No time to waste; Anna gives him a thumbs up and Zelos, ready and yet not, draws in a sharp breath and does not let it go, not even when Anna tenses under his hands the moment his fire makes contact with the bloodied skin of her calf.
Okay, here we go. Holy shit, holy fuck. The sudden rush of adrenaline is enough to sharpen Zelos' focus to this task and this task only, at least, so Zelos uses that hyperawareness of what he's doing specifically to hold Anna still while trying to keep his pulse steady and properly cauterize the wound. Breathe out slowly, breathe in slower. It's a good thing that Zelos can control the heat and the intensity of the flames, so he gets working fast, closing the wound to the best of his not-medically-trained ability.
Just keep it steady, Zelos. Keep going.
You can do this.
Anna dies if you don't.
Running on logistics and approximate calculations performed with the last bits of his mental strength and stability, Zelos starts to wheeze as his chest constricts, his internal ether levels ironically dangerously low as he works through the injury. There's still the glowing particles escaping his shoulder and all the other cuts he's received, and his trickery with the fire is costing him dearly after the cave-in, so he sways, eyes drooping, exhaustion and ether depletion evident in his aching veins. His mind fades, slowly, until finally even his sight fails him.
Zelos makes it all the way to the other end of the cut before his ether fails him. Then he collapses to his side, breathing heavily, fighting off unconsciousness while hoping, praying that he didn't fuck that up and a good enough job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M
Okay, here we go. Holy shit, holy fuck. The sudden rush of adrenaline is enough to sharpen Zelos' focus to this task and this task only, at least, so Zelos uses that hyperawareness of what he's doing specifically to hold Anna still while trying to keep his pulse steady and properly cauterize the wound. Breathe out slowly, breathe in slower. It's a good thing that Zelos can control the heat and the intensity of the flames, so he gets working fast, closing the wound to the best of his not-medically-trained ability.
Just keep it steady, Zelos. Keep going.
You can do this.
Anna dies if you don't.
Running on logistics and approximate calculations performed with the last bits of his mental strength and stability, Zelos starts to wheeze as his chest constricts, his internal ether levels ironically dangerously low as he works through the injury. There's still the glowing particles escaping his shoulder and all the other cuts he's received, and his trickery with the fire is costing him dearly after the cave-in, so he sways, eyes drooping, exhaustion and ether depletion evident in his aching veins. His mind fades, slowly, until finally even his sight fails him.
Zelos makes it all the way to the other end of the cut before his ether fails him. Then he collapses to his side, breathing heavily, fighting off unconsciousness while hoping, praying that he didn't fuck that up and a good enough job.