Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

☙Chapter Eleven❧

Ramattra powered back up the next day, entering a low power mode where he was partially conscious of the world around him – like he was half-awake after a particularly good afternoon nap – and his hand gripped the cold hard ground next to him to prop himself up. Immediately he felt off, like something was missing, and he powered up fully, optics taking in the still dark cave around him. The sun hadn't risen fully; warm orange rays cast a single slit of light on the wall across from him that hardly counted as luminescent considering the shadows still rampant in the cramped space.

He pushed off the ground to sit up, stark realization seizing hold of him at just what was missing under his hand as his head snapped down to the empty space beside him. (Y/n) wasn't there. He stood quickly, checking to make sure the ice boulder was still in place and the hole in the impenetrable wall was still as narrow as ever. She couldn't have escaped through a crack that small so where was she? He glanced down at her coat, which was resting next to him on the floor, and he wondered how she was able to pry herself from his grasp without waking him.

He yanked his staff from the floor, twirling it uneasily in his hand as he glanced further into the cave. It was the only place she could've gone, but why didn't she take his staff to light her way? He could barely see without the soft purple glow so she couldn't be faring any better. Sure, he would've been pissed if he woke up and both her and his weapon were gone, but at least he could've figured out where she went after rationality set in. She wasn't exactly a threat nor was she the type to try to run from her problems – at least when circumstances prevented her from having any other choice. Betraying him was suicide and she had enough commonsense in her human mind to realize that, even if fixing him also brought about her death.

He couldn't grasp out what her plan was – surely she wasn't actually okay with giving up her life and saving her murderer in the process, so she must be adhering to some sort of misplaced honor. Not that he minded. The longer he stuck around, the further he could push his cause and the more he could help his people. He'd never stop fighting for them, facing death a thousand times without a second thought, and her help granted him a thousand more.

"Human!" Ramattra's shout echoed throughout the cave, carrying his voice deeper as it rebounded off the walls, but he received no response. He gripped his staff tighter, and after a moment of debate, he stomped further in. "Human! I tire of these games. Reveal yourself or pay dearly." The anger was nothing new – he practically ran off the stuff like fuel – but there was another emotion stirring where his gut would be that he couldn't place.

When (Y/n) still didn't reply, he let out a low growl that reverberated through the cave, grip secure on his weapon as he swung it around to light the cave walls in case she was trying to hide. "Hiding will accomplish nothing." He tapped the end of the rod on the ground, chipping at the ice on the floor, but still he received no reply. "Tch." He turned to head back to the entrance, contemplating how to free his Nemesis form limbs from their prison under the boulder, when he heard a shrill scream.

Instantly, he whirled around, staff poised at the ready as his metaphorical heart jumped into his throat. That sounded much deeper in the cave, and a second later, he was sprinting down the dark corridor, head on a swivel as his optics scanned high and low for the girl, but he couldn't find her.

Soft, terrified cries made his head snap up and he ducked left into a branch-off from the main passage. Steadily, the quiet sounds became louder, and he honed in on where his human was with sharp auditory processors, sliding to a halt when he finally spotted her. "(Y/n), behind me!"

(Y/n) pried her eyes from the snow leopard growling in front of her, her panic shattering for just a moment as pure relief washed over her face. "Ramattra!" With her back to the giant cat, it took its chance and leapt at her. Ramattra procured a void barrier in between the two of them that he seemingly pulled out of the ground with a curl of his hand, and the leopard slammed into the transparent blue shield with a yelp. The girl sprinted over to him, taking his outstretched hand so he could swing her around his body and drop her safely behind him.