#sagebreach
sage x breach could be one of those opposites attract dynamics where he teaches her to take more risks and she teaches him to slow down and appreciate life more but the world may not be ready for that talk yet
So I just had an idea :p
There’s no editing here, I just straight went for it.
~800 words under the keep reading lol. Nothing super shippy (yet?)
“Just me and Breach?” Sage asked, looking at the mission details. “I’m sure I can manage.”
Brimstone shrugged at her. “I’d go with you, but I leave in an hour with the other team.”
She knew what he was saying. In something as potentially risky as this, he would’ve liked to put himself on the mission. But given his abilities and the contents of the other mission, he would be unavailable. His go to partners for her such as Sova and Neon were also gone, some mission elsewhere requiring their abilities. So, he had no choice but to pair her with Breach. A man who had all the experience and abilities that would be nice to have on this job, but the personality behind those skills was… distasteful to say the least.
That sentiment was echoed in Breach’s voice when she sat by Brimstone as he handed the same briefing over to the large man.
“You’re kidding. Why just the two of us? Let me take Raze—”
“Not for this. I don’t need more collateral damage. You’re already bad enough there.”
“It will be done, Brimstone,” Sage spoke up. “There is no need to worry. We can handle it.”
Even without looking, she could feel the frustration radiating off him like heat waves and hear the upset sighs. She did her best to put up with it though, reminding herself of what she was expected to do, and of her duties. If that happened to involve putting up with Breach’s anger, then that was fine. Or so she thought. She didn’t expect him to let that attitude carry onto the battlefield where missteps and petulance could get someone killed. When he outright disobeyed her order to stand down and let their enemies pass them by in their temporary hiding spot, that was enough.
When the last enemy was on the ground, and they were once again tucked away to wait until the sun came back up, she knew they had to address their issues. Breach had taken a serious hit to his thigh which she was able to heal easily enough, but mistakes like that could quickly lead to worse situations.
“Why must you disobey me every time?” she demanded.
“I’m doing what’s right. It’s not my fault your call was wrong.”
“What about my call? If we let them pass, we can take the advantage and surprise them when they aren’t looking. That way, you wouldn’t have been injured! If it was anyone else with you, you would be in trouble because no one else could heal you so quickly!”
He rolled his eyes. “Why is everything about hiding with you? Your walls, your ice fields. Why sit back when you know we have the skill to overpower them?”
“Because I will not risk our lives for something that can be handled in a more secure manner. On sites, we can defend and wait until we have our reinforcements. On the field like this, it means picking a good spot to fight so that we take on the least risk as possible.”
“If you wanted safe, you shouldn’t have joined the Protocol,” Breach muttered.
“If you wanted a fight, there are plenty of petty street fights or sports that would give you what you want.”
“I came from those ‘petty street fights’, so I don’t want to be preached about it by you. I was brought here to get the job done. That’s what I’m doing now.”
“Why are you forcing risks then? You know how dangerous these situations can be.”
“Because I also know that you always want to be the one to hit first. And if you aren’t, you better fucking hit back before they think they can walk all over you. Even Brimstone agrees with that second part. That’s that the portal is for, isn’t it? Hitting back?”
Sage frowned at him while he finished up the rest of his rations.
“Isn’t there a move where you feign one way to take your opponent off guard?”
Breach lifted his gaze from the table between them up to her eyes. “The only time I gave up space by falling back, I lost a good friend of mine. Not everyone restrains themselves like you think. Some will just keep taking.”
“The only time I forced a solution, I put the ones I loved most in the line of fire,” she said. “There are some battles not worth taking.”
He didn’t seem to expect that. Everything, his posture, his facial expression, even his breathing softened. Perhaps she overshared, or perhaps she didn’t share enough, it was hard to gauge now that they were both in a new position. They had never had this moment of peace between them because even in silence, there was a layer of judgement in the tensions between them.
“So we lived through two different paths then. To be expected.”
“But I am the lead on this mission.” Maybe she shouldn’t have brought it back to business so quickly because his eyes looked like they always did again, cold and with some hidden contempt in their depths. “Whatever I say, will go.”
He shrugged, but this was already leaps and bounds better than his open defiance earlier. There was still room to grow with him.
