Where she lay, the tawny girl twisted and rolled with the intense pain, eyes seized shut and every muscle tense as she let out a muffled, pained and frustrated scream, as if it would make her feel less. It didn't. She felt it all. Almost instantly, as her sisters flocked to her side, tears welled in her eyes. Had she failed them? Had she failed herself? Would they lose faith in her, in him, in the world? A low, sad whine flew from her lips as Clover helped her rise, slow and careful. Sage's head hung low, cradling the arm which burned and throbbed with an intense pain like she'd never felt. Her sobs were slow and quiet; she felt defeated, but wanted so badly to not give up hope.
Sun-colored eyes flickered to her arm, and she tried to straighten it carefully to asses the damage. At mid-angle, she was unable to suppress it and let out another groan of pain, teeth. Sage could already feel and see the swelling starting; another throb and a rush of blood to the site caused her to wince again. At the same time, she felt a pain on her knee, and looked down at it, seeing open and raw scrapes from the cold, hard ground. She closed her eyes, leaning over and forcing her body into a ball, fractured arm held limply to the side.
Sage's head lay between her knees, and her eyes opened to stare at the ground enclosed by her feet. With the heaviest of sighs, she rallied all of her emotional and bodily strength, wanting to be the one to keep them going, when all seemed so lost, so hopeless. "We..." she started, choking on her words, heavy with the lost hope that was being nearly overthrown by despair. She couldn't let it be. "We need to move on; he...he's got to be here..." she managed, feeling warm salty tears overflowing from her eyes again. "We just can't stop now!" she cried, desperate to keep their hope alive.
"I-I can walk, I think..." she said, using her good arm to pull the tapestry that Clover had place over her closer to herself, weakened legs shaking as she rose. She was sure her knees would be badly bruised from this, but she managed a wobbly few steps, more off-balance from shock and emotion than anything else. She tried so hard to ignore the pain in her arm; how could it even be so painful? Why was everything suddenly so painful? Blinking, she wiped away the pooling water in her eyes, trying not to look into her sisters' eyes for fear that her failure would be reflected.
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