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Lup was beginning to think that they shouldn't have gotten separated. She and Barry had agreed to meet back at the fork in the stream before nightfall after they had split up to cover more ground searching for the light. The sun had set almost an hour ago, and Lup was standing alone at the meeting place. She was becoming increasingly worried. Barry didn't like to be alone in the woods in the dark. He would have come back early , if anything.
There was another problem, too. Lup was nearly out of spell slots. She had run into several aggressive wild animals in the woods that afternoon, and had cast Locate Object a few times in the hope of finding the light. She only had a couple of first level and two fourth levels left.
Right. I need to start searching for him, Lup decided. Luckily, she knew which direction he had gone. She rested her hand on the hilt of the short sword at her waist and started walking. "Barry?" she called. "Call out if you can hear me!"
After about ten minutes of walking, calling out, and getting no response, Lup paused in her tracks. She took a deep breath, concentrated on thinking about Barry, and cast Locate Creature.
Barry wasn't within a thousand feet of her.
"Shit," she muttered. "Where is he?" She kept walking. I've only got one more spell slot that I can use to cast that. She went about another twenty minutes, continuing to shout his name, before casting again.
A strong tug told her to turn right.
Thank the gods. Lup began to run. "Barry! Barry, where are you?! Answer me!" She had cast Light on her wand, and was holding it out in front of her. She had darkvision, but Barry didn't, and she wanted him to be able to see her.
She was beginning to give up hope when she heard him. "Lup?"
"Barry!" she cried.
"Oh, gods." Barry's faint voice came from about thirty feet in front of her. "Lup, thank the gods."
"Where are you?"
Barry made a pained noise. "Over here." He sounded very close now. "Lup!"
She finally saw him. He was on the ground, halfway underneath a bush. Lup's heart dropped to her stomach as she realized that the red she could see wasn't just his robe. "You're hurt!" she gasped, falling to her knees next to him.
"Yeah." He looked up at her. "I...um, there were animals…I'm not even sure what they were, but they sure were mean." Barry coughed.
Lup winced. "Yeah, I ran into a few of those, too. They seemed to disappear when it got dark, though. Barry…" She put her hand on his side. "How bad is it?"
"Pretty bad," he admitted. "Um, it hurts a lot. I haven't really looked, I-I don't…"
"Can I see?"
"Okay."
As gently as she could, Lup pulled Barry's robe aside and examined the wounds. One of his legs was bleeding badly from what looked like a bite, and there were slash marks down his ribs and one arm. There was also a gash on his forehead. His right ankle was swollen, probably sprained. She didn't think that there was much internal damage, but he had lost a lot of blood. His skin was much too pale. He felt cold to the touch. "Barry, I think I have a couple of healing potions in my bag," she said softly. Healing potions were expensive and rare on this world--Merle had only sent them with a few and with a traditional first aid kit in case they had some smaller injuries that didn't require more powerful healing. This was going to need both. "Let's see how much of this we can take care of that way, okay?"
He nodded. Drinking the small bottles of potion seemed to stop the worst of the bleeding, and a bit of color returned to his cheeks. "That doesn't feel as bad," he said with relief. "Still hurts, but not quite as bad."
"Gonna be real with you, Barr, this is definitely not ideal," Lup stated. "We're not meeting up with the rest of the crew for another week, and you're not in any state to walk. Also, this forest is gross, and a little bit of healing potion isn't gonna keep these wounds from getting infected. Might have to deal with some of them the old-fashioned way. How much water do you have? I'd rather not leave you alone to go get some from the stream."
"I've got a full bottle in my bag," Barry said.
"Great! I'll start a fire. It's getting cold." Lup expertly built a small fire pit and soon had a nice, crackling campfire going. She took Barry's water bottle and heated up the water near to boiling. "Okay, you're gonna hate me after this is done, but bites get infected really easily. I'm gonna have to clean that out." She soaked a strip of cloth from an extra shirt in her bag in the hot water.
"Lup," Barry said warily. "I trust you with my life, but do you know what you're doing?"
She scoffed. "Ha! Do you have any idea how many scrapes me and Taako got into when we were younger? I may not be a cleric, but I know how to clean and bandage a wound. I can stitch up a cut real good, too, which the bite wound doesn't need but some of the deeper cuts on your arm might. Otherwise they'll just keep opening up and bleeding. Now, you're not gonna hit me, are you? Taako used to do that if I had to do this for him."
"I won't hit you," Barry promised.
"Thanks. I highly recommend that you hold onto something, though. I'd offer my hand, but I'm gonna need both of them." Lup brought her wand over closer, needing all the light she could get. With the cloth soaked in hot water and some antiseptic from the first aid kit, she started cleaning out the wound just above Barry's knee.
He flinched away violently and cried out. " Shit , that stings!" he blurted out.
"It'll sting worse if it gets infected." Lup waited a few seconds until she could steady his leg and start again.
Barry sucked in a sharp breath and held it.
"Breathe, Barry," Lup told him. "Holding your breath doesn't help." She wished that she had a better bedside manner. If it was Taako hurting, she could distract him by teasing him and getting him to argue with her, but Barry wasn't like that. Barry was sensitive . That wasn't a bad thing--Lup actually rather liked it--but it was sometimes inconvenient. "It won't take long, but you do need to be breathing."
He brought his hand, clenched in a fist, up to his mouth. As he breathed, small whimpers escaped him. Lup thought that might have been the reason he had started holding his breath in the first place. He probably didn't want her to hear how much it was hurting him.
Lup held back a groan as she realized that cleaning the wound was making the bleeding start again. She finished wiping all of the bite marks out and took a new, dry strip of cloth, folded it in half, and pressed it against the wound.
"Ah!" Barry yelped. "Lup?"
"Just stopping the bleeding. Then I'll wrap it up and that part will be done. Those were the deepest injuries, everything else won't be as bad unless I do have to stitch you up." Once again, she wished she sounded a little more considerate. I'm just being pragmatic , she told herself. There'll be time to comfort him after these injuries are taken care of. The bleeding stopped after a few minutes, and she wrapped his leg up in bandages. "There you go. Take a breather, Barr."
Barry was shivering. "Lup? I-I'm sorry, I'm really cold. Can you make the fire a little bigger?"
Effortlessly, Lup waved her hand. The fire glowed white with a blue speck at the center, sending waves of warmth towards the two of them. "Better?"
"So much better," he sighed. He started to reach towards her with his uninjured arm before hesitating and pulling back.
"Barry, do you want to hold my hand for a minute before I start on the other injuries?" Lup asked plainly.
It might have just been the firelight, but Barry's cheeks looked a little flushed. "Kinda," he confessed.
She took his hand between both of hers. "You're gonna turn into a tomato when I say this, but I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off for me to get to the cuts on your ribs." She laughed as he did indeed blush. "But I'll work on the one on your forehead first so you can wrap your mind around it."
They had spent over forty years together in these cycles. Their mutual attraction was well-known by both of them (and by everyone else on the ship). They had agreed not to act on that attraction yet, knowing that the timing just wasn't right. It may never be right. But their friendship was absolutely strong enough to handle a little bit of flirting now and then, and this was just the right occasion to bring some of that into the conversation to lighten the mood.
"Ouch," Barry mumbled. The gash on his forehead wasn't too bad, but it had bled a lot. "Ouch!"
"Save it for the big ones," Lup advised. "Close your eyes, I don't want to get bloody antiseptic water in them."
He obliged. "Y'know what sucks?"
"What?" She wiped the last bit of blood away. Now that she could actually see it, it was clear that the cut wasn't bad enough to warrant a bandage.
"We go back to our recorded states every year and we never get to keep any of the dashing scars we get." He opened his eyes and smiled. "That's always disappointing. Like, I earned these scars fair and square."
Lup laughed. "Imagine if we did keep our scars, though. We'd all be covered in them. Okay, shirt off." She helped him sit up and take the shirt off.
Without his shirt or his robe, Barry was shivering again. He kept wincing as the trembling pulled at the slashes on his ribs and arm. "This is...not fun," he decided.
"Oh, wow, some of these are deeper than I thought. Okay, Barry, you sit there for a minute." Lup took off her own robe and draped it over her lap. "Now, lay down in my lap with your injuries facing up," she instructed.
"So you can reach them all, or so you can hold me still if I start freaking out?" Barry asked cynically as he lowered himself down across her lap.
"Little bit of both. And I can keep you warm." Lup took a brief moment to stroke his hair before getting a new cloth and putting some hot water and antiseptic on it. "Hang tight, Barr, this might be tough. I'm gonna start on your arm so I can wrap it first, okay? I don't think they need stitches, but if the bleeding starts up again at all, that might change. I'm going to be super gentle, just breathe."
"I trust you," he said for the second time that day. Even so, he stiffened and was shaking with the effort of not yanking his arm away as she got to work on the wounds.
"Easy, easy," she murmured. "You're doing real good, Barry. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time back home when Taako got a sword in his side?"
"No, I don't think so." Barry's voice was strained. "Why?"
"We got jumped by some bandits. Not that we had anything to steal in those days, we were so broke. I don't think we had more than a few coppers between us. There must've been about ten of the guys, big burly humans." Lup was exaggerating slightly--there had only been six. "Me 'n Taako were like, okay, let's play it cool, maybe we can get out of this without a fight. But when they realized that not only did we have nothing of value to steal, we were also unarmed except for some kitchen knives, they decided to drag us along with them and see if they could sell us as slaves."
"Holy shit , Lup!"
She had to giggle at his incredulity. "Yeah, that was a rough part of the world. Nothing like the nice shiny city you came from. But I'm not done with my story. We must have been...oh, sixty? Maybe seventy at the time. Still just kids, really. Super scrawny, looked like easy targets. And they figured, hey, if we hold a sword up to one of their necks, the other will follow meek as anything."
"Which--"
"I got the sword to the neck. Of course, what they didn't realize was that we're both wizards, and also if they threatened me, Taako was gonna flip . He blasted the guy holding me with a fourth level Magic Missile and knocked him out cold instantly. I'll spare you the details of the skirmish, but let's just say that we got away." Lup's story was having exactly the effect she had hoped it would. Barry was staring up at her, wide-eyed, completely distracted from the pain in his arm. She was nearly ready to start bandaging it. "Taako had his hands pressed to his side. Somehow I hadn't noticed him catch a sword there. We got to a small town where we were safe enough to stop and he collapsed."
Barry gasped.
"The two coppers in his pocket were enough to make the innkeeper there take pity on us and let us into a room, but there was no cleric in town so I had to deal with it on my own. Picture us on the ground in a shitty inn room, him laying on some ratty old towels so his blood wouldn't stain the carpet. And my gods, he was screaming . I had to stop the bleeding and stitch him up, and he had kept it all in while we were running away so he had a whole lot of pent-up pain to yell about," she continued. She was already wrapping Barry's arm in bandages. He didn't even seem to notice. "I managed to get him to a point where he wasn't gonna die, but he was blubbering his eyes out while I cuddled him to sleep. He had to stay lying down for two weeks so the injury could heal, and I worked at the bar in the inn tavern to pay for the room. And that is why I'm such an ace at mixing drinks!" she concluded.
Barry's lips quirked up in a half-smile. "Was that the point of the story?"
"Nah, the point of the story was to get you to forget about how much your arm hurt. Also, all done. Time to get to the ones on your ribs." Lup tossed the bloody cloth to the side and picked up a fresh one.
"Oh, wow. It worked, thanks." But Barry looked apprehensive again as she poured the antiseptic. "Do I get cuddled to sleep if I start crying?"
"Aww. If you want me to cuddle you to sleep, all you have to do is ask," Lup teased. More seriously, she added, "The other point of the story was that it's okay if you do need to cry a bit. These cuts on your ribs are really nasty, Barr, and I wouldn't blame you at all."
He swallowed. "Okay."
Instead of launching into another story, Lup quietly took his hand and began cleaning out the wounds on his side. "Shhh," she said as Barry flinched. "I've gotcha. Hey, Barry? How long were you lying there before I found you?"
"Um, maybe two hours? They finally left me alone when the sun went down." Barry whimpered. "Ow!"
"I know, I know it hurts, shh. That must have been rough, all alone in the dark."
"Yeah, but…" He made another pained noise. "I knew you'd find me."
Lup stroked his hair again and frowned. Why did those strange, sharp, violent creatures disappear at nightfall? She didn't want to worry Barry, though, so she didn't say anything about it. "That's right, I came looking for you as soon as I realized you weren't gonna show up at the stream."
Barry cried out as the cloth touched a particularly deep cut. His breathing got shaky and some tears slipped down his cheeks.
"Shhh, shhh, it's okay. It won't be much longer, I promise." Lup kept murmuring reassurances until she had finished cleaning and bandaging the injuries completely. "All done, sweetheart, it's over."
Shuddering, Barry nodded. "Oh, gods, Lup, I-I'm so tired."
Lup dug through her bag and found the emergency blanket that shrunk to be stored and expanded when in use. It was big enough to wrap around both of them. "Get some sleep."
"Don't you need sleep too? How many spell slots have you still got?" Barry asked.
"Pretty much none."
"Same. We both need to rest, Lup, you should lay down--"
"I'm gonna trance instead," she insisted.
"You hate meditating," said Barry. "You always prefer to sleep."
Lup sighed. "Yeah, but trancing is better if I have to be keeping watch at the same time. You sleep, Barr. It's okay, I promise."
He was quiet for a minute. "It's hard to sleep when it hurts like this," he said softly.
"I know." Lup took his hand again and rubbed his back. "Just try, Barr. See, I told you I'd cuddle you to sleep if you wanted."
His eyes closed. "Let's not get separated again," he said. "Better if we stick together."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not letting you out of my sight. Goodnight, Barry." She waited until he was asleep before starting to take the slow, deep breaths needed to enter her trance. She left enough of her consciousness available to keep the fire going safely and to watch and listen for anything in the trees.
A low snarling sound snapped her out of the trance. She shoved Barry rather unceremoniously off her lap as she sprang to her feet and drew her short sword. With her other hand, she grabbed a branch off the ground and lit the end on fire.
"Lup?" Barry cried. "What's wr--"
A great big, dark something sprang out of the trees. Lup's weapons did her no good. Before she could even register what was happening, she was on her back on the ground. Sharp claws tore into her stomach and she screamed.
"No! Lup!"
"Barry!" Lup wailed, unable to stop herself. The creature's claws raked down her arms, tearing her skin like paper.
A wordless scream escaped Barry. A cold, black wave of energy slammed into the creature, which shrieked and toppled over. Lup heard its final, rattling breath.
"Holy shit!" she panted. "How the fuck did you do that?"
Barry crouched down next to her, looking extremely shaken. "Cast Blight at sixth level. Might've been...a little overkill. Oh my gods, Lup, you're really hurt!"
"I…" Lup couldn't deny it.
"And you gave me both of the healing potions you had! Lup!" He sounded frantic.
Suddenly, Lup felt very, very dizzy. "I'm gonna pass out," she informed him. "Please stop the bleeding for me." And then her vision went white.
"...need you to wake up. Lup? Lup, please wake up."
Something was pressing hard on her stomach. It did not, to put it mildly, feel great. "Ow," she groaned.
"Lup! Can you look at me? Look at me, please!" Barry begged.
"Barry? Barry, I don't feel good." Lup managed to open her eyes. She instantly regretted it. Everything was spinning.
"I kn--oh!" Barry quickly propped her head up and held her hair back as she threw up onto the ground. "I've got you, I've got you."
But now the pressure on her stomach was gone, and she could feel her blood oozing out of the wounds, made worse by her vomiting. "Barry, the bleeding," she reminded him hoarsely.
"Shit! I'm sorry, Lup, I'm so sorry!" His hands were back on the folded-up robe on her stomach, putting pressure on the wounds. "I'm so sorry." Barry sounded close to tears.
"Why…? You s-saved me." Lup breathed shallowly, trying not to pass out again.
"I used both of our healing potions, we don't have any more, and I wasn't...I would have…"
"Shush, don't. Please don't." She reached up and grabbed his arm, squeezing hard. "That's not gonna help , Barry. Hey, hey…"
He was crying now.
"Please don't cry," she said helplessly. "If anyone should be crying right now, it's me. If I die--"
"You won't ," Barry insisted. "No matter what. I know Spare the Dying, it's a cantrip. No matter what, you're not gonna die."
"But…" Lup struggled to get a full breath in. "If I do, I'll be back in...what, seven months?"
"I don't want to lose you for that long," Barry said. His voice broke. "Lup, please, I don't want you to leave me."
"It's happened before, though? Barry, why are you…" She couldn't stay conscious any longer. "It's gonna be okay," she breathed, before her eyes slipped closed.
When she came to, it no longer felt like there was a steady gush of blood flowing over her stomach. A warm hand was stroking her cheek. Barry wasn't crying, but his breathing was definitely still shaky.
"Barr…?"
"Lup? Don't move, please don't move! I th-think the bleeding stopped, but you can't move at all or it might start again!"
She did as he asked and lay very still. Her arms stung horribly, and she realized that they were covered in bandages. Barry must have cleaned the slashes and wrapped them while she was passed out. "Oh...oh, wow, Barr…" Lup forced her eyes open. A faint bit of light trickled through the trees. The sun was beginning to rise. "Y-you did a really good job," she praised. "I-I wasn't, um, expecting to survive that."
"I had to cast Spare the Dying twice, Lup. This was...really bad."
A wave of pain hit her as she woke up more fully. She tried to hold back an agonized cry but failed. "S-sorry, this is just...not fun."
Barry winced and took her hand. "Can I do anything?"
"You're doing plenty," she assured him. "Barr, can you think of any way we can get back to the ship sooner than we had planned? 'Cause if we don't make it there in six days, they'll come looking, but I don't know that we can make it that long."
"If we could get a message to them, they might come sooner...do you know Sending? I don't have it," Barry said.
"Sending? Oh, shit, yeah. Um, I don't have it prepared, but I could do that today if I can get in a rest that doesn't involve being unconscious." Lup squeezed his hand. "How are you doing? It looks like you bled a little more."
"A couple of the cuts opened back up last night. They've stopped by now, it's okay. Are you gonna meditate or sleep?" he asked.
"Ugh...meditate. Just for efficiency. I can have a good long nap when we're back safe on the ship. Hey, will you keep holding my hand? It's better to trance while focusing on something that isn't, um, agony."
Barry stroked his thumb across the back of her hand and nodded. He used his other hand to brush the hair back from her face. "I'll be right here," he promised.
Lup focused on the feeling of Barry's hand in hers, and started meditating.
Four hours later, she was fully rested. "What message should I Send? Remember, it can only be twenty-five words," she said.
"That should be plenty. Just say that we're both injured and we can't reach the meeting spot, so they have to come and find us. And tell them to watch out for the creatures," Barry added. None of them had come to attack today. They were probably scared away by the necrotic energy coming off the body of the larger animal.
Lup constructed the message in her head. Barry and I have been injured. Won't be able to reach meetingplace. Please come get us. Also, careful: dangerous wild animals in woods. Love, Lup. She cast Sending, projecting the message to Taako.
His response came fairly quickly. Merle, Mags, and I are coming for you. Should be in your area by nightfall. You both stay safe or I'll be pissed. Love, Taako.
"They're on their way," Lup said.
Barry looked like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "How long will they be? Did he say?"
"We won't have to spend another night out here."
"Oh, good ." He shivered. "Have I mentioned how much I hate the dark?"
"Once or twice," Lup chuckled, then grimaced with pain. "Don't make me laugh. Laughing hurts."
"Okay, what should we do while we wait for them?" Barry wondered.
"Have you eaten since you got hurt yesterday?"
Barry thought about that for far too long. "Um…"
"Eat something," Lup said, exasperated. "Just don't offer me any, because I will get sick again. Something is very definitely messed up inside where my organs are. It would probably kill me real good if Merle wasn't gonna be here today." She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing while Barry got out some food from his bag.
After he had eaten, Barry slid closer to her. "Do you wanna talk while we wait?" he suggested.
"You talk. Hurts to talk," Lup stated. The pain was starting to get to her. If she wanted to, she could probably have masked it easily. But she was finding that she didn't want to. What she wanted was for Barry to just talk to her, take her mind off things. Maybe hold her hand and pet her hair. Sappy, she told herself. Quit that pining shit. He's also your friend, you can just. Ask him. For comfort.
"Okay, I can talk. You told me last night about when Taako got a sword in his side? Well, my stories aren't quite that exciting, but I did fall off a roof once and break my arm. What's really great is that I was only on the roof because I was hiding from my grandparents after breaking one of their vases. Here's what happened." Barry hadn't introduced the story very well, but it was quite entertaining as he told it. It involved a loose pet bird, a butterfly net, and several bars of chocolate.
Lup reached out to touch his arm as the story came to a close. "Barr?"
"Yeah, Lup?"
"This is...silly, but…" She hesitated.
"What is it? I doubt it's silly," he reassured her.
"Could you hold me?" she said impulsively. "I mean, you can't really move me without making the injuries worse, but maybe...just hold my head in your lap? Or something? It's silly, I know."
Barry's gaze was soft and loving as he replied, "Not silly at all. Here, let's see...tell me if it hurts too much." He gently lifted her head and shoulders up to rest in his lap, avoiding the bite wound above his right knee. "How's that?"
Lup fought back tears. "Yeah, that's…nice, thank you." Barry was caressing her shoulder and running his fingers through her hair, and it made her feel safe and cared for even if her stomach was currently torn open and the skin on her arms was shredded.
"Of course, Lup. Believe me, I know it helps. Hey, you can close your eyes if you want. I'm right here."
The world didn't spin as much with her eyes closed, so she did. Lup nestled her head back against Barry's hand. "Hey, Barr, you didn't get much sleep last night," she realized.
"Um, yeah. It's alright, I'm fine. Plus I got about a third of my spell slots back, I think. I'll take a nap when we get to the ship, too." He continued to pet her hair.
"You could keep talking to me, then. If you want." Lup was trying not to sound too desperate. "Tell me more stories about the dumb stuff you did as a kid?"
"You got it," Barry said. He talked for what must have been a few hours. Lup was finding it difficult to keep track of time. Her mind started to feel all fuzzy. Barry's voice went in and out of being comprehensible. "...hear me? Lup, can you hear me?"
"What? Yeah, I c'n…"
"You're fading, Lup, stay with me," he pleaded.
"'m not fading, just having...a hard time focusing." Maybe she was fading. Were her limbs supposed to feel this heavy?
"Then you need to open your eyes and look at me, Lup. Hang on, please. It's already late afternoon, they're on their way!" Barry held her hand tightly.
She blinked up at him. "You look worried," she observed.
"You think? Lup, I'm really scared. Like I said, I know I can keep you alive, but that doesn't mean I'm not scared."
Now that she was focused again, the pain was getting worse. "Ow," she whimpered. "Ow!"
"Lup? It...it's alright, I'm here. You're gonna be okay," Barry told her. "Stay with me, just hold my hand."
"I don't know how much longer I can do this," she confessed. "I...I'm gonna cast Sending again, I need to know that Koko's coming."
Barry rested his hand on her forehead. "Lup, I can't tell if you're feverish or not. Yeah, go ahead and cast Sending. Tell them to hurry."
Please tell me that you're almost here. We aren't doing great. Need to know that you'll be here soon. Barry thinks I'm dying. Love, Lup.
Taako's response came nearly instantaneously. You just hold on. We're searching the forest. We'll be there within the hour. Stay alive until we find you. It'll be okay. Love, Taako.
"He thinks they're gonna be here in less than an hour." A few tears overflowed onto her cheeks. Lup hadn't been allowing herself to think about how much she wanted her brother with her, but now she desperately wished that he was there. Soon. He'll be here soon.
"So he'll be here really soon," Barry said. "Taako's gonna be here really soon, Lup. That's good, yeah? You can stay with me now."
"I was gonna stay with you anyway. Ughh, it really hurts, though. If I pass out, I might not wake up again. Keep me awake?" she requested.
Barry kept her engaged with the conversation in a valiant effort for as long as he could. Eventually, though, she couldn't keep up. "Lup? Why are your eyes closing? I thought we agreed, no going to sleep."
"I feel...numb…" Lup mumbled. "It...doesn't hurt much...anymore."
He shook his head. "Lup, stay with me. Can you squeeze my hand?"
She couldn't.
"Lup!" He sounded very distant. "Open your eyes!"
Everything was getting further away. Lup knew this feeling by now, had almost gotten used to it. She had died...oh, this would be the eighth time, wouldn't it?
Then both of Barry's hands were pressed over her heart. They sent a spark of warmth and energy into her, making it easier to breathe. "I'm not letting you go," he insisted. "Not when they're so close to finding us. It's okay, Lup, I've got you. Don't worry about it. I'll do all the work now."
She tried to nod, but barely managed to move her head at all. "Thank you," she whispered. "Anyway, it…" Lup couldn't find the energy to finish the sentence. It'll be better for Taako if I don't die this year, so it's best if you keep going. Thank you. She was pretty sure that Barry had to cast the cantrip half a dozen more times to keep her breathing, but she lost count after three.
"Hey, hey, Lup," Barry was saying softly. He patted her cheek. "Lup, listen. Can you hear that?"
Her ears perked up as she heard Taako hollering. "We're coming! We're coming, Lup! Barry!"
Barry called back to him. "Over here!"
Lup swallowed tears of relief. She wanted to say something, but talking was just too much effort. All she could do was smile weakly. She felt Barry start to stand up before deciding against it--her head was still in his lap and he probably didn't want to disturb her.
Taako was the first of the three to reach them, but Merle and Magnus weren't far behind. "Holy shit, Lup, you look terrible!" Taako announced. He sat next to her and grabbed her hand, then spotted the body of the creature that had attacked them. "Did you kill that thing all by yourselves?"
"I hit it with a sixth-level Blight," Barry told him.
Taako whistled, impressed. "Not bad." Lup could see him get more and more concerned as he looked closer at her injuries. His voice got gentler when he realized just how bad it actually was. "Oh, wow, this must hurt, Lulu. Hey, Merle!" he called. "Better hurry!"
Lup mustered just enough strength to whisper, "Hey, what took you so long?" Before Taako could reply, Magnus and Merle had arrived. Lup tightened her grip on both Barry and Taako's hands while Merle healed her--feeling the wounds on her stomach knit themselves back together wasn't exactly painless. But the relief afterwards was definitely worth it. She probably would have started crying if she didn't have to sit up and say, "Barry's hurt, too."
"Not as bad as Lup," Barry said.
"It's not a competition," Merle pointed out. "And you're pretty beat up, too. Damn, those critters did a number on both of you."
Lup rested her head on Taako's shoulder and held Barry's hand as Merle healed him as well. "How far of a walk is the Starblaster?" she asked.
"We could do it in two hours," Magnus replied. "Well, maybe three--you two aren't gonna be moving very quick."
"True." Lup looked down at herself and winced. Her shirt was torn to shreds and absolutely soaked in blood. Underneath the blood smears on her stomach, a mass of pale pink scar tissue had stretched over where the wounds had been. She unraveled the bandages from her arms, noticing the same scarring there. "Hey, Barr, look at my dashing scars," she teased him. "Even if we won't keep them past this cycle." She reached out and tapped the one on his forehead. "A shame, it suits you."
Barry's cheeks turned pink.
Lup winked at him and turned to Taako. "I don't suppose you brought an extra shirt? Quite frankly, I'm tired of being covered in blood. I am looking forward to a shower back on the ship."
"Yeah, we grabbed a change of clothes for both of you." He tossed her a shirt from his bag. "Hurry up, let's get out of here before dark."
After both Lup and Barry had changed into less blood-stained clothes, they started heading back to the ship. Lup's legs were shaky. Barry kept stumbling with exhaustion. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, Taako was supporting most of Lup's weight. Barry was being helped along by Magnus, who kept talking encouragingly long after everyone else was too tired to bother chatting.
"Look! There's the ship!" Magnus exclaimed as they left the trees behind them.
Lup leaned even more against Taako. "It sure is." The silhouette of the Starblaster was always a welcome sight. "I am going to sleep for days ."
Barry mumbled something incoherent as a response.
Once they arrived at the ship, Davenport welcomed them back and asked for a full mission report. Lup gave him a brief version and asked if they could rest before telling the whole thing again to Lucretia to write it down. "Please, we're both exhausted."
"That's fine," Davenport agreed. "Get cleaned off, get some sleep. We can continue tomorrow morning."
Lucretia was currently examining the scars on Barry's arm and forehead. "This looks like it must have hurt," she said softly.
"Oh, it did. I was okay, though, once Lup found me. And she had it worse anyway," said Barry.
Lup caught Lucretia's attention and lifted her shirt up to expose the new scars on her stomach. "Pretty, right?"
"Oh, wow." Lucretia looked intrigued and slightly grossed out. "But you're alright now?"
"Yeah, Merle healed us up real good." She let the shirt fall. "I'm gonna go take a shower and get some sleep. G'night, all."
After her shower, she was braiding her damp hair as she walked to her room. She wasn't surprised to see Taako sitting on her bed waiting for her. He reached for her and pulled her hands away from her hair, making her sit down with him. "Here, let me."
Lup had no objections. She sighed contentedly as he braided her hair. "It feels nice not to be covered in blood," she said. "Though it also feels like someone socked me really hard in the gut, everything is super sore."
"Having your insides torn up will do that, I imagine." Taako finished braiding and rested his chin on her shoulder, leaning against her back. "I was worried about you."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Just be more careful next time, 'kay? Maybe don't get separated from the person who's supposed to keep you safe out there," he said. He ran his hand down her arm. His fingers brushed over the scars.
"It was Barry who got hurt while we were separated, the big attack came while we were together. Well, at least now we know why the smaller animals disappear at night--they were all afraid of the big guy." Lup's eyes were closing. "Are you gonna stay while I sleep?"
"You almost died. Obviously I'm not leaving."
She laid down. Taako pulled the blankets up before sliding underneath them with her. "You're warm," Lup said. She hadn't even realized that she had been cold, but now she found herself snuggling up next to her brother's warmth.
"Yeah, I've gotcha. C'mere." Taako pulled her close. "Oh, yeah, you're shivering."
"Am I?" She was, now that she was paying attention to it. "I guess being inches from death multiple times in one day really screws with your system. I have to ask Barry how many times he actually cast that."
"What did he cast?" Taako asked curiously.
"Spare the Dying. Neat little cantrip," Lup explained. She rested her head on his chest. "He had to use it several times."
Taako's whole body tensed. "Oh. You weren't exaggerating when you said he thought you were dying."
"No, I was definitely dying. I would have if Barry hadn't been so determined."
"Huh." Taako tucked his arm over her protectively. "Remind me to make him a really nice breakfast tomorrow."
Lup giggled. "Okay. Can we be quiet now? I haven't slept except for, well, unconsciousness since we left on the mission."
"Sure thing, sleep well."
She was mostly asleep when there was a soft knock on the door. "Lup?" It was Barry.
Taako answered for her before she could even stir. "She's sleeping, open the door and be quiet, Barold."
The door opened. "Sorry," Barry whispered. "I didn't realize she was already asleep."
"'m not," Lup mumbled. "Wha's up, Barr?"
"I was just, um...I'm sorry, it's okay, I-I'll leave you alone. You get some sleep." He started to leave.
"No, wait." Lup reached for him, trying to get him to come over to the bed. "Come talk. It's alright."
Hesitantly, Barry walked over. "I was just...worried, I guess, I, um, needed…"
Lup sat up, which made Taako grumble something under his breath. She flicked him. "Hush, you. Barry, are you okay? Here, sit down with us." She touched his arm as he sat down.
"I just...you're okay, right? I couldn't stop worrying, feeling like we were still stuck out there, like you were…"
"I'm okay, Barry," Lup said gently. "Look at me? We're both safe now."
"Yeah, I know, I…" He shook his head. "Sorry. Thanks."
"Hm." Lup paused. "Were you having trouble sleeping?"
Barry shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah."
Lup glanced at Taako. "Scoot over. We're having a cuddle party."
Taako grumbled a little more, but he slid over to the wall. "Fine, as long as we all shut up soon so we can sleep."
"It's okay, I can go back to my room," Barry said unconvincingly.
"Nope." Lup wrapped her arms around him and made him lie down.
Barry squeaked. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Plus, you're nice and warm," she said happily.
"O-okay." He settled down. There was just enough room for the three of them to lie in the bed and not much extra space. Lup was squished comfortably in between Barry and Taako. "Hey, um...thanks," Barry said quietly. "I do feel a bit better."
"Figured you might." Lup linked her arm through his and entwined their fingers together. "Night, Barr."
"Night, Lup."
"Yeah, yeah, goodnight one and all, now shut up," Taako said. He pressed his face into Lup's shoulder. "Some of us need to sleep, and by some, I mean all. All of us need sleep. So sleep."
Lup smiled and went quiet. Barry said nothing more either. The sound of his and Taako's breathing carried her into a calm, dreamless sleep. She stayed there all night while her body and mind recovered from their ordeal, safely tucked between people who loved her and with no need to worry about when the next attack was going to come.