Work Text:
"NEEDLE! I'LL SAVE YOU!"
The feeling of flames so close was not felt to her, only the rush of adrenaline, along with the desire to protect her fellow FreeSmarter. Was Needle a FreeSmarter? Now wasn't the time to dwell on that. She could see the spinning shape of Pin's drill falling fast towards Needle, and she needed to do everything to stop that. She was gaining speed, so close to grabbing the drill...
"Owch!" She bounced back after an attempt at grabbing it, wincing as she felt her hand in pain. The pain quickly dissipated, replaced once again by adrenaline and worry. She dove back down, putting herself in-front of the danger.
"I'll block it, Needle!" She spoke to herself, bracing herself for what she would only assume to be agonizing pain. She assumed this due to her last two run-ins with the drill, but she'd rather die than have Needle die. For FreeSmart, of course.
A burst of lava launched Book to the side, into the other wall. Agony coursed through her as she felt herself catch on fire, pushing herself off the lava wall. But the agony only doubled as she felt the drill dig into the side of her head, leaving a nasty hole. She felt her head throb and every part of her body scream for some form of relief, but she refused to let that desire win.
She screamed, it was all she felt she could do. She felt her body plummet further and further downwards, time seemingly coming to a standstill. The drill blew behind her, as she felt it come ever closer to tearing her to shreds for a third time. She closed her eye - not eyes, the drill got rid of one of those, as Needle and Leafy could be heard below. She might be able to warn them in time...
Then she felt the cold surface of the Earth's core. But it was equally short-lived with Needle's voice piercing her.
"What are you doing here? Why are you on fire?"
She leapt to her feet and heeded her warning, "Tennis Ball broke the pact! WATCH OUT!!"
Above them, the drill was running down at exponential speeds. There was only one thing to do: sacrifice. She pushed her weak, agonizing body as much as she could, leaping above Needle, screaming a "NOOOOO" just to prove what she was going to do. All she could tell at this point was that her body was on fire, Needle was in danger, and she was going to die. But, surprisingly, she was at peace with this. For an ally, for a teammate. But, moreover, surprisingly what she couldn't say about most of FreeSmart: for a friend.
The drill missed both her and Needle, and Leafy's cries were heard instead. "Wh... What happened...? I... uh..."
And then it plummeted into darkness. The darkness of death she would never remember.
