Chapter 31: Wounded

Also known as: What Lies Beyond

A scream reared up Corrin's throat. It built with every breath as she tasted earth and blood, threatening to escape in waves and waves of panic. She staggered into a run. Left the torrent of land, of boulders and trees, behind her as she burst out of the valley behind her allies. There was no time to breathe or pause. No time to swallow what had just happened, what she'd seen; the sight of Takumi, of her allies, disappearing beneath a cloud of earth and dust flashed behind her eyes. She thrust it from her mind as she cut down a Vallite soldier.

Her sword felt too heavy in her grip. Her lungs struggled for air through the tight lump in her throat, her muscles aching, searing as the fight continued. The way back into the valley was blocked. Boulders the size of buildings rolled to a stop alongside a deluge of earth. Vallite soldiers poured from the trees, undeterred by the quaking of the ground beneath them. They were surrounded, with no option but to fight.

But then, that had become normal for Corrin. She no longer flinched at the warm spray of blood. She no longer flinched when her sword hit bone, when it tore through flesh and muscle, seconds before the enemy vanished into a puff of ash. She blocked everything from her mind and fought. She wouldn't let herself think of what she'd seen. Of what had happened. Of how it was her fault.

Of how she may have just doomed them all.

When the last Vallite fell, Corrin whirled for the valley, stealing a sharp gasp of air, when a hand caught her wrist.

"Where are you going, Corrin?" Xander's steeled voice, his grip, had her halting before she'd taken a step. He'd read her movements, her hasty glances, and knew her next move even before she'd taken it.

"Takumi is–" Corrin choked on the taste of dirt in her mouth. She coughed, swallowed, her arm loosening in Xander's grip, and tried again. "They're still in there."

"Our people are injured." As calm as Xander's voice was, it did nothing to slow the thundering of Corrin's heart. "We need to regroup. It would be foolish to throw ourselves into battle so soon."

"Then I'll go alone–"

"Corrin." She flinched under the weight of his voice. She wished to tug her arm free, to bolt for the mountain ridge, to fight until her lungs bled, just to find them. To save the allies she'd damned. "You're in no state to go charging in there alone."

The will to fight drained from her bones, through her legs, her feet, and bled onto the ground. It was like her heart had punctured and drained into her stomach. Her muscles felt impossibly heavy. Corrin's arm fell limp in Xander's grip. Slowly, she turned and took in the sorry state of her allies.

There wasn't a single piece of armour not stained with blood. No steel untouched by the stain of earth and blood. Dust clung to their wounds, their blood and hair as a blanket of exhaustion draped over their group. Some had just collapsed on the spot, facing the endless sky above. Corrin sank as the effects of adrenalin wore off and a slow ache built in her muscles. The arm she'd fractured earlier throbbed. She thought of Elise and squeezed her eyes shut.

"All right," she sighed. Xander dropped her arm but didn't move to leave. He studied her face, her bloodied armour, as if waiting for her to flee or collapse. She did neither.

"I told them to go up there," she said. Her voice was faint enough that Xander barely caught it over the wind and distant conversations of their allies. His expression softened. Corrin felt hollow, the horror of what she'd seen too fresh in her mind. It kept coming back. In vivid flashes, slower than reality, consuming her mind, her thoughts.

"You couldn't have predicted what would happen," Xander said.

"If I were more experienced I could've–"

"No one can predict an earthquake."

An earthquake. Was that all that was? Had she not tasted magic in the air? Had it not tainted every breath she took, or was that just the thick fog of dirt? It all blurred into one.

"I shouldn't have sent them up there."

"We wouldn't have gotten this far if you didn't," Xander said in return. He clasped a hand on her shoulder, gave it a tight squeeze, and held it there. "You did what you thought was right."

How many times has she heard that before? The echo of his words brought painful tears to her eyes. They burnt when she blinked and rubbed them away.

"I'm sending Kaze after them," she said. Xander's hand fell.

"Corrin–"

"Someone has to look for them," she said, cutting him off. She searched her allies for her retainer, for his recognisable green garb. "They might be injured."

She didn't say what she really thought. She wouldn't go there now. Not while there was a chance they were still breathing. It was all she could do.

She watched Kaze's retreating figure as he headed through the trees and gripped her dragonstone tight. Its magic thrummed against her palm, waiting to be called. She could call it. She could charge through the trees as a dragon, tearing through anything and anyone in her path.

But she didn't. She stood there, waiting, as the setting sun coloured the sky in a burnt crimson that reminded her too much of blood. She closed her eyes, felt the painful throb of tears against her lids. The calm pulsing of her dragonstone was the only thing she focused on. The stone he'd given her. With a flush on his cheeks, unsure of it, of himself, he'd handed it to her.

And she'd given him hers in return. Just like she'd given him her heart.

The first thing Takumi saw was a green light. Glistening, shining straight into his eyes, he winced against the bright light. Then he felt the terrible ache spread across his body. Like every inch of him had bruised at once. He sat up against the pain and coughed on the thick layer of dirt and dust in his mouth. It was then that he realised just how badly the terrain had changed around him. A haze of dust covered the trees, splintered trunks lay haphazardly across the ground. It was like a giant had thrown a tantrum, tossing boulders and smashing trees, fracturing the landscape and leaving a fog of dust in its wake.

The only thing Takumi recognised was the green stone glowing faintly through the haze. Corrin's dragonstone. He stood a little too quickly, stumbled over to it in painful haste, and snatched it from the dirt. He stared down at it, the only trace of Corrin in the madness around him. It hadn't been glowing at all, only reflecting the streams of light that bled through the trees. It dulled in his hand but he held it tight. Held it to his chest as if it were a piece of her, as if he could feel her through it.

A branch snapped and shattered the silence. Takumi whirled as a Vallite soldier, bleeding profusely from his head, staggered through the trees. The red stain of blood was nothing compared to the burning crimson of the soldier's eyes. Like hollow candles burning in the dead of night. The soldier broke into a hobbled run, a cloak of purple fire billowing around him. Takumi pierced him with a single shot of his Fujin Yumi. An arrow of sharp blue light slicing through the darkness, through the soldier's corrupted heart. He dissolved into ash before he hit the ground.

Takumi let out a tight breath. His hands shook around his bow, muscles aching to rest. Through the almost silence, there was a faint shuffling of leaves. A faint snap of twigs breaking beneath feet. Takumi steeled himself into a crouch, wincing at the crunch of undergrowth beneath his heels. His heart hammered away in his chest. His mind span as he tried to figure out what happened. He remembered the earth rumbling beneath his feet. A burst of magic above them, high above in the rocky slopes of the mountain, and then the earth splitting. He remembered falling. Tumbling, scrambling for purchase, losing sight of his allies, of Corrin.

His throat clamped shut at the thought of Corrin. Like a tight hand clenched around his neck, squeezing down and making it impossible to breathe.

She'd been relying on him. On his aim, his skills. And he'd failed her. He'd been unable to protect her. And now he was lost and alone–

A muffled groan sounded, made Takumi jolt in place and freeze. A flash of adrenaline through his system ran straight to his fingers and toes, dulling the ache in his muscles as he turned towards the noise. He shifted a foot. Silent against the undergrowth now. All his skills at hunting came into play as he stalked towards the source of the groan. One step, two, placing his feet in patches of dirt, away from twigs and dried leaves. He ducked under branches, a hand on the ground for balance.

The groan sounded again. Closer, this time, as Takumi drifted forward. He caught sight of dark armour, the wearer slumped against a thick trunk, their back to him. The black of their armour sickeningly familiar to Takumi. He straightened, though not fully slipping out of his caution. Bow at the ready, he stepped purposely on a patch of dead leaves which crunched beneath his foot.

A ripple of magic bloomed in the air, tome flaring to life in the wielders palm in ribbons of light as he leant around the tree– and stopped with a sigh. Prince Leo sank back against the trunk, dropping Brynhildr in his lap. The magic dissolved into nothing.

"It's just you," he sighed. "You should make note not to sneak up on the injured. I could have just as easily killed you where you stand."

Takumi snorted. "I'd like to see you try." Despite his words, tension washed off Takumi's shoulders. His grip on his bow loosened; he no longer treaded quietly as he rounded the tree to see the Prince fully.

Leo was in a worse state than he'd sounded. A sliver of dried blood ran from his forehead, over one eye and to his jaw. There were droplets on his armour, the dark metal scoured and dented. Takumi winced at the blood-soaked dirt that Leo had dragged himself across. His shiny and usually spotless greaves had been torn open towards the base, the metal jagged and split. Beneath it, Takumi could see only red.

"You're bleeding," Takumi said. The pale, glassy look in Leo's eyes came into focus now. It wasn't just blood that dripped from his face but perspiration as well. His breathing was shallow and faint, yet he managed a dry laugh.

"How very astute of you," Leo remarked. "Care to make any other useless observations?" He shifted, as if to sit up higher, and grimaced through the pain. His fringe stuck to his forehead, slick with blood and sweat. Takumi dropped the frown from his face and knelt beside Prince Leo's injured leg.

"I'll have to take this off to patch it up," Takumi said, motioning to Leo's greaves. He only hoped the armoured boots around Leo's legs were similar in design to Hoshidan armour. He focused on Prince Leo's leg, lest he give away how uneasy he was. How the panic had taken hold, sitting as a tight lump in his throat. He wasn't a healer. He hadn't taken a good look at the wound, yet it was blatantly obvious that it was deep. The amount of blood coating both the wound and the dirt beneath indicated that it was anything but shallow.

Leo breathed a huff through his nose, clenching his jaw in trepidation. "Just get it over with."

Takumi swallowed. "Right." He took in a deep breath and reached for the topmost strap at the back of Leo's calf. The Nohrian Prince bent his knee, raising his lower leg off the ground with a groan as Takumi worked off the straps. He struggled to still his shaking fingers as he undid the buckles and slipped the straps off. Soon, he was able to peel off the greave and reveal the wound beneath.

It was clogged with thick, sticky blood, the skin and muscle beneath torn open like a gaping mouth. Takumi couldn't look at it for long. He ripped the section of Leo's pants that were already shredded from whatever had inflicted the wound to get better access to it. Takumi's fingers came away slick with blood. A sickening jolt shot through Takumi at the sharp edge of white bone sticking from the wound. The bone in his lower leg had snapped. Takumi was staring at a piece of it now. Something that should never see the light of day.

"That bad, is it?" Leo huffed. He drew a hand through his hair with a short puff of air. Takumi pressed his lips together in a harsh line. His heart had leapt into his throat, a sick weight dropping into his stomach. He felt sick at the sight, and not just from the blood, the bone, the torn flesh. He didn't know what to say, what to tell the Nohrian prince. He wasn't a healer. He wasn't Leo's friend, barely his ally.

"Just tell me," Leo said. "Don't mince your words. I know it's bad – it feels horrid enough."

Takumi swallowed the churning sickness rising in his throat. "It's broken. Badly. I… I don't think I can set it."

"I don't expect you to," Leo sighed.

"I can't just leave it like that." All open to the air, the settling dirt, the blood seeping from the wound…

"And what would you propose instead?" Leo folded his arms, staring down Takumi as if he wasn't short of breath and suffering from blood loss, as if his face wasn't a sickly grey.

It wasn't the first time Takumi felt severely useless. Inadequate. The Nohrian Prince's question had been like a taunt, a jab at his inability to do anything in this situation. It only fuelled the ill torrent swirling in Takumi's stomach that crawled up his throat with the taste of bile.

"I'll bind it," Takumi said. He sat back, folded his arms in return. A little triumphant, maybe, he met Leo's eyes.

"With what?" Leo was still taunting him. Takumi grit his teeth. All he needed was a piece of cloth long enough, strong enough, to wind around the wound. He had nothing on him but the clothes on his back.

Takumi slumped. Just as he did, Leo reached behind himself, unclipped his short cape and tossed it to Takumi. "Use that. Make sure you bind it tightly."

Takumi raised an eyebrow at the Prince before looking at the cape in his hands. It was soft. Impossibly soft for a cape meant to be worn into battle.

"It's going to hurt," Takumi said. He studied the Prince's face, the tightness of his jaw. His already pale skin now appeared ghostly white. Despite the glaze clouding them, Leo's eyes were steady. He met Takumi's gaze, his raised eyebrow in concern, unflinching.

"I know."

Takumi pulled his eyes away and ripped the cloak into long ribbons. There was something strange about Takumi, a Hoshidan, tearing up this fine, quality Nohrian fabric between his bloodied fingers. Even stranger to think that he was doing so to use it as a makeshift bandage.

Takumi shot a quick glance around them, through the trees, into the shadows, waiting and listening to the silence. A moment passed and he turned back to the wound.

"Don't bite your tongue," Takumi said, slowly reaching for the wound. Leo only huffed a reply and looked away, so Takumi got to work. He bound it tightly, as tightly as he thought would be sufficient, and repressed a gag as he felt the bone shift beneath his hands. Leo dug the tips of his gauntlet into his legs as if he wished to dig his nails into his thighs through the pain, a stifled groan hissing through his teeth. The remains of Leo's cloak soaked dark red, barely holding the edges of the wound closed.

Takumi sat back and wiped the blood from his fingers onto his pants. Leo drew a tight breath, slumping against the tree. The air dissolved into silence once more, an unspoken question hanging between them.

What now?

Leo's leg was injured. He wouldn't be able to walk without assistance, but then Takumi wouldn't be able to use his bow. They'd have to rely on Leo's magic, but in his state, with the loss of blood, Takumi wouldn't be surprised if the Nohrian Prince fainted upon standing. There wasn't much they could do.

Well, there wasn't much Leo could do. Takumi had come out of the fight and the earthquake relatively unscathed save for sore muscles and bruises. He could still walk, still fight. He didn't have to stay here.

Takumi sat back on his hands with a heavy breath. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" he asked.

Leo huffed a dry laugh as if that were obvious, his face contorting into pain as he did. "May have cracked a rib. Wouldn't be surprised at this point."

Takumi didn't know what to say to that. His stomach felt like lead. He stared at the ground between them and wished the air didn't smell like blood.

"You don't have to humour me," Leo said, stealing Takumi's attention back. "We both know nothing will happen by us sitting around. And I'm not injured enough that I can't fight."

"You don't expect me to just leave you," Takumi scoffed in disbelief. Not only would he not forgive himself if he did, but Corrin would most certainly have his head.

"And what will you do instead?" Leo raised a questioning eyebrow. "Sit around in the hopes that someone will come upon us? Surely by now you realise we're on our own."

Takumi sat up, clenching his fists on his lap. There were so many things he wished to say, his throat ached. To say that Leo was wrong, they weren't alone, that surely, surely someone else was out there. That Corrin wouldn't leave them to this fate. She wouldn't.

Something heavy crashed through the trees. A figure rolled into view and Takumi and Leo had their weapons drawn in an instant, bow ready, magic flaring to life, as the figure came to a stop. She flopped on her back, arms and legs sprawled outwards like star.

"Setsuna?" Takumi gaped as the archer slowly raised her head.

"Oh… it's Lord Takumi and Lord Leo," Setsuna said in her usual slow manner. She was in no hurry to sit up or explain why or how she came to be rolling down the mountain. There was an array of twigs and leaves in her hair which she made no attempt to brush out. She gave the two Princes' a lazy smile and a half-hearted wave.

Barely a moment past before another figure came crashing through the trees, stumbling over their feet with a cry. "Setsuna! Don't go off without me!" Hayato came skidding to a stop as he saw the two Princes and Setsuna lying on the ground. He straightened stiffly and brushed away the dirt on his knees, adjusting his robe in the process. "You found someone…" he nodded to the Princes. "But you shouldn't have run off like that, Setsuna. What if you'd rolled into some of those soldiers?"

"Hmm…" Setsuna hummed. "That would have been bad…"

"Is it just you two?" Takumi asked. A quick glance over them revealed no obvious injuries, which was reinforced by their dramatic entry through the trees. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"Nope," Setsuna said. She was still on her back, staring at patches of blue sky through the canopy of leaves and branches.

"Only those veiled soldiers," Hayato said. His eyes cased over to Leo, still propped up against the tree. "Is he injured?"

Takumi nodded tightly. "You wouldn't happen to have any healing magic on you?"

"No, but I can make up a charm to numb pain," Hayato said. "Though it does have some side-effects…"

"What kind?" Leo asked

"It tends to numb everything else as well for as long as it's applied. You can end up making the injury worse or causing others because of it," Hayato said. "And it might make you woozy."

"I think that's the least of our worries right now," Leo said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Takumi said. "What if we get attacked again? You'll be useless."

"Whatever happens, we can't stay here, and I'm not in any state to walk." Leo huffed, motioning to his leg. "I'm already useless enough as it is. But we can't stay here on my account. At least with the charm I'll be able to move with some assistance."

Takumi grumbled in defeat. The Nohrian prince was right; they couldn't stay here. They needed to find their way to Corrin and the rest of their allies somehow. Wherever they were.

Leo stiffened, his eyes shooting to Takumi, both jolting alert as the shadows shifted, as soldiers burst through the trees. Takumi reacted with a surge of adrenaline, cutting through the first with a blinding arrow. Magic tainted the air, bitter, metallic, as branches split the earth and pierced the veiled soldiers as they came.

The soldiers came fast through the trees. Setsuna swung to her feet, backing close to Takumi and Leo with Hayato at her side. They were vastly outnumbered. Disadvantaged without anything to fight with in close range. Takumi ducked beneath a sword, feeling it arch over his head, and levelled an arrow into the soldiers gut. His muscles burned. Pain flared to life in his arms as he drew back his bow, as he fired arrow after arrow as the veiled soldiers closed in on them. As each soldier fell, two more took its place. Their strikes were coming faster, closer, now. A sword cut open Setsuna's side before Hayato could wield a sheep-spirit. Takumi shot down a soldier swinging an axe down at Leo and caught a blade to the back of his arm in the next breath.

Pain burst down his arm as the soldier drew back to strike again, the steel of his sword coated red in Takumi's blood. He turned, too slow, his stance sloppy as he struggled to raise his bow, as the soldier cut towards him. A flash of steel sunk into the soldier's neck. Into the other Vallite soldiers. There was a puff of ash as they dissolved into nothing, and two figures dropped from the trees.

Takumi lurched, snapping his aim towards the figures, to see Kagero and Saizo. He dropped his arms in relief, his Fujin Yumi almost slipping from his grip to the blood-soaked dirt. He almost slumped to the ground, to his knees, in absolute relief.

"You couldn't have come soon enough," Takumi sighed. The adrenalin from the fight still had his heart racing, the pain from the wound in his arm a dull burn. He knew it would hurt later but for now he was glad for the faint respite.

"Are you injured, Lord Takumi?" Kagero asked, eyeing his blood-soaked arm, before casting a quick glance to Leo. The Nohrian prince forced a tight smile.

"It's barely a scratch," Takumi said, though he knew otherwise. There were more pressing issues to worry about than the graze down his arm. Leo's leg being one of them. They had to find the rest of their allies and get out off the mountain side as soon as possible.

It wasn't easy, but after using Hayato's charm, they were able to get Leo to his feet, his injured leg swaying above the ground. Leo had his arm slung over Takumi's shoulder, using him like a crutch, to both Princes' slight disdain. Takumi swallowed his biting words and forced himself to help Leo walk, despite how tense he was, how uncomfortable it was having the Nohrian Prince this close.

Takumi told himself to get used to it. Get use to Leo. He was someone Corrin cared about. Deeply. And now wasn't the time to pick and choose allies, especially when Leo himself was badly injured. And so Takumi shouldered Leo's weight, the two hobbling after Setsuna and Hayato through the trees with Kagero and Saizo scouting ahead.

Princess Elise's cry shattered the calm as Takumi and Leo hobbled into her sight. In a small clearing, the rest of their allies that had been on the mountain ridge had gathered. Elise and Azama were tending to the wounded. She rushed over, scrambling to her feet, almost dropping her staff in the process. Tears filled her eyes, her lips and voice wobbling at the sight of her big brother limping.

"Leo!" she skidded to a halt in front of the two Princes, having to restrain herself from crashing into Leo with a hug. Odin and Niles were right behind her, scanning their charge up and down. "Your leg! What happened?"

Leo gave her a tight smile before meeting the eyes of his relieved retainers. "It's nothing a quick heal won't cover.

Takumi scoffed, earning a harsh side-eye from Leo.

"I'm glad your safe, Elise," Leo added. He reached out and placed his hand atop Elise's head, giving her a soft, gentle pat. She pouted up at him, cheeks puffed and red. She didn't attempt to wipe away the tears that glistened in her eyes.

"I was so worried!" Elise sobbed. She pressed her lips tightly together to keep them from trembling. She was wound up so tightly from her nerves, from what had happened. "I thought you'd– I thought…" She couldn't give voice to her thought. Her voice caught off in a sob, one she choked down, and furiously swiped at her tears.

"Of course a rock fall wouldn't stop our Lord Leo," Odin proclaimed, nodding to himself in satisfaction. "And I, Odin Dark, didn't doubt your return for a moment!"

"Then I suppose all that pacing and muttering to yourself was just for show?" Niles quipped, smirking at the mage. Odin stammered a reply but it was lost as Niles and Odin were ordered by Elise to help her take Leo over to their makeshift infirmary; a small area where they'd laid out cloaks and blankets for the wounded to rest upon.

With Leo's weight off Takumi's shoulder, he slumped. A long breath of air stole from him in a huff. He rolled the shoulder of his injured arm, felt the burning pain tug at his senses. It was strangely calm. No sounds of fighting, no clashing steel, no grunts of pain, no zing of magic. And yet, as Takumi glanced around the small clearing between the trees, he couldn't settle. His heart still thrummed in his chest. His stomach alive with an uneasy buzz.

Takumi scanned the rest of his allies as if for something to do and his heart sunk. It fell like a stone into his stomach, heavy and putrid. Saizo and Kagero were patrolling their surroundings for any sign of hostiles. Setsuna and Hayato were preparing something in a pot boiling over a small fire. Shura tended to his bow, checked his arrows, with Orochi looking on despite the older man's disinterest. Azama was healing a deep burn over Nyx's forearm, the young mage wearing a darker glare than usual.

And Leo… he was being tended to by Elise, with Odin and Niles at his side. Takumi watched as Elise undid the crude bandage around Leo's leg, saw Odin wince, Niles letting out a low whistle at the sight of his injury.

Takumi tore his eyes away. A sharp pang of pain cut into his heart. It seemed that everyone had someone here. Someone they could talk to. Someone they could relax with. Someone they could let their guard down with.

Not for the first time since the landslide, Takumi itched to have Oboro and Hinata with him. Or any of his siblings. Or even Azura.

Or Corrin.

His chest felt numb. Like something cold had encased his heart, wedged itself in his chest, bleeding through his veins.

That feeling didn't go away. Not after his injury was healed curtesy of Azama, not when the sky darkened, leaving an ocean of stars glistening above. His heart ached. He drew into himself, sitting up against a tree in the dark, his arms crossed tightly in an effort to conceal what little warmth he had. They had no fire, no light. Nothing to calm the darkness that ebbed around them, unfamiliar and daunting.

Someone could be behind the next tree and they wouldn't know until it was too late. Well, except for the fact that Kagero and Saizo were on permanent guard duty. But even that couldn't ease the churning nerves in Takumi's gut.

Despite everything, sleep called to him. And with sleep came the nightmares. As consistent and reliable as always, as soon as he fell asleep, the nightmares took hold.

He saw his mother. The rail of dark shards sinking into her chest. Pools of blood blooming like crimson flowers across her front, seeping through her clothes and to the pristine cobblestones beneath.

Again and again, he saw it happen.

He saw her die.

And he was never close enough. Always unable to move, unable to cross that distance and save her. Unable to cut down the cloaked figure that ended his mother's life with a blast of dark magic, the shattering of that demonic sword.

And he saw Corrin. Tears wetting her striking, crimson eyes. She was close, unabashedly close, her arms wrapped around him. There was such pain in her eyes, such horrid, horrid pain, that just seeing it hurt more than the searing pain in his chest.

She was muttering something. Repeating it, over and over and over again, never meeting his eyes. She shook her head. The soft curls of her hair swishing around her cheeks.

"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"

Takumi looked down at her, lips parting in a question he couldn't voice. The words wouldn't form. His throat was too dry. His lungs held no air. His chest burnt with a pain so hollow he felt numb. When he glanced down, he wasn't even surprised to see the Yato sticking through his chest.

He wasn't surprised.

Because this was how it was supposed to end, right?

But it hurt. It hurt. And she was crying, sobbing against his chest, her fingers clenched in his shirt, dragging him closer, closer to her. And that numbness was spreading, through his chest, to his arms, his legs, his fingers. He was growing fainter. Losing hold on her, on reality.

His fingers felt numb as he caught a tear as it slid down her rosy cheeks. He couldn't feel the warmth of her skin against his thumb. Her breath caught, she stole her eyes up to his with a shaky gasp. Takumi's mouth was still open, still desperately moving as he ached to speak.

And she was saying something. Shaking her head, the tears coming faster now, but he couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear anything. The edges of his vision began to fade into black. He felt cold. The hand against her cheek fell away and hung limp at his side. She was the only thing holding him up, the only thing keeping him there.

His last words were for her.

"Thank you…"

The final thing he felt was the sob that tore through her body.

Sorry this took so long I've been pretty sick lately and haven't had the strength to write!

But here it is... the chapter that killed me...

what even are chapter titles... why did I think giving each chapter a unique title was a good idea...

ANYWAY I hope you enjoyed this chapter with a lot of it in Takumi's perspective.

It'll be like that a little for the next chapter as well, as long as their groups are split.

Anyway,

See you next chapter!