Even In The Grave, All Is Not Lost

Rest and Recovery

A/N:

So once again I ended up adding like 7 more paragraphs the night before posting. I don't know why this always happens. I proofread multiple times throughout the week and it's always at the last minute that inspiration strikes. Anyhoo, parts of this chapter are a little rough as a result. It shouldn't be too noticeable because the paragraphs are scattered throughout rather than all being in one chunk.

[Trigger Warning (spoilers): Reference to past self-harm. It's incredibly vague but it's there. Also infertility]

. . .

"I am being tested. The human capacity for survival is being tested."

- Russian physicist Anatoli Bugorski, the man who survived the highest acute radiation dose in history. He survived 300,000 rads. 100,000 rads is considered to be a fatal dose for everybody.

. . .

"Let's stop for a few minutes," Luna said, already slowing her pace in disregard of the putout expression on the other woman's face. She knew her suggestion would not be easily appreciated - or accepted.

"I'm fine," Raven insisted and Luna tried for a genuine smile, one that would put the Sky girl at ease. She set a hand against a nearby tree, accepting that for now she needed the support it could provide.

"I know." Though she'd seen the other woman falter more than a few times, face straining through a grimace, and doubted the veracity of her words. However, Luna knew better than to voice this. "But I'm not."

Raven's eyes widened and she stumbled over to her, hands out, seeking to touch, to steady if need be, but not daring to connect. "What's wrong?"

Luna suppressed a smile at her concern, so strongly given even when the mechanic herself couldn't stand to be on the receiving end of it.

"I'm just tired," she murmured. "My stamina isn't what it once was. But it will get there."

In truth, she was still weak from the radiation sickness. Abby had warned her that it would take time for her body to recover from the damage her organs had endured before the radiation had been filtered out of her system. She'd also cautioned that there was a possibility she may never fully recover.

Her immunity to the radiation now didn't mean that her body hadn't been vulnerable to its effects when it was still in her blood. She'd been as close to death as any of her clan (and still couldn't understand why she hadn't been allowed to pass with them, why her body remained chained to this desiccating existence).

Only time would tell if there were to be any long-term consequences of that close escape.

Luna wasn't overly concerned. At this point, it didn't appear as though the nightblood solution had much hope of being realized. Which meant, in a few short weeks or even days, everyone would be dead.

Everyone except Luna.

She had no care for what her health would be like if such a calamity came to pass, nor if it would weaken her own chances of survival.

The truth was, she didn't care to survive.

Not in the future she saw coming.

Likely she would. Because she always survived. Likely, her instincts or fate would pull their strings and death would pass her by.

But she wouldn't bat an eye if it did not.

"Do you need to sit down?" Raven was already looking around somewhat frantically and Luna didn't doubt that if she asked it of her, the other woman would race back to the lab to procure a chair just to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.