Purple Stitches

Her screams went unheard. She could feel the few tears slidind down her face as she bobbed at the surface of consiousness. She could feel the afterimages closing in on her, and she could feel her clock ticking slower. She turned her head to the other side. Her arm lay feet away from her, the bloody stump stinging as more dirt got to it.

She gave a pained gasp as the afterimages closed in on her. She coughed, weakly aming her glock at one and firing. The kickback slammed her elbow into the dirt, causing another gasp of pain from her. "My clock is still ticking... Vultures..." She hissed at the afterimage brave enough to reach for her heart, head falling back into the dirt. She kept thinking about Drake and Dorian and fought against the tunnel vision.

"Lanalee!" The voice rang through her head. She could feel the afterimages disappearing, one by one. "Lana?! Lana, talk to us!" The blue hat entered her field of vision, and the warm hands were on her face, gently shaking her. "Lana, please talk to me, please!"

Her voice was hoarse, but she responded the best she could. "Dorian..." Her ears flattened as relief flooded through her, tears flowing freely now. "Help... Please, help..." She could hear the shuffling next to her as Dorian scrambled to get her detatched arm and weapons.

Drake picked her up, holding her close to his chest. His voice was almost panicked as he started running through the woods, "Lanalee, please stay with me. Just- Just don't fall asleep, Lana. Stay awake."

Lana strugged to get her vision focused, but the pain made it too difficult to really concentrate. Dorian ran ahead of them, opening the gate to the Hatter mansion. She tried to look at Dorian's face, but her bleary eyes made it hard to make out his look. She assumed it was pretty grim, under the circumstances.

Drake quickly laid Lana on the table in their room, and the twin boys assessed the damage to her arm. "It looks like it was broken, then sliced off."

Dorian hushed his younger brother, glancing at Lana whose breathing was labored. "I don't want to scare her, shush." He walked back to Lana, moving her hair from her face, "Lanalee, we're going to clean the wound and reattach your arm. And it's going to hurt a lot. But I need you to stay awake."

Lana's head weakly turned to the eldest brother, eyes pleading with him. "I... I'll try."

As Drorian cleaned the arm and the stump, Drake prepared the sutures and bandages. He sat near Lana's face, trying to keep her awake. "Lana, what do you remember? Who did this to you?"

Lana shook her head weakly, making small sounds, "N...No. No..." Her lip quivered, causing Drake to stiffen. "I don't remember..." Her ears twitched when Drake's hand patted her hair down, shushing her. "I was hunting afterimages..."

Dorian cleared his throat to alert Drake the arm was ready. They worked quickly, using purple sutures two sew the skin together. They both cringed when Lana whimpered, not wanting to cause her any more pain. The two of them kept her still, a silent conversation passing between them.

Once they finished up, Drake kissed Lana's ear, gently petting her hair. "You can sleep now, Lanalee. I'll move you to my bed." He picked her up, and even though she was too exhausted to speak, she cuddled up to him, her arm hanging limply at her side. The two continued talking in whispers as Drake tucked her in, and the last thing she heard before sleep was, "Grab the axes. We'll hunt him down."