madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-joel, get up! joel, please, get up... please -

anyone else just finish season two of the last of us? 

⋆˖⁺‧₊🎧🧨🍷🎬🍓₊‧⁺˖⋆

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The first thing she felt was the cold. All around her. Cold, and wet, leeching into her and her clothes.

Then she felt the fire.

Brain melting searing bubbling fire, leeching into her face. Pain so hot she couldn't feel it. At the same time as feeling all too much of it. She rolled, heaving, organs and body parts retching of their own accord, and steam erupted where her face met the crunching snow.

It was a sensation she recognised, amidst the blind panic and pain.

Gasping for air, icy slush freezing her lips, Teqi opened her eyes. Everything was blurry like a camcorder. White snow. Gold fences keeping out the dark sky. Her stomach flexed and tightened and then her throat and she was retching up nothing. A sick cat.

Voices grew louder. She hadn't realised sounds were warbled and she was hearing through a bent mirror maze mirror until her name was called somewhere far away. Some part of her thought to get up, but she couldn't even tilt her neck out of fear of more pain exploding from her brain.

"I found her! Teqi!" It was Piper. Maybe. She wasn't sure. Tears blurred her eyes. "She's over here!"

"Teqi! Teqi!"

Their faces came into view. Fuzzy around the edges and frantic. Teqi swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked. It didn't hurt to. Okay. That was good. Her eyes would go back to normal.

Snow shifted, pushing up her right side. Leo's knees were pressed against her and she dimly registered the touch of hands. "Teqi! I thought the lasers-"

She became aware of more around her as her vision started to clear and she could breathe. Hyperventilate was a better word for it. She sucked air in. Her nails dug into Piper's arm but she couldn't even think to release her.

Hot tears slipped from her eyes but they only stung her burning cheeks.

She wasn't dead.

What had happened to her?

More breathing.

"Oh my god why is her face like that, what did she hit?" Piper word vomited, pulling on her own hair.

"She needs..." Jason muttered. There was shuffling, and the zippers were opened and closed. "Ambrosia. Let's give her some ambrosia to make the... bubbles... go down. Leo, where's your backpack? Who's got the ambrosia?"

Leo looked as scared as she felt, shaky hands reaching out to her. He didn't seem to register Jason's words. "Hey, you're gonna be okay, okay. You're gonna be fine, right querida?"

She nodded, staring into his dark watery eyes cause if she wasn't, she'd start thrashing and groaning. They held distraught eye contact. Watery eyes.

"Water," she croaked, her voice coming out wobblier than she planned.

"What?"

She took another breath. All this panting was making her dizzy. She squeezed her eyes shut. Everything was so hot, beneath the blinding brain melting pain, it must be a burn. "Wash, clean, bandage."

She didn't repeat the last part of the saying. Wash, clean, bandage, go find Will.

"Where's the water? Leo where's your backpack we need-"