Near lingers death

• cross-posted from ao3 •

There's shifting snow underneath him, then he blinks and suddenly he's free falling.
Like a slumbering beast the ground had opened its maw, swallowing snow and debris alike.
He can't even see where he's falling.
Sometimes he can see the sky above and sometimes only pitch-black darkness.
And when his fall finally reaches its end, he lands hard. There is no river to catch him. No other body he could have clung to.
He is entirely alone as he smashes into the ground, creating an earwrecking boom and a rather wide crater. He can't move. Everything hurts.
But he is alive.
And that is the worst.