//------------------------------//
// Badlands//Chapter 1--Part 2 
// Story: The Rise of the Guardians and the Fall of One Hero 
// by TrinityDragon 
//------------------------------//

	Having arrived at their destination, Shoe Lace and Dark Shade put Phebe down. “We'll be back soon, Artemis,” Shoe Lace said before zipping away with Dark Shade. Artemis' name sprinkled fear upon Hoshana's mind.  I AM had told her to find him, and seemingly, he found her.
“Whatever you want me to do, I won't do it,” she stated flatly. Her goal to persist against I AM's will remained.
The only remaining voice, assumed to be Artemis, spoke, “What I want you to do? Huh?” A plethora of confusion spilled over in his tone of voice. “Hold on... uhm... your name is Phebe Hoshana, right?”
Instead of answering his question, she plainly stated, “My name isn't important. Send me back to the prison where I can die.” Hoofsteps vibrated the ground. She could hear them go all the way around her. “What is it?”
“Hahaha... wow...” Some dumbfounderment crashed upon Artemis. Phebe couldn't tell why.
“Look, just send me back there, okay? Without my eyesight, I don't have a reason to live.”
“Oh, right! Hold on.” The sounds of several more steps and some rustling met her ears. Whatever Artemis was doing, he was making a racket. “Where is it? Where... is it? Ah! Yes-yes.” His voice sounded older than Dark Shade's, but this giddy attitude made her wonder if Artemis was younger than Shoe Lace. “Do you like Apple Pie?”
Phebe gave pause. What kind of a question is that? Now she felt bewildered. What are you trying to do here, Artemis? Resigning to the fact she might not be able to understand his actions, she returned to her previous objection. “I already told you I'm not doing anything you ask. Bribing won't work.”
“Okay...?” With intense confusion, Artemis questioned, “So... how is this supposed to work then?” She didn't reply. There was a significant pause before he asked another question.  “Why do you think I'm trying to get something from you? Well... besides that I live off of love.” She was fed up with him, so she silenced herself. “Okay. Now what?” When she didn't reply, he sighed and then kept his mouth shut.
In the meantime, the crackling of a fire caught Phebe's attention. Since she had been talking with Artemis, she hadn't noticed it until now. Soon after, the smell of roasting apples filled the air. A fire? Is he baking the pie? She laughed inwardly. Yeah... not likely. During her self-conversation, the aroma grew rapidly stronger. This may have been doubly heightened by Phebe's hunger; afterall, she hadn't eaten in several hours. Add to that, she had one less sense—her eyesight—that would otherwise distract her from the scent.
Speaking of hunger, she suddenly recalled the weak state of her body. I can still starve to death. She tried to persuade herself that she wouldn't eat anything, but the more she thought of the food and her hunger, the more she realized how terrible death by starvation was and how yummy pie would be at that given moment. “What kind of apples were used for the pie? I mean... if I were to eat apple pie, I could only eat the best.”
Artemis perked up instantly. “Oh... uhm, Appleloosan.” The hungry pony dropped her face into the floor over the irony of her situation. Not only were Appleloosan apples some of the best in all of Equestria, but also they were her favorite. “Would you like some?”
As much as she wanted to refuse, she couldn't. “Yes.”
“Yes!” He hopped across the floor. “This is exciting.” Phebe didn't care to ask why it was exciting; hunger was prevalent. Speedily, he brought the pie over. “Now... this is going to be weird,” he said to himself. “Phebe, hold still. If you move, I won't be able to do this right.” She figured he meant feeding her, but how wrong she was. “All right... the Providing One, I ask this of you. Restore her sight.” A carapaced hoof covered in the apple pie's blistering juices went into one of Phebe's eyes.
She yanked her head back. “Gah!!! That burns!”
“Hold still!” Thanks to the inability to see, Phebe couldn't properly avoid another strike, so after only a few attempts, Artemis poked out her other eye with the juices.
“What are you doing?!” The pained Unicorn stood up in order to escape the torture she had suffered; nevertheless, her hooves fumbled over each other causing her to collapse. After recovering from her fall, she grumbled, “This is what I get!? I should hav-” A bucket of cool water emptied over her head. A few foul words left her mouth in that moment; her frustration levels reached the max. “I swear, I'm going to kill you! I'm going to make it painful and slow.”
“Open your eyes.”
“I'm going to skin you and wear your exoskeleton as armor while I go and slay all your brothers and sisters!”
“Open your eyes.”
“No, better yet, I'll save you for last, and make you watch as I rip the life from all those you love!”
“Phebe!” This time, Reform caught her attention.
“What?”
“Just open your eyes.”
“That's not going to help, but I suppose I can't keep them shut forever.” Settling from her tantrum, she cracked open her eyelids. Light. “Hm?” As her eyes came wide open, vision of the whole room met her gaze. “I can see. I can see. I can see! Hahah!” For the first time in a long time, joy entered into her heart, and this was not the minor sort. Then second a realization dawned on her. “I can see out of both eyes! That can't be. No way.” She blinked repeatedly to see if she would go blind again. Nope.
Meanwhile, with a dumb smile on his face, Artemis was sitting tidily a few feet away. She could see him. He wasn't that different from other Changelings except he had armor like the officers of the queen's army would have. She then noted that neither Shoe Lace nor Dark Shade had this armor.
She took a gander at the room. Now this was something to look at. Though, its shape was box-like, the interior decor was unbelievable, at least in respect to the owner. The only entrance and exit was that of the tunnel system Phebe was so accustomed to, but there was a wooden door and a “welcome” mat.  The floor was wooden, and the rock walls painted. Additionally, a standard bed—mattress, blankets, pillow, and all—sat off to one corner where a wardrobe and a table also rested. A lit fireplace was part of the back wall, and a tiny kitchen with dining table had been put in at the opposite corner from the bed. Phebe started to comprehend why the other Changelings considered Artemis a loon.
“Wow...” She gawked. By simple show of his living quarters, Artemis challenged much of what Phebe understood about his kind. “I...” she struggled to produce the verbiage she desired. “I'm hungry. Is there any pie left?” Before she had finished her inquiry, the Changeling gave her a plate topped by a huge chunk of pie. “Yes!” As proven by a massive grin, her cheering delighted Artemis. Phebe downed the piece in a single bite. She failed to think her action through, for she struggled to chew and swallow. Nonetheless, in time she succeeded. Her eyes turned to Artemis. He had barely moved from his sitting position, but an intense fragrance of joy consumed the air around him. She couldn't discern why he was so happy, though. “Meh. I still hate you and your people, but I thank you for granting my sight to me and giving me food.”
“You're welcome!” he chimed. “You already saved my people. It's the least I can do.”
One could term the following event as a mental explosion. “I... what?”
“You saved my people.”
“...What?!”
“You told them to change their ways, didn't you?” A sly smirk came upon his face.
Phebe hesitated to answer. Though perhaps unnecessarily, she feared what he was to say. I saved the Changelings? How is that even possible? Is that even what I wanted? With brief consideration, she realized that when she had given the message to Chrysalis she didn't care about the outcome. Regardless, Phebe was beginning to have second thoughts. She had to continue the conversation at some point, so without further delay, she replied, “Yes, I did.”
Artemis grinned even wider. “They took you up on your advice. As a whole, they've gone to the Providing One for forgiveness recognizing their misdeeds to all other beings. There are several who are obstinate, but you did change the mind of the queen.”
Hoshana did not believe what she was hearing. She didn't like the “Providing One” or “I AM” or whatever that God went by in name. Neither did she herself seek him for forgiveness, yet she had caused her enemies to do so. “This is a dream,” she said showing her disbelief.
“Oh, speaking of dreams!” The Changeling scooted from his position, fluttered to his wardrobe, and pulled a book off the top of it. “I recorded a dream I had a few years ago. I kept having it, so I finally wrote it down. It might explain some of the stuff that's been happening.” Having been cured of blindness by apple pie, Phebe was actually alleviated Artemis would expound from a dream instead of from food. “I'll paraphrase it to make it shorter. I first saw black ghosts. They were many, and they began to surround my people.”
Black ghosts? Phebe recalled that creatures with such a description chased her to the hole which dumped her into prison.
“They were very strong and could put us into a very deep sleep.”
Two dots connected. That thing that broke into the prison was a Guardian. Those ghosts must be the Guardians. Her ears perked up; she wanted to know more. Artemis glanced at her before returning his gaze to the book.
“Second, I saw a calender. I didn't know what it was at the time, but after I went to one of your towns to do some research, I made sense of it.” In order to grasp for air, he paused, but once he had caught his breath, he went on, “April 4th was circled, and there was a note inside a box assigned for that day. The note read, 'Judgment Day.' I remember seeing days pass as that day drew closer, and each day the attacks by the ghosts would get worse. Though, on March 22nd, a blind unicorn visited us, and she went around telling our people, “turn around!”
Again, Artemis ceased speaking. When he started again, nervousness wracked his voice. “The third part was mostly about me, though. Uhm... it wouldn't help you at all. Anyway, does that help?” She didn't answer; in fact, she didn't even blink. Her expression was unreadable, and it stayed that way. Trying to avoid an awkward silence, Artemis continued, “Well, I-uh-I counted the days between March 22nd and April 4th once I found out what you said to Chrysalis and her officers. Thirteen days from March 22nd is April 4th, and today is March 23rd. Shoe Lace told me you got her yesterday, so...  I think you can figure out the rest.” Even though, despite Phebe's silence, he carried the conversation. “Heheh, when I first started having the dream, no one believed me. Eventually, I was cast out and rejected by my own people. Only at the beginning of this year did any of them believe me. It was because the ghosts, called Guardians, started appearing like they had in my dream.” A small frown developed on his face. “They could break almost anything with their arms, and they have repeatedly drained the life essence out of our people. Whoever was drained would fall into a heavy slumber unable to ever wake up. They still are in slumber...” A sigh dropped, but a cheer followed. “My people will be saved, though! They will not face Judgment Day. Thank you!”
The mare made a low volume comment, “I can't doubt it anymore.”
“Huh?”
“Nevermind.” From the time that I AM appeared to her two weeks ago until a few minutes ago, she had disregarded the existence of a higher being. If not that, then at least she disregarded his importance to her. After hearing the dream from Artemis which accurately, though not perfectly, described, the events that had taken place. She would have to give extreme effort to ignore them, and she didn't want to waste her time with that amount of effort. Instead, she resignedly accepted that some higher being existed. “Well, thank you for... everything.” Much distaste remained about the Changelings, but she was genuinely grateful. On the other hoof, she still had no intention of dying for them. “I'll be going home now.”
“Oh.” Artemis lowered his head. “Are you sure?” he questioned with a defeated tone of voice. It seemed he was expecting something.
Hoshana tilted her head. “Yes. Good bye, Artemis.” She tried to justify her leave. I delivered my message, the Changelings turned around, and now they're safe. I don't see a reason for me to stick around. Some annoyance came to her mind when she realized she had to assure herself of her own decision. Before yesterday, she would not have had to take a second thought.
She strolled to the door. I'll actually need directions on how to get out. Stopping at the exit, she looked back. “Oh. Artemis, I don't know how to leave these tunnels and get back to the surface. Would you be willing to take me?”
The discouraged Changeling lifted his head and put on a light smile. “Yeah. I can do that.” He lifted into the air and began coming her way.
Thud, thud. A familiar noise sounded.
What was that...? Phebe thought. She returned face to the door. That sounded familiar.
Shrriiikkk.
“Well... crabapp-”
CRUNCH!!! The wooden door which led outside of Artemis' room flung off its hinges and flew into the room at high speeds. On its trek to the rear wall, it struck Phebe and threw her off her hooves and onto her back.  
“Phebe!” Artemis, who had barely escaped the same situation that the pony had been put in, rushed to her side. “Are you okay!?” She was awake, but thanks to the door striking her, she was dazed. “Come on, you gotta get up!” He spun about to face the Guardian that had appeared.
The foggy-eyed unicorn blinked trying to clear her vision, but her vision remained blurry. Moreover, a nasty ringing noise drilled into her ears, so she barely her heard the Changeling. She did try to reply, but her tongue wouldn't function. Apparently, the door had left more than a mark on her head. She, if barely, whined internally about her eyes. Just to think when they start working again, something else happens to make them malfunction... again. Her speech and hearing impairment added to her frustration.
As she struggled to recover, she watched a black blur hover to Artemis. The Changeling attempted to fend off the fiend with some Changeling magic standing staunchly in between her and the ghost. He was protecting her. Unfortunately, his magic fazed ineffectively though the ghost, and yet, it managed to grab him. Something happened after that, but her vision was too hazy to catch the event. After which, the Guardian dropped Artemis and flew away.
Wait... why won't you... kill me...? In a bout of determination, she thrust herself off her back and onto her hooves. “C-com... b...k.” At that moment, a warm liquid fell into an eye. Ehh... Though barely able to keep her balance, she wobbled forward some steps. The liquid then landed on her nose and dribbled around her mouth. It was blood and no small amount. Ah. Heheh... maybe I can die. I'll just sit her and die. Bending to the oncoming lightheadedness, she dropped forward onto the wooden floor. Lived long enough to see out of both eyes. I can die in peace. She remarked sarcastically before clamping her eyes shut. Unconsciousness took her over.


	~~~~~


“Hey! Phebe!” Shoe Lace roughly shook the Unicorn. “Wake up!”
With a grunt, she slunk to her side. She sprung open her eyes, but the process of gaining full awareness would take awhile; the head trauma was pretty bad. A heavy migraine came over her, and a the ringing noise in her eardrums and vast blur from her eyes persisted.
While Hoshana woke up from her unconscious state, Dark Shade came to Artemis to stir him. Gazing at him in the flickering of Artemis' fireplace, he soon discovered that he wouldn't move. “Shoe, I think the Guardians got him.”
“You mean he was killed by the Guardians?” A look of terror came upon the young Changeling.
In a comforting tone, Shade replied, “No, he's alive, but they took his soul.” Despite his attempts to reassure, he only created further worry in Shoe. “We'll leave him here. He'll be safe for now.” His wings activated, and he buzzed on over to her while an inquiry sprung from his mouth. “How is Phebe?”
“Look for yourself.” The two Changelings stepped to Phebe's front, and from there, they examined her face.
At a first glance, the older of the two winced. Trying to get over the sight, he leaned down slightly. “What happened to you?”
Though her ears still rang loudly, she could hear well-enough, and she was awake enough to respond. “A door,” she replied curtly though weakly. Wanting to know about her injury, she speedily changed subjects. “What does my face look like?”
Shade tapped his forehead and circularly motioned to the rest of his face. “You have a big red spot towards the top of your head, and you have blood all the way down your face. Additionally, I suggest you don't use magic for awhile.”
“Magic...?” In her half-conscious, she couldn't immediately grasp why he would say such a thing. Why wouldn't I use magic? Nevertheless, after a few moments, the truth dawned on her. “Ah! My horn!” Completely breaking free from her drowsy state, she hopped to her feet and felt around for her horn. Dread dropped on her. “It's broken!!! Of all the sick jokes I could have played on me, this is the worst!” Unfortunately for her, her swift movement and vocal outburst did not suit her weakened state; the headache doubled in intensity, and her body quaked under its own weight. Hoping not to repeat her fall to the floor, she gently sat on her hind legs. One of her forehooves soon found itself massaging her temples alternatingly. As the pulsing in her head softened, she took a quick glance at Artemis. I think I heard them say his soul is missing. That must be the deep sleep he mentioned.
“Hey, you can see!” Shoe shouted spontaneously. “When did that happen?”
Phebe intentionally ignored him; she didn't feel like explaining how apple pie restored her sight. Staring at Artemis, she thought, Hah. I don't have to do anything for him now. It looks like I AM won't have his wishes come true after all. Despite having been injured just after being healed, she took this moment as a favorable one. “Would I be able to get to the surface?”
“Oh sure!” The issue about her eyes was cunningly neglected, and Shoe unwittingly fell into her scheme. “Do you need to get to the hospital or something?”
“Hm... I do.” She had to admit that she hadn't previously given that consideration. She was so consumed about not helping the Changelings that she forgot about her own well-being. On the bright side, she now had a good excuse to leave the Badlands. “Would we be able to leave Artemis here?”
“Yeah.”
Dark tacked on, “The Guardians won't do anything else to him, and he will be fine for several more days.” Sighing, he spun about and went to the door. “I suppose since we owe so much to you, we should get you home now.” He must have been referring to the “turning around” which the I AM had called for. Apparently what Reform had mentioned was true.
“I appreciate it.” She did, though she also wanted to sound pleasant to them to stay on their good side. If anything turned sour, she might not get back.
They began their trek into the tunnels. Since Phebe couldn't properly light the darkness with her horn, Shoe had lit and brought a torch from Artemis' home. Nonetheless, the walking was slow. The pony couldn't press her speed unless she wanted to have a headache worth committing suicide to end. Though, she was never far from the thought of suicide anyway. For the time being, regardless of the pace, she was satisfied to be heading out of the tunnels.
During the early moments of their walk, Phebe felt fine, but a gut feeling steadily aroused. Hm...? The two Changelings were ahead of her leading the way, so when she stopped, they didn't notice. Her body limply swung 180 degrees. Is something following us?
“GAH!” A shriek propelled throughout the passageway. She looked back where Dark and Shoe were only to find a Guardian grasping the prior Changeling. Due to the weak nature of Shoe's torch, they could only see the two limbs that held onto Dark. In color—which was speckled dark gray—and dimensions—which was long and thin—the arms resembled no being Phebe had ever seen. However, the appendages had a plain shape. They were simply rounded cylindrical tubes, or at least, that would be the best possible description for them. However, no such thing as hands or hooves were seen at the end of those arms. Regardless, she now had the first clear glimpse of a Guardian. Though Phebe was chased by the Guardians before falling into the tunnels, she was too busy running for her life at that time to pay attention to their appearance. Even when the one attacked her and Artemis, her vision had been too impaired to get a see the Guardian.
“No, Dark. Let go of him, Guardian!” Shoe objected. A beam built up around his horn and soon volleyed at the beast. Unfortunately, the attack passed directly through the creature like Artemis' had before. No harm was done.
The captured Changeling couldn't break free, so in his final breath, he said, “Shoe... run...” In that moment, he fell limp and was dropped to the ground. This struck Phebe with intense curiosity; there were no visible signs that his soul was being drained. She wondered by what means the Guardian stole souls.
At that time, however, Phebe hadn't time to ponder the abilities of these creatures; her guides were being attacked. You've got to be kidding me. She couldn't possible handle a Guardian in her state. If Shoe goes, then I'm stuck down here again.  She figured the Guardian would ignore her as it did when it came after Artemis. “Hey... ugly! Back off!”
Shoe turned his head to Phebe, but the Guardian paid no attention. Instead the creature took advantage of Shoe's distracted state. Soon it had him in its grasps, and repeated its soul-sucking process. As if matters couldn't get worse, Shoe dropped the torch, and the flame died. Absolute darkness shrouded all.
“Phebe! Pl... please he... help...”
Thunk. Shoe's body dropped to the ground.
By this point, the pilot of Phebe's anger had already kicked on, but the loss of both light and the Changelings twisted the knob of her anger onto maximum. While she had no feelings for her guides, she wanted to leave, and the Guardian ripped that possibility out of her grasps. If she didn't stop the Guardian now, she would have to wander the underground for a long time. She wouldn't have the patience for it, nor did she have the patience to endure her present situation.
Going against every precaution, she engaged her horn, but it only flickered. Come on! You won't get away. A deep growl frothed from her vocal chords as she pushed her magic. Her head began to pulse, and the throb from its injury spiked; nevertheless, the agony only pressed her determination further. Amidst the pushing of her limits, the water-droplet-shaped Element of Harmony activated. Swiftly, the necklace thrust light far into the cavern. Besides that, the Element provided a sustained flow of magic. Thus, not only did she cast away the darkness, but also did she provide herself magic separate from her horn.
The Guardian, which she still couldn't properly see for some reason, hovered over top Shoe Lace's body. The being seemed to have been watching Phebe.
“Give them BACK!” Her yell shook the tunnel causing the Guardian to immediately skedaddle. Make this fun. At least you'll be worth my time. The ghost-like being followed the path and did not phase through the wall, thereby providing proof enough that the being was a physical entity and could be caught. In one teleport, the magically-empowered Unicorn pop in front of the Guardian. Unfortunately, it passed around her.
Realizing that a simple teleport wouldn't work, she considered other options. Her next thought brought her to the well that she had pulled from earlier. Let's see how you like water.  She pressed her head to the wall, found a well, and by magic, gashed the wall. A small torrent of water blasted from the hole. After teleporting out of the way of the surge and a dozen yards in front of the wisp, Phebe sliced the wall again causing water to burst out another section. Instead of moving out of the way this time, she redirected the spout via magic. The spout shot forth at the ghost at a high velocity.
The Guardian easily dodged, yet Phebe anticipated. While she was redirecting the spout to attack it on the front, she performed a similar action with the other spout she had made. This spout came from behind at a pace quick enough to catch the Guardian. When it made the dodge for the first attack, the second pounded it from behind. The water definitely contacted a solid body, for the Guardian was stuck in the torrent. With the creature caught, she forced the spout to turn into the floor. Soon enough, the Guardian was trapped on the ground by a continual torrent of water. As if the one wasn't enough, Phebe combined the second spout into the first thereby doubling the volume of attacking liquid. There was no way the Guardian could escape this time.
Sensing lightheadedness, the unicorn gently tapped her forehead. She felt warm liquid on her hoof. She soon realized her wound had reopened.  Limited time. Let's finish this. At the least, her adrenaline rush made her migraine much less noticeable. She cantered up to her trapped opponent.
“Please stop!” A voice like a whisper sounded loudly. “I give up!”
Whether or not he had truly given up, Phebe had run out of steam. She let off on her attack. “Return the souls to those Changelings, or I'll attack--” She cut her sentence short. The Guardian, appearing as a black translucent figure, slowly floated off the rock ground. She didn't even see those arms anymore. I'm getting sick of this. I just want to go home! “Return their souls,” she reaffirmed firmly.
“Okay,” it replied. Its thin, yet solid arms stretched out from its wispy body. The limbs tapped each other, similar to a clap but without hooves.
The noise that came from the “clap” was thud, thud. Immediately after that, they slid across each other with a shrriiikkk. Hairs stood up on Phebe's back. Those were the sounds before a Guardian made an attack. She tried to summon her torrents of water to stop him, but her reservoir of magic had been completely sapped. As a last ditch effort, she lurched to one side hoping to escape the oncoming attack, but her body carried too much weariness to make an effective dodge. Her supposed final thoughts were as following:
“You will die protecting these people.” It's inevitable, isn't it?
CRUNCH!!! There was no visual evidence of what the attack was. Despite this, she was carried off her hooves and thrown into the wall. Thud. That was the sound of her body striking rock. After hitting the wall, her body dropped headfirst onto the floor.
“You should have stayed out of this, pony,” the Guardian commented before drifting away.
Phebe should have been dead. Though the attack didn't break any bones, contusions littered her body, swelling formed at several different areas, and blood now dribbled out her mouth as well as her forehead. Yet, despite these issues, she was alive and conscious. Bleh... I'll just sit here and die. This is exactly what the I AM wanted, right? Objecting to her initial conclusion, a thought unnaturally popped into her head. Stand up. Shock by the new idea, she rejected it. I don't want to. The thought retorted, Stand up. Lacking a rhyme or reason, her heart blazed with sudden passion. I don't want to stand up! This is ridiculous! Despite her every protest, her legs pressed her body up into a standing position.
Another thought entered her mind. Kill him. As before, she attempted to toss it away.  No. I'm done. I can't- Instead of unwillingly, she wittingly made herself start walking after the Guardian which she could still see thanks to the light of her Element. I want to go? My soul is burning, and my heart is itching... for vengeance? I don't want this, though.... I do want this. What is going on in my head!? Her constant back and forth did not once hinder her tracking of the enemy. Even treading through inches of water from the now untamed water spouts didn't stop her. Hearing the splashing of hoofsteps, the Guardian stopped and looked back.
“Still alive?” The being spoke out of a high-and-mighty attitude. “You will not interfere.”
“My Element is Perseverance.” Her words seemed out of place, but she felt that they explained everything. Besides, she needn't defend herself against the being which would soon die.
Speaking of the Element, her necklace began to glow exceedingly bright. Soon enough an indigo ray launched from it at the ghost. The Guardian didn't move; it probably expected the light to leave him unharmed. It was wrong. When the colored light hit, the Guardian exploded. The detonation threw hundreds of shards of obsidian in every direction.
Thereafter, Phebe saw four orbs of light where the Guardian used to be. After only a few moment of delay, these orbs zipped away to multiple direction, two passing through the tunnel walls and the other two going back to where Dark Shade and Shoe Lace were. “I... win.”
Since she had no more energy to spend, Phebe gently put herself onto the tunnel floor. She didn't care about the rising levels of water. I'll just drown here. I'm too tired to do anything else. The spontaneous passion that carried her legs and moved her body had since fade, and the adrenaline that also had fueled her body waned. Even if she did want to, she wouldn't be able to maintain consciousness. The pain of her tattered body soon melted away into slumber.