Chapter 17!
Let the drama commence!
Virtual hugs and heartfelt thanks for everyone!
Disclaimer: not mine!
-o-
Chapter 17 - Where Is He?!
Well, I'm not dead, Hermione thought as her brain began working again. That's something.
She wasn't dead, but she had no idea where she was. For all she knew, she was still in the Fade
It was soft, though. The Fade wasn't exactly soft.
Well, that's something, I suppose, she thought as she was trying to recall what had happened. They were in the Fade, and then…
The monster. She had used the Cruciatus Curse.
And then…
Solas, she thought, he was…running.
Hermione's brain was back to full consciousness in less than a second, and she bolted upright. "Solas!"
She met the shocked eyes of Evelyn. Evelyn, not Solas. Solas would have been here if he could.
And so, she had to figure out where he was. If he was... No. She was not going to think about that.
The Inquisitor looked alive and well, thankfully. "You're alive. Good. Where is Solas?"
Trevelyan gave her a mournful look, and it felt like Hermione's heart was about to stop as she waited for Evelyn to continue. "Hermione…Solas…he…well…"
"Is he alive?"
Trevelyan gave Hermione yet another mournful look. "Well, he tried to save you, and he…"
Hermione – much to Evelyn's surprise – grabbed a hold of the front of her shirt. "Tell me," she said in an almost cold voice. "And quickly at that. Is he dead?"
"No," the Inquisitor said, a little breathlessly, "but he is dying."
Hermione had a moment where she was about to completely break down, but then she steeled herself, going into the clinical, cold mode she went into in critical situations.
She let go of Evelyn, and jumped out of the bed, swaying for a brief moment, but managed to keep on her feet. "Where is my wand?" she asked as she realised she had no idea where it was. "Where is my wand!"
"In the nightstand! There!"
Hermione tore open the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out her wand. "The hell am I wearing?" she murmured as she transfigured the white dress she was wearing. Looking at Evelyn again, she supressed the urge to point her wand at the Inquisitor. "Where is he?!"
"The medic tent," Evelyn replied quickly, but then she shook her head, and that ruddy, mournful expression returned. "The healers have tried everything, Hermione, I'm sorry."
"Well, I'm not one of the bloody healers, now am I? Show me where! He's not dying if I have anything to say about it."
Trevelyan actually ran, and Hermione ran after her.
It felt like they were running for hours, but it was probably less than two minutes.
They were still in Adamant, Hermione observed. How long had she been out? How long had Solas been dying? Could she save him? Was it too late?
Suddenly, Trevelyan came to a stop, pointing at a large tent. "In there."
Hermione ran in, barely registering how many beds there were there. She was desperately looking for the head without hair, and the pointy ears.
There. In the corner. Surrounded by mages.
She ran over, and shouldered her way through. "Move!" she almost yelled at the mage standing in front of her. "All of you! Move!"
They just stared at her with shocked eyes, and Hermione pointed her wand directly at the mage blocking her. "I suggest you move. Now."
The mage moved, and Hermione focused on Solas, flicking her wand to cast a diagnostic spell.
Oh, Merlin, she thought as she saw that half of the runes appearing over him were bright red. 'Red means dead', as Ron used to say.
Red will not mean dead, she thought as she cast another diagnostic spell. Not this time.
She flicked her wand, vanishing every bandage, every herbal…whatever it was, and every trace of what the mages had done.
Her breath caught in her chest as she saw the state he was in. He had wounds everywhere. His chest was a criss-cross of red, blue, yellow, and…black. He was bleeding internally. His abdomen was swollen.
Oh, Merlin, she thought as she turned to one of the mages. "How long since he came out of the rift?" The mage hesitated, and Hermione gave her a deadly look. "How. Long."
"Four hours, four hours!"
"It's a miracle you're alive, love," she murmured as she looked at him again. Looking at the runes, she began.
She placed her left hand over his heart, because his condition was exhausting it, and it could give out at any second. That would not be happening.
"I'm glad you're not awake," she murmured as she pointed her wand at his abdomen. "Because this is going to hurt like a motherfucker."
She touched the tip of her wand with the skin on his lower abdomen, and sighed. "I'm so sorry, love," she said, and drew a line with her wand on his skin. She might as well have drawn with a scalpel, but that was exactly what she wanted. She had to drain the blood, heal whatever was bleeding, and close the wound again.
She heard gasps as the blood began pouring out. "It's an internal bleeding," she said gravely. "The blood needs to be drained, whatever is bleeding needs to - no!"
His heart was giving up. "Don't you dare," she said, and sent a jolt to his heart. She had to do it three times, but then it was beating on its own again.
Looking at the wound again, she drained the excess blood, and searched for what was bleeding.
Everything. Everything was bleeding.
"You!" she said to the nearest mage, "Place your ear on his chest and listen to his heart. If it stops beating, tell me right away."
The mage, obviously too terrified to even ask questions, did as she was told, and Hermione focused on the bleeding.
"Oh, Solas," she said as she moved her wand and her hands over his wound, healing every severed vein, one by one, "don't do this to me. Don't do this to me, love. Just...live."
It took her a while, but she managed to stop the bleeding, so she gently closed the wound again, waved her wand a bit to remove all the blood, and then cast the diagnostic spell.
"Move," she said to the mage, and the mage was gone in a second, giving Hermione access.
The runes were still red. Except the one for his lower abdomen. That looked healthier.
"But your heart," she murmured. "No wonder it's about to give out."
She quickly healed the small bruises and cuts the lower half of his body, one big, deep cut, and then she climbed into the bed, straddling him so she could place both hands on his chest.
"I swear by everything holy and unholy in the world," she said to him, "if you don't make it through this, I will hunt you down in the afterlife and kill you all over again. Do you hear me?"
He didn't, of course, but she felt like telling him nevertheless.
His heart was weak. Too weak.
His heart won't stand this, will it? Hermione thought, hesitating to cast the spell. This spell would either save him…or kill him. Maybe.
She leaned over, looking at his pale face. He even looked dead.
"Don't you understand?" she whispered to him as she cupped his face with both of her hands. "You can't die. I won't know what to do without you, don't you see?" She hesitated for a moment, but then she leaned down and gave him a soft kiss before looking at him again.
"Don't you understand?" she whispered again. "You can't die. You can't die, because…because I think I love you, Solas."
Closing her eyes, she focused all her magic, everything she had, everything she was, on his heart, and cast the spell.