Hi everyone.
Firstly, thank you to those who have taken time to read my story.
I have been busy with school and typing my father's stories, so I hadn't had a chance to update this one. I happened across some spare time at school today, and wrote this while also doing homework for International Studies. Hope you enjoy.
He received the weapons requests for the next mission. Jacob didn't know where the ground team were going, but he thought it must be dangerous, as Shepard had requested the Particle beam, among his usual requests. He saw the next weapon, the M-12 Locust Submachine Gun, the weapon preferred by Kasumi. He went and polished it up. Even though he had polished all the weapons since reorganising the armory, he wanted Kasumi to have the cleanest one. He then read the final weapon on the list: the M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon. Miranda's weapon, he thought. Jacob pushed his feelings aside or at least tried to. He lay out the weapons, ready for the team to collect. Shepard arrived first.
"Good luck Commander," Jacob had stopped saluting him, instead giving words of encouragement.
"Thanks Jacob," Shepard picked up the guns and left. Miranda came next; Jacob pretended to clean Garrus' sniper rifle.
"Thank you Jacob." The fact that she used his first name surprised him, but he didn't respond. He kept cleaning the sniper rifle, pretending that he didn't hear her. She stepped closer to him, but he still didn't react.
"Did I do something to upset you? We used to talk all the time. Lately though, you seem to be in here all the time." Jacob did not respond. Miranda didn't really expect him to. When something was bothering him, he wouldn't tell anyone.
"Thanks." She said, knowing that he was listening to her. She hoped that whatever was bothering him wouldn't affect his duties. Miranda then left the room. Jacob let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding, and leant against the table. He was thinking back to one of the missions he had done with Miranda, when he felt something on his lips. Sure enough, Kasumi appeared in front of him. He kissed her back.
"How long have you been here?"
"About an hour. Is my Locust ready?" Jacob went over and got it for her.
"Freshly cleaned and polished," Jacob said with pride.
"Thanks," she said with a kiss. She began to leave the room. She reached the doorway when Jacob said, "Stay safe," She looked over her shoulder.
"Don't I always?" Kasumi smiled and donned her tactical cloak.
While the team were doing whatever it was that they were doing, Jacob managed to perform maintenance, clean and polish all the sniper rifles in the armory- of which there were twenty seven. The whole time he thought about missions that he and Miranda did together before the Lazarus Project. The mission with Ish, the Citadel mission, all of their missions together. He missed the simplicity of that life, compared to saving a galaxy that didn't want to be saved. He then recalled what he and Miranda had gotten up to after the missions. He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. That's the past he thought to himself, recalling a conversation he once had with Kasumi.
He stared at her back. It had two tattoos, one on each shoulder. They looked Chinese.
"What do these mean?" He asked her.
"The right one means wisdom. I got it after my first heist. The group that I was with thought that it would give us wisdom to pull off the heists. It did, funny enough. At the time, I just saw it as a symbol of belonging, but it helped me."
"And this one?" he asked, tracing it. He did find the story interesting, but he also wanted to know what the other one was.
"It means love. Keiji and I both got it at the same time." He could hear it in her voice: she missed him.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"Every day. But don't worry. Me not loving another isn't going to bring him back. Destroying the graybox was a good idea. I'm alive, he's not. What I do-or don't-do isn't going to change that."
Why can't I get over Miranda? Jacob asked himself. It's the same as Kasumi and Keiji. Miranda will never come back to me. His thoughts were interrupted by the intercom: it was Miranda's voice on the radio.
"Request immediate evac. Shepard and I are cornered. Hurry!" Jacob had only one thought:
Kasumi.