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He didn’t know why he thought coming back here had been a good idea.
Vera’s car was still in the parking lot, along with June’s moped, but there was no sign of any of them.
After they’d been separated, he’d tried everything.
He’d used the stupid Hello Kitty Walkie. No response. He’d texted June. No response. He’d called Vera. No response. He’d even texted Amara. Nothing.
A deep pit settled in his stomach and he tried to ignore the thought that had been banging against his skull from the first moment he didn’t get a response on the walkie.
The door slammed open.
Danny jumped and retreated to a corner, hoping to hide well enough to gain a sneak attack on whoever had just very forcefully burst in.
Except as he did so, his foot brushed against an empty bottle and sent it spinning a little ways to the left.
Danny cursed silently.
The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the air, like a claw being dragged against the ground. Or-or a sword being pulled out a sheath.
“Alright. I don’t know who you are but you should know that I’m covered in blood and none of it’s mine!”
Danny recognized June’s voice immediately.
“And-and I’m not sure if that sounded as threatening as I wanted it to be but just know that I’ll mess you up!”
“You’re covered in blood?” Danny asked, before he could stop himself.
“Danny?”
She walked around the corner and saw him, pressed against the wall, hidden in the shadows, with his knife tightly in his grip.
He saw her, in a fighting stance, her sword held up and back like she was holding a baseball bat.
And then he got a good look at her, even in the dimly lit room.
June’s statement had been accurate. She really was covered in blood.
She had a few flecks of blood spattered across her face, but no obvious injuries to go with them. A line of dried blood trickled down out of her mouth and smeared across her chin, like she’d tried to wipe it off but just spread around instead.
Her pink leather jacket had been slashed in several places, leaving tatters of leather that clung to itself as it hung off her body. Her pink t-shirt was similarly affected.
Except the entire bottom half was drenched in a deep, dark red. And another line of dark red spilled down her left arm. He could see it was dried and crusting at the base of her wrist, and as he followed it up he saw a slash through her left sleeve.
Her right sleeve was stained with blood, but it didn’t have any obvious wounds to go with, supporting her claim that it was someone else’s.
She was unnaturally pale, like several shades lighter than she normally was. She looked like she could’ve been a ghost, if it hadn’t been for the horribly vibrant red that covered the rest of her.
“You’re covered in blood,” Danny repeated, a little shell-shocked and also a little dizzy.
“Oh it’s not mine!” June assured, casually as she lowered her sword. But then she looked down her front and thought for a moment. “Some of it might be mine. Maybe like, a third of it. Definitely not half. Well, possibly half. But hey I’m the one who walked away, so it’s really a win. And I look kinda baller, right? Like, if you saw me walk down the street you’d be like, now there’s a woman who could mess me up real bad! It’s a cool feeling, you know?”
She smiled widely at him, and he had to admit that while covered in blood, it looked a little crazed. But then she inhaled sharply and grabbed her stomach.
Instinct and worry taking over, Danny shoved his knife back into its hilt, and rushed forward.
His eyes trailed over every inch of her, trying to see if there’d been injuries he’d missed in his first once over.
The slash across her left bicep was obvious, and still oozing out. Whatever had caused her to bleed from inside her mouth was extremely concerning but it seemed to be an internal issue so he wouldn’t be able to figure that out now.
Her stomach was the most concerning though. He grabbed her wrist to gently pry her hand away from where she’d pressed it against her middle.
She stared down at her palm. “See how am I supposed to know if that’s mine or not? It’s all red.”
Before Danny could really examine her middle, her legs gave out. Her sword clattered to the ground, the sound of metal slamming against the floor echoing throughout the abandoned building.
Danny grabbed her waist as she fell and her head lolled back.
And panic coursed through him.
He’d seen June unconscious before. He’d even carried her unconscious before. But for some reason, he’d never felt so panicked in regards to her safety than he did at this moment.
Was it because he was alone? No Althea, no Amara, no Vera, with their magic healing powers. Or was it because now that he knew June, now that he cared about her, losing her meant-
He didn’t have time to ponder this right now. Not while she was maybe dying or already-no, nope. He wouldn’t think about that as a possibility yet.
Limp in his hold, her head bouncing backwards, and her feet dragging against the ground, he tried to maneuver his grip on her so he could look for a pulse.
The thought of June having been fine one moment, alert, coherent, jovial, and then suddenly just-
Focus. He needed to focus.
Before, Danny could figure out a way to get a free hand, she stood back up, suddenly awake again.
Her fingers gripped his shirt, and she used that as an anchor to keep herself upright. “Maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was,” June mumbled.
“Of course not! You’re bleeding out!”
“Not all of it’s mine!” June defended, for what felt like the millionth time.
“You’re probably in shock!”
“I’m not shocked! This is what happens when you fight monsters. It’s not exactly a surprise,” She tried to push herself off of him completely, but Danny kept his firm grip on her waist and half carried, half dragged her deeper into the room.
“Shock is a medical condition that happens when you lose a severe amount of blood,” Danny explained as he brought her over to a corner of the deserted building.
He brought her down so she was sitting and leaning against the wall.
June’s back arched and she tried to use him to stand back up again.
“Danny! That-uh-that’s not-that doesn’t feel great,” June managed, between some very aggressive breaths.
Danny looked down and realized that if June middle had been sliced open, which he very much suspected that it had, sitting halfway up would probably aggravate it.
Instead of letting her stand, he put a hand in between her shoulder blades, and brought her all the way down to the ground, so she was laying flat on her back.
“Better?” Danny asked.
“Yeah,” June swallowed thickly. Her breathing was still rapid and intense and she kept fidgeting, curling her toes in, clenching her fists, rolling back her shoulders. “This floor is probably super dirty.”
“Don’t think about it,” Danny said, as he himself desperately tried not to think about it.
“We shouldn’t stay here,” June said suddenly, grabbing his wrists. “Those weirdos with the van and the notebook parked their car here that night Amara sleep walked to the gate. This isn’t exactly a save point for us.”
“A what?”
“A save point! Like the place in a video game where you can rest for a bit before you have to go fight a boss? This is more like a place where you walk in and suddenly you have a surprise boss fight that you didn’t prepare for so you don’t have any potions or anything and then you die and-“
“Nobody’s dying.”
Danny’s expression was dark and June shut her mouth very quickly upon seeing it. She stared at him as he pulled her leather jacket away from her midsection.
Danny muttered something in Spanish. June was pretty sure she caught a word, which she knew from Talia happened to be a swear.
Underneath the scraps of her shirt, which were stuck to her red-tinted skin, he could see a deep gash that ran right from under her left rib cage all the way to the base of her stomach. It was raw and red and sort of yellowish and seeping and-
He had to look away. He’d closed his eyes without meaning to, and suddenly realized how lightheaded he felt.
“Danny? Hey, are you okay?” June’s hand was on his arm, and he could feel it shaking even as she gripped him.
And, god, how messed up was that? She was the one with her insides open. He genuinely didn’t understand how she was still conscious, and yet here she was asking him, if he was okay.
“Get it together, Daniel,” he muttered. He pried his eyes open again and saw June blinking up at him, pale, and clammy, and worried, like he was the injured one.
Amara and Vera were somewhere out there. And without them and their magic, June could die. He was literally the only thing she had right now. And he had to do something.
“I need like-a first aid kit-or-or something to-“ Danny clawed his hair back as he muttered, entirely to himself. And June actually startled him when she interrupted his frantic rambling.
“I put a first aid kit in my moped.”
“You-what?” Danny blinked at her.
“I also keep one in my duffel bag. Which is out by my moped. Which is parked right outside, remember?”
Danny was still trying to calm himself down from the image of her open wound that he had a feeling would now forever be seated into his brain. He wasn’t entirely processing everything correctly at the moment. Which is why he continued to just stare at her.
“The seat lifts up and I keep my extra helmet in there, so I put the first aid kit in the helmet and-“ She faltered when he just continued to gawk.
“I dunno I thought it was smart.” She mumbled, losing her confidence.
“It was,” Danny finally managed to speak, the sight of June discouraged enough to snap him back into reality. “You-you’re very smart, June.” Danny smiled at her, a very obviously forced smile and stood up. “Don’t-don’t go anywhere okay? I’ll be right back.”
“You shouldn’t go by yourself!” June, despite what he had literally just told her, tried to get up and follow after him.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be fast. I promise,” he gently pushed her back down to the ground. “I can take care of myself.”
June frowned at that, her eyes narrowing as she stared him down. Danny chose not to comment. She was injured after all, he’d let her have whatever opinions she wanted to at the moment.
“If anything happens, don’t even use the walkie, just scream super loud. I mean it, Danny!”
“Okay! Okay! I promise!” Danny assured.
“And be sneaky!” June cried.
“It’s kind of hard for me to be sneaky when you’re yelling!” Danny countered, in a hushed tone.
“Oh,” June sucked her lips in. “Sorry.”
Danny shook his head at her as he slipped out, conveniently turning so she wouldn’t be able to see his tired, but amused smile.
When he came back, first aid kit acquired, June was standing up with her sword in hand. Except, the blade was downwards, and she was using it to keep herself standing.
When she caught him looking at her, she immediately straightened up. “Okay, so before you’re like ‘June, why are you standing up? You’re hurt and bleeding and blah blah blah’ I realized when you left me, my sword was all the way over there, and if a monster walked in, I’d be completely defenseless! So I-“
“Okay, okay.” Danny held up a hand and withheld a sigh. “Now that you’re up you might as well, uh-it’ll be hard for me to-if-if you’re on the floor-so maybe you should-“
Danny gestured to the table.
“Oh. Okay.” June agreed casually. She used her sword as a makeshift walking cane and she made her way over to it.
Using his arm, Danny cleared off the table, making sure no bare skin ever touched it as she slipped off the shreds of her jacket.
“I really liked this jacket. But Jonas will just buy me a new one.” She handed Danny her sword, hopped up onto the table and laid down as quickly as she could. “It’s like I’m about to have surgery!”
“Don’t say that.”
There were a few moments of silence as Danny examined her middle.
“So what’s the verdict, doc?” June asked, when she got too impatient to continue sitting in the silence.
“Your shirt. It’s-it’s stuck to the cut. It’s already started to scab over.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Not when there’s a layer of cloth on top of it!”
“Then rip it off.”
“That’ll hurt.”
“I’ve been sliced and bitten and thrown and punched and beaten. I can handle a little pain.”
“But it’s-it’ll open the wound again and start bleeding more and-“
“Oh for piss sake.” June ripped the shirt off her abdomen and immediately jerked her head backwards in pain.
“ YIPE !” She cried as she involuntarily arched her back and clawed at the ground beneath her hands. “Son of a…piss snatcher!“
“Meirda,” Danny hissed, his hands twitching just above the wound, anxiously.
“Well don’t just sit there! Patch it up! Or clean it out! Or-I dunno!” June gritted through her teeth, stubbornly keeping her head up to stare at him.
“Okay-uh-“ He briefly lifted up her shirt, or rather the remains of it, and pulled the fabric up to where he could see the edge of her sports bra where he then immediately dropped it. Its tattered edges fell back down on the wound again.
June must have noticed his apprehension because without a word, she grabbed the bottom of it and slipped it up over her head. Which was an extremely awkward sight, seeing as she was still on the flat on her back, so she had to lift herself up enough to do, which meant engaging her core, which aggravated her wound and caused her to make a strangled groan as she aggressively exhaled through her nose, clearly in discomfort. She discarded her now ruined shirt above her and slammed her head back down, firmly pressing her back against the table.
She caught Danny, wide eyed, staring at the slash across her bare stomach.
“Don’t make this weird,” June groaned. “Just do the thing that makes it sting, patch it up and let’s be done.”
“Yeah. Uh-okay. Yes,” Danny opened the first aid kit and searched for a disinfectant alcohol wipe. He found one and couldn’t tear it open. His hands already wet with sweat and blood, fortunately not his own, but unfortunately, June’s.
June was breathing heavier and quicker and every couple of breaths were jagged and choppy. Her eyes darted around the ceiling, looking at her surroundings. She seemed alert but also anxious, despite the fact that every time she spoke, her tone was calm and confident. That only worried Danny more.
Her body seemed to be having a physical reaction to something her mind seemed to consider a non-issue. Her version of shock was apparently a form of denial. Which he understood to mean that she was much worse off then she would be willing to admit.
Frustrated and panicked, he bit onto the edge of the packaging and tore it off with his teeth.
“Woah. That was cool,” June commented, jovially.
Danny didn’t respond. He unfolded the wipe and as gently as he possibly could, he dragged it against the cut that spanned her midsection.
June didn’t cry out or make any noise of discomfort. Her breathing increased and her eyes scrunched shut so tightly her nose scrunched with them, but other than that she made no indication that she was in any pain as he wiped an open wound with what she called ‘ the stuff that made it sting .’
“Did that not hurt?” Danny asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
“I mean yeah it did, but I’m super tough so.”
Danny’s lips twitched up. The situation was too dire to warrant an actual smile, but June made it so he felt lighter, even if just for one brief second.
He pulled out a pack of gauze and opened it the same way he’d opened the disinfectant.
“I’m kind of obsessed with the way you do that. You look like you’re in an action movie or something.”
“I can’t open it with my fingers because they’re covered in-in-“ He faltered, starting to get light headed again.
“In blood that may or may not be mine,” June finished for him, unaware that he was desperately trying not to finish the thought.
“You keep saying it’s not yours, but it’s very obviously coming out of you!”
“Hmm,” June hummed, with a hint of irritation.
Forgetting to warn her, Danny pressed the gauze against the cut firmly and held it there, in an attempt to stop the new wave of bleeding.
June strangled out a groan as her abdomen seized and before Danny could apologize, she coughed, violently. Flecks of red flew from her mouth and Danny had to force himself to look away even as he continued to push down on the wound.
“Aw crap,” June mumbled. “That’s-this is probably bad, huh?”
He turned back to her. She held her right hand out in front of him, which was now covered in flecks that matched the ones splattered across her lips.
He flinched his head away again.
“Wait, do you have a thing about blood?” June asked, her voice shaky but her tone concerned.
“Yes-I mean-no-I mean-it doesn’t matter right now,” Danny forced himself to draw his attention back to her as his free hand gripped the bundle of bandages.
“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have-“ June began, sounding the quietest and smallest he’d ever heard her.
“Don’t-don’t do that.” Danny said, his gaze gentle and piercing at the same time. “Don’t be sorry. Don’t apologize. God, you-you didn’t do anything wrong, June. It’s okay. You’re okay.”
June felt something well up inside her at that, and she was ninety percent sure it wasn’t another coughing fit.
Except, wait, actually, it was.
She began hacking again, and this time it was part cough, part vomit.
It was gross.
And she’d be the first to admit it.
Danny looked beyond disgusted, but he very quickly ran around her, and pulled her shoulder to force her to lay on her side, the side that wasn’t injured.
He stood above her, one hand on her shoulder, the other still pressing the gauze to her wound as she spit up blood.
With the hand that was on her shoulder, he brushed his thumb back and forth in an effort to be comforting even as he kept his gaze firmly away from the sight.
When it was over, she gulped in air for a couple of seconds and tried to ignore how coppery her mouth tasted.
Suddenly, Danny was right in front of her, at her eye level. He wasn’t looking her in the eyes though. Wordlessly, he wiped her chin with his sleeve. June watched as he, very focused on his task, pulled the edge of his sleeve over his hand and wiped down the rest of her face.
She felt like a child again, like she was being doted on and cleaned up by her parents, but it also felt different than that.
This felt more vulnerable and more intimate and-and almost like a sacrifice. Because for a guy who had an issue with blood, cleaning off her bloody face, with nothing but his own shirt sleeve was a very selfless thing for him to do. Not to mention it was a white shirt. It was really hard to get blood out of white clothes. June knew from experience.
And that realization (the one about Danny being selfless, not the one about blood stains) made her stomach flip.
But her stomach did really hurt right now so it was all very….confusing.
As Danny’s touch slowed, his eyes finally found hers, as she had been staring at him this whole time.
He abruptly stood up and turned away from her, his shoulders hunched upwards. He walked back around to her injured side, as June flipped onto her back once more.
“You should stay on your side. If you-uh-if you do that again you could choke.” Danny said, nervously glancing back and forth between June and the first aid kit he was now fiddling through.
“Well, laying on my side doesn’t feel good. And I didn’t choke the first time I hacked up blo-uh-the red liquid.”
“Just-just say blood. Red liquid is worse. It’s much worse.” Danny pulled out a roll of bandages.
“Also, if you’re gonna wrap it with that-“ She pointed to the bandages. “I’m gonna need to sit up, right?”
Danny blinked at her. “Oh. Right.”
She pushed herself up, much quicker than Danny would have liked. It frustrated him to no end that she refused to act like she was injured. He was scared she was just going to hurt herself more.
“Woah! Hey!”
“I’m fine, Danny. I can sit up by myself,” June rolled her eyes, albeit fondly.
He sighed and as he started to reach towards her, he froze.
“Can I, uh, I just feel like I should ask before-“ Danny held up the role of bandages in one hand and awkwardly gestured with his other.
June raised an eyebrow at him, not understanding.
“It’s just-I’m gonna have to-I’ll be in your space and-“ Danny avoided her gaze, burning a hole into the floor.
“You’ve been in my space before.” June reminded him, innocently, genuinely confused by his behavior. “And I’ve been in yours even more!”
“Well, yeah, but this-this is different. You’re-“ Danny felt his face start to get hot.
June wasn’t helping him. She shook her head faintly, bewildered.
“Ay dios mío!” He threw his hands upwards. “You’re not wearing a shirt. And I just don’t want you to think-I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-“
“That’s really considerate Danny,” June interrupted him, gently, her calm perfectly contrasting his panic. “But I trust you. Do whatever you need to do.“
She trusted him.
He sort of already knew that, but to hear her say it right to his face-
It was a lot of pressure. And a lot of responsibility.
But it was also a compliment, in a way.
And he didn’t really know how to process it. He definitely didn’t have time to try and do so now though.
“Here, hold this section,” Danny instructed, choosing to lose himself in the task instead of all the confusing thoughts and feelings he was currently dealing with.
She did what he said as he began to wrap bandages around her middle, which would hold the gaze more securely in place.
It was definitely awkward. For Danny, at least.
June didn’t seem to mind it at all. Which Danny should have expected. She didn’t seem to understand the concept of personal space. Something he both liked about her and also couldn’t really handle. She gave away physical affection so easily, and seeing as how physical affection was something Danny wanted almost desperately, it was greatly appreciated and also overwhelming all at the same time.
Granted this was different. He wouldn’t call treating someone’s open wound an act of physical affection, but it was still intimate in its own way. And so naturally, Danny was awkward about it.
At first June held her arms straight upwards, so he could easily get around her torso, but after a few seconds June grew impatient.
She plopped her arms onto his shoulders, her wrists dangling.
If she felt him tense at that, she ignored it.
Every time he circled the roll around her middle, it was like giving her a sort of hug, except worse, because she didn’t hug him back and instead kept her arms lazily on top of his shoulders, like they were middle schoolers about to slow dance.
June huffed out a breath and shifted.
Danny’s first thought was that maybe June was starting to feel the awkward tension Danny was sure he was making incredibly obvious, but then Danny looked up at her face, and saw her squeezing one eye shut and curling her lip upwards.
He realized that she was in pain. It was finally starting to catch up with her. The adrenaline must have been wearing off.
“I feel like you’re always the one getting hurt.” Danny mumbled, more to himself than to her.
“Uh-uh. That is not true. That time with Piss Brain, I walked away without a scratch! While you almost-well-never mind. But I-I can take it. I have a really high pain tolerance. So if any of us are gonna get hurt. I’d actually rather it be me.”
June couldn’t see Danny’s face at the moment, as he was looping the bandage around her back, but she could tell he hadn’t been too happy with what she’d just said.
He didn’t make any comment on it, though, and so she kept her mouth shut.
Which meant that silence overtook them again as Danny worked.
“It’s kind of nice, sometimes.” June said, after a few moments, unable to sit in the quiet for any longer.
“What?”
“Sometimes, the pain. It’s-I dunno I don’t mind it all that much. Sometimes, I kinda like it.”
He froze and stared at her like she’d just grown a second head. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I knew you wouldn’t understand.” June grumbled. She leaned forward, to rest her head against his right shoulder, because holding it up was starting to get really hard, and despite the fact that he was staring at her like she was insane, (which she really hated) she wanted to indulge in comfort, and he was the most readily available.
“I’m not crazy. I’m not like a sadist or whatever I just-when you get hurt it’s a reminder that it’s real. And-and sometimes a little bit of pain is necessary to win the battle. And when it hurts real bad, you have to remind yourself why you’re fighting. Otherwise, you’ll let the pain take you down. But as long as you’re still feeling pain, that means you’re still alive and if you’re still alive you can still fight. And then the why, all your reasons why you should keep going, are at the front of your mind. To protect. To avenge. To save. And then those feelings become bigger than the pain. And to have feelings that are bigger than the hurt, I dunno. It’s kind of beautiful to me. And sometimes-sometimes I really need it. Sometimes it makes me feel just like the heroes I spent my whole childhood playing as. Like Link and Sora and Cloud and-you probably don’t know who those people are. But-anyway. That’s-that’s why I don’t mind pain all that much.”
It was quiet again.
She could tell he was done, as his hands were now still and placed against the table. Not to mention, every time she breathed, she could feel her middle struggle to give way with the wrappings so tight around her.
But she kept her face pressed against his shoulder, feeling strangely vulnerable.
Now, Juniper Jones was an open book. She usually never felt embarrassed or awkward after explaining how she felt. She really liked telling others how she felt. Because she really liked talking. But for some reason, saying these kinds of things to Danny, well, it made her feel…exposed.
“You are without a doubt the craziest person I’ve ever met.”
June frowned and pulled away from him, sharply, ignoring the strange pang in her chest as she did so. She jerked her head to the side, to try and hide the tears that were beginning to form.
“But I think that’s what also makes you the bravest, strongest person I’ve ever met.“
June’s eyes shot back to his, touched.
They stared at each other for a moment, this silence much more bearable to June.
“Thanks, Danny.” June pulled on her braid as she blinked up at him, almost shyly.
Danny couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She made him smile so easily. He really felt like he should be more concerned about that, but it was hard to be concerned while Juniper Jones was looking at him like that.
“Are you okay?” she cocked her head. “You look flushed.”
“Yup! Yeah! I’m-I’m great.” Danny stumbled backwards and tripped, just slightly before catching his footing again. “Are-are you okay? You-you’re the one who got stabbed-I mean not stabbed but-how’re you feeling? You okay?”
He pushed his hair away from his face, only for it to immediately fall back onto his forehead.
June smiled, a real and true genuine smile.“I’m great. I’ve never been better.” She blinked. “Well, that’s a lie. I’ve definitely been better but-“
There were footsteps outside.
Both of their heads snapped towards the door.
June’s smile dropped.
She jumped off the table and grabbed her sword from where Danny had propped it up against a nearby chair.
“You shouldn’t-“ Danny whispered, worry etched over his features.
“Shhh!” June shushed him.
She stood in front of him, protectively as she glared at the door, slipping into a protective stance.
Danny couldn’t help but feel silly as June did so, in nothing but jeans, a sports bra, and bandages; bandages that were getting very red, very quickly. Danny would probably have to change them again soon.
June adjusted her grip on her sword, the residual blood on her hands making it tricky to keep her hold on it.
The door handle turned just as Danny pulled his knife out.
“Maybe we should hide,” Danny mumbled.
“Too late for that. Besides, I like to fight things head on.” June hissed back.
“Yeah and that’s probably why you’re the one who always-“
“You better shut up before you finish that sentence.” June snarled, her eyes never once leaving the door.
The door swung open and June reared her sword back.
Vera and Amara slipped in and then very quickly shut the door behind them.
“Amara!” June cried, ecstatic.
“Vera!” Danny let out a sigh of relief and didn’t even try to hide it.
June sheathed her sword at the same time Danny sheathed his knife.
“You guys are here! And you’re alive!” June ran forward, as Danny reached out to try and stop her, but even injured she was quick and as soon as she could, she threw her arms around both Vera and Amara’s shoulders.
Danny followed her, much slower.
When June pulled away from them she smiled brightly. “Hey, whenever you can, one of you should probably do your magic healing stuff on me. Just a heads up.”
“What happened?” Vera asked, already looking over June’s bandages.
“Long story. Hey, Danny, are you behind me?”
“Uh, yes?”
“Great. Cool. Awesome. Catch.”
With that, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards.
Danny surged forward. She slammed against him, unconscious.
Vera raised an eyebrow, very clearly worried. Amara narrowed her eyes, also worried but in her own Amara sort of way.
“I-uh-I did my best, okay?”