Last Crack At Hope

Anguished Wounds

—Chapter 4—
Anguished Wounds

Out of all days, it seemed that today had to be one of the worst timings for anything to occur at a time like this... With how the sky darkened to the point of glooming death and rain threatened the location to pierce through people's skins, it wasn't a pleasant time to scroll through a park. What was worse was the aftermath of the heavy iron-scent that was left behind moments before. The two partners were in a different location; this time it was in a barren location with what used to be a plentiful forest became a burning landscape.

The raven was battered up after recovering her bag and helping a few of the citizens escape from the battlefield. Scars maimed her lower limbs, her clothes were quite torn, leaving slivers of exposed skin to the atmosphere. Blood stains were almost everywhere on her. It was quite something for her to even continue moving at this rate. What kept her going? She, herself, didn't even know how her body could move after the fact her limit was passed a while ago. All that was going on within her mind was... save as many people as she humanly could.

By the time she was able to actually rest, the battlefield was deserted. Nothing but metal scraps and building debris scattered across the land. Splotches of dried blood appeared on the burnt grass and smoking buildings as corpses littered the vicinity. The female held her side and walked across the desolated field. 'This is awful... If only I was able to save them in time...' She stopped a few feet away from the corpses and prayed for their descent away from earth before continuing to walk around aimlessly for any survivors. 'It seems... I have found everyone that's at least breathing...'

She was about to turn back when she felt a very faint mana signature not too far from her current location. Yuuki scanned the area with a runic spell and found the general area, quickly running toward the destination. As she had gotten closer, she couldn't see a figure anywhere; just fallen debris from the buildings and smoke rising from the ground. The raven, obviously knowing that she well past her mana limit, had to use another search spell to find the faint signature she had felt moments ago. Seeing a vague shape under the debris, she quickly dug them out...

"W-Wait... This can't be..." A familiar pale-color cloak was shredded across the unconscious person's body. Deep and heavy wounds appeared on the person's chiseled chest and arms as they laid in the rubble. The infamous silvery-white hair covered his eyes as she clearly saw the pain throughout his face. "E-Emiya..." She quickly took his pulse, soon to sigh in relief as she felt a relatively weak pulse in his neck. "Thank goodness..." The raven channeled whatever mana she had left within her system to strengthen her limbs and half-carried the male out of the rubble.

She heard him groan as she heaved him over her shoulders. 'This will definitely hurt me after I relax. How in the world did he do this to himself... No matter, I need to save him first.' She soon departed the battlefield to at least some sort of abandoned cottage that was not far from the area. Seeing that the building seemed to have been collecting dust for some months, she decided to make the place their temporary resting spot. She kicked the door open and carefully moved the larger male onto the bed that was within one of the rooms.

She heavily exhaled as she opened her bloodstained medicinal bag, hastily grabbing the bandage rolls and other first aid items. "Ugh... S-Satou...?" She removed his upper clothes to get to his wounds before cleaning them as carefully and swiftly as she could with her homebrew remedy. "Stay awake for me please, Emiya. I need you awake right now." Her hands shook unconditionally as she tried to get a grip. She had never seen wounds that deep and it made her hands clam up quite a bit. 'What if he doesn't make it through... What if I mess up as I tend to his wounds... Wh-What if–'

The raven felt his hand over hers as he weakly chuckled. "I'll... be fine, Satou-san... Just... continue." He winced, holding in the painful groans. "...I'll try to stay... awake." She bit her lip, holding herself back the quivering and tears that tried to leave her system. She just nodded before cleaning his wounds and apply the remedies throughout the wounds. The male achingly grunted as he felt the sting through his freshly cleaned wounds. "H-Hurry up... Damn it. Ugh, this hurts."