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[url=https://youtu.be/2PPBne6GGiw]Umbri forced herself still[/url] against her aversion to being wrapped in strange tiny hexagons until everything took on a tinge of blue. Aegis squeezed her shoulder, she saw the humanity leech from Jemma's eyes, and despite her stomach dropping she knew this wasn't her stepping off a cliff. She'd already done that yesterday. This was her still falling. The time for regrets was long, [i]long[/i] past.

[b]“Administering pain relieving agent now.” [/b]

Umbri snapped upright and wiggled as a tentacle slipped under her jacket and up her back. The base of the tentacle pulsed. Something tingling passed through her skin. Nothing followed. She watched her arm be swallowed into the maw, and wished she'd looked away, like she'd have the sense to in any other medical procedure. [i]Medical procedure.[/i] It was hard to connect that concept to what was happening to her as the mouth widened and its shadow crested over her head and -

She was inside. Fangs rested against her bobbing throat. It was wet in here, and cold, it shouldn't be so cold in a dog's mouth. It smelled artificially sanitary, and... ancient. Like the waiting room at the dentists. Her breath was loud in this cavern. The tingling resurfaced across her whole body and a cloud fogged up her brain. When instructed to move her leg, she was amazed that she still could.

[b]"Beginning procedure."[/b]

[i]Please don't do this to me![/i]

A dull pressure sunk into her neck. Umbri's body jerked. Her crutch fell to the side. The neon veins that had been choking out her body were pumped with ink, throbbing and turning a necrotic black.

It wasn't painful. She felt more pain from the tattoo on her wrist, but she could still feel it. She could [i]hear it.[/i] A million worms weaving under her skin. Thick and cold as they released into her, like a vaccine. Her fingers twitched against the cilia in the maw. Struggling between making it [i]end[/i], and reaching for the cure that was just a moment in time away. [i]Stop it stop it stop it stop it I'll die I'll DIE [b]I won't I won't I won't[/b] it will kill me stop it stop it the monster will kill me STOP [color=#A4303F][b]this is how I LIVE.[/b][/color][/i]

A rumbling. A voice from outside and within Umbri's pod interrupted her fight.

[b]"Note: Patient and Surgeon will experience temporary nervous system synchronization. Surgeon requires synchronous communication between Ink and Patient Nervous system to coordinate proper antivenin distribution and acclimation."[/b]

[color=#A4303F][b]"What?"[/b][/color] Umbri dribbled.

[b]"Patient may speak through Surgeon, Surgeon may speak through patient. Surgeon apologizes. Sincerely unforeseen requirement. [PROMISE] remains unbroken.”[/b]

Umbri blinked, dragging herself through the brain fog to make sense of what was happening, and the only thing she could do to protect herself was a fearful, [color=#A4303F][b]"No-"[/b][/color]

And it was quiet.

She was floating in a calm sea. She couldn't even feel the sludge taking over her body, or mind the imposter in her head. [i]She was safe, everything will be fine, she was doing great...[/i] Then everything began to rush up. Like water surging up to a fissure. Like static. Like the heartbeat in her ear against a pillow. She felt herself fall at the end of a dream as her mind and Jemma's well and truly [b]clicked.[/b]

Umbri woke back up in reality gasping. Only, this wasn't hers. 
 
She didn't know how long she had been here. Yesterday, she was dead in a ditch. Tomorrow she was a kid with dirty hair playing in the gutters. Today it was black, and it was black before and black forever. Nothing else existed beyond it, no time, nothing, this was it, [i]forever[/i]. But something touched her, something from beyond the black - [i]something [/i]- [color=deepskyblue][b][RESOLVE-UNCERTAINTY-[/b]small[b]-CONCERN][/b][/color]. He had a name and a face, but Umbri couldn't reach for it now, there was a spot he occupied in her memory that was now a glowing mess that leaked everywhere and [i]smelled good.[/i]

[color=#A4303F][i]"What is happening?"[/i][/color] She rasped. The sound rumbled all around her, as the creature she was being consumed by parroted her. And other voices - other voices beyond the black. She tried to call out to [color=DC091C][b][Fury][/b][/color]. He burned close and smelled like a thunderstorm. But it was impossible to tell where he was, not while being trapped inside the black and cocooned in maddening [b][color=darkmagenta][worry-intrigue-focus-purpose-[u]APATHY[/u]][/color][/b]. Umbri's eyes rolled back, as she turned them inward.

[h3][color=darkmagenta]"It wants to[/color]
[right][color=#A4303F]Eat[/color][/right]
[color=darkmagenta]But[/color]
[right][color=#A4303F]It [PROMISED]."[/color][/right][/h3]

They spoke almost in unison, overlapping. Vocal cords tightened and flexed in Jemma's body to find Umbri's voice. In that word, [Promise], in the way it left Umbri's mouth, she knew innately for reasons beyond her that there was power in it. It settled on her tongue like the low thud of a boulder underwater.

A shape pressed on Jemma's skin, coming from the inside, a face.