Work Text:
"Thank you, Mirage."
"...Thank you , V2."
Mirage woke from her dream with a start, gripping the edge of her sheets tight as she shook. Her fans worked fast and uncoordinated, gasping for fresh air to cool down her overheating systems. The images of her nightmare played over and over in her head- V2 laying with her on the beach, in her arms as that invisible clock ticked slowly to zero, their last words ringing in her head, before the light of their optic dimmed to nothing.
Looking to her side, a small amount of her shaking subsided as her gaze landed on V2 beside her, their fans huffing a sigh as they began to wake.
"Mira?" The nickname only soothed Mirage more. "What are you doing up this late?"
The room was silent save for the sounds of Mirage’s fans, before ruffling fabric joined in as she shifted to lay directly next to the warmachine beside her. She felt arms wrap around her as she got near- two of them. After V2 moved in, Mirage rushed into making them a new arm to replace what was missing. The build was shoddy and definitely could use some work, but it did the job.
"Hello? Earth to Mirage?"
The sound of V2’s voice caused her fans to hitch. It grounded her- reminded her they were fine . That didn’t stop her from burying her head in the plating of V2’s shoulder, pulling them into a hug of her own.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn’t wake you up, did I?" Mirage asked, pushing down any tremors in her voice.
"Doesn’t matter if you did or not, what matters is why you’re awake." V2 paused, one of their hands beginning to rub gentle circles on Mirage’s back. "Nightmare?"
Mirage froze, before slowly nodding. "It was… of the day we first met. Everything was the same, but… I didn’t fix you up. The timer ticked until zero, and you-" Her fans hitched again, her voice wavering. Something shifted about V2’s hold on her, but she was too lost in the memory to notice. "You died, Veevee. On that beach. In my arms." She didn’t notice the dark stain slowly starting to appear on the side of her oversized sleep shirt. "But… I guess the good thing is that it was all just a shitty dream, right?"
Finally, Mirage looked up to face V2, but was met with a dim optic, cracked and broken. "If that’s what you want to think, then sure."
Mirage blinked at the words, confused, before it all clicked. The shift in their hold from before dawned on her as she realized she didn’t feel an arm around her anymore. She whipped her head to V2’s arm socket, met only with that same void as the day they met, bleeding the same crimson it did when V2…
No. No. It couldn’t have been real, right? V2 was with her in bed right now- it couldn’t be fake, right?
Yet V2’s arm was gone again, the hole bleeding out fuel, and their optic was slowly dimming down into nothingness again.
"You couldn’t save me, Mira. But that’s alright. No hard feelings, okay?"
-
When Mirage woke again, it was frantic- scared. She was up with a jolt, ripping the covers of her bed off almost entirely to the floor. She was alone. No one was by her side, no one was holding her close, she was alone. Just like she always was, just like she always would be.
A cry tore from her voicebox. A pained sound she was almost glad no one was around to hear- almost. Her arms wrapped around herself, her hands holding her sides so hard they could have dented. Over and over, the words of V2 in her dream played in her head as she wept.
"You couldn’t save me."