In the morning when I wake and the sun is coming through
Oh, you fill my lungs with sweetness and you fill my head with you
Oh, you fill my lungs with sweetness and you fill my head with you
.
It hurt. Stars, it hurt so much. Marbleshine drifted between the pull of unconsciousness and the sting of reality, caught in a haze thick with pain. Every breath burned, every heartbeat throbbed through her wounds like a drumbeat of agony. She wanted to let the darkness take her, to sink into its embrace where there was no more hurting… but she couldn't. She had to hold on, for them. So they wouldn't worry. So they wouldn't see how close she was to breaking.
A voice cut through the buzz of her fading focus. Familiar. Fierce. Sealpaw. Marbleshine blinked slowly, eyes sluggishly dragging toward the sound. The young apprentice stood there, so bright, so strong, so full of fire. Her heart ached with love and pride and a wash of doubt. Have I done right by you...? Can you still be proud of me? Do I even deserve to be called your-- The word withered before it fully formed. She didn't have the right to call herself that. Not yet. Not if she kept failing... But wait.. Hadn't the word slipped from Sealpaw herself...?
She heard Sealpaw's voice rise in alarm, screaming to Wolfpack. Marbleshine wanted to reassure her, to say I'm okay, it's not that bad. But all she managed was a faint, pained groan, barely a whisper against the storm in her chest. Then another voice. One she knew just as deeply. Possumgrin. He reached them with a choked sound, pain raw in his throat. Her bloodied cheek pressed against Wolfpack's fur again as her eyes slid shut briefly. Safe. She was safe. And they were here. They were all here.
More shouting. She wanted to tell them not to fight, no need to yell, not now, not like this. Everything was too loud, too sharp, her body ached with every step. But then they were moving again, and the camp fell away behind them. The cool shade of the medicine den wrapped around her like a shadow, and-- " Seal… " The name slipped from her lips in a gasp, like a prayer. She couldn't see her anymore. Wolfpack didn't slow. Sealpaw hadn't followed. Please don't be angry. Please don't cry.
Possumgrin. Her gaze found him again, just barely. He looked scared. So scared. She mustered what strength she had left, forcing a faint, warm blink. A flicker of reassurance through all the pain. " I… will be okay… " she breathed out, the words barely audible.
And then Wolfpack lowered her from his back. The instant she hit the nest, the weight of her injuries crashed down like a landslide. Her body screamed. The pain was blinding. A strangled cry tore from her throat as tears welled in her eyes again, hot and helpless. But even through the pain, she clung to one truth: They were here. She wasn't alone. And somehow… that was enough.
Speech, thoughts/emphasis