hadriel | ten ✤ video

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[In the background can be heard the thudding, drilling noises that started early this morning and haven't stopped for a moment since. While they're still faint enough that it's possible to ignore them, that won't be the case for long.

Hope looks determined, but there's worry visible there too.]

They've found us. If you are on this side, with Fear and I, we need your help. I would ask you to venture into the caves around the city and collapse them - Rage will provide explosives for this, or if you have abilities that make it possible, use them. Go as deep as you can and destroy them on the way back in. We need it to be as difficult as possible for them to get here.

[He winces as a particularly loud noise echoes through the cave.]

It will be dangerous. There are still monsters in there. But we have no other choice - this is the only way to ensure our survival until Fear can transport us out. Thank you for your help.

[The video flickers off. Hope's responses will be brief and limited, as he is quite busy trying to keep everyone alive.]

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[ Those are not words she really wanted to hear and she can't help the frown that pulls down her lips, or the worry that peppers her voice. Fuck. ]

If you go in there, you better have someone to watch your back.

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[ Oh fuck, Shadow is going in the caves, too? Yeah, that's fine. The people she cares about will just be on the front lines while she fucks around with fog and monsters. That's fine. Just. Fucking. Dandy. ]

Please and thank you. [ Her words are thick, emotional. Fuck. ]

[Well ... they're not exactly each other's favorite people, are they, but if it's important to Sharon, as her reply seems to indicate, Mello is willing to make it work. There's too much at stake to let personal differences get in their way.]

Fine. How soon can you meet me near the caves?

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OK, I'll be there soon. Don't do anything before I get there.

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[Because that defeats the purpose of teamwork, Shadow 8|

And Mello isn't gonna ask how he knows he carries a pistol, exactly - Mello asked about ammo, previously, but didn't specify the type of weapon. Solving small mysteries will have to wait until they're in much less dire circumstances.]

Do you still have extra bullets? If you have any 9x19mm, I could use some.

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Bring them if you do have any. A pistol's useless without bullets, and I haven't got many left.

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[It's a good thing Mello is singularly focused on the work ahead of him, otherwise they'd be here all day arguing.]

I won't.

[That note of worry is enough to cut through the rush of thoughts already clicking away in Mello's sharp mind and bring him screeching back to the present. He's been so busy considering the larger picture - what needs to be done to secure the group's survival - that consideration for his own safety has mostly fallen by the wayside. He's not used to having people care about him like Sharon does, and it still catches him off guard sometimes.

This isn't a conversation they should be having over the network. Mello tucks his phone away in a pocket and goes to find Sharon in person; she's not far away. He hesitates for a moment once he finds her, mouth drawn in a taut, worried line. When he does speak, his voice is quiet, gentle, but resolved.]

I can't just do nothing, Sharon. This is too big, too important - it affects all of us.

I know that. [ It's not as if she'd ever tell him not to go. This is bigger than the two of them, even if all she wants to do is be entirely selfish and lock him away. She swallows back a growing lump in her throat, anxious and fearful. ]

I just... [ don't want you to get hurt, but she stops the words before they can leave her lips because she knows she'll punctuate it with an Or worse and she can't even dare to think about that. What happens when he's out there and they don't manage to seal off all the tunnels? What happens when she can't be there to keep him safe, not that she's ever been so great at that particular job. ] I just don't want you going alone and I can't go with you.

[ Because she needs to be here, within reach of fog and nightmares. ]

I know ... you have important work to do here, too. No one else can do what you can do.

[A faint trace of smile curves the corner of his mouth - sad, knowing. Sharon's work won't be any easier on her than venturing into the tunnels to detonate explosives will be on the rest of them; it may be even harder, in fact. Mello remembers what it was like the last time she brought fog and nightmares to Hadriel; he'd been at the forefront of those in opposition to her efforts. The likelihood that someone else will try to stop her as he had then is a concern, and even though he knows she doesn't need his protection - she's more than capable of protecting herself - the impulse to offer it anyway is strong. Slowly, he steps in closer toward her.]

I won't be alone. There's at least a half dozen people already planning to help. And, believe it or not, I do know how to work with a team.

[An attempt at injecting a measure of humor into the darkness of the situation - a feeble one at best, and they probably both know it.]

[ The whole situation has already managed to wear down her senses, and depending on how long it all lasts, she'll be worn thin by the end. But she'll keep going, no matter what, and she hates that she's the one that has to do this part.

Will there be a day where, even doing good, she isn't the villain? The boogeyman?

When he steps closer, she reaches out for him, taking his hand in her own. She knows that his knowledge on explosives in the caves may very well be invaluable, along with his ability to direct and strategize, but that doesn't stop her from wanting to keep him away from the caves. That's the front lines. She wants to keep him here, if only to ensure that he stays safe, or, if shit really does come to a head, they die fighting together.

If he's out there, and she's in here, then this could be some final goodbye. And she never thought something like that could terrify her so much. ]

Haha. [ She appreciates the tacked on humor but it does little to ease the tension in her shoulders or the worry that creases her forehead. ] Look, I get that... this is probably for the best. You have to go. [ She nods, more for herself than him. ] You have to go and I have to stay here and it's OK.

[ Even if it's the very last thing she wants. ]

[Mello gives her hand a light squeeze - an attempt at something like comfort, even though there isn't really any to be had. He knows just how dangerous what he's about to throw himself is, and while he's never been one to shy away from danger, things are different now. He has something to lose now, something that means more to him than almost anything else he can remember - Sharon. Mello shakes his head.]

Nothing about this is OK, Sharon. I - I don't want to lose you. You're too important to me.

[And the chance is now too great that this is exactly what's going to happen - either one or both of them may be killed, permanently. Mello has lived with loss before, and he has spent the majority of his life trying - maybe failing, by some definition - to cope with it. He has kept a policy of refusing to form meaningful connections with another person like he has with her; he has spent years hardening his heart in an effort to protect himself from further pain. Sharon changed all of that, and the thought of losing her now brings a sharp ache to settle in the center of his chest. This does feel like a goodbye, and he hates it, because knowing it may be on the horizon won't make the loss any easier to bear.

And if this is goodbye - if this is the last chance Mello will have to see Sharon, to hold her close and tell her the secrets hidden away in the darkest chambers of his battered heart - there is one very important thing he needs to tell her. It feels almost like a secret that's too big, too heavy, too dangerous to speak aloud, but if something does happen to them, Mello doesn't want to live with any regrets about keeping this to himself, nor does he want to leave Sharon with any uncertainty about the nature of his feelings. Gently, he pulls her in close and folds his arms around her.]

I love you, Sharon.

[They're quiet words, half spoken into her shoulder, but clear and direct.]

[ There is a veritable garden of words in her throat as he pulls her into him, enveloping her, but they all wither away at his declaration. Her heart stutters and, for a breath, all she can do is wrap her arms around him tightly, one hand grasping at the cloth of his jacket. She buries her face into his neck, breath warm, whispers the words back to him, even as her eyes begin to burn. ]

I love you, too, you... you fucking nerd. [ Her own attempt at humor but it falls flat in the face of reality. She doesn't want this to be a goodbye. She doesn't ever want to have to say goodbye to him, not in this moment, and not any later. But it's not a thing either of them have much control over. This could really be it. ]

We're not... [ She chokes on the words. She feels like a fool but isn't that what love does to people? Turn them into fools. Who would have thought she would be so lucky to be a fool for him? ] Let's not say goodbye, all right? [ If they don't say it, then it can't be the end. This won't be it for them, for any of them.

It just can't be. ]

[It hurts, hearing those words repeated back to him - like something swelling inside of his rib cage that's too big to be contained by muscle and skin and bone. It's painful, but not in a way that makes him want to run, hide, fight against it - in a way that draws him toward it, a way that makes him want it more. Distantly, he recognizes that this curious pain he's feeling now is because he has been lacking this exact thing for so long - love. Not even Love's revival had made him feel like this. Quietly, he inhales a shaky breath and swallows hard against the tightness in his throat so he can answer her.]

All right - no goodbyes. I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure I come back to you, Sharon. That's a promise.

You will come back and we will survive this. [ Her words are thick and heavy, tight. Why does it feel so much like a farewell? A goodbye? Her heart tightens until it feels as if it could stop that very moment. She doesn't want him to go but she's not going to let him go hearing someone weep as he does. They've got to be tougher. They've got to be steel and fire.

Hell, they were forged in fire. ]

I love you and now our world isn't allowed to end. [ The end. It's not allowed to now that they've finally gotten something like this, right? Movies don't end that way. She doesn't want hers to end that way, either. ]

[They are steel and fire - steel in fire, stronger for all the things that have tried to break them, tried to kill them, and failed. This just has to be another bullet point on that list. Mello has made up his mind, and from the sound of it, Sharon has too. He laughs, almost inaudible.]

You're right, Sharon. I will. We will.

[He doesn't want to let her go either, but he needs to get to the caves. Time is of the essence. Slowly, he steps back, gently settling his hands at her shoulders as he gives her the best reassuring, slightly cocky smile he can muster, under the circumstances.]

If anyone can make this happen, it's us.

[ The very last thing Sharon wants to do is pull away, to let the warmth of him slip away to a coolness that settles in her chest. With his cocky smile, she returns one of her own—not quite a confident as it could, not quite as bright.

"If anyone can make this happen, it's us."

She leans forward to press her lips to his—short, sweet, simple; a soft good-bye without a single word spoken. ]

Kick ass, Mello.

[It's a good kiss, and if this is the last chance he has to kiss Sharon, Mello is satisfied with it (though he'd rather it weren't his last chance, and he will do everything in his abilities to see to it that it isn't). He gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze of encouragement.]

You too, Sharon.

[And then he turns to leave. There's work to be done and not enough time in which to do it.]

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