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Jacqui was just glad it wasn’t Cassie. They had been heading out from Outworld when Erron had found the four of them. And there were guns, the rattling of sand grenades on his belt. There was a gun.
She smiled to herself. At least it wasn’t Cassie.
Jacqui could make out muffled voices beyond the ringing in her ears. She squinted and tried to make out the bodies around her. There were so many bodies, and so many different voices. There were lights, shining all around her.
“Everyone is…” Jacqui mumbled, trying to think of the words. She wanted to tell them to quiet down. She was trying to breathe. She was trying to make the pain go away. She was trying to stop this cold sweat that was breaking out all over his skin. She felt dizzy, searing hot but freezing all at once.
She tried to focus on the voices.
There were so many voices.
“Jacqui!”
It was the first real thing she could make out beyond echoes and shouting. She could feel warm hands clutching at her arms. Suddenly they moved up, cupping her face. They felt nice. They felt familiar.
“Jacqui, pay attention to me. Are you listening, babe?”
The voice was strong, commanding. But full of concern. Familiar. Warm.
“Cassie?” She could just make out the blonde hair. She wanted to run her fingers through it, brushing over the undercut and through her thick hair. As she did a thousand times. She tried to reach up, but her arms would barely move. “Ca…Cass.”
“That’s it. Stay with me. Look at me.”
Jacqui smiled. As if she could look anywhere else.
Someone was digging at her side. Something was tearing into her, turning her insides into fire. Jacqui let out a scream, dimly realizing that she could be dying. Finally, she calmed down, slowly coming down from the spike of pain.
“Hey Cass,” she finally managed to cough out. “Everyone. Everyone is okay.”
“We are.” Cassie was smiling. Jacqui hurt so much, but she at least felt okay knowing Cassie was smiling. “You were a real bad-ass. Saved us all by taking that bullet. I would have bought it if not for you.”
Jacqui nodded, her head wobbling. Something was still digging at her sides. She looked around. There were other people around her. Standing, kneeling, everyone surrounding her. There were lots of lights, lots of noises. But Cassie was smiling at her and touching her gingerly. And that’s all she could muster up to care about right now.
“You know I love you, right?” Cassie started stroking her cheek, smearing wetness around. Somewhere, Jacqui seemed to register that she was crying. Perhaps it was the pain. Perhaps it was the cold, she couldn’t be sure.
“Cage! Stop talking about love for a minute and help me with this bullet wound.”
“You’re going to be okay Jacqui. We’ve got Jin taking care of you.”
“That isn’t exactly going to comfort her, Takeda. She needs to know I love her.”
There were so many voices.
She reached out with her hands, trying dimly to reach out for Cassie. The others were here too. Everyone was okay. Jacqui was smiling. She was crying, she was shaking, but she had saved them. And for that, she couldn’t help but smile. “I love you…Cass. I…all of you. Thank you.”
She wanted to keep her eyes open. But things were getting so heavy. Cassie was holding her though. Her friends were around her. She was going to be okay. She had saved them. She was going to be okay.