Chapter Text
"Breathe, Jesse. You have to breathe."
Jesse's head tossed from side to side, torn between looking at his arm trapped under rubble (though his view was blocked by Angela as she worked a tourniquet around his upper arm) and Gabriel. Gabriel squeezed Jesse's good hand as hard as he could, feeling gratified as the boy squeezed back.
Gabe ran his fingers through Jesse's soot-stained hair as Jesse swallowed panicked noises as Angela began to dig in her kit. Gabriel removed his hand from Jesse's head and placed it on his shoulder as Angela pulled out a wire and looped it around Jesse's arm above the elbow.
(Gabe had seen that wire in action before, it was the same tool that took DelRosso's foot after it became infected and septic on a mission in the wilderness. He understood that the slender wire was covered in small serrated teeth that could slice through bones in a matter of minutes. Quick, but certainly not painless. And judging by the noises that DelRosso made before he passed out, you could feel every pull of the wire. Gabriel still had the scars on his hand from where he offered himself up as something for his man to bite down on.)
Jesse whimpered as he felt the wire beginning to bite into his skin. After checking she had the necessary supplies nearby for after the amputation, Angela began the countdown. Gabe suspected it was more for her benefit than Jesse's.
"One," she began. Jesse shuddered in an attempt to force his body to relax. Tears dripped down his cheek, and Gabe wiped one away with his thumb. "Breathe," he advised. "Just breathe."
"T-two," Angela stuttered, her voice catching. Jesse had become like a brother to her over the past few years, it was hard for her to see him like this. Gathering herself up, she forced herself to start.
"Three."
At the first drag of the wire, Jesse shuddered. He jerked and gasped, bucking instinctively away. Gabriel pressed him back down by the hand on his shoulder. Angela gritted her teeth, and forced herself to keep going. Tears streamed down Jesse's face as the wire passed through muscle and tendons. He clenched his teeth so tight Gabe could hear them creaking. Eventually, something snapped in Jesse, and he cried out, whimpering and begging Angela to stop.
Angela whispered apologies as she worked, her bangs falling in her face and getting blood in her fair blonde hair. When she reached bone, Jesse shrieked. Wailed. Screamed. It was a terrible sound, one that Gabe never wanted to hear from anybody. Jesse didn't pass out.
At this point in DelRosso's amputation, the man was out. But Jesse clung to consciousness like a drowning man to a raft. Once Angela made it through the bones in Jesse's arm, he collapsed back, panting and whimpering. The only proof that Gabe had that Jesse wasn't drifting off was his hand was still being crushed by Jesse's grip, with the same unwavering strength. Gabe shushed Jesse's cries as Angela finished pulling the wire through flesh. One moment, the ragged arm was trapped under rocks and metal, and the next, Jesse was left with a stump that was bleeding profusely.
Angela hurriedly tossed the wire away and pulled out her caduceus. The technology helped stop the worst of the bleeding, but the rest of the care would have to be manual. Gabe pulled Jesse in close to him as Angela bandaged his stump. Jesse had stopped making any sounds at this point, and was growing pale. Gabe chocked it up to shock and blood loss.
Gabriel whispered to Jesse as Angela finished preparing him to move to the transport. Jesse's eyes were half closed and heavy as he looked up and Gabe. Gabe gave him a soft smile and whispered into the top of his head.
"You did good, mijo. I'm sorry this happened to you."