<em>~ Maddi, slipping into unconsciousness with Elijah ~</em><br/><br/>The kaleidoscope of sky, tree, air and branch flashed past so quickly, making Maddi dizzy as her head fell back and all she could do was look upwards. It felt like a rough choppy sea, she wasn't floating she was being tossed about like flotsam in the waves. Elijah's  journey through the trees had it's own compass, but to Maddi, not knowing where she was going, it was as rough as the one that had wrecked them here.  Again she had no choice, no way of stopping what was about to happen, with pain and death the shadowy companions who had to be ignored and not given power over her world.  But this time she had no way of working towards a safe harbour, not even one finger could be moved to throw a lifeline for herself or others.<br/><br/>She found the bleak hole inside of her so overwhelming the tears kept slowly escaping, she knew that this was one thing she did have a choice over, she could stop the tears.  But although she<em>knew </em>it, she couldn't actually<em>do </em>it. The valve had opened and she couldn't manage to close it.<br/><br/>When he took her into the darkness of his hut and laid her on the cushioned warmth she waited, feeling the stuttering beat of her heart steal more of her breath and fill her with dread.  She remembered with sudden clarity the hospital in Spain, the explanations, the fear more on their faces than hers.  The release of the needle and the blackness that had saved her in the end. As he brushed away her tears and tried to comfort her she wondered if the blackness that was beckoning her now would be her last. His softly spoken words adding to the feeling she was floating away.  Her body was leaving her, bit by bit she could feel it saying goodbye.  And before Elijah slipped into sleep, she drifted into that deeper slumber that has no dreams, none at all.