As soon as Nico woke up, he rushed over to Yuri.

According to Measure, he’d only been out for a few minutes, but it was minutes he needed. The world spun around him, and he only managed to wobble over to Yuri with the help of his ability.

He checked Yuri’s pulse. It was growing weaker. He should have been dead. It must have been the geas Yuri took that kept him alive. The broad shouldered blond who had promised to protect Nico lay dormant in a pool of water and blood.

His neck was an open wound, blood leaking out in small spurts.

Nico quickly drew the healing array he used earlier right next to Yuri in a spot on the floor with no blood. He pushed Yuri’s remaining hand on it. Luckily, the It was sweating profusely. To pull out his marker and drew Keeling array as quickly as he could

Yuri’s eyes were open, but his gaze was distant.

Nico yanked the leaf pendant from Yuri, and immediately invested magic into Scanning him. Information appeared in a window, showing the beats per minute of his pulse, along with other minor stats. He gave them a quick once over, and it was not looking good.

He slapped Yuri lightly on the cheek. “Hey, man. Focus. Look at me. I drew a healing array beneath your hand. Start cycling your magic through it.”

Yuri’s eyes turned to Nico, and it took him a few seconds to recognize him. Gone from his voice was the stoic persona he’d given. He sounded like a young man, vulnerable and dying.“Oh, hey Nico.”

“Shut up,” Nico shouted, his throat tight. “Cycle your goddamn magic.”

Nico drew his own healing array, and modified it to act as a buff to Yuri’s own array. He didn’t have much magic left, but converted the grey energy to supply a steady power.

He felt a resistance from Yuri’s array. There was no magic in it. Yuri wasn’t cycling.

Nico watched as Yuri’s pulse lowered and grew more erratic on the screen. The supplementary array he drew was supposed to help boost the power of Yuri’s own healing. But Yuri wasn’t healing.

He switched tactics and drew another array, one that mimicked Vera’s buffs.

Nico went through five percent of his grey energy when he realized that his spell array wasn’t strong enough to heal Yuri’s wounds. Tears filled his eyes, and he blinked them arway.

Yuri held his smile, and when he spoke, it was barely above a whisper. “We’re not even.”

“What are you talking about? Cycle your magic!”

“Too late. I can feel my geas waning,” Yuri whispered. He gasped for breath, and said. “Listen.”

Nico kept silent, and nodded, wiping his tears away. Even so, his mind raced to find different combinations and theories to create a new modification that could heal Yuri. Nothing came fast enough. Even if Measure did find something powerful enough, Nico would have lacked the magic to heal Yuri quickly enough, even with his grey energy reserves.

Yuri locked eyes with Nico. His eyes fluttered, as if trying to stay open. He looked at the pendant in Nico’s hand. “Good. You have it. Think of someone safe.”

Nico swallowed. He couldn’t speak. But he nodded.

Yuri whispered. “Illyana. I kept my promise. Tell her I have no regrets.”

He closed eyes and never opened them again.

Nico held him and wept.

He thought of his mother’s funeral. Then his father’s funeral.

Nico thought of how his best friend Carmen had been there, and how, more than anything, she wished she was there with him now.

The pendant shimmered. A colorless portal opened next to Nico.

A screen confirmed Yuri was truly dead.

Grey motes of light hovered above the Russian's lifeless body, but Nico did not absorb it. He left it there. The energy was sacred to him now.

He whispered to the grey motes of light. “I’ll come back for you..”

Nico stepped through the portal.