Find Mercy… Find Mercy… Find…

Jon suddenly felt a clutch in his chest and fell forward, catching himself on his hands before his face had completely hit the floor.

Can’t… Breathe…

He felt the inside of his chest become more and more tighter before his arms gave away and his face finally hit the dirt.

He tried to work through the panic to figure out what was happening to him. He thought about Mallory’s episode just a few minutes ago.

Is it… mana?

Pain then began to seep into his lower back until it became unbearable. So much so, Jon made one final push off the ground, turning himself over onto his back.

He used the last of his strength to pull his gun to his chest, holding it tight as he prayed for it to do anything.

Please stop… please stop… please stop it…

Once Jon began to lose feeling in his arms, he decided praying to the gun for help wouldn't have sufficed. Whereas Mallory had both Tallow and Jon to support him, Jon was alone in the forest. He couldn’t call for help from any of his friends, so he would die here, alone. Not from fighting some clever or undefeatable villain, but from his own body betraying him. From being too weak.

He began to worry about what his friends would do. Would they know where he was? Would they worry about him? Would they wait for him to never return?

Jon began to tear up in his right eye. Partly from the pain, and partly from the thoughts of his friend's sorrow.

Mom…

Jon’s chest suddenly loosened, and air rushed back into Jon's lungs.

Jon didn’t have enough energy to control his breathing, so he could do nothing as the air leaked out of his mouth steadily and the rest of his body began to relax.

Jon stayed still until it was apparent he could move again.

He felt his forehead. There was sweat, but not as much as he thought.

He finally decided to push himself back up. There was some soreness on his backside, and his body was exhausted, but otherwise, he felt okay.

He pondered going back towards Tallow and Mallory, but then, there would be three of them exhausted, and Jon figured that would be good for anybody, let alone Stewart, who would have to take care of them.

He stepped in place a few times to make sure he wouldn’t fall over, and then he started to jog forward again. This time, he was hyper-aware of how he stepped, making sure that he would be able to catch himself if he had another episode like before.

He heard the sound of searing flame blowing from somewhere up ahead, further towards the left.

Hector.

He almost called out Hector’s name but didn’t when he decided that the sounds of flame mana meant that he was still in a fight

Once he got closer to the sound, he could see fire pushing ist’s way past the trees.

Ohh… The image of the trees and the fire made Jon realize that despite his ferociousness, the trees and the grass around it never seemed to burn up in cinder.

Oh.

Jon ran past the trees and saw Hector and Dot fighting, like expected.

Unlike their previous fight on the hills, which was wide with space, Hector and Dot were forced into close proximity with each other.

Neither fighter seemed to be doing better than the others. Jon could see Hector’s tired face, but it didn’t seem to be affecting his ability. If anything, both fighters were moving slower, probably because of the tighter space.

Jon debated joining when he remembered his episode just before. Maybe shooting his gun would force him to collapse, and he didn’t want Hector to have to worry about him.

Dot dodged one of Hector’s punches and pushed him away with both hands.

“Really, Darling?” Dot asked. “That’s all?”

“Stop acting like you’re not tired either!” Hector said.

Jon waited for Dot to respond, but she instead turned in his direction.

“Turns out we have a visitor!” she said.

“Visitor?” Hector looked in her direction.

Jon stepped from behind the tree.

“Jon!” Hector cried with bewilderment.

“Hi.” Jon waved weakly. Usually, it was from timidness, right now it was due to sheer exhaustion.

“He’s not gonna shoot me, is he?” Dot asked.

Jon shook his head.

“...Time out.” Hector made a “T” shape with his hands.

“Again?” Dot asked. “Why?”

“...Just do it!” Hector walked over to Jon.

Jon wasn’t expecting such casualness between both warriors. Especially with Hector.

“...Are you okay?” Jon asked.

“Are you okay?” Hector asked.

He suddenly threw his arms around Jon. Jon was so stunned, he didn’t return the hug until a couple of moments after it happened, and he only did so with one hand.

“Sorry,” Hector said when he let go. “I just… it seemed like you needed.”

“Are you okay?” Jon asked again, this time looking towards Dot, who was stretching her legs and not paying them any attention.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Hector said. “It’s just… she says her father’s forcing her to help out. She doesn’t want to, but…”

“...Yeah.” Jon grimaced and nodded. He understood.

“Fighting her just feels… after…” Hector put his hands on his face. “We need to get Helia… but it doesn’t feel fair.”

He put his hands on Jon’s shoulder. “Jon, I… I thought about running away. You know how crazy that is?”

Jon thought about running away all of the time.

“I… She would probably catch up to me anyway… but… I have… I have to…”

He grimaced. “I have to.”

“Have to what?” Jon asked.

Hector sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I have to end this. Just… wait for me…”

He walked away from Jon and went back to Dot.

“Last time,” Hector said. “I have to get by and help my friends.”

“And I can’t let you do that,” Dot said. “You brought me out here, now you gotta finish fighting!”

“You’re tired,” Hector said. “That'll end quickly.”

“You’re tired too!” She put her hands up again. “How many times do I have to say that.”

“...But you’ve never had to win a fight tired,” Hector said. “You’re inexperienced.”

Dot raised her eyebrow. “Inexperienced? I beat your ass!”

“Winning doesn’t make you immune to losing,” Hector told her, lowering his stance.

“I have to win this,” Dot said, pulling her hands back.

“I know that feeling,” Hector muttered.

Jon moved back behind the trees. Even if he wasn’t fighting, he still hed on to his gun.

Dot ran towards Hector with her hand pulled back.

Hector stayed in place with his palm extended towards her.

When she got close, he parried her blow and pushed her away, much like she had done to him.

“That didn’t hurt!” she yelled.

“That move might have worked earlier,” Hector said. “But you’re tired now. It’s not the same.”

“Shut up!” Dot ran to him again. She struck him several times, but he evaded all her hits with deflections from his forearms.

Hector ducked the last hit before moving away.

“I lied about you having good form,” Hector said. “You have great form… but you rely too much on your strength-”

“Shut up!” She yelled again, kicking him in the chest. He flew into a tree trunk.

Jon shivered, but Hector caught himself on his feet.

“Last chance,” Hector said. “Move, or I will put you down.”

“Aggghhh!!!” Dot tackled Hector back into the tree.

She grabbed his shirt, pulled him up over her head, and slammed him into the ground.

Hector, unperturbed, wrapped his legs around her shoulder and twisted, flipping her onto her back.

He spun again, turning her over as well.

“Stop!” Hector yelled.

“No!” Dot used her free hand and started to push herself off the ground again.

“You idiot!” Hector yelled as he twisted his entire body on her arm.

There was a loud snap, followed by an even louder scream from Dot.

She immediately dropped back down.

Hector finally let go and stood back up.

Dot screamed into the ground.

“Stay down,” Hector said. He turned.

“Let’s go, Jon,” he said. “She’ll-”

There was another scream. Dot was still trying to stand up.

“What are you doing?” Hector yelled, turning back to her. “It’s done!”

“No, it’s not!” She slowly stood to her feet, her arm hanging limp beside her. Jon saw her forearm was swollen, and that it was turning purple.

“Jon… can you shoot her?” Hector asked. “You know. Without hurting her.

He turned to Jon when he didn’t get an answer to the question.

One look at Jon’s timid face and he sighed.

“Look-”

Dot tackled Hector in the stomach with her shoulder, just barely missing Jon as they crashed towards the floor.

“I said we’re not done!” She yelled, clawing at his neck with her working hand.

Hector pushed her arm back towards her body then shoved her off onto her back.

While she was sprawled out, Hector quickly snatched up her leg with his arms and moved his legs around her body.

Jon didn’t think he’d seen Hector move so swiftly on the floor before. Once as he had control over her leg, Hector twisted once more.

There was another snap. Being closer to the action made Jon wince even more. And he thought that Liz’s finger’s getting snapped in the middle of battle was bad enough.

This time, Dot stayed on the ground, screaming with no end.

“Why did you…” Hector let go of her body and snapped back to the ground.. “Why did you make me do that?”

There was more moaning. She barely moved anymore. Jon wondered if it was from exhaustion, pain or both.

“Jon… I… Can you… no…” He crawled over to her and put her head in his lap, cradling her.

Her eyes were closed, but she was still whispering through her lips.

“...I’ll stay with her until she’s completely unconscious,” Hector said. “So that she doesn’t… so that I don’t end up hurting her more.”

Jon wanted to tell Hector that the others had won their fights, but he didn’t seem too keen wanting to hear more about fighting.

“...I need to find Mercy,” Jon said. “The others are safe.”

“She’s that way,” Hector pointed into the trees.” Right past the border of the forest.”

“Okay,” Jon said.

Having been able to catch his breath during the fight, he ran.