Crippled inside PV Rafael D'Spacito Finished

Lydia sighed as she took a deep breath, trying to calm down her upset lungs. She knew that Rafael was right, and when the boy spoke again, his voice visibly shaky, Lydia had to admit defeat with herself. The only way they would have actually made it back inside was if he carried her, no matter how unsure about it Lydia was.

With no further words, and not expecting it, Lydia watched confused as Rafael kneeled down next to her. She almost asked him what he was doing, when she found herself being lifted up from the ground, Rafael's arms under her. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to hold on as much as she could, while at the same time trying not to limit the boy's movements.

Lydia had to admit that it was quite surreal the situation they were in, between the pouring rain, the imminent pneumonia and the cold wind; if the circumstances would have been different, less dangerous and possibly life threatening, her mind would have definitely lingered more on how nice it felt to be that close to him, and how all she wanted to do was close her eyes and fall asleep, just like that.

But that wasn't the moment for that, they needed to find a way down those rocks and back inside the warm, and dry, castle. She followed Rafael's eyes, noticing then a path that might have actually been not too dangerous to follow, and she adjusted her arms around the boy's neck, making sure to have a good hold. 

She smiled a little at Rafael's half question, before she nodded, her body trembling through a shiver. "Don't worry Raf, it's okay," she reassured him, before she let her head rest over his shoulder,  suddenly finding it really difficult to keep her eyes open, Rafael's body shielding her a little from the wind. Her mind felt quite foggy, her thoughts getting slightly confused, and she couldn't tell if Rafael had already started walking down the rock; she was trying her best to stay awake and keep her eyes open, but she just couldn't do that anymore, she was too tired, too exhausted, her mind going back and forth between been conscious and unconscious.

Lydia felt her breathing getting slightly shorter, her body kept shivering and her head kept getting heavier and heavier, until she fell asleep, unable to fight it anymore. She knew that it was the last thing she should have done, falling asleep in that condition was far from good or ideal, but she just couldn't do it anymore.

@Rafael D'Spacito

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Interacting With: @Lydia Cooper
Mentioning: N/A

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[font=Segoe Print]"Don't worry Raf, it's okay.”

Lydia’s words were silky, her voice still carrying the bubbly tones they always seemed to carry, and yet, such words could do nothing to reassure the Quidditch Captain, his brow furrowed and lip bit between his teeth, chapped enough to draw blood. After all, it was, in fact, Lydia who was shivering in his arms, her skin colder than ice, lips blue, sullen form shivering. There was something truly terrifying about the sight of the girl in his arms – he hadn’t ever seen pneumonia at its finest before, having been raised in a land of sunshine and palm trees, and had never had a glimpse of snow, or the effects of the cold, creeping into a human being and leaving them an inch away from the proverbial veil. Lydia looked like a ghost, only inches away from slumber herself, silent, weak, unmoving. What would happen if she slipped into her own dreams? Would she wake up?

No, that wouldn’t be a problem. She wouldn’t fall asleep – Raf wouldn’t let her. Swallowing hard, and steeling his own gaze, he began his descent, jaw clenched and legs shaky as he searched for the right footing. “Gonna get you inside, Lydia, don’t you worry, yeah?” he reassured vainly, his breath as the freezing rain as his eyes scanned the rocks. One step, then another, and then another… “Hey, it’s not going to be too much longer. Just keep your eyes open, okay?” It was quite the long way down, he couldn’t help but noticed – how was it, that they’d climbed so high to begin with? Such a thought was astounding, and for a moment, the boy was left wondering what one could do when putting their mind to it. What was possible? Could he carry the first year all the way to the Hospital Wing? Could he rescue her from the icy tendrils of the April Gloom that had fallen upon them both?

It wasn’t long before his sneakers had made contact with the soggy grass, a sickening squelch resounding in the air as he looked around, knees weak and eyes heavy with fatigue. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel, or moreover, the flickering lights of the castle, warm, inviting, welcoming to the cold pair marooned in the cold. Just within reach. He glanced back down once more, a hopeful look alight on his face and a half-hearted smile tugging at his lips. “We’re almost there, Lydia… almost there…” he muttered, almost to himself, a mantra contributing to his will to soldier on. His footsteps continued, slowly, staggeringly, his breath coming slower, his arms weakening, the only thing spurring him on being the girl clutched in his arms, and the need for her to be safe. Did anything else truly matter?

"Almost there…” [/font]

Rafael leaves the thread.

Lydia did not remember falling asleep. When she opened her eyes again, she could see that they were moving down the rocks and towards the ground, but she could not understand when or for how long they had been doing that. Everything was kind of blurred, confused, filtered through some kind of fog that was all around her mind and her eyes. Rationally, she kind of knew that these were the first symptoms of hypothermia, she knew she had to stay vigilant and awake, but her body just simply couldn't do that.

She barely registered Rafael's words; he was asking her to keep her eyes open and not to fall asleep. She desperately wanted to answer him, or nod, or at least open her eyes, but all she could do was slightly groan as she almost nuzzled her face into the boy's neck, looking for warmth.

After that, everything that Lydia remembered were flashes of things: Rafael's comforting voice, telling her that they were almost there - but there where exactly? - or the sound of the boy's shoes on the grass, the castle that got closer and closer with every flash.

"Almost there…”

The Gryffindor boy kept repeating these words over and over again, as they slowly started arriving to the foggy girl's mind. They were almost at the castle, is that what he meant? Lydia really hoped so, just as she felt herself slipping into the unconsciousness once again.

Lydia leaves the thread.

This thread continues here.

@Rafael D'Spacito