pacific rim

You know that’s not what I mean.

It’s just…I was my job. That’s who I am.

You were more to me than just your job.

I'm sure plenty of people would disagree with you.

How can I not?

It’s my life.

....So nothing else ever mattered to you?

Yeah. Plenty.

It just…they’re retiring me. I can’t pilot with it gone.

You shouldn't worry about that now.

Kaiju tore into the conn-pod. Some metal flew and lodged into my arm.

Cut clear through the bone.

Oh god. They have you on enough painkillers, right?

I’m sure. Just do it.

Alright.

She pulled the sheet away, but didn't make a change in her expression.

How did it happen? I mean, it wasn't the suit, otherwise Elijah would have this too.

I know…I just….fine.

You can look.

She walked to stand beside him, reaching her hand towards the sheet.

Are you sure? I don't want to force you to do anything.

I know you’re not…it’s just, you’ll think less of me.

Why would I think less of you over an injury?

I'll have to see it eventually, its not like we're strangers.

I-I just don’t want you to see.

I'm not squeamish, it's fine.

Collin holds onto the sheet and grips it a little tighter when she asks the question.

Y-yeah…

Why?

I got burns…Eli did, too.

He tries to casually pull the bed sheet higher up so the stump is hidden.

And my arm, a bit.

Becca notices him pulling the sheet up higher, but doesn't think anything of it.

Do you mind if I see?

Severance || Collin & Eli

Collin stared down at the stump, what used to be his limb. The limb he punched kaiju with. The arm he signed autographs with. The arm he used to caress Becca’s cheek. It was gone. Yet…he felt it was still there. His mind was telling him it was still there. And, he could still feel it. Kind of. Really, how often did you feel your arm? “A little,” he understated. It hurt a lot, but it wasn’t really his arm anyway. It was a throbbing pain. Nothing compared to what he was feeling in the jaeger not long before. “It’s just…weird…I guess.”

#elip #elip1 #elicollin #short & bad srry

Elijah nodded when Collin said that the pain was only 'a little.' He had no idea how much morphine they were pumping him with - seeing that Collin was essentially a star player for them all, it wasn't like they were gonna just dump him like that. Elijah did believe that he would of been dumped, though, seeing that he wasn't the one they loved more in the press.

"Can you feel your fingers? I heard that people can and everything," Elijah asked, moving closer so he can see the bandaged stump better. In an odd way he wanted to actually touch the stump, but he resisted that urge.

It’s okay…I figured that’s where you were.

I’m…okay. I won’t die.

I feel awful about it, I really do.

Where did you get hurt? I never got details about what happened.

Becca….hi…

I'm sorry I didn't show up earlier, I was busy with work - and I couldn't just get out of it.

Are you doing okay?

...Collin?

Severance || Collin & Eli

Collin was in a haze. He didn’t feel like himself at all, and he suspected that he wouldn’t feel like himself for a long time. They told him what happened. That he was lucky to be alive. That he no longer had the lower half of his right arm. But, it felt like they were saying that to someone else. He acknowledged what they said. But it felt like it was coming out of someone else’s mouth. He wasn’t here. Not really. Maybe that’s where the soul rested. In your dominant hand. Now he was just a shell.

Well, that was until he saw his brother approach and sit next to him. They wouldn’t say how Elijah was aside from him being alive. But he was suspicous of just about everything. So, he felt a wave of relief when he was visited. “Hey…” he replied, sounding absolutely strained and exhausted. He tried to reach out to him. To take his hand, but only the bandaged stump moved slightly. He stared down at it, the smile fading slightly before he returned it to his side. It felt like someone else’s missing limb. It didn’t particularly upset him. It was just…strange. “How’d you fair?”

Elijah couldn't help himself from widening his eyes the moment he saw the bandaged arm (or lack of). He believed that there was some hope to saving it, and here was Collin without his dominant arm. Suddenly he felt like him complaining about his burn wounds was just whining. He had all his limbs, what gave him the right to complain about anything?

He lifted his bandaged arm up, trying to give a nonchalant shrug. "Oh, just those typical burns. I mean, yeah. It's normal," Elijah answered. God, he couldn't help himself from staring at that stump. To think that not long before, he was trying to save that arm. He motioned to the stump, figuring that there was no use avoiding it. "...Does that hurt?"

#elip #elip1 #elicollin

Severance || Collin & Eli

Collin gasped when Elijah put his palm against his wound. It didn’t help. If anything, it made the pain infinitely worse. Now he was aware of just how deep the metal was in his arm. He could feel how it was lodged against his skin, into his bone. How it severed muscle and nerves. He was surprised the bottom half of his arm was still there. He screamed louder than he’d ever screamed before, his hand squeezing Elijah’s shoulder with what he imagined to be fifty thousand pounds of pressure. His head swam, the pain radiated, and he wheezed, panted. His helmet fogged, and he fell quiet. And for a moment, just a moment, the pain started to ebb away. It didn’t hurt anymore, but he was tired. So so tired. His grip loosened and slacked, and he drooped, only held up by the crane connecting him to the jaeger’s controls. The world went black.

The moment the grip was lessened on his shoulder, Elijah thought his brother was dead. He just seemed so lifeless - and the blood loss was just confirming his thoughts. "Collin?! Hey! Wake up!" he yelled, debating on whether he should shake his brother to have him possibly come to or keep the pressure applied. Neither option seemed well at that point. His hands kept the pressure on, though, as he just waited for help to come.

———

Despite his pain, Elijah was ready to clobber the doctors who told him that he couldn't be with Collin right away. He wanted to smack his big brother for making him worried that he was actually dead.

When he was actually able to join his brother, he wasted no time. Having to limp through the pain of the burns on his leg - along with the burns on the rest of his body - Elijah plopped himself in the chair by Collin's bed.

"Hey fuck-nut," he said, frowning. The pain was too much for him to cross his arms, forcing him to leave them limp at his lap.

#elip #elip1 #elicollin

Severance || Collin & Eli

Collin cringed when he was yelled at. It was difficult enough having a foreign object embedded in his limb. Now he was being berated for screaming when he didn’t have much control over it. He bit his lip, trying to keep the sound under control, so his yelps came as muffled mumbles. But then they broke free and he was crying out in agony. He couldn’t help it. It was just too much.

He grabbed onto his brother’s shoulder, holding on for dear life. He wanted Elijah to help him. To save him. To at least give him some sort of relief. He could depend on him for help. That’s what brothers did. They helped each other when they were desperate. “Make it stop!” He shouted, almost sobbing at this point.