Not Gonna Die (A Skybrine Fanfic)

|Chapter 13| Unresponsive

          Their trip to the snow country didn't take any longer than it had before, but every hour felt like several and the days were unbearably long. Adam was still unconscious for almost the entire time, waking up only once or twice and only for a few minutes. In those few times, he was still dizzy and didn't seem to be able to focus, which wasn't reassuring in the least. They camped at night of course, and one such campsite was just inside the fringes of the snow country, where the air was becoming crisp and refreshingly cool.

          Their horses were tied a little away from the campfire which was ringed with five bedrolls, one of which was already wrapped around Adam. Perhaps it was the cool air that did it, but he stirred awake and blinked, narrowing his eyes at the light cast by the fire. There was a quiet murmur of voices that stopped almost as soon as he had pushed himself up to a seated position, one hand going to his head as it spun suddenly and he suppressed a groan.

          "Adam, are you okay?" he heard Seto's voice say as the man knelt down next to him.

          Adam waited for a moment before replying. The spinning disappeared as quickly as it had come and he tentatively nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

          "Don't do that again, okay?" Ian said, coming over too. "You freaked us out."

          "Sorry," Adam mumbled with a grin. "But it wasn't exactly my choice."

          The two helped him over to sit in their circle around the fire. He rubbed the back of his neck, which was stiff. "Where are we?" he asked as he looked around.

          "Edge of the snow country," Ty said. "We're going to see Aramis again."

          "Brilliant," Adam muttered. "I get to tell him how much I suck at controlling this magic."

          "It is cool though," Mitch said, adding some sticks to the fire. "I mean, when it's not threatening to burn down something, it's pretty cool to be able to create fire."

          "Except that I can't create it, it just..." Adam made a fancy gesture with his hands. "Happens."

          Mitch merely shrugged. "Well, when you learn to control it, it'll be pretty awesome."

          "Let's just work on stopping it from spontaneously happening first," Ty said.

          Adam grinned a little and stared into the fire. Half of him wanted to reach into the fire just because he could and he wouldn't get hurt, but the other half of him wanted to ignore this magic and everything to do with it. That part wondered if it was possible to remove magic from someone if it was part of their DNA or genetics or something. He opened his mouth to ask Seto about it but what came out was a strangled cry as his head suddenly exploded with pain as if his headache from before had suddenly gained the ability to hammer his skull from the inside with a million hammers.

          He barely noticed that he was on all fours on the ground or that the others had gathered around him. Pins and needles were spreading from his chest outwards, but they were far, far worse than anything he had felt before so that his entire body shook. His chest tightened at the same time. His breaths came in shuddering gasps and his eyes were screwed up tight. He didn't feel Seto checking his unsteady pulse or gently opening one of his pulsing yellow eyes, nor did he hear them calling his name. His hands started glowing yellow as magic filled the air around them.

          "Get back!" Seto said instantly, scrambling up and holding out his hands in front of him. With a wave, he formed a sort of bubble around Adam. The yellow magic around his hands flickered and spat out at irregular intervals, some almost hitting the purple shield.