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 Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:30 pm
“Took you long enough.”
“You should have done it yourself if you’re so impatient.”
Chad could barely hear the voices from downstairs as he quietly opened the bathroom door to head back to his room, rubbing his eyes as he did. He’d only woken up because he had to use the bathroom and sipped some water from the faucet.
One voice was his father, but the other voice he didn’t recognize. It was unusual for his father to have a guest over this late. He hadn’t even heard the front door open, and it was usually kinda noisy since it got stuck. It was why he snuck out through his window if he wanted to get in or out in the middle of the night.
The rest of the day was just as weird as it had been since his father picked him up from the park. He’d had ice cream. Twice. His father let him pick a movie to watch (the Lion King), and although he’d never actually wished Chad a happy birthday, he had bought him a sketchbook, so that was nice.
Earlier, after the movie, Chad nervously took the pen that Devyn had given him and drew a little heart and wrote thank you. He just hoped that Devyn wasn’t mad at him. He knew he probably should have tried harder to not let his father hurt his arm, but he was okay. There was nothing to worry about.
After that, when he was looking out his window and thinking longingly of Elliot and hoping he had a good day, he caught sight of a very fluffy white cat. It was weird seeing it just sitting there, watching the house. So he did the only polite thing he could think of and lifted a hand to wave to it.
It was just weird that his dad hadn’t gotten mad at him at all that afternoon. He’d been really nice. And he hadn’t seen his dad’s girlfriend all day, either. Which was good because she wasn’t really nice to him. Maybe things were different now.
Chad yawned and covered his mouth. It was probably sometime after midnight, and he had every intention of just heading back to bed.
“He’s asleep in his room. Wait about ten minutes so I can get to the bar.”
“Gotta establish that alibi, huh?”
Normally something like that wouldn’t have caught Chad’s attention, and he continued to move quietly down the hall when--
“Make it convincing, but try not to get too much blood everywhere,” he heard his dad say, and he froze again.
The other person laughed, said something about how he would just make it look--
Chad didn’t hear the rest. His heart was pounding too loudly in his ears.
What did that mean? Were they just joking? They were just joking. His father was being so nice to him that day. Well, other than at the park. But he got him a present and got him ice cream. He’d even let him say hello to his coworker!
But… he had thought something didn’t quite add up. Why would his father be so nice to him all of a sudden?
Definitely not wanting to go back to his room, because he knew there wouldn’t be enough time to sneak out of his window, he quickly and as quietly as possible snuck back into the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind him. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely pull the pen from his pocket and--
Nearly fainted when it slipped from his grasp and fell onto the floor mat with barely any sound.
Chad let out a shaky breath, and quickly picked the pen up once more and pressed the button, before twisting the cap and scribbling on his hand a message only seen on Devyn’s phone.
Help please I’m sorry
Once again he was begging for help and doing nothing in return.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:40 pm
It was late enough that Devyn had almost given up and gone to bed. He’d breathed a little sigh of relief when Chad had sent him a nice message earlier. A big sigh of relief, really, and he’d told Michael, and almost even felt ridiculous for worrying so much.
Worrying enough that he could have put Michael to shame. Put Percy to shame.
But, something hadn’t felt quite right even after that, even though he’d spent most of the night trying to push it to the back of his mind. Michael had gone over to the Reids’ a little while ago and Devyn had chosen to stay back, just in case something happened.
A wise choice, in the end.
As he laid on the couch and stared unenthusiastically at the television, his phone went off.
It was in his hand and his feet were back on the ground before he’d even had time to see the message. A secondary alert went off on his phone–Soleiyu, who spelled out very quickly and simply, ‘Negaverse’.
They knew Soleiyu was in the area, keeping an eye on Chad, so he could only assume that the messages had something to do with each other.
Which meant he didn’t have a lot of time.
There were difficulties he had to work around–mostly, he couldn’t power up without drawing attention to himself. Not until he was closer. His energy signature was too much, and from too far away, Solelyu wouldn’t be able to mask anything. So, he’d just have to run there without powering up.
He wouldn't be as fast, but it would be more discrete.
In that moment, Devyn couldn’t articulate how grateful he was that Michael convinced him to have a pair of running shoes instead of just his boots; they were on his feet and he was out the door before he’d even really taken a full breath since getting the messages.
He didn’t lock the door but he didn’t think Michael would mind this time.
He managed to send his first message to Michael by the time he reached the end of the driveway–a brief, ‘Going’.
His second message, to Soleiyu, seconds later: ‘omw’.
He didn’t bother to type either of them; he didn’t have time. The voice to text feature worked perfectly fine, although, he might have been a bit louder than he needed to be.
There wasn’t any chance that Devyn would get lost; the map was clear on his phone and showed Chad’s location, and Soleiyu’s, and Devyn’s.
And six blocks between him and them.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:45 pm
In the bathroom, there was nowhere to hide. Not really. Nowhere that wouldn’t draw attention. Chad’s heart was surely going to give him away, anyway. There was no way someone wouldn’t be able to hear how quickly it was beating.
From downstairs, he could hear the front door open and close. His father had left, which meant he hoped, desperately, that Devyn would be able to make it to him in time.
If Devyn wasn’t upset with him.
He clutched the pen tightly and opened the door to the linen closet. There wasn’t a lot of room. He didn’t know if he would even be able to fit, but he quickly moved some of the towels and other junk out of the way at the bottom so he could squeeze in. Shutting the door was difficult, and it took him some time to work his fingers under it enough to pull it shut. Where he was crouched down, he couldn’t reach the handle without a shelf being in the way.
And then he pulled a towel over his head and squeezed his eyes shut and hoped that maybe this was all just a huge misunderstanding. He tried everything in his power not to cry, but the tears were there anyway.
How could he have been so stupid? How could he be so desperate that he thought his father actually cared about him now after all of the horrible things he’d said and done to him over the years? The daily reminders of how easy it would be to--
He nearly jumped when he heard footsteps on the stairs, and he clasped his hand over his mouth to keep himself from breathing. He heard the frustration of the man when he opened his bedroom door, only to see that it was empty.
“I know you’re here, somewhere,” the man hummed as he turned to the obviously closed and locked bathroom door.
It was okay. He wouldn’t be able to get in. He would have to break down the door--
Except he didn’t. He was suddenly in the bathroom, turning on the light and unlocking the door from the inside. Another grumble of frustration, a pause, and then a growling hiss of something.
One of those creatures?
“Find him?” the man asked, sounding both amused and annoyed. Apparently ten minutes was longer than he’d wanted to deal with.
It didn’t take long for the creature to sniff out the linen closet. The door was open. A man he didn’t recognize ripped the towel off of Chad’s head, and the ghoulish looking creature lunged to bite Chad’s ankle, dragging him out of the closet as he gasped and yelped in pain.
“Cute. If you knew, you should have run sooner,” the man said, cruel eyes on Chad as the creature tore through his sock, soaking it red. And all Chad could do was cry and hold his arms up to try and shield himself. Pathetic. Useless. Just like his father always said he was.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:56 pm
A Negaverse Agent was bad enough, but then there was a youma, and there was Soleiyu sitting in a tree, texting.
He wasn’t a fighter, he didn’t have the skills he needed to go in and stop whatever was going on. He did the best he could to guess; the energy signature got closer to him. So, he texted in small bursts. ‘Upstairs’, ‘Youma’. Where were they?
Soleiyu’s claws must have come out half a dozen times already. He didn’t know what he could do. Run in, sure, but–him? And an Agent, and a Youma?
He could see Devyn getting closer–faster than he expected, but not fast enough. He wasn’t powered up, which Soleiyu understood, but that didn’t make any of this easier. Oh, but he was almost close enough–if Soleiyu could suppress his energy signature–
He had a variety of tools in preparation, and he had to readjust himself to make sure he could manage them all at once.
Soleiyu made his priority the little drone he’d built; it wasn’t designed for battle, but at best it could be a distraction–he hoped. It took only a few seconds to get into the air but it felt like it was still too long. The controls were seamless, easy to control. The drone itself wasn’t particularly fragile, but it wasn’t designed to be slammed against a solid surface.
It didn’t break after the first time it collided with the window. The window didn’t shatter, didn’t crack, but it was loud. Soleiyu did it again. A third time.
He put it on autopilot and let it keep running into the glass while he jumped out of the tree and bolted to the front door. He assumed it would be locked, and if he could get Devyn in a little quieter then, say, through the window, then maybe they could work this out. He had his tools.
He could pick a lock.
They’d save Chad.
Everything would be fine.
If Devyn would just get here already.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:07 pm
The creature was kicked away from Chad, but that didn’t prevent it from dragging its teeth further down his leg first. Chad cried out in pain, writhing from it on the bathroom floor. Until the man knelt over him and grabbed hold of the front of his shirt.
“You’re going to make my life a lot easier, once you’re gone you know. I guess I should thank you for that,” the man sneered. Chad didn’t know why he looked anywhere but the man’s face. Maybe because it was too scary to look at, or maybe because something caught his eye.
It didn’t seem to matter because he couldn’t reach it and was sure that the man would get it before him, but there was a knife or… dagger or something strapped to the man’s outer thigh that had been hidden beneath his jacket.
And then the pain was unbearable.
The man stuck his hand into Chad’s chest. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think of anything but the fire that burned as the man’s fingers reached for something--
The bang against the glass was muted to Chad, his senses completely out of sync. Another bang and the man retracted his hand, letting Chad fall to a heap on the floor, but still conscious. He had no idea what was hitting the window, but he was grateful for whatever it was. But he couldn’t move, because he was still being watched by the creature that bit him.
He felt weaker than usual. Maybe it was the fear and pain? It was as though some of his energy had been sucked from him.
Chad tried pushing himself up but his arm gave out. He must have landed on it weird because now there was a shooting pain from it.
He felt faint. Darkness was seeping around the edges of his vision.
If he closed his eyes and thought hard enough, maybe he would be lucky and Elliot’s smiling face would be the last thing he saw.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:14 pm
The front door opened, and not a second too soon. Soleiyu had just heard the familiar click–an impossible feat, given how loudly his heart was pounding in his ears–when he felt Devyn powering up. He’d been exuding as much energy as he could manage to muffle the energy signature even before Devyn arrived so he hoped it was enough to buy them a few extra seconds.
The drone hit the glass again but he didn’t think it was going to be able to withstand much more before the internal workings were too damaged to press on.
Devyn seemed to be alone, and–well, fine, but Soleiyu wouldn’t have complained if Michael had shown up, or if Jeremy had popped out of the bushes since he knew he was here earlier.
Soleiyu twisted the knob on the front door and used his own weight to pull it open, and really, Devyn could have been a little more careful when he flew past. It didn’t seem like he’d even planned to stop, so Soleiyu was grateful that he’d opened the door because–well, forget the window, apparently Devyn anticipated making it through solid wood.
He was gone before Soleiyu ever even got the chance to get a good look at him, and he had to scramble to try and catch up.
Eternal Sailor Alastor had no intention of slowing down. He would have torn the house apart brick by brick if that’s what it took, but Soleiyu had made breaching it easy. He was across the room in two steps, and up the stairs in little more than three.
He didn’t have to work hard to track the energy signatures; he was honed in on them already. Soleiyu said they were upstairs, and Alastor might have been a little rusty in general but he was honed in on the disgusting, wretched speck of Chaos on his peripheral.
The bathroom door stood no chance; he kicked so hard by the knob that the door chipped in a few pieces as it swung open.
Alastor didn’t even care about the Negaverse Agent, didn’t care about the youma.
He cared about Chad, though, and he was going to absolutely demolish anything trying to stand in the way of him doing so.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:19 pm
The bathroom door burst open with enough force to break the sink and mirror on the wall, sending shards of ceramic and glass down onto the bathroom floor. Chad had enough sense about him to at least shield his face, but he couldn’t do anything as the creature lunged for its newest target.
The Negaverse Captain was clearly shocked by the sudden appearance of a Senshi, and even more so an Eternal. He ripped the entire shower curtain off the rod and used it as something of a strangely colored matador’s cape.
A distraction?
“His thigh,” Chad called out weakly to Devyn -- Alastor? He couldn’t keep the names straight but-- oh, were those wings? Maybe he really was passing out and dreaming random things.
Sure enough, the agent was reaching quickly but subtly to his thigh, a gesture that might have looked as though he was just trying to block whatever Alastor was going to throw at him.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:31 pm
Alastor had been an Eternal Senshi again for no more than a few hours, but he’d been in the form for no more than a few seconds.
He couldn’t clearly recall the last time he’d had this much power.
But, he remembered how to use it, and in the brief seconds he had between the youma lunging and Chad warning him about the Agent, he decided he wasn’t going to waste his time playing nicely.
He hadn’t used his Eternal Magic in years, but for the first time in a very long time he summoned it with wrath. It wasn’t just magic at his disposal, it wasn’t a tool for a job.
It was his anger, and his frustration, and his despair, all balled up into one horrible, volatile little package.
It was more than he needed for just the two of them, but it didn’t stop him from using every last ounce of his Eternal magic. Chad was worth that.
And, Alastor was angry.
Very angry.
So, he wasn’t afraid of the youma, and he wasn’t afraid of the Captain, and the most immediate threat was the youma, he supposed, if only because he didn’t know what it could do.
The Negaverse Agent was just a human.
Superpowered, maybe, but that had never scared him before. He dug his fingers into any part of the youma he could find, scratching, bruising. He didn’t care, as long as it hurt. As long as it was away from Chad.
It only took so much pressure to dust it, and the bathroom was small and cramped already. He figured he’d go for two birds with one stone and drew the youma back before throwing it as hard as he could at the Captain.Quote: Eternal Sailor Attack: End of all Hope Alastor speaks the name of his attack and every enemy nearby will feel an absolute hopelessness; pure despair will override nearly all emotion and thoughts and it is nearly impossible to focus on anything beyond the overwhelming misery. The air feels thick with gloom and melancholy and seems impossibly heavy, like it is crushing everyone within radius. Targets may feel as if there is suddenly an unbeatable obstacle they have no chance to overcome. Targets may become acutely aware of the hardships and loss in their life. The magic can make someone feel physically exhausted and can be disorienting and emotionally draining; as the despair sets in they may feel like the crushing weight of it all is bruising them or making it hard to breathe but all sensations end when out of radius or when the magic fades unless players choose otherwise. The magic has one use and lasts for 45 seconds. It affects all enemies within a fifteen foot radius of Alastor and the magic will follow him if he moves, but the effects end if the character moves out of radius.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:40 pm
The expression on Alastor’s face was terrifying. It was clear he was enraged. Fury poured from him in a way that it was practically tangible.
Chad had seen people furious before. He’d seen what rage did to people. He’d seen his father’s face twisted horribly as he shouted things, threw things.
And yet in the face of something so horrifying, Chad felt a heavy pull in his heart. The only place he wanted to be at that moment was with Alastor. He needed to be with him, because Alastor wouldn’t hurt him -- he was doing everything he could to stop others from hurting him!
He reached, desperately, for him then as new tears poured down his face. Chad tried to get back up on his feet. The sooner he was with Alastor the better.
At the same time, it was clear that Alastor’s Eternal magic had hit its mark. The youma might have been crumpled already, but burst into dust as it crashed into the Captain, throwing him off balance.
Not that he needed anything extra to throw him off. The overwhelming despair that bore down on him brought him to his knees in agony. He ripped at his jacket, as if the physical gesture would be enough to break whatever magic had consumed him. He cried out in anguish, and in rage, himself. Until he couldn’t breathe--
The Captain only had enough wits about him to glare at Alastor from where he was crumpled against the floor. It took every ounce of bodily autonomy he had left to pull the dagger from its sheath, and hurl it at Chad instead of Alastor.
Maybe if Chad hadn’t been desperately trying to get to Alastor, or maybe if the bathroom wasn’t so small, the dagger wouldn’t have struck his side. It sent him crashing back down to the ground in a heap.
“It’ll be a mercy if you let him die now,” the agent sneered, gathered up the last bit of energy he had, and teleported, dagger disappearing along with him. After all, they would just come back to finish the job later.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:47 pm
The youma was gone. The Captain was gone.
Chad was there. Bleeding, but there.
“Hey,” he said, still high on adrenaline and rage and working very hard not to let any of that creep into his voice. “We’re leaving, I’ve got you.”
He knelt quickly and gathered him up in his arms as best he could, trying to assess how bad the damage was before he figured out how to pick him up. He had a first aid kit, but this wasn’t the place for him to administer any sort of treatment.
“I have to pick up your shirt a little, don’t look,” he instructed, and while he wanted to give Chad time to give permission, they didn’t have the luxury of time. He carefully peeled up the fabric so he could figure out how best to deal with this.
He didn’t want Chad to go into shock either, so while he examined the injury he asked, “What do you have in your room? What do you need out of there?”
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 6:53 pm
“It hurts,” Chad whimpered as tears fell. He clutched at Alastor’s clothes when he was gathered into his arms and groaned in pain when Alastor pulled the fabric of his pajama shirt away from the wound to assess it.
The Captain seemed intent on following through with whatever horrible task he had to get rid of Chad one way or another. The dagger had lodged itself between Chad’s lower ribs, before disappearing along with the agent. With nothing to stanch the flow, it soaked whatever it touched.
But Devyn was there. He would help him, surely. Chad had no doubt about it. Even if everything seemed so awful at the moment, and everything hurt, and there was a strong metallic taste in his mouth that he absolutely hated, he knew that Devyn would do everything he could to help him.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he cried softly. He tried taking a deeper breath so he could say more, but his throat felt full so he could only cough to try and clear it.
What was in his room? Did he need anything from it? There was nothing that he’d been given that was really his. Nothing he was attached to. But things that belonged to others? Maybe it was the way Devyn said it, but something told him that he would not be seeing his room again.
“Elliot’s sweater. And his dad’s book. And a box of my grandmother’s jewelry. Under the bed,” he said weakly through the pain. “I’ll get them,” Sessrumnir said from the door, and immediately turned to find Chad’s room and the items he mentioned.
He’d only arrived seconds ago, and was grateful that Soleiyu had waited for him outside. He ran as quickly as he could, knowing that if he dared power up there could be other agents in the area by now. It certainly would have been faster by car or riding Princess, but he had to make some assurances about their safety once they’d rescued Chad.
Sessrumnir was only frustrated with himself for not getting there sooner, even if he arrived barely a minute after Alastor.
“You coming with us, or do you need to sort things out here?” he asked Soleiyu as he tried getting down on his hands and knees to reach under the bed, struggling as he reached around for the items Chad described. “Can’t take him to a hospital. I don’t trust it. Got some Springs with healing properties. And I used to be a medic,” he grunted an explanation to Soleiyu as he debated if ripping the mattress off the bed would be faster.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:08 pm
Michael was here. Alastor breathed a sigh of relief, even if he’d only seen him for a second, but he immediately felt more confident just knowing that he wasn’t alone in this. Alastor could handle an injury–better when it was on himself, but Michael was a professional and could make sure this was done right. And, they could get to Sessrumnir from here immediately.
It was safer there. He’d heal better there.
“It’s going to hurt, Chad. I’m sorry,” Alastor said, because he couldn’t lie to him about this. He couldn't just say it wasn’t going to hurt while Chad was bleeding out. “But you were really brave, and I need you to just be brave for a little while longer. And don’t hate me. If I could do this any other way, I would.”
He tugged the sash at his waist off and folded it, just slightly, so he could press it against Chad’s side. “I’ve been stabbed like this before, it feels worse than it is,” he said, and if it wasn’t the truth he delivered it expertly, anyway.
“Messy, but you can stop the bleeding. My friend just got stabbed a few weeks ago and he’s doing fine. He’s going to get your stuff, Chad. Try to stay awake for me. You can rest soon, but it’s important that I’ve got you awake. No apologies, it’s okay. You’re going to be fine. Just stay focused for me.”
“I’m applying pressure, okay? It’s going to keep your blood inside, where it’s supposed to be. And if you lose too much, you can have some of mine.”
Unless people from Earth had changed so much since Percy was around that they weren’t compatible anymore, he should have asked Soleiyu to run tests on that, too.
It didn’t matter, they’d be fine. They’d figure it out, Chad was going to be fine.
“Just focus. Breathe in, and out. I need you to be calm, the harder your heart’s working, the longer it’ll take to stop the bleeding. But it’s going to be okay. I promise.”
Soleiyu had run up after Sessrumnir and figured he might as well make himself useful; the bathroom was too small for him to needlessly crowd, and he wasn’t an expert in first aid. “I’ve got a drone I have to pick up outside, but that’s it. I can go grab that now and meet you back up here. If you’re not going to a hospital, take me with you. I don’t know what your Wonder’s equipped with, but I can whip something up, fast, if you need it.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:16 pm
Chad didn’t feel brave. He didn’t feel anything but pain. His vision was swimming again. Maybe the adrenaline of Alastor arriving helped pull him back into focus from being bitten, but now that he wasn’t trying to get away from someone actively trying to hurt him, he felt dizzy and unfocused.
Actually, even though the pain was still there, it didn’t seem as horrible as it did initially.
“I could never hate you,” he mumbled in distress, coughing again and grimacing as he tried swallowing back the gross taste in his mouth. He was shivering too. Everything was so cold, but Devyn was warm and, “You’re so beautiful.”
He didn’t know what he was saying. He saw that Devyn looked different than before, but he didn’t know how else to describe it. The words just tumbled from his mouth as he blinked rapidly to clear the tears from his eyes.
But he was so tired too. He wasn’t going to fall asleep, but he wanted to close his eyes for a little. Maybe it would stop the tears, or stop the dizziness. “Alright, get your drone. We’ll leave when we meet up again,” Sessrumnir nodded to Soleiyu. Valhalla had brought multiple people to his Wonder before, and while Sessrumnir wasn’t Transcended like his brother, he was confident he had the energy for two others and a cat.
Sessrumnir was back on his feet, and he grabbed the bedposts to yank it away from the wall. The mattress was flipped up as well, which ended up being a good idea because apparently Chad liked hiding things in the springs and frame below the mattress. There was a small silver box that looked like it was from a department store. Upon opening it, he was fairly confident this was the box of jewelry Chad had mentioned. He found Oliver’s copy of To Kill a Mockingbird as well, and recognized Elliot’s sweater. It looked like Chad had collected other things under the bed. A few dollars had been folded up and tucked between the springs, a set of worn paint brushes that didn’t seem like they were sentimental, just kept away from someone who might want to get rid of them.
The rest of Chad’s room was sadly plain. Nothing on the walls, a single dresser and a tiny closet. Sessrumnir took a few moments to look around to see if there was anything that Chad might miss, but decided he would just buy whatever he needed to replace things.
With the items tucked into his subspace, Sessrumnir was back in the hall, checking on Alastor and Chad.
“We gotta go,” he said, looking worriedly from Alastor to Chad, before turning to lead the way to meet up with Soleiyu.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:28 pm
As soon as Sessrumnir had mentioned it, Soleiyu had bolted–and for the best, he figured; Sessrumnir wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally throwing something onto him while tearing up Chad’s room.
Going down the stairs was faster than going up them, and when he got outside he felt lucky that the drone was still in one piece. One lumpy, twisted piece, lying on the ground, but it was good enough. Less to have to pick up. His surveillance tools were easy enough to collect, and he wasted no time in grabbing everything before bolting back to meet up with the others.
“We’re ready,” Alastor called, still applying steady pressure to Chad’s knife wound. It seemed like the most pressing injury, but he wanted to make sure that bite wasn’t too bad, too.
He didn’t think there was a risk of bleeding out from that, though.
“We’re going to go somewhere magical, Chad. It’s one of my favorite places in the whole universe. It’s even more beautiful than I am, I don’t want you to miss any of it. And it’s safe, nothing can hurt you there. But I’m going to have to pick you up, and it might not be comfortable at first. But I’m going to keep my hand over this so you don’t lose too much blood, and we’re going to get you all patched up.”
Maybe it would be best if he passed out. Maybe he could sleep through the stitches, or whatever they needed to do to put him back together.
He just didn’t want to risk Chad closing his eyes and not ever being able to open them again.
There was a single split second where his heart throbbed, where there was something like panic, but he swallowed it up and shoved it down. He scooped one arm underneath Chad so he could hold him steadily while still applying pressure. He lifted him as gently as he could manage and hurried to Sessrumnir.
He knew Chad needed help, probably more than he could give.
Michael was a medic. A professional. He could fix this.
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