Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Chapter Seventeen:
Richard "Dick" Simmons' whole body simultaneously felt both mind-numbingly cold and flesh-meltingly hot. There was a sudden surge of energy running through him, as well as surging very distinctly away. He could feel it being drawn and sucked from the very core of his being into the Remnant.
…The Remnant that was now pulsating a blindingly bright blue. The same blue one might find looking up at the sky on a particularly sunny, cloudless day…only the color was on a much more intense scale. About a million times more. He didn't know color could be that intense.
The ever-present hum of the Remnant's almost heartbeat-like rhythm became a strong, constant reverberation in Simmons' ears.
The redhead was being hit by a volley of sensations, ones that he was only now becoming acutely aware of again since the vision (memory?) from the Remnant had started to fade to a nightmare that steadily repeated itself in the back of his mind.
Unasked for transformations, countless deaths, a chaos and confusion that only spread the more attempts had been made to contain it…
What Simmons had just seen seemed to depict the annihilation of the Elves. A strong sense of nausea threatened to overtake him. Had he really just witnessed an entire civilization's demise?
The human's legs gave out under him, due not only to the intense backlash of the dreams (memories) he had just seen, but also due to the sheer scope and weight of what had just occurred to him physically. Simmons had somehow "healed" a Remnant, even though the logical part of his brain was telling him that should in no way be something remotely possible. After all, his Healing Aura had never worked on inanimate objects before.
Simmons dimly thought once more of the heartbeat-like thrumming he was currently hearing, of the "vision" he had just been privy to. He could do nothing to suppress the sudden shudder that followed.
There was no fucking way, none of this made any sense…
"What the fuck just happened?" A familiar, unexpected voice demanded from the mouth of the stone chamber that Florida had brought Donut and Simmons to, "I'm pretty sure I'd remember if a damn earthquake was part of the plan!"
Simmons blinked as a belligerent South Dakota made her way towards them, the Freelancer's ice blue eyes fixated on Florida.
South's statement struck Simmons as odd. Had the ground shaken when he had been in too much of a shocked state to notice? He wondered if that had helped him to collapse onto the ground. He also thought of Grif and the others, hoping that they were all right.
"What the hell are you even doing here, Florida?" The woman demanded as she stopped only a few meters or so away from the still rather eerily nonplussed man, "Because messing with a Remnant sure as fuck doesn't seem like part of a simple plan to meet up with Wyoming!"
From the fact that the orchid-tipped haired South had shown up here alone, Simmons figured that she must have ditched Tucker and the other tournament participants somewhere along the way. No doubt she had viewed them as dead weight to whatever her own goals were. He frowned slightly when he realized that his legs were still too shaky to support his body weight, not sure if he should count it as a good or bad sign that he had become aware enough of his surroundings to have gleamed basic reasoning again.
"Nothing is ever quite as simple as it appears on the surface, South. I thought you would have figured that out a long while ago." the blue-wearing Freelancer, Florida, inclined his head slightly towards the woman's direction, "As I recall, that was one of the reasons why you could never get along with most of our teammates."
South grimaced at the older man's remark, "Do me a fucking favor and cut the bullshit, all right?" She growled out, taking another dangerous step towards her past acquaintance, "Especially since I know that whatever fucking game you're playing right now had us walking straight into that jackass Price's hands again."
Florida's mouth twitched downwards slightly at the mention of that particular name, a momentary look of regret lighting up his brown eyes before he smothered it, "Yes, aiding him was something of an unfortunate side effect I had to put up with in order to test out a theory."
While the two former Freelancers were in the middle of their rather tense and way too confusing verbal standoff with one another, Donut had slinked over to Simmons' side as inconspicuously as a man dressed in pink could. The dirty blond leaned down close to Simmons' head, whispering out in hurried words to the redhead, "M—maybe we can slip out of here while they're all hot and bothered."
But Donut's careful attempt at subterfuge was apparently wasted, given how Florida spoke up in response to the younger man's quiet commentary even as he never took his pointed gaze off of South, "That won't be necessary, Your Highness. I am sure that our friend South here is more than capable of seeing you both back safely to your teammates."
The orchid-armored woman scoffed at the very idea, "Like hell I will! I am done playing the role of a fucking babysitter to these idiots!"
"South." Florida's tone then cut the platinum blonde off in the middle of her rant, earning him a rather murderous glare from her in response, "Young Donut here is in fact the missing prince of the Unsc Empire." He informed her, raising a dark eyebrow questioningly as he added, "Surely you can see how it could prove rather beneficial if you were able to ensure that he gets back to his friends unharmed."
South's eyes landed on the pair of Guild members for a moment, looking over at Donut in particular in staunch disbelief over Florida's announcement. The younger man gulped nervously and straightened his body posture in response to her examination rather defensively.
Something in the uncharacteristically rigid body language the man was displaying seemed to convince her of the truth of Florida's words, because South jerked her head to the room's entrance a second later, "The two of you just better keep the fuck up."
Simmons shakily nodded his head along with Donut, the pink-wearing male helping Simmons to his still rather wobbly and unreliable feet not a second later. He didn't even complain in the slightest when Simmons ended up having to lean against him to continue staying upright.
South turned to Florida again, "What about you, huh?" She asked, her voice rather gruff and indifferent, "Still planning on trying to find Wyoming?"
The older man gave her a curt nod in response, "Of course."
"Asshole." She proceeded to ignore Florida fully after that insult, turning to face the exit as she called out to Donut and Simmons over her shoulder, "Move it!"
"For what it might be worth, I am sorry for the sudden shock." Florida muttered under his breath to Simmons as the duo moved past him to follow their newly decided upon escort out, "Tell me. How do you think you'll proceed now?"
Simmons wouldn't have been able to answer him, even if he had been given the time to do so. Everything that had happened, that the maroon-wearing Magic User had witnessed? He honestly had no fucking clue how to even begin processing it, let alone start thinking about a future course of action he should take.
All Simmons really knew at the moment was just that he wanted, needed to see Grif again as soon as possible.
Dexter Grif, meanwhile, was trying to overcome his own freak out of sorts following the unexpected onslaught of images he had just experienced streaming from Simmons' overwhelmed subconscious. He was still on his knees on the ground, Kai's hand gripping his shoulder rather tightly to the point of bruising.
"Dex?" Kai whispered urgently down to him, sounding more than just a bit panicked given not only what she had just seen happen to her brother but also the sudden violent earthquake they had experienced, "Come on, you need to fucking snap out of it!"
Grif took in a deep breath. The only constant thought running through his mind at that moment being that he wanted, needed to see the nerd again. To make sure that he was okay.
Which was fucking easier said than done, what with the current situation playing out in front of their group.
Felix finally stopped slow-clapping to leer smugly over at Bitters and Filss, "Guess this means the two of you can kiss your newsletter subscriptions goodbye." He mocked, shaking his head in a very obvious play at feigning sadness and disappointment, "Just where, oh where did the loyalty go?"
"Such things must be earned!" Sheila said as she placed her hand comfortingly on her sister's shoulder when the older sibling took a step forward.
"Never agreed to kidnap people." Bitters muttered, stepping forward himself as if to shield a shivering Matthews further from sight.
Price coughed pointedly from where he was standing behind Felix, "That is a rather harsh term to use considering our usual efforts of seeking out Magic Users for recruitment are fairly mundane." He frowned slightly in thought, regarding the dungeon before him with a slightly distasteful air, "Though I suppose our alternative methods could be construed as rough in certain lights, yes."
"You're totally bullshitting us right now, aren't you?" Church demanded in response, raising a dark eyebrow incredulously, "I mean, you're still going to try to use word games to justify this fucked up shit?"
"Alpha. Despite what you might think, it is good seeing you again." Price inclined his head slightly in Church's direction as if in greeting to the still rather seething Fragment, "Agent Washington as well."
"Funny. That is not how I would describe this situation. At all." Washington managed to get out through gritted teeth.
Felix, who apparently really loved hearing the sound of his own voice, decided to cut back into the conversation again with a derisive snort, "Truth be told, though? Most of these rejects weren't even worth the time or effort it took to round them up." He grinned deviously, "Especially not since I can now do this."
A mixture of red and dark energy swirled around the mercenary's body then, before trailing away from him and forming a giant orb close to the center of the dungeon. There was a tremendous flash of light, the orb's shape distorting with it and growing larger and larger until…
"Fuck." Tucker's disbelieving voice echoed everyone's thoughts, as a leathery-winged dragon with a ruby red Relic embedded into its incredibly large throat clawed angrily at the ground, "How the hell did you fucking do that?"
The teal-armored Beast Folk just barely rolled out of the way of a sweeping sword arc from Locus then, his own energy blade that he subconsciously called forth at the monster's sudden presence raised up in a parry.
"Tucker!" Washington seemed rather surprised at his sudden cry the moment he uttered it, though that didn't stop the blond Seas' hands from clenching tightly into fists at his sides all the same.
Behind Tucker were Sarge, Doc, and Lopez. The trio moved away just in time to avoid a flame attack from the Insurrection member with a shark motif on his helm that Caboose had oh-so-helpfully dubbed "Sharkface" before he and Andersmith had broken free during the earlier earthquake to reunite with their missing loved ones.
"This happens to be a rather special component to my own particular brand of magic." Felix remarked, expertly throwing a knife Washington's way to stop the Seas from trying to race forward past the creature to try and offer some kind of assistance to Tucker and the others still stuck on that side closer to their human foes as the dragon began to lumber forward towards the escapees and their would-be rescuers, "I can summon Plague Beasts from active Remnants."
"Felix, you talk too much." Locus informed his partner matter-of-factly as he expertly dodged a frantic swing from Tucker, who was trying to fight the looming mercenary and see what was going on behind them involving Washington's group as well.
"That Remnant energy was meant to go towards our goals." Price chided Felix rather calmly.
Felix uncaringly shrugged the comment off, "Relax. There's always more where that came from." His brown eyes narrowed as he took in the scene in the dungeon, "But right now? All I really give a shit about is dealing with these assholes right in front of me."
Price gave a small sigh, "Try to at least avoid killing all of them. They might still prove useful."
The mercenary rolled his eyes, "Sorry, doc, but I am not making any promises." Felix muttered as he stepped forward, the fight breaking out in earnest all around him not a second later.
In another area of the fortress ruins, two figures clad in white garb stood side-by-side. They had been put on standby duty a while ago, and Wyoming was certainly not the sort to go against his employer's wishes. There was a rumble underneath their feet, the floor and walls around them shaking ever-so-slightly.
Wyoming watched a bit of stone crumble away from the wall, his mustache twitching. "Seems as though the fighting below has gotten underway, chap." He told Gamma.
"Affirmative." Gamma responded in his usual expressionless way of talking.
Wyoming turned to face his younger, dark-haired partner, "Right. Well, we were only paid for the whole kidnapping fiasco, so I suppose we could just seek employment elsewhere should things end up going south." He smiled good-naturedly at his own alternative strategy, "Best to be prepared for any contingency, wouldn't you say?"
"I already have several potential contracts that you might wish to look at."
Wyoming patted his friend on the back, "Well done, Gary! I can always count on you."
"So does that mean the two of you aren't planning on sticking around to see how this plays out?"
The two mercenaries spun around at the rather cheerful voice that spoke just then, only to be met by a smiling Florida who gave them a friendly little wave of his hand in return. "Hello, Reggie. Gamma." He greeted pleasantly, "It sure has been awhile, hasn't it?"
A looming, suffocating silence fell over them, broken only by the slight rumbles of faraway fighting and a rather uncomfortable sounding cough from Wyoming. "This is going to get rather awkward, isn't it?" He quietly asked the Fragment.
Gamma only gave a slight nod of his head for confirmation.
The people who had accompanied Washington into the dungeon were currently trying their hardest to keep the dragon Plague Beast at bay along with those who had only just recently escaped from their cells.
"This is so fucked up!" Kai complained, her delicate-looking butterfly wings moving at a frantic pace behind her back as she dodged a spout of blue fire directed her way, "What kind of asshole makes cells so damn tiny but then puts a fucking cathedral roof over top of them?!"
"I know, right? It's like they expected there to be an epic dragon fight here at some point!" Palomo said as he nodded his head in earnest agreement. Well, more like heads actually, as his magic ability was the ability to duplicate himself—which he was using to great effect to further confuse and annoy the Plague Beast even as Tucker shouted "Oh great, now there's more of him!" in exasperation on the other side of the area.
Felix swung his arm out in a sweeping arc, having moved closer into the space to get better hits on the enemy combatants there, several throwing knives suddenly embedding themselves in the various vitals of Palomo's duplicates, "Word of advice, kiddo, while you're still alive to hear it: it's best to stay focused on the actual fighting."
Palomo let out a small "Eep!" as he brought his hands up to shield his face as his many doppelgangers disappeared into puffs of smoke all around him. The knife that had been aimed at his skull, however, never made it to its destination. Instead, it fell to the ground with a clatter, bouncing off of Jensen's back as she moved in front of the young Guildsman to block the blow.
"Whoa." Palomo breathed out, brown eyes impossibly wide, "You totally saved me!"
Jensen gave him a tiny smile, "Invulnerability does have its perks."
The dark-skinned man in teal-trimmed armor grinned right back at her, "I'll say!"
"Katie!" Andersmith raced towards Felix at that moment, sending the smaller man skidding across the ground several meters with the force of his punch, "Are you all right?"
Jensen nodded shakily, her guardian's enhanced strength never failing to catch her off-guard given how gentle he usually was, "Y—yeah, I'm fine!"
Felix spat out a bit of blood due to the dark-haired man's fist having connected to his jaw, glaring at Andersmith, "I actually fucking felt that." He muttered as he gave the older human an assessing look, "Let me guess. Increased strength or something, right?"
Andersmith gave a slight nod as he frowned, bringing up his fists again defensively.
Felix laughed, "Isn't that just too cute? But you still don't have enough of it to take me down!"
"Wanna bet?" Washington had raced forward while Felix was gloating, the knife in his hand slicing through the wall where Felix's head used to be as if he were cutting through butter.
Felix looked at the damage from his ducked position, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he kicked Washington back towards Andersmith, "According to Price, you specialize in magic adaptation, which I'm assuming you're using to copy the big guy's ability right now. This could end up being mildly entertaining after all."
Tucker, meanwhile, was still doing his best to hold off Locus, who was pressing him constantly with attacks so that he couldn't really do much more than parry and defend himself. "Hey, Doc!" The dark-skinned man called over his shoulder, "A little help here?"
"Kind of…kind of busy at the moment, Tucker!" Doc exclaimed, his voice breaking with exhaustion as he kept up a continuous flow of energy with the help of his flower crown to keep the guards who had entered the dungeon following Price's discreet exit moments before at bay.
"Dude, just fucking hit them directly and get it over with!" The Beast Folk shouted at him, more than a bit annoyed at Doc's pacifistic tendencies at the moment.
"Eat lead, dirt-bag!" Sarge bellowed from several meters away, firing at Locus with his shotgun in order to give Tucker some breathing room.
Tucker nodded his head slightly in thanks before he noticed that Locus had disappeared from view entirely, "Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me."
"Genial, porque teníamos que tratar con alguien que ahora puede ser invisible." {"Great, because we needed to be dealing with someone who can go invisible now."}
Lopez's commentary was followed with the artificially constructed man having to jump back from a wall of fire as Sharkface shot a stream of it in the direction of the artificial construct and Sarge.
"I was hoping to deal with the Freelancer first, but I guess holding him off for second will be all right." The man's voice contained a noticeable gloat in it.
Sarge harrumphed, "Well, that's just downright insulting!" The older man cocked his weapon, inclining his head to Lopez as he did so, "Hop to it, Lopez! Let's show this fella who really brings the heat here!"
"Los juegos de palabras de fuego son completamente innecesarios." {"The fire puns are completely unnecessary."}
The Plague Beast reared its head back, another torrent of blue fire erupting from its open mouth and filling the chamber.
Four Seven Niner grabbed her brother and Church by the back of their shirts, yanking them away from the inferno just in the nick of time. She flashed a grin Church's way, "Looks like I still have to haul your ass around, huh?"
Church groaned and gave her the finger, "We can't all have crazily good reflexes like you."
"No, but what we really need now is one hell of a good plan." The airship pilot responded matter-of-factly, eyes glancing over Caboose to make sure her brother was okay.
Doctor Grey scanned the area with her eyes from behind the protective cover of both Sheila and Filss, their hardened bodies more than capable of taking a few super-heated breath attacks compared to her own fleshy soft one. There was an odd glimmer in the depths of her brown orbs that quickly faded as her vision landed on a tiny crack in one of the dungeons' walls that reached all the way up towards the ceiling.
She smirked, her fox ears and tail twitching in anticipation, "I think I just got one!" Grey sang out proudly in the dwarven woman's direction, inclining her head in the direction of the crack as she addressed the blond-haired younger man in blue standing beside Four Seven Niner and Church, "Caboose! We'll be needing your help most of all!"
"Oh, yay! I like being useful." The dwarf stated cheerily in response, clearly not hearing Church's "We are so fucked." being muttered nearby.
"First of all, we'll need a distraction—"
"Already on it, crazy fox lady!" Kai called out, dipping down rather low to the ground and close to the creature's gnawing teeth and thrashing claws before racing up towards the ceiling again just as the dragon reached out to strike at her.
"Volleyball, dear, if you could be so kind as to give our not-so-friendly dragon a bit of a push?"
"Of course, Doctor Grey!" The blonde put her hands out in front of her, an orb of what appeared to be black, swirling energy forming between them. She let the sphere loose with a cry, the energy field around it seeming to distort the very air.
When it hit the dragon, the Plague Beast violently shuddered and wobbled, taking several steps backwards right in the direction of the crack that Grey had spotted in the wall before.
"Caboose! Break the wall behind it now!" Doctor Grey shouted.
Caboose raced forward at her exclamation with surprising speed for his large frame, one of his gloves already off. He touched the crack behind the massive beast with his bare hand, and there was a slight glow from his fingertips right before the thing further splintered, the rocky structure suddenly eroding away…
"Mikey!" Four Seven Niner called out, as both she and Church pulled her little brother out of the way as the stumbling dragon crashed into the wall.
Grif was right behind it, slamming his staff down onto the dragon's scale-covered hide, explosions rocking over the dragon's entire body as he did so. It thrashed with an air-piercing howl, the action causing the ceiling directly above it to cave in.
For a moment, everything was still as the dust settled and Doctor Grey let out a breath, "Well, that should buy us some time."
Bitters scoffed as he effortlessly tossed another huge piece of rubble on top of the pile covering the Plague Beast, "Yeah, but if we can't get to the Relic than we can't kill it."
"It's a temporary stop measure at best." Locus' voice remarked from behind Tucker, who barely avoided the blow meant to cleave his head from his body.
"Hey, asshole! That's a dick move!" Tucker called out angrily when the steel and green-wearing mercenary rematerialized.
Matthews frowned slightly as he took in all of the fighting still going on. Sharkface was getting ready to blast Sarge and Lopez again…
He closed his eyes and concentrated, the river of fire suddenly turning into a sputtering, smoking gasp at the same time that Tucker's energy blade sprouted to almost blindingly incandescent life.
"Whoa, dude! Thanks for the power up!" The Beast Folk beamed over appreciatively at the yellow-tinged Seas.
The timid young man smiled back shakily just as Sharkface dodged another of Sarge's bullets as he raced towards the auburn-haired man's direction—his secondary weapon, a sword, brandished. "You little energy thief!" He sneered, clearly pissed at the turn of events.
Matthews blanched as Bitters already turned in his direction to push the Seas out of the way…
Though it was Grif's staff that blocked the actual sword blow, "You okay, kid?" The orange-wearing Orc asked, glancing quickly over his shoulder to see if Matthews was in fact all right.
"Uh-huh." Matthews nodded his head earnestly, hazel eyes wide with awe, "Th—thank you, sir!"
Bitters had slid past Grif to forcibly shove Sharkface away. He barely even touched the Insurrection member, but the effect of his palm lightly making contact with his armor was the same as if he had put his entire body weight behind the effort, causing Sharkface to go flying back towards Lopez and Sarge, who were both circling around from behind.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" South's voice suddenly cut into the fray, her sword cutting through the guards that Doc had been holding back.
Doc let out a pained gasp of air, collapsing tiredly to his knees as his Floral Blast dissipated.
Donut was by the purple-wearing man's side in a second, kneeling down on the ground next to him and grabbing his shoulder, "Doc!"
"Oh, look who finally decided to show up!" Tucker shouted in annoyance over at South, "What, did you fucking get lost after ditching us or something?"
"Oh, fuck off! You should just be grateful I came back at all for your sorry asses." She muttered as she took up a fighting stance next to him across from Locus.
Grif and Simmons both spotted the other at the exact same minute, "Grif!" Simmons shouted, smiling in relief.
Grif smiled back in earnest, "Simmons!"
"Solo hazlo más obvio, ¿por qué no?" {"Just make it more obvious, why don't you?"}
Felix stopped his assault on both Andersmith and Washington for a second to look over in Simmons' direction rather unimpressively before scoffing, "Guess I should be thanking you for activating that Remnant."
Simmons whipped his head around quickly in the mercenary's direction, completely caught off-guard by the statement, "Wh—wha…?"
"Uh, guys?" Church's voice was shaking as the pile of rubble began to move, "The dragon's waking up."
Tucker groaned in exasperation, "Oh, fuck this!" There was a gust of air as a cyan blur rushed past him then, and he nearly spun around due to how off-balance it put him.
"Damn it, I fucking hate when she does that! Little Miss Showoff." South muttered under her breath, only furthering the teal-wearing man's confusion.
"What…?"
A black, armored boot slammed into Locus' chest plate then as the crimson visor of the person it belonged to turned in his direction, "Focus, Tucker!" Tex told him emphatically, pushing away from Locus to land on her feet effortlessly.
A dozen knives flew through the air at Sharkface, all but one disappearing when they made contact with the ground and wall as he managed to dodge. This very real one was suddenly held in C.T.'s hand as she very nearly lodged it into his shoulder.
"You fucking traitor!" Sharkface snarled at her.
C.T. drew back into a combative posture, "You can think whatever the fuck you want of me, Terrence, but I'm through being used by anyone."
Carolina, meanwhile, had joined the fray against Felix, landing a volley of punches and kicks that left him collapsed on the floor. She nodded over at Washington, "Sorry it took so long, Wash."
The blond tensed up slightly at her focus on him, still always the rookie around her, "Oh, er, that's all right, boss."
The redheaded woman gave Washington and Andersmith another sharp nod, "The two of you go and help deal with the Plague Beast. I'll—"
"Do what, exactly?" Felix sneered up at her, jumping to his feet and already racing forward with another of his knives out, "Bleed everywhere?"
With her enhanced combat speed, Carolina was more than ready for his strikes, but the dragon breaking through the rubble and shooting flames in their direction while her back was turned was not part of the plan. To dodge the now white-hot flames, she had to turn her back to Felix, which led to the knife becoming embedded in the flesh just above her hip.
"Donut, on the double!" Sarge yelled out as the mercenaries and Plague Beast began circling them in.
Donut nodded tersely, Church stepping over to his side as he began to glow with a soft white light. In the next instant, the group of Guild members and their allies had disappeared from the ruins entirely.
They were teleported to just outside of Rat's Nest, which was apparently as far away as Donut was capable of getting such a large group of people even with Church giving him something of a power boost.
Donut staggered and collapsed onto the ground, a concerned Doc pulling the suddenly clammy younger man practically into his lap as he started to check him over.
Already, they could hear the distant sound of voices growing louder in pursuit, lights blaring to life all over the town. Damn it. They didn't even really have the time to collect their thoughts or check up on everyone. They were still technically in enemy territory, after all.
Washington frowned as he surveyed the thick, forested terrain around them. Without thinking about why he did so, he patted Tucker's shoulder once as he swept his eyes over everyone huddled together. The Beast Folk's feline ears twitched slightly at the contact, but he otherwise didn't react.
"We need to move. Now." Washington stated emphatically, "We'll have to deal with the more critical injuries on the road."
Doctor Grey glanced up from her inspection of Carolina as if to protest given the injured woman's condition, but Sarge looked into her eyes as he nodded his head in agreement with Washington's assessment, "It's not ideal and I'm not a fan of running from my enemies, but we'll have to make do so we can fight another day." Sarge finally let out.
Grey frowned momentarily, but returned the older man's gaze and nodded her head in understanding before turning her attention back to her current patient as she attempted to at least try and get a handle on the bleeding before they continued.
Simmons and Grif both stared at one another, nearly reaching out and touching hands. It felt as if a lot had happened since they had last seen one another, even though it had only been a few hours at the most.
"So what the fuck happened back there with you guys and that Florida weirdo?" Grif asked, unsure of how exactly to broach the topic of what he had experienced earlier through the Linking Magic.
"I—I'm not sure." Simmons admitted honestly, turning with a worried frown in the direction of his also redheaded cousin, "Carolina…"
Grif did reach out to grip the maroon-wearing man's shoulder reassuringly then, "Is going to be fine, Simmons."
Thanks to the Linking Magic, the heavyset man knew that Simmons didn't have enough energy to attempt to use his Healing Aura right now. The last thing the group needed was for Simmons to knock himself out by trying to heal Carolina. Grif was far too lazy to want to carry the kiss-ass' deadweight on their escape route, and he maybe also didn't want to see Simmons strain himself anymore that day.
The redhead nodded a moment later, biting his lip anxiously, "R—right." He gave a weak but sincere smile in the Orc's direction, "I…I'm glad you found Kai, Grif."
"Me too." Grif smiled back, his eyes landing on his little sister chatting energetically with Volleyball for a brief second.
The two men stood there, regarding one another for several minutes, unsure of what exactly to say next. Grif's hand still rested on Simmons' shoulder and his arm shook slightly as if he was resisting the urge to pull the human closer to him, and the two opened their mouths to speak at the same time though nothing came out.
"Simmons! Grif!" Sarge's voice called out from further away, "Get moving or we'll be leaving your lazy butts behind!"
The two men looked at one another once more, Grif giving Simmons' shoulder a shaky but reassuring squeeze before they both pulled away to join the others in vacating the vicinity as quickly as possible.
Author's Notes: …I'm wondering why so many of my stories require lengthy action sequences when I am not the best at writing them, lol. XD Orz, I hope that wasn't too terrible to read as a result, and I apologize if the ending feels a bit rushed comparatively.
We are actually getting really, really close to the ending of the first volume of this AU duology! :D Just a few more chapters to go now. :) Haha, here's to hoping that the actual ending to Volume I will be intriguing and not rage-inducing since I might take a bit of a break before starting Volume II (although I do have things planned for it already!). XD
Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read this! :D