DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Weak little girl

The Fortress

DAY 153

Another step. Just another step, she thought as the light of the portal swallowed them. He owned incomparable patience as they had walked for hours without end when even she had been close to just stopping and letting him go on by himself. She was fighting against darkness, fighting fear and pain, but she did her best not to show any of it, keep her mouth shut, be strong like him. She was unable to speak as he let go of her, leaning her against one of the control panels. She was panting heavily, sweat ran down her back and her eyes and muscles burned. He closed the portal and scrolled quickly through some main data, assuring where and when he was probably. SODIA kept silent. She needed to rest or she would collapse on the floor right here and then. She let go of her bag and limped onwards ignoring him.
Bed. Sleep. Food. Rest. Shower. Bed.
It was all she could think of. Her heart was drumming loudly in her ears and she swayed down the hallways and stairs, her body sliding along the walls.

Little did she know that he was following her. At least she didn't seem to care. And as she went down the escalator to the fourth level he was keen to know where she was going. Stamps of the sole of her sneaker marked her path that had been created by the blood of her open skin and had soaked the back of her right shoe. His eyes widened as he saw the now open tunnel into the barracks. With her remaining strength, she crawled up the stairs and limped into the commander's room. His eyes immediately fell on the window that was covered in writings completely. No, not completely. A near-perfect circle in the mid framed the sight of the moon when it would come around. Below a mess of papers covered the floor, signs, scriptures, even calculations made by hand.
So she had actually been living here for some time, he thought. And she had done this all by herself? Or did she have helpers that didn't make it or vanished on foreign missions? He needed more information quickly.
The bed was looking like an animal had built a nest on it made from blankets and pillows, onto which she now heaved her body. Her feet dangled in the air, a rim of fresher blood gathering at the sole's lowest point, ready to fall every moment. It took only a few more breaths and she was unconscious.
Earth had looked okay. No distress signal had arrived at the Fortress. No messages from Argenta either. The portals were locked from this side. Strange. Why was he awake then? How had she broken the seal? Why didn't the Seraphs know about this?
He had stared at her slumped frame through all his thoughts. Another feeling mixed, one he hadn't felt in a long time, one that had been drowned in anger and hate. He kneeled beside the bed and pulled her shoes off, alike the drenched bandages underneath in substitute for socks. Below he found what once had been blisters, swollen toes and infected flesh. It was bad. She didn't wince once as he cleaned the wounds, or as he pulled her jeans off to address her leg. She just kept sleeping, and in the end, he felt an unusual, truly unpleasant feeling in his chest. A feeling he didn't even know a word for.

Great Slayer.
He nearly tripped on the stairs when the AI's voice quietly spoke to him.
I apologize. I did not intend to disturb your arrival.
He clenched his fist and scanned the inner of the Fortress with his eyes.
My name is SODIA - System Operating digital intelligent assistant. I was programmed by VEGA for the case that there is no one left to care for and operate the ship.
He relaxed. VEGA. A good thing, but he needed to look into her mainframe to be sure. He went on to the command room and started his research, reading to every log SODIA had written and listened to every record made.
You must have questions about IO's presence.
He opened a running program named 'Clock'. It showed December 2016 and the 'current time' as of December 2181. Besides it some manually written logs. 2016? Why that year? Eyebrow raised he looked at empty data, not broken, but fully inexistent.
Slayer. Her existence is hardly explainable.
Earth had created a shield around itself, protecting them from any outside intruder as well as cutting off all signals. There was no portal opened, no spaceship docking, just a mysterious girl waking up in the middle of the Fortress. He frowned.
I will help you go through all data. On which timestamp do you want to start?
He leaned on the panel and rubbed his tired eyes. Tired eyes? He glared at his hand as he finally understood. He was tired. Tired like in needing to sleep. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he had needed to sleep. But did that also mean...?
He shook his head violently. No, this was probably just a dream. He was still cursed and waiting to be awakened again. Maybe it was not even a dream, but a nightmare waiting to put its fangs against his throat. He stared at the little tags she had stuck everywhere, names and functions of the controls. The words were not in English but seemed similar. If it was just in his head, who was she? Was she meant to be-
ARGH!
He spun around, fell to his knees and hit the floor hard with his fist. If they dared to do this... If it was meant to be a nightmare... A punishment... What was next? He growled and gnashed his teeth, caging the feeling that had risen inside him in the darkest corner of his mind.

Watching her sleep he tried to understand what was happening to him. She had been asleep for hours now, even after he had finally taken some rest. As he stood in the frame she had only moved a little now and then. All of this was impossible. Yet it didn't quite fit the powers they possessed over him while he was cursed. And if it was real... No. Impossible.
Her body started to agitate and he could hear quiet murmurs before she took a deep breath and sighed tiredly. As she moved to stretch she winced from her wounds and grumbled, before finally sitting up on the edge of the bed. No idea that he was standing right behind her she limped to the bathroom, peed, flushed, and limped back towards the bed. Only then did she see him.

His eyes had changed. The way he glared at her in mistrust. She couldn't remember taking off her clothes and her feet had been newly bandaged. He must have taken care of her. Again. Embarrassed and pitiful she grabbed some of the rations and sat on the bed, her back to him. What had she done that he looked at her like that? Was he angry that she had taken his stuff? Or was it something about her situation? Her past? Was he angry about her like the Argenta?
Shoving the last handful of bits and crumbles of pemmican into her mouth she sat and considered her options. She was feeling bad, every joint hurt and she could barely walk. her belly was swollen from emptiness. The way he was still staring at her made her hairs in the neck stand up. Suddenly, she was scared of him. She had no idea how to speak to him, or how he would react to everything. By now he must have gathered most information about what had occurred, so maybe she should just wait and give him some time to settle and think. She blinked and looked over her shoulder, he was gone. As silently and creepy as he had been watching her. Would locking the door even work since it was his ship anyway?