shhh, i’ve got you… i’ve got you…
it’s hard to remember exactly how they got here, abby helping him out of the rowboat, legs SHAKING as they touch down on dry land. lev pulls abby’s jacket TIGHTER around his shoulders, wondering how he can possibly be shivering mere miles away from the fire that envelopes his home. she’s speaking to him- perhaps has been speaking for a while- but he finds it hard to follow, catches only snippets. aquarium. keep moving. owen and mel. and lev nods ABSENTLY, fearing if he opens his mouth to reply, he’d eject the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
he moves slowly, IMPOSSIBLY slowly, hands trembling ( is it that cold? ) as he struggles to adjust his bow on his back. walking proves difficult, too, and lev stumbles over his own feet, like he’s lost his balance, like he doesn’t know where he supposed to go. arms reach for him, STABILIZE him, and there’s a moment in his daze where he’s sure it’s his SISTER who’s broken his fall.
“yara.” the name TEARS from his throat against his will, and the trembling only gets worse. his full weight against abby as the adrenaline finally clears his system, leaving EXHAUSTION and GRIEF to take its place. lev is somewhere between sobbing and stillness, of feeling everything and nothing at all, and his body can’t decide how it should react. slumped against the only person he has left, who he can vaguely hear comforting him, repeating i’ve got you, i’ve got you.
“abby, i- abby.” he’s fighting with his body, his jittering voice, his chattering jaw, his mind that refuses to THINK. “yara. where’s-” no. he knows where she is. lev hangs onto abby tighter, TIGHTER, for stability, something solid, while he processes what’s happened. while he fights to live another day. “move. you said- you said we need to keep moving.”