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Dusty stood just outside of Blade's hanger, watching from a distance as Maru checked Blade's vitals. There had been a sort of incident earlier that led to Blade hitting something on his left side- Dusty couldn't see the injury, nor had he seen the event in which it occurred, but he figured it was most likely a tree that had done the damage, as Maru didn't seem too worried about it.
But that's not to say Maru didn't look worried at all.
“I don't see any damage done to any of the exterior outside of this side, but I think I had better check the hydraulics to be safe...” he said to Blade- who was standing with his eyes closed, and was so still Dusty would have thought he was a statue. Blade gave a slight nod.
Dusty watched Maru go around to Blade's other side, checking this and that, making sure nothing else had been damaged, and then left for a minute to get a few tools from the other hanger. After he left, Dusty looked over to see Blade standing there. It was concerning to see him so motionless, and so quiet. A bit too quiet.
Dusty was reminded of when he was still being certified, and Blade, in an effort to save his life during the mine incident, injured himself severely- in the exact same spot he was injured in now.
'That must be why Maru sounded a little worried...' Dusty thought to himself, looking over to the red helicopter. He knew that Maru had been keeping a close eye on Blade's fluids- specifically his hydraulic fluids- to make sure they were all at the right level for a few weeks after that incident, but he had eventually come to the conclusion that they were level enough that he didn't need to check on them all the time. But to see him doing it again, checking for any problems at all, was a bit nerve-wracking.
It was always scary to Dusty when there were injuries, especially if they were injuries to someone else. Blade's injuries were probably the scariest. He was the chief of the entire team, and he had to be making sure everyone was doing their job and keeping everyone in order. To see him hurt was a fear in itself to the team, who, although Windlifter sometimes took charge in situations where Blade couldn't, didn't have another actual chief to take charge while Blade recovered.
But the reason was most likely because Blade rarely ever got injured at all, and if he did it was only minor damage.
Dusty rolled into the hanger a bit more, to block the bright sunlight out of his eyes. His eyes quickly adjusted to the different lighting, and Dusty was able to see Blade's injury much clearer.
There was a large dent over the base of his tail on the left side, and a few scratches over the red paint job that were now streaks of white.
'Had to have been a tree.' Dusty thought, remembering his own experiences with tree branches scratching at his paint job.
Dusty didn't think that Blade knew that someone else was in the room, or at the very least that it was him. But he was very much mistaken for both assumptions when out of the blue, without even opening an eye to confirm it was him, Blade spoke directly to him,
“Need something, Champ?”
“Champ” had become Dusty's official call sign at the Piston Peak Air Attack, since Blade was no longer the only one who called him that. The only one on the team that didn't call him that was Dipper, who still called him 'Dustmuffin'. Even Mayday had begun to say “Champ” every once in a while around Propwash (Dusty figured that Blade had probably told him about the new nickname over the radio, as the two were still talking with each other by radio every once in a while).
Even though Dusty had become pretty well used to the name by now, it just didn't quite seem right this time that Blade had said it. Normally, in an instance where Blade wasn't hurt, he would say the same words, only with a tougher tone- which Dusty was entirely used to now. All the more reason for him to feel that this time it wasn't right. It was quieter, and less harsh-sounding, almost as if those three words alone took a lot of energy to say.
“Well, I just...I wanted to see that you were doing alright.” Dusty said, “I didn't see what happened, so I thought I would make sure you're okay.”
Blade opened his eyes to look at Dusty for a moment. Dusty suddenly had a chill run through his fuselage from the piercingly icy stare of his. Blade definitely had a way of shutting people up with those ice blue eyes of his. Just freezes up anyone who looks directly into them.
Blade only looked at him for a moment before he closed them again before speaking,
“I'm alright.” he said.
Then, practically reading Dusty's mind, he added,
“Assuming you want to know what happened out there?”
Dusty shifted on his landing gear. He always hated it when Blade just cut through the conversation and went right to the core question. But that was just the way Blade was- at least, how he was now. A part of Dusty actually wanted to know if Blade was different when he was still in CHoPs, which he assumed he most likely was, but he dared not ask about it. Blade wasn't supposed to know that Dusty knew about CHoPs, and he certainty wasn't supposed to know that he knew about Nick, and what happened to him all those years ago.
“Well, yeah, a little..” Dusty said, feeling that he had said that a little too childishly.
Blade opened his eyes again, but this time he wasn't looking at Dusty. He was rather looking off into space, just staring ahead with an almost depressed look, as if recalling a scarring memory.
Dusty suddenly knew exactly what Blade was thinking about. And if Blade could only just tell him the details of what happened a few minutes ago when they were out in the air, then his suspicion would be confirmed.
All that Dusty knew about what had happened was that the team was putting out another fire, when there was a sudden change in the direction of the wind.
Dusty was lining up for a final drop of fire retardant when it happened. It was so sudden that Dusty glided to the right a little bit without meaning to do so. The wind had pushed him over. Unfortunately it was far enough over that Dusty had to climb back up into the air and make a big circle to come around again and line up again for the drop. While he was still being pushed over to the right by the wind, he thought he heard a voice over the radio, but it was too static and muffled to hear. But he could have sworn it was Blade. He glanced up for half a second- and was glad that he did. Blade was hovering unsteadily in the air, close to the tree tops. He looked pale. Dusty probably would have been able to see the damage done to him from the tree a lot earlier than now had Blade not been turned to the left far enough that Dusty could only see his right side, which was not damaged.
Dusty rolled up a couple inches closer to Blade, as if meaning to urge him on to tell him what really happened to him then.
He did not get the response he was hoping to get.
Blade's eyes zipped over to look at Dusty again, this time in a very fierce death stare that quite plainly meant “Any closer and you'll wish you hadn't moved at all.”
Clearly getting the idea, Dusty quickly backed up a good foot from where he was.
Blade looked back at the wall in which he had been staring at. Dusty wondered if maybe he was contemplating actually telling him what happened, as if he couldn't make up his mind on whether or not he should trust him.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of silence, and still staring at the wall, Blade spoke,
“I lost my balance in the air,..rammed into a tree, went into panic mode, and flew in the opposite direction to the tree a little too quickly, so I was just a little unsteady recovering from the blow.”
For the first time, Dusty suddenly noticed the white streak scratched across Blade's side, to the right of his side window. It looked like a deep scratch, deeper than the other ones by his tail. He must have hit more than one tree. Dusty wondered if maybe he was scared that his rotor blades would get stuck in the tree branches, and if so he didn't blame him for trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Without even really thinking about what he was saying, or even hardly noticing that he was saying it, Dusty asked,
“Why did you go into a panic?”
Immediately Dusty wished he hadn't said that, as the words suddenly processed in his mind. But Blade didn't tell him off on it like he thought he would; he actually answered the question, rather calmly.
“Because...because I was scared that it might happen again...there was an incident, a long time ago, probably...over thirty years now,...and there was a very sudden wind change, in the open, with a few trees around the edges.....and that little wind change, it....it killed someone.” his voice cracked a little at the last words.
“Nick...” Dusty said, again, without even realizing he had said it. The very second he had, he knew that was it. He was done for. He blew it. Blade knows that he knows.
But what happened next was beyond his belief.
“...I figured you knew about him by now. Maru was bound to tell you eventually.” Blade said calmly, “But did he actually tell you or did you just assume it was him?”
“Uh, no, he,..he told me. A little while back. I was still being certified.”
“I had the feeling you already knew about CHoPs...”
“Yeah...that was in my first couple weeks here.” Dusty said, finally calming down a bit. He knew. And he didn't kill him for it, which was a plus.
“He was a good friend of mine.” Blade said quietly, still staring at the wall. “You actually kind of...remind me of him, in a way...optimistic, brave,...maybe a little overconfident at times, but still very honest.”
“I...had no idea you thought that...” Dusty said, thinking. It made sense now. The way Blade seemed to push him away all the time...he didn't want to get too close with him because of what happened before. It was the piece of the puzzle that Dusty had been missing for so long.
“Actually,..” Blade said, and for the first time in that entire conversation, he actually moved more than just his eyes and mouth. He turned a bit to the right, looking to a calendar on the wall to Dusty's right.
“Thirty three years exact, since it happened.” He said, looking from the calendar to Dusty.
Dusty's mouth fell open. “Thirty three years?!” He said. “That's...a really long time!”
“For you, maybe.” Blade said, “You weren't even built until long after that.”
“It just seems like such a long time.”
“Funny,” Blade said, “How time seems to go faster and faster the older that you get. For me, ten years can pass in the blink of an eye...”
“I can kind of understand that.” Dusty said, thinking about everything that had happened in just the last four years. Already he was almost 26 now, and it seemed like only yesterday he was still working in the corn fields as a crop duster.
After a few seconds of silence, Dusty asked, “You think you'll be alright?”
“Of course I will,” Blade said, “I've had worse beatings. Although I may be down for a couple of days.”
“Alright, I'm back.” Maru said as he rolled into the hanger, holding a toolbox. Dusty had almost forgotten that Maru was supposed to have been back by now.
“What took so long?” Blade asked.
“Oh you know, just eavesdropping a little.” he said with a smirk.