forum Atlantic Rim // One-on-One // Closed

Started May 01, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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Duncan ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath inward. "I wish I could forget her," he admitted with a heavy voice. "Save me a shitload of heartbreak."

"No, you don't." Cassie shook her head, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Forgettin' her won't fix it. You'll just have a bigger hole t' deal with."

"A hole can be filled," he responded. "But a person can't come back."

"Not this kinda hole." She smiled sadly, leaning against the bed. "Would she really want ya t' forget her? Just like that?"

"It's easier that way," he mumbled, staring down at his feet. "No broken heart if there's no reason for it to be broken, right?"

She shook her head, moving her hands to cup his face and tilt his head to make him look at her. "Broken hearts never quite heal, cap. But they get better, if ya let 'em."

He said nothing, refusing to meet her eyes. He had nothing left to say, nor to do. For the first time, his strong, sarcasm filled personality was thrown into the wind, revealing the broken man he truly was. Duncan was only 25, but at that moment he could've passed for 50.

Cassie sighed, letting go of his face and letting her hands drop. "I didn' know her, Duncan." She said quietly, resting her arms on her knees. "But you did. And from what you've told me, I get the feelin' she'd want you t' heal. You've got t' be willin' to though."

"But how?" he asked. "It's been three years. Three years. 3 other co-pilots. Three other deaths I had to watch, yet she's still sittin' there."

"You're askin' the person who turned t' drugs instead o' grievin'." She said, shrugging a shoulder. "Best I found though, what got me clean? I accepted there was nothin' I could do t' turn back time, and I…let it go. It takes time, but…who knows."

"I don't think anyone does," he mumbled, laying down on his back on the bed. They sat there in silence for almost 15 minutes until there were frantic knocks on their door. The lead mechanic for Alabama 11 poked his small, flushed face through the door and said, "You need to see this."

Cassie looked up from her hands, where she'd been studying her nail beds and wondering if it was possible to find anything close to a manicure. "Wha's goin' on?" She asked, already off the bed and stretching her arms up above her head.

"We're fuckin' ninth on the board!" he said, looking really excited. "C'mon!"
Duncan raised his eyebrows as he stood too, choosing to avoid the stretching. "Must've been that last fight," he said, shooting a grin to Cassie to show he was alright now.

Cassie shot him a smile in return, one visibly softer than she ever showed anyone, before slipping out the door and past the mechanic before pausing to wait for the men. "Well, c'mon. How we got up there ain' near as cool as the fact that' we did."

Duncan followed her out of the door and down into the mess hall, where the leader-board was. It was a TV that spanned an entire wall, ranking each mech by public popularity. Sure enough, Alabama 11 had jumped from 21st to 9th.

"Gods be damned, look a' tha'!" Cassie said excitedly, grinning like a complete fool as she slapped Duncan's shoulderblade. Her height compared to his made her have to lift her arm a bit higher, but she didn't seem to give a shit.

Duncan smiled, but his excitement wasn't nearly as high. His attention was on Fusion, the team that they just got above. They were two huge Russian men, bigger than Duncan, with nasty tempers. They wouldn't take to kindly to getting bumped down by a pair of nobodies after one fight.

"Insane. Jus' one fight?" Cassie continued to ramble to herself, slipping in and out of Greek as she did. She didn't seem worried about just who they had passed. She almost never seemed worried, actually, but it was never any less surprising that she seemed in a constant state of slightly nihilistic optimism.

"How about we go see how beat up Al is?" Duncan asked Cassie, frowning slightly when the Fusion guys looked over at them. He had a feeling it wouldn't bode over well for the two of them if the Russians came over and pressed the issue.

"Oh shit, we definitely gotta go see how bad we got our asses kicked." Cassie agreed, blinking as her rambling came to a stop. After speaking so much Greek, the accent clung stronger to her words than it usually did. She nudged Duncan's arm, spinning on her heel. "Le's go make sure he ain' too bad."

"Yeah," he passed one last look at the Russians before following her out, chewing on his bottom lip. The last time he'd been this high on the list was with Rose….No. He shook his head aggressively. Do not think of that. You just calmed down.

"Ninth place. Damn." She continued, half to herself and half to Duncan. "See, now's the perfect time t' paint nails, your own or someone else's. You really should lemme paint yours. Navy blue and grey, maybe a lil' glitter."

"I will throw you through a wall if you come near me with nail polish, Private" he said, using her rank to annoy her.