The clammy pucker of his finger tips floating in the water sends a shiver through Edward's body as his eyes slowly blink open. The shadowy silhouette hunches over him, featureless in the pour of yellow light beaming into the reactor. His heart beats against the heavy hands on his chest, a warm current cascading over his skin. A forearm, smooth and shaking, delicately wraps around his shoulders rocking him back and forth.
"He's alive?" Vicky's voice is a near-whisper of stunned surprise. It trickles over the top of his head in a child-like stream.
"He's lucky his heart didn't stop," Emmett says. His dour face comes into focus as the weariness in Edward's eyes fade. "I wouldn't have been able to save him if it had."
As the healing heat radiates from Emmett's hands, hot against Edward's chest, the details around him return with his renewing energy. The black jacket of his uniform is torn open, exposing his torso to the addonexus. The fabric floats beside him like wings. He glances over to the still body of the utlunta sticking out of the water. It erodes before his eyes. The color of driftwood, gaps and crevices appear across its stone surface as the water devours the corpse.
"That's amazing," Vicky says. Her eyes don't leave the puncture in Edward's stomach as it shrinks and closes.
"Yeah." Emmett briefly opens his coal black eyes, meeting Edward's as he looks back up at him. He nods curtly at Edward's weak smile before closing them again.
"Is he alive?" Bella asks from the wrecked metal across the room.
"Yeah," Vicky answers. Edward tilts his head back to look at the wampus he never met. Human again, her red hair drops around her face and brushes against her forehead. Tributaries of clean skin cross her dirty cheeks as she grins at him. Her green eyes sparkle.
"Thank you," he says. As the final moments of the battle fade back into his mind, the sight of this girl mounting the utlunta, the wilding tossing of her vibrant hair as the monster tried to shake her off, he is breathless.
"Sure," she says. She playfully purses her lips and shrugs.
"Emmett?" Bella's voice quivers over the water's surface.
"Hold," Emmett says.
A surge like an desert breeze courses through Edward's body. The wrinkled fingers smooth. The chill in his soaked feet disappears. The humid air floods his nose and mouth, its stagnant taste refreshing as he breaths.
"Right." Emmett opens his eyes, the pupils reappearing as the pools of black disappear, and splashes up to his feet. Every droplet in the air glistens as Edward sits up and watches Emmett run to the mound of beams and grating crumpled and jagged against the reactor's dark wall.
"He broke his back," Bella says over the hurried crash of Emmett's nearing steps. Her sweaty hand presses gently against Jacob's damp forehand. His dark hair glistens amid the unbendable, rusted pillow. She tries to swallow, the pain in her gullet making it hard.
"Figured," Emmett says, "But I can't heal without an arm." With an awkward stance, one knee bend, one leg straight, he straddles the prone Jacob. The chaos of beams and broken walkway makes his footing uneven. Shifting his body, he leans against Bella as he slides his hands under the shredded remains of Jacob's uniform.
The corners of her lips curl down as she watches Jacob jerk slightly from the Emmett's heat. His eyes flutter, turn white. With a clenched jaw and tight mouth she drops her gaze. The pain he put himself through, to save her. Her hands go numb.
Watching the members of his team from across the chamber, Edward swells. He may no longer exists, but this existence is better than he could have imagined. He stands and faces Vicky, the coolness of the water beginning to return as it splashes into his boots. Face flushing, he averts his eyes at the realization that the girl is naked. He drops his pack into the water, and pulls out the black roll of his poncho. It unfurls as he hands it to her, the light bouncing off the liquid surface through the thin, plasticine material.
"Here."
"Thanks," she says, smiling. Wrapping it around her shoulders like a cloak, its moist surface clings against her skin. She stands beside him, watching Bella and Emmett huddled over the Jacob amid the cage of shrapnel. Chin wrinkled, her lower lip protrudes slightly and she frowns.
"What's wrong?" Edward asks, spotting her expression.
"I don't know what to do now?" Narrowing her eyes, her gaze goes beyond the walls surround them. "I can't go home. Heidi is dead."
"You can come with us," Edward volunteers.
"That's what she said," Vicky says, jutting her jaw forward briefly as she motions to Bella.
Alice's voice crackles into Edward's ear, hurried and frantic as she asks for any response.
"We're here," Edward says, tapping his neck to respond. He holds up a finger to Vicky's quizzical face and steps away. The ARMS buzzes as it lifts his heavy boots across the water.
"We're have you been?" Alice sighs in relief. "You've been radio silent for a while."
"Sorry," Edward says. "Everything's taken care of."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Jacob says across the line. The sound of his soldier's voice makes Edward spin in his direction. Bella and Emmett each hold one of Jacob's arms as they help balance him of the pile of wreckage and into the water. "We're good."
"Thank gods," Alice says.
"You were amazing, Alice," Bella says. "That chin intel about the utlunta was spot on." She embraces Jacob before wading towards Vicky. Gazing at Edward as she walks she smiles broadly. A flood of contentment runs from her scalp over her body, erasing the fatigue of the evening. They made it. He made it.
Smiling back, a bolt of satisfaction runs down his spine. The sound of Alice's voice continuing across the radio is noise in the moment. Amid the damage and stale water they're alive. His cheeks tingle as he watches Bella wrap her arms tightly around Vicky.
"What do we do with that?" Jacob asks, nudging the decimated corpse of utlunta with his foot. Emmett's poncho is wrapped around his waist like a towel. The remnants of his uniform cling from his limbs.
"They rot quickly," Emmett answers, with the bored lilt of obviousness. "Won't be anything to take in few minutes."
"And Heidi?" Vicky asks, dropping her arms from around Bella and looking at Edward with desperate sadness.
He bites his lip and looks to Bella.
"It may be best," she says, her decades of experience and empathy apparent in her tone, "If she stays here for now. We can come back and give her what she deserves."
Edward nods at the suggestion. He turns to Vicky. "Are you coming with us?"
"If I can," she says, looking to Bella with wide eyes. A nervous wrinkle creases her brow. "I have nowhere else."
Bella lightly rubs her palm against the girl's shoulders. The warmth of the motion runs across the entirety of Vicky's back.
"Absolutely," Bella says with a reassuring smile.
"Recover your gear," Edward orders loudly. The words shake in his chest like pride. The feeling spreads down his arms and into his feet. His eyes scan his team, meeting each of their faces. Emmett's pursed lips of restrained satisfaction, Jacob's boyish smile, Vicky's nervous wonder, and Bella's calm, reassuring grin. He wouldn't want it any other way. "Let's get home."