Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 41 - One Last Breath

The first word that Athira spoke since she'd left Shift behind was one she'd prayed to never have reason to speak again.

"Zoe?"

Her voice was hoarse from breathing in too much of the smoke, though she couldn't bring herself to care. She'd been content to give herself to the drunken euphoria of her Black, to destroy the Wardens alongside herself as she descended into the waiting oblivion with the hope she'd never wake up.

Yet one look at Zoe and Shift beside her, and some faint, stupid, selfish hope was yet again glimmering in the back of her head. Like her runes weren't one bad decision away from breaking. Like Rathe wasn't raking his claws through her empty mindscape, demanding their deaths.

Like there was a chance she didn't have to let them go.

"The one and only," said Zoe with a cough that reminded Athira to disperse the tendril pinning her.

Athira looked at Shift and found him watching her back, a wary glint in his gaze. "Why are you here?"

"We were looking for you," said Zoe. "Didn't you hear me calling?"

"No," said Athira, the word tight in her throat. "I felt the nausea from your armband and thought one of the Wardens was trying to sneak some of their stash of Sloth slime out after I burned the rest."

Athira's eyes flicked to Zoe's armband, lip curling. It was difficult to think of anything except what it'd feel like to destroy the damned thing, yet when Zoe was seized by a coughing fit, all thoughts of the armband left Athira's head.

Athira swept all three of them up in a wave of Black. She phased them through the walls of the building and onto the street outside, but even when Zoe's coughing finally subsided, it became clear that something else was wrong.

Shift held Zoe's arm, steadying her when she swayed. "You okay?"

Zoe grimaced, pressing her hands firmly against her side. "Pain just got a whole lot more inconvenient."

Athira's gaze was pinned to Zoe, marking every little wince. "Why aren't you healing?"

Zoe gasped as she tried to straighten and failed, leaning heavily on Shift for support. "The armband is draining my Yellow to keep me awake and I can't get it off." She gave Athira a grim smile. "Don't suppose you can help?"

Unbidden, the Black misting around Athira reached for the armband. It knew she wanted every last trace of Sloth's presence obliterated. She could still feel the nausea from the Sleepers she'd left burning in the basement, boiling and spattering against the insides of their Red-shaped cells. Removing the armband would be laughably easy. One gesture, one squeeze of her hand—

Athira forced herself to pull back the Black. To take a long, deep breath and force herself to think past the impulse to rid herself of the maddening nausea.

"I could," said Athira, gritting her teeth. "But you both have to be ready to run after I do."

"Why would we need to run?" said Zoe with a frown.

"The armband has Sloth essence in it," Shift guessed when Athira remained silent. "After what happened with the Sleeper at the subway station, she thinks it might be enough to break the last of her runes."

Athira ran her hands over her arms, digging her nails into the skin as Shift spoke. There was a hesitance to his voice that made her wonder if he'd finally realised she wasn't worth saving.

Her eyes were somewhere on the ceiling when she felt hands grab hers.

Athira looked down to find Zoe in front of her.