96 Please, Save Her

As soon as Krystof finished telling Tyr his tale, Tyr deeply regretted everything he did. The shame of not trusting Macha slapped him in the face. He was not there for her when she needed him most and he hoped she would forgive him.

Tyr remembered how desperate she looked when she confessed to him and that memory made him fill up with anguish. The unjustified pain he felt had blinded him to the point of shunning the person he loved most. She had said words he longed to hear, but he tossed them aside. Now he wanted to go home, find Macha, and beg for forgiveness. He hoped she would allow him to salvage whatever feelings she had for him.

The next day, they left Kochi as soon as Romy showed up. Tyr paced the deck the whole time, trying to think of how to apologize to Macha. The whole time he cursed himself for not trusting her more. Although he knew he should have trusted her, ever since Fenrir's betrayal, he had issues. He found it hard to trust people and immediately thought the worst of them. Macha's presence helped, but Tyr realized he had a long way to go.

When Marseille appeared on the horizon, huge pillars of smoke billowed into the sky, blackening the usually picturesque horizon. Krystof and Tyr stood on the deck, worried about the women they loved. Both of them did not understand how their country could end up like this so quickly.

As the airship flew over the poorer areas of the city, they witnessed the totality of the destruction. The worst area appeared to have been ravaged by cherufes and a few still ran rampant. Krystof drew the string of his bow back and fired a watery arrow into the air. It split into multiple arrows that descended upon the monsters, running through their cores. The fire in the creatures extinguished and they dropped to the ground.

Tyr looked around and spotted a small figure in the distance fighting a cherufe. When the airship flew closer, he realized it was Macha. Without a word, he jumped off the airship to make his way to her. If he lost her now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

As he descended to the ground, his body enveloped in a brown aura. He landed heavily onto the ground, the height had been high, even for him. A pain shot up his legs, but he ignored it and summoned his mount.

Tyr made it to Macha as the last bit of fire faded from the cherufe's body. He lept off his mount, his footsteps slowed when he noticed that she still wore the ear-cuffs he bought her. Her figure, standing above the pile of heated stone, looked so beautiful that it filled him with awe. Macha flicked her finger across the ear-cuff and the bits of lava that ate at her skin fell to the ground. His mouth was dry and he forced himself to walk up behind her. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he wanted to touch her to make sure she was not an illusion.

Macha turned around and swung her daggers in an arch around her. As she swung around, she saw a familiar black armor and realized it was Tyr. Her daggers stopped, suspended in the air, a hair's breath away from him. She thought she could face him without tears, but upon seeing him again, she realized that was impossible. Macha sheathed her weapons and strode away. It was better to say nothing than to embarrass herself.

Not wanting to lose her, Tyr reached out to grab her hand. Her brown eyes glistened with tears when she looked at him. Kneeling to the ground, he gave her hand a squeeze, "Macha, I'm sorry, I'm insecure and didn't think clearly. I should have been there for you." Tyr hesitated, he was not sure if he should tell her he loved her or not. He looked up at her and saw Macha's body begin to sway and her eyes rolled back into her head.

Tyr caught her before she fell. "Macha," he called her name repeatedly. She barely breathed and Tyr realized she had been in the smoke for too long. He never showed her how to use magic to filter the air, so she had been pushing herself beyond healthy means.

Without hesitation, Tyr quickly re-summoned his obsidian mount and raced to the guild. Not waiting for the guards to greet him, he de-summoned the lizard mount as it rode through the entrance of the glass building. Running up the stairs, he worried about Macha's shallow breaths.

As he ascended the stairs he ran into Mathis, who headed out for an early dinner. Tyr shoved Macha into Mathis's arms, "She fainted. I think she inhaled too much smoke." His voice was desperate and cracked from the prospect of losing her. "Please, save her."

Mathis looked down at Macha, her lips appeared blue and she was cold. She was bleeding all over and it looked like something that spattered had burned her. He set her down on the stairs and began to reduce the swelling in her lungs and throat. The first thing he needed to do was allow her to breathe. He shook his head at how swollen they were. She had obviously disregarded her body's cries for clean air. A few other medics passed by and offered their assistance. They helped to heal the burns that covered Macha's feet and body.

Tyr paced up and down the stairs. He swore that if Macha made it through, he would tell her he loved her. He blamed himself for her being in that situation. If he stayed and listened to her, they would have been together. He could have kept her safe and out of harm's reach. Everything was his fault.

After a while, Macha gasped for air. Color began to come back to her lips, and she looked at Mathis with heavy lids. "Mathis," she breathed. She wanted to thank him for whatever he did, but she was too tired to say anything else. Unable to stay awake, she closed her eyes and blacked out again.

Tyr saw Macha wake up for a second before slipping out of consciousness again. He bent down beside Mathis, "What's wrong? Why isn't she awake?" Tyr worried that he had been too late to get her help.

"Shh, I'm working on it," his friend's constant pacing and questions distracted him. Mathis continued to work, but he began to feel tired. Macha had other problems that he needed to attend to. The lack of air caused parts of her brain to become damaged and he needed to focus on healing that. This level of magic was something only a few people in the guild could do, so he left her bleeding wounds to the less experienced medics. Despite him telling Tyr to be quiet, the hovering grew annoying. He decided to send his friend away, "Tyr, go find Hassanatou. I need her help."

Tyr's face turned to stone. If Mathis asked for assistance, then the situation must not be good. Without another word, he rushed to Hassanatou's room. Hassanatou was a woman who joined the guild shortly after Mathis. They both specialized in medicine, but she focused less on physical problems and more on disease and mental problems. Mathis's specialty was in combat fighting and physical wounds. Both were able to heal other issues, but their proficiency was better in their specializations.

The sound of someone banging on her door forced Hassanatou to open it. She had been cooking dinner for her husband, Stevenson, who had a long day putting out fires. He just finished his shift when the attacks broke out. Due to the crises, he offered to stay longer. Now that things settled down, he returned and wanted to relax.

Hassanatou's caramel skin glowed against her apricot jumper. She had pulled her shoulder-length hair back with a headband. Slightly surprised at the interruption, she asked, "Captain Tyr, what brings you here? I thought you left for Kochi." She could tell the Captain looked tense and something must have happened. Soot covered his face and his armor smelled of smoke and had blood on it.

"Hassanatou, I need your help. Come." Tyr grabbed her hand and dragged her down the stairs towards Macha and Mathis, who were still in the stairwell. In his mind, every second that went by might be the difference between life and death for Macha.

Hassanatou saw a crowd of people on the steps. Tyr pushed the bystanders aside and brought her to Mathis, who was already working on Macha. She never talked with Macha before but knew the Captain had a close relationship with the woman. Many rumors flew around about the two, but Hassanatou did not like to bother with that sort of gossip.

Mathis lifted his head to glance up at Hassanatou. "She has some brain damage. I needed to pull out some toxins from her lungs and decrease the swelling that prevented her from breathing. I'm keeping her heart and lungs working right now, but that's using a lot of energy."

He did not mention to Tyr that she would have been dead if his friend did not meet him in the stairwell. Even now he did not know if Hassanatou would be able to repair Macha's brain to function properly. Overall, her body thought she was dead and shut down. All he did was keep her body from a permanent death. This was not something he would be able to do forever, so it was all up to Hassanatou's skill if Macha would make it.

Hassanatou understood the situation. She glanced at the Captain who looked like he was about to have a mental break down. In all the years she worked for him, he never looked as vulnerable as he did now. She immediately bent down and cradled Macha's head in her hands. "Captain, could you tell everyone who is not helping to clear out. This requires a lot of concentration."

Tyr glowered at the crowd and everyone moved on. They did not want the Captain to blame them if something went wrong. He ordered a few people to block traffic from going up and down this stairwell. After that, he sat on the stairs above them and waited.