I
Burnt copper. It burnt the air and clogged her nose. Globs of it spilled past her lips, slowly leaving her flooded lungs.
Her arms, normally covered by delicate porcelain, laid limp and stained red. Shards of porcelain pierced through the muscle and bone of her left arm, and her right twisted completely around and sat beneath a large marble pillar.
There's a vibration in the ground and they feel something big slam against it, somewhere close. Their heartbeat is the only thing they can actually hear.
They can't hear the cough violently tearing at their lungs, forcing more blood out of her mouth. She tries to breathe, but only manages to have the blood push up into her nasal cavity and out of her nostrils.
She pushes up from her working arm, choking at the agony from pulling the one trapped beneath the rubble. She coughs again, and presses her forehead against the ground.
It felt cool and smooth against her heated skin, if a bit dirty from the heavy dusting of debris. It stuck to the blood running down her face, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.
There are other things they have to worry about than dirt sticking to their skin. Like what in the Name of the Goddess happened. Currently and painfully.
She lifts her head as she coughs again, purposely this time. The blood—because, nothing else tastes quite like burnt copper like blood does—finally unclogs itself from her lungs, and she breathes in deeply. Stale and filled with dust, but air nonetheless. It brings a clearer picture to her sluggish mind.
"O-okay—" Their voice croaks and their sentence devolves into a coughing fit. They groan loudly when the soft thrashing moves their trapped arm.
Their head rolls to the right and they squint through the blood in their eyes, trying to see their legs.
There was hardly any light, only thing rays of sunlight peeking through the holes of the debris balanced precariously above them. But, it was enough to see shapes.
Nothing pinned their legs; they can see the white porcelain still whole and attached to them, if a bit cracked.
She moves her head again, turning to face her arm once more. She bites her lip with a deep breath and lightly tugs back.
Stars blind her eyes and she claws at the ground with her other hand at the invisible knives skinning her arm open until the nerves are exposed. She breathes out shakily, humming a warbling note.
In, and out. In, and out.
She breathes out and opens her eyes, ignoring the darkness at the edges of her sight to focus back on the arm. It moved, slightly.
The pillar is loose. She can move it herself.
"Thank you, Goddess," They murmur, resting their forehead back on the ground.
The pillar needs to be moved just enough for them to be able to pull their arm out from beneath it. It'll hurt like Bloodless, but they can manage. For Cécile's sake.
The remaining blood in their body grows cold. They don't breathe. They don't dare to.
"Cécile..."
"Cé—Cécile?!" Her voice comes out raw and pitched. She coughs and breathes in deeply, pushing up onto her elbow. "CÉCILE!"
She was in a restaurant. She was waiting for—
"Cécile!" She nearly weeps. Her throat burns and her eyesight grows blurry past the blood.
What happened? Where was Cécile? Where was her partner?
In the Name of the Goddess... who the fuck is stupid enough to attempt to kill her?
