Reeve looked slightly to his right, disoriented. He couldn't figure out what was going on or why his head hurt so much. White hot pain seared down his neck, slamming its way down his right side. Tears welled in his eyes as he screwed them shut, a pained groan wrenching its way out of his throat.
"Reeve," a soft voice broke through the haze of his agony. "Reeve," it sounded again, more urgent. He opened his mouth to reply, but could only manage a miserable gurgle. "Reeve," it reached a squeaky crescendo, sounding desperate. "Gaia, please! Reeve!"
"Yu…" he managed.
"Thank Leviathan," Yuffie breathed, her relief almost tangible. "Are you okay?"
"Where?" he queried weakly, his voice confused.
"We're in the car," she explained gently.
"Car?" he repeated.
"It was snowing," she continued, her voice scratchy. If Reeve had been in a better state of mind, he would have noticed how close she was to crying. "You hit a patch of ice. We're in a ditch."
"Head," he mumbled.
"You hit your head?" she prompted.
"White," was his reply.
"I don't understand," her voice was gentle, but there was a sense of urgency now since he wasn't making sense.
"Sky?" he inquired confusedly.
"Reeve, I don't understand," she told him, a sense of desperation creeping into her tone. "You hit your head? What about the sky?"
"Where?" he asked.
"Where? Where what?"
"Sky?" he asked again, trying to get his message across. She scrunched up her face in confusion – maybe he was injured worse than she'd originally thought.
"Where sky?" he finally managed.
"Where is the sky?" she repeated, still not understanding. "Where it normally is! You aren't making sense Reeve!"
"Only," he paused, groaning. "White. Where sky?" She stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he wanted to know when it suddenly clicked.
"Upside down!" she blurted out. He grunted his confusion. "We flipped upside down," she explained. "You can't see the sky because the car is upside down. You're hanging from your seatbelt."
"Cold," he mentioned.
"It's January," she explained. "There's a foot of snow on the ground – that's why it's all white."
"Hurt?" he asked her. She glanced at the large chuck of windshield glass that pinned her to the passenger side foothold. She'd fallen on it when her seatbelt had snapped in the crash.
"I'm fine," she assured him, crossing her fingers to excuse the lie. "I'm not hurt. But what about you? Where does it hurt?"
"Head," he answered. "Side." She cursed inwardly; a head injury could mean trouble especially considering he could barely manage to speak. "Tired." Shit.
"You have to stay awake," she informed him distractedly, looking around to locate her phone. She couldn't stop the small gasp when she jarred the wound in her leg.
"Okay?" he asked groggily.
"I'm fine," she told him through gritted teeth. She forced the pain back, ignoring the sudden and overwhelming nausea that threatened to overtake her. She had to find that phone. Looking beneath her, she caught sight of the device beneath her, sitting on what normally would have been the car's ceiling. It was impossible to reach without leaning into the glass. She'd never wanted to cry more. "Are you okay?"
"Tired," he mumbled again. "Sleep."
"No!" she nearly screamed. He opened an eye and glanced at her through his peripheral vision. Softening her tone, she continued, "You have to stay awake. You hit your head."
"Wet," he slurred, causing her to jerk her head in his direction.
"What?"
"Wet," he repeated.
"What is wet? What do you mean?"
"Feel wet," he clarified.
"What? " she demanded. "What feels wet?"
"Sitting," he explained, his voice tired. "Wet."
"Where you're sitting is wet? " She could only pray that what he was sitting in was melted snow. She dreaded to think of the alternative. "Is it cold?"
"Warm," he contradicted. Her heart sunk. He was bleeding.
"How wet is it?" she wanted to know.
"Wet," was the helpful reply. She wished she could move her torso to look over at him, but she didn't dare with the glass piercing her side. "Tired."
"Stay awake Nerd Boy!" she demanded.
"Hard," he admitted.
"I know, Reeve. Trust me, I know. But you've got to stay awake," she told him. "Do you remember the time we made Reno think his office was haunted?" She had to keep him from falling asleep.
"Moron," he acknowledged.
"I think the la pièce de résistance was getting Rude to dress like a zombie," she reminisced. He made a noise that could have been a laugh if the circumstances had been different.
"Brains," he joked. Yuffie smiled. Perhaps this was a sign that he would be okay. She had to admit she was scared. She couldn't move enough to reach her phone and they were both bleeding. It was all she could do to keep from vomiting all over herself. And outside, the sky was darkening. She knew that once the sun went down it was going to get cold. It was possible that if they weren't found soon…
"How did you manage to get Rude to dress like that anyway?" she asked.
"Blackmail," was the reply.
"You must have had some pretty awesome dirt to get Rude of all people to do something like that," she said, almost conversationally.
"Thriller," he said. "Caught him."
"Thriller like Michael Jackson Thriller?" she queried.
"Same," he confirmed.
"You caught Rude dancing to Thriller?"
"Singing too," he clarified. She giggled madly for a second at the thought of the stoic martial artist even listening to Michael Jackson, much less dancing and singing along.
"I suppose it wasn't that much of a stretch to get him to dress like a zombie considering what he apparently listens to," she laughed.
"Mmm," he murmured his agreement. "Yuffie?"
"Yeah?"
"Get out?" he asked.
"Can I get out?" He made an affirmative noise. "No. I'm pinned by some glass."
"Phone?" he tried.
"Unless my arm grows another foot in the next hour or so, no," she denied. He made a sound in the back of his throat. "We're stuck," she told him quietly.
"Try?" he suggested.
"Try what?"
"Out?"
"The glass is through my side," she informed him. "I'm afraid if I move too much I could do some real damage."
"Cold," he murmured.
"So am I," she whispered back, screwing her eyes shut and saying a small prayer to Leviathan that things would be okay. Opening her eyes, she looked to the right and realized that the sun was almost completely gone.
He let out a sudden cough that made Yuffie cringe. It didn't sound good. He continued coughing, moaning in pain in between. Yuffie was shocked as she felt something wet hit her arm. Looking down, she was horrified to find a spattering of red liquid. She turned her head toward him.
"Oh Gaia," she breathed, knowing that things had just turned from worse to catastrophic. Reeve needed immediate medical attention and she wasn't sure it was going to come.
"Yuffie," he pushed through the pain. "Tired."
"Reeve," she choked out, no longer able to hide the panic that was quickly overwhelming her.
"S'okay," he told her.
"Reeve, no," she implored.
"Ready," he replied, shifting slightly with a pained groan.
"No, Reeve. Don't you give up," her voice was gaining in pitch as she lost her battle with tears. "Don't you dare."
"No cry," he managed before another bout of coughing overtook him. She openly wept, unable to keep it in.
"Reeve," she sobbed.
"Live," he rasped. A few moments more and then nothing.
"Reeve?" she whispered. Nothing. "Reeve?" she tried again a little louder. Still nothing. "Reeve?" Her voice rang out loudly against the silence coming from Reeve as the realization set in. Her sobs lasted several minutes, wracking her body. Each gut-wrenching wail jarred the wound in her side, making the pain that much more real. She attempted to reach over and grab his hand, but couldn't reach from her position.
The sudden snapping of Reeve's seatbelt caused her to scream in surprise as his broken and bleeding body lurched forward, landing haphazardly on what had formerly been the roof of the car. "Reeve," she squeaked out through her tears, her shoulders shaking in her grief.
Outside the remains of the vehicle, a soft snow began to fall, quickly collecting on the car's undercarriage. Yuffie shivered as a blistery winter wind blew in from the outside, kissing her bare arms. She continued to cry until there were no more tears left. She was numb – both from the cold and from the torment of her situation. The blackness that surrounded her wormed its way into her heart and for the first time in her life, she let it. Defeat left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she couldn't bring herself to care; Reeve was dead. She could only pray that Leviathan would take her soon.
She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there, waiting for something to happen. She'd long since stopped feeling anything – even the glass in her side was no longer painful. She couldn't remember ever being so cold; her lips were blue and she'd gone beyond the point of shivering. Shutting her eyes, she allowed the numb feeling to engulf her. Everything seemed to melt away as the last vestige of her strength gave way to an eternal sleep.
