Chapter Text
"Hah!... Hah!..."
"Come on! Almost there! Keep pushing!"
A duet of ragged breaths, asymmetrical steps, and rustling of clothing and gears echoes down the quiet night street of Abydos.
Well, one is in fact, dragged on by another, otherwise it would've been just fine.
It was the right call. Auburn the Sensei talks to himself between his huffs and puffs.
His silver-pink eyes take a quick glance at the half-closed golds; they still have some fight in them, but it's dwindling fast.
"Hey!" He calls to the injured girl, her teal hair is swinging to their movements. "Stay awake, big girl! Or you won't wake up!"
It's not that easy to walk when there are two sets of gears, a slung AR, and a gigantic shield between them.
"Shuthefuckup...!"Yume bites through her hitching breath. "I didn't- Argh! I didn't-"
"-Asked for my help, no shit," He tries his best to steady her shaking legs. "As if I would care."
7.62*51 EPR rounds were no joke; they gouged multiple leaky holes on her calves and thighs.
They're still bleeding and are screaming, screaming in pain every time Yume moves a fiber of her muscles down there.
Auburn tightens his hold on her wrist and shoulder. "Save your strength for walking, not bickering with me."
"Oh trustme," The big girl retorts fiercely, as fierce as she currently can, that is. "...Icanstilldoboth."
The disgusting taste of iron in her mouth says otherwise though.
The adult beside her doesn't say anything back; maybe he's disappointed in her, maybe he's just not in the mood, she can't tell.
So she keeps her words in her throat for the time being, she has more pressing issues at hand.
"Inside, let's go." He half-drags his students through the front porch of an abandoned house after teeping the locked door open.
Yume is dropped onto a dusty couch, the gravity squeezes an audible groan out of her as she flops onto it.
"Take off your shits, check those wounds yourself first, okay?"
The adult resumes his usual speed and efficiency as he barricades themselves as much as he can.
Within a minute, he pulls the curtains close, finds a chair, and jams it under the main door knob.
The security check continues as he sweeps through every other room with his AR with fluent speed and precision.
I've been slowing him down. A sense of guilt bites her heart.
Yume takes off her vest and holster regardless. The Iron Horus is resting by her sneakers; both have seen better days.
Her sweaty and grimy shirt quickly reminds her of its existence, and the holes are a grim sight to behold.
She unbuttons it slowly; a part of her wants to just brute-force it by tearing it open, but given her company, it's best not to.
The soaked gray sports bra is in a similar state; there're bullet holes on the same spots.
Gotta retire this one. Yume sighs through her strained lungs as she lifts her underwear up to see the wounds beneath.
The problem with the shield, is that it can only block attacks from one direction.
This is a significant issue when it's a multiple-on-one fight, or the user can't maneuver it around fast enough.
Which is why most of her wounds are on her limbs.
And her sides. Augh.
There's a small mirror on the coffee table by the couch, she lifts her lead-infused arm to reach for it.
And immediately, she winces at the small clouds of blue, purple, and yellow on her side belly and breast.
It's not pretty to say the least, but then again, she's been through worse. Alone.
Alone.
Yume instinctively turns to the short corridor where the adult disappeared.
Who the hell is that guy anyway?
There's a long list of questions she is desperate for answers about the adult, but nothing comes to fruition despite her attempts to dig.
All she knows is that he just showed up suddenly a few days ago, is (so far) nice to her and her Kouhai, and can fight probably better than her.
Not a surprise though; Yume has already accepted one out of three of those facts.
There's a reason she still trains rigorously even during the day; a reason she remains bitter about.
Yume lets her mirror hand free fall back down, the ebb and flow of pain and tire are disrupting her train of thought.
Looks like it's going to be a long night.
A set of heavy footsteps makes its way towards her; he's definitely doing it on purpose, she knows how quiet he can get.
"The good news is, no one was here," Auburn marches back to the living room casually. "The bad news is, water and power are dead."
He pulls out a IFAK from the dangler pouch of his chest rig as he walks to the miserable big girl on the couch.
"!..." It takes Yume a few seconds to realize the situation she's in, the burst of speed of her arms to cover her body up is unprecedentedly fast.
"C'mon now," Auburn finally arrives beside her as he moves the coffee table out of the way. "How're you looking up there?"
"...Good." She replies gravelly as the soreness of the arms returns. "Peachy."
"Let's see how peachy you are." He takes a knee by the couch and opens the IFAK.
Yume turns her face away from him with a tired exhale; it's better to be tired before him than in pain or embarrassment.
The faint rustling of medicals is the only noise between the two for the next minute: gauze pads, bandages, and scissors.
Auburn gives no heads-ups before pressing the gauze pads onto the wounds, he's doing this with speed over care.
Doesn't mean he's sloppy though, she can feel it in how little hesitant his moves are while keeping everything nice and tidy.
And maybe it's best not to care for her reactions. Because Yume is clenching her jaws dead tight and vice-griping the couch in the process.
They didn't stop even if she cried, pleaded, or showed any signs of weakness, why would he?
"Auburn," An airy call escapes her lips. "You need to get out. Out of Abydos. For good."
"...You're tired." He finishes off the bandaging on the last leaky hole on her calf.
Yume finally turns her head around to face the adult. "I mean it." A spark of anger is ignited at his dismissal.
"Yeah," He exhales in registration, he had a long night as well, busting the big girl out of the shit storm she was in. "So do I."
Auburn takes off the white nitrile gloves, grabs an orange pill bottle, and shoves it into her hands.
Red capsules fill the bottle to three-quarters full, Yume can barely make out the text on the worn tag on the bottle.
There's a worn symbol of what seems to be a blue star and a circle, replicated by glo... something-something ...ion it says.
Surely, he's not drugging her at this point?
"Painkillers. One pill only. You take more than one, we'll need a stretcher to haul you off that couch."
She reluctantly pops a pill into her mouth without a word. Dry swallowing pills is yucky and it takes multiple tries.
"Mhm," Auburn hands her his water bottle.
Yume returns the pills instead, not taking the water. "I don't need your babysitting."
"You prefer dying than being babysitted by me?" His pure silver eyes have returned, and the pink streaks on his irises are nowhere to be seen.
They don't glow. She remains silent as she takes a mental note.
"Hoshino will be sad seeing you like this, you're back to square one with me again."
He switches a knee (with a muted groan) and hovers the water bottle around her hand.
"I've proven plenty enough that I'm capable and trustworthy. You know that. You're safe with me."
"I've heard-" Yume props herself on her elbows, the bruises on her torso are protesting against the idea.
"I've heard the exact same shit from countless other adults, what makes you so different?"
She knows the answers already. She just refuses to believe them.
Goodwill is dead in Abydos, even though her lovely Kouhai says otherwise.
And those who still have it in them must leave this forsaken place unless they want to end up like her.
Yume doesn't want Auburn to end up like her.
He's too good for that.
"Here's the difference," He rests the bottle by the couch, and trades the pill bottle with a small can of balm.
"Rub it on those bruises, it'd feel better."
"...Hiiiiin!?" She has not yet covered them back up yet.
Them, and the area around them.
Auburn snickers at the tough fighter before him becomes a shy girl suddenly.
"See? I'm not that low to exploit a casualty like you." He puts the water bottle down beside the couch, right within her reach.
Auburn ruffles the teal head of the big girl before rereading his Spear LT.
"Take a breather, I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
"Argh...! The hell are you going?" You didn't take it seriously, did you...?
He gets back on his feet, one of his knees makes a creak. "Looking for a vending machine. You don't need my babysitting, do you?"
"Good luck." Yume snorts at the cheekiness of his tone. "I'll just remain dying on this couch."
"Good girl." Auburn removes the chair under the doorknob. "You see anyone that isn't me, just blast them in the face."
"No need for you to remind me." Her USP Expert (that she bought as sarcasm to herself) is still sitting on the armrest of the couch.
And just like that, the adult disappears into the Abydos suburban night with a click of the door.
Everything falls dead silent, leaving only the noise of her own breath.
It's fine, it's what she's used to, she says to herself.
Yume squirms a little in her makeshift bed; the pain around her torso feels dumbed down, it's probably the pills.
"He'll be back. He said it." Yume whispers to herself, it somehow feels necessary to.
But why the hell does she care about whether he keeps his words or not? He's still a mystery to her anyway.
Not much will be lost if he just leaves and never comes back for her.
"Hoshino-chan will be sad," Yume mumbles under her breath. Her Kouhai seems pretty into that adult.
But what if that's his goal all along, and saving her is just an add-on?
A shudder with an inhale followed after that thought. No. It's just speculation.
Yume tries to blink away those intrusive thoughts. If he wanted Hoshino-chan, he could've done it more straightforwardly.
Such as leaving her to die out on the streets, and taking advantage of Hoshino when she's vulnerable.
It's not- He's not...
It's been a long and tough night for her, plus the stinging is receding.
The blinking frequency of her honey-gold eyes grows over time, each blink adds more weight to her eyelids.
I'll do what you said for once... Just... once...
After an unknown amount of time, her eyes close and don't open back up, falling asleep.