Kurogane drew his sword at the first sound of the voices. His eyes flickered around the inside of the room and then he watched Nakietra take a step forward. He pulled her behind him and looked around the room. He knew that things were never as they appeared when Nakietra's skin turned golden in any way. It always meant trouble.
"Show yourselves," He commanded. He knew that just because they sounded like children, that didn't mean they were children.
Nakietra
I blink a few times and shake my head. My head feels strange but there's nothing wrong. I step sideways and look around Kurogane. I don't see any trouble. The room is like a hollow shell. In front of us is a bridge that goes to a pedestal with ample room around it. The rest of the room is decorated in elaborately carved walls and three other doorways. Two are collapsed but one is still useable. I look up and see a dome like ceiling with a hole in the middle to purposely let in sunlight over the pedestal. I look over the bridge and see and see and lose rock ground. This must have been filled with water at some point. I close my eyes and imagine it. The image is very beautiful once I remove the moss and environmental damage to the walls.
"We are your power," A shy girlish voice said. I open my eyes and look at the lights.
"We were once part of the Rie, your knife," A young boy's voice said. The light in the middle lit up in perfect sync with the words. I was amazed. These were the voices.
"Free us Mistress. We will make the Rie strong again, just like before," An impatient sounding girl says. She was the one on the right. Kurogane wasn't moving really.
"These lights saved our lives," I say and push past him quick enough to avoid being held back by him. Syaoran follows. I slowed down near the pedestal. I can see the feather, floating right above them. I can now see the shield that the feather has created to keep the lights trapped. No wonder they didn't just fly up to us at first.
"Whoa," Syaoran exclaims. I look back and I see what he means. The bridge is lifeless stone, except where I'm standing. It's lit up with golden energy around me, illuminating a pattern or sharply curved half-moons winding in and out of each other. I look back to the lights.
"Why aren't you part of the knife anymore?" I ask cautiously. I head Kurogane swear under his breath and sheath his sword. He shouldn't care about what happens to me.
"She separated us Mistress," The boy says in a hurt voice.
"She tore us from our home," The final one says meekly.
"And trapped us here," The impatient one say harshly. I slowly nod my head. Who are they talking about though? And what is there connection to the knife? Were they spirits forged into it with black magic, or were they something else.
"Who is she?" Syaoran asked and came up next to me.
"The witch," They hissed. I look down. There are many witches. Which ones are powerful enough to strip a magical weapon of its power though? I'm not sure.
"How do we free you?" I ask. If they used to be part of the knife, then maybe they can help me understand it. Some many times I've felt like there is something there that I should be understanding but I can't for some reason. My curiously was never a good thing Hiro said. He was right and that's why I've tried to get rid of it.
"Remove the feather and the shield will break," The shy one says. I stare at the feather. Who would understand the feather's enough to know how to manipulate it to this extent?
"How do we know you won't kill us?" Kurogane asks. I don't question it. He was always the careful one.
"This place was built for you Mistress; for the bearer of Rie. Just as all the temple were before this one. Everything has always been done for Rie's keeper," The boy says cryptically. I closed my eyes and remembered the temple. I remembered how easily they're destroyed nature would fade in my mind and I would see them as they used to be.
"Syaoran, grab the feather and put it in the bag," I tell him and open my eyes. I pull out my knife and stare at it for a moment. I remembered how when I first got it, my vision swam and I saw it covered in deep careful marks that made it look much more beautiful in the light as the rivets turned blacker than blood. There were no marks on it that I could ever see.
"How did you save us?" Kurogane asks sharply. Syaoran hesitates.
"They told me what to do when we fell…Syaoran, the feather," I tell him again, completely ignoring Kurogane. Syaoran reached forward and quickly grabbed the feather. The barrier disappeared immediacy and the light dispersed. I didn't lose track of the spirits though. They flew straight up and then danced around the room. I put my knife away and watched them. Soon they gathered against the dark stone over the door we came in.
"We are free," They rejoice happily. Pain pulses from my wound and through my body. I need to rest again.
"How do we get out of here?" I ask quickly.
"First, draw this," The boy says and circled a ruin on the wall. Another spirit touched the ruin and it lit up gold. I breathed in. I've never seen anything like this before.
"What does it do?" I ask before starting to carve it into my skin. I completely trust these spirits. I've never found a bad ruin, and I doubt they exist at all.
"It gives strength," The shy one explains from behind me. I carved three into my arms and felt a massive drain almost immediately. I stagger and grab onto the pedestal for support. All three spirits dance in my view and came to rest between the gazes of all three of us.
"It drains a lot of energy from you," The impatient one says like I'm stupid. All three spirits approach the knife in my hand, and I watched with amazement as they carved glowing runes into the knife's blade. Slowly, I felt my power return as the ruins cool. I don't recognize them, but maybe I'm not supposed to.
"We will help you again Mistress. Just as we always have," A single mixed voice came.
"Will you always be able to talk?" Syaoran asks. He must have put it together too that they must be one person rather than three.
"Only in places like this can you, puppet boy, hear us. Our Mistress will always hear us though for we are her weapon," The voice came. I continued to stare at the knife as I continue to fell energy return to my body. I don't understand it.
"How do we get out of here?" Kurogane asks. I snap away from my questions and remind myself that we have to leave
"Look across from the stone way," The voice says. For a second I didn't know what they were saying. Then I realized they must mean the bridge. Kurogane seemed to understand right away and was already looking the opposite way along with Syaoran. I saw the closed door….across a huge gate that I can't possible jump.
"How do we get over there?" Kurogane asks gruffly.
"Mistress must climb down the opposite side and shift the stone way. Then she must open the door. Through there is a pool of water. Underneath it is a door that must be opened with the switch across the way. Follow the waterway and you will come to another door. Turn twice to the right, once to the left, pull and it will open. Find the mountain hold and climb the rocks. Follow the temple ruins and you will come to the above. Mistress knows the way from there," The voice explains. I'm not going to remember any of that.
"Will you will remind us as we go?" I ask.
"We will remind mistress. It is her choice to tell others," It says. It's no longer male or female, or even separate. Now it's just a voice. It's an It.
"Where are you supposed to climb down?" Syaoran asks looking over the edge by the walkway. I join him and look down to see a circular walkway below. It's very thin but I should be able to move around it easily. I follow the walkway around the circular landing and find a stone ladder built into the stone. I turn around and started my descent down.
"I'll be back," I say tiredly. Why couldn't there be a simpler way to get anywhere in this temple? I hate temples.
"Is this the quickest way to the courtyard?" Kurogane asks loudly downward.
"The one that is passable, yes," It says, echoing throughout the room. I follow the walkway to the bridge. I know how to move it at least.
"When it's in place, tell me," I yell up to Syaoran. He nods his head. I sent power to the new ruin and feel strength surge through me. I put both hands on the walkways and push. It moves easily.
"Stop!" Syaoran yells from above. I remove my hands and cut the energy fast. My arms hurt a little, but that's the only side effect I can see. I find the ladder and climb back up. As I pull myself over the edge, I lie on my side and wait. Breathing is painful because of wound and my body is not wanting to help me at all now.
"Here," Kurogane says, "We should keep going." I see him offer me his hand. I take it and let him pull me up. Syaoran is already examining the new door. This one is covered in ancient writing along with two faded pictures. I see blue and purple, but I can't tell what the picture was at all. I close my eyes and see a picture blue background and giant purple spiders with menacing faces. The spiders are trying to get into something that looks like this room, but they can't for some reason. I open my eyes and put my and in the center.
The door opens and in front of us is a pool of greenish-blue water.
What do we do now?
"Pull the switch on the other side down and the door beneath will open," The voice responds.
I sigh. I pulled off my sandals but left my knife on. I don't have any other clothes and now would not be a good time to swim naked in front of them. I jump in. The water was cool and shocked my tired brain fast into working mode. I came up for air and went to the opposite ledge. I put my hands on top and tried to pull myself up. It wasn't working. The ledge is longer than my arms. I took a deep breath and pushed myself to the bottom. I kicked off and blindly grabbed for the ledge. I missed three times. Why can't anything be easy? Why is everything becoming so hard all of a sudden? Why is everything being left up to me to do?
"Do you need help?" Syaoran asks hesitantly. I float on my back and looked at the almost collapsed celling. I won't cry because things are difficult. I'm tired of crying because life is hard. I won't cry in front of these two because if I do, I'm no better than Sakura.
"Yes," I say. I hear them jump right away then. Both of them want to help me, and I have a ways I think. I swim to the ledge and wait for them. I remember swimming with Hiro and Toya at the lake during the hot summer months. I closed my eyes as I remembered the time me and Toya swam under water and pull Hiro ankles so he would fall. My heart beat with pain. I'll never see Hiro again, and Toya….I hope he thinks I'm dead.
"We'll push you up," Kurogane says right next to me. I open my eyes and each up to grab onto the high ledge. I felt them both push me up by my hips higher than I was able to get out of any of my own tries. I locked my elbows over the edge and pulled the rest of my body up. Dust stuck to my body as I got my feet and I hated it. I saw the lever and I pulled it down. It made three loud clicks and I felt the door move underwater.
"Nakietra, Sakura put goggles in the bag," Syaoran shouts and throws a pair over to me. I see him putting my few things into the bag. I'm grateful at least. I pick up the goggles and wash them off in the water before putting them on. Kurogane and Syaoran disappear through the door and I follow. Syaoran has a flashlight I see which is good because its pitch black here. It's also cold, very cold. This water hasn't been touched in centuries, I can tell.
The tunnel drew on and on with an endless amount of air pockets. I started counting them at some point but I stopped at around ten when my shoulder started to give me trouble. It's stiffening because of the water, but it's also getting worse. The pain is back. I'm glad the water is cold because at least I don't feel the burning as much.
"Are you okay?" Syaoran asks after I broke the surface of an air pocket. They were waiting for me for a while I knew. I've been steadily falling behind because of my shoulder. The rest of my body isn't much help either I guess.
"Just keep going," I say quickly and dive down. The boys don't try to stop me as they take the lead. In Syaoran's light I see Kurogane look at me. I purse my lips and ignore it. I don't need to feel more useless today than I already feel.
How much farther?
"You are close to the door Mistress. Remember, twice to the right and once to the left and then pull."
Then I saw the door. It was ringed in wavy circles that made me think of snakes. Syaoran was trying to turn it to the left, which wasn't working. I swam up and shooed him away. I easily turned the wheel twice around to the right and then once around to the left before pulling it toward me. The tunnel rumbled and the door opened in front of us. Outside was a vast expansion of water. I swam to the surface and was immediately overcome with crashing waves. I took a quick breath before ducking down and coming up again stronger to look around. We're being pushed into the rocky walls. A huge wave picks me up and crashes me against the wall. My back and head crack before I push myself off the wall underwater where the waves are calmer.
"Danger mistress! Find the mountain foothold in front of you! Get out! The blood fish come!"
Panic rose in my throat. I rise up and look around. I see a stone platform that was a few inches underwater. I swim toward it and pull myself up. I look back and see the boys following. I don't know what blood fish are, but they sound dangerous. I look at the wall here. I better start climbing, there isn't much room to stand here and fight the waves at the same time.
"Climb the walls Mistress! Hurry!"
I know already. I climb up high enough until I find a place I can look back. Kurogane is a few feet up and Syaoran is climbing out of the water. I look around the water. I don't understand what the spirits are talking about.
"Syaoran move!" I yell. They're sharks. Three are heading here. Syaoran laches on the wall and hurries up. A shark just misses his leg as it smashes into the wall. I take a few shaky breathes and continue climbing. That was too close. Syaoran's too young to die, way too young.
We were on steady ground now, but it was hard to tell the difference between anything. There was only one old path to follow, but every standing section of temple looked exactly the same. A few times I thought we were in the hallways after we encountered the tigers, but I was wrong because then we would come out into a jungle engrossed room. We didn't see any lizards or spiders though thankfully.
Time passed. I don't know how much. Everything on me was burning. I couldn't move my right arm at all as it tingled with constant pain just like the wound in my chest. Everything else just ached. Something is wrong though with my arm. It didn't feel like a torn muscle or dislocation. It just felt painful.
Kurogane became my Nero at some time as the light was turning orange. I could barely walk without staggering on my own. I wouldn't let him carry me though and I wouldn't let him make us stop. I wanted to get out of here. I hate when we spend nights out in the open because then I can't hide from the nightmares.
The light is gone when I let Kurogane stop us. He takes us to a small clearing with shorter grass. I don't know why it's like that. I can't think. He stops me from letting myself fall to the ground and lets me lie on the grass. It's so comfortable. Syaoran is gone and I just focus on breathing. It's harder to get any air now that we've stopped.
"Drink," Kurogane says. I drink the water he gives me. I'm not thirsty but I drink it so he'll leave me alone. I'm tired. I need sleep. I breathe in. My lung burn. I breathe out, my lungs ache. I need my medicine. I didn't bring it with me though. I hide my face in my good arm. I cry then. It's too much.
"Are you okay?" He asks as he takes a seat beside me. I hide my face deeper and shake my head no. There are silent moments. He picks up my head and puts it on his leg. That's feels better than the ground for me. I cry and then I'm asleep.
Kurogane
I don't ask her why she's crying. She doesn't want me to ask, she doesn't want any of us, especially me, to care. Fai is more annoying to her with his questions, but his are innocent. My questions make her think and they hurt her. I should know not to ask her anything anymore. It's hard to watch the boy try to do everything on his own even worse than before she came. It's harder to watch the princess worry and cry because of Nakietra's attitude though. None of us like that.
I watch Syaoran gather the firewood. I don't want him to disappear from my sight. We know there are tigers in the area, and then the spiders and lizards too. All three are dangerous and Nakietra is a liability right at this moment. She's completely out of it. She deserves the rest after everything today. Those ruins are hard on her body even with those charms of Tomoyo's.
Syaoran comes back and starts a fire. He better hurry. The sun is fading faster than in any other world. I listen to Nakietra's ragged breathes. I don't know how to help her except to let her sleep for now. She hasn't been herself since she started showing her face to us. She's forgetful and less observant. I don't think she would remember to bring the medicine she used last time. The sounds of birds and insects filled the silence as night fell and Syaoran lit the fire. I watch it for a few moments and then unhook my sword from my belt. I'd rather have it in front of me now.
"Did Sakura pack any food?" I ask him from across the small fire. Cold was settling in and I know it's going to be a harsh night for us. He looks up with dull eyes and then turns to the bag before going through it. He pulls out a plastic container and peeked inside.
"Sandwiches," He says and takes one before passing one to me. We eat in silence. I don't wake Nakietra. Her body is weak to the point where sleep will only help her. I don't know what will happen if she doesn't get her medicine. If she's as bad tomorrow as she was today, she won't survive the trip back at the way she's forcing herself. I ask Syaoran to give me the bag.
I look around. I see my shirt and I take it out. We haven't seen any bugs, but I've heard them. I pull on my shirt and look through it again. There's a little more food and then I see it. I don't know if Sakura knows about the medicine, but Nero does and I know he's very smart. I take out the black padded case and open it.
"Go sleep. I'll keep watch," I tell Syaoran. He nods his head before lying down on the grass and falling asleep. There are only two vials filled this time instead of four. I take one and carefully uncork it. I shift her face up and drip it into her mouth. Nakietra wants this to be a secret even if it isn't a secret anymore. I'll let her do what she wants for now. I can see that she isn't the type of person who will change because you tell them to. I return the empty vial and let her sleep. Her breathing gets easier and I relax. I hope she's better tomorrow.
"Kurogane, it's morning," Syaoran said as he shakes the man. He opens his sleepy eyes before pushing himself up. Nakietra is still lying on top of his leg just as he left her during the night. Before Syaoran could wake her, Kurogane took her head and carefully placed it on the ground. Syaoran watched as Kurogane picked up his sword and moved a few feet away before trying to wake her. Nakietra has hit people who have tried to wake her up before. She's always looked scared though and apologizes but it's still painful and unpredictable.
"Nakietra, it's morning," he said shaking her slightly. There was a slight moan from her before she opened her eyes. She rolled over before she opened and rubbed her eyes. She didn't make a move to get up just yet though. Syaoran got up and picked up the black bag.
"We should get moving," Nakietra suddenly said and got to her feet just as Kurogane was getting up and stretching the sleep from his muscles. It was mid-morning when they came to the same wall that they had appeared before in the beginning of their journey here. For a long time, the boys started at Nakietra while she stared at the wall.
Nakietra
The spider bodies from the day before are still lying all over the courtyard. I walk up to the pit and look down. It still looks dark and it still feels evil. I don't want to climb the wall again since my shoulder is more in pain than it had been the day before. I have to though.
"I'll climb the wall and fix the lift at the top. Wait here," I say as I walk back to them. I turn around and take a running leap. This time I'm able to grab it with both hands but my legs feel tired and unresponsive.
I hear the sound of running feet and I stop. I looked behind me. My eyes widen as I see Syaoran take a running leap at the wall. My chest turns to stop as Syaoran barely grabs the wall with one hand. I relax and put my burning forehead against the wall. That stupid child.
My head snaps up to more running feet. Kurogane jumps too and makes it with both hands. My chest is tight and its hard to breath. I keep climbing to make it go away. Why do these people do the stupidest things? Why do I care about people anymore? All they do is worry and cause worry…
I climb over the ledge and crawl a few feet before lying far away from the spider bodies that were still here. I watch the boys climb over one by one and I wait while I think of something to say. I'm mad I know though. I'm mad that they made me worry.
"Why did you two do that?" I ask them as I get to my feet. "You both could have easily missed and died, do you understand that? There's a reason I said I would do it," I say in a calm voice. I'm angry, but my body is too tired to sound angry. They stand tall in front of me.
"We thought it would be easier for you if we climbed," Syaoran responds. I stare at him and then turn around to start walking. I hate that. I hate being the reason behind people's stupid choices. I rub my eyes as my face twists in pain. The tingling pain is back in my arm and it's worse than before. I only need to twitch my fingers to make pain go shooting up my arm.
Why do I feel so weak?
"The poison spreads. We cannot stop it, but we can hamper it."
Poison…Wait, POISON! That's really bad. I didn't think spiders that big could be poisioness because—
Fai knew though. Those herbs he used are meant to draw poison out of a wound. He knew I was poisoned by the spiders, but he didn't tell me because….because he thought I knew. I never let them take care of me, I'm the one knows more about healing than any of them and yet my brain didn't register any of this.
I stared at the broken bridge. Sweat is pouring down my face and I feel like I'm being cooked alive. Slowly I lower myself to the ground with a thud and draw a Rebuild Ruin. Kurogane and Syaoran join me on the ground but they don't say anything. I put my knife away and wait. Kurogane throws me the canteen. I pour the water over my head and feel my body shiver like crazy. My fever is too high to handle anything cold. Cold will send my body into shock at this point and could kill me.
"We still have a long way to go," Syaoran remarks.
"We know where we are though," I say. I take a few deep breaths as the shivering stops. I push myself up and start my ruin. The middle of the bridge is weak I can see, but the edges are thick.
"Keep to the edges," I warn and take the left side while they take the right. This is too hard to keep up. I'd rather collapse on the other side though than give up now. My energy cuts away halfway and I'm falling.
"The poison is too strong. We can't hold it back anymore."
I couldn't move at all. My body slammed into everything; wooden support beams, stone ledges, collapsed columns. I hit the ground and then it was all gone.
Kurogane
"Nakietra!" Syaoran keeps calling. I know she can't respond. I groan and start making my way down. I fell farther before catching myself. Syaoran caught himself right away though. At least he's not hurt. Nakietra defiantly is. I watched her fall. She was out of it before she hit the ground or she would have tried to stop herself from falling. She fell on her back in the middle of the stream. It's shallow enough for her not to drown.
"Damn it," I mutter and run to her as I hit the ground. The water is warm as I drag her out. I look along her neck for a pulse. It's weak, but it's still there.
"Nakietra wake up," I say as I press along her arms and legs for broken bones.
"Swordsman! Save Mistress! The poison is strong in her shoulder!"
"Is she okay?" Syaoran asks loudly as he drops to the ground. I blink twice. What did I just hear? It had to be those spirits, but how. I pull the bandages away from her wound. Green puss bubbles out ino the air and sizzles. The wound itself is purple and the veins in her purple skin are black. My teeth clench at the sight and I quickly cover it back up before the kid comes over.
I pick her up and move to a shady part under a barely standing overhang. Her skin is like fire and her face is covered in sweat. We need to do something.
"What do we do?" Syaoran asks seriously when I set her down. He's not scared or worried, just ready to do something. First I need to figure out what to do.
"Clear the poison. Wrap the wound. Cool her down. Get her to the man in white."
"Fill up the canteen," I tell Syaoran before pulling the dirty bandages away. I hear the bag unzip and then hit the ground as he goes to the stream. I shift her shirt down and then look through the bag for bandages. Sakura always makes sure we have something to use. I find bandages in a first aid kit. I also find a bottle labeled "Anti-Venom".
"It will help, but it will not defeat"
I keep the bottle out and pushed the case away. Syaoran hands me the canteen. I don't want him to see the wound. Even for me it's almost too much. He's too much of a kid to not be effected by it.
"Go look for another way up," I tell him. I wait til he runs away to clean the wound. I clear the puss away and then splash the anti-venom on it. Nothing happens immediately, but still I wrap it lightly.
"Get our mistress to your man in white. Only he can truly save her."
That has to be Fai because only he wears white. I still need to cool her off first. I loosely wrap the bandage roll around my hand a couple times and the soaked it in water. I placed it on her head and saw a shiver run through her. I put three more on her feet and the back of her neck. This was a trick Nakietra had taught us when Sakura had collapsed from heat stroke once. I hope it works for fevers. I see her shiver, but it has to be helping though. The bandages heat up fast.
"I think I found a way!" Syaoran shouts from a place or ruin. I leave Nakietra and hurry over. She needs help fast.
"Show me," I tell him. He walks to the base of a staircase. We go up the stairs and see another broken bridge. This one is more intact, but there's no way we're going to be able to carry Nakietra across without killing ourselves as well.
"We would have to climb up," I tell him a little doubtful. The bridge only goes to a broken doorway with a climbable wall up to the temple.
"You can push me up and then we can make a hammock so I can pull Nakietra up. Then I can help you up somehow," He says not so confident. What other choice do we have though? I close my eyes.
"What can we make a hammock out of?" I ask him. He pauses and then darts off. I didn't try to stop him. I went back to Nakietra and rewet the bandages. They were almost as hot as her now. I touched her skin though and it was cooling just a little. I put everything away and waited for Syaoran.
I saw him again a few minutes later; a huge leaf draping over his head and a coil of vine hanging from his hand. Wordlessly he drops the supplies in front of me and I carefully examined the leaf by trying to rip it. Despite it being so fragile looking, it was surprisingly tough to bend, rip, or break in any way.
"This can work," I say cautiously and then examined the vine. I tug and pulled at it and it doesn't break. I look up at the expecting Syaoran and nod my head. We build our rough hammock. Soon we were standing in front of the collapsed door, and even sooner did we have Nakietra in the hammock safely at the temple doorway
"How far away do you think we are?" Syaoran asks after we've walked through the hallways for a little bit.
"We aren't close," I answer and shift Nakietra. We draped her across my back to make it easier for me. If she does manage to wake up, I doubt she'll hate it as much So far she hadn't made a sound though. Her breathing is shallow and her skin is hotter than before. We should warn the others and have them be ready I think.
"Go run ahead to the others," I tell Syaoran.
"What if those things come?" He asks.
"I can fight," I answer, "Make sure everyone is okay, and tell Fai what's happened."
"What has happened?" He asks me.
"Nakietra's hurt and unconscious," I respond, "Go." It was a long time before Syaoran came back.
"I told the others. It isn't far from here," He says breathless. I nod my head and keep walking. I don't say anything. I feel like she's going to die. My hands clench. I couldn't save my mother, and I couldn't save my father. I'm just as useless now as I was then. She has several broken ribs though, I can't run.
We turn another few corners and there's the doorway to the courtyard. I hear sounds of fighting then. We move to the edge and look down. Nero is snarling and standing in front of Sakura. The lizards are back and the door under the statue is closed. Fai grunted as one slammed into him. I clench my teeth. We have to get down there.
"Sakura!" Syaoran calls and she look up at him with hope. I open my mouth to tell him not to, but he's already made his careful jump down onto the ruined platform where they were cornered.
"Our mistress wants us to help. Step off the edge, we will help you."
Reluctantly I went to the area with the ruined platform and stepped off, ready to pull myself back. I felt my fall slow down and soon I made a gentle touch down. I breath out, amazed. How?
"Mokona, Get us out of here!" I say right away as I draw my sword. There's much more of them than there was last time. We won't last. I balance Nakietra with one hand and killed one lizard that got close.
Mokona is ready. I kill one more than then we're gone. We're calmly all separate in the in-between world. Syaoran pulls Sakura to his side and hold her securely. I grab Nakietra as she floats by and holds her. When we land, the last thing she'll need is to be crushed or almost killed. As much as does stupid things, she doesn't deserve half the things that are forced onto her.