A World Apart - Dying

I heard the snap of the crossbow, saw the shadow as it moved through the greyness of the room I was in. I felt the searing pain as the bolt struck my chest and the ground as I fell to it. I gasped, tears blurring my vision as the loyal blue shape I knew to be Rose hovered over me, whining with worry. I couldn't see anything else. There was nothing but the gray of the room and the blue of my seeing eye dog and the pain of the crossbow bolt embedded in my chest.

I laid motionless on the ground, unable to find who had just shot me. Their colour was hidden within the room and they had a block up to prevent me from mentally probing. I could see my life flashing before my eyes, the love of my parents, the pain of their death, the warmth that Dr. Ian had provided for me. I could see it all even as my eyes flooded with tears of pain and fear.

I couldn't believe this was happening. I had to be dreaming. I had to have fallen asleep somewhere and I just desperately wanted to wake up from this nightmare. But I could feel Rose's cold nose against my cheek, her rough tongue trying to coax me into responding to her as she whined with fear of her own. I closed my eyes, fighting against the urge to just give up and reached out mentally for my anchors to this world.

Cheyn was the first to respond to me, his panic immediately becoming overwhelming to me. I must not have hidden my pain as he starting begging me to tell him where I was. Unfortunately, I wasn't exactly sure. It wasn't a room I was familiar with. I whimpered a bit, the pain in my chest spreading as I tried not to sob. It was hard though. I could feel my life slipping away from me even as the warmth of my blood spread across my skin.

"Rose... find Cheyn..." I murmured, raising my arm to push at her chest. She hesitated, knowing I was in mortal danger, but I needed a human. I needed Freya most right this moment or it might have been the end of me. "Please..." I begged and she whined again before leaving me. I clung to my connection to my roommate and boyfriend, his desire to find me being my life line. I could see his thoughts, all of them of me, and almost smiled to know that he loved me so much.

It was his thoughts that reminded me that I was alive, that I had so much still to live for. I had to hold on until he could bring Freya to me or at the very least until I could touch him again. I knew I had to. And then I felt the shift in his emotions and knew Rose had gotten to him. He had hope again and I could feel him getting closer as his thoughts grew stronger, became clearer to me.

And then he was there, the warm red colour I knew him to be. It was some cross between his natural angry, arrogant nature and the love he held for me that created the swirling shades of red that made up his aura. But it was his aura alone and I took comfort in knowing he was beside me. I could feel his hands on me, tearing my shirt open to get a better look at just where the crossbow bolt had penetrated my chest.

"Freya... it's bad..." he whispered, fear edging into his voice as he moved so that my head was resting on his lap. I groaned a bit as the position shift made the wound ache again, but otherwise didn't complain. I was happier now and felt more alive now that he was with me. Freya moved into my field of vision, the flames of her aura brighter than ever as she knelt down beside me.

"When I tell you to, pull the bolt out," she told Cheyn. I could feel one of his hands move closer to the wound as  his other hand brushed my hair back gently. Warm, wet drop fell on my face making me blink some. He was crying. The arrogant asshole that most people knew was crying over me, his tears mixing in with my own. Freya's hands moved to my chest and I could see the bird that always loomed behind her move forward through the flames, hovering over me.

"Now!" she said quickly and I screamed as Cheyn yanked the bolt out of my chest. As soon as he did, the bird moved through me and I could feel its cold fire licking at my skin. But it also started to remove the pain and I could feel my body repairing, the skin and muscle growing back as if there had never been an arrow there at all. As the bird and Freya's hands moved away, Cheyn pulled me up, hugging me close to him despite the fact that I was still covered in blood and probably getting it all over him.

"Come on, let's get back to the others," Freya said, standing. My roommate stood as well, but swept my legs up so that he could carry me. Right then, I didn't care about how it might look and just slid my arms around his neck. I was alive and my life was holding me close to his chest. So close that I could hear his heart thundering in his chest. I closed my eyes, grateful to put that part of the nightmare behind me.