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Sage was living her worst night-mare. She was trapped at the protocol’s clinic, not playing her usual role as the healer, but as the patient. On her last trip outside their headquarters, she somehow got exposed to the flu, causing her to develop a high fever and a terrible array of symptoms. She couldn’t eat or leave the cot in the med-bay without the terrible feeling in her stomach bubbling up stronger. She couldn’t understand why it was hitting her so hard when she was a strong and healthy adult– a self-healing radiant no less. Regardless, she asked Brimstone to order antiviral medication for shipment to HQ so she hopefully wouldn’t have to deal with the flu for long.
Sage spent much of the first day napping, not just in an attempt to sleep through the pain, but also in the hopes that it would give her enough energy to suppress the virus and allow her to go back to work sooner. However, her sleep was interrupted in the afternoon by a notification on her tablet. The latest team sent out on a mission was just returning. The group included Skye, so Sage was hoping that they were already healed and wouldn’t have to see her in her current state.
Yet to her dismay, Reyna entered the med-bay minutes later, a wound visible on her shoulder, but of course she showed no signs of being in pain.
In Sage’s opinion, Reyna was probably the most stunning agent in the protocol, but she’d never admit it. Reyna had a very cold demeanor and often isolated herself from the other agents, choosing to opt out of team building activities and such. If Sage had to guess, she would say that the duelist was going to ridicule her for falling so ill.
“Sage, you look… terrible,” Reyna commented. Exactly what Sage expected.
“Thanks for noticing,” Sage responded dryly, “I have no idea how it got so bad, but you probably shouldn’t stick around here if you don’t want to end up the same, it's contagious.”
Reyna ignored the suggestion, walking off to one side of the room as she talked, “No idea? When’s the last time you slept a full 7 hours of sleep?” Reyna’s question was punctuated by a final click of her heels on the floor when she came to a stop at the empty cot on the other side of the room. She grabbed a pillow from the cot in silence, waiting for Sage to answer, but the healer wasn’t interested in responding to this sudden accusatory investigation.
“I thought so,” Reyna continued, “This is why Brim and Viper have been telling you to take a break you know — to prevent something like this. You’re exhausted and now you can’t even heal yourself from a little fever?”
“I’m not exhausted” Sage scoffed, “At least, I wasn’t before catching the flu. And for the record, my healing works much better on physical wounds than viruses,” Sage claimed.
“Oh yeah? Then can you fix the bullet wound on my shoulder or will I have to go hunting for a soul?”
With her free hand, Reyna tossed a radiant orb to Sage, but she couldn't infuse it with enough energy to do anything. Sage let out a frustrated sigh. She felt guilty for her powers not working, especially knowing how much the team relied on her healing to keep them going.
Reyna shook her head and approached Sage’s cot with a pillow still in hand. “Maybe this will finally teach you how to take a break,” Reyna pointed out. “Now lift your head up,” she demanded.
Sage was confused, but complied, allowing Reyna to place the extra pillow on top of the one Sage was already using. Once Sage rested her head back down, she immediately noticed her neck was a lot more comfortable. She thought this was very out of character for Reyna, but since the duelist seemed to act like it was normal, Sage chose not to acknowledge it either.
“I don’t need a lecture on how to do my job, Reyna. I just need to recollect my strength. Which I think would be much easier with some peaceful, isolated, meditation.”
“Ok corazón, I can take a hint,” Reyna assured her with an overly courteous bow. Then she made her exit, leaving a very confused Sage alone in the clinic.
This was a side of Reyna that she wasn’t used to. Calling it a softer side felt like an overstatement – she was maybe just about as soft as tree bark, but that was still a step up from the usual stone-cold duelist. It seemed like Reyna was walking a fine line between being condescending and genuinely caring. But then there was the last sentence Reyna said. It surprised Sage a little.
It was the first time she heard Reyna call her ‘corazón.’ Sage was well aware that the duelist sometimes called Omega Earth’s Sage corazón, but she had always interpreted it as metaphorical. The enemy Sage was ‘the heart’ of her team, keeping them alive with healing. But in this context, there was no battle. The only other context Sage could think of for that comment was a flirtatious one, but she tried to drown that thought out immediately. There was no way that Reyna, the self-proclaimed heartless killer, could fall for her. It was simply Sage’s fever making her delusional and overthink things. Still, the explanation wasn’t enough to stop Sage from falling asleep thinking about the angle she had just seen Reyna at – standing over her to adjust the pillows.
—————
Sage fell in and out of sleep for another night, but when she was fully awake the next morning, she was met with the addition of a dry throat and a headache on her list of symptoms. It took her a moment to register that she only woke up from the sound of rustling next to her. She turned her head to the side and saw Reyna rooting through a medical supply cabinet. Her shoulder injury was gone, so Sage was confused why she appeared in the clinic again.
“Why’re you here this time?” Sage rasped.
Reyna pointed at the supply cabinet, “Just taking some things over to Dr. Sabine’s office,” Reyna emphasized Viper’s name, knowing how much it annoyed the woman, “A lot of the agents have been asking Skye for help with their injuries in your absence, but not even her radiance can compete with the recklessness of our younger duelists, so now the next closest agent we have to a medical doctor is pitching in.”
“Oh,” Sage said with a frown. It was partially from the reminder that the team was suffering without her, and partially from Sage deciding she really must be delusional from her fever as she had a sliver of hope that Reyna returned to the med-bay out of concern for Sage. Without another word exchanged, Reyna left with 3 crates of supplies. Sage didn’t want to think about how the protocol was suffering without her healing, nor about how she was suffering from the virus clawing away at her immune system, so she forced herself to fall back asleep.
—————
This time, Sage’s nap was interrupted abruptly by the sound of ceramic clanking against the short table next to her. She opened her eyes groggily to find Reyna setting down a cup of tea. Out of the two of them, Reyna seemed more startled to see Sage wake up than she was to be woken up.
The duelist pushed the cup a little further in Sage’s direction. “Here, it’s té de canela,” she explained.
Sage grabbed the cup, which was warm to the touch and made Sage feel grounded. She inhaled the steam coming from the drink and found that even its cinnamon aroma had a therapeutic effect. She looked up at Reyna with an expectant, uncontrollable smile before taking a sip, which seemed to make the duelist surprisingly bashful. Maybe she hadn’t been wrong to have some suspicion about Reyna’s sudden kindness.
“What? … Your voice sounded hoarse this morning. You need to drink more liquids,” Reyna felt the need to explain. It didn’t go unnoticed that she failed to hold eye contact with Sage as she talked.
“How is it?” Reyna asked impatiently after Sage finally took a sip.
“It’s great, thank you,” she responded genuinely. Sage would have liked to chug the whole cup at once if she weren’t so sick.
“Alright well… Brimstone said the medicine you ordered should be delivered by tomorrow night,” Reyna trailed off as she walked towards the exit, “Rest well until then, ok?”
“Ok,” Sage smiled. She enjoyed the rest of the tea alone, but continued to smile from thinking about the gesture. It soothed her throat and eased the pain from her stomach and headache, letting her fall back asleep easily.
—————
The next morning Brimstone brought Sage some toast to see if she could keep down some food yet. Luckily, the answer was yes, but her sickness was still far from dying down. Hours later Reyna appeared for her visit.
“Back again?” Sage asked, looking for any indicator of Reyna’s intent, but the duelist completely dodged the question.
Instead, Reyna just glanced at Sage once-over. “You should really stretch,” she diagnosed.
Sage was a little bit disappointed by Reyna’s change in tone, and decided to match her, “You know, if you’re going to come in here and bother me each day, at least wear a mask, we don’t need two sick agents.” Sage meant the first part in a joking way, and as a bit of a punishment for dodging the question.
“I’m bothering you? Perhaps I should just leave now then.” Reyna said, moving towards the door. Somehow, Reyna had now flipped the script on Sage, almost teasing her. It was clear to Sage that Reyna wasn’t willing to admit that this time, she came to the med-bay just to visit, but she’d orchestrated things in such a way where Sage now had to be the one to ask Reyna to stay.
“Wait-“ Sage called. She didn’t like the hint of desperation that came out in her voice, but it did get Reyna to stop in her tracks, turning back to Sage with a subtle smile.
But Sage didn’t intend to give Reyna the win in this game so easily, “I’m curious now, where did you learn to be a doctor?”
“What do you mean?” Reyna asked, puzzled.
“I mean you’re very intuitive on how to treat a patient. You gave me an extra pillow for my neck, some tea, and suggested I stretch, which you’re right about, my muscles are feeling dead and stiff.”
“The tea was just common sense,” Reyna insisted. She then turned to the supply cabinet and grabbed a mask to wear, as per Sage’s request. Once it was on, she continued, “The other things I did because of my sister, Lucia. I visit her often to give her new souls and check for changes in her condition, but I also want to make sure she’s comfortable. Since she can’t tell me if anything’s bothering her, I’ve tried to decipher small signals like eye twitches, or which of her muscles are tense. Sabine says that these movements are random and meaningless, but sometimes they stop when I adjust something for Lucia,” Reyna paused as if something got caught in her throat. Continuing, there was a clear strain in Reyna’s voice from her trying to hold back an overflow of emotions, “and I think you’ve helped me prove that those adjustments really do make a difference.”
Sage didn’t know what to say at first. She just tried to be comforting by holding one of Reyna’s hands gently with both of hers.
“She’s so lucky to have you, Reyna. You’re doing an incredible job. We’ll get her back one day, I know it,” she consoled.
“Thank you,” Reyna barely-whispered. She took a moment to gather her composure and spoke again, more firmly, “I know you feel guilty about being sick right now, but you have to know it’s out of your hands. Overworking yourself didn’t cause this, but it made you more susceptible. You must treat yourself with care or you could fall into a similar condition as Lucia. I had to watch her get weaker day by day and— I don’t want to see that happen to you too. So please, I really recommend that you stretch and go back to resting until the medicine shipment arrives.”
“Ok,” Sage agreed quietly from the serious discussion, “but I can’t stand comfortably for long, so I can really only stretch my arms.”
“Do you want help?”
“Yes, please,” Sage admitted.
Reyna nodded, “Just let me know if anything hurts.”
“Of course,” replied Sage, already beginning a cross-armed stretch.
Reyna shifted closer to the end of the cot and lifted one of Sage’s leg’s gently until her knee was bent at a 90° angle. She helped Sage roll out her calf, and then pushed and pulled the leg in each direction to help restore flexibility. Reyna then moved to the other side of Sage and repeated the process. A comfortable silence fell over them with Reyna glancing at Sage’s expression every now and then to make sure she wasn’t pressing on anything too hard. By now Sage was done stretching her arms and simply enjoyed the care and attention Reyna was giving her. Sage really hoped this– whatever this was– wouldn’t disappear when she was no longer sick.
“Turn over,” Reyna instructed.
Sage did so wordlessly, which allowed Reyna to start massaging her back. She focused on Sage’s shoulder blades and spine, trying to remove the stiffness from her back, but she could tell it wasn’t working very well.
“Is that helping?”
“Not really,” Sage responded, confirming Reyna’s suspicion.
“It would be more effective without any clothes in the way, do you mind if I–“
“Go ahead,” Sage interrupted. She could tell that Reyna was nervous to ask about removing her shirt, but she didn’t want that.
A chill creeped up Sage’s spine as Reyna lifted the fabric of her shirt away. She didn’t even remove it completely, just rolled the shirt up far enough to expose Sage’s whole back.
Reyna resumed the massaging and this time Sage could swear that all her symptoms and pain instantly vanished when she felt Reyna’s hands press against her. It was entrancing. She actually had to keep a cycle of deep breathing and sighing in order to prevent herself from letting out a different kind of sound.
Reyna seemed to unnecessarily (not that Sage was complaining) brush her fingers along Sage’s back a few times once she was finished massaging and then asked, “feeling better?”
“Mhmmph,” was all Sage could manage to say with her face nearly lodged in a pillow.
“Good. The shipment with your medicine should be in later, so hopefully the next time I see you, you’ll no longer be confined to the clinic’s awful cots.”
“Thank you,” Sage called before Reyna slipped out the door.
—————
‘Next time I see you,’ did not come as soon as Reyna hoped because the very next day was devastating for the protocol. Their counterparts on Omega Earth took notice of the absence of Sage and her healing, which led them to coordinate 3 separate attacks in one day. Reyna was on the first mission in Bhutan and once they secured the threat, Brimstone called her with news of the second attack occurring in Russia. He asked Reyna if she would go on the second mission as well since she could self-heal, and Reyna- although tired- agreed. No one informed her of the third attack when she returned to HQ. The first thing she did was check the med-bay for Sage. She wasn’t there, but that just made Reyna feel optimistic that Sage’s health improved enough for her to move back in her own room. Except, when she knocked on Sage’s door, there was no response.
Reyna grew nervous. She didn’t like the feeling, it was akin to vulnerability, but she knew she had to find Sage. The door to Brim’s office was open, so Reyna walked right in and asked where she was.
“About that,” he started, “there’s been a third attack in Japan. We didn’t have enough uninjured agents to send on the counter-force team, and-”
“DID YOU PUT SAGE ON THE MISSION?”
“Yes… I know, she wasn’t my first option, but she insisted that she felt much better and was no longer contagious.”
“Bullshit. You should have insisted she stayed. Are you the boss or not?”
“Reyna, I know you’re worried about her, but you have to understand by now that she’s very head-strong. She demanded to be there.”
Reyna hissed a sigh of frustration and stormed out. Brimstone was right, she was worried, which she didn’t like him picking up on. He was also right about Sage’s stubborn personality, but it still hurt Reyna a little that Sage would go against all of her efforts to ensure that the healer took the proper time recovering. She wanted to be mad about it, but couldn’t even find the energy for it. Instead, she spent an hour anxiously awaiting the return of the third team.
When they finally appeared, KAY/O and Sage were the last to come off the air-ship. It was clear that Sage was relying heavily on the robotic agent to keep herself upright. She wouldn’t make eye-contact with Reyna, or say anything, so KAY/O spoke instead.
“Her vitals experienced intense variations after reviving Raze. My scan shows these numbers haven’t improved and are accompanied by full-body weakness and an inability to self heal,” KAY/O reported.
“Thank you,” Reyna said as the robot lowered Sage onto one of the benches in the lobby. KAY/O nodded and walked off, somehow making that the nicest interaction she ever had with him.
“You made me nervous, you know? And for good reason apparently,” Reyna tried to say softly, but her voice was lined with some frustration.
“I know. I’m sorry. I thought I was ready to go back out there, but that was foolish. It was irresponsible of me and now I’m paying the price,” Sage coughed out.
“At least you’re alive,” Reyna subsided, “But I hope you know that now you’re not allowed to even think about work for at least 2 more days.”
“Ok ok,” Sage agreed, “could I go to my room now?”
“… No,” Reyna stated after some consideration.
“No?”
“No. Whenever the clinic is closed the agents knock on your door to complain anyways.”
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad.”
“Really? If I recall correctly, Gekko woke you up at 2AM a few weeks ago because he had a paper cut. You don’t need that type of disruption right now.”
“So where should I go?”
“My room?” Reyna suggested.
“Ok,” Sage agreed, barely suppressing a grin.
“Can you walk?”
“Barely. KAY/O offered to carry me but I refused.”
“Will you let me carry you?” Reyna teased.
“Well, it’s such a long walk…” Sage exaggerated to avoid giving Reyna a straight answer.
Reyna rolled her eyes and bent down to lift Sage off the bench and into a bridal-carry. They moved slowly down the emptied halls. By the time Reyna kicked her own door open she could swear that her arms were about to fall off, but she didn’t care. She shuffled the rest of the way to her queen-sized bed, set Sage down on one side of it, and practically fell over onto the other side.
It was already late and considering what happened to both agents that day, they didn’t have to speak to communicate that they each planned to fall asleep immediately. They were facing away from each other when they drifted off to sleep, but when Reyna’s eyes opened in the morning, she saw Sage’s looking back at her. She also quickly realized one of her arms was draped lightly over Sage’s waist.
“Goodmorning,” they said to each other in near unison, followed by laughter.
“How are you feeling?” Reyna asked.
“A lot better. What are you going to do today?”
“Well, I had two missions yesterday, so Brimstone said he’d put me on the bench for a bit. That means my only job for the day is to make sure you do absolutely nothing!”
“Oh good, I was kind of craving some more of that cinnamon tea if you could make some.”
“Wow, someone’s certainly gotten used to the idea of resting all of a sudden.”
“Turns out it’s not so bad with your company,” Sage admitted, lifting one of her hands to rest on Reyna’s shoulder.
“You do realize I’d have to get up and leave to make the tea, right?,” Reyna pointed out.
“Then make it quickly.”
“I can’t control the speed at which water boils my dear.”
and Sage giggled, because Reyna just called her dear.
“Nevermind. Stay here then.”
“You sure?”
.
.
.
“Yes.”
.
.
.
.
“Ok.”
Reyna pulled Sage closer to her, embracing her like nothing else mattered, as the sun rose through the windows and filled the room with a warm glow.