Split Ends

The Doctor sighed as he stuffed the last remaining belongings of his into an unmarked duffel bag. His days in Rhodes Island was coming to an end.

The Doctor and Kalt'sit were at odds with each other for the past month, many of those conflicts which resulted in heavy arguments. It came to a peak just weeks ago which had ended with Kalt'sit ordering him that his work at Rhodes Island was terminated and was expected to leave within the following days leading up to now. The Doctor was stunned and tried to protest this decision, but ultimately relented in the end

He knew he was alone on this as almost all the operators on base were indebted to Kalt'sit for helping curb their infection and overall being a good, intelligent, and overall diplomatic leader. For Doctor however, it wasn't the case. From what he had heard from certain people, he used to have a ruthless personality in which he didn't value his operators as much as he did now.

And while the time between his rescue from Chernobog and today was significant enough to make close allies with many operators, they ultimately decided to stay here in Rhodes to pay back Kalt'sit for everything she's done for them during Doctor's absence.

With his duffel bag zipped and carried up in his hands, he makes his way to the entrance to the base. On the way there, he met up with several operators who all express levels sorrow as they passed by. Some even apologized to him, but Doctor reassured them that it was alright and he understood their decision to remain with Rhodes.

After a while of walking, he made it to the front of the base where Kalt'sit along with several more operators were waiting. He looked at everyone for a second before heading towards them.

They all started to move aside to let him through, but Doctor wasn't leaving, not yet. He wanted to share goodbyes to them all. One by one, he says farewells to everyone there.

He assured Jessica that she'll do great under Dobermann's supervision.

Told Warfarin to watch over the injured and trusted her to ensure operators get to see another day.

Inspired Gummy to do her best and even wished her luck if she ever pursued being a cook in the future.

Encouraged Shaw to keep fighting for the good of Rhodes Island..and perhaps making a fool of Crownslayer again in the future.

Kroos..well, he told her to keep doing what she was doing.

There were some operators like Angelina or Blue Poison who would hug Doctor while sharing their goodbyes to him, struggling to hold back tears.

Doctor provides his goodbyes to everyone until he finally reached Kalt'sit. She simply looked at him with a slight glare, but the Doctor knew that deep within her eyes, she was just as torn up as the others to see him go. She reached her hand out and gestured for him to give her something.

Doctor understood, he reached for and took off his ID card which was hanging from his neck, he handed it to her to which she placed it in her coat pocket. The two then stared at each other for a bit in silence.

"So..I guess this is it then.." Doctor muttered, a hint of emptiness in his words.

"Yes..sniff...it is" Kalt'sit was trying to not let her emotions get the best of her, she tried to keep a straight face.

"Now...I will have to ask you to lea-" she stopped mid-sentence as the Doctor suddenly hugged her by wrapping his arms around her back. She tensed up at the feeling for a few seconds, but eventually started to mellow out as she soon did the same with wrapping her arms around Doctor as well as resting her head on his shoulder.

They stood there in silence as the group of operators behind them just watched this display of heartbreak. Sorrow was felt by all of them.

The hugging couple took their time treasuring each second before eventually letting each other go as they longingly looked into each other's eyes, many emotions running through their heads.