—

As Loqi predicted, the chaos erupted once his first shot was made. One arrow wasn't enough to incapacitate such a beast by any means, but it was certainly enough to piss it off.

The rage-filled bellow that followed his attack was loud enough to shake the area, and Loqi and Evan jerked their chocobos to opposite sides to avoid the rocks that began to fall.

"Move!" Loqi ordered reflexively, albeit unnecessarily. Evan was level-headed. He knew exactly how to proceed, as did his chocobo.

Normal chocobo steeds would have fled by now, but not their birds. This was precisely why they'd trained them so hard for so many hours. They wouldn't panic or cave to their nerves – they were under the complete control of their riders.

The daemon's head broke fully through the tunnel wall, its claw extending an instant later as it sought out their flesh. Loqi jerked his chocobo to the side just in time to avoid getting him and his mount skewered. Evan used the attack as an opening for himself, a knife flying to strike the monster's face while it was distracted. His accuracy was dead-on, but it still wasn't enough to break the skin fully.

The daemon continued to shriek at them, sweeping its hand towards Evan instead.

Loqi was confident that Evan would fair fine, and he yanked on his chocobo's reigns with his now arrow-less hand, making a quick turn to head for the truck.

They could delay the monster and give Petra time to get away but staying still to fight was suicide. Its skin was just too damn tough. They'd only be able to dance around for so long before it gutted them.

As Loqi expected, Evan was back with him, and they rode together as they raced towards the truck.

They just needed to not move too quickly so that the monster caught up with them all–

Wait. What was that? Movement in the wall ahead.

But the daemon was still behind them… How…

Oh, shit.

"Delilah there's a second–"

His warning came too late, the latter half of it drowned out by the second wall daemon bursting out of the already destabilizing tunnel.

Delilah made a mad dodge with her chocobo to the right, and then left to avoid a falling chunk of the roof of the tunnel.

Hell, that had been close. She'd literally been an inch from death.

…Shit.

Loqi ushered his chocobo again, this time to increase their speed as his eyes remained glued to the disaster in front of him.

Delilah's dodging had put her directly in the truck's path, forcing Petra to swerve to avoid her.

Loqi gritted his teeth.

Not good, not good.

That was going to put Dino in danger as well if he didn't move–

The second wall daemon struck out again, nailing the back end of the truck just as Petra was getting control again.

Damn it!

Dino–

No, Dino was fine – the truck curved far enough not to hit him, instead careening far to the right and straight toward the wall on that side.

Despite the screaming and battling, the only noise Loqi seemed to be able to hear was the sound of the truck crunching as it struck stone.

"Petra!" the cry ripped from Loqi's throat as he drew near, his heart pounding hard enough that his blood was buzzing in his ears.

The crash hadn't been that bad, though. There was still a chance Petra was all right.

"We've got the daemon!" Delilah called, her crossbow pelting the monsters repeatedly. "We'll keep it busy! Get Petra out!"

Loqi didn't bother acknowledging her – he just obeyed. His chocobo sprinted the remaining distance in no time, and he dismounted smoothly as he neared the truck, shrugging his bow over one shoulder and across his body to free up his hands.

"Petra!" Loqi batted at the smoke from the truck and the dust particles from the ceiling as they clouded his vision.

A groan was the only thing Loqi received in answer, but that was enough. Petra was, for the moment, alive. And if he was alive, there was a great chance that Delilah could help him, no matter how injured he was.

"Petra?" Loqi cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure the others had the beast handled before clambering over the wreckage left by the car.

"'Ere," Petra croaked in reply.

Loqi made it to the driver door, yanking on the handle to no avail.

He swore. It must have been jammed shut by the crash.

He hosted himself up onto the side of the truck instead, then using the running boards to get himself high enough to check on Petra.

"Petra? Status?"

Petra's face was twisted into a grimace, blood dripping down from somewhere in his hairline. "Not… Not so great…"

Damn it all, that was not good. Blatant and serious honesty? Not one ounce of sarcasm or sass?

Petra's injury had to be bad. Loqi needed to get him out and away from here so Delilah could heal him, and he needed to do it quickly.

"Just sit tight, Lapdog," Loqi forced out as upbeat as he could. "I'll have you out in no time."

"…Loqi." Petra swallowed visibly – his face pained with evident fear. "I can't feel my legs."

Despite the heat of all the adrenaline pumping under his skin, Loqi's blood felt like it had gone cold.

He'd never seen actual fear like this from Petra before, and he absolutely hated it.

If this was a spinal injury…

Honestly, that might be beyond even what Delilah could manage to heal…

But that could be worried about then. For now, getting Petra out of the truck was the current priority.

This damned door.

Loqi growled in frustration, craning his neck to see if he could possibly drag Petra out of the window. "Just hang tight, Petra." At least the window had been rolled down, so there was no broken glass to worry about.

"…Loqi. I-I don't think I'm gettin' out of this one–"

"Shut the hell up – yes you are!" Loqi reached inside the cab, balancing precariously on the narrow running board as he got a firm grip on Petra's coat. "Come on! Work with me here! You know I'm too small to have the upper body strength for this shit!"

Petra tried. Loqi could see he genuinely was trying to help lift himself up, but there wasn't enough room between him and the wrecked steering wheel.

No airbag. Typical of vehicles from these days.

Loqi let out a half-growl, half-scream. "All right, hang on. I'll get Evan or Dino to help–"

"Loqi, don't be an idiot!" Petra snapped, gaze firm as stared Loqi down. "We didn't get this far by lettin' emotions rule our 'eads!"

Loqi froze.

He was right. But no… No, no, no… Not Petra. Not like this. It would have been one thing if he was already dead, but he couldn't just leave him while he was still breathing.

"Loqi, we gotta move!" Delilah yelled.

She was right. Not only were the daemons a problem they couldn't beat like this, but the whole tunnel was unstable and getting worse now.

"Petra…" Loqi choked out softly, barely audible to his own ears with all the ruckus of the fight.

Petra smiled softly, weakly reaching up a hand to drop it on Loqi's shoulder. "You still got a city to run, Lackey. You better not let me down."

Loqi couldn't force himself to move. He knew he needed to. But his body just… wouldn't let him.

Petra's eyes hardened. "I'm not askin'! Now go!" Somehow, Petra still had the strength in him to shove Loqi off the side of the truck.

His back hit the ground painfully, but he recovered quickly, scrambling to his feet in time to see Petra readying his gun with a shaky, injured hand. "All of you go!"

Petra's eyes caught Loqi's one last time. "Live well, mate."

Loqi swallowed against the growing pressure in his throat, turning his head at the last moment as Petra pressed the gun to his jaw and pulled the trigger.

"Petra!" Evan screamed.

Loqi blinked the moisture from his eyes, his voice cracking as he made his next order. "Fall back! Make for Lestallum!"

He could feel the looks of horror on him as he mounted his chocobo again, but he knew they would follow him. There was no reason to linger now. They'd all heard the shot.

Loqi scrunched his eyes shut for a moment as he rode.

Six, why? Why like that?

Petra. Despite everything in the world pitting them against each other, they had formed a friendship. And now he was gone. Just like everyone else Loqi had lost.

He never would have done that under other circumstances. Petra was the type to fight to his last breath. But he'd ended it like that to give them solace. To make it so they wouldn't have to live with leaving him behind.

He'd been ensuring their safety. But Loqi didn't feel safe.

He felt hollow.

—