I felt myself slipping. The darkness at the edges of my mind was warm and quiet and pulling at me steadily, and the part of me that was completely spent wanted to stop resisting and let it take me under.
Cel growled and stamped her paws hard against the inside of my chest. "Stay awake, Nova."
I do not know if I can, I told her honestly. Everything feels so far away.
She whined and paced and I tried to follow her, lifting my head and shaking it to push the heaviness back. It did not help much. My arms blurred in front of my own eyes when I tried to look at them and the sounds around me had narrowed down to the slow whooshing of my own breath, like I was hearing everything from somewhere deep underwater. The world was sluggish and distant and not quite right in any direction I tried to find it.
Then arms were around me.
