Chapter Text
Nile stares upwards.
The hidden room had hardly been big enough for Christopher to spread his wings when they’d found the militant, but he’d managed to get airborn long enough to dive at the man’s bat daemon and crash them both to the ground at the same time as Nile fires twice, centre mass.
“I’ve got her, I’ve got her,” he shrills, voice in the same pitch as his car-alarm bird chirp. Nile pats the man down roughly, tries to press her hand to the wound in his stomach as he fights her.
“Dizzy, a little help please?” and a sharp line of pain.
Chris keens and tries to take off again, but Nile can see him lurching, dropping back to earth instead of clearing the building. Dizzy is calling for help, pressing her hands to Nile’s neck. She’s coming in and out of focus and Nile’s hand scrambles for Chris, missing him on the first two attempts before her shaking fingers close around one of his legs.
She tries to turn and look at him but Dizzy won’t let her move her head. It’s hard to breathe and she feels light headed and from the corner of her eye, she can see the edges of Chris’ wings start to blur. Her hand closes on itself, empty, and the room whites out.
A blood red train. A man holding a flask to his fox daemon’s mouth. Two sleeping faces tucked close together, the swish of a tail that could be a sleeping predator. Swimming in and out of focus, the face of a woman with old eyes. Bubbles, streaming up at her face in the darkness.
Nile sits up. She’s the only occupied bed in the tent. Christopher has been set gently on a perch just below the IV stand. He looks fine, but Nile reaches slowly out, lifts him up and into her arms and feels across him.
“I thought we were going to die,” Chris says quietly. They look in unison to the doctor and her hare daemon working at the desk. “I thought you were letting me go.”
“We’re not done here,” Nile whispers. “We’re going to be just fine.”