[Brief AU; no actual spoilers for Tales of the Abyss]
Asch climbs through the cabin wreckage - he’s trying to get to-
His faithful pilot has a slightly bloodied forehead, but he’s conscious, and that’s good. Right?
The instrument panel has been shoved forward by the force of the impact; it’s pinning Ginji to the seat. Ginji would have no leverage, but it doesn’t seem to be pressing so hard that Asch can’t easily pull Ginji out. So he reaches down, hooks his hands under Ginji’s shoulders, pulls-
“No,” Ginji chokes out. “Don’t.... don’t move me.”
Startled, Asch finally looks down.
There is a bloodstain spreading slowly, originating from somewhere hidden by the instrument panel. One of the metal beams that makes up the framework of the glass canopy has crumpled inward, lancing straight through the instrument panel. Asch can’t see where it exits until he finally looks behind the pilot’s seat.
The beam juts out from the back of the seat; the ragged end of it is bloody.
Mild panic sets in. Asch is here to end this- to kill the man who set all of this in motion, but Asch was the only one supposed to be risking his life now that they were here. They’d made it through the anti-air fire, hadn’t they?
There’s red at the corner of Ginji’s mouth. Asch tries a healing arte, but he might as well have done nothing. Nothing can heal Ginji with that metal beam still pinning him to the seat.
Surely everything will be fine if he just waits for the other Albiore to arrive? Ginji just needs to stay awake until then; that well-meaning, meddlesome bunch is never too far behind.
Ginji finally looks at him... and smiles.
“Oh.... Y-you didn’t get... hurt. Th... That’s good. I’m glad,” the other boy whispers, and something tightens like an iron band around Asch’s throat.
Ginji's left arm is pinned by the instrument panel, but the right one is free to lift weakly, like he's reaching for something-
Asch catches the hand without thinking.
Asch is still holding that hand by the time Noelle arrives, but all the warmth is gone from it.
