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“Little ember.”
Metal scraped across the stone ground. Swallowing, Jack pressed himself back against the wall of the cave. Shadows hid him, but not well enough. Even if he was squinting, his eyes might be hidden. Might. In all honesty, he wasn’t really sure that his luck was going to hold out. He didn’t have any faith in it.
In front of him, they walked into his view. Dragging their harpoon on the ground, sword in their other hand, they grinned down at him with a soft smile. In his chest, Jack’s heart dropped. Stopping, they looked down at him. “Hi, little ember. You don’t need to close those pretty little eyes of yours. We’re going to have plenty of fun, I’d hate for you to sleep through it.” They slammed the harpoon on the ground. Flinching, he jerked back, winced as it tugged at his injuries. “Come on, little ember.”
“Screw off.” Jack forced out. Placing a hand on the wall, he paused and swallowed. Then, he pushed himself up. Stumbled to the side. Eyes narrowing, he glared at them. Something coppery filled his mouth, and he spat it to the side and then stepped forwards, holding onto his own sword. “Why don’t we just fight and get this over with?”
They lunged in.
The first thing that Jack felt was stinging, burning pain through his ribs. Fresher than his other injuries, which had already dulled away. Gasping, he glanced down for a moment. Then, something slammed into his jaw. A boot. Staggering back, he grabbed at his face, sucked in a breath. His elbow slammed against the rocks, and he glanced down at the injury to his ribs. It was a bloody slash from their sword.
Swallowing, he glanced up again. Took another breath. They stepped forwards, and he swung. Dodging to the side, they kicked him in the ribs. The ground tipped. Hard rock slammed into Jack’s shoulder. Wheezing, he rolled to the side. Pushed his feet back under him. Then, he straightened up. Raised his chin and looked at them.
That was sort of how it went for the next couple of…minutes? Hours? He wasn’t actually sure. He managed to get a few hits, but most of them either glanced off their armor and the others didn’t even do much damage. Especially compared to the injuries he got in the meantime.
Lunging in, Jack tried to get a good punch in.
Fingers wrapped around his throat and he jerked to a stop. Choking, he stared down at them. A cold smile crossed their face. Then, they began walking backwards, and the heat of the sunlight shone down on them both. Then, they threw him to the ground.
Head smacking against the dirt, Jack sucked in a breath. Jerking, he moved one arm underneath him. A boot found a home in his ribs, sending him rolling across the dirt. Lying down, he let out a slow breath. Closed his eyes. There was another sharp kick to the back. Swallowing, he sucked in a pained breath. Copper filled his mouth.
“Come on, wake up.” They ordered. After a moment, they kicked him in the back again. “ Get up.” Their voice took on an angry, fierce tone. Once again, they kicked Jack across the floor. Okay, this is a little over the top, Jack mused. Raising his head, he turned back to see them striding up. Coughing, he shoved himself upright on his hands and knees. He spared them a glance. Then, he staggered upright and raised his hands again. This wasn’t to throw a punch, though. “Aw, are you going to throw a bit of fire, little ember?”
“Nope.” Jack replied. Around them, the static in the air increased, and he smiled slyly at them. Since there wasn’t anyone around, there wasn’t a particular need to focus it anywhere in particular. And so…
Yeah, he lit the place up.
Brushing soot off of his shoulders, nose wrinkled, he shook his head. Then, he turned, ignored the rapidly fading ringing in his ears. Cracking his knuckles, he sucked in a breath. Then, he started walking. Alright. Better be careful with that from now on . His ankle was throbbing, so he wasn’t really walking so much as limping. As he made his way to where the sounds of various explosions and fighting was coming from, Jack tried to bandage up what wounds he could.
As they kept moving along, he rubbed at his arms. Tried to take a few breaths and kept moving. A little bit of heat stained through the bandages he’d wrapped around his side. Dripped down his nose to his mouth. Coughing, he rolled his shoulders and stepped out into the main clearing.
Where all the chaos was.
Jumping to the side, Tubbo did a flip. Planted a hand on the floor. Then, he rolled back and threw himself to the side. “Hey, need some help?” Jack asked, sprinting up. Glancing over his shoulder, Tubbo met his gaze and then grinned. Wings snapping out, he launched into the air. A crossbow bolt whipped by the young man’s neck.
Then, Jack lunged in, lightning sparking from his hands. This was why he made the gestures. Well, part of it. Sure, Tommy made fun of him for looking stupid, but they worked as both a focus stream and as a warning to the others that he was about to use his powers. Because nothing said unneeded drama like accidentally electrocuting an ally during a battle. Or multiple allies. (He still felt bad about that, but Bad and Charlie assured him they’d faced much worse and there were no hard feelings. If he’d hit someone else, such as Tommy…yeah, Jack was glad it had been those two and not someone else.) The person dodged back, eyes widening.
Slashing a hand through the air, watching as Tubbo shot an arrow of his own towards them, Jack placed all five fingers of his right hand against their chest. Then, the static pulse formed. Red lightning arced down his face to his arm and out over his fingers, shattering through their armor. They jerked, arrow finding its place in their neck where the chest and clavicle met, and they crumpled down. Huffing, Jack stepped back. Then, he turned.
And saw someone else sneaking up on Tubbo.
“Tubbo, look out!” Tubbo’s eyes widened. Whirling, he gasped. Then, there was a crack . Tubbo dropped from the sky. “Tubbo!” Jack sprinted forwards, growled and made a gesture sort of like he was throwing a net with his left arm, right hand dropping down to touch Tubbo’s shoulder as he skidded on his knees in the dirt. Cobalt blue lightning crackled and popped, landed on the person’s chest. They went flying back, smacked into a tree with a sickening snap . Slumping down, they dropped their chin to their chest. They didn’t move.
Looking down, Jack sucked in a sharp breath. Tubbo was unconscious, thankfully. In the middle of his chest, there was a dark splotch of red. No sign of an arrow, no sign of a crossbow bolt. Which meant it must have been magic or something similar. No. No, no, okay. Pulling out his communicator, Jack scrolled through for the closest person. Ant, thank the End it was Ant. Alright, okay. This is fine.
Thankfully, Ant picked up within a second. “What’s wrong, Jack?”
“Tubbo just got taken down. I think it’s magic. Do you have any healing potions on you?” Jack quickly said.
“Velvet and I can be here in a second.” Ant replied. “Stay where you are, we’ll track you. Velvet!” There was a roar of fire. Then, somewhere, someone screamed. Jack winced.
Within a few moments, Ant and Velvet came crashing through the trees. Immediately, Jack got to his feet. There was a tug at his side, but he ignored it. “Help me watch Ant’s back, we’ve got company!” Velvet warned. Nodding, Jack leapt over Tubbo as Ant ran in. Then, he snapped his fingers, felt fire start crackling over his arms and hands and shoulders. It was a welcome sort of heat, reminded him of home. The Nether, too, but that was okay.
As soon as Ant and Velvet’s pursuers appeared from the forest, Jack charged in with a yell.
+++
Slowly, slowly, Jack and the others started making their way across the SMP’s lands.
It was slow going, too. Literal hours . Every time they killed one person, took down one threat, forced another person to flee, another three appeared. The whole fight had started at the lake at midday, it was now morning of the next day and they were still fighting. Tubbo had been hidden away in a small cave with Fundy, Ant, and Velvet. Ant was taking care of the two seriously injured, letting them take some time to rest before springing back into the fight. Velvet was spending time between taking care of Michael and then guarding the cave.
During that amount of time, Jack saw pretty much everyone else. Schlatt, Phil, and Kristin were holding the line at the bottleneck of the canyon, preventing more people from getting inside. At the top of the cliffs, Techno, Wilbur, and Sam were sniping people from above. Quackity and Karl were busy trying to drop traps from the skyline, worked at scouting, too. Niki, Minx, and Puffy had taken to the water. Charlie was stalking the caves with Ranboo, Bad, and Skeppy. Punz, Purpled, Ponk, Callahan, Connor, Alyssa, and Eret were all heading the frontline. Tommy was running messages around to everyone the whole time, fighting where he could. Dream, Sapnap, and George had snuck past the front to try and get back to the leader, were trying to take down the problem at the start.
Judging by the fact the battle hadn’t stopped and it seemed like the opposition just kept coming, Jack didn’t think it was going well.
He helped where he could. So, he had to carry messages where he could, too. Help keep it off of Tommy just a little bit. Then, he went back to fighting.
Speaking of fighting, he knew the others were getting worn down. Crawling up a tree for a short break (on Niki’s orders), Jack pulled some bread from his rucksack and tore off a piece, shoved it down his throat. It felt dry, he doubted it was but everything seemed to just taste like dirt for the moment. So, he swigged some water, tucked the bread away, and then went scouting again.
Someone threw him across the clearing before he even landed.
Rolling to his feet again, rucksack not even fully slung over his shoulders, Jack straightened up and looked to the side. There, stalking towards him, was someone in a mask. It wasn’t Dream, though. Panting, he straightened up. “And who are you? Some Dream wannabe?” He mocked. They didn’t reply. Holding up his hands, Jack said, “Silent type, huh? Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Sprinting up, he aimed to punch at their jaw. To take them down in a second. Instead, something jammed deep into his stomach. Grunting, he glanced down. A dagger was attached to the outside of their bracer. Said dagger had currently found a place deep in his stomach.
Swallowing, he looked up at them. They threw him down, dislodged the dagger with a single movement. Then, they grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Threw him again. His shoulder and head cracked against a tree. Slumping down, he groaned once. Cracked open his eyes and looked over. They were stalking over to him.
Alright, might be better to get out of here, he realized. Snapping his fingers again, he sent a mental apology to Velvet, a promise he would help him replant and regrow the forest. Then, he pressed a burning palm to the tree he’d slammed against. Dragged his other fingers across the grass at his feet.
And then he yanked out the pair of half-functioning elytra Tubbo had once given him to try, caught the updraft with a rocket, and tried a takeoff.
Something wrapped around his ankles. Gasping, he glanced down. A harpoon and chain were wrapped around his legs. One of the hooks dug into his jeans, carved through to his skin underneath. Swallowing, he sucked in a slow breath and stared in horror. “Shit.” He didn’t stop there. Bad would be very, very disappointed in him.
The person yanked him down. His back slammed into the earth. Under him, the elytra cracked and stabbed into his shoulders. Gasping, Jack stared at the sky, watched black swirl in his vision. Then, he dropped his arm across his stomach. The person who’d dragged him down must have yanked on the rope. Slowly, Jack was pulled across the ground out of the crater he had formed when he landed. Little cracks of electricity stabbed into his shoulders and he winced every time. It wasn’t too bad, especially since he was someone who could use lightning.
Cracking open his eyes, he watched as they leered over him. Then, they crouched down, touched his neck with thick fingers. Tipped his jaw back and hummed lightly. Then, they crouched at his legs, started untying the harpoon from around them. Raising his head again, they carelessly dropped it against the ground. Slowly, they stood up.
And then they planted a foot on his chest and shoved all their weight down on him.
Gasping, Jack snapped his eyes open. Weakly, he shoved at them and swallowed. Then, he grabbed onto their ankle. Around them, the static swelled, and Jack gritted his teeth. This is going to hurt.
Then, there was a surge of electricity and thunder slammed down around them. Gasping, Jack let his head drop against the ground again. Taking a breath, he raised his head, opened his eyes fully. The person who’d stepped on his chest was lying in the dirt.
Tugging himself upright, pressing his hands to his chest and closing his eyes, Jack sat up. Slowly, he unclipped the elytra from his back and chucked the rocket to the side. Then, he pushed himself up and started staggering through the woods.
+++
When he came to, he was lying on the ground.
And everything hurt. As in, when he opened his eyes all he could see was white. Lying his cheek on the floor, Jack let out a slow breath and closed his eyes. Pain shook through his body. Rattled in his chest. He couldn’t even lift his head from the ground.
A faint flicker of lightning flashed behind his closed eyes. Opening his mouth—maybe to call for help, maybe to scream, he didn’t know—all that came out was a hoarse whisper. Slowly, he got an arm under himself. It pulled at his back and shoulders, tore at the injuries.
Sucking in a gasp, Jack dragged himself forwards a bit. Black spots danced in his vision. Sticks and rocks pressed into his chest and cheek. Scraped against his palms. Slowly, Jack pushed himself upright. Just a little bit. Glanced around.
Somehow, he’d ended up in a cave. There was a smaller little niche just a little ways away. So, he pulled himself over. And then he dropped down against the ground, curled onto his side. Okay, Jack. Okay, just wait. You’ll be alright, you’ll be fine. You can rest now. Someone’ll come find you eventually, right?
Eventually, he woke up to feel his communicator buzzing. Raising his head, he looked over to see the messages appearing on the side of the cave wall. Outside, zombies growled. A skeleton rattled. Somewhere, a spider hissed.
Dream: everyone check in at the lake now
Dream: we need to rebuild
Curling his arms around himself, Jack buried his head in his arms and closed his eyes again. He didn’t even have the energy to move yet. He had to wait. He needed time .
But we need to rebuild, he told himself. Swallowing, he shoved himself upright. A wheeze rattled in his chest, and he shook his head. Come on. Come on, come on, Jack. You’re fine, you’re alright. Let’s do this. Slowly, he pushed himself up and then leaned against the wall. Black spots swirled in his eyes, and he pulled a sword from his rucksack. Then, he braced one hand on the wall, used the other to hold the sword into the ground and pushed himself up.
Copper flooded his mouth when he coughed. Then, slowly, he made his way out into the main part of the cave. The mobs ignored him, which meant either he looked as ghastly as they did or they didn’t want to go anywhere near him. Alright. That’s fine.
Stumbling through the woods, he closed his eyes and kept walking, used his sword as a walking stick and let his other hand drag against the nearby trees as he moved. He paused, leaned against a tree. Closed his eyes. Then, he pressed his forehead to the tree bark.
His communicator buzzed again. Slowly, he looked down at it. Ignored the swirling ground and world around him. Shaking his head, he paused and squinted at the messages. He couldn’t make out names, but people were asking where he was. What he was doing. If he needed help.
I need to get over there. Forcing himself to walk again, Jack kept moving. Kept his head up and walked on. You’ll be alright. You’ll be fine. As he moved, he sucked in another breath. Kept walking, told himself just one foot after the other. That he would be fine.
Eventually, he managed to get to the lake. As he stumbled up, he could see the others standing around and chattering. “Jack! Don’t use your sword as a walking stick!” Quackity scolded. Looking up, Jack blinked a few times. He could feel the whole world tipping. Niki must have realized that something was wrong, too. Charging over, she managed to catch him as he dropped to the ground.
“I’m fine, I just need a nap.” Jack mumbled. Slowly, Niki looked at his eyes, moved him down so he was lying on the ground. “I’m fine. Just need a nap, I’m serious.”
Whatever she said next, he completely missed.
+++
When he woke up, someone was holding onto his hand.
Jolting, Jack very nearly came up swinging. It was like the time where they attempted to prank Tommy with a taxedermied bear head they found at a garage sale and he punched it so hard that the tongue flew out. “Hey, Jack, it’s alright.” Someone’s voice said. Opening his eyes, he looked around, sucked in a breath. His throat was dry to the point of hurting. Next to him, Niki sat up a little bit and touched his face. “Hey, you’re alright.” On his other side was Fundy, who was bandaged up and sleeping but holding his other hand.
Slowly, Jack settled back against the bed. Fundy mumbled something, shifted again. On his other side, Wilbur was sleeping against him. Phil and Kristin were on a bench on the other side of the room, Phil with Kristin’s head in his lap and petting her hair. “Is she alright?” Jack asked, glancing over at Niki. Following his gaze, Niki looked at the pair and then smiled.
“She’s been working hard. Everyone’s alright and everyone’s alive. Just…” Touching his arm, she smiled at him. “Just make sure that you get some rest, alright?” Slowly, Jack pushed himself up and glanced around. He took a moment, ignored the darkness swirling in his face. Then, he laid back and closed his eyes for a second. “If you need to sleep, it’s perfectly fine.”
Nodding sleepily, Jack rolled onto his side. There were health potions, he needed a little bit of rest and then he would take one of those. He could help rebuild.
He’d be fine.
+++
His hip hurt.
He’d taken a health potion and cleared himself to help out. So of course he was. Except that was three hours ago and now he was almost regretting it. Almost. He was fine, he’d be perfectly fine. Jack hadn’t gotten this far in his life just sitting around and doing nothing when it came to the other people he loved being injured. And there were plenty of people who were injured. Dream and George, for starters. Phil. Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo had all been hurt, too. Now they were hiding with Michael while everyone repaired.
Swallowing, he paused in front of the rubble he was supposed to lift. Alright, Jack. You can do this. You’re plenty capable of it. He told himself. Then, he leaned down and pressed a palm to the rubble. Closing his eyes, he pulled what little energy he had, focused it. Warmth flooded over his fingers.
The soft smell of smoke rushed up to his face. Opening his eyes, Jack watched as small, thin flickers of flame spurted over the rubble. But then he felt the first sting.
Yanking his hands back, he sucked in a breath. Then, shakily, he looked around for someone. There wasn’t anyone there. I’m fine, I’m fine. I just forgot to protect my hands properly. Forgot to remember.
(He hadn’t had to remember to protect his hands in years, but that was beyond the point. He was fine. He had to be fine.)
Wiping his reddening fingers on his trousers, ignoring the pain striking through his arms at the movement, Jack turned back to the rubble that was left. Some of it was metal. After the little fire treatment to melt away the wood and dust, the rebar was glowing a hot white color. You’ve picked up hotter than that before, Jack. You’ll be fine. Without thinking, he wrapped a hand around the rebar.
The disgusting stench of burning flesh reached his nose within a second. Gritting his teeth, Jack picked it up, then made his way over to the pile of scrap metal they currently had been building up in that area. The second he dropped it, he looked down at his hands again. Took a slow breath.
Closing his eyes, he turned and walked back over to the metal. Thankfully as he went, the metal had slowly been cooling. So it didn’t hurt all that much. Not that it hurt at all. Because he was fine . Jack was fine , and he was able to keep working. He was going to keep working. He needed to help the others as much as he could.
“Hey, Jack!” Someone called. Turning, Jack dropped the scrap metal in his arms down to the pile. Then, he turned. Looked at Puffy as she and Niki approached. Puffy was the one who spoke. Beside her, Niki had a basket in her hands. As they approached, Puffy started speaking again. “You been taking breaks? How are your hands?”
“A little sore, but it’s alright.” Jack said, smiling. Nodding, Puffy pulled a water bottle and some bread from Niki’s basket, held it out for him. “How are you two?”
“We’re alright. Helping to check in on everyone.” Looking up at the sky, Puffy added, “There’s not much time before the sun sets. Why don’t you come join us for dinner?” Jack held up the bread and water quizzically.
Looking at him, Niki spoke in a scolding tone, “Jack, that’s about as good as a snack right now. We mean actual dinner.” Then, she indicated the small pile of metal. “You can finish that tomorrow, you’ve already done a lot of work today.”
“Alright, alright, Mom. I’m fine, I’ll go eat dinner with you or something.” Shoving the bread in his mouth, just then realizing how hungry he was, Jack chugged the water and then followed Niki and Puffy over to the others.
“Dream and George are in their house for a little bit, they’re supposed to rest. Tommy and Michael are bringing them food. Ranboo and Tubbo are recovering right now, too—Ranboo collapsed while trying to work instead of staying back with Michael. So he’s out for a while.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets, Jack kicked a rock along the road. “He can rest, I’ll help where he would have been needed tomorrow once I’m finished with my area.”
“Just don’t work yourself too hard, Jack. There’s no reason to. We can take our time with rebuilding.” Niki reminded. Beside her, Puffy nodded.
As they walked to where the others were, Jack kept kicking the rock along in front of him.
+++
Coughing, Jack wiped the side of his hand off on his jeans.
He paused and then slowly slumped down to the ground. Pressing his back to the wall behind him, he closed his eyes. Took just a moment. Just one, that was all he needed. Just one moment.
Crossing his arms over his stomach, Jack let out a shaky breath. Maybe he could rest for a little while longer. Just a bit longer. Not much.
A weird feeling washed over him. Like he was being thrown out of his body and pulled back in. Or maybe he was floating. Dimly, he felt his head falling to the side and brushing against his shoulder as he started dozing off.
Actually, maybe he could take a nap. It wouldn’t do that much harm, right? He would…be fine…
+++
Hot rock sat beneath his cheek.
Opening his eyes, Jack swallowed. Lava flowed around him. Reaching over, he drifted a hand through it. Smiled at the warmth. It was nice.
“Jack…” A soft tone said. He didn’t pay attention to it, though. Swore it was just a breath of wind or something that had made its way into his mind. Shrugging it off, he laid on the ground for a moment. Took a slow breath.
Dim memories of his home came back to him. He hadn’t seen his parents in so long… It would be nice to see them again. Just once. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around his knees. Watched some of the lava jaguars playing with one another. The others couldn’t see them, not as far as he knew. Setting his chin on his arms, he watched forlornly for a moment more. Maybe I could ask Kristin. She would probably know some way I could see them…
Trailing off, he shook his head. No. They’re happy where they are. Disturbing them would be cruel. Slowly, he pushed himself up. Looked around. I should start walking. Figure out where I’m going. Turning on his heel, he began walking.
Something pulled at him. “Jack, wake up. Something is wrong.” The voice said again. Shaking his head, he reached up to claw at his head. Pain struck through some of his nerves.
“Stop it. I’m fine.” He told himself. There was a glow off to his right. Raising his head, he looked that way. Paused for a moment. It wasn’t a white glow, rather a deep, sunny golden-brown like sunset. Something about it seemed…comforting.
“Jack, please. You need to wake up. This isn’t normal.” The voice said. Shaking his head, Jack kept walking towards the glow, looking around. The Nether’s familiar heat washed over him. As he got closer to the glow, the pain in his hip faded a bit. Which was nice, wasn’t it? But the voice in his head sounded…familiar, somehow. He wasn’t sure…
He made his way closer to the glow. Paused as the pain eased up even more. Wait, that can’t be a good thing. Frowning, he glanced to the side. Looked down at his hands. They didn’t always look burnt, fading in and out between horribly burnt and also completely undamaged. He backed up. Felt the pain stab through his chest.
Gasping, he stumbled back. Dropped part of the way to the ground. “JACK!” The voice in his head roared. For the first time, he recognized who it was.
“Kristin!” It was less actually her name and more of a shout, if he was being honest. But he wasn’t angry. Dropping to the ground, he sucked in a breath. Part of him wanted to keep walking towards the glow.
“Jack!” This time, it sounded more like she was looking for him. Rolling onto his back, Jack sucked in a pained breath. Then, he threw a hand upright. Let a bolt of lightning strike upright. Then, he had to lie back against the ground, panting. “Phil! Over here!” Someone landed beside him with the gentle thud of boots on the rock. Cracking open his eyes, he looked up to see Phil crouched above him, Kristin right behind. Both of them had concerned expressions on their faces.
“Hold on, mate. We’ll get you out of here, you’ll be fine.” Phil reassured. Carefully, he lifted Jack into his arms. “Just keep breathing, don’t close your eyes or you won’t be able to open them again.”
Staring at him, Jack swallowed. Carefully, Phil adjusted him so that his arms were pressed to his chest. Then, he turned to Kristin, nodded and extended his wings. And then they were flying. Beside them, he could see the shadowy form of the Raven Queen flying alongside them.
His eyes fluttered shut, and he dropped back into some weird sort of darkness he couldn’t quite explain.
+++
Somewhere, a zombie growled.
Opening his eyes, Jack froze when he saw it standing just a few feet from him. Not good. Immediately, he reached for his sword. Wrapped clumsy fingers around it as the zombies drew closer and thanked any god that might be watching that zombies were slow as hell.
Raising the sword, he clumsily slashed at the mob. Lopped its head off. Then, he stumbled to the side and crashed into the wall next to him. Raising his head, Jack sucked in an uneasy breath. Then, his communicator started beeping.
<Philza> Jack, answer now
<Philza> does anyone have eyes on Jack
Triggering the voice function, Jack started speaking into it. “I’m alive, send message.” Looking around, he spotted another little alcove. That works. “I’m finding somewhere to hide, nearly got wrecked by a fucking zombie a second ago. Just…” He took a breath and continued walking. Well, more limping, really.
He sent the message. Then, he made it to the…place. Cave. That’s what it was. Dropping his sword, he took a slow breath and braced his back against the wall. Another dizzy spell hit, and he slumped down. As soon as he hit the ground, he looked down at his communicator.
<Philza> Jack where are you
Swallowing, Jack raised his hand and looked around. Sending out the emergency SOS, he laid his arms across his stomach. Not exactly where he would have liked to die. Although he guessed he didn’t really have a choice, then. He couldn’t quite breathe right. The ragged noise scraped at the stone walls around him.
Then, he mumbled, “Hope y’all don’t worry too much. I’ll be fine. Send message.” Tipping his head back, he closed his eyes. Let out a soft breath.
The next thing he knew, he could hear footsteps on the cave floor beside him and he was lying on the floor.
“Jack. Jack, Jack, open your eyes. Come on. Eyes open, please.” Kristin said. Gentle fingers touched his face. “Phil, Phil, I need you and Techno back here. Now.” There were voices over there. Then, someone started moving him. Canvas brushed the back of his neck, and he cracked his eyes open a bit. “There you are. Hold on, Jack. You’re going to be fine.”
“How did this happen? He’s been on health potions…” Phil said, clearly taking in Jack’s current state. Pausing, he looked over at Techno. “How have your potion stocks been dwindling?”
“Not enough for the amount that Jack should be taking. This isn’t the time for that. Let’s get him home.” Techno said. There was a nod, and Jack lost consciousness again.
He gained and lost consciousness repeatedly as he laid there on the stretcher thing. Every time he did, he could see Kristin and Phil. “She’s been working hard. Everyone’s alright and everyone’s alive.” Niki’s words flashed back to him. Pausing, Jack blinked. Tipped his head to the side and watched Kristin and Phil for a moment. A mask was fixed to his face and he closed his eyes after a second.
The next time he stirred, he was on another server. Something just felt different. Wrong , almost. Something was different and he knew what it was and he knew that it was wrong. Still, Kristin and Phil were there. So were doctors, and Phil was explaining what was going on and who they were. Why they needed to stay.
After that, there was a bright light shining down on his head. Meanwhile, Kristin was still holding onto his hand, her eyes glowing a deep golden-brown tone that rivaled the light. “Alright, Jack, you with us?” Gently, Jack squeezed Kristin’s hand. She nodded. “Okay, Jack. Count back from ten for me?”
He was out by the time he got to six.
+++
When he stirred, Kristin and Phil were beside him and he was still in the hospital.
Groaning, he blinked and looked around. Swallowed once. This must have been bad. Slowly, he raised a hand. Looked down at the bandages and gauze wrapping his skin. Taking a breath, he slowly tipped his head to the side and looked over. Kristin smiled. Reached out to him and gently touched his arm. “Hey, sweetheart. How do you feel?”
With another breath, Jack closed his eyes for a second. Tried to reach up. Something glinted in the corner of his eye. Glancing down, he froze when he saw bandages wrapped around his other arm from his shoulder to his fingers. But that wasn’t where it stopped. Thin wires wrapped their way around his wrist, formed a sort of brace over his hand. Quickly, he jerked his gaze away. “What—“
“We took you to the hospital server. Guess you were hurt worse than we thought, mate.” Kristin replied, smiling weakly. When he glanced over, he saw someone jerk back into the hallway. Following his gaze, Kristin huffed sadly. “Niki came a couple days ago. She’s…not the happiest with you.”
“Not the happiest?” Jack echoed. Looking over, Kristin shrugged.
“She feels responsible, I suppose. I won’t be the one to say what she does and doesn’t feel though, Jack. I hope you understand that.” Patting his knee, she added, “And we’re all going to expect you to ask us for help from now on. The doctors said you should be able to get full motor control back, but it won’t be for a while, I’m afraid. So you’re going to have to help us and yourself out and let us know if you need anything. Got it?”
Swallowing, Jack nodded.