Chapter Text
Rett had been hoping to find something different when he went into the Rhapsody's infirmary but it just wasn’t his week.
Their last bounty had been a mess, Ophelia was visiting when Rett received intel on a small group trying to restart the Red Belts with whatever was left of The Don’s fortune. The reward was decently sized and they were already nearby, with an extra person on board there was no excuse not to go. It was practically too good to be true.
Which of course meant it was, It’d been a set up. Somehow word of their involvement in taking down The Scarlet Eye had spread and people wanted revenge. It was supposed to just be a group of thugs in over their heads, with the six of them it should've been no problem.
But they got cocky, the gang was much larger than they’d anticipated and smarter too. They came up from their back line, focusing fire on Ko, Pyke, and Ophelia while pushing Ziggy, Pixel, and himself into close quarters fights. Their positioning had been completely screwed. Ko had shifted focus to help Pixel, leaving Pyke to handle cover fire while Ophelia took out the other snipers.
She'd cleared two of three when the shooting behind her stopped, and Rett’s mind screeched to a halt as he watched Ophelia rush over to Pyke’s prone body. She hadn’t seen the last sniper as he lined up a head-shot. He aimed the singularity to give her cover but his own combatant intercepted right as he heard two shots ring out.
He pulled the trigger forcing the gang member away and immediately scanned the horizon terrified of what would be waiting for him. He found the body of the sniper hanging down from the wall that had been his cover. His head was partially decapitated, Rett's eyes followed the familiar pattern of cauterized brain matter leaking onto the ground, to find Ophelia leaning over Pyke.
The relief he felt at not being greeted by her head splattered across the floor, quickly overtaken by the emergency field medic as he rushed over to them. Ophelia was packing a fresh wound in Pyke's shoulder attempting to staunch the bleeding, before the Solari could pop back up on his adrenaline high.
But he didn’t. His glow had been dimming fast, his breath was shallow, and while he was still hotter than most other humanoids it wasn’t anywhere close to what a Solari’s resting temperature should've been.
The gang had gotten their hands on a fast acting toxin that prevented Solaris from being able to absorb and process solar radiation properly, meaning Pyke’s emergency healing cycle had no spark to jump start his body if he fully went down. Something the bullet that found a home in his shoulder was trying to ensure would happen.
They had tagged him with a dart full of it right at the start of the fight and Rett hadn’t realized until it was too late. He scrubbed a hand down his face. He should’ve been paying more attention.
It’d been three days and he had used up most of Pyke’s blood stores but some of the color had finally returned to his face. Other than that though not much had changed. The toxin should've made its way out of his system by now but the substantial blood loss put Pyke in a deficit, needed to use the little energy he had to replenish so he was still out cold. The best they could do was keep the wound clean and stable.
The crew had set up an unofficial visiting rotation Ko, Pixel, and Ziggy would switch off whenever they wanted to with a loose schedule. Rett would check in every few hours to make sure they weren’t overstaying their welcome but Ophelia? She had been glued to Pyke’s side since he took the bullet. Rett wasn’t even sure if she left the room since they got him situated. He couldn't say he blamed her; his hovering just had a better excuse being the ship's medical expert and all.
After the first day the rotation became a partial game of who could get the Gorganite out of her own head for a while. Ziggy had the most success, the two of them had gotten close in the last couple months. He didn’t quite understand it but it wasn’t his place to pry. Though even he said her responses were getting increasingly distant.
Ko was supposed to take over at midnight, as Ziggy made Ophelia promise she would finally get some sleep in her actual bed, but lo and behold when Rett came to check on Pyke at the-equivalent-of-3am Ko was absent and she was curled up on the floor staring up at the medical cot.
When he left last night she’d at least been sitting in the bedside chair. Holding the Solari’s hand lightly brushing her thumb over the back of it. Now though, she was sat in the corner of the room, knees to her chest, head resting on her arms, dark bags under her eyes as she stared at Pyke’s figure on the bed. Every so often her gaze would flicker to the monitor as if to check that the consistent beeps weren't lying.
He cleared his throat and watched her head jolt up to turn to him. Shit, he’d never been able to sneak up on her.
“Y’know I’m pretty sure Ko was supposed to trade off with you couple hours ago.” She sunk back down, as her eyes slid back to Pyke.
“She stopped by. I told her to go back to bed. I have it under control.” Her voice was steady, trying to project reassurance. To the other three it was an impenetrable wall to argue against, but to him it sounded dead. Like a drone giving a report. He'd heard that tone a lot these past few days, and couldn’t say he enjoyed it.
It became clear she wasn’t going to continue the conversation, so he moved to check on Pyke. Disappointment and relief in equal measure when like yesterday he was stable but there had been minimal progress. She hadn’t moved when he turned back, still curled into the corner eyes locked on Pyke.
“Ophelia, how long have y’been sittin’ down there?” He was in front of her now, partially blocking her line of sight; there was no response. It didn’t even seem like she heard him. He pushed out a deep resigned sigh.
“Kalos. I’m asking you a question.” His voice colored by a commanding cadence he used when scolding a cadet. Her gaze snapped to his and attempted to straighten her posture as he utilized the old trick from his time with GrimCo.
It worked well when he had uncooperative soldiers who didn’t understand that they were there to help. He didn’t like using it nowadays but It’d come in handy more than once when Pyke was particularly out of it and as he’d hoped it seemed to have a similar effect on Ophelia.
He wouldn't say she was fully present but there was at least something reaching through from behind her eyes now. “I.. I’m not quite sure.” She looked back down again, blinked hard trying to get her bearings. Grimacing slightly as she shifted.
“When d’you last sleep?” She froze, clearly aware she’d been caught but unsure what to do. Her shoulders curled inwards trying to guard herself from the accusation.
“Kalos.”
Finally a quiet, “I don’t know” squeaked out. Her voice edged with the tone one would expect from a small child who’d been scolded rather than the accomplished Polaris agent he knew.
“Alright enough’s enough come on, you're going to bed.” He reached down an arm to help her up. It spurred the most movement he’d seen from her in days as she swatted his arm away in a failed attempt to scoot out of his reach. She stumbled to the side as her legs were numb and uncooperative from sitting on the floor for hours.
“Rett I’m fine, I don’t need you to-“
“That’s an order Kalos.” Rett paused, he hadn't shouted but the outburst had more of an edge than he had hoped.
She froze, In the past with Pyke he’d tense and take a moment to actually think before reacting, but with Ophelia it was like all the sly confidence he’d come to expect from her vanished and left behind a woman stuck somewhere between a debrief with her handler and a small child who’d been caught breaking the rules.
Meeting her eyes as he knelt down pushing some of the warmth back into his voice “Ophelia, you're not helping anyone by bein’ here like this. I’ve been tryin’ to let you process the way y’need to but you’re just hurtin’ yourself at this point and I can’t have that. How’d you think Pyke’ll feel when he finds out you got ur’self laid up like him cause you couldn’t take a moment to rest? Architect knows you’d be pissed at him if your positions were reversed.” He watched her shoulders drop with an exhale.
“Come on, I'll call Ziggy in here to watch ‘im and we’ll go get you some actual food, a bed, and a shower.” A small smile did crack through her fog but the true wear of this whole event became even more apparent as he got a good look at her face.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were telling me I smell.” She said softly, He returned her smile.
“Now Miss Ophelia, far be it for me to ever insult a lady. I just figured the warm water might be a nice change from this cold floor.” He lowered his voice to a more conspiratorial whisper “but between you and me this is supposed to be a sterile environment.” It pulled a small huff of laughter from her, the smile lifting up towards her eyes a bit before being interrupted by a hiss of pain when she made an attempt to stand.
A light more nervous chuckle escaped, “I may need a hand up.” She said sheepishly, as she turned to him. “I fear the floor is not as welcoming as it was when I was younger”
“not a problem” standing with his own groan, god he really was getting old. He reached his hand back out to her, letting her meet him halfway almost like one would for a nervous feral cat. He moved his cybernetic arm under her elbow once her hand slotted into his and heaved her up. Letting her lean against him while she tried to regain her balance on numb legs.
Her eyes lingered on Pyke now back in view, the distant look drifted back in.
“He’ll be alright without you for a couple hours.” He shifted her towards the door in an attempt to break line of sight. “Ziggy will be in here talkin’ his ear off about whatever new secret he found in his vidja games” Rubbing circles into her hand as he pulled her out into the hallway back towards the crew quarters.
His original plan was to drop her off in the spare room that was for all intents and purposes hers, before he ran to the kitchen to get her something small. But the heavy blanket of fog that laid over her just refused to clear and he was holding more of her weight than he’d like.
A few feet away from the door she stopped in her tracks, tightening her grip on his hand. When he turned to her, her eyes were clamped shut.
“Please don’t leave.” Echoed the hall it sounded like it took every ounce of her strength to push out the plea. It was small and more desperate than he’d ever heard her. He honestly wasn’t even sure if it was directed at him but he’d never been one to refuse her.
“Okay, I won’t. Did y’wanna go back to my room instead?” There was another pause as she swallowed, pulling in a breath before she gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Okay, you can use the shower in mine if you’d like, do y’need anything else from your room besides clothes?” she shook her head “Alright, let’s get you settled.”
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d been in his space, hell wouldn’t even be the first time she’d stayed the night, just the first time without Pyke.
He had tried to purge his feelings when Ophelia first made her reappearance in their lives. Pyke was never his; he knew that, but Aetherons were a stubborn people and so it seems was his heart. Anytime he tried to pull away the hold Pyke had on him got tighter and somehow in the last few months Ophelia had slipped past his defenses making a home for herself right next to him.
Someday the two of them would figure it out and fly off into the aether without him. They were called for great things, a destiny woven together with threads chasing after each other in a complex dance to form this grand tapestry. Rett just happened to get tangled up in their wake. Nowadays he’d come to terms with it, his heart would probably always hold onto them but that was okay because right now they still needed him.
So he let himself indulge in the little moments, Pyke would seek him out in the night to get away from his head, they’d both invade his space whenever the rest of the crew was absent, Pyke resting his chin on Rett as Ophelia’s hand trailing down his arm, and now her hand tucked gently into his as he led her into his room.
His hope once upon a time had been that the memories would be enough to patch the void they would inevitably leave behind, but he knew that was naïve and time only proved as much, the past few days only reminding him how easily he could lose them both.