Lenna asked: Day 28 "We might not make it to the morning; so go on and tell me now." | Bloody Knife. With Kayo.

Characters: Kayo, Virgil

Warnings: Buried alive, knife wound, blood loss

There were worst places in the world to be trapped. And worse people to be trapped with.

Kayo sighed and checked her watch. They had been trapped here for almost an hour. She wriggled around and checked Virgil's bandage again.

'Here' was the basement of a high-rise building that had been teetering on collapse for almost two hours before it finally fell. They had managed to get everyone else out and the two were just checking when the building decided it had had enough. They had tumbled down with the detritus of apartments until they had woken up where they were now.

Basement was a charitable description for a hole just large enough to move in but not to stand up in, but it could have been so much worse.

She was fine, some grazes and bruises being the worst. There was blood but it wasn't too bad, she'd live. Virgil, on the other hand, had a definite broken leg with his numerous cuts and grazes, but the worst was the bread knife currently sticking out of his stomach.

Virgil had begun to drift in and out of consciousness, but the pain of Kayo pushing down hard with a fresh pad on top of the bloody one underneath had him wide awake and gasping.

'Easy, Virgil. Easy.'

'Kay?'

'Yeah, it's me.'

Virgil was in a world of pain, but even then his eyes flitted over her injuries. He reached out with a shaky hand to the worst one, on her shoulder, but she easily intercepted his hand, holding it close.

'I'm fine, Virgil.'

'Kayo. You - you're not fine.'

'I am compared to you.'

He made a half-hearted attempt to pull away from her, but he was smiling. Kayo could tell the loss of blood was getting to him, though. Even with their helmets scrubbing the oxygen from the air Virgil was breathing in short, laboured breaths. There was a sheen of sweat to him too, and his heartbeat was definitely weaker.

'Hurry up, Scotty,' she whispered in her head. 'Virgil needs you.'

But they both knew that digging through rubble was a long and tedious process if the rescuers weren't going to bring more debris down on the rescuees. They had felt several rumbles and had been showered with dust a couple of times.

They should be close by now, though.

Virgil's hand cupping her cheek brought Kayo back to the small space they were in. His eyes were cloudy, but as she looked down on him his face creased into a big smile.

'Should have told you before.'

'Told me what, Virgil?'

'Should have said earlier. Scott said to tell you.'

'Virgil?'

'Should have said.'

He was drifting already. Kayo held the hand cupping her cheek and leaned into it. She bit her lip and smiled back at him.

'We might not make it to the morning; so go on and tell me now.'

'Should have told you before how – how beautiful you are.'

'Virgil?'

'Love you, Kayo. Always have.'

She was crying now. Kayo lent forward and touched their helmets together. Her sight of Virgil was marred by the tears.

'Love you too, Virgil. We'll talk about this later.'

'Love you.'

Virgil's eyes slid closed as the room began to shake. It was a welcome noise, but as Kayo heard the crunch of footsteps on rubble Virgil's hand went limp in hers.

'Virgil? Virgil? Scott! We need you now!' she screamed.