#hhh i'm just glad i finished this before i move this week!
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MAJOR CH 6 SPOILERS AHEAD
WREN SHOOTS TRAVELER INSTEAD W/ THE A6 CREW + VEXX
hi hi thank you to @bugfoil for the absolutely delicious ask about this scenario, it is one i’ve wanted to write! i am an absolute sucker for protective partners and also the protag that is typically seen as weak being able to show that they are in fact strong! do not underestimate a peg’asi lol (i also changed a little bit abt why they were shot instead bc i feel like all LI would put the fear of god into vexx if traveler stepped in front of him)
i also apologize for not writing aya or ryona, i just haven’t played their routes yet and couldn’t really think of how they’d react :((
TW: gunshot wounds (obv), lots of swearing, mentions of passing out/medical operations
CALDERON
You’re actually walking towards the ship, hand in hand, when the shot resounds off of the trees. Calderon whips his head around, eyes searching for where it could have come from. Where before he’d been grateful for the cover of the trees, he now curses them as the sound’s reflection off of them and their visual impairment of his surroundings makes it nearly impossible to figure out what direction danger was in.
In truth, he’s so caught up in his search that he doesn’t notice you start to lean into him, not until your full body weight is pressing into his shoulder. That’s when he sees the spot of red on the side of your abdomen start to spread.
“Fuck,” he says so quietly that it’d be out of character if anyone was paying attention to it, “[Y/N], you’re ok, you’ll be ok.”
You groan into his chest, your head turned as your face twists in pain. The grip your hand has on his is vice-like but he can’t be bothered with that. Not right now. He tries to start moving, other hand pressing onto your wound, when he looks over to see a blaster aimed right at his head.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere, if I were you,” Wren says, a disgusting look of satisfaction on their face.
As pissed as he is at Wren and the K’merii and the whole situation the crew is in, he can’t help feeling even more anger at the fact that he can do nothing for you as you bleed out in his arms.
“Wren, what the fuck are you doing?” he snarls out, tone indicating no patience.
“Now, I should be the one asking you that, shouldn’t I? What exactly do you think you and your band of merry men are doing here?”
In his peripheral vision, Calderon sees the rest of the crew being led towards his location at gunpoint, similar to him. He’s in a position where he can’t protect who he cares about again, and all the fear that fuels his aggressive disposition feels like it’s about to boil over. His mouth remains shut, not willing to answer to the monster who dared to hurt you, just after he’d managed to save you.
Cal watches as the butt of Wren’s rifle comes whipping toward him and shuts his eyes in order to minimize the impact, but the pain never comes. Instead he hears you cry out from his arms, pale face now dripping with blood from a cut on your forehead.
“Answer me, commander.” Wren looks on with the bored face of someone in power.
Cal realizes that Wren knows that it’s much more effective for bargaining if they use your life and safety rather than his. And he hates that. Whether it’s the fact that he’s allowed himself to be in this position in the first place, with someone the enemy knows he cares deeply, or just the fact that all he can bring to those he loves is danger.
“I’m just trying to bring justice to the people of the system, not like you’d understand,” he growls out.
“I wouldn’t speak so flippantly with your precious Peg’asi at my mercy,” Wren sneers, watching in twisted glee as any remainder of bravado is wiped from Calderon’s face.
How did they know that? He thought the crew had done a good enough job of keeping your identity from slipping, and besides he didn’t think that Zovack was looking for you anyways. Right?
“You didn’t think Zovack would deploy his best just for your measly ass, did you?” They look around at the rest of the crew, watching in horror as you struggle to hold onto consciousness as their ironclad commander was crumbling.
“You lot really do look pathetic, might as well finish this pity party up and start moving,” they motion for their subordinates to pull you to your feet and start ushering the rest of the crew away from the ship when the whir of small ships descended on the forest.
The first to jump from a craft, not even waiting for the vessel to complete its landing, is Zane, blaster already drawn, pointed directly at Wren.
“No, I don’t think so,” he says, smirking towards the crew until he notices your state, a small bit of concern entering his features. He trusted the rest of the crew to pull through whatever shit the K’merii put them through, but you weren’t used to this, and he knew you had become someone important in the fight for making a better life in the system. Inclining his head in a way that was just subtle enough for Calderon to break from his stupor, the captain takes the hint and hoists you up, arm that wasn’t gripping your side wrapping around his neck.
When he takes off running towards the ship, hoping that the crew was in tow and especially Ryona, Wren shouts something but he doesn’t pay any heed to what they could be saying. He has to get you to the med bay, your feet not following his quick pace anymore and beginning to drag as you barely clung to consciousness.
When he’s finally able to rest you in the inspection chair in Ryona’s office, you’re fully out, despite his hand resting on your face and desperate whispers for you to hold on. He couldn’t have opened his heart again for you to leave so soon.
-
You first wake to a aching pain in your abdomen, as evidently your IV was running low on pain suppressants. The lights are dim in the med bay, Ryona’s mister emitting a nice neutral scent, and a weight in your hand. Carefully turning your neck, which in turn causes a flaring pain to spread throughout your forehead, you see Calderon sitting in a chair next to your bed, hand resting in his as he leans back in a fitful sleep.
His cheeks are every so slightly ruddy, displaying to you that he had cried not so long ago. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him do that. Your thumb brushes the calloused skin on the back of his hand and he stirs at the movement, no doubt on high alert even when asleep.
“[Y/N], you’re awake,” he says, voice rough.
You smile at him, tears brimming in your own eyes, “I’m awake.”
Tentatively, hand shaking in a way you don’t think you’ve seen him do either, he cups your cheek, wiping away a stray tear that escaped.
“I’m sorry for scaring you, I promise I won’t leave you,” you say, guilt flooding you. You know that he didn’t want to allow you on this mission at all, and after having to save you from the sinkhole, he had to watch you nearly bleed out in front of him. You couldn’t dare put him through that after it was so hard for him to open up to you in the first place.
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. I should have never put you in danger, if I could have protected you better-”
You cut him off from his guilt laden ramblings, “Cal, there’s no way to keep all harm from me all the time. Not even in the royal palace is anyone completely safe.”
His eyebrows furrow, but he still smiles at you.
“Within the walls of my ship will be safer than any palace in the system.”
DAMON
One second you’re laughing at some stupid innuendo he’d said, for the express purpose of seeing you smile again, and the next you’re hunched over, clutching your gut.
What the fuck just happened?
As you double over, you reach out and grab onto the hem of his sweater, his hands hovering over your form. His thoughts are scrambling, telling him that of course this would happen, he only brings pain to those he’s near, he should never have-
“Courting royalty, are we Reznor?” Wren sidles up to where you’re groaning, kicking up dust with Damon kneeling nearby, “That’s a bit above your station.”
“What the fuck have you done?” Damon asks, not even bothering to acknowledge their jab, you’re worth more than his pride.
“Well, my mission brought me here to bring our old red friend over here back where he belongs, but it seems I’ve stumbled onto something much more precious.”
Fuck. He knew they shouldn’t have brought Vexx with them on Cursa, but there really wasn’t much time for debate. Now the only person he felt he might be able to really be vulnerable with was coughing blood onto the dirt and patchy weeds.
Strategy soon takes over his brain, assessing that he could most likely take Wren out and get you back to the ship in time, a plan of action formulating as he sees more K’merii exiting from the ship with the rest of the crew held at gunpoint. Damn it, that makes things much more complicated.
“Think you’re going somewhere? I’m sure Zovack wouldn’t mind if you came back with us, he might even let you keep your pet Peg’asi if you ask nice enough,” Wren laughs at themselves, evidently thinking that your paling and sweaty face was hilarious.
“When hell freezes over,” Damon spits, pulling you closer to him, hands that only know violence trying to convey comfort to your shaking form.
Wren looks like they’re getting tired of the spectacle, their gun tapping at their side in a display of absolutely horrendous trigger discipline. As the bring their hands to lift it once more, footsteps crunch the dying grass behind them, the face of a man Damon never thought he would be relieved to see coming into focus.
“Don’t worry, it’ll stay well above freezing,” Zane says, gun aimed directly at Wren’s head.
Their eyebrows furrow as they turn to face him and Damon wastes no time, scooping you up in his arms and rushing inside, passing by his friends engaged in newfound fights with their K’merii assailants. He just hopes he can keep you alive long enough for Ryona to actually treat you.
Your grip on his arm weakens and tightens as you fade in and out of lucidity, muttering apologies at Damon.
“Stop apologizing, dumbass, you didn’t do anything wrong,” his voice shakes.
While harsher than most would comfort those they love, you smile weakly at him, knowing that means he cares. Your lips are lined with red, and not in a way that he would prefer. He sets you onto the examination bench with a gentleness you didn’t know he possessed, retaining your grip on him even as he tries to pry away the shirt the clung to your skin.
“Damon,” you manage to get out, but your voice is strained, “Thank you.”
-
He doesn’t sleep the entire 8 hours you’re asleep, mind replaying your “thank you.” He doesn’t understand what he’s done to deserve your trust and adoration. He doesn’t really understand what he’s done to deserve anything good that he has in his life.
He’s so wrapped up in these thoughts, arms crossed as he sits in a chair next to your bed, that he doesn’t immediately notice when you begin to stir. It takes your arm that’s hooked to the IV drip coming to rest on his knee for him to realize you were with him again.
“Damon,” you smile.
“How can you be smiling right now? You nearly died twice today and I could barely protect you,” he can’t seem to meet your eyes, and you think you might be mistaken when his eyes shimmer with unshed tears.
“But you still did. You did protect me, you saved me twice today. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
He laughs wetly, and buries his head in the blanket that covers your legs, hands balling up into fists.
“I haven’t been scared in years, but with you I’m fucking terrified. You gave me something I’d never been given before: love.”
Your hand comes to rest on the back of his head, patting it softly.
“And I promise I will forever. You’re stuck with me now.”
JUNE
This poor man had just gone through the emotional turmoil of a lifetime on the mission, finally getting a moment of rest and comfort when you embrace in the woods, when a shot rings out.
His blood runs cold, literally, when he feels your hand tighten around his, a gasp emitting from you.
He’s been poked and prodded his whole life, no surface of his body untouched, but he feels like his hand burns when it’s your only lifeline to remain standing. He’d just promised you that you two would figure out your feelings for each other together, mutual trust and adoration shining through, and now he can only hope you’ll see the next day.
The bullet hit you just beneath your ribs on your left side and at first you don’t feel anything, just shock. But then a pain unlike any other you’d felt blooms from the entrance wound, spreading throughout your body like a virus.
“June,” is all you can say, not knowing how else to process the moment but to call out to the person you trusted most.
“No no no no, you’re alright, it’s alright, keep breathing through it,” he whispers into your hair as he holds you tight to begin moving you to the ship, knowing that despite the danger that was still out there from whoever shot you, he needed to protect you more.
He backs into the barrel of a gun and slowly turns around, Wren’s cold stare reflecting in his own.
“I don’t believe it’s typical to let your prey get away after you’ve shot them,” they say in a way that indicates to him that they consider you nothing more than the objective of a mission, a trophy and nothing more.
He’d been holding back the rage that simmers just below the surface, eyes remaining their cool gray, until your life and your importance to him and the rest of the crew was disregarded as if they were all petulant children.
June’s shoulders fill out his shirt in a way that hadn’t seconds prior, vest becoming tight on his chest. His mind is racing with the debate between setting you down and dishing out the consequences of speaking about you like that, and just running straight back to the ship to get you help as soon as possible. He is not given a choice, though, as the rest of the crew is rounded up by K’merii and brought to Wren.
“Our little experiment here doesn’t feel very chatty today,” Wren starts, eyes scanning the rest of the crew, “Any of you have any grand heroic gestures to show your loyalty to this Peg’asi scum?”
“I care more about my loyalty to my friend,” Bash spits out, bionic arm itching to crush the hand that holds his wrists together.’
“Oh please, you don’t really think that this sheltered little brat actually cares about any of you?”
At that June is completely transformed, veins pumping with Orionite. Despite this, his hold on you remains as gentle as ever, but it requires a focus that is quickly dwindling.
His eyebrows furrow and he bares his teeth in a way that he hates in it’s animalistic sense, but is the only way he knows how to convey that he is about to rip Wren to shreds. He can only take one step before Wren’s rifle is shot out of their hands, other Azure Dawn members ambushing the K’merii that were holding the rest of the crew.
“No need to waste your energy on Wren,” Zane says, provoking them knowing that it’ll create enough of a diversion for June and the rest of the crew to make a break for the ship.
And he wastes no time, effortlessly lifting you into his arms, and moving as fast as his legs will take him, which is pretty damn fast. You’re still holding onto consciousness, but are fading fast. As his footsteps boom through the the hallways of the ship, he begs you to hold on.
“[Y/N], you can do this, it’s ok, I’m here with you, stay with me.”
“I know, June,” you rasp out, blood covering your teeth, “You know I care about you.”
A sob catches in his throat as your eyes close, his fist all but slamming into the button to open the med bay door, “I know.”
-
You awake to the sound of crying. It’s quiet, muffled behind strong hands, but it’s the first thing you hear. After that, you begin to process the hum of Ryona’s mister, and your bleary eyes blink away the fog.
“Oh, June,” you say, hand reaching towards him as the other pushes against the bed to try and prop yourself up.
“No, no, [Y/N], stay laying down, shh, there you go,” he responds as he helps you lay back comfortably.
“But, I made you cry,” you frown, hand still reaching out in search of his.
And he takes your hand, the scars on his standing out to him. Nobody had ever cared what they did to him, much less if he cried about it. And he was so fucking grateful that you were still with him.
“You could make me cry a thousand more times if it meant that you stayed with me.”
VEXX
How you reacted to the gunshot before him, Vexx will never know. All he knows is that one moment you’re walking next to him, hand in hand, and the next you’re pushing him down and shielding him. In your haste to get him (and ostensibly yourself) out of the way, you lean slightly which causes the bullet that was aimed for Vexx’s stomach to hit your right shoulder.
You immediately hiss in pain, and all Vexx can do is stare wide-eyed. He’d put you in danger, actively hurt you so much before, how can you keep doing this for him? Caring for him? He thinks to himself that you should have just let him get shot, make up for some of the evil he’s done. And yet you won’t let him, protecting and cherishing him just like you’d always said you would, though before it had been in joking tones at the thought of you protecting your own bodyguard.
“[Y/N]!” Vexx shouts, pushing himself up on the palms of his hands, reaching towards your injured form that landed next to him.
“Now how interesting is this?” Wren asks as they comes into Vexx’s field of vision. “You, Serif, were who I came here to collect but it seems like I got a two for one deal. Makes my job easier.”
“You are not laying a fucking finger on them,” he says, moving to shield your wheezing form.
“This explains your....disciplinary issues. Truly sad that you had to lose the directives of your mission just for this pathetic excuse of a royal successor.”
Wren begins walking towards where you and Vexx lay, and his hand clenches as he processes all the ways he can bring Wren down. He understands that he’s definitely in the weaker position, but he was high up in Zovack’s circle for a reason, he knew what he was doing.
He just barely processes when the rest of the Andromeda 6 crew is led towards Wren via gunpoint, but notices your discomfort at your newfound friends’ danger. He honestly doesn’t give a shit what happened to the crew, but he knows that you’ve found friendship you’d never had before with them, and if they were able to get you out of here safely, he’d do whatever he could.
“Then just take me. I’m who you were sent here to get, don’t bother with the rest of them.”
“Vexx! Don’t!” You cry out, despite the pain, hand of the uninjured shoulder reaching out towards him, desperate to keep him with you. You’d just found him again, just begun to help him, you couldn’t let him leave you again now.
“Hm. Tempting offer, Serif, as I doubt fighting to get you back could be quite the headache,” Wren contemplates, lifting Vexx’s hopes that you’ll be able to get help soon, “But I think it would be much more advantageous for me to take you all back.”
Fuck. Ok, plan B. As Vexx’s mind is running a mile a minute, desperate to find the way to help you best, a warning shot rings out from the forest.
The K’merii assisting Wren instantly reach for their weapons, inadvertently releasing their grips on the crew. By the time Zane is gloating at Wren, Vexx has slung your good arm over his shoulder and making his way towards the ship, eyes frantically searching for the doctor.
Your breathing is labored in his ear, his own hands shaking at the thought of the pain you’re in. He’s already crying by the time he helps Ryona lay you on the examination table, cursing himself for his weakness to tears. He didn’t want to worry you, he was already so grateful for you accepting him back into your life at all.
“Vexx,” you say in a half delirious state as your consciousness is on the verge of fading, “Don’t leave me.”
He takes your hand, squeezing it, even as he knows you’ll be out soon.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
-
The voice you hear as soon as you wake up is the one you want to hear for the rest of your life. Vexx is talking in hushed tones with Ryona, asking for reassurance about your condition for seemingly not the first time if the exasperation in Ryona’s voice is any indicator.
Even as you blink the sleep out of your eyes, you’re reaching out towards the shape that color indicates is Vexx.
“Vexx, you’re here.”
He turns around so quickly you don’t fully see the movement, smile so large his eyes were almost completely closed, and walks over to kneel next to your bed.
“Of course, I’m here, [Y/N]. I told you I’d always stay by your side. And I intend to keep that promise this time.”
BASH
Growing up on Terranium, Bash had seen countless people shot before. Hell, he’d been shot his fair amount of times too. But to see you bleeding from a gunshot wound in your leg, it’s a new type of pain and panic.
It’s a moment where his usually grinning face is now frozen in shock, the reality of the moment hitting him hard. Almost instantly, he’s looking around the forest, bionic eye activated in pursuit of whoever would dare to hurt you. It’s the flash of bright white hair a few meters into the forest that tips him off to Wren’s presence. He doesn’t understand what’s happening until it’s too late, K’merii surrounding him, restraining his bionic arm.
While frustrating, he’s not bothered that much by the restraint, he knows he can break free if he needs to. It’s the fact that he just has to watch you grabbing at your leg in pain from a few feet away, desperately wanting to comfort you during pain that he knows all too well.
“Ilihaj, it’s always good to see you again,” Wren states in a way that indicates it absolutely is not good, “Our offer still stands, you know.”
“I would never join the group that has hurt so many of my friends, Zovack can rot in hell for all I care,” Bash all but yells, eye now glowing red, indicating that it’s active and angry.
“Hm, some could say harm, some could say protecting the rest of the system from. As long as I can finish this job properly. Right, [Y/N]?”
All you manage to groan out is, “Fuck off.”
Bash’s eyes water at the fact that even as you’re breathing is labored and no doubt trying not to scream, you keep your fighting spirit.
“Now that’s not very polite, prince(ess),” Wren seethes, stomping on your leg as they walk by, surveying the crew that they’d rounded up.
You yell out, prompting Bash to rip his bionic arm free from the K’merii that had been holding it, rushing towards your side.
As he gets to you, he feels something cold on the back of his neck, blood running cold as Wren presses a blade lightly against the skin.
“Sebastian!” Ryona calls out, trying hard to make sure you both get out of here alive.
Wren tuts pityingly, “That’s not your brightest idea, Ilihaj.”
“Anything’s better than letting you hurt them more.”
“How heroic. Even when it won’t help.”
“But this might,” Zane smirks, pistol already aimed at Wren, members of Azure Dawn already on the move to take out the other K’merii in the direct area.
Bash tunes out all of their banter, knowing that there’s no way he’s letting you bleed into this grass any longer.
“Can you stand?” He whispers, arms already starting to wrap around you.
“I... I don’t know. I-fuck,” you say as you try to put weight on the leg, pain shooting throughout you.
“Alright that’s a no, just hold on tight,” Bash lifts you by your armpits and slings you over his shoulder. No time to be as gentlemanly as he’d prefer.
Ryona is already hot on his tail in the ship’s halls, hands hovering around your wound in order not to hurt you more but to get a grasp on how deep the bullet had gotten.
“Sebastian, lay them down and then please leave the room,” she says as soon as they enter the med bay, pulling a tray of instruments from one of her drawers.
“Why?” He says, scowling just slightly.
“You don’t want to see this.”
Your stomach drops as you finally pass out.
-
When you start to regain consciousness, the first thing you hear is the scratch of a pencil on paper. When you open your eyes, you see at least 5 drawings laying on your legs that are covered by blankets. Legs, you think to yourself, they’re both still here. That was one thing you could be grateful for.
“You’re quite focused, Bash,” you tease, mouth parched. You must have been out for a while. That, and the fact you had no time to rehydrate after the mission either.
He turns his head, smiling. His hand comes to hold yours, and while cold it warms your heart.
“Just needed to document your bravery,” he says, pausing to gesture to the drawings that are already on you. They’re of you (you assume?) in action poses, with motivational sentences underneath like ‘what a badass!’ and ‘kick ass, babe!’
You smile at the gesture, but still lift your hand to rest on his cheek.
“It’s ok to be scared, I love you through it all.”
His smile remains, but the glossiness of his eyes betrays the fact that he’s beginning to cry.
“I know. I know now.”
#fun fact i couldn't decide on who to write first so i went to a wheel of names lmaoooo#*confetti noises and cheering* calderon gets to suffer first!#im also listening to the character playlists i made for each of them and i went to write june's and it was immediately blondie#boppin out while describing extreme pain#hhh i'm just glad i finished this before i move this week!#accomplishment achieved
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