Emotional Support Dove

Gone

It had been four days. 

Four. Days. 

And Medic was still not back at the base house. 

Everyone was getting both worried and annoyed with the doctor, they needed the guy in battle... But it also felt weird not to have that insane yet oddly reassuring presence. 

Sniper and Engineer were sitting at the kitchen table, the shorter sighing with his hands crossed. He was way too exhausted thanks to the fact he needed to build way more health dispensers in these past few days, this is why he stayed on Medic's good side- so that he wouldn't be forced to exhaust himself. Sniper, on the other hand, was drinking some sort of bright liquid, reading some magazine full of useless shit. 

"This is gettin' frustratin', where the hell is that guy..?" Engie took off his helmet, lowering his head on the table while Sniper turned to look at him. "I wish I knew, mate. He'll be on his way back sooner or later, and when he comes we'll be giving him a rant and a half." The taller placed down the magazine, swirling the glass with the drink a bit. "I don't know if I can be building all these dispensers for longer. Besides the team can't function without an actual healer, we've been gettin' our bottoms handed to us like hell. The Blu team still has their doctor, we're just gonna continue losin' until that changes." 

"Engie, he'll be back. All his supplies are here, I highly doubt he'd leave 'em here for long. Ain't his other doves still here as well?" Sniper laid back in the chair, sighing off stress. "Nah, haven't heard a single coo in these four days. Those things would've started screamin' for food ages ago." Engie raised his head, looking towards the hallway where everyone's rooms were. 

"Ya know, Snipe... The whole team's been down, but I think Heavy has taken it the hardest. He's got the best bond with doc after all- I even offered him a sandwich yesterday and he said no, can you believe that?" 

"Nope, I genuinely can't. Didn't the guy go looking for him at one point as well?" 

"Now that you mention it, I think he did. He had to come back pretty fast though, he left 'round 20 minutes before match was startin'." 

"Time management issues, not surprised." 

"Wonder how he's doin' now... Today's matches have all been done, ya think he's asleep?" 

"Probably, he isn't the biggest night owl from what I know. I do think he might be staying up late 'cause of the 'missing Medic' situation, though. I wouldn't be surprised if he went looking for the night." 

"That guy needs his sleep to function, so let's hope not..." 

... 

A week and a half full of nothing but losses. 

At that point everyone was exhausted, even Soldier was starting to lose a little bit of his raging fire. None of the guys realised how much they actually needed a proper, breathing, moving healer in their team. Word had gone out to those managing the team, but no progress had been made in the search. 

"That's it, I will look for doktor myself." Heavy slammed his fist on the wall of the room everyone was gathered in. "No offense, but if those sent to look for him have made no progress, I highly doubt you'll find him." Spy rolled a cigarette in-between his fingers, standing next to the door. "Hate to say it, but the man's probably right. Ye won't be finding him nearby if none else has." Demoman shrugged, but Heavy shook his head and looked around at everyone with a determined look. 

"I will find doktor, and I will also find bird. We will get them bak." He stated, walking out of the room and leaving everyone to look at each other. 

"We're fucked." 

"Pretty much." 

... 

Heavy was making his way through unmapped area, because if Medic couldn't be found on maps he could be found outside of them. His expression was stiff yet worried, there was a cold night air blowing right on him- nothing compared to what he was used to, though. Besides the determination that filled his body kept him warm and snug... And the big ass coat he was wearing, because of the pockets. He needed them pockets. 

"Doktor, doktor! Team is worried, kome bak to base!" The man shouted, looking around with squinted eyes. He had been walking for a while now, but it didn't seem like too much progress was made. He hadn't even found a trail, probably because the sand didn't really leave one too well to begin with... 

"Doktor! Doooktooor!" He shouted, trying to spare his voice while still making his presence known. Eventually Heavy had walked so far away from the map areas that he saw this one familiar rock he remembered from a couple months back, one of the biggest reasons being that Scout had carved something on it and Pyro tried to set it on fire- failing to do that, of course. 

"Oh, hello rok. Heavy has not seen you in some time. Do you know where doktor is? He has been missing for week and half." Heavy walked to the rock, looking at it and seeing the 'P + S' Scout had carved on it. "Skout and Miss Pauling... They are good friends! Heavy and Engineer are also good friends, so are Heavy and doktor..." The giant thought for a moment, but eventually he could feel something smack the side of his leg. 

"What is..." Heavy's eyes fell on the thing next to his foot, he quickly identified it to be a red rubber glove. With wide eyes he picked it up, turning to look into the direction it flew from. "This doktor's glove! I am koming, doktor!" He quickly started making his way toward another pile of rocks far away, it was the only thing he could see that Medic could be at. 

The moment he arrived to the rocks Heavy took a moment to catch his breath, carrying all those muscles wasn't exactly the easiest job. When he managed to look behind all the tall rocks he swore his heart skipped a beat. What he saw was the coat Medic was wearing the day he disappeared around a skeleton, as well as the other red rubber glove. He stepped up to the skeleton, kneeling down and poking it. 

"Dok... Doktor?" He frowned, not completely sure how to feel at that moment. Normally if someone died they'd respawn back at the base house or match base... But it looked like he had been dead for so long the birds already ate all of him. It was just so- it was so... Heavy sighed, lowering his gaze and his head while looking at the red glove he was holding. 

"Ah, there it is! You found mein glove, I vas vondering vhere it vent. Danke very much." Suddenly Medic popped behind Heavy, catching the big guy off-guard as he snatched the glove. The giant, on the other hand, stood up straight and looked at the doctor with wide eyes. "Doktor, you are not dead?! Why is skeleton wearing your coat?" He questioned, receiving a laugh. 

"Vell, I VAS originally planning to attract an animal of sorts to ride it back to base, so I hid zhe skeleton as best as I could. It vould've been an absolute vin, a ride und some nev parts! Hovever it looks like you've reached me first, so- I vill be taking zhat back, heh..." Medic explained, putting on both of the gloves and taking back his coat. He dusted it off, then clearing his throat before looking at the upset Heavy. 

"... Doktor... Why did you kome this far out of map? And why did you not walk bak?" The bigger crossed his arms, furrowing his eyebrows. "Ah- vell... Heh, zhat is quite funny, you see... I thought I heard Archimedes call out to me, but it turned out I vas hearing the vind and altering it to sound like him in my head! Silly, ja? Then, vhen I realised I vas folloving vind, I vas so far I vasn't sure vhich direction to go!" Medic explained, leading Heavy to think once again. "Fair enough." He shrugged, letting his hands fall to his sides. 

... And there the two stood in silence. 

Until they didn't :D 

"Say, Heavy, I vant to tell you something. Do you think ve could sit dovn for a moment?"