"I should harvest those snakes," Rosa whispered to Lexi, but mostly to herself.

"You should har-what?” The British girl’s eyes went wide. “We need to run! Right now! Didn't you hear them?"

"Yes, but…” Rosa felt a rather childish foot stomp coming and held it back. “I’m an alchemist, Lexi. And those things are practically glowing. I can make poisons, antidotes, and who knows what else. I just need that venom. Or, at least I think. Maybe not with the supplies I have right now…but, I've got plenty of civilian points left, I can probably buy some."

"Rosa!"

Rosa had apparently started walking towards the snakes as she talked. Truth was, when she’d made up her mind, that was that. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to extract said venom, but she had an ‘Alchemist’s Field Kit’ and maybe that would help her figure out...

"Where are you going?"

Rosa stopped and stared into the practically glowing green eyes of a very tired, and very bloody Mason.

"I, um..."

"Get back in line with the others and march."

The raw, masculine command of it practically knocked out her knees. Especially since they were still red from blowing him. But it also pissed her off.

"I'm an alchemist," she said, getting a little more fire in her voice. She held up her kit.

Mason blinked and looked at it, then back at the snakes. One of his callused hands went to his shoulder.

"Can you make an antidote? From their venom?"

"I think so," Rosa said, incredibly thrilled that he'd understood and seemed interested.

He met her eyes again and took a breath.

"OK, Rosa." He looked over her shoulder. "Carl. We'll catch up. Just keep bloody moving." Then he looked at Rosa and formed his green sword from nothing in his hand. "I know where the venom sacks are. This’ll likely be faster than whatever you’ve got in that kit."

Rosa nodded, not bothering to ask how, and just followed him to the closest corpse. He started hacking away snake flesh like he was carving a turkey.

"It's a power," he said.

"Sorry?"

"I mean...” Mason tossed a hand. “I'm not like...a snake butcher from Florida or something. I've got a power that shows me the anatomy."

"Oh." Rosa smiled. "I've got cousins in Florida. And I like to eat snake. Well, probably not these ones…"

Mason grinned and kept cutting, tossing away more bits and pieces until he'd removed a bloody sack. "There we are." He glanced up at the tree line, which was still empty. "Want to get some more?"

Rosa nodded, putting on her gloves to handle the organ before vanishing it to her storage. Then together they went from snake to snake, removing six sacks before Rosa disappeared the last and decided it was enough.

"Dejavu." Mason said, and Rosa quirked a brow. "The vanishing act. I don't get used to that. Also, uh, the next part. If we’re going to catch everyone, I probably need to carry you."

"I can run," Rosa said, starting to stretch her legs. "I'm in pretty good shape."

"I noticed." Mason smirked, then dropped to a knee. "But I’m kind of inhuman at this point. This’ll be faster."

“Alright.” She certainly didn’t mind, but it wasn’t exactly the form of riding she had in mind for her green-eyed, muscle-bound Texan superhero. She climbed onto his back, and he practically fell over.

She realized he was sweating. His skin was pale, and a little warm.

"OK. I might be needing that antidote sooner than later.” He blinked and set her back down, then closed his eyes and wavered.

"Dios mio." Rosa flicked through her civilian alchemy options. She had all kinds of recipe books, but it seemed since handling the snakes a specific antidote had appeared. It was cheap, and she chose it without hesitation, followed by some much more expensive tools she didn’t have.

“OK..” She started pulling them into existence, knowing she now technically had everything she needed. Except, you know, actual experience. “I can do this.”

"Absolutely.” Mason sat and smiled up at her, looking increasingly ready to pass out. “Beautiful. Smart. Can cook. Likes to suck things. Cures poison. The perfect woman."

She turned, ready to chastise him for distracting her. He was blinking and staring off into the sky.

"I think my eyes are acting funny. And my face. Is my face talking?"

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Rosa flinched and got to work, trying not to think about her tutorial and people screaming for help. As an alchemist she was basically immune to poisons of a certain threshold, which apparently just increased. Normally she’d need a living snake or some other animal to use, but she knew she could use herself.

First she took a syringe and injected herself with the poison. Then she’d have to wait while her body handled it, then take some of her own blood and purify it with the anti-venom. At least that was the theory.

She’d just finished the process when she heard voices and crashing sounds coming from the trees.

“Umm. Mason? We have to move. Or we have to hide! Right now!”

Mason squinted at her as he rose, wobbling and putting his hands on her shoulders like he was drunk.

“Good idea. Also, I think maybe I can’t see. Unless it’s night. Except I can see at night. Yeah I think I’m blind.”

Rosa tried not to let the terror overwhelm her. She vanished all her tools and pulled Mason towards the nearby trees. They stumbled but kept their feet, moving in just as the orcs were emerging from across the beach. If they’d been seen, she knew, they were both going to die.

She walked him on and on, trying to find something to hide behind or under, or…there! She almost wept when she saw what looked like a small cave. Mason was staggering with his eyes closed and the occasional moan, but he moved and followed where she led.

She got him in the cave, and they sagged down together and sat listening until Rosa remembered to bring out the actual antidote.

“Drink this.”

She put it to his lips, hoping it worked well enough without being injected. She tipped it back and swallowed without complaint or grimace, then patted her hand.

"Forget what I said,” he slurred.

"About what?"

"Your cooking.” He shook his head and stuck out his tongue. “That’s awful. And I'm not picky. Like, really really bad. Really bad. No offence."

Rosa was somewhere between laughter and terrorized tears as she heard orcs not far in the distance passing by. She covered Mason’s mouth with her hand and clung to him, trying to control her trembling. They waited, and waited, but no orcs came running to murder them.

"Don’t worry, Haley,” Mason kissed Rosa on the cheek. “I'll heal. I always heal.”

Then he passed out and slumped to the ground, and Rosa put her hands on his neck and wrist, feeling for a pulse. She bit her tongue in fear and tried to hold back the choking sob and remember first aid. She turned him to his back, them climbed on and got ready to do something, anything. Because his heart had stopped.

* * *

Mason walked through a beautiful forest too green to be real, but it was. He closed his eyes and practically moaned at the fresh life all around him, as if just opened to catch a morning rain and an early dawn.

The ground shook and broke his reverie, and he flinched to see a leg as tall as a man. A giant walked past him, more like a cliff that had learned to walk. Rocky bits and pieces jut from its body like quills, a curving surface of grey roughness instead of lines of flesh.

“Help me!” An old, half naked man with a beard to his knees ran after the giant, his waist shackled to the creature’s ankle. “You! You there! Free me! Make it end!”

Mason would have helped, but he found he couldn’t move. He was like a train on his own tracks, leading away from the giant, deeper into the forest. But he didn’t mind. It smelled so wonderful. The only thing that bothered him was the buzzing of little flies that looked like 1’s and 0’s flitting about his face.

“I don’t have any food,” he swatted at them. “Leave me alone.”

“Well that’s no way to greet your brother!”

A man stepped out of the woods, and the train stopped. He looked Mason up and down as if with some confusion.

“Also, why are you sleeping in the middle of the day?”

Mason blinked and stared, stared and blinked.

“Blake,” he said, rather pleased with himself.

His brother squinted. “What’s wrong with you? Of course it’s me. I was getting worried so I decided on a whim to check on you, and here you are. Now don’t say anything about my luck, we’re in this one together!”

Mason just stared, wanting mostly to go back into the trees and find somewhere to lie down and sleep. He was so very tired.

“You’re worrying me now, Mason. Are you alright?”

Was he? Had to think about it. What was before the woods? A girl. No. A bunch of girls. And snakes. Always bloody snakes.

"I got poisoned, I think."

Blake came forward, eyes moving up and down Mason’s body as if he might find the wound. "That wasn’t a very good idea. Are you with friends, allies?"

Mason saw a girl’s beautiful face in his mind and smiled. "I think so. I found an alchemist.” The terrible taste of some drink sprang to mind. “She can make antidotes. I'm pretty sure she gave me one."

Blake seemed to calm a little. "Good. And bring her back, we don’t have an alchemist." His eyes narrowed. "You aren't sleeping with her, are you?"

Mason remembered the truth with some disappointment.

"No."

Blake rolled his eyes. "Oh God, that definitely wasn’t just a no."

Mason licked his lips. They felt weird. Was it because they were puffy, or not puffy? What exactly had he been doing before he slept? He looked at Blake and felt a little indignant. "Mind your business. And go away, I’m tired."

"Mason.” Blake sighed. “Since literally everyone else is terrified of you, I feel it’s up to me to tell you the truth: you’re becoming an absolute manwhore. I suppose if you bring me a whole new batch of civilians back it's alright. So well done and good luck with all that.” He looked around the forest and shivered. “Your dream is a bit cold and dreary. I might leave and have a warm cup of tea if there's nothing else useful to say."

Was there? Mason had a strange feeling like there was. Like he should say something. A single word, maybe. Was it snakes? No. Rosa? No.

"Orcs."

Blake frowned. "What about orcs?"

Mason remembered the ambush, the battle. The chase. It all came rushing back.

"We're being attacked by orcs, some kind of raiding party. They attacked Sanctuary. We're coming along the river now but we need help. Send players down the river, fast as you can."

Blake’s square jaw tightened. "Shit. We'll go right now. How many should I bring?"

"All of them.” Mason met his brother’s eyes. “Or at least as many as you can. There was a hundred, and there might be more. Full speed, Blake, I mean it."

"Good lord.” Blake grinned a little. “You do get yourself into trouble, don't you brother?"

“Its my turn, I guess.”

Blake’s smile widened at that, and his body started to fade as he waved. "Hold on and keep moving. Don’t worry! The cavalry is coming!”

Then he was gone, just like that, and Mason was alone in the forest. His ‘train’ started moving again, like a gentle ride to a deep, dark cave. Sleeping seemed like a wonderful idea. Just a nice, cozy nap somewhere by a tree…

Ow.

His face hurt. Then his nipples. Why would his nipples hurt?

Oh who cared. He was too tired to worry, and gave in to the gentle rocking of whatever force was moving him along. He just tried to get comfortable. But something was…jabbing him. Then it went away…which was good…maybe he could still…

Bloody ow!

“Wake up!”

A woman’s rather shrill voice in the canopy like the voice of God. Mason opened his eyes, then blinked and blinked until the green vanished and became the dark of a cave, and a woman’s face.

“Oh fuck," Rosa was panting. "Oh Jesus, thank God."

Mason licked his lips and yawned. "Did I sleep long? I feel terrible."

Rosa wrapped her arms around him and wept.