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Everything goes dark.
The Off Button takes them out of the fight, even the gacha balls keeping them hostage opening up. Kris quickly climbs out of theirs, hearing shuffling all around them, knowing Ralsei and Susie would be doing the same.
Tenna had really lost his mind with this third board, and Kris is happy to get out of there soon as possible. The situation seems precarious at best.
He shouts something amongst the commotion and then suddenly, it all goes silent. It sets Kris on edge, but they don’t dare give their position away.
The lights come back on.
Tenna isn’t there.
Carefully, they leave their spot behind the ball and see Ralsei creeping out too.
“Looks like he’s gone…” Ralsei comments.
Kris doesn’t share Ralsei’s sense of relief just yet though, looking around and weaving through the gacha balls.
“Kris…?” Ralsei calls. “Wait, where’s Susie?”
Kris comes back to look at Ralsei, fear in their eyes as they shake their head a little.
“She… she must be around,” Ralsei’s voice shakes the slightest before he steadies it. “Um… okay, don’t worry, Kris, we’ll find her. But we had better start looking. I don’t have the best of feelings about this…”
You and me both, Kris thinks grimly.
They set off together.
--
Susie struggles against the ropes till her wrists are chafed but to no avail. She is starting to lose feeling in her fingers already, and her toes are barely scraping the floor leaving her body aching from being hung from the ceiling.
She growls more curses at Tenna but he has stopped paying attention, going back and forth setting up small screens. His movements are erratic. He is muttering to himself, a manic energy to him that is scaring Susie despite her best efforts.
This isn’t working. I need a plan, she thinks, trying to look around for escape routes.
The room is bare. Some disturbing posters, a cabinet to the side, Tenna’s little screens on top, and a telephone that does not belong to this century. Susie thinks there might be something behind her… it looks like a manhole cover, though why there would be one indoors she cannot think. It is hard to twist her neck enough to see.
She growls in frustration, never one for patience.
“Stop acting loony and LET ME OUT OF HERE!” she shouts, and this time Tenna turns to give her a surly look. “Can’t you see? You’re making everything worse! What the hell could you even get out of this now? I told you already I’m not playing your games!”
Tenna laughs, cold and cruel.
“My star has let the fame go to her head.” He shakes his head. “This isn’t about you. Kris… I will make Kris play the game I want by hook or by crook.”
“Kris won’t –”
“I’m done trying to be wanted!” he goes on like Susie had never spoken. “Trying to be… needed. No… I know exactly what I want. And I will have it… Let’s see where Kris goes when they need me.”
A shiver passes through Susie’s body.
“What the hell are you planning?” It comes out weaker than she hoped.
He is in her face in a flash. He grips her cheeks harshly, fingers digging into the flesh.
“I intend to make you suffer. And you will get me what I want whether you like it or not.”
“Mmph –!”
“I have arranged a brand-new show for your little friends. And you get to be the star! They will watch you aching and hurting and hanging by a thread and they will have no choice but to bend to my whims. They won’t play along for my sake, huh? But I bet they will jump through hoops for you, to spare you the torture.”
Horror grows and turns to anger within Susie. She throws her head back, Tenna’s hand slipping off just as she goes to snap her teeth closed on his fingers.
“Ooh! Feisty!” Tenna laughs. “That fighting spirit… keep it up! It is oh so entertaining. Do not fret, Susie, you will have plenty of time to perform. Your friends will have to go to great lengths to earn you a break.”
A retort rests on Susie’s tongue but dies out when she is distracted by Tenna fiddling with jumper cables connected to some sort of battery. A spark goes off and Tenna whoops, a gleeful jitter in his walk as he comes back to Susie.
Surely he won’t…
Susie’s throat goes dry, suddenly holding herself very still, following Tenna’s movements carefully with her eyes. It does not help, in the end.
“Just a quick test, a one-two-”
Susie screams, the sound raw and ripped from her before she could help it.
The current runs through her nerves, muscles spasming up painfully cramping and burning and making her mouth taste like metal. It is over as soon as it starts but it leaves her dazed, panting and blinking away black spots from her vision.
“Oh, oops! Too much. Let’s turn that down just a notch, we don’t want the fun to be over too soon.”
Before Susie can process the statement, the shocks are back.
It isn’t as intense this time but the effect is the same. Her limbs jerk out (or try to in their bonds) completely out of her control. Susie bites down on her lip to keep from crying out a second time; she cannot give Tenna the satisfaction, she refuses to.
The taste of blood fills her mouth and distantly she realises she has cut through her lip badly. Tenna doesn’t let up, the shocks starting and stopping in quick bursts. Susie can’t hold off the screams any longer, anguished yells leaving her again.
It seems that’s what Tenna was waiting on because he finally relents, moving back with a satisfied look.
Susie stays trembling and panting, a bead of sweat irritating her eye as it drips slowly down her face.
“That’s that for the dress rehearsal,” Tenna announces, seemingly to himself. But then he looks back to meet her eyes and winks at her. “Let’s save the rest for the actual show.”
Through the haze of pain, Susie raises her head, swallowing around her aching throat before speaking.
“This won’t earn you any favours with Kris.”
Her voice is coarse and broken.
“I’m tired of waiting for approval,” Tenna says, almost conversationally, going back to his screens and contraptions. “Do you know what it’s like, Susie? Debasing yourself trying to stay relevant?” His voice turns bitter. “‘Oh please Kris pleaaase don’t turn me off again!’ I bet they will be begging me now to not turn off those screens. So they can watch you, know you are alive.”
Ice runs through her veins at that. Tenna has reached some kind of breaking point and Susie cannot think of how to talk him off the ledge. She keenly misses Ralsei’s presence. He would know what to say.
The devices all come to life, though Susie is too far to make out what’s happening on the other side.
“Let the Lightners see what it’s like, having to dance to someone’s tune or else get unplugged.” He turns his menacing smile onto Susie, staring her down. “I hold the wires now. And I will keep you just on the edge of death so they know that fear, so they have to wonder at every step if I might. Just. Turn. That dial.” He punctuates each word with a jab at her chest.
Before Susie can say something to that, there’s an alert on a screen, and Tenna turns away.
“Kris, Kris, Kris, stop struggling now, I’m sure you are confused,” he speaks at the screen.
“Kris? Ralsei?” Susie calls.
“Shush! You’re spoiling the surprise!” Tenna sighs. “Well, cat’s out of the bag. You heard it here first, folks! Your friend is with me. And she will be for the foreseeable future. So you better be careful what you do next. You may not like the consequences very much.”
“Kris don’t listen to him!” Susie shouts.
“I said, stop that,” Tenna hisses, another shock taking Susie by surprise, a scream leaving her. “Oh yes, we can start the show early.”
He moves out of the way a little, giving Kris and Ralsei a clear view of Susie.
“This is what I have planned for this round, Kris, Ralsei. Surrender to the game, or…” he shocks her again, and despite the agony she keeps her mouth shut, only the quietest whimper leaving her. “Or your friend here gets fried like cheap circuitry.”
His antennas go off and he pulls away. “Stop? Well you know what to do to allow her rest, my darlings.”
He can hear them, she realises. But she can’t, she has no way of knowing what’s happening on the other side.
“There! That’s better. Oh, we’re going to have so much fun, Kris, you’ll see.”
Susie’s head is spinning. Her heart beating too fast. The sense of fear just wouldn’t leave her, even when Tenna has moved away and is focused on directing her friends through a game.
“Is this fun for you?” she spits out roughly. “Playing games like this?”
He looks back at her with a cruel smile.
“Immensely.”
--
For a time, Tenna is satisfied with the games he is able to play with Kris and Ralsei. Which means that he leaves Susie alone.
As much as she wishes she was using this time to figure a way out of here, she had really just appreciated the reprieve. And it is hard to regret that too much when Tenna gets away from his spot idling away at the screens and turns his manic grin onto her again.
“Oh me oh my how terrible of me, to have neglected my poor Susie,” he sings.
“Fuck off…” she mutters.
“Language!” he tuts. “Come now, Susie, think of the children.”
Tenna pulls something out of his closet then – a sword. One with a ton of needles stuck together… Susie thinks she remembers Kris finding one like that.
“I thought we were starting to get each other,” Susie tries. She knows there’s some way to get out of this. She just has to… remind Tenna how to do the right thing. “Come on, man… We did play with you. I even talked to Kris for you.”
Tenna sighs, fiddling with a mechanism at the hilt of the sword.
“You have quickly become my favourite, you know, Susie.”
“Then why are you hurting me?!” Susie struggles against the ropes again, pins and needles in her arms making the whole thing uncomfortable. “It’s not too late, just stop being crazy, let me go! We can talk about this…”
Tenna looks far from moved.
“Oh, sweetheart, I save the best roles for my favourite stars. And besides, I could see how much Kris cares for you.” He brings the sword towards her. “See this? Top of the line, isn’t it?”
Susie looks at the sword warily.
“The Saber 10,” Tenna goes on. “The cacti you saw on the boards are nothing compared to this. But we’re just starting out our fun, and I want to have more of a spectacle ready for our next showing.” The hilt releases then, ten long needles scattering and falling onto Tenna’s other hand. “Nothing but the best makeover for our beloved star.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Susie whispers.
“It means we are going to use this interlude to create the perfect grotesque – dare I say persuasive – image for your friends to return to when they tune in. But, hmm… where to start?”
He brings one needle close to her face. It’s the size of his hand.
“You love running that mouth of yours too much, don’t you? Hey, hey, I ain’t judging! Every good showman knows the value of drama. Which is why…”
The tip of the needle rests on Susie’s cheek.
She swallows down a whimper and holds still. Surely, he wouldn’t…
“I want you to feel this every time you can’t help yourself… Call it an investment. Deep breath in, now, and a one, two –”
The needle pierces her, going clean through skin and flesh, coming through into her mouth.
Despite how counterproductive it is Susie can’t hold back the scream.
It pulls on her cheek, tearing the flesh even more, and she grits her teeth against it, whimpers shooting out like bullets through her throat. Her mouth fills with blood that oozes slowly, falling down her chin and into her throat. She gags on it. She’s dizzy from all the sensations. Distantly, she notes she is thrashing, trying to get away from it all but there is nowhere to go.
One of Tenna’s hands reaches out to steady her revolving form.
“Hold still, dear,” he murmurs, focused on pulling another needle out. “We’re just getting started now. Maybe I should have started this in front of them, have them listen to your screams, hm?”
Even panting through her mouth sends waves of agony through her system. Susie shuts her mouth, heavy and rapid exhales leaving her hyperventilating.
“Then again, it’s all about the suspense. For them to know there’s unimaginable things happening to you behind the scenes – for them to know they should behave even without eyes on them because you might pay the price and they would never know.”
Rage boils within Susie – potent and begging for a target. But her mind is too tired from the assault to do anything about it.
“What, no comeback? Oh well. Here goes the next bit then. Something new, something… sensitive. Yes.”
His hand pulls tight the skin near her armpit, on the underside of her arm. It tickles, but her body barely responds.
“Stop…” she moans weakly, the word hurting her cheek as the blood pooling in drips out of her mouth.
He doesn’t heed the request.
The needle pierces the soft skin of her arm, going through the flesh and back out, like a giant staple. Susie groans closed-mouthed. She swallows the blood and almost retches. Her chest moves harshly and it takes a moment for her to realise it’s from a sob.
Susie is still trying to blink out the dark spots when Tenna pushes a second needle through her other arm at the same spot.
Her ears are ringing too much to even hear the keens she is letting out. She weakly spit out more blood, though it was drooling out on its own well enough. When her head clears a little, Susie spares a thought to how awful this must look to Kris and Ralsei. A stab of guilt runs through her, too much to bear on top of it all.
“This one’s just for us, Susie, just you and me,” Tenna tells her. “Good quality time, isn’t it? And keeps the others… motivated. Fuel their anxiety.”
Susie bites out a curse, immediately wincing from the sting in her cheek. It seems she really can’t help herself, even now. But she doesn’t care. Hell if she’s going down without a fight!
She shakes her head a little, looking up to glare at Tenna.
But he has moved onto picking out another needle and holding her arm steady.
“The sensitive parts are good, but what we need is more of a spectacle. Now, here, yes, this should make you bleed.”
With that, he digs a needle each into her inner elbows, and Susie is almost grateful for the quick succession, for him not drawing it out.
It hurts less. Or maybe Susie is finally turning numb to it all.
The stench of blood hangs heavy in the air. Susie wishes she could throw up. She doesn’t think she could even muster up the energy to do it.
“Yes!” Tenna says triumphantly. “Now this is really going to make an impression on your friends. Ha! Just goes to show how much worse I have planned for our later shows, that I am willing to waste this primo material backstage sans an audience, don’t you think?”
Susie grunts through the pain, running through her in shockwaves. She tries to spit it back in his face anyway, speaking from the corner of her mouth.
“Fuck you, you fucking–”
Tenna drives another pin into her other cheek.
Susie screams closed-mouthed behind her gritted teeth. It doesn’t do much to stifle the sound.
She thinks she might have blacked out for a moment because when she comes back to herself the tension is gone from her body that hangs limply swaying, and Tenna is much closer than she remembers.
“Tsk. There you are.” Making sure that Susie is lucid enough, he walks around starting the screens again. “Any more backtalk, the next one’s stapling your lips together. Spare your friends the horror.” Then he hums and looks back at her with a grin. “Or don’t! You’re a stubborn one, that’s your best quality. I will keep two of these aside just for that purpose. Let’s see if I can’t get all three heroes to behave for me tonight.”
He fiddles with the remaining two needles idly, considering what to do with them.
Please let this be over, Susie prays. In the back of her mind, she wishes her friends would come for her, instantly feeling bad for wishing they were here in danger.
“Oh, I know,” Tenna mumbles. “I did so enjoy hearing you scream earlier, before you started holding out on me. Let’s see if we can’t change that.”
He’s on the floor in a smooth motion.
The sudden movement throws Susie off. For a moment, she thinks something has happened to Tenna and it might just be her out. Maybe someone’s here to help, maybe they switched him off, maybe –
Then a piercing sensation starts at the sole of her foot, ripping a screech from her. Her limbs jerk out against the assault instinctively, her foot falling out of Tenna’s grip in the struggle.
It only makes things worse, every needle on her body shifting, rending the flesh around it, her face a raw expanse of pain and blood.
With a whimper, Susie closes her mouth again, unending sobs heaving her chest and shivers running all through her body. She feels sick. She feels ashamed.
Those noises of pain escape her till they have drained her of every last bit of strength, falling limp in the hold of the ropes. Her head stays down, this time. There is nothing more to do.
When her other foot receives the same treatment, only woozy keens escape her. Her mind checks out completely.
Tenna’s talking.
It’s hard to make out through the buzzing in her ears.
“… just in case you were starting to get any… bright ideas. Look well at the state of her. Let me be clear, Kris, the torture doesn’t stop there. I have oh so much planned, all you can do is earn her respite with your obedience. So don’t even think about making any foolish moves. I’ve got eyes all over the place.”
Maybe once the games are over, this will be over too, Susie thinks. Just gotta hold on till then…
“Does our hero have nothing to say?” Tenna taunts her. “I’m sure you’re feeling defeated, aren’t you? Do your precious friends even care about you enough to come for you?”
Susie doesn’t deign the goading with a response. It isn’t worth it, she knows. And even if it were, she just doesn’t have it in her…
She doesn’t want her friends to see her bloodied face or hear her muffled voice spoken through a torn mouth.
“Not a sound!” Tenna announces to her friends. “Feast your eyes, folks! I have tamed the beast.”
He laughs and returns to his new horrible game. All Susie can do is not make things worse for them by speaking now.
She closes her eyes, trying to drown it all out.
It only lasts so long before a bit of commotion rouses her from her daze.
“Do you seriously think you can refuse me?!”
What could he be asking of them? Susie wonders.
“Well, tough luck, pal! There’s nowhere else to go. You don’t play along and move, you get shocked to death in the deadly waters of my maze.”
Susie’s head snaps up at that, heart picking up a rapid pace.
“Hey!” she shouts, the blood and pain be damned. “Hurting them was not part of the deal, leave them alone!”
Tenna goes stock still before sighing.
“Susie, oh Susie… You were doing so well too.”
He turns to her, almost disappointed.
“There’s no deal here. And all you have achieved is distracting me. Excellent news for our two viewers who have front row seats to this next part.”
The needles are in his hand already.
Susie knows what’s coming next, and she curses herself for causing this, for making Kris and Ralsei watch this. Despite herself, she starts struggling to get away again.
“N-no… Wait –”
Her wrists are badly chafed, but she moves them still, hoping against hope that the ropes will break, if she just pulls hard enough.
Tenna is on her already, a little to the side to keep her in view of the camera. He grabs her face roughly, jostling the needles and sending white hot pain lancing through her cheeks.
Susie only barely holds back a sob.
“Any last words?” Tenna seethes.
It’s largely perfunctory; he doesn’t wait on an answer.
The needles go through her lips one after the other, sealing her mouth shut.
She cannot even scream.
Her mouth tries to open on a yell, but it only pulls on the flesh.
Her head spins.
It is pure agony, every whimper, every little cry hurting her more and more. Her vision is blacking out, her ears filling with the sound of rushing water.
There is so much blood.
The smell of it, the taste of it – there’s nowhere for it to go but down her gullet.
And when it does, bile comes back up to meet the iron. Susie retches and heaves, tasting vomit and blood in her mouth, leaking out from the sides. But that too she can only swallow down in the end.
Tears stream steadily down her face, lost amongst the blood and the sweat.
She doesn’t even feel any of it anymore.
All the pain has become one big wound.
She doesn’t even hear it when Tenna stops talking to the others.
“Preparations are in order for the next round,” he tells her cheerfully. “See you in a jiffy, kid.”
And then she is left alone.
She stays there, hanging limp, blood and tears dripping down her face. Not moving. Barely breathing. Hating herself.
Hating herself for how weak she is. Hating herself for being stupid enough to get captured in the first place, for being used against her friends now to make them do god knows what on the other side of this.
But then, she thinks, it’s better that it’s her. Better her than one of them.
She tries, still. Opening her mouth the slightest bit, little by little, hoping to wriggle out of the needles holding it together. But every movement is complete agony.
When Tenna walks back in, she gives up on it entirely.
--
Susie is awoken by her entire body seizing up.
Terror runs through her veins, her brain screaming at her that she is in danger even before she can figure out what’s happening to her. Her muscles cramp up, and she tries to shout but everything is muted.
Susie feels so far away from her body.
It’s only when the shock stops that she realises it was a shock.
“Wakey wakey,” Tenna singsongs, throwing the cables away. “Yeesh! Gotta be careful, these zaps are too damaging. And you,” he boops Susie’s nose and she weakly flinches away, “are on horribly low health.”
He’s mad, Susie thinks hysterically. He isn’t stopping.
She grunts dismissively, raising weak eyes to glare at him.
“But that’s where the fun is,” he goes on, his tone chillingly mild, like they’re talking about the weather. “You know, Susie, I have discovered a new fun in this sadistic little game of ours. Isn’t it the best? Just you and me and all this agony and fear and stubbornness.”
He cups her face in a grotesque imitation of something intimate.
The fear induced by the electric shocks still runs in Susie, her mind refusing to hold onto any semblance of logic. Her pulse quickens.
“I could do this all day, Susie. Just for the love of the game! Even without the reward of Kris and Ralsei dancing at my fingertips.”
He smiles at her, sharp and cruel.
“Don’t you think so too?”
Susie holds up her glare, mouth twisted the slightest in a sneer, hoping to convey how much she hated him, her refusal still to back down.
Something wet drips down her face and she cannot tell whether it’s blood or tears.
Tenna swipes at it either way, almost gentle.
“That’s right,” he says, blankly, “you don’t get to argue anymore.”
Tenna brings out another sword then and Susie’s eyes widen.
That’s Kris’s sword… How did he get that?
In a frenzy she starts looking around again, trying to see if Tenna somehow captured the other two as well.
But they aren’t there.
What is there is that locked cabinet on the side and now, a pile of familiar armours and weapons inside it. Susie doesn’t know how it all ended up here. Tenna must have got them to give it all up under threat.
Her heart twists with worry for her friends. Where must they be? In what states?
Anger burns hot inside her and she snarls at him instinctively, only for the sound to turn into a whimper midway. Her whole face feels like it is getting torn to shreds. More blood floods into her mouth.
She’s dizzy with the nausea and the blood loss.
Maybe the nausea is from the blood loss too, she thinks. Bile fills her mouth.
“For every mistake you make, the sword will draw closer,” Tenna says.
What mistake?
Susie looks up to see his gaze fixated on his screens. Her blood runs cold.
He’s talking to them. Kris and Ralsei can see her right now, and he’s going to make them watch whatever new abuse he has planned.
Her gaze falls on the sword, which has now been attached to some kind of contraption, aimed directly at her core. She tries to say something, to scream, to curse, to tell Tenna he’s gone too far.
All it achieves is more pain lancing throughout her body.
Susie pants through her nose, staring down the sword. The anticipation alone has her trembling, and some part of her just wants it to hurry and skewer her already.
But it doesn’t. It stays still, and static fills Susie’s ears, panic enveloping her senses.
Nothing at all seems to be happening, other than Tenna’s frustration mounting by the second. Susie has a hard time making sense of what is happening on the other side either. But seeing as she is still in one piece, she thinks her friends must be doing well.
You can do this, guys. Hang in there…
“Simmer down, Smart Alec,” Tenna drawls. “Let’s see how you fare against this.”
Something changes then, and the sword shifts, a smooth movement towards Susie. She tenses up, flinching from the movement. Her breathing speeds up, everything within her screaming at her to get away.
But there was nowhere to go.
“Hey, I’m not afraid to make this unfair, Kris,” Tenna went on. “Whatever it takes.”
What were they doing?
Any rational thought Susie tries to hold onto leaves her like water through a sieve. The sword is moving again. Are Kris and Ralsei even really making mistakes, or is Tenna just hurting her regardless? He did say he was starting to enjoy this pain for its own sake…
Do Kris and Ralsei even have a way to not make mistakes?
The game was meaningless.
There were only the cruel whims of a crazed man, and the unending pain and fear.
The sword is only a foot away from Susie, moving gradually. All logic be damned, Susie starts thrashing wildly, uncaring of the hurt and the tears in her flesh, just needing to get away. Her pulse is rabbiting, loud moans of protests are garbled locked inside her mouth.
She is working on pure adrenaline and self-preservation.
“Ha!” Tenna whoops, and the sword moves – steady – spearing Susie where she hangs.
The air rushes out of her lungs.
She croaks out a broken noise, barely audible over the shrill ringing in her ears. Her entire body trembles. She feels beyond pain, her mind dissociating. As if through a haze, she feels the incremental movements of the sword within her.
It doesn’t simply go through her as if wielded by an opponent. The machine moves it inch by agonising inch, and Susie stays horrifyingly aware of the feeling of it pushing and cutting through her insides.
Blood is pooling out of the sides of her mouth and from her middle.
She can barely keep her head up. She stops trying.
Every breath only brings more hurt.
Susie hears Tenna shouting something, but she can’t really make it out. She absently thinks she should try to listen, but she can’t remember why it was so important.
“The game is over when I SAY it is over,” Tenna growls. “Get back here!”
And then he’s gone.
Susie’s vision is going really dark. She shivers from the cold. She thinks she hears him returning but she doesn’t even care anymore. She just wants to sleep.
She closes her eyes.
--
“… hey… Susie?”
Someone’s talking. Susie hopes they go away so she can go back to sleep.
“Can you hear us?”
She grunts softly. Something incessant nudges at the edges of her consciousness, mind coming a little more aware…
It’s them. It’s Kris and Ralsei.
She has to…
There’s a small burst of magic, and she feels the slightest bit better. But with the fog of her mind clearing comes the awareness of the pain and she cries out, ripping her lips and mouth with the scream.
The next whimpers are pained and muffled.
“Shh, Susie, we’ll get these right out,” Ralsei whispers, sounding way too close to her. “W-we’re so sorry, Susie, so sorry…”
Susie wants to reach out and comfort him. She wants to grab him by those ridiculous scarves he wears and tell him this is not on him.
That plan is promptly deprioritised when his arms wrap around her middle carefully, supporting her weight. Her head spins fast. She thinks she is falling. She can’t tell up from down.
Susie gets lowered to the floor gently, and the blood returns to her numbed arms. The muscles screech in agony, feeling like they are on fire.
She can only sob softly, not a drop of energy left for more.
Her head is laid against the floor. She opens her eyes to slits and sees Kris kneeling in front of her. Their eyes are wide in horror, tears gathering in them. Shaking hands reach out, cradling her face carefully, holding it still.
Kris’ hands hold on tighter, and Susie frowns in confusion at that till Ralsei speaks.
“We have to remove the needles before we heal this, Susie… It will hurt, I’m sorry, I –” He exhales harshly, panic growing in his voice, “They took away all the healing boosts, I c-can’t do much, but we’re right here, okay? We’ll get you back to perfect condition.”
Susie weakly tries to turn her head towards his voice but it is being held fast.
His hand joins Kris’ on her face… and pulls.
Susie moans in pain, the needle dragging against the raw wound as it is dragged out. Kris’ fingers wrap around one at her mouth and coax that one out too. One by one, the needles are removed from her face, and she just lies there unmoving, tears steadily dripping from her eyes as it happens.
She thinks she shouldn’t cry this much… It’ll just make things harder for them. But she doesn’t feel in control of her body.
A warmth washes over her and her mouth is immediately healed.
She feels nausea roil in her stomach, gasping as more awareness returns.
“Kris,” she rasps out, “Ralsei… We gotta – we need to go, he’s – Tenna is gonna be here, you gotta–”
“He’s not here right now,” Kris shushes her, a hand going to smooth out her hair where it’s plastered against her forehead with sweat. “You don’t have to worry about that right now… Just breathe, Susie, we’ll… we’ll get you out of here.”
She feels feverish, hot and cold at the same time, and so so sick.
Spikes are being pulled out of her arms and legs, the wounds there closing up quickly, Kris and Ralsei working together like a well-oiled machine. But she’s still bleeding out.
She tries not to think about it. About the massive section of pain in her middle, only her limp body and her friends’ hold on her keeping the sword steady where it stays lodged in place.
The small bursts of magic don’t help matters; they only make her more aware of the agony in her midriff that she has been pointedly trying to forget about.
There’s a quiet in the room for a moment, save for her soft pants.
“We have to remove the sword now,” Ralsei says grimly.
Terror fills Susie even as she resigns herself to it. She looks down tremulously at the sword, deep in her guts.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Kris is mumbling – chanting – lips pressed against Susie’s forehead.
“Me too, Kris,” she murmurs, shifting her head towards them to look away from the sword.
Kris pulls back, looking at her horrified. So much guilt dripping off their face that Susie can’t bear to hold their gaze anymore.
She turns to look at Ralsei instead, who quickly puts on a tight smile for her. He looks haggard. He’s missing his scarf, and she can tell the magic is taking a toll on him.
“Just look at me, Susie,” he says, going to hold her hand, “Just focus over here…”
Susie opens her mouth to tell him to stop, to not drain himself so much.
The next moment his hands go around the wound, holding her down firmly, and it takes the breath right out of her in a strangled exhale. Ralsei puts more pressure on her middle and Susie wheezes, vision going dark again.
Through the haze she watches Kris grab the hilt steadily.
They pull the sword out in one smooth motion, like it’s some fairytale and Susie’s just the rock that holds the sword as it awaits its hero.
She does throw up then, rolling onto her side and vomiting bile and blood. The room is filled with the stench of it, with the sounds of her retches and sobs, and all Susie can think is Fuck, this hurts like hell.
Something settles.
She starts to feel better, like a load is lifting off of her. Fatigue rolls over her in waves and weighs her down. Everything feels hot and slow.
She blinks her eyes open, noticing the wound at her stomach is closed up.
The room is lit up green from healing magic – Ralsei is still going.
Susie’s hand shoots up this time and wraps around his wrist.
“St-stop,” she rasps, then dissolves into coughs.
Someone’s hand comes up behind her to rub at her back.
“Susie…?” Ralsei questions.
“I’ll live,” she gives him a little grin. “Save your energy… Danger is still close.”
Ralsei sags, shoulders drooping and the tiredness starting to show on his sallow face. Kris’ fingers still move in Susie’s hair, combing through and grounding her.
She blinks when tears fall onto her face.
“Kris…”
She’s shaking too much to muster the strength to go up to them. Not letting that stop her, she pulls them around the waist instead, till they are down on top of her. With a wet gasp, Kris burrows their face against her hair, apologies still tipping out of their mouth incessantly.
“It’s not your fault…” she sighs. Why would you ever think it’s your fault, dumbass? “Look… let’s just rest here a bit before we have to face him again.” She looks to Ralsei for support. “Is that… okay?”
Ralsei nods with a wavering smile.
“O-of course, Susie,” he whispers. Then his expression crumbles and he throws himself on top of the other two, holding fast around her middle.
Susie tenses a moment, expecting the pain to follow, but there’s only the warmth of his body. She relaxes at last, feeling safe surrounded by them.
“I’m s-sorry, I’m so –” a hiccup interrupts his sobs, “so sorry we should have got here sooner, I – I never should have g-gone along with his games, from the start, I’m so sorry Susie! We shouldn’t have let it get this bad, shouldn’t have – shouldn’t have let you get captured, it’s all –”
“Hey, shh, Ralsei, come on man,” she consoles him, for what little it helped. “Everything’s fine, you – you found me.” Her voice breaks on the words.
She had been so scared they really wouldn’t…
Susie takes a steadying breath.
Her voice is small when she speaks.
“I just… I just want to stay here a while… if that’s okay.”
Kris and Ralsei just hold onto her tighter.