[FIRE] not a hero

[Alice Hobbs]

She heard Zoe's voice and instantly felt herself relax. She heard the noises of Zoe moving closer, and then, she felt her touch. She wanted to lean in against it, but quickly remembered her shoulder -- and the fact that her foot was stuck. "Hey," she slurred, a sheepish smile formed on her lips. She just wanted to sleep. But Zoe asked her not to. She had to stay awake for a moment longer. It'd soon be over. Soon. Soon she'd be able to sleep.

She could feel the prickling sensation from Zoe's touch and it was a welcomed relief, even though it moved as slowly as it always did. Even if it wasn't much, it was something. Alice focused on the tingling sensation, trying with all her might to keep herself awake. It became gradually harder, and she became gradually more tired and exhausted.

"I don't know for how much longer I can stay awake," she whispered. "I'm so tired..."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Hey, Zoe swallowed, feeling the tears starting to pour, happy tears though. She'd found her, found her girlfriend, found Alice. Her heart still thudded in her chest, and she still felt some panic. But this Zoe could handle. She'd certainly handled far worse than this after all. She adjusted, looking Alice over. A foot looked stuck: Zoe wasn't sure she could move that. She'd try.

Alice spoke, and Zoe looked, hearing the whispered words. "No, you have to keep fighting," she said, leaning forward, "at least until we get out of here, alright?" she moved to kiss Alice's cheek, a hand coming up to brush aside the hair. "Tell me where it hurts, Alice. Let me take the pain away," she said, her voice taking steadying, the tears stating to dry on her cheeks. "Is anything stuck besides your foot?" she looked.

Surely the two of them could move the foot together. If pain had stopped Alice, Zoe could numb that. Already she leaned down, pulling to get to bared skin near the foot, letting her hand spread, the numbness sinking into her girlfriend's body. Whatever she could do, she would.

[Alice Hobbs]

Where it hurt? Lifting a hand, she gestured towards the small scratch on her forehead, where the blood had dried by now. Then she gestured towards her foot, and then, she leaned forward -- or at least, as much as she could in her current position, pressing her lips tightly together as she gestured towards her shoulder. She had seen some blood from there earlier, but had no idea how bad it actually was. She could however feel her wings. Or, at least one of them.

When Zoe moved her hands to Alice's foot, Alice let out a slight relief. She could feel Zoe's power working, even though it was slow. Again, she focused on that. She could feel it numb her. Slowly, but surely take the pain away little by little. And in that moment, Alice was incredibly glad that Zoe had the power she had. The rock shouldn't be too hard for them to move - together. As long as Alice was free of some of the pain. She could probably just use one of her hands too, but...

Looking up at Zoe, Alice sighed. "I'm going to sleep for a week after this," she said with a groggy smile.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

A cut on the forehead: weren't cuts on the head always worse? Zoe seemed to recall hearing that somewhere before, though she couldn't quite recall where. It certainly didn't seem to be hurting Alice overmuch. The foot; she should focus on that, focus on dislodging it, on numbing Alice. Zoe could hear the sigh, smiled at it.

"Looks like my power's good for something," she said, laughing a little. She looked back down to Alice, knowing that they'd need a few more seconds for her power to fully spread throughout Alice's foot. "We'll make sure you do that," she said, nodding. Zoe shifted, nudging her body against the rock while massaging her girlfriend's leg as far down as she could manage. "Since I'm obviously not going to let you out of my sight for at least a month after this."

Zoe flashed Alice a smile at that, then turned to look at the rock. It did look like they'd be able to move it. Zoe didn't think she could move it on her own; Alice might have been able to, if she hadn't been wounded and pinned. Zoe nudged it with her shoulder again, feeling its weight. Yes, that definitely would have pinned her too.

[Alice Hobbs]

Laughing hoarsely, Alice nodded. "Oh yeah?" she smirked a little, glad that Zoe brought the needed distraction from the pain. It almost made it so much easier to stay awake too. Especially now that the pain was slowly disappearing. "You gonna move in with me and my family, or are you kidnapping me?" she teased. Though, she didn't really think bringing Zoe to her house was the best course of action. She couldn't really picture Zoe being all that comfortable living with an alcoholic.

Alice kept her gaze wholly on Zoe. She didn't think about the rock, and she tried not to think about the pain. Her ankle was probably sprained. It didn't feel like it was broken. It would have hurt more, right? At least, Alice hoped so. Besides, she figured it would take a lot more than a rock to break it, but she wasn't exactly a doctor, despite studying medicine.

That brought Alice back to the memory of telling her sister she wasn't leaving for some fancy medical school because she didn't want to leave Molly alone with their father. Again, Alice found the irony in it all. Had she left, she never would have met Zoe. "Thank you," she whispered. smiling at Zoe.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe smiled at Alice's little joke. "Well, I'll move in: I wanted to meet your family anyway, remember?" Though Zoe did know about Alice's father. There was something in Zoe that almost wanted to meet the man, the man who kept someone she loved in some sort of fearful stasis. There was that part of Zoe, that part that, well, caused her to do this, to come here and fight against fire and smoke to save someone she loved. The part that kept her fighting back.

"You're welcome," she said, looking back to Alice. "Do you... is your foot feeling numb enough for us to try moving the rock?" Zoe shifted, still keeping her grip on Alice, but pushing herself against it. She tested, using her legs, feeling the heavy rock. "I probably can't move it on my own," she looked at it, chewing her lip again. Zoe was a tiny little thing, after all. "But together we can manage. Then we can get you out and you can work on that week long nap."

[Alice Hobbs]

Grimacing again, Alice decided not to say anything. Instead, the brunette simply shrugged. She wasn't too sure whether or not that was such a good idea. Of course, her father wouldn't mind; he was too drunk to, but still. It could become quite tense and uncomfortable, and she didn't want Zoe to feel as if she was forced to go through all of that just because. But if Zoe really wanted to...

She wasn't going to fight it. Not here. Not now.

"Yeah, I think so," Alice nodded, moving forward to place her free and good hand against the rock. She winced at the pain in her shoulder, but tried her best to ignore it for now. She nodded at Zoe. "Alright, let's get this over with," she said, clenching her jaw as she got a good grip on the rock. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" And with that, Alice used her good hand to lift the rock, her fingers pressing against the cool surface of it.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Alice shifted; Zoe did as well, getting into a position where they could both move. She saw the wince, wished she could do more. But this would have to be enough: It was quite a bit, after all. Zoe nodded. She bobbed her head, moving with each motion.

One.
Two.
Three!

Zoe pushed, using her legs and leaning against the rock, throwing her weight against it. Her feet skidded on the ground, sliding over smaller debris. Still, Zoe managed to get enough against it to pull and lift. She brought her hand down, ready to help Alice pull her foot out from under it. They didn't have to move the rock far, or lift it high: they just needed to get Alice's foot free.

Zoe's fingers brushed and she fought to pull, even as she pushed against the rock, wanting to dislodge Alice and get them both free.

[Alice Hobbs]

The second Alice felt the pressure of the rock lift from her foot, she moved to pull her foot out from underneath it. Quickly, she grabbed her now somewhat numb foot with her other hand, biting down on the pain she could feel shooting from her shoulder. It didn't take long before her foot was free. Leaning back again with a loud sigh, Alice closed her eyes for a brief minute, focusing her breathing.

She then looked at her foot, and as she had judged before; it didn't look broken. Sprained, yes, but not broken. There was no abnormal shape of it, apart from the slight swelling. Good, she was relieved. That meant her wounds weren't nearly as bad as they could have been. Now, as long as that counted for her wings too... "Thank heavens," Alice muttered. "We should get out of here before I pass out," she said, turning her head to look at Zoe. Her eyes were still burning, and her body throbbing, and she felt even more exhausted now than what she had before.

And she honestly couldn't wait to get some actual fresh air down her lungs. This couldn't be healthy for either of them.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Alice moved. It took Zoe a few moments to realize that she'd pulled her foot free, though as soon as she did, she lowered the rock back down, letting out a breath of relief. She too looked to it, also lowering her hands. Zoe put some pressure on the wound, feeling, even though she knew that it had to be at least somewhat numb.

Alice's other words caught Zoe's attention, pulling her gaze back to Alice's face. "Right," she agreed. "Right, this, um, it doesn't look too bad, and I don't feel anything weird," though Zoe didn't know if she'd really have been able to tell if there was a broken bone or anything along those lines anyway. She nodded yet again, moving up to around her girlfriend's torso.

Zoe wound a hand around Alice's waist, ducking down to help Alice get an arm around her. "I hope you can put some weight on the other foot," Zoe said, looking over, "because it will be very awkward if I have to try and carry you out," because Zoe didn't doubt that she most certainly would try, even if she just ended up falling down and creating a second person for the rescuers to come lift out later.

[Alice Hobbs]

Doing what Zoe gestured her to, Alice's arm came around Zoe's shoulders. "I hope so too, because no offense, but I'm bigger than you, and I don't really see you carrying me..." There was some amusement in her voice though. It was no huge secret that Alice had a lot more meat on her bones than what Zoe did, and though Zoe wasn't the weakest girl out there, there was still a huge difference.

As they rose, Alice made sure not to step on her sprained ankle and instead, she put all her weight on her free foot, waiting a bit to make sure that it wasn't hurt as well. "Yeah, no, I think it's fine," she said, releasing her breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding. She re-positioned herself slightly before leaning against Zoe.

"We should get out of here now, because I'm feeling more groggy by the second, and now that the pain is dying down..." She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to stay awake. Everything had taken its toll on her body, and she felt the exhaustion ever more now as she stood up.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe let out another sharp, slightly nervous laugh at Alice's comment. Yes, it was quite evident which one of them was the more athletic. This certainly would have gone a good deal easier if Zoe had been the one trapped. Still, that wasn't going to stop Zoe from putting her effort into lifting her girlfriend up. She felt the shift, but also could tell that Alice could at least put some weight on the other leg. Zoe sighed: they'd make it.

"Yes, definitely," she said, starting them moving, half-dragging/carrying Alice if she needed to. "We may not need to go very far, actually," she said, pausing to smile bashfully, "I, uh, sort of pushed aside some people on the way in and may have mentioned that I was looking for someone. There are probably people heading this way now, especially if the fire's out."

Zoe actually hoped this was true too. While she would certainly walk with Alice all the way to the exit if need be, she certainly wouldn't mind someone showing up with a stretcher to carry them to the infirmary. Ah, the infirmary: Zoe was going to be spending another spat of several hours sitting next to someone, waiting for them to wake up. Well, at least she hadn't caused it this time.

That actually put a bit more umph into Zoe's step: she could do this; had essentially done it. Just a few more steps forward and they'd be free, able to look back on this and smile.

[Alice Hobbs]

Relieved, Alice let out a sigh. Good, there was hopefully people nearby. Despite being able to put weight on her good foot, she didn't think they would get all the way to the school in one go. Not only because Zoe wasn't the strongest, but because Alice was as exhausted and in pain as she was. She could barely keep up enough as it was, and the moving around part was probably going to make her even more tired. "You're a lot smarter than what people give you credit for," Alice chuckled through gritted teeth.

And despite Alice practically leaning against Zoe, at least they were moving forward. Alice couldn't wait to get some fresh air into her lungs. This smoke surely didn't help, neither did her damaged shoulder or foot, but at least she doubted either of the damages were too severe. Worst case scenario, her wing had broken. Best case scenario, the wound on her shoulder hadn't hit them at all.

She could feel her wings hanging -- or rather, being glued to her back, thanks to blood, and sweat and whatever else. Or at least, she could feel one of them.

As they managed to walk through the exit, or what was left of it, Alice closed her eyes as she felt the cool winter air against her skin. "Man, I never thought I'd ever welcome the cold," she whispered.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The comment had Zoe letting out a slightly insulted "hey!" followed shortly thereafter with: "I've always been intelligent. It's my nerves people were worried about, remember?" she gave her girlfriend another squeeze, once more adjusting to try and grip. As Zoe shifted, she could see the blood on Alice's back: the wings would definitely need a while to fix. Zoe was willing to bet that Alice ached too. Well, they both knew Zoe's ability moved slowly for Alice. So Zoe rolled up a sleeve and then slid one arm under Alice's shirt. The motion made her flush, but it really was for medical purposes this time.

They made it: the fresh air feeling wonderful to Zoe. She let out a little laugh as the much chillier air kissed their skin. As she'd expected, workers soon swarmed them. A few gave odd looks, till Zoe explained her power and the situation. Then the two girls were separated as the workers started checking them out. It didn't take long to determine that Zoe was lowest-priority though, leaving the meek Brit to accompany her girlfriend to the infirmary.

And she would too, holding Alice's hand all the while.