irrationality
"And this one is...?"
"Giddyup, Mythra. Embrace it."
I'm an engineer, but I don't always explain myself well (enough). Instead of an average of 415 words each allotted to complete the remaining half of the whump prompts I'd initially planned (arriving at 32,000 words total), how about all of those final leftovers compressed into that one count? Should be...no trouble at all.
Chapters
Chapter 01: all trussed up and still nowhere to go
Chapter 02: talking is overrated
Chapter 05: i've got red in my ledger
Chapter 07: my spidey-sense is tingling
Chapter 10: oops, i did it again
Chapter 11: just keep swimming
Chapter 13: that's gonna leave a mark
Chapter 14: under pressure
Chapter 16: on a need to know basis
Chapter 17: field care one-oh-one
Chapter 18: the doctor is in
Chapter 19: just a scratch
Chapter 22: they made me do it
Chapter 23: you break it, you buy it
Chapter 24: one down, two to go
Chapter 25: hide and seek
Mythra's ensnared by a glassy web of Malos's black ether.
"You have to let go."
Addam, confused, resists her - why now, of all times?
They invited Flora to the cooking competition. That was their first mistake.
Maybe it was Mythra's fault, maybe it wasn't. Point is, suddenly she can't breathe.
"You said I'm a burden?"
"Mythra, no, I-"
"So it's not just fear. It's not just your human stupidity. You don't want me around at all."
Helplessly, Minoth reaches out. There's a fog in his eyes, clouded hot cyan's fuschia.
Addam blinks just as helplessly.
The bond dies.
The air is numb.
She told them she'd gotten it under control. She did!
And now there's another fire in Auresco, because Siren feels like a pimple waiting to burst.
You can't drink what's in the Cloud Sea. You can, thus, very much get dehydrated while swimming, treading water, floating in the Cloud Sea.
Minoth drifts.
Mythra winces, and the air burns as it passes by her sonic-clean teeth.
If she doesn't cauterize this gash in Flora's exposed shoulder soon...
Uh oh.
It's a horrible pounding in his head. The simultaneous frequencies, treacherous destructive interference--
Minoth wants safety. Mythra wants freedom.
Addam wants to let them both go.
Mythra doesn't usually ask about Minoth's scar. She's drawn her own conclusions, doesn't need his truth.
When he staggers back campward with a new one, though...that's different.
"P-please, don't-!"
She drops her sword, horrified.
Is she the reason Addam is bleeding?
His horrible, deadly dread's started to seep into her own skull, too.
Addam won't admit it, because he can't, but being tended to by Flora is beyond comparison to Haze's similar offering.
Especially when it comes to CPR.
That's his own knife stuck in the cliffside right up next to Addam's ear. That's his own not-flesh and not-blood, in multiple ways - in all ways.
Flora's eyes are a very clear middle ground, sky to ocean blue.
Always, they are.
Never do they flicker demonically, threatening to claw at Minoth's throat.
They're being chased. Minoth can't remember why he started running, but Mythra'd been, and he'd followed.
Only when it's almost too late does he remember Addam.
If she can just nick the inside of her wrist, bleed, Flora figures that'll mix with the ether and let her out of this nonsensical trap.
"Why's it so dark in here?"
Mythra sounds impatient, as if she has any light, right, or space to be.
They might never get out.