41006. Sunset
Fiery reds and purples streaked across the orange sky, cloudy fingers reaching down to scoop up the darkening horizon. Gordon sat in the airboat, silently watching. Far away, he could hear the thumping of the Combine gunship, still pursuing him. It would be upon him soon, he knew.
Chewing quietly on the freeze-dried rations that the Underground railroad had provided him, he leaned against the handlebars, listening to the slight breeze playing through a crop of cattails. Somewhere he could hear a bird singing to itself.
The sound of the gunship drew closer.
Gordon finished his rations and leaned back in the seat, blinking up at the multicolored clouds. His gaze landed on the looming form of the Citadel, stretching upwards so far he couldn't see the top. It was a dull grey compared to the clouds and sky- like comparing the brightness of a firefly to the hues of a crystal's prism.
Finally, he heard the gunship crest the outside of the drained lake he was sitting in, squealing loudly as it spotted him.
Sighing, he revved the engine of the airboat, and went to meet it.
007. Relief
Hands sweating, Alyx gripped the sniper rifle and kept a keen eye on the depot beneath her, seeking the colors of orange and grey. It was too difficult to judge where Gordon could be by sound alone- everything echoed and seemed like it was coming from everywhere. She heard the sounds of a pulse rifle chewing away at something, doors opening, splintering wood.
Twenty minutes.
That's how much time had passed since she'd last seen him, trotting easily down a flight of stairs to disappear into another doorway.
Alyx swallowed hard. The vortigaunt behind her was silent, perhaps sharing her anxiety.
It was quiet, now. Straining her ears to listen for even the slightest sound, Alyx leaned forward, swiping the sight of the rifle crazily over the area beyond, eagerly seeking Gordon out.
Somewhere, a zombie shrieked, but she did not hear the discharge of Gordon's shotgun (his favorite) or the thundering of the pulse rifle (his second favorite).
"Where are you...?" she whispered into the air, willing him to appear.
Twenty-five minutes. Alyx hadn't even heard him for half of that time.
He was normally pretty quiet anyway, but he would have at least shouted something if he'd been badly wounded.
Alyx swallowed again, mind turning. Maybe a barnacle had gotten a hold of him, snapped his neck before he could do anything... no. Gordon wasn't dumb enough to keep himself open to those. A zombie would have made noises. Wild visions flitted through her mind, each one dismissed as quickly as the next. Gordon with a headcrab on his face. A poison headcrab biting him and his HEV suit failing, leaving him convulsing, dying. Gordon, dead.
"Come on, come on," she hissed.
Finally, finally, she heard something metal striking metal, and Gordon stumbled into sight, covered in dust, crowbar in one hand and shotgun in the other.
"There you are!" Alyx hollered, and he blinked up at her, waving the crowbar slightly. "Don't do that again," she whispered, although there was no way he could have heard her.
008. Silence
Something exploded a few feet behind Gordon, and he felt the hot sting of what was probably shrapnel bite his left ear. His hearing went out like an overused lightbulb, leaving only a low ringing sound. Raising his gun defensively, he became forced to use his eyes alone to find his enemies- and his vision had never been good in the first place.
009. Night
Alyx stared up at the broken sky, content to listen to Gordon's quiet breathing as he slept next to her, jammed up uncomfortably in the passenger seat of the car. He didn't seem to mind much, since he'd been sleeping in this position for well over two hours now. His crowbar was still within easy reach, and he was a light enough sleeper now that even the tiniest noise of an approaching headcrab would send him into attack mode. So Alyx kept as silent as possible, and willed the scenery around her to do the same.
She turned her head and stared at him. All of the pain and frustration and worry that was evident on his face seemed to melt away when he slept. To be honest, he looked a lot younger without his glasses on, which she held onto loosely in her lap. They were a little bent on one side, which had probably occurred during the train crash. She fiddled with them a little, cleaned them up with the edge of her shirt.
A slight wind picked up in the trees, its chill sending a shiver down her back. Gordon just curled closer into himself, his suit obviously doing most of its job of regulating his temperature. Alyx lifted her gaze from the glasses to look at Gordon again.
Shuddering, she allowed a sigh to escape her lungs.
Turning her gaze back up to the sky, she placed the glasses on the dashboard and folded her hands under her head, deciding to give him a few more hours- just before dawn- before heading out again.
010. Cry
The sound of sobbing hailed him the same way a faraway train would, or a zombie in the dark. His reaction was the same- alert, tense. At least in battle, he knew what to do. The goal was simple: walk away alive and in mostly one piece. This was a whole new realm to Gordon, who had never experienced the pain of watching a beloved family member die right in front of him.
No, his parents had most likely been killed during the resonance cascade twenty years ago. The pain of their deaths had already passed and become a freshly-healed scar.
He heard it again, echoing through the bare hallways of the base. It was Alyx, still grieving.
Two days had passed. He hadn't slept once, instead wandering through the base, occupying his mind with menial tasks. Anything to distract himself.
Here, on the way to find his car and scout around for Combine, he ran into Alyx, slumped on a crate. Her headband and clip had been pulled from her hair, leaving it a wild mess around her heart-shaped face.
Gordon slowed to a halt, unsure. Like a deer standing in the headlights of an oncoming van, frozen in time.
Alyx glanced up at him. She attempted a smile, failed, and looked away, twisting her headband around in her hands.
"I'm..." he swallowed, "I'm sorry." He'd said it at least twenty times so far.
"I know," she answered, voice almost too soft to be heard.
He stepped a little closer, sitting down on the crate next to her.
"Alyx," he started.
She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder, and he stroked her hair, both of them unable to do anything else.
(A/N: Sleeping!Gordon is cute.)