Ashitaka held on to Kiba's back with one hand, keeping Kaya upright with the other. Her presence against him, as well as the cold water of the lake kept him from losing consciousness as the world swam around him. NO. Ashitaka shook his head, gritting his teeth. He couldn't leave her alone now, not when they were so close.

He could hear Tsume and Hitori swimming just behind them. He couldn't see San.

"Ashitaka?"

It was Kaya. She tried to turn to look at him, but he held her tighter. "What is it?" His voice was hoarse, and the taste of blood was in his mouth.

She didn't reply, and that emptiness stretched on. The lights of the city across the water reflected behind them now, and shouts and gunfire could be faintly heard. Through his hazed vision, Ashitaka could see the shore. The low cliff where they would meet the others was still out of sight.

A wave rose around them, Kiba trying to bear the weight on his back, and water rose to his riders' waists. Ashitaka held Kaya upright, fearing that he'd let go, and she'd fall into the depths. That something would come, and take her, or San, away, and hurt them even more.

"Ashitaka?"

A shudder rocked his body. Flashes of blades, of flying blood, crashed into his mind. He sucked in a breath to drive them away. Stay awake. Stay alive. Get to shore. He bit his lip, and more iron taste joined his tongue. And then he was back, running, and the fear, the terror, ripped at him, those thoughts of being too late, not enough, too weak, and that he'd arrive to find the ones he loved dead, flesh torn by unimaginable cruelties.

He must stop that; he must not allow that. So his hands, they became red. Soaking, dripping, then touching her face and leaving death behind. The screams behind on the ground, the screams ahead of his blade, the screams cut off, but the screams in her eyes would not stop, they would not stop–

"Ashitaka!"

An elbow jabbed into his ribs. It was light, but sharp, and he let out a breath.

"Your breathing is all wrong, please, calm down, or you'll pass out." Kaya pressed herself against him, one hand clutching his. An exhale, might have been a laugh. "And you know how bad I am at swimming, so don't fall off, please?"

Ashitaka took a breath, the fresh breeze of the great lake filling him, and other memories came to him, of hills and rivers, of a smile on her unscarred face– He blinked. "Yes, Kaya…" He raised his voice. "San?"

"Yes, Ashitaka?" Her voice came from behind him, and something in him settled slightly. She was here.

"Can you see the cliffpoint?"

"Yes, it's just ahead."

Oh. They were almost there. That small relief washed through him, and he shuddered again. Was it just the cold?

Another voice. Hitori. "I'll go ahead, try to find Chen and the others, bring them here, yeah?"

Ashitaka didn't reply. His head was swimming now, swimming in the water that lapped gently against his legs. His grip unclenched, and he felt his hold on Kaya loosen.

Blue boy? Are you ok?

In a rush of overturning balance, he fell from Kiba's back.

The water of the lake engulfed Ashitaka, the cold cutting into him like blades, settling on him like torn armor. Everything was darkness around him, and he tried to move, to bring himself back up, but there was so much weight, dragging him down, and it wouldn't let him go–

A furred shape pushed itself against his arm, and a voice rang in his malfunctioning mind. Ashitaka! Grab onto me!

He obeyed as best he could, his arm reaching out and taking ahold of the shape. Ashitaka felt a hand grab onto his collar, and with Hitori pushing from under him and the grip from above they pulled him to the surface again. He gasped, air rushing in, but his mind was still fogged, still rusted.

"-all right?"

"I've got him! Stay on Kiba's back, don't let go." The hand tightened. "Hold to Hitori, now."

Ashitaka moved his other arm, and held onto the swimming form with all his depleted strength, but he could feel his mind slipping away from him.

San, he's passing out, we need a new plan–

Ashitaka's last thoughts before the darkness took him were lost in a desperate tide.

…

Ashitaka woke slowly, struggling against the black grip that tried to keep him unconscious. But something drove him onward, grasping desperately to wake up. After all, he'd left important things behind.

His eyes opened marginally, stuck together with pain, but he saw branches and leaves above him, and beyond that, the stars of the night sky. At first, Ashitaka heard no sounds, and a panic began to grip him, fighting fiercely against the exhaustion attempting to beat his mind back into darkness. Where were they? What had become of San and Kaya?

He needed to get up. Ashitaka realized he wore no armor, and his chest and arms were bare. Where had they gone? Had they been taken? The questions tried to fill him, fuel him as they had for so long, but there was nothing left in him, nothing left but the panicked powerlessness. He gasped a breath, pain stabbing in his side, eyes forced shut again.

Something in his ears popped, cold water flowing out of them just as the smell of wood smoke filled his nostrils, and he almost choked as deep breaths racked his body, soreness creaking through him.

"San, he's awake."

"Oh, good. It's almost going by itself, you'll tend the fire?"

"Yes. He might be confused, be gentle, please?"

He knew those voices.

Ashitaka's eyes fought to open, but before they could he felt hands touch his head and shoulders in a firm, but comforting way. He was lifted, then set on something soft, and finally his eyes opened again, blinking away the scratchy fog.

San looked down at him and smiled, her blue eyes lit by dim firelight. One hand brushed his hair from his face, and all of a sudden Ashitaka could see her clearly.

"San–" His voice gave out, gritty and whispered.

"Shh, now. Quiet, now." Her words were calm, free of urgency or tension. "Rest, my warrior."

He swallowed, numbness inhibiting her words. The panicked purpose, the desperate grasping at strength, began to slip away, and he made one last attempt to keep it. What would he be, when it was gone?

And then another face swam into view. Kaya's concern was clear by the lines tracing her new scars, then she looked to San. "I think that will keep our chills away. When will your sister return?"

"She is my cousin, and it will not be long. You should rest as well."

"I have rested enough." Her light voice was chipped, but determined. Her gaze returned to Ashitaka, and her eyebrows rose. "Do you need anything, Ashitaka? The blood was washed away in the lake, and we dressed your wounds as well as we could, but is there anything that pains you especially?"

All of a sudden, Ashitaka's breathing was staggered. His chest rose and fell, and he struggled to find air. For a moment he was shocked, fearful, but then pain flashed on his cheek as salt found its way into the cut on his face. And then the tears came in earnest, his eyes creasing, his view of San and Kaya obscured once again.

But the panic was gone. He closed his eyes, and could not see them, but they were there, he knew. They were here. Alive, and safe. Arms pulled him up, into one embrace, and then another. The sobs shook him, but somehow, even as the pain in his cheek and side flared up, peace found his tattered mind, and with his remaining strength, he clutched the people he loved as closely as he could.

Because they were here, his pains were already fading.

And this time, when the soft hold of sleep found him again, Ashitaka welcomed it.

…

The End of Queen Mononoke Part Two; The Reign of Cage and Stone