[ The blood rushing in his ears is damn near deafening as his heart thunders in his chest. His head and lungs feel tight. He coughs, gasps, tries to catch his breath desperately but his throat feels as though it's closing up, and he strains to suck any air in before coughing again. Blood pools from his palm and seeps between the seams of his fingers and drips onto the bedsheets below.
It almost feels like a panic attack, and in truth, part of it probably is. His nightmare-ensnared mind still trapped in a fog, still high on the alarm and panic at the height of his dream that he's only just woken from, now amplified by this surge of pain and the fact that he can't catch his breath. And it keeps him there, startled and confused and panicked, rattling him with every harsh cough that leaves him.
But then he feels a touch to his shoulder and his knee, gentle and careful, and a voice, faint behind his heartbeat pounding in his ears, but soft, and perhaps trembling. It's Jill.
You're awake now.
He grasps and holds onto her voice, her touch like a lifeline through the haze to focus. Between one of his coughs, he tries to take a much harder, deeper, still strained, but controlled breath, and finally, he starts to slow. He coughs a few more times, a few smaller ones bubbling up from his chest, before, after a long moment, stopping completely.
And he keeps breathing like that, keeping his hand at his chest, his back and shoulders rising in long, albeit still a bit shaky and labored, breaths, and allows the other that's covered in blood to fall to the mattress. Eventually all the tension in his muscles give way to the fading adrenaline and he slumps forward slightly. The sharp pain pulsing out from Ultima's prison fades away with each quieting heartbeat until all that's left is an ache and soreness ringing through his body in exhaustion.
But whatever relief there may've been is overtaken by a feeling of dread as his mind finally clears enough and he realizes what just happened. ]
J-Jill... [ He breathes out her name, his voice wavering slightly, and looks up to her, a new fear reflecting in his light blue eyes ] I... D-Did I almost... [ Prime? ]
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It almost feels like a panic attack, and in truth, part of it probably is. His nightmare-ensnared mind still trapped in a fog, still high on the alarm and panic at the height of his dream that he's only just woken from, now amplified by this surge of pain and the fact that he can't catch his breath. And it keeps him there, startled and confused and panicked, rattling him with every harsh cough that leaves him.
But then he feels a touch to his shoulder and his knee, gentle and careful, and a voice, faint behind his heartbeat pounding in his ears, but soft, and perhaps trembling. It's Jill.
You're awake now.
He grasps and holds onto her voice, her touch like a lifeline through the haze to focus. Between one of his coughs, he tries to take a much harder, deeper, still strained, but controlled breath, and finally, he starts to slow. He coughs a few more times, a few smaller ones bubbling up from his chest, before, after a long moment, stopping completely.
And he keeps breathing like that, keeping his hand at his chest, his back and shoulders rising in long, albeit still a bit shaky and labored, breaths, and allows the other that's covered in blood to fall to the mattress. Eventually all the tension in his muscles give way to the fading adrenaline and he slumps forward slightly. The sharp pain pulsing out from Ultima's prison fades away with each quieting heartbeat until all that's left is an ache and soreness ringing through his body in exhaustion.
But whatever relief there may've been is overtaken by a feeling of dread as his mind finally clears enough and he realizes what just happened. ]
J-Jill... [ He breathes out her name, his voice wavering slightly, and looks up to her, a new fear reflecting in his light blue eyes ] I... D-Did I almost... [ Prime? ]