Our Desire (VALORANT)

Chapter 12: Convinced

It's 11:57am

Sage stared at the time, wondering when she was going to fall asleep. It's been months since Jett had passed away and there was not much progress in her revival. There wasn't that much time left for Jett's corpse in the lab. She needed to go onto a mission.

Gentle knocks were heard on the door.

"Come in..."

Neon opened the door to see a mess of scattered paperwork, many mugs of finished coffee, and laundry shoved into corners.

"Sage, you haven't been resting or eating as much lately." Neon walked over towards the edge of the bed, making enough room for her to sit. "I made Arroz Caldo." She smiled while trying to push the bowl of food towards the healer.

Lazily, the elder sat up in her bed with dark bags circling her eyes and hair that hasn't been brushed for days. It wasn't a sight Neon was used to seeing, but she knew how much pain her mentor was going through. "It's Filipino styled rice congee! I heard that you liked these type of meals when you're not at your best."

"Who told you that?"

Neon set herself up for that, but it was better to be honest than avoid the question, "Jett. She would talk a lot about cooking when we became friends here."

Sage stopped eating and stared at the bowl of food, feeling the guilt in her tastebuds. "Thank you Neon for this meal."

"Sage, we need you. Valorant needs you. She needs you."

It has been a slow few months since a member of protocol has died and Sage has been indulging into work more than usual. The first few weeks, she did all the research in Omega-World's whereabouts, went on missions to retrieve souls, all without much sleep or food in her system.

Brimstone ordered her to not partake in any of the missions until she was better, but it didn't stop her from training herself and other members.

"I need to find them. Once I do, we shall take them."

"How were you able to revive other members before?"

Sage and Neon turned their heads to see Fade leaning against the doorway. The notorious Blackmailer of Valorant knew most of their secrets, but she was now an ally of theirs. There was no reason to be dishonest. Sage ignored the question and kept enjoying her first meal in days.

"You've saved us many times before, what's different this time?"

"Fade." Neon looked at her sternly, giving an expression that made the other feel guilty about her questioning.

"Before, we had many missions to partake in. The truth of my powers are still a wonder beyond many, yet I can't fully understand it myself."

Sage set aside the bowl and turned to the two, "Omen may have mentioned before about the way he is now and why Viper holds this grudge against me. Despite all of us being the first to join protocol, there has been an accident involving him that you already know of Fade."

"What accident?" Neon asked.

"We have our powers due to an excessive amount of Radianite exposed to us, but Omen was near Point Light. An area with too much Radianite that causes his body to tear and such to become the way he is now. I was there to heal him and such, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't bring back the person he used to be."

"How does that correlate to Jett?"

There was a brief silence.

"When an agent dies on the field, I am only able to resurrect with enough soul orbs. Since there's no enemy to eliminate, I cannot revive her. That's why when we are on the battlefield, we ask of you to minimize the damage when I am not there. I can only use my powers with the life I take from another."