The place went silent, Ethan's body fell still.
Elin: "Is he...?"
Dylan: "He's fine. Just unconscious."
Elin let out a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumped as the tension finally drained out of her body. She carefully released her grip on Ethan's limbs.
Elin: (Fine, huh? Looks half–dead to me.)
She glanced down at him, pale and sweat–slicked.
Elin: "So, what do we do now?"
Dylan: "Not much, we just need to make sure his arm remains perfectly straight and hope it recovers."
He said with more confidence than he felt.
Elin understood his words and bolted.
She returned minutes later, breathless, arms full, and dropped everything beside Dylan — a stack of towels, two halves of a snapped broom handle and a belt.
Elin: "Will these work?"
Dylan: "Ya. These will work just fine, I think. I'll need you to set it. My hands are occupied."
He held Ethan's arm steady between both hands.
Elin: "Ummm."
She looked down at Ethan, pale and still. She couldn't help but think about potential failures.
Elin: (Ugh, why do I have to do this?)
Dylan watched her hesitate, her hand hovering just a couple inches away.
Dylan: (Is she getting cold feet?)
Elin: "Fine."
Elin: (Don't blame me if this goes wrong.)
Dylan held Ethan's arm steady while Elin folded a towel lengthwise and laid it along the underside, padding the skin.
She pressed the two broomstick halves against it, one on either side, running from past his elbow to past his wrist, then wrapped a second towel snug around the whole thing before tying it down with a belt, looping it tight enough to hold but not enough to cut off blood flow.
Elin: "Phew. Done."
She sat back on her heels, hands trembling slightly.
Elin: (Finally.)
Dylan eased Ethan's splinted arm, lowering it to the ground.
Dylan: "Thanks. I owe you one."
Elin: "No. It's ok."
Elin: (I am never doing that again.)
Elin: "By the way, what happened here?"
Dylan: "I don't know, when I looked at the countdown, it-it felt everything was distant. Time felt slow, and–"
He trailed off, his gaze drifting past her onto nothing.
Elin: (Wait, Dylan caused this?! And those symptoms, is he...high?)
Dylan: "And there was that voice. That voice..."
Elin: "A voice?"
Elin: "Was it a new monster?"
Dylan: "Nooo?"
Dylan shook his head with a jerk.
Dylan: "Never mind, it doesn't matter. It was all in my head anyways. It must look like I've gone crazy."
Elin: (Absolutely.)
Elin: "No no, not at all. That's n–"
Dylan: "Spare me the excuses. I know I went all psycho. Maybe all the monster fighting finally affected my brain."
His gaze reluctantly returned to the countdown, still hovering at the edge of his vision as if taunting him.
His intuition screamed to investigate it, but one look at Ethan unconscious on the floor was enough to kill his impulse, for now, at least.
Dylan: "By the way, can you heal Ethan up?"
Elin: "Open."
She braced herself and scanned the familiar screen. With one look a disappointed sigh left her mouth.
She had expected this outcome, and yet some small part of her was still holding onto the slim chance that, by some miracle, her divinity would have ticked up overnight.
Elin: "I can try but I doubt two divinity is going to do much."
Dylan: (Too bad.)
He rubbed the back of his head, half-expecting this outcome.
Dylan: "Where can we rest up?"
Elin: "Rightmost corner – go through the door with the 'Employees only' sign."
She pointed towards the back of the store, past the rows of half-empty shelves.
Elin: "You'll find everything in there. We kinda redecorated the whole room."
Dylan gently gathered Ethan into his arms, careful to keep his arm straight.
Dylan: "Elin. Does it ever feel like things happen just because they are meant to? Like – regardless of the choices you make, and the efforts you put in – at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter."
Elin: "What?"
She blinked, caught off guard by the sudden tonal whiplash.
Elin: (Where did that come from?)
Dylan: "Nevermind, forget–"
Elin: "Yes. Sometimes."
She said quietly, almost on instinct.
Elin: "Whether it's the looming threats of our inevitable destiny or the words we will never be able to share."
Dylan: "Huh?"
Elin: "Just one of the many quotes I found on the internet. Those videos just keep finding a way onto my feed."
Dylan: "???"
Elin: "You're talking about death, right?"
Dylan: "Well, kind-off?"
Elin: "This existential crisis lives in my head rent-free, probably does for almost everybody too. But personally I just try to ignore it. Thinking about this just ends up making me depressed."
Dylan let out a small chuckle.
Dylan: "I'll make sure to use that advice."
Elin: "Why'd you suddenly ask? Is this also connected to the 'voice' you heard?"
Dylan: "No. It's just....something personal, a family matter."
Elin: "Okayyy."
She watched him disappear through the back door, Ethan limp in his arms, and lingered there a moment.
Elin: (Something's definitely wrong.)