31. Rescued

                                    

                                          
I wasn't out for long.  Maybe only a few seconds.  Before I could figure out up from down, I was lifted.  I cracked my eyes open long enough to see the ground getting further away, before approaching quickly.
	I squeezed my eyes shut on reflex. Then there was pain so sudden and intense that I wished I could've lost consciousness again.
	My body hurt down to my bone marrow as the wind was knocked out of me.  I couldn't even catch a breath to cry. My ears were ringing with static that was getting duller and more muffled by the second, but my ability to breathe came back to me in the form of shallow gasps. 
	The most I could do was open my eyes.  But there wasn't much to see besides black starbursts that dotted my vision.  I had a sense that I was laying on the ground, but I couldn't check.  
	My vision eventually cleared enough to bear witness to a white tiger and hawk fighting a red snake.  Fallen trees and upturned earth proved that this fight had not just begun.  The earth shook and I felt a wave of light-headedness wash over me.  
	I thought I only blinked, but that proved to be an incorrect assumption.  I must have passed out as I was no longer on the ground. The terrible pain was no longer so bad and I could breathe.
	I vaguely recall something cool being placed in my mouth and I know I swallowed it, but I didn't make out much else. 
	I woke up to the sound of birds chirping, feeling warm.  My head was hazy and my body was uncomfortably stiff.  I tried to change position and so did my not-so-comfortable, cool bed.  My hands roamed looking for something familiar.  They found it, but not the familiar I was looking for.  
	My eyes shot open despite the weight of them, showing me a nice view of a muscular chest.  This had been nothing new to me as of late, but the color I was seeing was.  
	"Mitchell?" 
	"Yes?" 
	I didn't have the energy to lift my head.  I wasn't sure I wanted to. "You aren't  a very comfortable bed."
	Mitchell barked out a laugh, ignoring his aching body's protests.  "Have you gotten a little cheekier?" 
	I closed my eyes. "Have you gotten more imaginative?"
	Mitchell's chest rumbled.  "A lot cheekier then."
	"Am I dreaming, or did you change your mind?" I felt so strange and tired.  Was I dreaming?  I should be in much more pain right now, so maybe.
	"It seems you have nice dreams."  Mitchell's chest felt fuzzy despite his lack of soul stone.
	"Maybe..." I felt my mind drift again.  "But I think deep sleep is nicer." I was going to fall asleep again; I could feel it. It wouldn't be the first time I fell asleep in a dream. "I'll feel better when I wake up..."
	Mitchell felt surreal.  For a moment, he also wondered if he was dreaming.  But unlike Grace, he wasn't so eager to wake up. 
	A rustle nearby had Mitchell focusing.  
	"I heard Grace.  Is she awake?" Shuu demanded in a frenzy.  
	"I can hear you, wolf." Mitchell's content expression shifted to his more ambiguous one.  "She fell back asleep."
	Shuu listened to Grace's steady breathing while intensely looking for any signs of discomfort.  He found none, which both relieved and saddened him.  He wanted to be the bed on which she lay, not the scorpion.  
	Muir watched silently from his perch up on a tree as he nursed his wounds.  If it wasn't for Harvey's quick thinking in negotiating with the cornered and beaten snake before it fled, he'd have succumbed to the venom by now. Muir could only believe that the male willingly handed over his antidote scales because of the conversation Muir overheard him and Grace have.