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"Thanks Lo" Anita said clearing her throat before any one of her thoughts manage to escape her mouth. Loba had been avoiding her for over a month now and whenever Anita had tried to reach out to repair the mistake she made back in the hospital, Loba would quickly reply with some lie always prepared to push Anita further away. Anita wanted more than anything to corner Loba and demand some sort of acknowledgement but knew too well cornering a wolf would not do either of them good. It was only after overhearing Ramya on the phone to Kairi who was talking about the date both her and Loba had just gone on that Anita gave up on it all. Loba obviously was content in spending her time with someone new, someone who could give Loba what she wanted and as much as Anita couldn't stand the over confident pilot she couldn’t fault them for building something Anita never could.
"Are you not going to tell me what it does?" Loba cheekily spoke, leaning closer to Anita as she checked over the new attachment for her gun, "that's not like you".
"You already know what it does Lo" Anita tried not to snap back, it came out as more of a defeated sigh. Being in this place, playing these games, trying to not feel what she feels for this woman in front of her, it was so hard. Knowing out there was her incomplete mission, her brother, her family waiting for her to return but unable to find the next step to get there.
"You're a bit quiet lately aren't you?" Loba asked, concern showing in the way her eyebrows furrowed together, eyes scanning Anita's entire body looking for some clue on what was playing in her mind. "Penny for your thoughts" Anita quickly shook her head turning away from the conversation choosing to instead survey there surroundings after all they were still in a blood game. Anita could easily read the worry in Loba's stance after all that time they spent learning one another it was like each breath Anita took was also breathing in Loba's emotions. It's how Anita knew Loba was anxious to be around her when she started avoiding her, it's how she knew even now Loba had placed some wall between them to keep Anita from getting to close again.
Regret, it was so obviously painted on Loba's face whenever they spoke to one another. Regret of all they built or all they were losing, that was what Anita didn't know.
It would be so easy to let it out, to grab Loba's shoulders pull her in tight and cry out how much it hurts to love her. How painful it is to know she would never be enough to truly make Loba happy and content when she herself felt so hollow. She almost felt healed when she was with Loba, finally complete but then she had to watch as she fell on olympus unable to do anything not even scream.
"Scanned the banner, 2 squads in the area we better be careful as the ring comes in" Crypto's voice broke through the downward spiral of Anita's thoughts as he came out from his drone and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He looked between the two women, realising he may have interrupted something.
Everyone in the games knew something was happening between Loba and Anita, even a few gossip magazines had started talking about the tension that waved off them whenever they're teamed up. It was a strange route of them building up from disdain to the closest friends that never left each others side, to a feeling of maybe more and now this like they were almost strangers to one another.
"Yeah I'm hearing a few shots off to the west let's head that direction when moving in" Bangalore commanded, stuffing what's left of the spare ammo into her backpack before moving further up the hill.
It was later that evening as most of the legends were sharing drinks, that Loba allowed the behaviour of the sergeant within the match to sink in. Loba was close to the bar, leaning against a table alongside Kairi and Hound while they recounted some battle they got caught in when both of their teams had stumbled on the other, or more likely when Hound had tracked them down. The others were scattered all around the room with Ramya and Elliot mixing some cocktail that Octavio was excitingly waiting for. Wally wasn't to far off, as he seemed to always stay within eyesight of Hound nowadays, enthusiastically talking about some band that he was making along with Ajay.
Yet the woman currently on Loba's mind was as far as someone could get within Elliot's bar, in a booth with Renee. Every week, night after night those two sat with one another, and annoyingly it didn't escape Loba's attention that every evening they seemed to get closer and closer. Subtly, nobody who wasn't adapted to see even the smallest thing out of place would've noticed as the two inched closer together but Loba did and it left an unreachable itch under her skin.
"Hey Loba, you okay?" Kairi's smooth voice broke up her thoughts, even if the uneasiness still sat at the pit of her stomach.
"Of course beautiful why do you ask?" Loba replied, silently groaning at how forced her usual flirtatious tone came out.
"You have been distracted this entire evening" Hound cut in, turning to throw a glance at the table that had kept the thief's attention this entire time. Again Loba suppressed a groan of annoyance, this was worse than she originally thought if she couldn't even keep her staring to herself.
Then Kairi's own eyes followed Hound's and Loba felt her own heartbeat pick up when Kairi let out a disappointed sigh. They weren't dating, officially anyway, they had been out to dinner and hung out a lot at Kairi's apartment but it was obvious Kairi wanted more which Loba just couldn't give while she was still in love with Anita.
"You know, it's a good thing you won't have to deal with her for much longer" Kairi spat, venom barely swallowed down with the mouthful of beer that she gulped down.
"What does that even mean?" Loba asked, a worrying curiosity sinking further in with every second that felt stretched further into eternity. Instinct told the thief that whatever came next wasn't something Loba wanted to hear, even if she needed to know.
So far in her life Loba's instincts have never been wrong, and today wasn't the day that lucky streak ended because the words she heard broke her heart even more than what she overheard in the hospital over a month ago.
"I thought you knew, Sarge is set to finally leave the Outlands at the end of the season"