Teeth were clenched tightly to the point he wasn’t sure if they would shattered as Damon contained the pain. Tightly bound bandages were wrapped around his forearm in an effort to stop the bleeding. Even with his field efforts, there was still no slowing of the crimson life force that continued to flow from his arm. Left hand was clamped down upon wound in an effort to hold back the free flow. Damon knew how to do a field dress a wound, but it made no difference. He could scent the blood that was dripping on the cobble stone behind him. Thankfully this city had been established as safe a long time ago otherwise Damon would have been concerned about his attackers following him.

Years upon years were being put to use in order to keep his pain from taking over completely. The phoenix growled under his breath while taking a turn down another street. Kiba had told him exactly where to go if he ever needed help. Finally, the male turned down the last corner to find what he was looking for: the Balatro Apothecary. Night hours kept Damon from being asked questions by too many onlookers.

He moved through the door that more likely would have been locked in just a few minutes. The scent of his blood pulled the attention of workers in the healing store. Dae had been restocking some shelves for his mother when the door had opened. He turned to look over his shoulder to see the familiar face of the phoenix guard. What wasn’t familiar was the pained features being pushed away on Damon’s face. The shade put down his items to grab a basin of water and gauze. ”Follow me.” A simple instruction that was to be followed.

Dae watched the archer follow behind him while trailing blood along the way. The man grumbled under his breath at the idea of that needing to be cleaned up later after he had already done a proper wipe down. ”My mother and sister are not in the shop tonight. You are stuck with me until Luna is available. Sucks for you, mate,” he said with a laugh and shrug of his shoulders. Damon merely grunted as he sat down on the treatment table with his injured arm cradled.

”Whatever I can get to stop this bleeding.” His voice had a waver to it that normally wouldn’t have been there. Damon knew that he was getting closer over the years to a Burnout. This had the potential to be the tipping point.

The son of the Balato’s lifted a brow as he set down his basin. He never boasted to be a great healer. What his specialty was attention to detail as well as stabilization medicine. Dae gently took Damon’s injured arm into his hands to examine the wound. It took a tender touch to unwrap the bandages that had been previously put into place. Blood oozed out as it had refused to clot the entire time. Under their breaths both males cursed. Dae used some of his shadow powers to contain the blood as he glanced up at Damon. The guard’s teeth were grinding again due to pain and frustration. He was going to Burnout.

Kaya had taken the children off to the Guild Hall for the day; quite how her sister had persuaded her to give her permission for the trip remained a mystery, but Luna had to admit that it was nice to be left to run the shop without the children underfoot because they were bored and desperate for her attention. Love them though she did, even Luna required some downtime every now and again. 
While Luna still refused to speak with her mother, she could not deny her children Kythe's contact - the woman had not wronged them as she had her own children, and sadly it was a lesson that her own children would have to learn for themselves - that their grandmother could be relied upon for nothing other than going to war that involved self-sacrifice.
Case in point, the last war in this world. Had Raith not been there, had he chosen to let her die from her wounds (it surprised her that this hadn't been the outcome) then Kythe and the twins she carried in her belly would have passed on. Luna could not forgive such recklessness, and she wholeheartedly took her father's side in this matter… not that she had seen much of him either. Pol had been distant since coming to Revaliir and Luna wondered if the centuries apart from his wife and his middle child had caused strain on all of them that they were not quite ready to admit to. 

She had been working on some potions for an order that was due out urgently the next morning, she had no doubt that sleep would elude her with the children not being home for the night, so why not get the work done instead? She did not hear the door open, busy as she was out the back, it was the smell of blood that caught her attention. Looking up the Healer scowled, it looked like they had a late-night caller, one that required urgent attention. She put down the ingredients she had been preparing, washed her hands and left the room, grabbing a clean towel to dry her skin as she hurried towards the source of the smell. 
"Dae? What have we got?" She called softly before entering the room, noting the assassin's scent also and wishing that another Healer had been left with her, not someone who looked to take life. She never gave him the chance to answer, or if he did she didn't hear him, hurrying forwards as she did, her sharp eyes immediately on the wound. "What caused the wound?" She asked, her tone soft but blunt - there was no time for niceties, she needed to know what she was dealing with. "It's not clotting, was there poison involved?" She continued, turning to the workspace behind her, fingertips hovering a millimeter from the vials on the shelves she was now inspecting, searching out what she required. 
"Dae get his shirt off, the material will only get in the way and I need to check him over." 

Damon held a tight hand against the injury in an effort to contain the flow of blood. The Burnout was nearing the surface as the life fluid felt as if it were flooding out of his body. He had been able to stave it off for many years. It had been one of the longest times in his recollection of keeping the Burnout from taking over his core. Unfortunately, this time he had been through an entire transition to a new world in the process. Many things had happened during his life span of this ‘life’ portion. He had many regrets during this cycle, and yet he knew there was nothing he could have done differently. So there he sat with a hand pressed tightly against the wound while allowing an assassin attempt to keep him from that Burnout that many knew nothing about. To top it off, few phoenixes were able to get to the point in power as he had in any life span. There were no healers that would understand the true needs of his kind.

The warrior was reluctant to allow Dae to take a look at the injury, but it would have been ignorant to keep a healer of any talent not attempt to fix him. Despite the kind of magic used upon him there was a sense of relief as Dae was able to ebb some of the flow of his life force. Not by much, but enough where his timeline of passing out was extended.

Damon glanced up at the same time as Dae as the woman with elf features entered the room. There was a serious expression upon her face she moved across the room to examine the guard’s injuries. Dae took a slight step back in order to let Luna have the proper space to look over what was tasked before her. The phoenix looked upon the female as she examined his wound closely. ”Damn chimera. The scorpion tail lashed out last minute,” he answered. He was still agitated that he had not been able to notice in time to block the attack. Thankfully his ward had not been around for the entire exchange. Things had been sensitive lately, and Damon had to take outward patrols on behalf of his matron.

Dae began to help Damon take off the shirt while Luna began to get herself situated. He knew better than to get in the way since this was beyond his expertise. Damon hissed inwardly as the shade half breed helped pull off the once green tunic. Blood streaked across his toned muscles as the shirt was removed. Dae clicked his tongue in sympathy while rolling up the now destroyed fabric. ”Bad luck…that’s what it seems to roll down to for you,” the shade said with another shake of his head. He could see that the poison was working through the veins with a lattice along the surface of his skin. Damon knew that if that worked up his arm, over his chest to his heart, the Burnout would be the last of his problems.

There was a strong smell in the room that had nothing to do with the man’s wound. Luna scowled as she picked up the salves and herbs she needed to deal with his wound, but that smell bothered her - she knew that smell, but for the life of her she could not place it. Chimera poison she could deal with, that was child’s play for a Healer of her years… but that lingering smell, that burning sensation that sent goosebumps along her skin like a wave, that was beyond her and she knew it, there was no amount of potions or plants in this shop that could cope with whatever that was. 

Bottles clinking as she placed them on the table, her eyes fixed upon the wound rather than the now half naked man in front of her. Her fingers hovered over his skin, tracing the poison along his veins, good it hadn’t left his arm yet but it was only a matter of time. She pulled a slip of leather from a pouch at her hip, tying it tightly around Damon’s upper arm, it would hurt but it would also stop the flow of the poison… or at least slow it enough that she could deal with it. 
Grabbing a bowl from the side she began to mix the ingredients together; one hand pouring, one stirring, using her teeth to pull the stoppers from their bottles, spitting them to one side without hesitation. Salve completed she covered both hands in it, moved Damon’s hand from the wound and slathering it in the cool, sticky substance covering both her hands.

It was at this point that she stopped her movements, her bright blue eyes fixing upon Damon’s. ”You’re a Phoenix…” she uttered, glancing at Dae, they didn’t have much time. ”Out, now.” She demanded the assassin, pushing him from the room without a thought and locking it behind her, barely registering the residue handprints left in the back of his tunic. Pulling a knife from her belt she cut across her right palm, using her left to clear the wound of the salve she had just applied. ”I can’t stop this, but I can help,” she said softly as she clambered onto the table, pushed Damon down and straddled him, hand still clamped to his wound. ”I can share the Burnout and I can heal you through it… I might be able to save you from losing too much of yourself  during the process and lessen the pain, it won’t be completely gone but it should be more manageable at least. No arguments, we don’t have the time,” she said in her firmest mum voice, closing her eyes and steadying her breathing as she brought her body in synch with his own, their heart beats matching, blood flowing as one. ”Through blood we are bonded, though blood we are bound, through blood we are founded, through blood we are found. Two entities as one, united by our souls, let my Light guide you, let my heart heal you,” she commanded firmly but softly, a light beginning to glow around the hand connecting her to him.

She was ready.

Teeth ground together to the point it was actually causing him pain. Damon needed that additional distraction before the Burn Out took him over. If he could fully focus off of the impending doom, then there was the potential of staving it off; this was all hopeless thinking since he had never been able to do such a thing before. Damon did not know exactly how old he was. How many lifetimes had gone on prior. There were snippets that would flash across his memory occasionally. Confusion was a usual friend of his at those times.

He looked at Dae from the corner of his eye. The assassin was shaking his head with a wince at the smell that was coming from the wound. Damon knew that the odds were not in his favor. He knew it the moment the strike had been made. He allowed his gaze to switch to the woman healer. A grave expression crossed her delicate, yet serious features. The Phoenix could tell that she was a ‘no-nonsense’ type. Inwardly he was attracted, though it was not quite the time to think of such things. Reading the look upon her face told him that she knew more than she let on. Damon watched her fingers hover over his skin where the poison trekked. It was quite clear where it was endeavoring for, and he was unsure if it could be truly halted at this time.

There was a light hiss from his teeth as the leather strap was pulled tight around his bicep. ”You have quite the strong grip,” he managed to joke through his gritting teeth. Dae chuckled slightly as he leaned against the table that the Captain was sitting upon. The assassin son inhaled through his nose and exhaled. The two males knew what was coming. There was little denying that the delayed health assistance had been the major factor to Damon’s ability to survive what had come upon him. The only opportunity he had was to come back from death.

Damon felt a slight relief as the cool salve was applied to his skin. It felt good, but it was too little too late at this point. Green gaze shot up in surprise that the woman knew. She knew what he was. He had not told her a thing, and yet the observant woman had figured it out. Damon watched as Dae was pushed out of the room. It was clear that the assassin knew better than to argue with the healer.

Brows furrowed together as the woman sliced her palm to release blood from her hand. What was she talking about? He allowed himself to be pushed back until he laid upon the table. In surprise he looked up at the woman as she straddled him. A slight bob in his throat occurred as he swallowed hard. The warmth of her form above him seemed to help against the chill that began to set in.

”This is dangerous,” he gasped at the bond she just created. She knew exactly what she was doing. Damon never formally knew anyone to enact the bond unless they were a mated pair. The thought made him shake his head, but it was already done.

The chill began to settle in his bones as his Flame began to shutter within his soul. Death began to wrap her hands about him. It had been ages since the last time he had met with Death, even though it was a familiar sensation. He took in a deep breath.

It was then that the pain began to escalate. His Flame burst forth to engulf the pair. It did not consume her flesh, only his. He felt the lick of the fire, which normally would have not made a single sensation except for comfort. Now the pain laced along every nerve as it ate away at flesh and bone. Damon couldn’t hold back against the groan of agony. Tears evaporated as the fire heated even his face. He managed to look up at the woman. She remained steady even through the Burn; a determination through the chaos.

He was dead. The last thing he saw was Luna.

Darkness shrouded his consciousness. He saw the Void that had swallowed up DaeLuin all those years ago. It called to him. To stay there and be swallowed up as well instead of being reborn.

Light. It called to him. The Flame urged him to return.

A heaving gasp was taken in as his chest lifted with breath again. Black soot covered his body that had been formed from his own burning flesh. Everything hurt down to the very core of his form, and yet it was not as bad as his last Burn Out had been. The ritual the healer had done helped greatly. Pain continued to lance through his nerves as they regrew. It would be painful, but pain reminded him that he was alive.

Luna snorted as Damon joked about her strength. "Last thing a Healer wants is for their patient to wiggle out from under them during a procedure. You either get strong really fast or lose control of your patients," she stated simply, barely registering that Dae was in the room - she had her work to do, and she could not afford to spare a thought for the assassin right now. Not when the Phoenix before her was about to burn out - she had to work quickly to lessen the impact to him, and to the shop for that matter. 

Straddling Damon and pushing him down on the table, Luna had not time for his protests or claims of this being dangerous, she knew it was, knew it was insane to be this close to him - but she could not allow a patient to be in this much pain let alone potentially lose themselves. Luna hated everything to do with her mother, loathed having any association with the woman whatsoever… but when it came to healing, this - this she had to be grateful to her mother for. This power, inherited from her mother's people, was a gift that Luna rarely had to tap into, but it meant she could save a life and that was exactly what she was going to use it for now. 

She could feel the pain escalating, feel it building beneath her hands and begin to course into her own veins, she had witnessed this before but this would be the first time she experienced it herself… and she was terrified. As the pain enveloped then both, Luna screamed - not at the heat but the pain that came with it. Head thrown back, she could not stop her wings from appearing, spreading wide in answer to the pain roaring through every part of her being. "Control it Luna, you know how, concentrate and hold on." Was it her mother's voice she heard? Or her father's? Luna couldn't quite tell either way, but the voice was right - she had to focus. Pushing past the pain Luna focused on Damon's heart and mind, wrapping her own lifeforce around his and anchoring it in place, keeping who he was, who he had become, where it was rather than allowing the fire to engulf him and take it from. 

Luna felt his heart stop, but still, she hung onto the man he was - she just had to keep him here until he took his next breath, just until he arose anew. Thankfully it was not long. He took a deep breath and Luna felt his heart start once more, she released her grip of him a little, moving her focus to her healing ability in order to help him get past the sensitive regrowth of his nerve endings. Breathing heavily Luna brought down her own heart rate, opening her eyes and looking at the man beneath her. "Let's not do that again in a hurry," she uttered, relaxing a little, cursing the wings she felt upon her back.