Any Random Stuff to do with The Race to Save Element Kind

All That Effort

She saw Wash nod and Pybi hop up and down and run to Tetinel to hide behind him and watch. Wash scoured the treeline and glanced to either side of him before gingerly approaching the golden patch.

-----

Wash observed the area around him in its entirety, jogging forward with gun in hand towards the golden flower patch that Pybi had pointed to. He looked at the treeline one more time before gently setting the gun down beside him and beginning to collect quite a few of the richly colored flowers. But he stopped paying attention for a little too long.

 -----

Oleander watched Wash collect Pybi's flowers, then her gaze shifted to a rustling in the trees. Her eyes widened and she stood straight as soon as she saw a tree fall and a rampaging swamp beast sprint into the clearing towards the closest person- Wash.

She struggled for a moment to pull her gun out of its holster and jumped down the stairs three or four at a time, nearly falling over herself while trying to run to Wash's position. She looked at the distance between them- there was no way she could get there in time.

"Wash!! Wash, look up you dipshit!" she shouted, fumbling with the clip in her shaking hands before she could shove it into the gun. She saw him look up, only having enough time for his expression to change before he was tackled over by the massive creature.

"WASH!!"

-----

Wash cried out when tackled by the swamp beast, his left hand clawing in the grass to find his gun. The beast's claws raked down his legs and across his face, and began staining the grass with his blood just as he managed to grab hold of his gun.

In a mixup of his priorities, Wash glanced over at Tetinel and Pybi to make sure the young girl wasn't looking. Tetinel had made sure of that, covering Pybi's eyes with his hand.

With the reassurance that he wouldn't scar the girl's innocence, Wash lodged his retrieved gun under the creature's chin, firing at least four rounds. And then there was an almost deafening form of silence while he struggled to dump the beast on the grass beside him. He slowly stood, a mixture of both blue and green blood dripping from his body, and made sure to take the gun and flowers with him as he approached the border again. He tapped Pybi's shoulder and Tetinel uncovered her closed eyes, which she then opened and looked up at him in amazement and fear.

"Here, Pybi... I got you those flowers you asked for," he said softly, offering them forward.

She smiled and went to hug him, then rubbed her arm after remembering he was covered in blood. She gingerly took the flowers from his hand.

"Thank you Mister Wash..." 

"It's no problem, I promise."

"But Mister Wash, you're bleeding."

"Ah, I know. But not all of it's mine."

"No, I mean... You're bleeding a lot."

He glanced down at his lower half, growing lightheaded and beginning to feel the throbbing of the massive cut that spanned from his knee to his hip. The others weren't nearly as bad, since this one had pooled in the grass already.

"O-Oh... You're right... But I think I'll..." his breath seemed to leave him, "I think I'll be okay..."

And with that, he passed out in the grass, his last sight being of Oleander running to the three.

-----

When he awoke, Wash was greeted with a very pissed Haya.

"Is he actually awake this time?" Oleander asked the nurse beside her.

"Er... Well, I believe so. You should see for yourself."

She looked down again at Wash's open albeit foggy green eyes.

"Are you awake!?"

He nodded slowly.

"Good! You're damn stupid, you understand that? You put a few flowers over your own health! I would slap you if I wouldn't be kicked out for it!"

He just stared at her for a moment, then chuckled. "Yes, ma'am, I understand... You know, I think you should invest in a better shirt than that... I'm assuming you used your jacket as a tourniquet."

Oleander stood dumbfounded by his failure at identifying importance again. "I-I- you need to get your priorities straight! I'll get a 'better shirt' in my own time- what's more important here is the miraculous fact that you didn't just bleed out and die!"

"Yes, yes... Whatever you say, Haya Oleander...~"

"I don't like this tone you're striking...!"

"I was nearly dead. Give me a break, will you?"