[Video/Voice] Backdated to late morning of the 13th

[fabrecation]

[The view is nothing but the sky. The rain that falls on it. Blood staining the entire side of the camera.

The voice is shrill. Frantic. Trembling and pained.]

Suh - Somebody – I n-need a healer by the back of the Battle Dome right now! Asch is - hkgh -

[Then there's quiet muttering, as if he's speaking in a whisper to someone else. A whisper that cuts off for a moment, then turns into a hurt sound.

And then nothing else.]


((ooc: Aftermath of this. Rapunzel is chronologically first, but anyone can reply whenever they like /o/))

Comments

[gleamed]

[She nods hastily, not going to argue with that. She scrambles to the other redhead, blood sinking into the folds of her skirt as she leans over him, searching his face for something--anything, surveying his wound--

She's never seen anything like this before. And for a moment, she's frozen. What if...he's...

She still doesn't cry. She won't let herself until she's tried everything she can.

P-please don't be too late...

She pulls her hair around him, splayed across his bleeding chest. And she sings, voice shaky and panicked.]

Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine,
make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine,

Heal what has been hurt, change the fates' design,
Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine...

[Her hair illuminates, bringing with it a warm and brilliant healing light. She bites her lip, watching Asch's features even more closely than before--something, anything...]

[fabrecation]

[He's never heard a song like that before. Even in the state he's in, he has to listen, has to shut his eyes and let it flow over him.

A faint memory flashes through his head: He's thirteen and sick in bed, and his mother is with him when she shouldn't be, and she's singing to him and smoothing his hair back and making him feel better than what any medicine can do.

For a brief moment, he feels like that again. Soothed, cared for, any hurt or grief being carried away.

And then it all comes crashing back when she stops, and Asch doesn't move. Luke opens his eyes and looks at Asch's face, and they squint into denial and desperation as he realizes there's no change to his features.

His one good hand grips into Asch's shirt just over the wound, and his hand starts to flicker and glow with his own healing light. His is weak, but he can try. He can try until he can't anymore, no matter how that ends.]

[gleamed]

[No. No. The power in her hair--it had to be enough to fix this, it had to. Biting her lip leaves a metallic taste in her mouth as she catches sight of Luke's healing light.

Asch...she's too afraid to admit to herself what she's already certain is true. She is too late. But in a desperate attempt, she sings the healing incantation one more time.

Still, nothing changes.

Her breath catches in her throat.] Luke...I think he's...

[It's too late to save Asch. But she can still save Luke. She has to.]

[fabrecation]

[Luke shakes his head, even as he shifts, even as the light of his healing keeps up. He has to keep trying. Even if Rapunzel thinks she can't - he can. Something has to work, something has to work.]

No! We're... We're just... [We're just not trying hard enough. That has to be it.]

[gleamed]

Luke, you're bleeding, we have to--[She has enough hair for both of them, and even if she doesn't think there's anything she can do for Asch now, she can still keep trying, for Luke's sake.

But he's alive, and he's in pain. She can do something about that for sure. So she drapes hair over Luke as well, giving him a pleading look.]

Please, try to relax--I-I can heal you, too.

[fabrecation]

I don't c-care! Give - Aah-Asch needs all of... of it!

[He tries to move his hand back to get her hair off of him, but with the way he's positioned, he can't reach that far without toppling to his back. So he leaves it as it is, and instead just tries to focus on Asch.]

[gleamed]

[She doesn't argue the point. It would do them no good. Instead, she sings her healing incantation again, a pleading tone in her voice. Please, Luke, let me heal you...

She's certain she's already lost one friend here. She won't lose another one. She won't. So she pours her determination into her song, hair swelling with light and engulfing them both.]

[fabrecation]

[A part of Luke's body seems to want to resist, even without him knowing it. It's as if he believes with every fiber in his being that Asch needs the healing more than he does, that he himself doesn't deserve it.

But he still can't help shutting his eyes when he feels that power wash over him, when he hears that song. His grip on Asch's clothes loosen, and he can feel the agony through his body begin to lessen. Maybe it's not enough to heal everything, but it certainly doesn't feel like he's going to die right here.

And it makes him clench his fist in Asch's shirt again, wondering why this isn't working - ]

[gleamed]

Luke? [She searches his face for signs of pain--she should sing again. She should heal him as much as she can, because what else can she do? But he's still so focused on Asch, even though he's--]

Luke, can you tell me how you feel? Where do you hurt?

[Please, please answer her. Asch is...she couldn't even begin to say it to him.]

[fabrecation]

[There's definitely pain in his features. Physical pain from his shoulder, his torso, his back, his head, his very mind. Emotional pain, even mental pain in some way. No, no, Asch, wake up wake up - ]

I - Just make it all stop!

[His words are softer, more slurred, as he starts to grow more lightheaded. By this time, another healer is here, ready to help. But Luke is still focusing whatever is left of him to Asch, because he can't give up, he can't, he can't. This pain isn't allowing him.]

[gleamed]

[Oh, would that she could make it all stop. But she's in over her head and the escalating tension threatens to drown her resolve. But she would see this through. She could cry later, but now? She won't allow it.

So she lays her hair across his wounds again, singing her healing incantation with a stronger, forceful sound.]

[fabrecation]

[And even though Luke is completely focused on Asch, he's still very scared. For Asch, for himself, for Guy, for this whole situation. So hearing her sing again, feeling that hair and that soothing sensation... He can't help squeezing his eyes shut and bringing his hand away from Asch to grip her hair instead.

Thankfully, the spell does help to some degree. The bruises on his back heal, and the slashes on his chest aren't quite as serious anymore. But there's still his shoulder, bones and muscle torn, cut clean through, and that's the worst of it.]

[gleamed]

[She leans back, trying to survey how he's doing now as her heart thumps against her ribcage. This has to be working, it just has to be...]

Where do you still hurt the worst?

[fabrecation]

[At this point, he feels way too dizzy, and Rapunzel's voice sounds far away. But he can still understand it, so after a moment of turning the words over in his head, he vaguely gestures to his shoulder before he grips Asch's clothes again. He still has to try...]