Excalibur's Seven | ✓ [LGBT]

~ 18 ~

WHEN MORGANA WOKE UP, he couldn't see a thing. He was in someone's arms, against a sturdy chest, the thud of their footsteps rocking him in a steady motion. He tried to move but his limbs wouldn't listen, and his neck couldn't hold itself up.

"Where--" Hardly anything came out. His throat felt like a desert.

"Shh, don't talk." It was Selene. She was the one holding him.

He felt a sudden wave of vulnerability then. He'd given everything he had back at the village, leaving him weaker than he normally let himself get, and now he had to be carried like a baby. He hated it.

He wondered if everyone else was okay then. "Giselle," he croaked, shifting in her arms.

"She's here. We're all here, we're all okay."

He wished he could see. His eyes were wide open, but the world around him was still as black as the night.

It wasn't until he opened his eyes again that he realized he'd fallen back asleep, dizzy and disoriented. He was laying in a bed now, one he knew well, Giselle sitting at his side.

He was home.

His attempt at sitting up only got him to arch his back and let out a frustrated grunt.

"Hey now, calm down. It's okay," Giselle hummed, leaning over to brush his hair from his face. She stood up, placing one arm behind his back, pulling him into a sitting position. It was embarrassing that he couldn't even lift his own neck.

He looked around his small, one-room cottage to find Kit sitting at the table playing a mindless game of cards with Selene. Chalice was reading on the floor, and Eurion kept Lionel busy with a hand slapping game. A pot sat on the stove, dark steam curling up from the top.

"Your medicine is almost ready," Giselle told him when she saw where he was looking.

It had been far too long since the last time he took it, longer than he's ever gone. It didn't help that he was exhausting himself every chance he had, using up the last bit of strength he had trying to keep Kit alive. He didn't know why he sacrificed himself for an idiot like that, but he hoped it wasn't useless.

"How long?" he asked, pointing weakly at the pot.

Giselle looked where he was pointing, then back at him. "Any moment now. I'm just waiting for it to--"

As if on cue, flames shot up from the pot, startling the humans. Kit even went as far as to jump up from his seat.

"Relax," Giselle told him. "It's supposed to do that."

She took a glass of water from the counter and poured it into the fire, smothering it with a cloud of hot steam. She waved it out of her face, then reached into the pot without bothering to put on a glove.

She didn't flinch as she pulled the large capsule from the pot, even as it steamed in her grasp. The medicine was most potent the sooner it was used.

"Do you need me to do it for you?" she asked as she settled to his side.

His hands could hardly lift themselves. All he got was his fingers.

"I guess that's a yes." She offered a sympathetic smile before snapping the capsule beneath his nose. Black smoke poured from the capsule and into the air.

He breathed the dust in through his nose, eyes rolling back, veins darkening enough to be seen beneath his translucent skin. It took a moment for it to settle, but once it did, his vision became sharper and feeling slowly returned to his limbs.

"Better?"

Morgana nodded. He couldn't even bring himself to feel humiliated with how much better it was already. He rubbed at his forearm with the heel of his hand, trying to wake the nerves up faster.