The days had dragged on for Marcus, blurring together into one long wakefulness ever since Rin had collapsed.  Seeing her drop without a sound had shaken him worse then Casper's supposed death.  One minute she had just been standing there, watching over the refugees as they hurried past them and under the gates of the emergency compound.  A base set up by their own forces in retaliation of this surprise attack.  They were out of the woods literally and figuratively, out of danger supposedly.  Until she just went limp and hit the dirt. Tess had been the first to reach her, frantically searching for a pulse and some cause to her collapse when Marcus came racing up to them.  

He didn't know how many people he had knocked down in his rush to get Rin inside, carrying her close to his chest and ignoring calls from both refugees and soldiers as he fought his way through the crowd with Tess and Richard in his wake.  Moments later and she was in a bed being seen to by field nurses and medics, all telling Marcus there was nothing more he could do here and he had to leave. When the others finally manage to drag him away he didn't seem to even be aware of them, all he could see in his mind's eye being Rin laid out looking so pale and fragile. That wasn't like her, that wasn't the girl he had gone through training for and shared so much with. Not the girl he loved.  it was terrifying.

And he dealt with this new found crippling fear the best way he knew how, fighting.  Whenever he wasn't at Rin's side waiting for her eyes to open he was out past the barbwire, running with Kyle and Chad on an endless string of strikes to drive back the suddenly very present and stubborn UKD presence.  Fight and wait, fight and wait.  He was in his element, it feeling like he was right back in the trenches again.  Except every time he came back to the compound he was feeling hopeful that maybe Rin would be waiting for him by the gate, or that when he took up his usual seat by her cot and held her hand her eyes might open up.  There was no hope in the trenches.

Not one to stray far from routine, Marcus was once more by Rin's bed with fresh dirt and mud on his clothes and caking his boots.  he had clearly just walked in from the field, if the dirt not being a clue then the gun across his back and the smell of gunshot residue making that obvious.  There was stubble lining his jaw now and circles under his eyes, making him look like a completely different person when compared to how he had looked upon first landing on this planet for their leave.  No one commented on it though, this little corner of the make shift medical center always being rather quiet whenever he arrived.  Even if he was accompanied by their friends or Kyle.  

Tess often checked in on Rin when Marcus was gone, having taking on work as a MP of sorts while things were still getting sorted out in the compound.  It wasn't like she could be a pilot after all with no fighters, but still she pulled her weight from behind the fence helping to maintain some sort of order in the chaos and keep up Marcus's vigil when he couldn't.  And keep an eye out for Richard.  She had been confused about things between them for awhile now, and ever since they had arrived at the compound there hadn't really been much chance to talk with him properly among all the bustle.  But things seemed to smoothing out in day to day operations, and she was looking for a chance to at least sit down and have a conversation with him again.  With Rin down for the count and Marcus on some sort of warpath she didn't really have anyone to talk to that she knew from before all this happening.  It was starting to wear her out, and she couldn't deny that as stereotypical boyish as Richard seemed, she did like his company.