Nightfall (Marcanne AU)

Chapter 3: The Commander

One second.

One second was all that it took, for Sasha and Grime to be ambushed by Frobots, and then they were fighting for their lives, as was the norm for people fighting in war, but then the numbers of Frobots kept growing and growing, and then the next thing Sasha knew, she felt a pain in her shoulder, biting away at her shoulder down to her elbow, and then, in a blur, Grime was flying them away from the factory on Domino Two.

Without Anne.

"Grime," Sasha croaked. Grime turned to her, and then placed his callous hand on her forehead.

"Get some rest, Lieutenant. We'll be back in Wartwood soon."

Her entire arm hurt. Every time she tried to move it, her arm screamed in pain, especially her shoulder, and she whimpered, tears quickly filling her eyes.

"Where is Anne?" she whispered. "She- she should be with us. She- she loves Domino Two."

Grime was silent for a long time.

"I know, Lieutenant."

Sasha didn't know when, but she eventually fell asleep at some point.

When she woke back up, her arm wasn't in as much pain as before. She was in an all too familiar room, with a weapons rack, a table with parchment paper all covered in scribblings of plans to take down Andrias' army and his mind controlled animals concocted or scribbled out.

Her room.

"You're awake," a familiar voice said, filled with relief.

Sasha turned her head to see Grime sitting in a chair only a few feet away from her bed.

Sasha licked her lips, her mouth dry. "Water," she rasped.

Grime quickly grabbed a cup of water from the table and then lifted it to Sasha's lips. The girl drank the water greedily, even as some of the water drizzled down her chin.

"Thanks," Sasha said, when Grime took the cup away. "What... what happened?"

"We were ambushed," he told her. "One of those damned robots attacked you and dislocated your shoulder. The Maddie girl, thankfully, conjured up some healing balm and rubbed it into your injury, but it's going to take a few days to take full effect."

"Oh," Sasha mumbled, looking at her injured shoulder almost bitterly, knowing that she'd have to rest.

But, there was no time for that.

So, she put her hand on her bed, starting to sit up, but her injury protested as she tried to sit up, a fiery sensation blazing across her arm from her shoulder to her elbow, making her grit her teeth.

"Sasha!" Grime cried, his eyes widening as he reached forward, putting his hand on Sasha's uninjured shoulder and trying to lay her back down. "What are you doing?!"

"I-I have to get up," the girl hissed.

"Not with your shoulder injured like this. It'll only dampen your swordfighting performance."

Sasha grunted, forcing herself to sit up. "W-well then, where's Anne? If I'm out of the game for now, then she'll have to take over."

Grime didn't respond. He suddenly looked away, unable to look Sasha in the eyes.

Sasha's stomach dropped.

"Grime?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice steady. "Where is Anne?"

Grime hesitated, opened his mouth, but then closed it again, suddenly looking defeated.

"...We couldn't find her at the factory."

Sasha's heart stopped. She felt cold, all of a sudden. "...What?"