Chapter Text
Natalie woke to the sound of Crypto's labored breathing and grumbling.
At first she didn't pay much mind to it, thinking it was just him having having an eventful dream- especially after last night. She would have closed her eyes and went back to sleep had he not continued to mutter under his breath.
"No," Her eyes opened and watched him. It was too dark to see his features, but she could see his head struggle to stay on one side, and his chest frantically rose and fell with his breathing. She could feel his arm, which her own were wrapped around, tense and strain against her naked chest as his hands balled into fists and struggled to not thrash out.
He was having a nightmare.
"Crypto," She propped herself on her arm and pressed her hand against the side of his face, feeling the sweat that built up through the night. The moment she made contact with him, his eyes shot open and he threw off the comforter and snatched her wrist, holding it in a death grip as he brought his other hand up to take hold of her neck.
The most sound she could let out was a small squeak of shock before her back slammed into the bed and her wrist was pinned above her head. Her other hand immediately grabbed at the arm holding her by the throat, trying to pull him off as he glared at her with deep, cold and hateful eyes, murder burning in his hazel irises as his heaving became a ragged sort of calm.
Then they shifted. His eyes widened, suddenly realizing who he pinned down and the murder that once clouded his vision instantly switched to worry as he quickly pushed himself off of her.
Natalie gasped for breath and nearly choked. She pushed herself up, leaning back against the headboard and bringing her hands up to hold her throat as she folded her legs close to her body. Now with the gentle light from her fish tank above the headboard casting a glow on him, she could see the look of terror on his face as he sat there, both his hands splayed on the bed and twitching, heavily debating whether he should touch her again or not.
"I-I'm sorry, I-" His hands closed, then opened. His breathing was only just beginning to calm down, the sweat on his forehead made his hair stick to the sides of his face. He swallowed a couple times, loudly, "I don't- I didn't mean to."
Natalie was speechless, partially due to the powerful grip he had had on her throat. Her hands had moved down from her neck to hug her naked body instead, covering herself as her legs attempted to do the same. The comforter was nearly off the bed, barely clinging to Crypto's foot at the very edge. He saw her shiver just the slightest bit, his eyes widened a little more before he quickly took hold of it and wrapped it around her in a hug.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," He pulled her close to him, pressing his face into her hair and tightly wrapping his arms around her and the comforter, "I would never- not on purpose, I mean, I wouldn't- no-"
"Ça va, Crypto," Her hands were restricted by his arms and the comforter, but she managed to somewhat wrap her hands around him and push her face into the crook of his neck before placing a small kiss against his collarbone, "You were having a nightmare."
He let out a shaky sigh, as if he were trying to repress the memory. She rubbed his sides, pressing her palms against him as he all but melted in her hold. Not letting go of her, he pushed himself onto his knees and turned them around so that his back was against the headboard, legs crossed with her on his lap. At some point she had managed to slip the comforter from between them and wrap it around her back and over his arms, holding the corners so she could wrap the blanket around the two of them and snuggle into his bare chest.
They laid like that for a little while, sitting in each other's arms as she listened to his heartbeat slow to a steadier rhythm. His body wasn't cold, like it usually was. Just warm, and Natalie couldn't help but bring her hands up to touch his face, cupping his cheeks just above the synthetic skin and lifting herself so she could look into his eyes.
They were wet. There weren't tears, but there probably would be. Even through the darkness, she could see a glint against the hazel, and when they interlocked with her own electric blue, they cracked.
And he cried. And She held him as he cried, for the rest of the night until the sun rose the next morning.
-----
Renee could barely keep her eyes open the next morning.
She was sitting at the bar, already ready with her equipment for the game- except instead of having the usual purple trim on her uniform, it was mandarin (Mirage had made a comment on how it made him think of a bumblebee, and she couldn't help but take a liking to the color choice after that). There were dark circles under her eyes, which were red and unfocused from the previous night. She was drinking coffee, coffee packed so heavily with sugar that she could almost feel it course through her veins with every sip she took. Pathfinder was beside her, standing there with a smile on his monitor and just being himself, which was comforting to be around. It actually made her feel a little better, if only slightly.
"Alright, alright mom, I'll remember to call you!" Elliot's voice was loud and cheery, as usual, as he came down the stairs. He was also in full gear, but upgraded. Instead of his homemade holosuit, he was wearing a uniform that was gifted to him through the games- white and red rather than his usual yellow.
"Ghost Machine?" Her voice was just the taddest bit hoarse, but clear enough for him to hear. He flashed her a smile and a pair of finger guns.
"You know it baby," He practically danced his way over to her, "Gotta look good in the ring today. It's my hundredth match after all."
One hundred Apex Games. She found it hard to believe he survived one hundred battles to the death- many of which he didn't actually make it to the end of, but he was still alive nonetheless.
Both of his hands, bigger than hers but not by much, gently took the hand she had wrapped around her coffee mug and brought it to his lips, giving her a gentle kiss as he rubbed down her arm with one hand and looked her in the eyes.
It's gonna be alright. His eyes said. His lips felt like a furnace against the back of her hand, enveloping her knuckles in a nice and rather calming way. He smiled at her, and she couldn't help but give him a small, tired smile back.
"You think you're ready to talk about it yet?" He asked her, pressing the back of her hand against his cheek and looking at her with the most pathetic excuse for begging puppy eyes she'd ever seen. Renee glanced away.
"No, I..." She took a breath, "I promise I'll tell you, just..."
"Just not now. That's fine, yeah, totally fine," He brought the hand on her arm back and wrapped it around her wrist as he pulled it to his lips to give her another kiss, "Yeah I trust you. Not that I, not that I didn't trust you or anything, I- uh, it's not like I care or anything- I mean I do care, I care a lot and I'd like to know- but you don't have to tell, because I don't care, I mean I do-"
"Elliot," Her other hand, which she had been resting her head on, reached up to cup the side of his face and he silenced instantly. It was a little amusing how quickly his focus snapped onto her. "It's okay. If I told you it'd just..."
"It'd make things worse, I know," He sighed, and it may have been light hearted, but she could still hear the disappointment crack in the back of his throat, even if it was slight.
Elliot was painfully aware of the way Renee's dreams worked. Her nightmares were always the worst right before games and they, thankfully, were usually wrong.
But sometimes...
Sometimes they were right.
And sometimes, that cost them teammates. Sometimes that meant hiding the knowledge of someone's death for the sake of saving someone else's.
Sometimes that meant Elliot wasn't allowed to know what gruesome way Renee saw him die, and the misery of the unknown both made him fear for himself, as well as her.
"Friends, the shuttle to Talos is here!" Both of them looked over to see Pathfinder's screen had shifted to his green exclamation point, and he was excitedly waving one of his robotic hands and gesturing to the exit with the other.
"Good luck in your match! Don't die!"
"Thanks Path," Renee didn't mean to sound so unenthusiastic, but whether he noticed or chose to ignore it, Path's smiling emoji still remained, and he even seemed to grow a little more excited at the response. Elliot draped his arm over her shoulders, thanking Path and calling back to his mom that they'd see her in a week.
His arm slid down from her shoulders until his hand was holding her arm, and he squeezed it reassuringly, leaning down to press a kiss against her head, just above her ear.
"We're gonna be fine, babe." He squeezed her arm again, "I promise."
She didn't respond, instead opting to press her forehead against his shoulder, holding it there for just a couple seconds.
I love you.
A wordless exchange, but he knew what it meant. She didn't have to look up to know he was probably grinning, but she caught a flash of it before she pushed away from him so he could open the door to the space shuttle, gesturing for her to sit inside first.
----
"Wow, you look, uh..."
"Like shit?"
"Tired. I was gonna say tired, but hey, you said it not me," Mirage held his hands up defensively. Crypto could see the way he was trying to avoid looking at his face directly, which he knew must have looked much worse than he'd hoped.
He hadn't been able to fall back asleep last night, which sucked, because that meant for the next few days he most likely wasn't going to be getting any sleep unless they lost the game and got to go home early. Somewhere deep down, he was secretly hoping they would...
"Both of you don't look much better off."
Wraith yawned instead of responding. Mirage brushed his fingers through his hair.
"Haven't you heard? Exhaustion's the new craze. Fans go crazy over the dragged out hero look."
Both Wraith and Crypto snorted at that.
They were due to drop in an hour. That would've been plenty of time to get at least some rest, but Crypto couldn't help feeling antsy during their trip. All the teams were tucked into their own little corners of the drop ship, whispering amongst themselves or chatting with others. Some of them were familiar faces, occasionally glancing over to acknowledge their presence. Other faces were less familiar.
And Crypto could've sworn they were watching him.
Not all of them. He wasn't that paranoid (anymore). It was mostly a couple of teams in particular. He'd catch them out of the corner of his eye each time, but he'd always catch at least one or two of them glance his way, eyes lingering for just a little too long before they would huddle back with their teams to whisper to each other.
"Do you feel like we're being watched?" Crypto whispered to Wraith. Her eyes had been closed the entire time, but he knew about the little birdie she often referenced. If something was wrong, she'd have definitely noticed.
"By that squad over there? Yes." She shifted, not opening her eyes as she rolled her head over from one side to the other, leaning back against the cutout of a metal bench they were sharing. She was now a little closer to him so they could talk without raising their voices, or anyone else's suspicion.
"I think they're planning something." She said quietly.
"We should let them drop first, so they can't get the drop on us." This time Crypto locked eyes with one of the guys. They gave him a wicked smile before turning back to the team.
"Too risky. They probably have the same idea."
"That seems like all the more reason to do it."
"Not if we end up being the last two teams dropping. They'll probably go straight for us before we get the chance to get any good loot." She crossed her arms, slumped a little further down the seat, "We should land as soon as possible. Lead them to another team and take them both out if we can."
"But what if that isn't their plan? Then we will just be eliminating ourselves for them."
Wraith sighed and rubbed at her eyes. He could see the heavy bags under them. He wondered if he looked just as bad as her.
"They've been eyeing us. They want something. Top guesses are our tech or our heads."
"You don't know?"
"Why would I-" She sighed again, "I can't see the future, or anything. I just... know they want something from us. Mirage, specifically." She sounded annoyed, but there was something else hidden behind her voice. A certain sadness he couldn't quite pick out. "And they'll do anything to get it."
Crypto felt a little bad for the way she was starting to get a little antsy, especially since she seemed to be waking up more and more by the second and it was clear she had wanted to fall back asleep. But he couldn't let the possibility of getting jumped by an entire team go by without at least considering a way to avoid it. He wanted to propose sticking close together. Everyone landing in the same building, or at least in the same general area. If that other team wanted their tech, then the least they could do was give them hell for it.
"Miiiind if I squeeze in?" Mirage was already squeezing into the bench beside Wraith by the time he'd said that, shoving her over enough so their legs bumped and their shoulders touched, forcing Crypto to have to scoot over so they wouldn't be squished into each other, although there wasn't much room to do so.
Normally, Crypto would mind Mirage forcing him over. A lot. But the moment he was settled, he noticed the way Wraith relaxed, especially when his fingers brushed across her hand, just before taking it in his own. She readjusted, leaning her head to fall on the other side and back on his shoulder, and from the corner of his eye he could see the way she seemed to just melt into him, eyes closing but far from unseeing. It made him feel a small ache he couldn't quite pinpoint until he tried leaning his head the other way, only to find it resting on cold metal.
----
"You... wanna land at... The Pit...?"
"Yes."
Mirage was used to crazy Wraith ideas that end up working out in the end, but this was... somehow way different than before.
"But you hate The Pit," Mirage said, taking his place at her side on the platform, ready to be descended into the ring for the next few days. Or one, if even.
"I still do, but it's better if we land there," She said, crossing her arms. A yawn forced its way out of her, which she tried to hide by rubbing at her face, but really that just made her look even more tired.
"And even Cryppy here is cool with that?" Mirage nodded over to their third teammate, who stepped in on Wraith's other side.
"No." He said simply, not even looking at him, "Stop calling me that."
Their platform shook very dramatically, then began its descent, keeping Mirage from either teasing him more or asking for any clarification. He hadn't heard what they'd been talking about, but he did notice the weird glances that other team had been giving them the entire trip to King's Canyon.
Mirage was smart enough to connect some of the dots. That team was up to something, and Wraith wanted them taken care of immediately. Sure, Pit was always full of people, but that only meant they were just as likely to get picked off along with everyone else. For real picked off. The kind that didn't always have a chance to wake up in the respawn chamber, no matter how popular they were with the fans. He looked back over to where that other team was on their own platform. From their side of the ship, they should've had their backs turned toward him, so they could jump as soon as they wanted.
All three of them were watching his team.
Yeah, that definitely wasn't uncomfortable. He really hoped Wraith knew what she was doing.
Oh who was he kidding. She always knew what she was doing.