#i'm weak so what is wrong with that

[midethefangirl]

surrender - hopeless (i'm falling down)

tags: angst, seriously y'all are going to hate me for the three chapters of this fic, pregnancy (unplanned but not unwanted), quan chi is a douchebag here, warning for attempt at forced abortion (i'm about to trigger my own filtering system), hurt no comfort, pre-MK1, and of course it is bireena centered but bi-han makes not physical appearance in this fic.

summary:

notes: continuation of @ladybug023 's spy!sareena headcanons inspiring my writing. I decided to splice this into three chapters because the word count went beyond 3k words and I hate writing super long stories when it comes to platforms like Tumblr. the chapter title is gotten from the lyrics of 'Hopeless' by Breaking Benjamin. also, if you want to join a tagging list for updates, please, let me know and i'll add you 😁❤️

word count: 1.6k words

also cross posted on ao3

part one of surrender; part three of i'm weak so what is wrong with that (i added a new tag for this)

The deepest circle of the Netherrealm was one of the most dreaded locations in the Netherrealm and for a damn good reason. 

It was the place where previous overlords of the Netherrealm banished offending denizens to be tortured by the onis. 

This was the last place Sareena wanted to find herself in but what had she expected the moment she found Quan Chi at the Lin Kuei foregrounds? 

Regret ran through her mind as she awaited her judgment, her palm flat against her lower abdomen, the recent news bringing mixed feelings. 

She and Bi Han had always been so careful… but it is not 100% safe , came that little voice in her head. 

She had lost focus of why she was in the Lin Kuei and now, she was paying severely. Here she was awaiting Quan Chi’s arrival while in Bi Han’s mind, she was as good as dead. 

The last thing that the cryomancer would remember was how she betrayed his clan, how she betrayed him . How she lied to him. 

How could she have deluded herself into thinking she could keep up with the lie she had allowed to fester? How could she have believed that she could stall her day of reckoning? 

Her wishful thinking had done nothing but land her in this mess where her fate and that of her child was dependent on the whims of a dangerous sorcerer. 

Bi Han would never know that she was carrying his child - not that she was aware herself until the onis Quan Chi had assigned as her torturers - Drahmin and Moloch - had somehow detected it. 

The Netherrealm was basically hell, where demons, onis, tortured souls and every possible personification of evil walked about but they had a few rules they followed. 

One of them which was her saving grace, at least, in this moment - a person with child was off-limits. Harming a person with child was seen as a death sentence, enough to have the perpetrator in the deepest circle of the Netherrealm. 

It could be her saving grace but knowing Quan Chi, any assurance dwindled by a great percentage. The sorcerer was from Outworld, not a native of the infernal realm. Sareena doubted he’d respect this rule. 

Ha , Quan Chi respecting the rules of the Netherrealm? That was as laughable as the many dreams of liberating the realm from his hands. After overthrowing Lucifer with the help of the Sisterhood of Shadows, the sorcerer had made himself a tyrant, keeping denizen under his thumb. 

Anyone who dares to defy his dictatorship ended up in the position she was currently in. Either that or on the run like Ashrah, which did not seem so bad right now. 

Quan Chi had gained unilateral control over the Netherrealm and he showed great disdain towards its rules. This one would be no different. 

Hell, he’d torture her himself, unborn child be damned. The thought of that had the demon clutching her abdomen protectively, if she had to fight to her last breath to protect herself for the sake of her child, she’d gladly do that. 

The heavy sound of boots against the stone pavement had her alert, her eyes looking up to see Quan Chi flanked on his sides by Drahmin and Moloch. 

She sat up straight, her back against the wall as she finally came face-to-face with the brown-skinned sorcerer who stared at her venomously. 

“Why is she still here, unscathed?!” He turned towards the onis, his tone miffed as he spoke like she was not right in front of him. 

The onis exchanged looks, obviously displaying their fear of the sorcerer who impatiently expected their answers. 

“L-Lord Quan Chi- we- w-we thought,” Drahmin started, stumbling over his words as he struggled to get his words through. 

Sareena could tell this was the moment where the sorcerer was so close to losing his shit. He rarely expressed his anger in outbursts which was terrifying in this scenario. 

“Speak up you imbecile!”

“She is with child,” Moloch blurted and Quan Chi let out a mirthless chuckle which chilled Sareena to the bones. 

“That should not stop you.”

“We cannot-. It is forbidden,” Drahmin interjected. 

He knows that , Sareena wanted to add but at this moment, her silence was more golden than whatever comeback she had on the tip of her tongue

The room fell silent as Quan Chi crouched down to her level. The demon attempted to keep as much distance as she could but she could only go so far when her back was against the wall. 

The sorcerer pressed a hand against her abdomen, chanting some incantations under his breath. Then, he jerked his hand away, recoiling as if he was shocked by electric current. 

He was on his feet now and his eyes widened, time standing still as he looked down at her. It was like the dreaded calm before the storm and Sareena could not afford to trust this silence, her eyes looking cautiously at him. 

A myriad of emotions flitted across the sorcerer’s face before settling for rage and disdain. Quan Chi’s lips curled into a sneer as he seemed to put two and two together. 

“You whore!” He spat venom. 

He knew, there was no way he would not know. 

“It is that pathetic Earthrealmer, isn’t it? He sired this bastard, didn’t he?” He jeered. “It is not enough that you failed your mission but you had to let that Earthrealmer bed you and put his seed inside you.”

Sareena could almost feel herself let out a sob. Quan Chi’s face was too calm, way too calm for the venomous words he tossed her. It was a moment of when he’d strike at her. 

And her fear was about to come true. 

“Seize her!”

No, no, no.

“No!” She yelled, the moment Drahmin and Moloch were at her sides, their hands pulllng her up. She struggled against the iron-cladded grip of the onis who dragged her out of her cell. 

“Please! Please, don’t do this!”

“I’ll get rid of that bastard if I have to. Shang Tsung would have a field day helping me,” a smug look fell upon the sorcerer’s face. 

It felt like a century had passed when she found herself in a room she was unfamiliar with. Her face was stricken with tears, her voice hoarse from her cries. 

“Quan Chi!” A voice broke through and everyone’s attention was focused on a new presence. A pair of amethyst eyes fell upon her still in the rough grips of the onis. 

The dark-skinned demon pushed through Quan Chi before reaching for Sareena. Drahmin and Moloch had released her instantly, making her fall into Jataaka’s arms. 

“What in Lucifer’s name is going on?!” Jataaka demanded, her eyes glaring fiercely at Quan Chi who was now displeased that the demon had dared meddle in his affairs. 

“Stay out of this, Jataaka,” Quan Chi shot back. 

Sareena found herself shaking, her hand instinctively on her abdomen as she shrunk into Jataaka’s protective hold.

Jataaka stood her ground, her hold firm around Sareena. The demon had a fierce look in her eyes, the kind that had even Quan Chi and his two henchmen pause.

“You would really protect a traitor? Someone who tried to leave the Sisterhood for a pathetic Earthrealmer?” The sorcerer scoffed, his question aimed at the demon who still had her arms around Sareena.

“Still a sister nonetheless. I am not going to let you hurt her, sorcerer,” the demon hissed.

This seemed to have struck a nerve as Quan Chi stepped up to her, his face dangerously close.

“She is pregnant with an Earthrealmer’s spawn. If I have to rip that abomination out of her, then so be it,” he spat.

Jataaka remained unfazed, her gaze piercing as her arms tightened around the demon.

Then, it seemed as though the demon had thought of something.

"You are not going to harm a fellow member of the Sisterhood," she reminded. “Neither are you going to lay your filthy hands on her offspring.”

Sareena wondered if the other demon had gone mad, taunting Quan Chi the way she was. The sorcerer had no qualms about ending her life or that of her unborn child.

"Are you forgetting who rules the Netherrealm, Jataaka?" The sorcerer questioned, a hint of a smirk forming on his face.

Jataaka stood her ground, her grip tightening, “You are an outsider who managed to best us, it would do you some good to know your place and remember the rules of the realm you reside in.”

It may have sounded like an empty threat but it was anything but. The Sisterhood of Shadows have helped overthrow previous overlords, they would not give up on overthrowing Quan Chi either.

"What are you trying to get at?" The sorcerer questioned.

"If you touch a single hair on her head, her unborn child or her, you will have the wrath of the Sisterhood and Lucifer upon you. You think we will tolerate you harming a member of the Sisterhood?" Jataaka said.

Quan Chi narrowed his eyes at her, a scowl forming on his face, "Very well, then. Have it your way.”

His gaze was now on Sareena and the demon felt a chill running down her spine.

"But I will be back. Soon," the sorcerer spat before taking his leave.

Drahmin and Moloch trailed behind him like two lost puppies, leaving Sareena and Jataaka alone in the room.

The demon could feel herself shaking, she was not in the clear just yet. Her child was still in danger and Quan Chi would make sure to get rid of them.

Jataaka had noticed her distraught, the demon holding her in a reassuring embrace, "Don't worry, he will not touch you. We won't let him."

She could only hope so.

tagging: @livingdeadgirly

[kikizoshi]

youre learning Russian, right? I've also started learning with borrowed textbooks, and the consensus I've seen online is that its not enough, and that a course is necessary. if you don't mind I'd be really appreciative to know how you got where you are and if you think that's true.

Спасибо за помощь (ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡

Unfortunately, I don't really know what I'm doing either. Just kinda stumbling through, and "where I am" isn't all that far. I can only ever be an authority on what helps me learn Russian; in my experience, there's never been a one-to-one, "follow these steps I took to become fluent" method. Everyone has to figure out their own quirks. (And if this isn't true for someone then I'm very jealous of that person.)

I've seen about as many different opinions as there are ways to learn. Some think you need courses. Some think courses are useless. Some like textbooks; others hate them. The one consistent thing seems to be input--everyone agrees you need a lot of comprehensible input (meaning, you understand some of what you're consuming). But is a course necessary? I don't think so. Whether it could be vastly beneficial or a waste of time and money is something that depends entirely on the person's learning style. A resource I've linked further down may help you determine whether it'd help you. I've never taken a course, so I don't have any experience there.

Also: I have ADHD, so everything here is working around that. Motivation is a massive issue for me, and I've generally found that forcing my way through something droll for long periods of time just... isn't something I can make myself do. It burns me out. I try to make everything something I want to do, or at least not very painful. But my methods are also slower and less effective than something more structured.

Comprehensible Input

How I got to it being helpful:

People go on about comprehensible input all the time, and I can see why; it's extremely important. It's what finally moved me from mid-A1 to late-A2. But actually getting to a place where input even can be comprehensible was so horrifically painful for me that for a long while I felt completely inept. So, here's the things I did, in order, that I think helped:

A0-A1 (not helpful yet)

Duolingo + Twitter: Don't get me wrong--I hate Duolingo. And non-fanart Twitter. But it was a great combination for learning Cyrillic. I used Duolingo's earliest levels to get familiar with Cyrillic and some very basic words. Concurrently, I followed some Russian fanartists on Twitter who also posted text posts frequently, and turned notifs on for them. That made it so that 3-5 times a day, I would get a notification for a post in Russian, and I would practise reading/sounding out Cyrillic. I wasn't too focused on understanding what the post was saying, just getting a familiarity with the alphabet.

Memrise + Anki: Pain. God, so much pain. This was the worst. Necessary and effective, but the absolute, God-forsaken worst. Once I felt comfortable enough with Cyrillic, I started working through two decks: a. Memrise: vlarya's 10k most common Russian words deck. It goes in order of most to least common, has audio, and has typing practise. This replaces Duolingo. (When Memrise inevitably removes community courses altogether, feel free to ask for a backup of this deck. If I'm still on here by then, I should be able to give my backup that works with Anki.) I don't recommend Memrise's official courses. b. Anki: Neri's Russian Sentences (blog link) deck is great for practising the simple words you're learning with Memrise, getting common phrases down, and starting to see how Russian as a language comes together. It'll take a bit to click. c. keybr: I also started practising a little with keybr, mainly because having to type in Russian on Memrise sucks with the on-screen keyboard. keybr is the best site I've found to learn to touch type different keyboards. It's extremely effective. If you're already a touch-typer, a few hours should be enough to type well enough for Memrise.

YouTube: Russian With Max's 'For Beginners' Playlist was really helpful and motivating, at this point. He speaks slowly, simply, and clearly enough that I could understand him, where I couldn't understand anyone else yet.

I... God, I hate the A0-A1 stage so much. You can't do anything. At least now, I can watch TikToks, read comments, enjoy memes, and understand enough of those to enjoy myself. The stage where you understand nothing is by far the most awful to me. I wish I had anything to make it more bearable, but it's really just the worst. Hopefully you're either past this already, or close to past it. The small mercy is that it doesn't take too long to claw your way out of.

A1-A2 (helpful now)

[Active Immersion] Memrise + Reading/Watching (comp input): keep working through vlarya's 10k deck. My routine is: speed review due cards; finish the 10 cards I started learning yesterday; start learning 10 new words today. That's my reps and warmup. Then, depending on my mood, I'll either read at least 30 mins of 'Дом, в котором...' (with or without audiobook, again depending on mood), or watch at least 30 mins of Max's intermediate vids w/ Russian subtitles. Sometimes in my free time I'll watch Russian lit or ДВК TikToks.

[Passive Immersion] Music/Audiobooks/Let's Plays: pretty self-explanatory. My passive input isn't as comprehensible rn, but I focus on things I enjoy. A let's play to fall asleep to, an audiobook while I'm doing something that requires on-and-off focus. The goal here is just to understand snatches of whatever I can, not so much the whole thing. Eventually, those snatches become more frequent.

I'm sure more dedicated study would help me a lot right now, but I don't really have the time or motivation to, so I don't try to force it.

Regarding Russian language learning YouTube channels, and why I only recommend Max:

I've found that most popular Russian learning YouTube channels feel... well, like school. They're not very interesting, they don't feel very organic. It doesn't feel like I'd be watching their videos for any other reason than learning Russian, which is bad for me, because I need to make Russian part of my life to have any motivation to do it.

So, the reason I like Max's channel so much is that he talks about things that're actually interesting and relevant to me. This video is a personal favourite, but he has a lot of videos about all sorts of topics--some of which I'm genuinely interested in. And his demeanour is more vlogger, less teacher. I like him as a person. (Protip: in this stage, don't be afraid to start his intermediate videos early, even if you don't feel you're there yet. It can still be very helpful to pick out the words you do know, and most of his videos have Russian and English subtitles if you're confused.)

Regarding how to find a good Russian book to read:

I... don't know. Reading ДВК with the audiobook really, really helped with my reading ability, and continues to. I can't state enough how important it was for me. But how to find a book that you can read over and over again... I don't know. I just know that Harry Potter would be absolute torture.

I've seen people say that you should start reading simple things, like children's stories. I personally haven't done much of that, because children's stories bore me out of my mind, but if you like them then I'd give that a shot. I've also heard that Chekhov's stories are good for beginners (I've heard that about Pushkin too, but I'm not sure how easy poetry would be to understand). Read-alongs on YouTube could be good too. Russian With Max has some old livestream read-alongs, and there are plenty of Russian read-alongs on YouTube.

Aside - if you're curious about 'Дом, в котором...', this fan-made trailer is the entire reason I picked up ДВК; the vibes captivated me and I had to know what it was about. So for anyone interested: if the trailer looks cool to you, you may like the book. The English translation is called 'The Gray House'. ДВК is fairly long, and different POV characters have differing levels of complexity with the language. The early chapters are the simpler ones, conveniently, so starting from the beginning should be fine. It's a slice-of-life type story, so easy to pick up and put down. I recommend the Князев audiobook, which is almost certainly the one you'll find if you search 'дом в котором аудиокнига' (it's a fan-made audiobook, so I don't think you can buy it, but like LOTR the fan version is by far the best).

Resources

r/languagelearning's resources page is a good place to skim through, see if anything sticks out. I recommend reading through their 'How to Teach Yourself a Foreign Language'. It's good for giving you an idea of how different people learn, different learning methods, how those methods work for others, and what might work for you.

Refold's Roadmap is very helpful for me to understand where I'm currently at, and what sort of activities it would be beneficial for me to be working on. I use their definition of levels (i.e. A1), so if I wasn't clear what I meant by A1 vs A2, reading through this could be helpful.

SRS:

Anki's for decks I have to create myself, or if I need a more specialised deck. I prefer Memrise for vocab, mainly for typing practise and the better UI. If you want to use Anki for vocab: Refold's ru15k deck is good for A2+. There are plenty of simple word decks to pick from for A0-A1. If you want to word mine to create your own Anki decks, see FLTR below.

Grammar:

New Penguin Russian Course is supposed to be good for grammar. I looked through it, and it does look good. If you understand grammar. I don't, but putting it here for those who do.

Reading:

u/La_Nuit_Americaine's post about reading helps me with motivation, and gave me some pointers about how to do it.

FLTR (Foreign Language Text Reader) is a good Windows program alternative to LingQ, if you can't or don't want to pay for LingQ's subscription. You have to input the word definitions yourself. I used Reverso and Yandex Translate together for this. Your word list can be exported to Anki.

ReadLang is supposed to be a good web-based alternative to LingQ (its free level is still usable, unlike LingQ's). I've not used it much, but it seems pretty good. My preference is using some translation extension that will let you click on a word and automatically translate it and move on quickly. Simple Translate on Firefox is what I use.

Video Media:

Language Reactor is a subtitle extension for YouTube, Netflix, etc. that has a bunch of cool features. I hardly use it because it's not on Firefox, but if you use Chrome, Opera, etc., it's really handy. For YouTube, it will translate the auto-generated subs for videos, so if you have a Russian video that only has Russian auto-generated subtitles, you can use Language Reactor to get English subtitles.

Other ADHD Accommodations:

Being kind to myself is very important. I can't make myself study by thinking "why can't you just" or "it's not that hard, what's wrong with you". I can't make myself study with positive words either, but using positive language helps my morale so that I have more motivation to study more often.

I use a different browser (Opera) solely for learning Russian. I chose Opera because Language Reactor works on it (would've used Chrome but Chrome is set up for work), but the general idea is having a separate space for Russian. I put Opera's language in Russian, and I keep all my Russian-learning tabs open there, so that when I'm ready to study it's as simple as opening Opera. Having it separated like that also helps my brain see active study as a task that can be opened and closed, rather than combined with everything else (Firefox).

I try to give myself enough options of things to do for immersion that it's always a choice. My brain has so many different states: motivated; unmotivated; foggy; clear; distracted; focused. Each one will want--or even need--something different. If it's a foggy day, I may be able to read along ДВК with an audiobook, but not able to read words without that help. If I'm distracted, TikToks may help more than reading; if I'm focused, reading may help more than TikToks. Or if I'm completely unmotivated, watching one of Max's vids is more passive than reading, therefore less painful.

I love Russian. Not much to this one. I don't think I could stick to learning a language I didn't love for the sake of the language itself.

I wasted time and motivation watching things I wasn't interested in, trying to find media in Russian that appealed to me. I don't recommend that. I don't know the alternative, but I always felt horrible about myself after. It's important to have media you like, but forcing it won't work. Russian movies don't interest me. Everyone else's favourite Russian YouTubers don't appeal to me at all. TikTok is much better for me in that regard, because I can search for specific fandoms that interest me. Luck seems to be the only thing that works for finding good YouTubers.

Textbooks are my kryptonite. I can't use them. They drain motivation so fast. If they work for you, that's great. If they don't, I don't know that forcing it is the solution. It wasn't for me.

I scroll language learning subreddits sometimes for motivation. It's not productive, generally. But it's fun. And I do get some ideas sometimes.

I've mostly accepted that my progress is going to be slower than others. I'm trying not to compare myself. I'm enjoying it now, mostly, learning slowly but learning, and each time I reaffirm that that's okay, it becomes truer.

[kenobster]

Everything about recovery is just so unfair.

You're living a certain way, probably because it's been the only way that made you feel okay, and then you find out that your way of living isn't serving you as well as you thought it was. So you have to learn from scratch how to live a completely different way. At a time when you're at your lowest, when you're most exhausted, when you most need to feel safe, you have to do the opposite of what has been helping. It's the only way to get better.

Worse, everyone else has had a huge head start. Years and years ago, they all learned how to do the things that you're just barely learning now. And whether or not they mean to, they expect you to know how to do the things you don't know how to do. If you're frustrated or struggling or just need a break sometimes from this New Way of Living, then that's too bad. Your mental health is your responsibility now. You're expected to take expert accountability for things you only have a novice's understanding of — and at a time when you're the most prone to the habits the pain has been causing you.

It's just so impossibly hard, and you have to do it all without even an ounce of hope that it'll get any easier.

[mixtpecas]

endverse dean introducing cas as castiel winchester. cas can't bring himself to ask if it's because dean knows that cas lost his angelic family by saving dean. or if it's just because dean doesn't want to be the only living winchester left.

[cryingatships]

Ok but have you imagined sub!Alan with dom!Jeff? Alan getting edged by Jeff till he's crying and begging Jeff to just let him cum? Jeff tying him down and just having his way with that man for as long as he wants, all the while Alan pleads Jeff to let him touch, too? Service top!Alan being all obedient for his boy (I read somewhere that Jeff is an omega apparently? That would make it spicier yum. Omegas domming their alphas >>>>>)

Like the dynamic of it is *so* good, why have you never imagined it?

Also they're stable partners at this point (oooh maybe they're husbands?? Ik Alan would want to tie that boy down, he'll talk about getting old and wanting to settle down while Jeff stares at him in his signature disbelieving deadpan style but eventually he'll give in. He still wouldn't believe how he's said 'yes' just like that but he'll be happy too. Even if he doesn't show it. Little tsundere hehe)

[crabussy]

I want to take a bite out of someone's arm but I'm too shy

[reinabeestudio]

Listens to Lay All Your Love on Me & Angel Eyes and gets possessed

[creepyscritches]

I wanna thank you for your post about being nice to customer service people as someone who works in a customer service call/text center 🫡 people who say please and thank you to us are so rare! I was so shocked, I thought Americans just didn’t use please and thank you as a cultural thing or something, it really breaks our morale when people are rude for no reason 😣 not only that but also being xenophobic and generally mean. We’re already being exploited by the companies lol we don’t need more mistreatment. Thank you and everyone who is kind ❤️

It is not a cultural thing in the SLIGHTEST to not say please/thank you. You are experiencing inexcusable rudeness and you shouldn't be expected to "get used to it"!

Almost ALL of my IT assistance comes from India and I've worked in tandem with Indian medical coders several times over the years. It's insane to think even my colleagues were griping and moaning about working with ""offshore employees" " 🙄 in my personal and professional life, these employees have been incredibly helpful and kind to me and it's just basic decency to thank them!

Just today I had to call our offshore IT for some convoluted/botched IT update, and it took 5 minutes of polite conversation + trouble shooting to correct everything. IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN ME WEEKS ON MY OWN!! I don't understand how people are so shitty to people that actively fix their most frustrating problems. Like it's already insane to be so rude to strangers, but strangers that are bending over backwards to fix YOUR annoying problem? Go to jail 10,000 years.

I hope you have polite and courteous customers this week, anon! You deserve conversations that make you smile.

[the-acid-pear]

Hands of hips looking down shaking my head I don't know how to sugarcoat this so I won't but signs is so much better than nope. I don't know how people even say the movie aged bad. I think the feelings they have for the director cloud their view (I don't even know how either of his names). You got a 1:30hs movie vs a 2hs movie (I'm cutting the 10 minutes of credit for both) where in one you are never bored and are gripped by emotions and the other where you sit waiting for anything to happen. Like I'm sorry but there's no fight here. Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby.

[eldrichthingy]

just two bg3 ocs - sad vamplings that I'm obsessed with made in this picrew ✌🏾💗 storm sorcerer murder incarnate (everett, they/them) and the scared spore druid (egill, he/they) 🍄🌙

I was tagged by @apricote @fizzytoo (thank you sm!! I love picrew and I don't post a lot now but gods do I love it!!.) :') tagging anyone who wants to do it, pls feel free to tag me!

[b-blushes]

veryyyyyyyyyyyy excited to see what sort of state my mind and feelings are in at the end of the week after i'm DONE with my 2 appointments..... what will i observe..........hopefully it is something NICE to EXPERIENCE!!!!!!

[stereax]

saw you post 'listen before you go', thought you'd enjoy this:

oh...

[cheekblush]

just watched pearl thinking it would just be a slasher movie but i deeply related to pearl...

[gothamcityneedsme]

ok. i read tom king's mister miracle run and tbh? i don't think i vibed with it. but it DOES read interestingly as a proto-strange adventures though.

[minty-bubblegum]

I had to do the pacer test today

[eddiestattoos]

Miami truly said we're gonna write some really wild experiences for our main characters that make the ones other main characters actually die from seem minor.

Horatio: shot in the abdomen (roughly), lays there, proceeds to dive into the ocean to save Nat (who was fine btw) shortly after hallucinating his wife. He goes back to work. Collapses again after an arrest but he's fine don't worry

Speed: gunshot to the chest, gone within the minute 😭

Calleigh: severe smoke inhalation not once, but twice! Literally categorized as lung disease. A couple comas. Her heart stopped. Weren't even sure she could recover. But she did! And she's a mom now and I couldn't be happier for her

Jesse: inhaled the same gas as everyone else in the lab, but he was the only death because he... hit his head

And the biggest miracle, Eric: shot in the leg and then the head, where most if the bullet still is. He flatlined for several minutes. He was on plasma. But he pulled through eventually. Back to work in a few weeks, no big deal. Some amnesia, had to relearn some of the basics of being a csi. Even hallucinated a dead colleague for a bit (though it helped with the side case and I adore that ep cause SPEED MY BOY) but after some more minor trauma he achieves his happily ever after, don't worry guys