Crow smiled faintly when Penelope called him stubborn and placed her hand on top of his. He wished he could take it to comfort her, but he couldn’t even bring himself to bend a finger by this point. Despite her request to stay with her, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. The pain that had been ransacking his body was finally beginning to fade, but it was being replaced with a numbness that made him think its disappearance wasn’t a good sign. His eyelids drooped again as he was tempted once more to stop fighting against the weariness that was tugging at him more strongly with each passing second.

Vaguely, he heard an unfamiliar voice call out something he couldn’t make out. He saw Penelope begin to look around, and in the next moment, a sword was being aimed at his throat. Somehow, the sight didn’t frighten him as much as he’d thought it would. If the knight chose to kill him, he could do nothing to defend himself, but he knew he was already dying, so there was really no point in fighting anyway. At least if his throat was cut, death might come quicker.

But the sting of the blade never came as Penelope intervened. His eyes flicked towards her with a mixture of surprise and worry. What was she doing? If she protected him now, she would certainly give away their closeness. There was no reason for her to try and keep her comrades from killing him when he was a dead man already. He wanted to tell her to let him go, but he was too tired to speak anymore. Instead, he watched silently, focusing on breathing, as she told the other knights to look for bandages to treat him.

[i]You’re wasting your time,[/i] Crow wanted to say, wincing as another dull wave of pain spread through his body. He wished she wouldn’t bother. It hurt him to see her trying so desperately to save him when he could tell it was too late. He’d lost quite a lot of blood already, and bandages wouldn’t be enough to treat a wound this serious. His eyelids fluttered as he slipped towards unconsciousness again. He couldn’t hold on much longer.

“Penelope,” he managed to murmur her name as he felt her work vainly to patch his injury. Again, he felt a strong desire to take her hand, both to comfort her as well as give himself some peace as he edged closer to the darkness. He supposed just speaking to her would have to be good enough. He looked up to meet her gaze, feeling a deep pang of sadness at the thought that it wouldn’t be much longer before he never saw her again. “Penelope,” he said again, a little weaker as his strength faded. “Just… wanted to say… I love you.”

Unable to fight any longer, he closed his eyes as he finally gave in and let the darkness overtake him.

--

The first thing Crow was aware of was a dull ache that filled his body. He groaned and shifted on his back, wincing as the motion just made the pain worse. Feeling disoriented, he slowly opened his eyes and looked up, only to be further confused when he saw a fabric canopy over his head. He was… in a tent? He knitted his brow and lifted his head, wondering how he had gotten there. From what he could see, there was no one else in the room with him, but it was clearly a noble’s tent. For a moment, he wondered if he’d died and this was some sort of strange afterlife. However, the pain in his abdomen quickly disproved that theory. He was alive, and he was in the tent of a living noble.

He lifted his arm to bring a hand to his head, but then frowned as he found he was unable to. Glancing at his wrist, he saw that someone had chained him to the post of the bed he was lying on. Whoever owned this tent may have given him shelter, but they certainly didn’t trust him.

Slowly growing more aware of himself and his surroundings, Crow shifted slightly to look down at his own body. He studied his chest curiously as he saw that his tunic had been removed and his middle had been adorned with professionally wrapped bandages. Someone had treated his wound. He laid his head back down and let out a long exhale, exhausted by the small effort of raising it. Whatever was going on, he hoped someone would show up soon to give him an explanation.