charlie west, also known as 'cactus the angry elf' (littledeadly) wrote in immune_ic,
She took a deep, shuddering breath, closing her eyes tightly. The guilt and shame welled up in her throat again as she let her friend hug her. When she pulled back, the look she gave him was surprisingly open– raw and exposed and full of all the pain she was feeling.
Another deep breath and her brave face was back in place, even if her posture was still defeated as she slumped down in the chair. "About a week and a half ago," she admitted, rubbing her hand over her face. The truth was, she'd seen the change too, and there was a bad feeling in her gut that she was so desperately trying to ignore.
"One of those big assholes decided the wall of the store we were staying in was in his way. Got pretty bloodied up." She still had some of the scrapes and bruises in various places. The thing had hit her hard and she'd barely had time to roll out of the way. "Not quite sure how we made it out, but Nat got bitten on her arm sometime in the chaos. Should've been watching her more closely, keeping her safe." She tried to keep as much self-loathing out of her tone as possible, but there was so much.
It felt like everything had been resting on her shoulders, and she'd dropped it, and there was no way to pick it back up.