Cruxius could hear her—shattered, desperate. Her screams tore through the haze, jagged and raw.
"Cruxius! Please, don't—no, no, no—!"
His body shook beneath her hands, trembling so violently he could barely feel the scorched flesh beneath his skin anymore. The heat was a roaring storm inside him, drowning every other sense—except her voice.
Then the cold hit. Wet fabric pressing over his burning skin, soaking through with her warmth beneath it—her bare, trembling body clinging tight to his.
Her sobs pressed into him, wet and ragged.
"I'm here… I'm here… don't leave me…"
'Shit... is she not going to awaken even after all this?' Cruxius, with his eyes closed, clearly acting oblivious of her presence, while holding his breath, knowing well that he was about to die at any moment, felt all his hard work going to ruins due to this woman.