Member
Konan375
Sep
Echotech71
Oso
BrokenPromise
Fetzen
mickilennial
Force and Fury
Old Wounds and Long Talks
Borealis, within Vellios’ Quarters
Vellios walked into a medbay. His right arm reached for the nearest packet of medi gel while his left reached to steady him, his body lowered into the seat. Pain flared across his surface and heated his skin, his mind realized there farther damage done after his interaction with Serena. He immediately regretted tossing her over his shoulder as he gingerly removed his shirt then lifted it. When he pressed a single button upon his torso, the cast hissed and popped open causing him to flinch from the ache. Gently, he removed the hard exterior with the gel insides to set aside onto the table.
His icy eyes lowered to look at the wound’s condition. A nasty, swollen wound spread across his rib area discolored into slight green, drawing a frown upon Vellios’ mandibles. The swollen tissue collected specifically around where he had broken his ribs and he could feel a bit protruding through the muscle as he gingerly touched it, his mouth wrenched open in a silent scream.
It wasn’t the stupidest thing he had ever done, but considering the fact they were on a mission, he could’ve avoided it. Controlling his breathing, Vellios ripped open the medi gel with his pointed teeth. The clear liquid gel oozed out as he applied it generously on his wounds, fighting the reaction to flinch every time, before he finished. By this time, he was pretty sure that Serena had passed out in her ‘outburst’.
Cleaning up his mess, he inched off the seat then headed back to his quarters.
Serena was desperately trying to resist passing out, swaying as she sat on the bed. She had remembered at the last second that Dex would be asking for reports. Then there would be no one replying and Dex would have to assume the worst as unexpected radio silences were never good in mercenary work. Have...to get up… She thought woozily as blood loss and pain medicine drew her ever farther away from consciousness. I can’t fall asleep. Not now. Dex would be distracted by worrying and that might get her killed or worse. No. I can’t fall asleep now.. Her worry and panic did not stop her exhaustion. Carefully and slowly, she forced herself to stand up, stumbling in her tiredness.
He has a spare helmet...I can use that to raise Dex… She took two shaky steps towards his cabinet.
She fell unconscious and hit the ground.
Cautiously, Vellios peered into his quarters a few hours later then sighed at her crumpled form upon the floor. Casually he moved inside then lowered himself to her level and examined her condition. She was still alive through exhausted as he scooped her into his arms then walked back to his rarely touched bed. He gently settled her down into his bed and lifted upright to bring the sheets to cover her up when she seemed to stir, his figure froze much like an animal in headlights and even extended to his still breath within his throat. He eyed her warily expecting her to wake.
She didn’t. Breathing in relief, he finished ensuring her comfort as his ears heard the sounds of others arriving from their mission. Their clamoring made it easy to detect where they were heading and gradually faded to lick their wounds. He was glad because he wasn’t sure he had the patience or energy to deal with them right now. Especially Haze. Pushing the name from his attention, Vellios finished up tucking in Serena then lowered himself to sit cross legged upon the floor to the bedside. His eyes stared at a softly snoring Serena with an expression of thankfulness compared to his earlier fury and anger, letting it fester under the surface for later. It was a sensation he knew well from his younger years that it was easily dealt with.
The door closed leaving the pair alone.
**~~~| Hours later|~~~**
Gone. Gone. They were all gone. Spencer. Omar. Hannah. Janet. Silus. An. Soban. They were all dead, killed because her. It was her fault, her fault, her fault. Dead dead dead. She just gets people killed. She’s weak and pathetic and they’re all dead because of her even- “Barat!” Serena sat up in alarm, then immediately regretted it, curling on herself and groaning in pain as all of her wounds screamed at her. “Fuck….why did I do that...oh right. I was getting my ass kicked.” She groaned, looking around her. She was in Vellios’ room, that bastard.
Speaking of the bastard, he was asleep across the room. Serena’s features softened as she looked at him, reluctantly smiling with a sigh at the sight of the idiot. At least they were off the planet then. Vellios wouldn’t have gone to sleep if they weren’t. Everything still hurt like hell though, safe or not, and pain drugs sounded like a wonderful idea. With more groans Serena carefully got off the bed and began making her way towards the door. “Stupid fucking smuggler and my stupid fucking explosive crossbow and my stupid fucking barrier not working….” She muttered under her breath, slowing getting towards the door.
“Serena, you know I sleep lightly...right?” Vellios’ voice spoke just when she crossed his end edge, the slight creak giving her position away, as his icy blue eyes opened. His head turned toward her with a subtle frown, clearly disapproving of her sneakiness which she failed at. He yawns as his arms raised then stretched over his head as he worked out the kinks. A small pop and crack occurred in his neck causing him to flinch slightly, his breath paused then released.
Gingerly he raised to his feet, his eyes studied her when he spoke, “Currently, what are you up to now?”
Serena jumped slightly, but other than that gave no surprise at Vellios waking up, merely continuing her movement forward and complaints about it. “Yes..fuck...I’m aware...god damn it….I wasn’t trying to ...sonuvabitch….sneak out. I just want...shit this hurts….some fucking pain pills.” Serena reached the door, leaning against it in relief. “And to find out if everyone is okay.”
Vellios slowly nodded as if he was ‘accepting’ a small child’s white lie, his body twisted around toward his bag. His fingers reached for the clasps, which he noted were untouched, then flipped up the lid to seek out the pill killers. He kept a spare stash for Serena since she would never take his drugs and often he was forced to patch her up so it made lots of sense. While he rummaged through the spare clothes, his voice spoke back to her, “I have some here. Through, funny thing… I opened my ‘medicine’ case and suddenly, I was out. However, I know I didn’t use my dose last night. You wouldn’t happen to know how it became empty, would you?”
Serena froze like a deer in headlights, suddenly grateful Vellios’ back was to her. “Huh. That’s weird. Maybe Drono got into them or it popped open on the way to the sight.” She replied, fidgeting as she focused on making her voice steady. “The pain pills are really secondary. I just want to make sure no one died because of me.” She paused, adding under her breath, “Again.”
“I had to lock the door so pointless in trying it. I didn’t want ‘Drono’ getting into my stash again until I’ve talked to him about it,” Vellios said, his smile hidden by his turned back. Her voice sounded a bit jumpier than usually, an indicator she was guilty as he pulled out the pills and added, “Oh, Serena, this is interesting… All my meds are here so whoever emptied my kit, didn’t want them. Now, only one individual knows exactly where I keep my stash. Would you like to guess who?”
“You know Drono...always a practical joker.” Serena said weakly.
“You’re a terrible liar…” He spinned about on his ass and handed the capsule holder out to her, jingling it back in a teasing way for her to take it and get closer to him. His mandibles stretched into a wry grin as he continued, “No offense Serena, you give yourself far too much credit for every death. It happens, if not from your past then something else would’ve killed them later.”
“Thanks for the pep talk mr. ‘I blame lots of things on myself and my past.’ For your information, I only blame the deaths that are my fault on myself.” Serena snapped, gingerly making her way towards the pain pills, cursing quietly as she did so. “I’m gonna be one giant bruise tomorrow.”
“Did you pull the trigger?” Vellios said firmly, his taloned hand immediately shot up and tilted his eyes stared into hers as he continued, “No, you didn’t and you’re not a killer Serena. Just bad luck sometimes since you tend to make things go boom more than Drono in an explosive factory.”
“Inaction is just as bad as action.” She replied. “I may not have pulled the trigger, but I’m just as responsible for not being as alert or warning them in time.”
He let go of Serena’s chin, allowing her to take the medicine, “Sadly that can’t be helped because Haze was stupid enough to leave you alone and an easy target. Currently, I’m still pissed at him.”
“Give him a break Vellios.” Serena sighed, taking the pills. “How was he supposed to know a bastard had slipped around back? The turrets only pinged four of them and the plan was for me to retreat to the cliff, so everyone was in front of me, and report our situation to the various teams while he dealt with them all.”
“Like I gave those assholes that left you to die a break? You came up with excuses for them too but if you had died, not a single one would’ve felt bad. His break is that I’m not seeking him out actively to kill him,” Vellios growled in frustration, his mind recalling the last time someone had left her behind to fend for herself.
Serena sighed. “It’s different and you know it. Haze didn’t intentionally leave me to die and he came back for me when he knew I was in trouble.”
“They just met us, Serena,” Vellios retorted.
“But he came back. The other ones had known us for months and left me. Haze has known me for a week and came back for me. That has to count for something.”
“Serena.”
“It does Vellios. You know it does. Put your frustration at your idea that you failed me and that Haze failed the trust you put in him aside. It means he’s more than just a random merc out for himself and that he cares. If only a tiny bit.”
“You trust everyone and I can’t lose you… This is something we both know and can’t forget,“ Vellios commented coldly as he leaned back against his bag, resisting her plead.
“Vellios, if you don’t trust this crew, you’re always going to assume the worst. Even you can’t be around me all the time. You have to understand that Haze didn’t intentionally leave me and that he came back as soon as he could when he knew I was under attacked. Same as you.”
“It’s too soon,” Vellios answered, his tone exhausted and softening a little.
Serena popped a couple of pain medicine, tucking the rest into her pocket. “Ugh.” She grimaced. “You’d think they’d make them at least taste like nothing. They seem to purposely make them taste as awful as possible.” She gingerly turned around. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make sure everyone is okay.”
“Alright, just don’t fall on your face heading out. You’re not looking too well and you weren’t in the best condition when you got back,” Vellios stated as he watched her make her way out.
