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[Fic] Desperation (Dragon Quest VIII, Eight/Angelo/Jessica, Set 1, Prompt 30)
Title: Desperation
Author/Artist: dragovianknight
Fandom: Dragon Quest VIII
Claim: Eight/Angelo/Jessica
Themeset/Prompt: Set One/Prompt 30 - Touch
Ratings: PG13 for violence (aftermath of battle)
Wordcount: 200
Link to Archive Post

Eight's hands were warm on his shoulders, though everything else - the air, the blood drying sticky on his gloves and sleeves and trousers, the flesh growing stiff beneath his fingers - was cold. He was cold, shaking from too much magic expended too quickly.

"Angelo." Eight's voice broke. "Enough."

"No." Angelo didn't look up, lest the movement send him pitching to the ground. "I'll not...damn it, Jessica, why must you be so stubborn?"

His hand tightened around her wrist and he cast zing, half afraid Eight would have Yangus remove him bodily, more afraid of how time and his magic were trickling away. He closed his eyes against the wounds he hadn't had a chance to heal, found himself instead watching as Jessica dropped when the icekiller's razor-sharp blades sliced through magic and armor and her.

He dragged the remnants of his magic together to cast zing yet again. Even as he cast, he felt the spell changing, digging deeper into his soul after his nearly-spent magic, the words reshaping themselves on his tongue. His instinct was to fight; desperation made him give in.

He gazed down as magic wreathed Jessica's still form, and prayed he had made the right choice.