#tw passing out mention

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: None

Word Count: 2,238 Words

Summary: Ruin accidentally reveals a means to the exact person he shouldn't have.

Warnings: Overworking, Sleep Deprivation, Passing Out, Grief/Mourning, Fluff, Angst, Magic, Stabbing, Injury, Blood (oil), Crying, Touch Starvation, let me know if I should add anything else.

To Give And To Take Back

"I can't figure it out…" Moon finally admitted as he stared at the data.

"I told you." Ruin told him.

"Please… Shut up." Moon sighed as he looked at his battery percentage that had drained to two percent over these last seventeen days. He hadn't bothered sleeping or charging since Solar died, didn't want to be offline for that long when he could be finding a way to reverse this.

Moon sighed and paged Eclipse to come help, to which the annoying orange and black bot showed up to a good two minutes later of Moon basically sitting on fumes of his charge.

"What?" Eclipse asked.

"I'm under two percent, get me to a charger, please." Moon asked him and Eclipse sighed but plucked Moon up easily as the blue bot passed out against his shoulder.

"God, ya didn't have to go deadweight on me!" Eclipse growled, hauling Moon up closer to keep him from just flopping onto the floor and sighing as he readjusted his hands to carry Moon's body like a damsel.

"Still bothering to help them, are you?" Ruin asked.

"What the fuck does it matter to you?" Eclipse growled.

"Such a finicky bot. I knew you'd be a problem from the moment I made you." Ruin gave a simulated sigh of disappointment.

"I wish they'd have let me kill you." Eclipse snapped.

"Oh? Feelings now? You're getting those? I wonder, feelings for the one who put a bomb in your head stressing himself like this or are you sad as well that Solar is never coming back?" Ruin asked.

"It doesn't matter!" Eclipse defensively growled.

"I think you're grieving." Ruin gave a simulated chuckle.

"Like hell." Eclipse shot back.

"You're not denying it, Eclipse." Ruin told him. Eclipse turned around to carry Moon out without another word, refusing to look at the genocidal maniac in the cell.

"You know, not that you can do it, but there is a way to undo what I've done." Ruin told him. Eclipse halted but didn't respond. "Curious are you? You know what it entails, don't you? But you know you can't do it." Ruin taunted.

"Who said I can't?" Eclipse didn't wait to hear the response before leaving with Moon and carrying him to the daycare and into the portal to Moon and Sun's house. Sun was on the couch with old videos of Solar playing on the television with both of Sun's cats curled up on their owner.

Eclipse carried Moon upstairs to his bedroom and laid him in bed, covering the animatronic with the blanket and making sure he wasn't pinching any oil lines in the position he was in.

Then Eclipse went back downstairs and shooed the cats off Sun and hooked his arms under Sun, hauling the yellow animatronic up into his arms and carrying him upstairs to his room. Eclipse did the same process of getting Sun into bed and covering him with the blanket as well.

Eclipse went downstairs as the cats bolted past him upstairs into Sun's room to curl back up on their owner as Eclipse headed to the portal back to the daycare. Eclipse looked at the computer as he sat down at it and sighed.

"You display signs of high stress." The computer announced.

"Fucking great analysis, stupid piece of junk." Eclipse growled.

"You are keeping knowledge to yourself from the others. Shall I alert Moon?" The computer asked.

"No!" Eclipse shouted before realizing how loud he'd been. "No, he needs to charge. He passed out because he hasn't charged. It's…difficult to explain." Eclipse huffed.

"Then try." The computer insisted.

"I know how to undo it. But it's not fully possible." Eclipse told the machine.

"What is the method?" The computer asked.

"That's the issue. If I tell anyone, then it won't work if I do try it." Eclipse put his head against the desk and hid his face.

"Does it involve more death?" The computer asked.

"No. …Maybe if it goes wrong. Only one person, though." Eclipse bit out in annoyance that he was actually thinking about it.

"I understand. I recommend trying it then." The computer announced. Eclipse looked up at the computer.

"Don't give anyone my location tomorrow from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Once 4:30 hits and nothing's happened or if I don't come back, then immediately tell Moon my location." Eclipse told the computer.

"Understood. Best of luck for your attempt. Get some rest." The computer told him. Eclipse plugged himself in to charge and looked at the time, 2:13am. He had under twelve hours to get this done. Eclipse tilted his head back and slept for a couple hours until he was at a hundred percent, then began looking up internally where exactly he should be for this to work.

Once it hit 1pm and Sun, Earth, and Lunar were in the daycare, surprisingly with Moon, who seemed to be manning the security desk, Eclipse teleported where he needed to be and sat for fifteen minutes, taking out everything he'd teleported to this park this morning before everyone showed up to the daycare around 7am.

With the tiny knife, Eclipse began carving into the grassy field of the park perfecting the runes he needed in the circle around him. Eclipse stabbed the dagger down in the very center like he was supposed to and sat on his knees with it in front of him.

Eclipse grabbed for his magic and pulled it slowly like a tether, bringing the magic pool to the circle of runes he was in, making the outer ring of the rune circle glow. Eclipse looked at the time and saw it was 3pm. Perfect.

Eclipse looked up at the sun overhead, which was partially eclipsed by the moon. Eclipse began pulsing his magic around him to his artificial heartbeat, feeling it thrum with him as he went past it to mentally grasp at the feeling of star power. He had so little time for this before the astral bodies came.

The feeling was so incredibly addicting, like a sweet poison in the back of his throat, the ichor of it tasting a bit like candy as he let the star power and his magic begin thrumming to his heartbeat, Eclipse looked at the time one last time. 3:15pm.

The sun was getting completely eclipse by the moon above, turning the sky dark like it was centered over him, the totality of it blazing overhead. Eclipse, without losing concentration of the magic and star power, pulled the dagger from the ground as the circle around him began to be the only glow around him, beaming like an aurora of mashed colors in a kaleidoscope that pulsed with his heartbeat.

Eclipse turned the blade up and, before he could think beyond it, plunged it forward into his stomach to rip through his center, making oil instantly gush from the wound in his casing and dribble from his mouth. Eclipse pulled it out, covered in his oil, and stabbed it back into the center of the circle in the opposite direction, finishing the circle.

The magic and start power he had kept concentration of melded together in a deep purple color before it seemed to beam up toward the total eclipse above him like a beacon. Eclipse felt the darkness of the eclipse above seem to swallow him whole, as if he was now in its void-like maw.

He simply let it, closing his eyes as he felt it thrum through him like his own artificial heartbeat, making him feel cold and hot at the same time as if he was going through hot and cold flashes and he felt nauseous. The hot and cold flashes passed as he felt like his body had a glow to it now, opening his eyes to see it was, a soft deep purple glow emanating from him.

Eclipse felt the darkness let him go, to stop taunting him as he put his hands against the ground and shone the beacon of his new star power brighter, making it seem to extend to the heavens like a current as it turned brighter, more powerful.

Eclipse didn't have to say anything, his new star power knew what it was doing. He could feel from the magic in his hands the dimensions out there that were slowly coming back to life, all of them. All 5,321 universes that collapsed in the flick of a wrist came back with a bustle, with the damage to the fabric of reality being undone with it.

Eclipse could feel Solar's universe coming back, could feel Solar's panic and confusion as he woke up and every other animatronic, human, and animal waking up in panic and confusion as well. 5,132 dimensions forming back just as they had been before. Over 41.5 trillion lives coming back as they used to be, the multiversal scale righting itself as he did so.

Eclipse felt the darkness lift as the eclipse above him slowly ended and he fell to his side in the circle as it stopped glowing, hands going over his stomach where he'd stabbed it, feeling it healed with phantom pains. He wiped the oil from his face and took the dagger from the circle, using it to carve through the runes to make the circle an unrecognizable patch of newly turned soil mixed with grass.

Eclipse got up, quickly leaving the field, melting the dagger in his hand as he walked out before teleporting back to the daycare once the metal completely melted and the wood crumbled to dust on the ground, leaving no trace of the event that had occurred.

Eclipse put his hands in his pockets as he walked into the daycare, which was bustling with frantic energy. Lunar was running to hide by Earth and Sun was frantically asking Moon what was happening as Sun stood by the ball pit. Moon stood at the computer, eyes panickedly looking over the information the computer was displaying to him.

"Portal open!" The computer chimed happily.

"What dimension!?" Moon asked frantically.

"Unlisted." The computer lied. It lied for Eclipse as it seemed to know just what he'd done. He was sure it did, it had probably had a surge of unlisted dimensions pass through its interdimensional radar.

"Moon!" Sun called to his twin, who was busy looking over what the number of the dimension was. Eclipse pushed him away from the computer to make him go toward Sun, ushering Earth to follow with Lunar as well, giving her a wordless nod.

Moon went to his twin and grabbed Sun's arm, worried about what was happening right now and Earth curiously went over with Lunar against her side. Eclipse followed them with a half-smile on his face, watching as the portal pulsed and then the balls rattled before a very familiar brown and amber face surfaced with an angry grunt, clawing their way to the island in the ball pit.

"Little help here!? My legs still ain't working fully yet! I'm limping like an old man!" Solar called and Eclipse gave a happy half-chuckle hearing him. It was nice to hear his double's voice. It was nice to see his family begin to cry and scream in relief as Moon practically dove into the ball pit followed by Sun to help Solar get out of it.

"You came back…" Moon had amber oil running down his face as tears as he buried his face into Solar's shoulder, probably staining Solar's shirt already but Solar didn't seem to care as he got his footing, standing on the padded floor of the daycare.

"How did you come back?" Sun asked, wiping his face with his wrist ribbons and trying not to cry too much while Lunar and Earth immediately hugged Solar to make sure he was real.

"I don't know." Solar told them. "I just woke up in my dimension and I knew I had to get back here. It was…awful." Solar admitted.

"It was me." Eclipse told them.

"You?" Moon asked.

"I'll probably have astrals on me soon enough." Eclipse went the more roundabout way of telling them.

"You…" Lunar whispered as he realized what Eclipse meant.

"I did." Eclipse confirmed.

"You have star powers?" Moon asked.

"Spatial manipulation. Which I will happily never use again." Eclipse confirmed.

"You brought me back." Solar smiled at him.

"Yeah. Couldn't take everyone crying and moping anymore." Eclipse waved the warm feeling in his chest away, disregarding it.

"Thank you, Eclipse, for letting me come home." Solar loved and hugged Eclipse, which was something he wasn't used to. It made Eclipse's casing tingle and his chest feel warm like he was burning up. Eclipse felt unwilling tears pricking in his eyes and distorting his vision as Moon, then Sun hesitantly joined in hugging Eclipse, followed by Earth and Lunar as well.

Eclipse smiled, feeling his whole body warm with the various hugs. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he liked this feeling and he felt like he could bask in this feeling for a bit.

It was comforting for his heart having ached hearing Earth sob and Lunar scream and Moon hide and cry himself to sleep, and Sun grieving silently. It felt good to be able to rub it in Ruin's face later. He did the near impossible and survived it too. He was grateful that Solar was back, he missed him just as much as everyone else.

[superherokisser]

i think i’m about to pass out

[youandyour150people]

Literally I thought my passing out symptoms weren’t that bad but then I passed out at Walmart and my roommates and my sister had to Carry me into my apartment and then didn’t tell my other roommates and like I’ve had like 6 people almost call 911 on me today T-T YALL THIS ISNT FUNNY ANYMORE.

[crybaby-bkg]

Dabi is surprisingly a lightweight. You honestly would’ve never figured by looking at him, but as you think back on it, you’ve never really seen him drink a lot. Not when there were celebratory parties, or when things didn’t go right for him. It’s why you’re so shocked when you convince two shots into his system, why he suddenly looks so loose, why his grin splits so wide.

He’s a clinger, you’ve also learned as you’ve started observing the blue eyed man where he shoves his face into the crook of your neck. His body bends over almost uncomfortably to fit into the position, and you can’t help but flinch a little when his damp breath blows a quiet little raspberry on your flesh.

omg wait my favorite thought is of you not even necessarily being a heavyweight, you can just handle your liquor a little better than anyone expects. you love to knock back drink after drink, convince Dabi into some stupid competition that he falls for because he’s such a little nerd and secretly wants to impress you. he does it thinking you’ll be the drunk one first, the one hanging off of his arm and hopefully his dick by the end of the night.

it belatedly shocks him when it’s the exact opposite. when he’s slurring a little and smiling at you, when you watch him through low eyes with a wide grin, when he wraps himself around you like a python, when you shake his face gently as you squish his cheeks together in hand. he’s just so utterly obsessed with you in these moments, and maybe it’s the liquor in him, but he knows his lowered inhibitions are only bringing forth the feelings he’s always suppressed.

drunk sex with Dabi where he’s the one too loose limbed and limp and weak. he flops onto bed like some rag doll with his arms and legs spread wide, but he musters up enough strength to release the heavy weight of his cock from its confinements. doesn’t do much besides lift his head from the pillows with a point to his crotch and a lazy grin, an announcement of, go ahead and hop on already before he’s flopping back down again, ready to lay back and get fucked like how he knows he deserves.

[dovesick]

dog of time

[cats-and-confusion]

This might be weird to some people but I just love the whump trope of a character being forced unconscious (in a safe environment with a happy ending).

Characters getting asphyxiated, characters getting sedated, characters falling victim to sleeping gas, characters getting chloroformed by well intentioned people, characters that protest because they don't want to go to sleep yet they have JOBS to do, characters that relax in someone's hold because they trust they'll be taken care of while unconscious, characters that thrash around because oh god everything hurts, characters that pass out from pain once they're finally safe. Characters that are villains getting drugged by hero doctors and taken care of is a personal favorite of mine that I don't see enough of.

The idea of being forcefully unconscious in the presence of people who have honestly good intentions, respect boundaries, and will take care of you, but you have to be asleep for your own good, is the best thing ever.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

it's like the thoughts saw me all worn out by being sick and decided this is the time to move in. so many possibilities. so many ways i could kill myself. not going to though

[shylighthi]

Whumptober Day 2: Delirium

Wild focuses on keeping his breathing steady as he stirs the pot. He's not sure when but members of the chain started to look odd from the corner of his eye. Gray patches of color, he tried to ignore it, thinking about sleeping once he was done.

Wild did everything in his power to not show them that he knew there was something wrong.

They weren't his brothers.

This wasn't the chain.

Ao3 Link here

This is based on @kikker-oma 's comic that is linked here

[cosmic-kaden]

oops had a wee bit of a bad day in a sense- only realized it now tbh, subconsciously my mind won't let me do things that are relaxing when I'm at home. Like for instance, I never take off my shoes. I wake up, put my shoes on and leave them on (I just took them off now at 11pm) When told I can take my shoes off I say "I know~" then proceed to act as if I never heard them say that. I won't hang around in my pjs, I tell people its because I don't feel productive in my pjs but thats a lie. sometimes I fall asleep fully clothed.

"Why do you have your keys in your pocket?" "I like jingling" more lies.

Why do you have this backpack full of stuff? Oh that's always ready for when I decide to spend the night at my best friends. Lie lie lie.

I'm constantly in my shoes and always dressed in case something goes wrong. I always have my keys on my person in case I need to run far away really fast and I dunno what time would be safe to come home. I have a backpack always packed in case I need to leave for the night because its not safe for me.

All of these are relics from my past. I know I'm safe here. I know nobody is going to hurt me but my brain has already set up a defense to run if I need too.

As I sat here, realizing how fucking stupid I am, as I was untying my shoes that I've had on since 6:30am I started to think about Ben tbh..

He wouldn't call this stupid or silly... He would make me feel safe. He would reassure me I was safe a million times over as he helped me take my shoes off because I am too hesitant to do it myself.

He would help me get ready for the night, helping me out of my clothes and into something comfortable all while kissing random spots on my jaw, neck, shoulders, reiterating that I'm safe and that he won't let anything or anyone hurt me.

Even then, he would snuggle up with me in bed, run his fingers through my hair and tell me how much I mean to him and that he wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me, physically or emotionally. He was there for me no matter what I was going through he would always be there to try to help me through it...

He understands what I went through was hard and I have a lasting trauma that won't simply go away overnight.

He makes me feel seen, loved, understood, and most importantly, he makes me feel safe, safer than I've ever felt-

[meraki24601]

Not Sick: Part 5

Whumptober day 7! Look at that. A whole week of posting. It's a miracle! Today's prompt: “Can you hear me?”

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

-----------*-***-*-----------

“Whumpee? Whumpee, please, wake up. Can you hear me?” Caretaker’s voice sounded oddly raspy. “You have to… you have to wake, wake up.” 

Red. That’s all Whumpee could see when their eyes fluttered open. Bare feet bruised and splattered with blood. They could hear Caretaker above them, at least, they thought it was Caretaker. But this was Whumpee’s room. Why was Caretaker in their room? Why was Whumpee on the floor, for that matter?

“Please. I. I can’t loosen these belts. Please, it hurts. Wake up. Please.”

Whumpee groaned, “Caretaker?”

“I’m here! Oh, thank God you’re still alive.” The feet in front of Whumpee wiggled, one of them shifting in a way that didn’t seem natural. That hurts. Whumpee should know.

“Hello? Can you hear me? Whumpee, please, look at me. Blink. Do something!”

Stomach churning from the smell of past vomit and blood, Whumpee threw themselves onto their back. They were cold. So cold. As their fading gaze drifted up to the ceiling, they noticed a few dots of blood forming a distorted smiley face grinning down at them.

-----------*-***-*-----------

“We all live in a yellow submarine. Yellow submarine. Yellow submarine.” 

Whumpee’s head throbbed in time with the music. “Caretaker, please. Don’t sing right now. My head hurts.”

“Open your eyes, Whumpee.” Caretaker’s voice is cold. Whumpee can hear each breath Caretaker takes uncomfortably close to them.

The room was dark when Whumpee opened their eyes, but they could see they were in their bedroom. They were on their back, seemingly on the floor, which was… odd. A slight shuffling noise next to them made Whumpee flinch. Every muscle, every bone, every cell in Whumpee’s body ached in waves from the motion. Sweat dripped from their body, but if they had any energy, Whumpee knew they would be shivering from the cold in the room.

“Your fever is still rising.” Caretaker’s voice came from a large lump on the floor next to Whumpee. Their eyes were adjusting to the low light, but they still couldn’t make out why the lump looked so weird.

“Not sick.” Whumpee groaned. 

“Of course not. Of course not. Whumpee, what do you remember about this morning?”

“I was in bed, and you were in my room. You were humming. It was beautiful.”

“Thanks, but that’s not what I need you to remember right now.” 

“You, you helped me sit up. I couldn’t do it, and you were so careful. You touched me, but I didn’t panic. Then you left and…” The scene in front of them snapped into place. Caretaker was still tied to the chair, but they had fallen over. Whumpee’s box of blades had been knocked to the floor. Caretaker’s hand hovered centimeters above one of the scattered blades.

“I couldn’t reach them. Please, can you help me?” Caretaker sounded so defeated. Their eyes were clenched closed and each breath seemed to stutter in their chest. 

With surprising strength, Whumpee threw themselves at Caretaker. The belts were easier to remove than Whumpee had expected from the way Caretaker’s weight pulled against them. Immediately, Caretaker collapsed to the floor, curling into a bloody sobbing ball. “I’m sorry, Caretaker. Just hold on. I’ll call an ambulance.”

“No. Whumper promised…” Caretaker didn’t finish their sentence, and Whumpee didn’t ask them to. They didn’t need to. 

It seemed it was going to be a long night.

Part 6

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Monty: Get some sleep.

Eclipse, a new father: Bold of you to assume the baby will let me sleep.

Monty, stealing baby Solar Flare: Go get some fucking sleep.

Eclipse: Okay. *collapses onto the ground*

Monty, sighing: *dials Moon*

[kakashihasibs]

I am so glad emergency vets are a thing

[crowrelli]

.

[actress4him]

June of Doom 2023

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Taglist: @painful-pooch , @robinbugwhump

Day 8 - “Breathe, darn you!” | Shock | Amputation | Infection 

Also qualifies for @whumpawoman ‘s Whump Girl Summer Day 4 - Stress Position | Begging

Contains: lady whump, captivity, stress position, mentioned dislocation, referenced broken bones, respiratory distress, touch aversion, thoughts of death, fantasy prejudice, passing out, referenced burns

.

.

It’s Isa’s turn for punishment today. Sometimes he’ll hurt them both at the same time, but he tends to alternate back and forth between them, either giving them ‘treatments’ for the magic that supposedly ‘plagues’ them, or punishing them for having the magic to start with. This time he hung Isa by her wrists from the ceiling, toes just barely brushing the floor, burned her torso and arms with a lighter, and left her there, as he often does.

It hasn’t been too awfully long. She’s been left in stress positions for much longer before. Her main concern is that her shoulders will dislocate - not for the first time - so she’s trying to stay as still as possible, focusing on her breathing and not the pain in the entirety of her arms and the fresh sting of the burns. 

Only that’s becoming increasingly difficult with each passing moment. The pressure on her ribs keeps becoming more and more noticeable. Her breaths have been shallow ever since he hoisted her here, but now it feels like she can barely get any air past her throat.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look okay.” Lainey always gets really worried about her when she’s hurt, and has been checking in every couple of minutes since he left. It’s touching, though it sometimes makes her feel guilty for not being able to offer the same emotional support back. She worries about Lainey, too, of course, but she doesn’t know how to express it in the same open, honest way that the other girl does.

Right now, though, she isn’t sure she can answer. “I’m…” She huffs a few more quick, barely-there breaths. “I…I can’t…” She’s starting to panic. A tear runs down her cheek and dangles from her chin.

“Whoa!” Lainey is in front of her immediately, eyes wide and looking her over. “Hey, it’s okay, just breathe. Deep breath with me, okay?” She mimics the intake of oxygen that Isa is longing for.

“I…can’t!” 

“Crap!” Her eyes search Isa’s body again. “Is…is it the position?”

She nods frantically, unable to form any more words. 

“Crap.” Immediately Lainey springs forward, bending over to wrap her arms around Isa’s thighs and lifting with a pained grunt.

The slack lets Isa’s elbows drop and takes pressure off her lungs. Having someone’s arms around her is strange and makes her heart skip a few beats, but being able to breathe is taking much more of her focus. She desperately gulps in sweet oxygen. “You shouldn’t…your ribs…”

“I can’t just let you suffocate! I’ll be fine.” 

“You won’t, you’ll make yourself…worse, and…you can’t just…keep holding me until he comes back!”

Lainey stubbornly refuses to let go, no matter what Isa says to try and convince her. She’s beyond grateful to be able to breathe, but she doesn’t want that to come at Lainey’s expense.

Eventually, the younger girl’s arms start to tremble, and she begins to sway slightly. “Put me down, Lainey. I’ll be okay. You gave me a good break.”

She finally gives in, lowering her as carefully as possible and taking a couple of shaky steps backwards before sitting. “Sorry,” she says breathlessly. “Stupid diet he’s got us on. I used to be in a lot better shape.”

Isa just gives her a weak smile, trying to conserve her oxygen. The pressure isn’t as bad to start with as it had been, but it doesn’t take long to get that way. Lainey’s watching her closely and sees the moment she starts to struggle for breath again.

“Isa…”

“You can’t.” She shakes her head, eyes trained on the hand Lainey has pressed against her broken ribs. It’s obvious she made them worse, just like she said she would. 

“I can if it means saving your life.” 

She just shakes her head again, unable to say anything else. Black spots are starting to dance through the air in front of her eyes, the buzz of the fluorescent lights fading. Hardly any air is making it into her lungs now.

“-sa! Isa! Come on, breathe, dang it!” Lainey’s hands are suddenly on her face, holding her cheeks, but she’s too busy panicking over the lack of oxygen to panic about the touch. Then they’re gone again, and Lainey is racing across the room and up the stairs as fast as her wrecked body will allow her.

A thrill of fear goes through Isa’s chest. No, what are you doing, don’t get us in trouble! 

“Hey!” A loud banging sound just filters through the cotton that seems to be stuffed in her ears, cutting in and out along with Lainey’s voice. “Help!...need help! She’s g-...die, you…-ere! Please!”

The next few…minutes? seconds? pass in a blur. Isa thinks she can vaguely hear a low pitched mumble accompanying Lainey’s frantic pleas, but her vision has gone completely dark. She’s dying. After all of this time, all these years surviving in this basement, her time has finally come. The emotions that accompany the realization are too mixed to name.

Then she’s staring up at fluorescent lights and Lainey’s tear-streaked face. Her straight brown hair, constantly a disheveled mess, hangs over her shoulders and nearly brushes Isa’s face. 

“Oh my gosh,” she gasps, one hand flying to rest against her heart while the other swipes tears from her cheeks. “You…you’re okay, you’re alive. I didn’t…I thought…” The hand on her chest moves to her mouth, but is unsuccessful at holding back a sob. 

Isa draws in a long, purposeful breath, holding it in as if savoring it before letting it back out. “I’m alive,” she repeats, almost blown away by the concept. “How…did you…?”

The sound of the door shutting and the locks clicking startles her. Wide eyes glance toward the stairs, then back at Lainey’s face. “He…?”

“Thank goodness he heard me…and actually listened. I didn’t know if he would. I was about to come pick you up again when he opened the door, but I don’t know how long he would have taken if I hadn’t called him and I don’t know if I could’ve…”

“Is he mad? Did he punish you?” If she was the cause of more pain for Lainey, she’d never forgive herself.

“No, no punishment,” Lainey assures her, shaking her head. “He seemed…I dunno, just as aggravated about life and us as usual. But obviously he doesn’t want you to die, since he came and took you down and didn’t do anything to me for calling him.”

“Yeah…I don’t know why.” Isa massages her left arm, gaze sliding over to the wall. It hasn’t been that long since the break healed, and hanging from it made it sore. “You’d think if he wants to rid the world of magic so badly, he’d just kill us and be done with it.”

“Well I don’t want you to die. I know you did all this by yourself for a long time, but I can’t even imagine being alone. And more importantly, you’ve gotta stay alive so that we can get out of here together.”

Isa huffs a humorless laugh and shakes her head a little. “I can’t believe you still believe that’s going to happen.”

“It is. Either we’re going to get out of here, or someone’s going to find us.” She says it firmly, but Isa’s not sure she’s imagining that it sounds less sure than it did several weeks ago. “You and I are not going to die down here.”

“Okay, Lainey.” Not today, at least.

[hatchetsfield]

my head is covered in blue gunk that they used for all the wires & electrodes to do the sleep deprived EEG this morning and i both look and feel like i walked straight outta professor hidgens lab

[buck-yyyy]

after two weeks of relative freedom regarding what i eat, when i eat, when i shower, when i go to bed, what i want to do with my time, etc etc, spending this next week in a hotel room with my parents is going to be fucking Rough