A brief heads up before you read this: In case you have missed it, this fic contains major second dream spoiler.

Unless you have played through it, or can't be bothered to, do not read any further. Another note is that this fic follows a small idea I like where the Warframes are sentient and are still separate from the Operator.

The first time they ever separated, it was a mix of shock and fear. The body in the pod, it was theirs and Excalibur immediately goes limp when the link breaks after centuries of being active and alive.

There's a crippling emptiness there now that Excalibur has never felt before, and it terrifies him more than when they met the Stalker for the first time. Added with how suddenly all the power that filled it up just disappeared, slipped out like water and the Warframe felt nothing more than a lifeless puppet.

The Tenno – His Operator was struggling to crawl towards him, dragging their legs uselessly behind them. He can't recall what his Operator looked like under the suit and hood, if fact it's hard to believe that the crawling one was the one who has been by his side for years. They press a hand against his back, and the familiar power rushes back into his system. Neither of them speak – they hadn't done something like that in so long, and the Warframe briefly wonders if they are even capable of such.

He's not accustomed to comforting others, and neither is his Operator. The only thing they are used to is the killing, spying and drifting. Now, they both are completely out in the unknown and open, exposed and vulnerable in their current state and Excalibur just wishes Lotus would tell them what to do already – guide them as she has always done.

His fiber and joints feel so rusty, to simply put it. The power that fueled him was still there but it felt so much weaker, just barely enough to keep the muscles moving. His entire body felt vulnerable and weak, like a newborn kubrow getting used to moving its body after birth. His Operator leaned against him, channeling more energy into his body and he could finally move at a faster pace. He carried them as fast as his legs could take him, withstand against the blows of the Battlyst rained down on his weakened state. Even when his shields failed and more beams struck his battered frame, Excalibur continued on.

When they made it back to ship, his Tenno was drained beyond exhaustion and Excalibur could feel his strength sap away again. They were forced to blast their Void Powers at the Sentinels that came to take them away and doing so had also affected Excalibur, making him slower and weaker. He shakes them just a little, enough to stir them from their descent to sleep. There was still the last thing that the Lotus instructed them to do.

The second time they separate, it was out of anger.

It's not the first time they underestimate an enemy and it would not be their last. There were cuts and gashes that tore apart Excalibur's wires and metallic like flesh, and many more would come the longer the fight would go on. The Operator was panicking and Excalibur would be lying if he believed he was fearless of death. There was always the fear of being destroyed, torn apart because even if the Operator lives, what became of the Warframe?

They've been together for centuries to the point that they've been connected in mind and soul. They couldn't operate without each other – literally - and they couldn't stand the gaping hole that appeared the last time they were forced apart. That was the most unpleasant experience to date, even more so when Vor installed the Ascaris on Excalibur.

There was a burst of pure white energy as the Operator gave into anger, appearing before the enemy and firing a lethal beam of Void energy with a battle cry. Excalibur doesn't collapse like before but he couldn't move until the Operator's spectral appearance fades away, and the link is there once more. There's no remains of the enemy left.

The third time is surprisingly suggested by none other than the Operator.

The reasoning came that two were better than one in certain situations, like the time they had fired a death beam. What of the possibility that Excalibur could move while his Operator was doing that? That would make fighting more easier and lessen the chance of the Warframe being destroyed.

Excalibur is nervous, he's not sure if he's prepared for the sensation that came with separation from his operator. He had even wondered if this was even possible to do again – no he was definitely not trying to avoid the possibility of feeling empty and lifeless like a dead puppet Hunhow described the Warframes as – but the Operator agrees with Ordis.

So they tried separation again. Excalibur feels the Tenno's presence retreating from his being until there's only but a trickle of their essence left to indicate their existence. The separation starts to cave in on him even as he watches his operator appear from within the Somatic Link pod and tumble out into a heap rather clumsily.

The Warframe exudes amusement as he slowly makes his way over to the little one lying on the floor like a fish on land. His operator makes a series of incomprehensible noises, tongue lazily moving around as the unused voice box strains to project itself.

They get better over time and finally put together a sentence, "I can't feel my legs."

Excalibur doesn't have a mouth so he couldn't vocalize his reply to his operator. Didn't mean that he still couldn't convey his responses in a different way. He ruffles their head and messes up their hair even more, eliciting a whine from their operator. They weren't a child anymore, no sir they have grown up. They even grew a few inches from all that sleeping – No Excalibur, that doesn't make them a lazy Tenno – and for a while, they sit there in complete silence to take in everything.

There's the prickling emptiness but it's not as bothersome as the other two times, at least yet. The Warframe could feel the bothersome feeling growing, and perhaps so did the Operator because they were trying to crawl back up to the Somatic Link. The Warframe watched his Operator for a while before gently picking them up by the arms and lifting them up to their chair.

"We'll try again next time." His operator mumbled to Excalibur, the device beginning to cover them from the outside world and Excalibur could feel their presence returning to his own.

Perhaps they will. For now though, neither of them were feeling up to separating again for a while.