#romantic rivalry

“Howdy [name]~” you cursed internally, turning your head to glare at the women behind you. The same face which matched the top bounty. 110,000. Hardly even above yours. Zora laughed at your glare, a loud sharp chuckle. “Not too happy I see? shame you just can’t seem to—“ she stepped forward, getting a bit closer into your personal space, her voice dropping to mock condescension “—keep up” she pulled back, twirling her pistols, before firing a bullet which grazed past your ear.

You forced back an annoyed scowl, she always knew how to get on your nerves. And you were sure she was doing it on purpose to annoy you. To mess up your ‘game’. You forced yourself to sigh, before smirking. “Oh i can keep up, not too sure you’ll be able to though.” You watched as she paused, turning around and raising an eyebrow.

“challenge accepted.” She whistled, before disappearing off into the surrounding woods. Leaving you standing there, you turned back to the board. Staring at your poster , which had a bullet in line with your forehead. Your scowl returned, and you ripped the poster off of the wall and put it in your pocket. Before taking a marker out and reaching up to Zora’s poster.

[timeskip]

You walked past the same bounty board, turning to look at it. Your bounty was now at 120,000. Zora’s hadn’t changed. It was a bit of a disappointing jump after your latest job. It had been risky. Although, after the 100,000 mark it was noticeably more difficult to climb the ranks. You were willing to take the risk. You couldn’t let Zora out perform you.

You snatched the posters down, taking Zora’s as a motivation of sorts. You know , to motivate you to do better. Not any other reasons. You were planning to hand them to Zora as a taunt. Not because you knew Zora liked to keep and collect them as ‘achievements’. You continued back to your base, planning out more ways to ‘annoy’ Zora. You knew exactly what to do. There was a Banzai blaster base nearby, and you had one hell of a heist planned.

[timeskip]

leaves and twigs crushed under your feet, your limbs were heavy and you were losing blood. But you needed to keep going. You needed to reach them, the heist had gone horribly. Some of the Vice Presidents or whatever had been there, and you hadn’t expected them to be there. And by the time you had realised, you had been shot, it didn't do much but it had caused you to slip, falling backwards out of the window. It wasn’t a big fall, since it was only a first ground window. But the glass had hit your side rather seriously, and it had started bleeding.

You trudged through the forest, before you spotted a familiar figure, you couldn’t make it all out as your vision had begun to blur, you focused on getting one foot in front of the other. You managed to push yourself through the brambles, being closer to the figure you knew was Zora.

You watched as she temporarily stopped threatening the other one, all you could tell was they looked like a yellow blob. Probably a Banzai Blaster, but you couldn't tell as your vision got worse. The last thing you could see was Zora, suddenly start running towards you, yelling out something you couldn't make out. Before you promptly faceplanted into the forest floor.

Zora cursed, scooping your unconscious body into her arms, she turned to the Banzai Blaster she was trying to get. Before starting to run towards the nearest Bliss Ocean outpost. Leaving the Blaster confused on the floor.

She stopped after a bit,realising you were losing too much blood, temporarily setting you down and ripping off part of her beloved poncho— if it was to keep you alive it was worth it. And tied it around your waist tightly, desperately cursing under her breath as the adrenaline kept her going. She picked you up, and dashed off again. “you better stay above snakes [name] “

She eventually made it to the base, bursting open the door with her foot, everyone there instinctively shuffled out of the way, Zora when angry was something. And when it had to do with you? Twice as much. Everyone seemed to know except you how much she liked you, mostly due to some things she admitted while drunk. Or because of the glares she sent anyone trying to flirt with you.

At this point, even Naven had taken notice of it. Which said a lot. As sweet as he was, he could be a bit oblivious at times.

None of this mattered, as you were almost dying. Blood gushing from your arms, legs and waist, some was coming from your head too, which left your hair damp and sticky. She shook the thoughts from her head as she ran into the medical bay, practically yelling at the nurse. “OI! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE—“ she yelled,setting you down at the bed.

The healer rushed over, they were one of the few people in the organisation who had an epithet, mostly because it was useful having someone with a healing epithet. They started examining you, clearly worried. “what happened?” they said, grabbing some damp cloths to start applying it to the wounds.

“i dont fucking know i wasnt there for fuck sakes” she snapped, pacing back and forth. Before stopping and looking at you, “are they going to be okay?” she whispered , her voice becoming a lot quieter. Almost scared. Which was a first.

“yes but they’ll need emergency surgery— if you could wait outside it would be good” they said, tensing as they hoped Zora wouldn’t flip out. Seemingly their prayers were answered. As she silently left and slammed the door behind her.

Zora paced around for the next six hours outside the medical bay. She didn’t get anything to eat or drink,just waited and waited. When she heard the door open, she snapped her head around. “[name] will wake up in about an hour,they’ll need to rest for a bit”

Zora sighs in relief, practically pushing the medic out of the way to get into the room. She sat beside you,your arms, legs and waist were covered in bandages and yet you looked peaceful. There were needles in your arm, most likely giving you some nutrients to makeup for the lost blood.

She stayed silent for about half an hour, before softly grabbing your hand. There was so much she wanted to tell you, whether it was to yell and cry about how reckless you had been. Once she figured out what had happened of course. But she also wanted to wait and tell you everything would be ok.

As the clock ticked on, she started speaking. “you better wake up you coot” she snapped, while subconsciously rubbing the back of your hand. “I'll kill ya if ya dont” she adds, watching as you shuffled around but stayed asleep.

You felt yourself come to your senses,but you didn’t want to get up, you heard the voice. But kept silent, you knew who it was. But she was acting differently than usual. And you wanted to hear what she would say.

“you’re a right idiot. “ you heard her say, her accent making her clip some of the vowel sounds out slightly. “ya got y’rself hurt just to one up me” she laughed, and you wanted to bottle the sound and get drunk on it every night. But you still kept quiet. You wanted to see what she’d say.

“i’m not sure why I even bother to love ya.” your heart felt like it stopped as you heard her say those words, and you visibly tensed. Which she noticed clearly. “…” she stared at you, and you could feel her gaze even if you couldn’t see. “ [name] ?” you opened your eyes slowly, turning your head to look at her, your vision still wasn’t the best. And the light was bright enough to give you a headache “How long have you been listening” she continued, her tone dark as she seemed to be rather annoyed.

“a bit” you admit, humming. It was silent for a second, as both of you tried to think of what to say. You chuckled as you noticed her looking away. It was surprising to see the all cocky and confident Zora flustered and embarrassed. “it’s nice to know you love me” you added, mostly because your inhibition was reduced from the painkillers. “i mean, i thought it was a one…way thing” you added,your words slightly slurred as you started to close your eyes again. Falling back asleep.