Chapter Text
Through the rubble of the crash site there layed South. She was barely conscious, but South let out a low groan. Her body either is numb or aches and she feels heavy. It took most of her energy to keep her eyes open.
“T..thet..” Her throat burns, and she lets out a cough.
South tries again to speak, this time significantly louder “Theta, are-”
Then she felt a spike through her body making her wheeze, “y-you there?”
“Yeah, I'm…..” after South hears his voice that's all she needed to know. She doesn't bother listening to the rest of what he says. She lets her eyes rest.
“Please don't do that, what if you don’t wake-”
I'm only resting my eyes for a few seconds… she thinks to herself. All she could do was think. This moment felt almost familiar to South. The situation, even the pain. She tried to pinpoint it, then it clicked. As her breath goes shallow, she remembers. The first time she broke her arm.
“South... South !"
There she layed in the same position on a grassy field, covered in scratches and dirt. Except she was younger, when she was a kid. There was a wagon, crashed to the side and her helmet was cracked. She could see north running up to her.
North and I thought it would be a great idea to launch me full speed in a wagon on a poorly made rail. My arm went numb just like now.
“Don’t worry I’ll find help!”
She sits up with north by her side. When he goes to grab her arm it stings, and North looks horrified. He started saying something but no sound was coming out. The white noise grew more and more intense, and everything got blurry.
“Ah, um… where’s help? C’mon Theta, what would North say?”
North?
South’s mind clears up again, it's north, well she’s pretty sure it's north. This time he looks back to his normal self, except his face is still kind of blurry. But he has his armor on that's for sure, once again he’s saying something but no words. Just static, she can't make anything out
North what the hell are you saying?
His smile… It looked more like a grimace than anything. He squeezes her shoulder. She can feel it. It hurts, he squeezes to tight and South winces
He says something else that South couldn’t make out again. Static mix with ringing is shot out. It stops when he walks away, his back now facing South. She yelled out his name, upset, confused and a bit concerned .
North!
No response, soon she felt a hint of anger
Hey dumbass!
As it grew, South's heartbeat quickened, masking the fact she was scared. She tries to run to him, but her legs don’t move no matter how hard she tries. Her feet were stuck in place.
Where the hell do you think you're going?!
It wasn’t because she didn't know what was happening, it was because she knew all too well. She just didn't want to believe it. Just avoid it, just get mad
Don’t ignore me asshole! Get back here!
Hide every emotion, and yell, shout, claw her way out until everything is fine. This was no different. Right? But the farther away he got the more helpless South felt. She bit her tongue holding in tears as her eyes got glossy. And she denies what she was seeing one last time.
DON’T FUCKING- don’t fucking leave me.
South's voice cracks, as she lets out a small cry. The leader bored, meta, freelancer, Theta, the director, conneticent, wash, AIs, North. It all comes crashing down, reality hits and all the feelings South had repressed all this time was bursting out. And North’s death was the last straw.
Theta found help like he said he would, sending out a distress signal to the nearest radio he could find. He was hesitant at first. The people he found didn't seem the friendliest. But what other choice did he have? It wasn’t long before help arrived, there were four men, three in black armor and one in gray and green.
“This is where the distress signal was located?” the one with the x mark on his helmet asked.
One of the guys in black nods, “Yes sir.”
“Ok, scout the area. Report back when you find anything.” he orders before they all split up.
Theta was conflicted, should he stay in hiding or yell for help. On one hand the faster they find South the faster she gets help. But on the other South would want him to stay put for sure. It was North's word against hers.
He kind of wished delta was here, he would know the best course of action. Luckily for him, Theta didn't need to do anything, one of the soldiers found her.
"I've found it, there's an unconscious person in armor, but it's not one of ours or the republic's. What should we do?" The man reports
They regroup near South, the guy on the right of the one who spoke turns to the one with the green x marks
"Can we just kill them and get it over with?" He suggests causally.
"No! we can't just do that." The one who found South angrily said
"I'm just saying even if we don't, it's gonna happen eventually." The other guy says, making a few hand movements.
The one with the x marked helmet spoke up, "We'll bring them back to determine whether or not they're useful."
If Theta had a spine it would shiver. The voice was intimidating and cold. Like the director
"And if they're not?" The nicer guy asked, rubbing their hand on the back of their neck.
"We kill them." The scary guy said without any hesitation.
Theta silently panics. They couldn't kill South. North trusted him to keep her safe. At the very least alive. What was he going to do?
"Right.." the nice guy replied, clearly uncomfortable with what the scary man said.
The rude guy snickered, "Told ya!"
They head off before the green guy comes back. Who stands in front of South once again. He kneels down and mutters to South's unconscious body, "be useful. For your sake."
His tone was cold and matter of factly. It sounded like a threat more so than a well meaning warning. Theta wants to protest the guy's decision to carry a very injured South like a sack of potatoes, but if it will get her to a nearest hospital then Theta will keep quiet. They set out to an unfamiliar base.