In the Wake of What Follows
Chapter Thirty: Backfire
It could have been years since Terra last blinked. Decades since she last drew breath. Hiei in the ring was enough to stall her heart. She was in stasis and the video feed of Hiei's fight was the only thing in existence.
Waves of jeering cries rumbled as white noise to her ears. When Chuu or Jin jostled her in excitement, they were little more than air and she was rooted in place.
They were all excited to watch the match. Hiei's chances were good, he started out strong.
Terra was the only one who knew to be afraid.
Kurama hadn't come back from his task yet, so he wouldn't have seen the wood Terra left for him. She should have brought it up before he'd gone. She should have insisted on knowing right away. Insisted he shared that information. Just in case. Because there was always a case.
Hiei's opponent was clever. She knew Hiei used fire. Goaded him into it, even. And as a fire burned, she tossed something into it. Hiei hadn't even questioned it. He was smart, but he was also brash. Hiei would only pay attention to the tricks and gimmicks of others once they were actively affecting him.
It looked like a broken hilt of her weapon, but how it burned. Oh, how it burned. Terra couldn't smell it from this far, but in her heart, she knew. There was something about the way the smoke clouded. Heavy, thick, it didn't drift up but out.
The wood had been burning for some time now.
If the strange wood had prevented Terra from manifesting her spirit energy outward, Terra worried what it would do to Hiei. It hadn't affected Rizu, at least as far as Terra could tell. He had mostly used his tail and scales. The long-range attack would have required energy, but in the same way Terra pushed her own energy through the naginata.
Rizu had had it on hand. He used Terra's appearance at the tournament to his advantage, Rizu hadn't been planning his attack before then. The wood must come from demon world. If Rizu thought to use it against Terra, he likely already knew how it affected demons.
How it affected Hiei.
Hiei usually relied on his speed and his blade. These would be unaffected. But Terra knew that Hiei had other techniques, even if she wasn't sure what they were.
The roar of the crowd grew an excitement as Hiei changed his stance. One of the demons in her group said something about a dragon.
"No," Terra whispered, so quiet she wasn't sure if she even voiced it.
On the screen, Hiei yelled words she couldn't read as black flames built around his arm. Maybe this would be okay. Maybe this would -
The black fire erupted, flames twice as tall as Hiei. Then, like a jammed gun, it backfired.
"No!" Terra tried to scream, but barely managed to choke out a sound around the fear in her throat.
The white noise of the audience shifted. Confused murmurs turned the cheering into an unsettling hush. On the screen, Hiei screamed and crumbled to his knees. His face was pure agony as he held his arm. His opponent stalked forward with calm surety in her win.
No. Hiei didn't seem capable of being aware of his surroundings. No. The woman had a new weapon at hand. Sharp. Casually held in her hand. No no no. The tip of the blade was against Hiei's throat.
"No." The word finally left her. In the corner of her eye, she barely registered Chuu try to pull her attention. There was a hand on her elbow that Terra didn't bother to fend off. "Hiei…"
Then, as Hiei screamed, his pain turned to rage. Terra didn't see it happen, it was too fast. The opponent was on the ground, her knife in her throat. Hiei kneeled next to her, still screaming, holding his arm, screaming, screaming.
He was declared the winner.
"I have to," Terra said, weight collapsing into whoever held up her elbow. "I have to" - she stumbled backward, unable to look away from the screen.
"Mulga!"
"I have to go." The medic station. Terra needed to be there. When Hiei was brought in, she needed to be there. The feed had cut out. She needed to be there.
"Terra!" Jin called after her as Terra raced up the stadium stairs. She didn't know if any of them were following her. It didn't matter. They wouldn't be able to stop her.
At the top of the stands, the back extended into a floor. She turned into the first building. How long would it take for them to get here? Would they come through the same entrance?
"Are you his medic?" A bored demon asked. Their ears were almost as long as Jin's and their skin was a pale shade of blue.
"What?"
"Hiei. Are you his medic?"
Right. That's right. They didn't supply medics. It was only if the competitor had supporters to heal them that they had a chance to be healed. Terra had a brief horrified moment on how easily someone could claim to be a medic only to harm them.
"Yeah," Terra said, nodding brusquely. "Yeah. Where?"
The demon started to walk down the hall and Terra moved to follow with little conscious thought. The room she was brought to was empty, a few beds lined against the windowed wall. She could see the screens from here.
There were a few agonizing minutes where everything was silent. Alone. What had been Hiei's screen was nothing but a black screen. The crowd outside was little more than a muffled static and the air was untouched and stale. Terra hadn't felt this numb since… Oh god. No.
Gurney wheels rasped against the floors. Laboured breath echoed in the hall, growing closer. A hiss through the teeth, trying to fight against something overwhelming and painful. Like the time Terra pushed him. A handprint seared onto his chest. The door pushed open, light framing the staff member brave enough to cart Hiei all the way here. And Hiei. Hiei, on the gurney.
Burnt flesh hit Terra like a truck. She knew that stench. The car crash. Upside down, glass like a thousand hornet stings, the drip drip drip of blood, and fire. The car had been on fire. Someone had been on fire.
Carefully, quickly, with practiced precision, Hiei was moved onto a bed. His eyes were clenched shut. Even the Jagan seemed to squeeze tight. The staff member left without a word, barely a glance towards Terra, taking the gurney with him.
Hiei wasn't touching his arm. His hand hovered near it, cradled close to his chest, but no part of him touched it. Dark energy twisted around the charred flesh, steadily spreading upward. It also devoured his whole shoulder.
Was there no one else coming? All of his supporters in the stands, the demons who wished for his return to Alaric, for his victory over Goro. Were none of them coming? Could none of them help? There was no time to find anyone.
Terra clenched her fingers tight and then shook them out. It was like poison, eating away at him. Spreading. If she could pull it from his body then her natural ability to cleanse demonic energy would nullify it. Right?
Hiei growled, jaw so tight he could have broken his teeth. There was no time for second-guessing. She had to do something. She had to.
"Hiei?" Her voice wavered. He was in so much pain, she wasn't sure if he could even hear her. "I'm going to touch you now."
He didn't react to her. Not to her voice. Not to her touch against the blackened skin. Not to her own pained yell when she tried to absorb whatever it was that backfired in the arena.
She almost had it. A slew of tears fell down her face from shock and pain and fear. She had felt the power ghost against her own, but it hurt. It hurt so bad. She couldn't take it. She tried. Fuck did she try. Hiei's pain must be so much worse than what she felt, but Terra couldn't take any more. It wasn't going to work.
There had to be something. Anything. Terra had been teaching herself at the temple, after lessons with the kids. She went down to the beach with Yukina and did her own mediation and then practiced new ways to use her energy. She had told Kurama she had wanted to heal. To separate the territory that resided inside her spirit energy from her spirit energy itself. But Terra was not both a traditional and a territory psychic, she was a chimera. Blended. Inseparable. All her past attempts had failed. But she had to. She had to.
The darkness was creeping higher, burning towards his neck and chest. He would not survive this. She had to do whatever she could.
There was something Yamamoto had said as he taught her how to control her chakras. It resonated with texts Terra had read while under Genkai and Hiei's tutelage. All had some access to the Sahasrar, but few have their energy live at the crown. Enlightenment came at Agna. Intelligence that brought peace and balance. But to go beyond even that, there was no step. You had to jump. An abyss with unknowable depth that most barely skim the surface of.
Terra breathed in. Slow. Slow. Slow. Then out. One by one.
When Terra closed her chakras in practice, it did not move her energy to new places. Mooladhara. Blocking all but the crown did not force her the energy there. Swadhisthana. It was an exercise to block the energy from reaching those areas so it could settle. Manipuraka. Contained. Anahata. Tethered. Yamamoto said her energy lived in her throat. Vishuddhi. She had not yet reached enlightenment. Agna. To reach the final chakra would be impossible without first living in the one before. It was not a space where energy could live without being lost, only go.
But Yamamoto also said: the only way to make that final jump was to have an absolutely insane heart, or trust in someone so deeply that you are willing to do anything in their presence.
Terra slid her palm along the brittle peeling remains of Hiei's arm until it rested along the curve of his clavicle. With her other hand, she carefully circled his wrist. There would be no pulse. Demon hearts didn't beat.
Insanity. Terra held the Agna chakra closed with all her will as she pried back open Vishuddhi. Trust. Fighting the agony that kept him from the present, Hiei squinted open his eyes.
She breathed in. And pushed.
Sahasrar had been described as intoxication, ecstasy, bliss. Staring into Hiei's eyes as Terra plunged into a place she should not be able to go was… was… Terra smiled as Hiei's mouth fell slack. The tension between his brown, in his jaw, coiling every muscle in his body, seeped away.
The skin was still burnt but the dark flames were receding. His hand, the one unharmed save for a few bloody knuckles, grasped her wrist that was only inches above his heart.
"Terra?"
Ruby eyes, she thought. The Jagan opened as if to say hello. Amethyst.
He leaned up and pulled her down. Terra was already in euphoria, swimming through clouds of maddening rapture. His kiss was almost more than she could handle. His lips. Dry and warm. It was a dream. Not a dream. Not a dream.
A sharp clarity spiked through her as she gasped into Hiei's mouth. This was real. There was still bliss but it was solid like the pressure of Hiei's fingers against her pulse, the rough texture of his burns. Terra pulled back, slow, unwanting this moment to end. But she needed to see him.
There was a single moment where both of their eyes were clear. Their breath mixed and their noses almost touched. Then Hiei swayed. Then Terra's other chakras slammed open in retribution. His eyes drifted closed. Peaceful. No pain or adrenaline to keep him awake. Terra's head spun like the worst hangover of her life. She gagged on air. Her knees went weak.
Hiei's hand around her wrist kept her from falling to the floor. He had not let go, even in sleep.
Terra rested her forehead against Hiei's. She had no idea what she had just done. How it worked. What it did. To her or to him. Terra sobbed. Tears of relief. Whatever the consequences, it didn't matter. She was smiling even as she cried. He was alive.