Make the most out of no time

Two lions was two too many.

With two good paws on its left side, the bear swiped haphazardly at Sam, unable to see but quite aware of where the second lion was, given the teeth on its face. With a mad cry, it tried to sink a claw into Sam's side, just as Remi proceeded to shove it onto its back.

Landing with a large oomophh, air knocked from its lungs, the bear tried to roar again, jaws and limbs scrabbling for purchase on anything that was within its reach.

Sam, in the moment, when his mind was in the form of that of a beasts, couldn't quite distinguish between the growl of Remi and that of the bears, but a fear thudded through him that spurred him on and drove his teeth deeper into the shallow flesh on the bear's face. But as Remi tried to warn him, he quickly hit bone and found there was little more to bite. A voice that wasn't quite Remi's suddenly cut through his mind, but he knew he should follow the instruction. Sam lifted his paws as Remi pushed the bear onto it's back to let him move, then rushed down to bite at it's throat as hard as he could, teeth popping through flesh and muscle and his mouth filling with thick blood-- He had been so distracted in the battle that he had not noticed the wound to his side, but Sam was suddenly very aware of it as he stayed still to hold the bear down. As pain rushed up to him he let go of the bear's throat and roared loud and distressed into the sky, blood staining his own fur and the bear's beneath him. It dripped from his mouth and his side, making him a rather gruesome sight. Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

As the bear toppled, through Remi’s peripheral vision he could see his fellow lion biting down on the bears throat. With a snarl of satisfaction, Remi began to rake his claws up and down the bear’s chest and stomach cavity. He worried little about the rib cage, and instead went for the softer underbelly where there was little bone to defend the creature’s soft innerds. Primitive instinct spurred on his actions as Remi’s claws dug deep into the soft flesh of the bear, tearing and encouraging organs to be pulled into the cold midnight air. With a feral roar, the lion buried his face into the open and bloody cavern, biting and chewing and tearing flesh away with his barbed tongue. Meanwhile, the bear’s claws snaked around him like a fatal hug, parting flesh from his rib cage as well and dragging skin away from muscle. With a loud roar, Remi tried to disengage already feeling the bear go still beneath him but instinctively knowing it was too late. Stuttering backwards, something strange happened. What should have knocked him unconscious as a lion, instead thrust him hard back into his regular body. Covered in blood from head to toe, his jacket torn, his shirt beneath all but shredded to reveal torn and ruined flesh beneath, Remi’s eyes were nearly closed before he even hit the ground. Collapsing behind the body of the bear, a tomb of earth began to dome over the alchemist, with roughly a 1.3m radius all the way around. Sam would only have moments before deciding whether to remain on the outside, or to join Remi within. remi Too long till I drown in your hands

The bear had never lost a battle before. But two lions? In the woods?

Its throat collapsed and air no longer filled its lungs. Blind as it was, its jaws snapped uselessly against nothing. Its last act was to grate the flesh of something even as its body was cut from throat to stomach. The most peculiar coolness filled its body (air seeping into its chest cavity), but there was blood beneath its claws, and that was good.

With a gurgling growl as Sam’s teeth closed and finally snuffed life out of the creature, it relished the fact that it had likely killed one of the lions.

That was something.

And so life passed from its lungs, it's dying breath gurgling into Sam's parted jaws.

The bear went limp beneath Sam's paws as Remi let out a loud cry and was knocked backwards, changing back into himself. Sam, now that the danger was gone, had little on his mind except for Remi and alright?? He bounded towards Remi despite the pain in his side, stumbled and shifting back into a man as he leapt towards Remi's lifeless body on the ground. He slid across the ground next to Remi just as the dirt walls covered them both, his whole body shaking as his injury hit the ground and scraped along it, creating a heavy streak of clear fluid. Sam pressed his forehead to Remi's shoulder, lukewarm tears spilling down his cheeks and into the blood-soaked fabric of his jacket. He couldn't even look at the injuries down Remi's front, knowing if he saw it he would never be able to forget. The pain was overwhelming. True, he was not as injured as the other man, but this was all new to him. It was all-consuming, taking his mind away from anything practical and turning him into a wailing desperate soul. Mindlessly he reached to grab at Remi's hand, desperate for comfort and unable to do anything else to communicate with him. Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

A few holes remained in the ceiling letting crisp night air and moonlight filter through in strange and even columns. It was a desperate move on the alchemist's part, but he knew he'd not be able to make it to the infirmary on his own, and in his addled and pain-exploded brain had not even consider Sam's ascended strength. Feeling Sam against him created a small smile of relief that he'd found his way inside the earthen-semi-sphere, as well as a stonewall of agony as the ascended's weight pressure against his wounded shoulder. With a bright gasp of pain, Remi's lashes fluttered as his eyes rolled back slightly, but the alchemist bit down on the cry building in the back of his throat. "Sh-shh---s-h" He managed through a shaky breath, trying to wrap his arm around Sam but finding his muscles more or less unwilling to cooperate. Giving Sam a gentle squeeze as his hand was taken—one of the only places on his body having avoided any sort of injury—Remi tried to take a few deep breaths and settle the near-constant flares of pain running up and down his sides. ""Sam—" He whispered, chest rising and falling unsteadily. "—are you....al-right?" He managed, trying to turn his head slightly to see the man, but unable to use the muscles in his stomach to raise his eyeline up. Instead, he merely pressed his cheek and jaw against the copper hair that he could not see, feeling the matted blood there. remi Too long till I drown in your hands

Remi was thankfully, alive, confirmed by the noises he made to comfort Sam. Sam pushed himself up, groaning with the pain but persevering so he could be more level with Remi. They were close, again, but now it was not a novelty, not something he was joyous about; now he just found himself wondering if he was going to watch Remi die only a few inches away. "..Y...w-well, no. But you're w-worse." He said gently, rubbing Remi's thumb. His tears had stopped for a moment as Remi spoke to him, but he felt his eyes well over and spill again quickly as he looked down to catch a glimpse of his chest. He'd helped, he'd been brave, but it had still come to nothing. Taking his hand away from Remi's, he moved to trace his fingers gently over the other man's jaw. It was bolder than he would have been before this, but now he just felt an intense need to comfort and wasn't sure what was safe to touch. "...I...I c-could maybe. Get us to Isla's. If you...i-if you put down the dirt." He wanted nothing more than to be looked after, responsibility taken away, but he knew with his advanced strength he could probably drag Remi back to town. It would hurt, he would be slow, it would be awful...but it was something. Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

"I--w-will live." Remi murmured, each word agony as the torn muscles of his stomach and ribcage vibrated with the sound. "I cannot be killed w-when shifted." He added, breathless and finding it difficult to focus on the words coming out of his mouth, but knowing that Sam likely needed more context to ease the worry the alchemist heard in his voice. "T-that is why I changed so s-suddenly." Shivering slightly now from exhaustion and pain as well as temperature, Remi squeezed his eyes shut for a moment trying to cling to consciousness. As Sam's finger trailed along his jaw, Remi opened his eyes. There was hardly any light here, just enough to softly outline the flutter of Sam's lashes, the silhouette of his face. With a groan, Remi raised a hand, meaning for it to ascend towards Sam's face, but finding the effort more than he could manage. His arm collapsed onto his stomach and Remi bit down on his lip to keep from crying out, instead breathing a steady stream of anguished air from his nose. With a muffled groan, Remi looked at the dirt-ceiling overhead. After a moment his entire body began to shake as his muscles tensed and defiantly ignored the commands of his mind. Releasing the tension and sighing, Remi's eyes closed for just a moment before he forced them open again. "I do not know that I can...not...right now anyways. " Swallowing down a thick mixture of saliva and blood, Remi tried to turn his head towards Sam as much as he could. "I am sorry Sam..." remi Too long till I drown in your hands

That is why I changed so suddenly...Sam's brow creased. What did Remi mean? Did he change...to die? Was he alright or not? The statement brought far more questions than answers, none of them good ones. His hand stayed on Remi's face and he didn't notice Remi trying to reach for his own face until the other man made a pained noise. "No, n-no. Don't." He said gently, taking Remi's hand and guiding it back down off his stomach slowly. When he brought his hand back it was covered in blood which he was repulsed to find smelt delicious to him, tempting and all together wrong in the moment. Remi's apology made him shake his head and cup his cheek for a moment, then Sam took his hand away and forced himself up to his knees with a yell of pain. Resting on his hands to recover, staring at the ground, he watched his own tears hit the Earth before screaming and hitting a fist as hard as he could into the side of the dirt. Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

Remi tried to hold onto Sam's hand even as the other man pulled away, but his strength had all but been sapped away. "You should not—" He tried to take a breath, but found it hard to fully inflate his lungs as if there was a great weight suddenly sitting on his chest. "—be here with me—" The alchemist managed, knowing now that Jigano was right. Inadvertantly or not Sam had been hurt, and it was completely his fault. Even as the ascended rose to his knees gasping in pain, Remi couldn't help the muffled and shallow sob that breathlessly floated from his lips at the sound. That Sam could feel the pain he was in, was Remi's fault as well. "Sam—" He started to say, though his words were cut short by his friend's scream and the light and cold air that suddenly burst through. But that was the thing about domes, the shape was held together by the support of the entire system working together. As Sam's fist punched a hole clean through, the collapse was imminent. Dirt rained down on the alchemist who tried to take in a hasty breath out of both surprise and preservation, before it was suddenly expelled as the weight of the ceiling of his structure collapsed onto an already severally wounded chest. remi Too long till I drown in your hands

For just a second, as his fist broke through the Earth, Sam felt victorious. Then of course, his plan didn't work because he'd failed to consider physics or...anything, really, other than doing something. Suddenly there was a great weight on his back, forcing him down in an uncomfortable position bent over his knees, pushing at his already seeping wounds. But other than pain, he was alright - he didn't need to breathe, after all. He opened his eyes in an odd darkness, the dirt crumbling to let in some light, then... Remi! Immediately panic and guilt surged through Sam as he scrambled up, pushing the dirt off of himself then scratching away at it where he assumed Remi's face would be, his hands desperate and shaking. The effort with the pain in his side was making him feel faint, ill, but he couldn't stop. He would likely recover. Remi might not. "Remi! R-Remi!" He cried as he cleared off the dirt, moving down once he'd uncovered his face to try and clear his chest too. "I-I'm sorry, I'm so s-sorry, I didn't--" Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

The weight was somehow comforting. In the dark the pain was so complete that his body finally gave into shock, and everything sort of melted away. Somehow he did not think death would be like this. He thought it would be quieter, and had always pictured himself alone. Instead the ocean-loud pounding of blood in his ears was an unhappy distraction that the alchemist just wanted to swim away from. Down deeper in the metaphorical depths he was sinking into, Remi felt the cold and chill of unconsciousness. Frigid as it was, it balanced out the excruciating fire-hot pain which had receded smartly into his joints and his lungs. All he wanted to do was go to it, to swim down deeper until, — —Remi! Sam? The voice was so far away, as was the feeling of the man's fingers as they clawed at the dirt. Like watching all of this from miles down, Remi considered with an abstract sort of awareness of the situation. Oh Sam.. The alchemist thought with a smile that was present only in his mind. Do not worry about me, he wanted to say knowing somehow that there were tears on the other man's face. Without permission however, his lungs suddenly forced air into his lungs and life flooded back into his system as dirt coated the back of this throat. Gasping with a wheezing sound, Remi's eyes all but bulged as his lungs fought to inflate despite how his muscles recoiled angrily against the feeling. Lightheaded and delirious with pain, the alchemist coughed and spluttered, trying to free his hands from beneath the blanket of soil to wipe the dirt from his face. remi Too long till I drown in your hands

Remi's choking and spluttering was the most beautiful sound Sam had ever heard, one that spurred him on to pull the rest of the dirt away from Remi; once he was clear, his torso down to his waist uncovered and his legs only with a light layer, Sam collapsed down next to him with both his hands clasping his side where his clothes were now soaked through. "P-please. Please. Say s...something." He asked of Remi, staring with tear-clouded eyes down at the ground. "If..i-if you say something I can...m-make myself get up. And...a-and help. Please." With his plea made he closed his eyes and rolled onto his back for just a moment of rest, the odd metallic taste of fluid that wasn't-quite-blood in his mouth. He knew he had made a mistake, knew that Remi could justifiably hate him now, but Sam would be content in himself if he could just save the other man. Samuel Another little "nothing ever after", nothing more? And lo, but no! What bliss Another jolly jaunt through the abyss

The dirt in his sides had turned into a marbled sort of confection, maroon mud in the moonlight. While it partially stopped the bleeding, Remi could feel the small granuals of sediment like broken glass, and for a long and agonizing moment, the alchemist just wanted to cry, and curl into a ball, and quit. But then he heard Sam's voice again, Sam who needed him, Sam who had saved him, and the selfishness he had wanted to give into only a moment ago now repulsed him so entirely that his eyes shot open as he clambered back to life. "Sss—" It was all he could make himself say before a muffled mixture of blood and dirt choked from his lips. Trying to roll to the side so as not to choke entirely, Remi moaned a high-pitched sort of whine into the ground as he tried desperately to breathe through the pain that threatened to bury him. Making a fist as his cheek hit the earth, panting and clenching his jaw, his other hand snaked blindly across the earth, colliding with Sam's body to give whatever part of the man it was—his leg, probably—a reassuring squeeze. "S..mmm.." He tried again, trying to press himself up from the ground but finding it utterly impossible. remi Too long till I drown in your hands