[She takes in one sharp, heaving breath as he lifts her, her free hand clutching his shoulder in a vice as she tries to use it to lift herself, too. For once there's not room in her to think about anyone else, about how her grip might be affecting him, because oxygen deprivation shuts off your brain and everything in her body is just trying to breathe.
She collapses on top of him as he cuts the rope, her breaths like sandpaper in her throat and sounding just the same, too shallow from the way her throat is still constricted. Her shoulders shake, her face buried against Mista as she tries and tries and tries to breathe--
cw: asphyxiation... obviously............
She collapses on top of him as he cuts the rope, her breaths like sandpaper in her throat and sounding just the same, too shallow from the way her throat is still constricted. Her shoulders shake, her face buried against Mista as she tries and tries and tries to breathe--
And starts sobbing.]