas's promise, my heart. I have a few head-cannons of how their fight goes down that I hope to share with you all one day, one falling in line with the events of the game and the other being my wishful thinking. Anyway- it is late, so I bid everyone good night (or day depending on where you live).
