#had this sitting around for a while but decided I dont really wanna do rendering or whatever

[alienglowgarden]

[Text Transcript: "Big brother, // yesterday I had a dream // that everything changed. // The sky was the color of blood, // and everywhere I looked, // I could not see a single sight // I recognized, // Including this body."]

[littleshebear]

Little Bird chapter 4

pt 1 | pt 2| pt 3

Ao3 Link

-/

Eva Levante meets a remorseful Amanda while Zavala gets a letter.

-/

Eva Levante has come to visit and thus, the orphanage’s common room is in a state of organised chaos. The Festival of the Lost will be upon them soon so Miss Eva has come to help them get started on decorations. Extra tables have been brought in and they’re already a riot of colour, covered in paper, glitter and foil. A few glue sticks roll off desks and begin to dry out on the floor, casualties of short attention spans and the excitement of an interruption to the usual monotony of their days.

Amanda sits in a corner away from the worst of the ruckus and looks down at the blank papers in front of her with an increasing sense of despondence. She’s not familiar with this celebration at all. Miss Eva had said it was to remember those who had been lost, “with joy and sorrow.” Amanda doesn’t feel like she needs reminding what she’s lost and while she understands the sorrow part, the joy aspect of it seems unattainable to her.

She glances around the room to try to glean some ideas from what the other children are doing. She sees mock candles rendered in cardboard, burning with ‘flames’ of orange tissue paper. Many of them create paper mock ups of some sort of round, orange vegetable she doesn’t recognise, only to then draw leering, grinning faces on them. It’s creepy. Why would anyone want that on their wall?

One of the other children spots her lack of activity and calls out, “Hey New Girl? Why aren’t you making anything?”

New Girl . It’s been months but she’s still “New Girl.” Amanda suspects that barring some major disaster in the City, she’ll always be the New Girl in the orphanage; refugees just aren’t arriving in the City anymore. She hears the stories, how she was the last to pass through the gates, how there’s no one left outside. She hears the jibes and cutting questions. Did you get lost? How could you miss the Traveler, it’s not like it’s tiny . They don’t say that to her face anymore, not since she channeled her frustration at their ignorance into her fists. She’d been put in detention for a week after that but it had been worth it. When her teachers sagely advised that fighting was wrong and asked if she’d learned her lesson, she’d nodded dutifully and said yes but that was a lie. There was nothing to learn, she was right. Those bullies had no idea what it was like out there. They had no right to pass judgement, no right to make fun of Ma and Pa or the rest of the caravan. They’d done their best.

That familiar, yet altogether unpleasant ball of heat starts to build inside her and spread up, through her chest, to her face and behind her eyes. She takes a deep breath and pushes her anger back down. She decides she wants nothing to do with this Festival of the Lost nonsense and opts on engaging in a totally different project. She sifts through her materials and picks out a piece of light yellow paper; not too garish, not too offensive, then picks out a dark blue crayon from a pot on the table. She wanted black but this is closest to that colour she has available to her. She leans over the table, nose nearly to the paper and begins to write, her little brows furrowing in concentration. After a while, she sits up to stretch and think about how to continue. It’s then that she notices Miss Eva standing over her, smiling and inquisitive.

“Do you not want to make decorations, dear?”

Amanda shrugs and covers the paper with her arms.

“Are you drawing a picture?”

She shakes her head. “Writing a letter.”

“Oh,” Eva says, with that exaggerated interest that grown ups always do when they don’t understand something a child is doing. “Who are you writing to, dear?”

She feels her cheeks warm with a blush as she suddenly feels very silly. “Commander Zavala.”

“You know the Commander?” Eva’s interest seems far more genuine now as she pulls up a chair beside her.

“Not really,” Amanda explains in an embarrassed mumble. “I made him mad.”

“Oh, what could you possibly have done to make the Commander angry? I can’t imagine that.”

She lists the all the things she could have possibly done to irritate Zavala and counts them off on her fingers. “Uhhm, I tried to steal from Executor Hideo, I keep running away from the orphanage and I snuck into the hangar and hid under a table.”

“Ah,” Eva tips her head to the side in agreement. “Yes, well. That would probably do it. He didn’t frighten you, did he?”

“A li’l bit, he’s pretty scary. But it’s okay, the monsters are scared of him too.”

Eva threads her fingers together and leans towards Amanda, her expression of quiet amusement switching to one of concern. “What monsters?”

“The ones outside,” she states matter of factly. “Y’know. The bad stuff beyond the walls.”

Eva nods seriously. “I do, dear. I do know.”

Amanda looks up from her writing with saucer-wide eyes. When she speaks it’s a low, conspiratorial whisper. “Have you seen ‘em too?”

“I was a refugee.” She hazards laying a hand over one of Amanda’s and looks gratified when the child doesn’t flinch. “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

“The others ain’t seen ‘em. They don’t get it.”

“Is that why you run away?”

Amanda pulls back and makes a big production of neatly folding the finished letter in half. “This place gives me a stomach ache,” she finally answers with a shrug.

“Well. Maybe we can do something about your stomach ache,” Eva begins in an indulgent tone. “But you mustn’t run away. It’s not safe, that’s why Zavala gets mad. It’s his job to keep people safe.”

“I know,” Amanda smooths down the paper one last time before scrawling Zavala’s name across it. “That’s why I’m writing him.”

-/

Eva pops her head around Zavala’s office door after knocking. “Are you busy?”

Zavala raises an eyebrow in response. His expression is stony but the amusement is there for those who know where to look. Eva covers her mouth with her hand to stifle the embarrassed giggle that emerges.

“I’m sorry my friend, silly question.”

His expression softens and he beckons her in, “What can I do for you?”

“Nothing for now, all is well in the Bazaar,” she fishes a piece of folded, bright yellow construction paper out of her bag before she takes a seat. “I’m here as a messenger today.”

Zavala accepts the ‘letter’ with a confused frown. “What is - Ah. I see.” He smiles softly to himself as he reads, despite the childish scrawl and the myriad spelling and grammatical errors.

Dear comandur Zavala,

Sorry for trying to steal from exek execkyu Hidayoh. Stealing aint right I know that.

Im sorry I keep running away from the orfanage. I dont mean to worry no one, I just get I just dont like being cooped up. Sorry for creeping into the hangar. I didnt mean no harm. I wanted to see the ships. I like ships. When I grow up I wanna be an enj engani someone who fixes stuff. I hope I didnt get no one into troubble, can you tell the hangar folks that Im real sorry if I did?

Thank you for walking me back,

Amanda Nora Holliday.

Zavala finishes reading and fixes Eva with an incredulous look.

“I haven’t read it,” Eva holds up her hands and shakes her head. “I don’t know what it says, it wasn’t addressed to me.”

“How did you get it?”

“Sometimes I like to pop over the orphanage, for the children. Give them something to do, break up the monotony. Their little lives can be so regimented. Amanda asked me to give this to you. I couldn’t say no, she seemed so earnest and,” she summons her most matronly smile for Zavala, “Very concerned that she had made you mad.”

“Am I really that intimidating?”

“You can come off as rather brusque, I won’t lie.”

“I had no intention of frightening her, I just-”

“You worry,” Eva points out in a gentle interruption. “I know.”

Zavala takes a moment to glance over the letter before speaking again. “How did she seem to you?”

Eva’s smile fades. “A little isolated perhaps? I don’t think the other children understand her. Refugees are a rare thing nowadays. And she said the orphanage gives her a stomach ache.”

Zavala frowns, while Eva gives a sad smile at his puzzlement.

“‘I have a stomach ache’ is little girl-speak for ‘I’m afraid,’” she explains. “And she was less than enthused about the upcoming festival.”

“I don’t think it has been that long since she lost her parents. It’s likely still very raw for her.” He stares off into space, tapping the letter on the edge of his desk, lost in thought.

“I can keep an eye on her if you’d like?” Eva offers, breaking through his distraction.

“I didn’t ask-”

“I know you didn’t,” Eva chuckles, “You’re obviously worried about her but you’re a busy man. I often call into the orphanage, it would be no trouble for me.”

“You’re very kind, Eva, thank you.”

“Like I said, it’s no trouble,” she assures him, rising from her seat. “Have you considered my suggestion? About bringing the Festival of the Lost to the Tower?”

“You think it advisable to expose Cayde to dress-up games and sugar highs?”

“A small price. It would be good for you. You Guardians were lost once, too.” Eva opens the office door and cocks her head. “Think on it. For old Eva.”

“I will,” he nods indulgently.

Eva makes to leave before turning around to face him again. “Have you been crocheting lately?”

Zavala meets her gaze. There’s warmth and compassion there but Zavala knows it’s so keen and perceptive she could almost be an Awoken. “When I have time.”

“You look stressed.” She wags her finger at him as though he were a truculent child rather than a centuries-old immortal. “Make time!” She insists before showing herself out

[yourhero404]

Request: Mina running on a treadmill while connected to a heart monitor as part of a stress test, the stress proving too much for Mina's heart, resulting in a massive heart attack and (s/o) must revive her. Feel free to tweak this to your liking.

A/N: oof, the poor girl is one of the healthiest in the class! But I shall work some magic and provide this for you TuT

MINA

Interning is hard, Mina decided, and she was exhausted. Class was hard enough, now she has to work during her free time? That sucked! She sighed and told herself it was the curse of becoming a hero, she would have to toughen up even more to make sure the lifestyle was bearable. But why was she feeling much weaker today than she had been lately?  

“Mina! It’s time to head to the gym!”

Mina groaned and swung her legs as they were dangling over the side of the common room couch. She ignored the voice and threw her arm across her eyes, giving them a long sigh.

“I don’t wanna!” She whined, drawing out her words.

“You know you have to if you want to keep interning. Aizawa wants me to give you the test, anyway, so I’ll go with you.”

“You’re gonna do it?” She sat up quickly, a hopeful smile gracing her lips as she finally locked eyes with (S/o), “Really?”

“Lucky for you, yes I am.”

“Yes!” She cheered, hopping to her feet, “What are you doing just standing there? It’s time to go!”

Mina quickly grabbed onto (S/o)’s hand and dragged them towards the gym. Her mouth was moving several miles an hour while her s/o did nothing but smile and make a sound of affirmation every now and again to show she held their attention. They knew their presence at these tests put their girlfriend at ease, so they didn’t hesitate to spend their extra time with Recovery Girl to learn just how to administer it; After her recent run in with a villain who gave her a pretty rough beat down, (S/o) understood why she was so hesitant on taking these tests- she was afraid of being too weak to continue her work and she didn’t want to tell anyone. (S/o), however, knew her very well and could sense that something was wrong but… they couldn’t put their finger on it.

“Mina, stop moving and let me stick these on you.”

They’d made it to the gym, but Mina was too jittery to let (S/o) do what they need to do. She was bouncing around, telling them all about what happened to her today while she was out, begging them to tell her what their day was like but cutting them off with another side story before they could answer. They didn’t mind, they love listening to her after all, but the sooner she finished the test, the sooner the two of them could go do something fun together- if only she’d sit still!

“Please, sweetheart. Stand still and let me put these on you, then you can take out your energy on the treadmill. Okay?”

“Fiiiine!” She drew out dramatically and smacked her chest, “Stick ‘em on me, baby!”

They shook their head but kept their smile towards her antics as they placed the electrodes on her skin and told her to hop onto the treadmill. (S/o) started her out slow and slowly kicked the speed up, leaning against the front of the machine to talk to her while keeping an eye on the monitor beside them. Something seemed… off about her readings- maybe it was just the fact she had been worn out lately? They poked a few buttons and kept double checking on their girlfriend- she stopped talking now and seemed to grow fairly exhausted and seemed almost… pale. She hunched over slightly as though her torso started to grow painful.

“Mina, are you alright?”

“Fine,” she huffed, “Just… just a little… a little lightheaded.”

“You look like you’re going to faint-”

(S/o)’s head whipped towards the monitor as the machine started blaring noises and the readings on the screen became drastic. Before they knew exactly what happened, their girlfriend had made it off of the machine and collapsed to the floor. Immediately, they moved to check on her- tapping her cheek, feeling her pulse; The machine continued to beep rapidly and (S/o) had held their hand in front of her face and felt no breathing coming from her.

“No,” they muttered, “No no no-”

They yelled out for help, hoping someone, anyone, would hear them. Without sparing a moment, they quickly tapped on the first number on their phone and threw it aside, yelling to whoever picked up on the other end to get help. With one hand over the other, they placed it over her breastbone and started chest compressions, pausing every fifty times to check on her breathing.

“Come on!” They cried, “Wake up!”

The beeping of the monitor took over their mind, rendering their thoughts useless as they mindlessly continued their chest compressions. Their arms were growing tired, but they didn’t stop- they couldn’t stop- not until she opened up those golden eyes to look at them once again.

“Dammit, Ashido!” They only used her last name when they were upset, it felt foreign on their tongue, “You’re one of the healthiest people in this damn class! You can’t have a heart attack like this!” Their compressions grew heavier and irritated, “Wake up! Dammit, wake up!���

They continued yelling even as help arrived and made them move out of the way. The recovery team pulled out the paddles, and though (S/o)’s own chest felt tight at the sight of them, they couldn’t take their eyes off of Mina. One jolt, two jolts, their heart was about to burst out of their chest at the rate it was beating out of fear and pure adrenaline. (S/o) almost fainted themselves the moment Mina’s eyes fluttered open. They were obviously heavy and she struggled to keep them open, but she immediately searched for (S/o) and they ran over immediately.

“Mina? Mina, keep calm, alright?”

She attempted to nod but the paramedic helping her asked her to stay still. (S/o) had to beg Aizawa to allow them access to her after she had been taken to the infirmary and was by her side the moment she fully woke up.

“Hey,” (S/o) cooed softly, running their thumb across her cheekbone, “There you are. Feeling okay? I can call Recovery Girl-”

“’M fine,” she clicked her tongue and attempted to clear her throat, “Ew, my mouth’s gross.”

“That’s the first thing you have to say?”

“I could’ve asked if my gross breath was your fault?”

“Ashido!” they cried, dramatically hunching over a moment, “Do you know what happened?”

“I fell off the treadmill!”

“You had a heart attack. A real, whole, heart attack!”

“That’s not good.”

“No!” their voice grew shrill, “It’s not! You’re sixteen! You shouldn’t be having those!”

“That’s wack-”

“Please take this seriously.”

“Sorry sorry,” she grabbed onto (S/o)’s hand and drew small circles on their knuckles with her thumb, “It must have been something to do with that villain the other day- I haven’t been feeling well since then.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want you to worry,” she sighed when she saw their quirked eyebrow and scowl, “Okay okay… I also just didn’t wanna seem… weak. Like I wasn’t cut out for hero work. I want to be a hero,” her voice grew quiet, “I didn’t want to just quit because I didn’t feel well.”

“Honey,” they leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss against her forehead, “Even heroes feel bad sometimes. They need breaks too. And they certainly see a doctor when they feel bad!” They flicked where they had kissed and ignored her whine. “Next time, you need to tell me.”

“Okay… Okay, I will.”

“I’m not giving you CPR again.”

“So my gross breath really is your fault!”  

“Nope, that’s all you. I only did chest compressions.”

“Copping a feel, huh? Pervert.”

“I’m leaving you on the floor next time.”

“(S/o)!!”