(Untitled)

[nocatchphrase]

Who: An injured Lyle and anyone else who encounters him
Where: Near the barrier
Style: Either!
Status: Open.

Comments

[glasscaseflower]

It was probably a bad idea to revisit the barrier after that the first time.

She hadn't quite taken her fill of exploring the expanded city and its surrounding, but the sight of water everywhere was a welcome relief. The newly carved paths swelling into Espoir had given her a pleasant distraction from the events leading to them.

It was an eased heart that Soma had left Sergei's cottage, given the good state the colonel was in. It had certainly helped push away the clouds of doubt from her mind, but different thoughts started to gather as she set out to where the trouble had intensified days before, as if to see for herself the marks of previous chaos erased.

The half collapsed building where they've hid their comrades body looked as good as new, and with an alarmed paced, Soma all but tripped on what lay not far from it as if to check for what else had changed around.

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Lyle continued to lie down on the ground. He couldn't even yell for help, the irony would have been laughable if Lyle could actually laugh or still did. It was probably this world's punishment for dying, he figured. Dying had been a complete accident on his part. Getting on the bad side of crazed cannibals was not the way had planned on going out. But just like returning, he hadn't had any choice.

[glasscaseflower]

"Tch," Soma muttered to hserlf, almost wincing at the near fall, before recognizing the weight that surely belonged to a human, and a familiar one at that.

She sank to her knees quickly, hands reaching more slowly, however, to rest at the neck, looking for pulse. For all her expectations, this thing could turn around to harm her at any give--

"It can't be," she said softly, mostly to herself than to the benefit of anyone else. She'd spent a long time before tugging and grabbing at the same coat not to recognize it. She should have been careful enough to turn the body around slowly, but her movement was frantic and hurried, her fingers tensing and clutching at his arm.

Lyle Dylandy was dead the last she'd seen him, but this?

"Can you hear me, Stratos? Answer me!" her voice was choked and stifled, but came out almost in a growl.

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If he could make a noise, Lyle would have cried out in pain when she moved him. The only noise to escape him was a weak choking noise as the movement seemed to set every part of his body on fire.

"Let go!" He tried to scream at her as she grabbed at his broken arm, but only silence came out. He jerked at the pain before going limp, giving up fighting it. Maybe he knew this girl, yeah he did, she was...Soma Peries? That's right...in Somarium they had been something like friends.

[glasscaseflower]

Lyle's shoulders and back tensed impossibly in her arms, and Soma released him back onto the grass carefully. Her eyes moved to the awkward angle of his arm. She wasn't first in emergency care, but she could recognize a broken arm when she saw one.

And much of his body was mangled.

"I can't carry you with me like this," she gritted her teeth, at least not without risking further harm to his body, "I'll have to call the others."

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Lyle didn't bother to protest in any shape or form. He just lay there, hoping that he would soon pass out and not have to think about Anew or the pain or anything. He vaguely wondered if he was going to die. Could he die here from injuries? It didn't really matter to him, it would just be another punishment after all.

[glasscaseflower]

How was he alive in any shape or form? She had spent an ample time looking for any sign of life back then. Soma had not been dulled enough by the physical pain or lack of sleep this time, but Lyle's survival remained an inconceivable notion.

And at this rate, she was going to have to try harder to keep him alive.

"Setsuna's on his way. We're going to take care of you," she promised professionally, a not of awkwardness filtering into her voice. Sitting dowwn beside the still body, she pulled the black shirt over her head and arms, seeing to tearing it into long strips adequate enough to stop the bleeding.

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"..." Lyle turned away from her. He had never reconciled with Setsuna since the incident. Every time he saw the boy he was filled with a sickening of anger and regret. He didn't know how to deal with a Setsuna who hadn't even committed the crime yet. What was wrong with Alle? He was Soma's pet, get him.

[glasscaseflower]

Where was the boy? Soma mused to herself silently, using one of the strips to wipe the blood away from Lyle's forehead and eyes. It didn't appear to be a deep cut, but face wounds were usually messy.

"Your throat looks fine," she asked warily, puzzling at Lyle's arm. She had no way of putting the bones together, "So why aren't you speaking?

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Lyle shook his head as he struggled to indicate that he couldn't speak. Only the motion caused the pain in his head to increase to the point where he felt like vomiting. He quickly stopped doing that.

Instead, he tried to raise his good arm to his mouth to indicate that he could not even make a noise. It ended up being an awkward and strange motion due to being so disorientated. Lyle just gave up and just gave his head a tiny shake before looking at her, hoping she would understand.

[glasscaseflower]

She didn't, really, but Lyle's serious state did indicate something was terribly wrong. For one thing, he could be in too much pain to speak.

For a brief, unpleasant moment, she remembered her younger days, when Allelujah's quantum brain waves would cause her bouts of pain that pushed her past any clear sanity. The memory was disturbing in itself, and she soon shook it aside.

The only thing Soma regretted, however, was not having any water on her to alleviate some of her comrade's discomfort. She ran Setsuna again and again on her Dreamberry, then Allelujah as an afterthought. Would they even stumble on the others in a similar state?

"What happened to you?" she couldn't help but ask herself, rather than anyone else.