Bleed, Patch, And Keep Moving - An Apex Legends Story

Chapter 23 - The First Time Isn't Easy

Instead of soothing, the hum of the transport ship was almost deafening to her ears. "Dis what it feels like? Dis what it feels like ta die in da arena..." Ajay was hunched over in her seat with her eyes closed. She heard Mirage nearby as he yelled, "Party at my place after debriefing. You can come take a look at your winners!" Ajay tried to relax in her seat but she had no time to relax as the ship was already landing. "How long was I out?" Apparently she was out long enough that the ship was able to make it back to HQ without her knowledge.

She really didn't want to move from the ship, so sat there with her elbows on her knees and her forehead in hands. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her head felt like it was going to split open. It almost felt like she was having some sort of bad hangover. She really didn't know if what she was feeling had to do with her death in the arena or from the emotional trauma that she was forced to live through just before dying in the arena. Either way, it didn't feel pleasant to her body.

As soon as she stood up she almost fell over as the pain from her head flooded over her whole body. If it were not for someone's arm catching her and breaking her fall then she would have been one with the floor of the ship. "I got you." She was barely able to hear Anita's voice through the pounding in her ears. Anita smirked at her, "The first time isn't easy but it gets easier." She steadied Ajay and helped her off the ship. "Thank yuh." Anita nodded as they slowly entered the hanger and then loading area. Anita even helped Ajay into a conference room for debriefing.

Ajay was still hurting pretty bad as she went through her debriefing process. She got an ear full about removing her comms device during the match, "Which I didn do!" By that point in the conversation she gave them an ear full back about D.O.C. not working in Mikhail's stupid gas. Ajay and the two interviewers in the conference room seemed to be yelling back and forth at one another without much resolution.

By the time she was done, all of the Legends were waiting outside of the door to see if they could hear what was going on in the conference room. Ajay opened the door and the other Legends scrambled around the room and pretended to be preoccupied with other things so that they would not get caught listening in on her yelling match. Ajay knew that they could all hear what was going on inside the conference but she didn't really care.

Octavio was sitting on the sofa, which was rare because he hardly ever sat still. Elliot was reading a book but the book was upside down. Anita was filing her nails; which she hated anything remotely 'girly' related. Renee and Bloodhound were conversing, which was actually semi-normal. Makoa was hiding in the bathroom. The only person acting normal was Mikhail but now he was approaching her, "You must understand, death is the true test."

After Mikhail's short speech he walked away and left the room completely. Ajay just shook her throbbing head at him. She had no words for Mikhail except "What da fuck ever." She didn't bother to voice those words out loud because it wouldn't do her any good. She was exhausted and really just wanted to get blackout drunk, go to bed, and forget this whole night.

Ajay made her way over to outfit screen and changed back into her civilian clothing. It was like magic every time, which was kind of nice. Anita could see that Ajay was still struggling so she helped her get her backpack on. Octavio and Elliot approached the two women as if they were going to help. Anita gave both Octavio and Elliot a death stare, which sent both of the men back to where they came from.

Elliot hopped up onto a sofa to get the attention of everyone that was still left in the room, "Winners right here." He pointed to himself and then to Octavio, "Party. My house. Now!" Elliot hopped down from the sofa and both him, and Octavio, ran out to get the party started. The rest of Legends followed at a normal pace. Ajay sauntered out behind everyone else. She really had no hurry left in her body. Partying was also out of the question. "Definitely not happenin."