[the sound of a heavy metal door slamming behind the younger boy is the last thing he hears before his consciousness slips off of that fringe, and he keeps hearing that sound over and over]
[dull at first, closer and "real", and then sharper: a clang. a clang. a clamor. this factory is winter-echo silent but he hears screams, he hears chaos, he hears catastrophe]
[fever races down his body from tip to toe, taking patchy red down his neck, shoulders, and chest, and his mouth hangs open for heavy gulps of frozen air to shock his lungs, attempting to raise him from what looks like a wet grave to no avail]
[it's only when that second heavy thud of Shoot's re-entry reaches him that hazy, unfocused eyes open again... the aches are so much more significant now and his face contorts with them, wincing and jerking his head down to try to curl up and away from it all -- but his tight throat keeps that groan of pain down, and that's how it'll stay]
...hey, kid. [calls out to him breathlessly, a wry smirk stretching across his face, almost maddeningly frenzied in its throes]
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[dull at first, closer and "real", and then sharper: a clang. a clang. a clamor. this factory is winter-echo silent but he hears screams, he hears chaos, he hears catastrophe]
[fever races down his body from tip to toe, taking patchy red down his neck, shoulders, and chest, and his mouth hangs open for heavy gulps of frozen air to shock his lungs, attempting to raise him from what looks like a wet grave to no avail]
[it's only when that second heavy thud of Shoot's re-entry reaches him that hazy, unfocused eyes open again... the aches are so much more significant now and his face contorts with them, wincing and jerking his head down to try to curl up and away from it all -- but his tight throat keeps that groan of pain down, and that's how it'll stay]
...hey, kid. [calls out to him breathlessly, a wry smirk stretching across his face, almost maddeningly frenzied in its throes]