You guys are awesome, after such a slow update you guys are still with me?! Thanks, CaptainHall, ScrumtousToast, MasterDerp5885 (in celebration of finally getting an account too! :D), Helven, and WheresDaBeef, so much for your awesome reviews! I'm glad you guys like Archer and Toad, they're probably gonna be a bit of comic relief in this chapter (maybe… I'm not sure, not very good at comedy…), I think I'm about to just jump right into the MW3 storyline so there's not going to be much of them. By the way, I'll always be accepting prompts for Unity (you can submit several at once or at different times, I don't really care), or any other suggestions, requests, etc. from you guys, it's the least I could do for such a wonderful audience! I know updates are really slowing down, I'm just getting stuck MW3 wasn't exactly my favorite game for one thing, then there's school, other ideas clogging up my thought process, rifle team practice, etc. Hope I can get back to my somewhat normal updates soon… (And then I dislocated my shoulder… -_- great…)(Thanks again MasterDerp for getting me motivated to finish this chapter! Sorry it's late… again… I'm losing my touch with this one…)
Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher
~Spitfire out
*Dash's POV*
I was glad Ghost had snapped me out of my flashback when he had, before it got any worse, which it did. It got a lot worse.
It was now 0400 in the morning and I was the only one awake, I couldn't sleep, the nightmares were starting to comeback, so I ran the track that encompassed the base until dawn broke. Then I noticed that someone had joined me at around 0630, it was Roach.
"Hey," I greeted as he ran next to me, "Don't you have a mission today?"
Roach just shook his head, "They're putting Nikoli's guy, Yuri, on it instead, somethin' bout needing to get back into shape," he answered with a shrug.
I hummed in response and kept running, reciting a Navy SEAL cadence in my head 'C-130 rollin' down the strip… SEAL Team Froggy gonna take a lil trip… Mission top secret destination unknown… I don't know if I'm comin' home… Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door… We jump right out and count to four… If my main don't open wide, I got a reserve by my side… And if that one should fail me too… Get outta my way 'cause I'm comin' through… Singin' hooya-hay, a runnin' day… Singin' a-hooya-hay, just another running day…' It was probably the only cadence I'd ever really bothered to memorize.
When I finished running I wondered what I was going to do while Tavish, Price, and that Yuri guy were gone. Then I remembered Ghost was running mission support and would be stuck in the command center all day, bored off his arse.
I went to go see if he needed any help or just to bug him if he didn't. When I got there the mission had already started and Ghost was falling asleep so I went to get him a coffee.
When I got back with the hot drink and gave it to him, he nodded his thanks and returned to the screen in front of him that showed camera feed. The label was in Russian, I couldn't read Russian, and so I assumed the feed was coming from that Yuri's helmet cam.
He was running across rooftops with Soap and Price, the two captains in the lead. When he jumped down to a lower level the tin roofing fell from under him and he fell the ten or so feet to the ground underneath, having the breath knocked out of him. I could hear him cough as he regained his senses and stumbled to his feet. I could vaguely hear Soap yelling something to the Russian when he started running but was attacked head on by one of the militia. He fought the guy off and killed him, then kept running, meeting up with Price and Soap on the other side of the buildings. There was mortar fire everywhere. I was half glad the militia couldn't shoot for shit. Only half because they weren't much of a challenge if they couldn't shoot.
*Toad's POV*
Archer had scared the absolute shit out of me that was for sure. It didn't help that Doc had told me that Archer had crashed twice. I had already been worried about him but now the chances of me leaving him alone went from slim to none in less than ten seconds. Then when he tried to stand up… All I could say at this point is that Ian was crazy for attempting it.
"Ugh, I'm sick of just laying here doing nothing!" Archer complained, rolling his eyes at the ceiling.
I laughed lightly, Archer was usually moody when he was hurt, suffering in silence as some said. It wasn't like him to be complaining so much, but he'd done a lot of changing recently so I wasn't bothered.
"Maybe you'd be on your feet sooner if you'd just lie still like Doc said, you'll hurt yourself moving around so much," I commented when he started fidgeting uncomfortably, to which he replied with an annoyed sigh as he complied.
"Speaking of which… When was the last time you slept?" Archer asked, looking over at me.
I shrugged, "I sleep when you do, Ian," I answered simply.
"Let me rephrase that, when was the last time you slept in a bed?" he pressed.
I thought about it for a minute. Come to think of it, I hadn't slept in anything but that chair since we got back.
"Umm…" I answered with a short chuckle, scratching the back of my head nervously.
Archer gave me a pointed look, "Chris, I appreciate you being here for me, but seriously, go get some sleep, love," he said softly, "I'll be fine, you know Doc's keeping an eye on all of us," he added, referring to everyone that had been injured.
I sighed, he had me beat, as usual. I knew Doc was keeping an eye on everyone on base, not just the injured, he was good like that, observant, never missed a beat, in fact, he was so good I worried about him finding out about Archer and I. But the comfort of Doc keeping an eye on Archer didn't stop me from worrying about him.
As I entered the main room of the medical bay, where the large waiting room sat vacant aside from a few soldiers waiting for news on injured friends, Doc caught sight of me, his jaw dropping, obviously shocked at the fact that Archer had managed to get me to stop fussing and go.
Doc caught up to me just before I left the bay, "You didn't tell him?" he asked knowingly, lord only knows how he could tell.
I shook my head solemnly, "How do you tell someone something like that, Doc… It'll crush him…"
Doc sighed, "I know… I'm still trying to figure that part out…"
I looked at the ground slightly, "If I know one thing about Archer, he'll find out eventually, and he'll be pissed that we didn't tell him…"
Doc nodded in agreement, "We'll have to break the news to him at some point…"
I shook my head, "No, no you said it wasn't impossible… Hell, Archer's done the impossible, several times over… He can do it again."
"Yes, but we still have to tell him, whatever way we go about this he has to know," Doc pointed out, "In this case, what he doesn't know, can hurt him."
"I know, but… I don't know, Doc, I can't do this to him…" I said quietly, looking at the ground.
There was a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at Doc who was staring back at me with a concerned look in his eye.
*Doc's POV*
The way Toad was talking about crushing Archer, it only confirmed what I already knew, had known since… Hell, I'd known even before they had that the two would end up together. Did it bother me? Not in the least, the way I saw it, they needed each other. They'd saved each other's lives countless times. Toad was determined that this time would be no different but it was. Now, Archer's life wasn't in danger, his career was. When he took the knife to the back of his knee, the blade had sliced into a nerve group but hadn't cut all the way through. The chances of Archer walking again were slim to none. Sure he'd eventually be able to walk, but with a heavy limp and he wouldn't be able to tackle long distances. He'd be discharged before he even had a chance.
It was hard to tell someone something like that, especially when it meant he'd have to cut off all connection with the one he loved and had known since they were young, well younger. It was tough to accept, everyone liked Archer. I couldn't do anything about it without the authorization from someone higher up the command chain than MacTavish, and with Shepherd as a traitor, there was no one to authorize the procedure. It was up to Archer to get himself walking again, against all odds.
I know, it's really short, but seriously, I needed to get this out, my last update was in February for Christ's sake! And I also know that I torture Archer WAY too much… I had the idea and couldn't get it out of my head, thought about putting it in Stoic (probably would've been a better idea) rather than putting it here but I couldn't think of anything so I stuck it here instead… My updates are trickling with this, yes, I'm losing my touch with it, honestly, I don't really like Dash x Ghost all that much anymore, it feels too rushed the way I wrote it…
Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher
~Spitfire out
