Trinity

Zoar

Lyle's continuous and steady breathing helped keep her anxiety in check. Not by much, truthfully, but it was just enough to keep her from slipping into either the anxiety or panic attack waiting and bubbling near the surface.

His scream... it ripped through her entire being, straight through her clusterfuck of a mind, and into her soul. She'd been stabbed, shot. Hell, she'd leapt off of Ryn and onto RDA aircrafts, stressing her body to the point of breaking their almost unbreakable bones, and none of that hurt as much as hearing him scream out pain.

In agony

And she'd caused it.

Well... not exactly. She knew that. Deep down, she knew she hadn't actually been the true cause, but that truth failed to alleviate any of the guilt surrounding his scream.

He'd warned her not to take it personally, knowing what was potentially coming and how she would respond. It almost hurt worse because he tried to assuage her. He's the one it could've killed, yet he was trying to make her feel better about it.

It was still never enough.

The careful preparation, the effort Waryn put into maintaining the steadiness of his core; it wasn't enough. The force of the takeoff still tried to kill him.

Ten meticulously checked the wound once they were safely in the air, hardly caring that he was damn near crushing her hand. No blood, no signs of internal swelling. When his grip finally released, she was worried that he was losing consciousness. Mercifully, that wasn't the case, the pain had just finally passed.

"Said I trusted you. Meant it."

The makeshift bracing had been incredibly useful so far. Allowing her to not only keep him in place while inspecting the wound, but also when she needed to grab one of Ja's many medical pouches attached to Ryn's saddle to keep him under and pain-free. It wasn't long after she'd knocked him out that Link began making concerned chittering noises. She knew why immediately, Lyle was starting to shiver.

She gently placed her hand on his forehead, checking to see if he was running a fever. A fever would be devastating, it could mean an infection. Thankfully, he wasn't. His body was just so exhausted that he was chilling, displaying symptoms of being sick. They kept getting lucky.

Fuck. She hoped that continued... they needed all the luck they could get right now.

"Z, I need a blanket." Z-dog swooped over and handed off a larger one while Ja appeared at her other side.

"Fever?" He asked worriedly.

"No, he's just exhausted." His face tightened with concern; exhaustion was also dangerous. He needed rest. She carefully tucked the blanket under his legs and then wrapped the rest around both of them so he could utilize her body heat. While shivering wasn't exactly a lot of movement, she wasn't chancing it causing more harm.

"Hey." She turned her head slightly to look at Ja. "You did it. None of us could have taken off that smoothly."

"That doesn't make me feel better, Ja." She appreciated it, what Ja was doing. But his efforts didn't change how much it hurt. Physically, emotionally, mentally, fuck... spiritually. She couldn't lose anyone else. Not now. Not after she remembered her friend.

"Nera, he's still breathing, he's alive. That's a win in my book."

"That's...win... -book." His words, Ja's. Incomplete, but there.