Dahlia’s mind was a fog. She was nicked and scraped and bruised, and could feel that some things inside of her were either cracked or not quite where they were supposed to be. Her thoughts were a jumble, messy, like some had been left behind in [i]Dragon[/i] and now the holes were slowly refilling. But one thing that was still crystal clear to her was that Quinn was alive. And upset. 

She felt the shift from tears of joy to tears fraught with panic and fear. And…guilt? Yes, bizarrely, she did sound distinctly guilty. Dahlia winced as Quinn’s hold on her tightened to a death grip, listened as she babbled nonsensically about how this had all been her fault, how she’d been hunted—[i]hunted?[/i]—and that she’d led them here—no, [i]there[/i]. Where? She mentioned Safie, and something twisted in Dahlia’s heart, but she pushed it aside for now. 

“[color=skyblue]Q-Quinn,[/color]” she said, sniffling, wrangling the steadiness back into her voice. Right, she was the big sister, it was her job to keep herself together. She held Quinn up when she went limp, holding her out enough to look straight at her. “[color=skyblue]Quinn, you didn’t—no, no don’t be sorry. Quinn you just saved my life. You did. You didn’t do anything wrong. You saved me, you’re my hero.[/color]”

She pulled her in again, hugged her tight and tried to get her back up onto her feet. “[color=skyblue]I’m so happy you’re alive. That’s all that matters, okay? You did it, I’m so proud of you.[/color]”

A crackling in their ears, the ping of someone joining the comms channel. 

“[color=gray]Girls! Talk to me, hey—I’ve got vitals but no visual, someone get a bloody drone in the air [i]now[/i]!—one of you say something![/color]”

“[color=skyblue]Besca, it’s me, we’re okay. The Modir are gone.[/color]”

There was a shaking quiet on the other end before Besca mustered up a reply. “[color=gray]God—we saw [i]Dragon[/i] go down, I…oh god. You’re okay, good. Good, just sit tight, convoy is headed back out your way. Ten minutes.[/color]”

“[color=skyblue]Sure thing.[/color]” Dahlia took Quinn by the shoulders, guided her away from the pooling ichor slowly spreading beneath [i]Dragon[/i]. The smell made her dizzy, reminded her too much of real blood. They hadn’t touched it, thankfully, but when there was this much, they’d both need a battery of tests when they got back to the Aerie. 

God, they were going back to the Aerie. She almost couldn’t believe it. They were going home, and they were both okay, and she hadn’t…done anything rash. 

“[color=skyblue]Here, sit,[/color]” she said, finding a high, sloping rock to lean against. “[color=skyblue]You heard her, they’ll be here soon. Just sit here, hold my hand. We did it, Quinn. We really did it.[/color]”