Carter felt overwhelmed by her uncharacteristically emotional words, unsure of what to say. "Taki..."

"You are..." her breath suddenly grew ragged, "much too hard on yourself, too ignorant of your own worth. It really is quite annoying..."

"Taki?" He took her hand in concern, moved her into the Light and was shocked at what he saw.

She was covered in blood.

Much of it was not her own but it was clear she had been cut and stabbed a number of times. An older, partially healed but particularly nasty stab, the stitches having broken from her exertions, oozed blood from her upper chest.

“These wounds..."

“I didn't manage to surprise them all..." she winced, a clear sign she was hiding much more pain. She began collapsing into his arms and he lowered her gently to the floor.

Don't speak; I'll get you assistance and will let you know where to locate medical supplies. He hoped that since he was last here, they hadn't been relocated.

She held his hand with the shakiest grip she had ever used.

Don't go... don't leave me all alone again, she pleaded in a hushed voice that was suddenly Lonesome and desolate.

In an effort to at least appear strong for her, he carefully took her hand from his and caressed her face.

“I've got to. My turn to assist you is now. I'll be right back, I swear. Taki watched as he turned to leave the room as he did so.

Opening the torture room's door, he glanced up to see that sure enough

Taki had created a hole in the ceiling there to make her way to the roof. There was no time to be impressed with her plan though, he had to move.

Carter tried to ignore the grisly scenes that seemed to present around every corner. Body after motionless body lay where they had fallen, many in various states of dismemberment. In places the floor was slick with blood. He was glad he had not been fed since his capture, as the sights would have surely made him vomit otherwise. Even if they deserved it, the slaughter filled him with guilt.

He forced the feelings out of his mind. The fact remained he needed to save Taki, he had to at Least have the guts to get through this and do that for her after all she had done for him.

Thankfully the medical supplies were where he had remembered, in a closet not that far from where he had been held. Bandages, ointments, stitches, he grabbed handfuls of everything he could think of, even though he had Limited knowledge in how to use much of it, then hurried back to Taki.

He found her lying on her back, blood pooling around her. Swallowing back his panic, he tried to stem the flow of blood where he could and began making tourniquets, but the stitches were useless to him, his hands were shaking so much from stress that he couldn't have used them even if he knew how to.

Taki stirred as he worked.

“The marriage thread..." she spoke in a daze, "I lost it during the fighting...”