#shizukas is so bland but thats ok

[ha-ule-nalu]

after the mission accident leaving two agents in critical condition and the revelation regarding agent 021, pua, monarch, and shizuka felt like their worlds were falling apart.

pua, stricken with grief as she caught a glimpse of her best friend's body limp and twitching with electricity, felt like she was imploding. she floated between the medbay, her quarters, and the cell grimshaw was being held in, her ears limp against her head, sneakers squeaking through the halls as she dragged her feet. what was she supposed to do? what could she do?

her anger had long fizzled into a dull ache of loneliness. her eyes felt dry. she couldn't cry anymore.

"lani..."

the radiant stopped in her tracks, raising her gaze from the floor. jett stood before her, concern written in her knitted brows. pua felt her heart drop. she didn't want to talk.

"what?" nohealani muttered, the rasp in her own voice somewhat surprising her. she hadn't spoken more than a few words since the night grimshaw was detained.

"i'm worried about you," jett rubbed her arm nervously. "please.... talk to me. let me get you something to eat at least, i- lani, you've barely eaten since-"

"just leave me alone," pua aggressively shouldered past her white-haired friend, causing her to stagger. "i just wanna be alone."

the tightness in her chest was nearly unbearable. tears began welling in her eyes again, stinging her dry eyes painfully as she tried to swallow the lump growing in her throat. she would just sleep it off again. it was better than dealing with her present problems.

neon, her fest friend, on deaths doorstep. grimshaw, a man she viewed as her second father, possibly the reason why. could he really have done it? could she believe that the man who made her feel so safe, made her feel at home, have committed such a heinous crime? her gut reaction was to reject it. there was no way it was achlys. it couldn't have been. it couldn't have...

...right?

monarch leaned against the wall of the holding cell in the dark, supervising grimshaw during some of his allowed darkness hours. she didn’t mind the shifts, having promised brimstone and viper while begging them to let him have the lights turned off for a few hours that she would be the one to keep watch. while she had lobbied for complete darkness, it was only near pitch-blackness, save for the dim LED strip outlining the door. the two of them sat in silence. after a few days, it felt like there was nothing more to say.

however, there was a slight tension hanging in the air. despite having asked him questions and getting her answers, monarch knew that grimshaw was still withholding some information about the everett-linde disaster, and how it related to the current situation. but no matter how hard they thought about it, they couldn't pin down who the real traitor could be. there was an understanding between the two of them now, after monarch had confided in him about what had happened to her on omega-earth, but despite this, there was still a piece of the puzzle missing. they grimaced. what could he still be hiding?

“achlys,” their voice was soft, the broken silence hanging heavy in the air. there was no answer, but poeiva, their eyes long adjusted to the emptiness, could see the darkness slightly form the vague silhouette of grimshaw in his shadow form inside the cell. he heard her.

“i know… you’re not the traitor.”

the silence remained.

“i know it for a fact. but i need to know. please, achlys. who is it, really?” she bit the inside of her cheek as the silence continued. why won’t he answer?

“you mentioned a ‘he’ before, when we spoke earlier. who is he, grimshaw? please… i need to know-“

“i can’t tell you,” the silhouette of his head seemingly solidified.

“and why not?” poeiva protested, stepping off the wall. “you know this is important to me. if you just gave up who he is, it would clear your name, it would solve everything!”

“it’s not that simple,” achlys kept his voice even. “you must know it will only complicate things further if i implicate another man as the traitor rather than myself.”

“you don’t know that!” poeiva felt their frustration boil in their chest. she didn’t understand why he would give up the chance to solve everything and get himself out of the hot seat, with no consequence other than the real traitor going behind bars.

“i do,” grimshaw’s voice was harsher this time. absolute. “i do know that. it’s exactly why i can’t say anything.”

poeiva opened her mouth to retort, but before she could say anything there was a knock and the door slid open, golden light from the hallway spilling into the dark room. she quickly put a hand up, eyes painfully adjusting to the change.

“mon chéri,” she heard chamber step into the room, a hand gently placed on the small of their back. “brimstone sent me to retrieve you.”

poeiva blinked, looking from chamber to the shadow in the darkest corner of the room. she wordlessly let her partner guide her out of the cell, the door sliding shut behind her. grimshaw’s answers had done nothing but unsettle her. was it her close friendship with brimstone, sage, and viper causing him to withhold the information? did he not trust her? she tightened her grip on chamber’s hand.

or was it something else?

shizuka tapped the stack of papers on the desk before neatly placing them back in the file for what was probably the eighth time. she slipped the folder back into the filing cabinet, sighing through her mask as the drawer gently clicked shut. she had cleaned and reorganized the medbay and grimshaw's office at least eight times by now, unsure of what to do with herself now that her mentor and close friend was detained and stuck in a cell down the hall.

she stepped towards the patient beds, sliding back the curtain shielding neon's bed from view. she anxiously checked the woman's vitals and IV, knowing all the settings were the same as they were five minutes ago.

she hadn't wanted to leave the medbay. she wasn't really sure what to even think. sage and skye had both come in to try and relieve her, but she would only leave for a few hours to check on killjoy and then she would be right back in the bay. her poor girlfriend had barely left her quarters after the incident. yoru and kaya respectively had come in to keep her company on occasion, but she wasn't really in a talkative mood. her thoughts were too loud, racing. she didn't know what to do.

the memories of grimshaw being dragged from the medbay while tending to artisan played vividly behind her eyes. she remembered brimstone's anger, his disgust, viper's rage as she accused achlys of his crimes, sage's conflicted gaze passing between shizuka and her mentor. but what bothered her most of all was grimshaw's complete lack of a proper reaction.

one would think that if someone were to be accused of a crime they didn't commit by people very close to them, they would react defensively, trying to clear their name. but grimshaw barely said a word, simply allowing them to take him away.

as if he was expecting this outcome. prepared for it, even.

shizuka closed her eyes, steadying her breathing. now was not the time to begin spiraling down useless thoughts. she knew grimshaw couldn't be the traitor.... he couldn't be. she was too tired to think about it.

the pink-haired woman pushed the curtain back as the main doors slid opened, a tired-looking sage entering the medbay.

"ryuujin," she greeted, offering a small, forced smile. "i can take over for awhile. you should get some rest."

shizuka nodded. "thank you." she was grateful her mechanized voice hid her exhaustion.