Valerie rolled over onto her back shortly after crashing to the ground through the doorway. Wherever she was, complete darkness had taken over, the sounds of battle and struggle all but wiped out. Her wounded side was wet and warm; the effort of helping Markus and the strain of escaping afterwards had worsened it somewhat. More than that, her escape from the fight caused her desperate adrenaline to subside, and an intense tiredness surged through her body. For a moment she could only just lay there, breathing in and out, her eyes fluttered closed.

Markus's voice was a dull hum in her ears, and she couldn't make out the words. The only response she could come up with was a low groan, her head lolling to the side, arms sprawled useless above her head and to the side.

The sudden glow of light was the first thing she reacted to, tilting her head away from it and weakly writhing on the ground. Any sound of the blaze or of Markus was still drowned out by the regular gusts of her heavy breaths, and the steady [i]thumps[/i] of her heart. At least until the pain came back. Her side had been dully throbbing ever since she'd been struck, but a sudden sharp pain caused her to gasp and wince, her whole body tensing again.

It was actually enough to bring a bit of sense back to her, and her eyes peeked open to see Markus's jacket being cinched around her abdomen, his hand pressing down on her as he moved closer. There was a decent amount of her blood on the ground beside her. More than she was comfortable with, but actually less than she'd feared. It was almost certainly the worst wound she'd suffered, but if she could just get a moment to rest she knew she could fight through it.

She adjusted the position of her head on his leg, working to keep her breathing steady despite the pain. She grimaced, and bit down on her lower lip. Slowly his words began to register with her. "Yeah," she managed, her voice breathy. "Yeah, that sounds good." Her eyes started to move around to the walls of the tomb they'd sealed themselves in. She had to strain to focus, but it looked like seastone.

"Are we safe here?" If it was safe to stop even for a moment Valerie knew she needed to take it.