A Dusty/Blade story. Just some cute fluff. Dusty has a nightmare and Blade offers some words of wisdom. Requested by Shinigamilover2. Enjoy my friend.

...

Dusty was helpless as he watched Blade fall from the sky, blue eyes wide with terror. He hit the ground on his side, rolling until he came to rest against a fallen tree.

"BLADE!" He shouted, circling around he hit the ground at a run. Kneeling beside the unconscious mechanid, he observed Blade's pale skin and the blood that ran from a cut on his forehead. The blue eyes were closed. The faint rising and falling of his chest faded altogether.

"BLADE NO!" Dusty woke with a start. His face was ashen, bringing out the still healing scar underneath its gauze. His hands were still wrapped in it too. After his own crash, Blade had ordered him to remain at Piston Peak while his injuries healed.

Said mechanid was sitting up in his own bed, watching him with concerned blue eyes. Blade had graciously offered his cabin as a place for Dusty to stay. It was either that or Maru's workshop after all as Maru was not about to let Dusty rest unsupervised. Not even in his own hanger.

"Champ, you alright?" Blade asked now.

"I-" Dusty sighed, knowing that lying to Blade now would be impossible. "No, I'm not."

"Care to talk about it?" Blade asked.

Swallowing hard and looking at his gauze wrapped hands, Dusty replied "I saw you crash. You died there."

"That's over now, Champ." Blade murmured. "I'm fine now."

"I know but it seemed so real..." Dusty breathed.

"I know how you feel. I have nightmares too sometimes." Blade admitted.

Dusty was surprised. Even more so that Blade would admit something like that to him, the rookie. Blade wasn't known for his openness, especially with newcomers.

"You do?" He asked. Blade always seemed tough but after having learned of some of his past from Maru, he could see how the red mechanid would have nightmares.

"After all I've seen on this job, you think I wouldn't? And all I've seen before." Blade replied.

"Nick?" Dusty questioned, fidgeting slightly in his flannels.

"Partly." Blade replied. "After Nick died I didn't go straight into firefighting. It wasn't the very first thing that crossed my mind. Not long after CHoPs was ended, 9/11 happened. I wanted to help so I enlisted. Was sent to Afghanistan in 2003 during the first invasion. Saw 5 tours there."

Dusty hadn't expected Blade to be a military war bird but considering the mechanid's sharpness and hard, rigid exterior he wasn't too surprised.

"The things I saw there, were perhaps worse than what happens here." Blade murmured. "I was discharged in 2005 on accounts of PTSD. Landed myself a job in training with the California State Patrol. On one of those patrols we were called in to help evacuate civilians as a fire threatened to consume their home. One of the firefighters escorting us didn't make it. He flew in too low and got caught up in a downdraft. Despite that, observing them I realized that's what I wanted to do. So I signed up and I haven't looked back sense."

"Geeze, I never would've thought you to have done so much. At least, not the military." Dusty said.

"What, you thought I was just an actor turned hero?" Blade smirked. "Everyone has their secrets Champ."

Dusty stifled a yawn but Blade noticed.

"I think you should go back to sleep. Maru will have my head if you don't get proper rest. Might move you back to his workshop."

Dusty settled back down in his bed, the comforter resting over his flannel pajamas. His hands hurt a bit as his fingers flexed under the gauze and the wound on his cheek tightened but he quickly relaxed.

Blade lay awake for a little while longer, listening for any indication of a nightmare from Dusty. Fortunately, there were none and the chief drifted off to sleep. Neither had anymore dreams that night.