"Do you know where you are going?"
Akko gave a nervous chuckle in response. "No, but it's away from the dragon, so I think it's a safe bet."
While Diana's breathing was rugged and smelled strongly of iron, it was a reassurance that Akko needed. She gave a little hop to hoist Diana more comfortably and securely on her back.
"I suppose that...is good enough." It was, by all means, their safest bet, and Diana would have been lying had she said she had a better idea.
"Well, you are in good hands!" Akko commented cheekily.
She was granted a short, stammer of a laugh from Diana, and she relaxed against Akko.
"That I am."
The pair fell comfortably into silence, the only sounds filtering through the air being Akko's boots scraping against the cave flooring and the occasional call of an animal hiding out in some other chamber.
Akko's eyes traveled down to Diana's hands, wrapped lightly around her neck. They still trembled and were stained red, along with her right sleeve. The temporary reprieve yielded by their banter was certainly nerve-relaxing; but it was all too easy to catch a glimpse of how desperately Diana needed attention. It was impossible to ignore the sporadic stuttering of her exhales and how her legs would tighten around Akko's waist as a parcel of pain flared up.
Akko quickly diverted her attention to the ground. She didn't need to dwell on that now; she had something more pressing on which to focus: the sanguinem spissamentum, as Diana had called it.
Of course, it was a lost cause if Diana expected her to repeat the name of the plant - but that was for what she was looking. It wasn't particularly good for such...extreme cases, as it may be, but it was better than nothing to staunch the blood flow from Diana's head wound. It had a short stem, growing low to the ground, with thin white petals that extended out and drooped under their own weight.
Akko knew there was more wrong than just some blood loss, but the second flower Diana had mentioned that could help, the light pink aufero dolore, was a tad bit rarer to find; and without water, it tasted terribly bitter.
"Akko, do you need a break?" Diana asked.
Maybe it was some lingering effects of adrenaline, but Akko had yet to slow her pace.
"I'm good, Diana. Besides, we need to keep moving, and I'm not just gonna leave you somewhere. I mean, I can't...even..."
Her eyes honed in on a small patch of white, curled up against the wall to her left beside an opening. Steps faltering, she came to a halt. The realization hit her in a jolt, and she gasped almost childishly.
"The flower! Diana, the san-! ...San...sanguine? No-"
"Sanguinem spissamentum," Diana supplied.
"That! Oh my gosh, we found it!"
"Yes, and if you would set me down-"
"Of course!"
Akko took a steadying breath, calming her sudden flourish of excitement. She refused to jar Diana, regardless of the elation flowing through her veins. Once Akko had lowered herself down to her knees, Diana slid herself off her back.
And despite the facade she had carried as she and Akko talked, Diana felt any remnants of energy wither into thin air, and she collapsed against the wall. Her eyes slid shut, a weary sigh escaping her lips.
"...Diana...?"
And like that, her eyes snapped back open, suddenly aware that she couldn't afford this luxury. Not now, not when there was a dragon still lurking within the expanse of this cave and certainly not when Akko was so clearly unhinged at her waning state.
"H-Hey, I know it's selfish, but please don't...don't..." Akko didn't know what she would do if Diana just conked out on her. The thought alone scared her.
But something gripped at Akko's hand, shushing her stuttering; and she looked down to find Diana squeezing it, fingers threading through her own - but she could only glance for a second. The sight of her hands dyed red managed to rile an uncomfortable sensation in her gut, one that whipped her insides into a nauseated jumble of distress.
"I apologize. The blood loss is just...a bit much." As were the aches littering her very bones and the exhaustion that tugged so demandingly at her already-lose hold on consciousness, but Diana would not voice such unnecessary details to the brunette.
Akko wasn't sure how to respond, and a bundle of nerves had returned, infesting her stomach with the fear she had previously felt evaporate at their casual banter. It was so much more than just blood loss. They both knew it; and even if Akko should have appreciated Diana's concealed words, they only manages to evoke more worry.
"What do I do?" Akko asked, shelving those thoughts.
Diana's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Surely all the girl needed to do was pick the flower; but clearly, time had deceived her. She had unknowingly shut her eyes for more than a mere second and missed a few things because within Akko's hand was a messy bouquet of flowers.
And she couldn't help but stall, as within the five or six white flowers sat a singular pink one, light enough that, under the guise of such darkness, it appeared white without a second careful glance.
"Akko, you found it," Diana mumbled out.
"H-Huh? Of course I did, what are you-"
"No, Akko, this one-" She reached into the bundle and tugged out the pink flower,"The aufero dolore, you found it."
"I did?!" she shouted, squinting at the petals; and her mouth abruptly curved up at the realization she was staring at a pink flower, not another white one. "I did! Diana, what do I do?!" she repeated with renewed vigor.
"Ground the white ones into a paste," Diana instructed, taking a rather deep inhale before continuing. "A rock will do well enough."
Akko felt around the cavern floor for a decently-sized rock, and her fingers came into contact with one about the size of a ball of bubble gum.
"It might be easier to ground each..." Diana's voice tapered off, and Akko's face drained of color. She gave out a clipped sound, something between a sob and a grimace, and she clenched her hands. "...each petal while it's on the stem. Twirl the... The stem. Twirl it as your ground."
Akko set to work quickly, taking one of the sanguinem spissamentum in her left hand and the rock in the right. She scraped the petal with the rock, as if it were an eraser, then spun the stem between her thumb and pointer finger to move along to the next petal. She repeated the process until all the petals had been ground into pulp.
"What now?" Akko questioned.
"Smear it across the cut. It will seal it shut."
Akko ignored the unnatural whine in Diana's voice, instead wiping up half the paste with two of her fingers. She leaned over Diana, grasping at her chin to dip her head forward, and she began running the paste across the open wound near her hairline.
"It's like a band-aid..." Akko whispered in awe, watching as the white pulp darkened into a dirty brown, but the blood stopped flowing almost instantly.
"Yes, although it will not last long... Thirty minutes if we are lucky," Diana interrupted. "Ground up the other one, Akko."
The brunette slipped the pink flower from Diana's hand and set to work once more; and when all the petals had been mushed, Akko was left with a foul-smelling paste.
"You have to eat this?" Akko asked, nose crinkled in disgust as she considered the absolutely appalling idea of having to put it in her mouth.
"Unfortunately."
Akko bunched the stems together and used one end to scoop up the pink paste.
She gave the quietest of laughs as she brought the pink mess to Diana's mouth. "Say, 'ahhh.'"
Despite her childish conduct, Diana obliged, mouth closing around the goopy mess. As Akko pulled the stems out and Diana was left with the paste on her tongue, her eyes widened in shock, and her lips pursed tightly. She forced herself to swallow, but the aftertaste left her face contorted in disgust. She began coughing furiously, desperately wishing for anything to wash away the horrid taste in her mouth. Akko, however, dissolved into a fit of laughter, giggles bouncing off the walls and echoing around them.
"Akko, I do not know what you find so humorous. That was utterly revolting."
"Your face, Diana!" she explained, just as she released another bout of uncontrollable laughter.
"Yes, well, I believe we should continue on. While these two plants are fast-acting, they wear off just as quickly."
Akko quieted, slowly, as she registered upon the fact that Diana's voice didn't sound quiet as labored.
However, before she could voice that thought, something heavy pounded at the ground in the direction from which they had originally come. The noise reverberated against the low-hanging ceiling, and it sent both girls into a chilling silence. Another booming sound filtered through the cavern, and then a third. Everything fell silent as the echoes finally receded, and the pebbles at their feet stilled from their quivering. They waited, breathes held and lungs burning as they withheld oxygen. Akko's boot slid, sending both their hearts leaping into their throats.
But nothing came.
No pounding, no shaking - nothing.
Akko sighed, letting the tension seep from her bones. She turned to Diana, but she hadn't relaxed a bit, eyes fixated on the wall behind Akko.
And then it busted open, and a deafening roar thundered into their space.
"Diana!" Akko shouted, yanking at her hands and pulling the blond witch to her feet. She fumbled, struggling to find traction, struggling to make her legs work and hold up her own weight.
It was the dragon, neck stuck through the crater it had made in the wall; and she just caught a glimpse of it busting more of the rock away as Akko turned them past a corner. She tugged Diana along, hand gripping her wrist painfully so, feet pounding furiously in their escape.
"Laughing was a horrible idea! A horrible, horrible idea!" Akko cried, and she turned right at a fork in the passageway. Her feet almost instantly slipped beneath her, and she tumbled to the ground in a heap, just as the dragon busted through another wall. Diana fumbled in her step as Akko collapsed, but she quickly doubled back, dragging the brunette back to her feet.
"Akko, come on!" she shouted, and another wall went down.
"Sorry, sorry!"
She scrambled to her feet and ran beside Diana. The dragon gave chase, the sound of its ferocious roar bellowing nearer as it smashed through walls and opened new passageways through which it could charge.
"Diana, this way!" Akko suddenly shouted, and she tugged them to the left.
She pulled them into a cavern with an unusually small opening, and they were forced to duck to enter; and as they rushed into it, the force of a wall being knocked down sent a spray of boulders and rocks their way. They halted their escape as dust clouded their vision and filled their lungs. They coughed haggardly into the crook of their arms.
But when the dust cleared and their hacking ceased, they found themselves trapped inside.
"Oh, no... No, no, no - I'm so sorry, Dian-" Akko choked on her words as Diana collapsed to the floor in a heap on hands and knees. "Diana, what's wrong?!" Akko shouted, dropping to the floor beside her friend. "What happened? W-What about the plant?!"
She was greeted with heavy breathing, which did nothing to calm her racing heart. "Ex..." Diana began, but clamped her eyes shut. Her lungs burned for air, and her head was terribly heavy, far too heavy to support with her neck.
"Exertion... exertion and adrenaline...s-speed up the digestion...process tremendously," she explained.
"O-oh..." Akko mumbled, and her knees buckled, tumbling onto her butt. Diana wheezed beside her, and her forehead drooped to the ground. A boom sounded from the other side of their enclosure, but it was further away this time.
"D-Diana," Akko began, but the words died on her tongue. She choked back a sob, knowing that she would be unable to stop if she started. Instead, she turned to Diana, and, with a gentleness that was foreign to even herself, she collected Diana into her arms, tucking her head beneath her chin. The blond witch leaned into her, slumping as Akko encircled her in an embrace. "I know we need to move, b-but you need to rest, Diana," Akko explained.
Another boom, and a sliver of anxieties rolled off of Akko - although now they stayed off, as the sound had been much further away than the last. The walls around them barely trembled from the shock wave. They sat like that until they could no longer hear the shattering of walls and Diana's breathing had returned to something less nerve-wracking. Her exhales were haughty and heavy, and her inhales were clipped short. Akko didn't think something as simple as breathing would leave her so anxiety-ridden.
Long after Akko's legs had gone numb, Diana cleared her throat and spoke up. "We should...try searching for an escape."
Akko bit back the immediate desire to retaliate. She didn't want Diana to move. In all honesty, it frightened her. She shook violently in her hold, and the se...siem...siempre? Whatever it was called, the paste was wearing away, revealing a long, horizontal gash that still desired to bleed.
So she heaved a shaky sigh from her lips and complied. "You're right."
Diana pulled herself off the brunette, and Akko stumbled to her feet, the pinpricks of numbness playing with her legs. She then extended her hands towards Diana, who clutched them within her own.
"Just one moment, Akko," Diana spoke, grip tightening.
And...Akko's eyes softened. She squeezed Diana's hand back, although certainly for a different reason.
"Take your time, Diana."
It was...grounding, to see Diana like this. Not hurt and bloody and tired, no, that was just terrifying, and her stomach still balled up into knots at every wheeze and every extra blink that Diana took to remain lucid. It was grounding to see her actually open herself up, to let Akko see, without fear of being exploited, that she wasn't okay.
"Akko, okay."
She pulled, and even as Diana staggered to her feet, she maintained the hold on her hand. She swallowed down a grimace as the blond's grip constricted to an agonizing degree. Diana was depending on her - and Diana didn't depend on anyone. Akko gave her a moment to catch her breath before drawing Diana along with her.
But Diana's vision swam, and Akko was barely more than a blur of brown and purple. The walls were closing in on her, and the hand wrapped around hers was the only thing grounding her. They came to a jarring halt, far too quickly to have even left the cavern; and there was a horrid heat that wafted into their enclosure. Diana blinked, but when nothing cleared, she brought her free hand up to her eyes and rubbed, almost vigorously as the heat began coiling more acutely around them.
When she reopened her eyes, they were staring directly into black, beady pupils and a maw with steam pooling out between its rows of teeth.
"Akko-!" Diana shouted, just as the dragon's mouth opened. She yanked Akko back with a yelp, crouching atop the girl as a blast for fire shot out behind Diana's back.
"I'm having a heart attack. Diana, a heart attack," Akko cried, heaving into Diana's chest. Her muscles tingled, as if a spring that needed desperately to be let undone - but she was frozen in shock, mutely clinging to Diana's clothes.
She peered up at Diana. One arm was wrapped around Akko, holding her in place, while the other was plastered against the wall for support. Akko needed to vomit, desperately. The cut had reopened on Diana's forehead, and a mess of drool lined her jaw as she struggled to pump air into her lungs, and it was so glaringly obvious that Diana had been pushed beyond the brink of exhaustion, beyond her body's limit, yet she was the one sheltering Akko.
Her eyes widened because directly behind Diana's shoulder was the dragon's head, poking into their shelter.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh..."
There was no way to escape. Her legs had frozen stiff in place, and there was absolutely no way she could get Diana out. Akko was certain the only reason she remained standing was adrenaline alone.
"Akko, run."
And for a split second, Akko wanted to punch Diana.
"What?! No, I'm not!"
The heat was growing unbearable. The dragon was prepping for another stream of fire.
"Akko, I said run."
"Diana, I'm not leaving you!"
"I don't care what you want!"
Akko choked.
"Akko, you can get out." Diana drew an evening breath, pulling up the facade of the perfect Cavendish, the one whom Akko had known first, back when they were at each other's throats. "I cannot get out of here. If you have any brain cells in that thick skull of yours, you will run."
But Akko merely clenched her fists, unraveling every ounce of fear and changing it into anger. "Shut up! Shut up, Diana! You're my friend, and you must not have any brain cells left in your fat head if you think I would-" She cut herself off because the maw was opening, and the very beginnings of flames were shooting outward from the back of its throat. "Diana!" Akko shouted, pulling fretfully at the blond to move, but Diana bundled her to her chest, hunching over her. "Diana-Diana!"
She yanked and tugged, but Diana wouldn't budge-
...
And the fire never came.
"...what..?" Akko mumbled.
She peeked her head above Diana's shoulder, but everything was...pink.
"Diana!"
And Akko swiveled her attention to the back. She had never been so glad to see the two other members of Diana's team.
"Hannah! Barbara!"
They had themselves enclosed in another shield, and the dragon was no where to be seen. With a flick of their wands, both enclosures dispersed, and they rushed towards the pair.
"Oh my God!"
"Diana!"
"W-What happened to the dragon?" Akko questioned, surprised at how shaky her voice came out.
"Professor Ursula and Professor Finnerlan restrained it. They're-" Hannah began explaining, but Akko cut her off.
"Okay, okay, that's great, just - just help me, Diana needs down."
They each fretfully took a side, while Akko worked herself out of the hold. They sat her gently against the wall, and Akko balled up her shirt sleeve - the one not already colored a deep red - and wiped away the drool and blood on Diana's face.
"What happened..?" Barbara questioned, perhaps to herself, but Diana reacted, and her attention drifted up to her.
"A-Akko, is she... Is Akko safe?" Her eyes were glazed over, and one of them squinted shut as Akko ran her sleeve over her left eyelid.
"I'm safe, Diana, but you're...not."
"The professors will be here soon. They'll heal you right up, Diana," Hannah supplied, although the pair had already begun a healing spell of their own.
Diana rubbed at her eyes once more, compelling the haze to lift. The voices were fuzzy, but she could at least make out that her teammates had arrived. Her vision, on the other hand, was completely muddled. It cleared just enough, and she was met face-to-face with Akko, tears dribbling down her cheeks as she worked her sleeve around her face, clearing away grime.
"A-Akko, why are you-" She was cut off as Akko collided with her, wrapping her in her arms and drawing her closer, unable to control the childish desire to smother Diana in a hug.
"Dianaaaaaa..." she bawled, "I'm never letting go of you." She smushed her face against Diana's, and a bundle of giggles fled from her lips as Diana set a hand on the top of her head.
"I feel that may be...a bit excessive." Her lips curved up into a faint smile. She hoped Akko wouldn't freak out because her control on consciousness was slipping.
"I don't care, and if you ever tell me something as stupid as to leave you behind again-"
"She told you that?!" Barbara shouted, closing in closer to the pair.
"She's stupid, right?" Akko asked.
"I hate to say it, but, Diana, that's really dumb," Hannah replied.
The three laughed, lightly, just as the sound of boots reached their ears.
"Do not be alarmed, but...I think I will take a short nap..." Diana mumbled.
"What? Diana, wait - the professors-"
"Akko, I think it's okay," Hannah spoke, and she released her spell, placing her hand atop Akko's shoulder in an odd display of comfort. Akko relaxed under the touch, surprised by Hannah's kindness, but she turned her attention back to Diana as the blond let out a sigh, presumably as the last remnants of consciousness slipped away.
"Don't worry, Diana." She leaned back against the wall, her own exhaustion creeping up to her. "You're in good hands."
Author's Note: Funny Story: I had no intention of continuing with the idea from chapter 1; but I got a comment yesterday about a cliffhanger, and all I could think was "oh no." I hadn't clarified that I had no plans to continue - but I also had no intention of breaking the news, that, "hey, sorry, but that's it!" So...naturally I sat myself down and churned out this second bit. Oh, gosh, it was tons of fun, but now I'm having to change around my other days, and one of my ideas is being pushed out of this week. It will be published eventually - just not now, lmbo.
I apologize for errors because I haven't had extensive time to proofread, but over the next few days I will definitely be rereading it and fixing up odd parts. And this is the final part; tomorrow will be a completely unrelated chapter.
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed! :)
Here are the translations to the flowers:
sanguinem spissamentum - blood stopper
aufero dolore - pain remover (or remover of pain)