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The current mission involved a lot of running, which meant Neon’s presence on the mission was assured.
“How are things going over there, Neon?” Sage’s voice comes over the radio.
“Never better, I’m almost to the objective, I will clear site and hit them before they realize how far we’ve gotten.”
“I’m glad to hear that, keep it-“
The audio of the radio cuts, and a cold wind blows against Neon’s skin, sending a shiver up her spine.
“Shit.“ feeling all too familiar, Tala prepares for contact with the enemy.
“Your impulsive and insistent attitude is almost as annoying as my Neon.” A familiar accent pulls Neon’s attention, just fast enough for her to take cover before bullets rain on her position.
“Well you’re almost as scary as my Fade.” Neon shouts as an attempted distraction, taking the moment to run from cover to cover trying to disorientate their foe.
“Quit running you-“
Neon dashes from their cover, behind the opposition. “You-“
The enemy Fade turns around, arms up.
Neon pauses, they can’t move, their finger falls away from the trigger.
“Do it.” She shouts.
“I-“ Neon looks in her heterochromatic eyes, and can’t do it, they look away.
“Both of you are too kind for this war.”
A shot rings out, and everything goes black.
-
A cold room with a medical bed lays quiet and dark as the patient sleeps, rocked by nightmares rampant in her head.
Tala wakes up in a cold sweat, their whole body in a state of panic, looking around. They think it's their sage’s infirmary, but they can’t be certain.
The door opens and before neon can turn their body they feel arms wrap around themselves. “Hey my minik firtina.”
Tala feels a sense of comfort wash over themselves as they lean into the embrace. “I’m so glad it’s you.”
“Of course, I’m glad you’re still here.” Hazal kisses the crown of their head. “Sage says you’re good enough to walk around once her nightmares break so I figured you wouldn’t want to sit here.”
“Coffee?” Tala gets off the bed.
“It’s three in the morning.” Hazal takes their hand. “I could go for some coffee.”
The pair walk hand in hand to Tala’s room at Hq, missing Tala’s normal pep in her step from the injury.
Hazal starts brewing coffee while neon sits at the table.
Tala fiddles with their thumbs as they wait. “Hey babe?”
“Yes dear?”
“Do you think about the others…” Tala hesitates. “Do you think the other versions of us love each other like we do?”
Hazal stops stirring. “What makes you think that?”
“I- it’s nothing.”
Hazal continues stirring. “That’s why you got hurt isn’t it?”
“Uh, no, I-“ Tala panics, scrunching up into a ball, bringing their legs up to their chest.
“Too fast to get hit in every other mission, the only one who would make you pause is me… Tala it’s-“
“She hesitated too.” Tala has their head on their knees, refusing to look up. “Why would she hesitate?”
Hazal finishes off the coffee, slowly pouring two cups and bringing them over to her partner.“Then probably. We know Klara and Tayane are dating on both sides, right?”
“I-“ Tala reaches a hand out for their mug, more for contact than anything else.
Hazal grips their hand tight. “It’s okay, I don’t think I could shoot you either.”
Tala squeezes right back. “But she did, Sage is the only reason I can walk right now, so I just-“
“If she saw you as a threat to her Tala, she’d do it, that’s the only way.”
“How do you know that?
Hazal scoots her chair closer, letting her tail drift around her partner’s waist. “Because the only way anyone could make me hurt those eyes of yours is if you were a danger to yourself, and I’d never shoot to kill.”
“I see-“ Tala uncurls enough to get a sip of their coffee, not minding it’s not how they like it.
“I love you Tala Nicole, don’t ever forget that.” Hazal wraps her arms around Tala.
“I love you too.”
“Let’s go to bed babe, you need rest.”
Tala takes a gulp of their coffee. “Can I finish this?”
“Of course.”
The pair fall into a comfortable silence, as they drink their coffee. Content to just exist next to one another.
With the last drop of coffee consumed Hazal offers Tala a hand, carefully guiding her exhausted partner to bed. Hazal pulls them on top of her.
“We need to be careful, you can’t-“
“You’re not gonna hurt me Tala.” Hazal makes a show of holding Tala right even over their plates. “You couldn’t, yesterday proves that.”
“Thank you.” Tala snuggles into their partner. “You don’t find my attitude annoying sometimes do you?”
“Sometimes, but never for long.”
“Good, I can live with that.”
Hazal places a tender kiss on Tala’s forehead. “Goodnight my minik firtina.”