Burn and Bloom - Phan

CHAPTER TEN

Dan coughed, the movement aching in his chest. His entire body ached, actually, and he wanted to curl further into himself to ease the pain. He felt like he couldn't move though, felt like he couldn't even open his eyes.

He concentrated on breathing, forcing the air in and out of his lungs painfully. He could hear his breath rasping through his mouth. It took him a little while to realize he was soaking wet, that part of his body was submerged in cold water. Part of him wanted to get away from the water, to curl up on dry ground and conserve his body heat, but a much bigger part of him hurt too much to try. He was probably going to die here, and nobody would ever know. No one except for those stupid soldiers, who'd wasted so much of their time tormenting Dan, who'd hated him so much they couldn't even leave him be once he was gone.

He didn't know how the fall hadn't killed him, how the tumultuous water hadn't ripped him to shreds, or at least made him drown. Why had he wanted to live, again?

Dan's eyes flew open as he suddenly remembered Phil, who was severely hurt by the time Dan was kidnapped. He could remember seeing Phil, encased in fire and screaming in pain. A violent shiver shot through Dan, fear of fire and dread for Phil. How could he possibly be okay after that? Unless Pj had managed to heal him somehow...

The thought of Phil, hurt and in danger somewhere, made a sharp, violent pang throb in Dan's chest, as if he didn't already have enough pain in his body. He had to find Phil, had to make sure he was okay.

Dan managed to open his eyes, ignoring their protesting at the light, and struggled to pull himself out of the water. His entire body complained as he began to move, and he thanked the gods that he'd somehow managed not to break any bones. He didn't know how he was supposed to find his way back to Phil and Pj, but he decided he would start by finding the closest town, before figuring out where they would've gone from there.

Dan had just managed to get to his feet, already wanting to sit back down and remain immobile, when he remembered Louise. Hadn't she been there when he'd jumped off the waterfall, screaming his name? Or had that just been a hallucination, something Dan had made up in what he thought would be his last moments?

He gripped onto a tree near him and carefully took a step. And then he heard something, faint and far away, but...

"Dan!" someone yelled, their voice far off but definitely there.

"Louise," he tried to yell, but it came out as a broken croak of a whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Louise!"

Dan started off in the direction Louise's voice had come from, stumbling and struggling to walk, but managing to at least get closer to her, and maybe closer to Phil.

"Dan!"

Dan whistled as loud as he could in response, his throat too sore to keep shouting.

"Dan?"

Dan whistled again, and he and Louise continued to traipse through the woods towards each other. Dan couldn't help being slow going, but he could hear Louise getting closer and closer, until he could see her through the trees and she practically sobbed in relief.

"Oh thank the gods," she said and sprinted the rest of the way to Dan. She pulled Dan into her arms and hugged him close, and even though it hurt Dan's sore body, he was grateful for it. He hadn't realized how in need of a hug he'd been.

"Is Phil okay?" Dan croaked, after Louise had finally let go of him and taken a step back, though she'd kept her hold on his arms, as if he might fall. Dan was thankful for that too, as he was feeling a bit woozy.

"I should be asking you the same thing," Louise countered. "You look like you've been run over by an air bison. Have you broken anything?"

"I'm fine," Dan insisted. "But Phil?"