Arknights One Shots

Precipice (Cliffheart x Courier)

A/N: Idk where some fan art of this pairing is. So if y'all know where some is I'd love to see it! I know Cliffheart isn't her real name but . . . autocorrect is a pain and I didn't want to deal with it (plus I'm not sure how many of you know her real name anyways so I figured I would avoid causing any confusion). On that note, let's begin!

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"C'mon Courier. Just a bit further."

"Hah . . . Hah . . . I'm not too sure about that." He grunted.

The duo had found a rare opportunity to take some time away from the hustle and bustle of Rhodes Island. With their relatively new —secret— relationship budding, learning the ins and outs of their favored habits came easy with a shared familiarity of years of spending time together. So Cliffheart was well aware Courier wouldn't refuse a personal request from her, even if he was a bit skeptical about mountain climbing.

Though he'd have to revisit the how she had convinced him to scale one of the biggest mountains Karlan Country had to offer.

His fingertips were numb through the protective padding of his gloves. The snowfall wasn't as heavy as the high of winter, when the white puffy layers piled up to the point where the dangerous ice clinging to the ground was indiscernible to the naked eye. Craggy rocks jutted up from the clouds of white. The mist swirled with falling snowflakes.

"I promise, it should just be over that ridge." Cliffheart encouraged.

She was up the path already, vaulting poles buried into the rigid ground. Surprising strength corded her lean arms, allowing her to slam the metallic sharp tip into the ground for gripping. He was beginning to regret foregoing the hiking pole now. At this point there was nothing to be done about it.

"Easy for you to say, you've been doing this for years."

He let out a snort as a bit of dead pine straw struck across his nose. In this frigid cold, pine trees were all that grew this high in the mountains. The small meadows in the valley below were void of their springtime flowers, pinks and blues and purples replaced by a vast white layering.

"Don't be such a downer Co. You gotta admit the atmosphere is great up here." Cliffheart smiled happily, whistling a Karlan tune he never heard before. Her pleasant attitude wasn't enough to curb his own soured mood in its entirety, but it did give him the will to keep scaling up the ridge.

She said we're almost there. So keep going.

"Ugh, you still haven't told me why this is your favorite mountain." He managed to get out with a grunt, finally catching up to Cliffheart.

Her winter wear hugged her frail form in all the right ways, the parka hood with all its sewn in fluff kept her flushed face carefully tucked inside. She looked far more comfortable than he did. His arms and legs were growing increasingly numb even with the extra layers Matterhorn lent to them before they departed. His friend was the lone person who knew where they were currently. Pramanix just couldn't be trusted not to let it slip to SilverAsh. And neither could Ceobe. The little dog girl was sweet but definitely a spy. How easily she gave up information when SilverAsh offered her candy. To be fair, the same is true for all kids . . . at least I think. The verdict was out on where exactly Ceobe landed in terms of the SilverAsh family, but he wouldn't be surprised if Ash was getting the adoption papers in order.

"Hah, well, you'll have to see to understand."

He frowned, perplexed. "All I can see is a bunch of snow Cliff. I'm not really seeing the appeal."

Cliffheart chuckled. "I know. Right now it's pretty standard but just you wait."

Deciding to take her word for it, Courier plowed on with his girlfriend. The onslaught of snow refused to die down though at this point he was far too numb to really feel the flakes as they struck his exposed face. Tugging his gloves tighter when they started to loosen, he endeavored to keep the same steady pace as her as they scaled higher and higher.