Cold

Twilight barely made it a step towards Cooper before searing pain stabbed into her wither and her foreleg gave out, unceremoniously dropping her to her chin, forcing a cry of pain past her lips. With grit teeth, she pushed herself up to a standing position once more and limped the rest of the way to Cooper's side.

As Twilight arrived, Cooper sat up and set his rifle on the snow next to him. As soon as they were close enough, he pulled Twilight in close with his good arm, wincing slightly in the process. He wiped some of the blood out of her eyes and mane, his arm shaking ever so slightly as he held onto her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his gaze lingering on her shredded shoulder.

"Y-yeah... how about you?" Twilight responded.

"Damn wolf... broke my arm and almost ch-chewed all the way through. Here, think you can help me get this belt off?" Cooper inquired as he grabbed his belt buckle with his good hand.

Twilight brought a tiny spark to her horn and the belt was swiftly unbuckled. With that done, Cooper removed the belt from his waist and tied it around his arm, just below his shoulder. He cinched the belt down as tight as he could, grimacing and grunting in pain the whole time. Once he felt it was sufficiently tight enough, he refocused his attention to Twilight as she shivered on his lap.

"Alright... it's a shitty tourniquet, but it'll have to do for now. How bad is the shoulder?" He asked, taking time to inspect Twilight's wounds.

"It hurts, but it almost feels numb in a way... it's hard to explain." Twilight replied, her own gaze drifting down to her damaged limb. Her entire foreleg was covered in a layer of bright red that made her stomach churn. A flap of shredded skin and fur dangled limply from her wither as more and more blood oozed out from the deep lacerations, ending just shy of her collar bone.

Cooper looked up to the edge of the lake and then back down to Twilight. "You might be going into shock. Here, we'll get moving to the house and we should be able to get something to help deal with that, in there. It's just over that hill." He pointed toward what could just barely be made out to be a house-like shape through the falling snow.

Twilight sluggishly nodded and moved off of Cooper's lap. She limped only a step before she felt a hand grab hold of her under her barrel and, in a sudden swinging motion, she was lifted up to Cooper's good shoulder. She simply blinked at him in surprise as he gave her a small smile.

"Not gonna let you hurt that shoulder any more than it already looks. You're pretty light, so no worries."

Twilight simply stared back at Cooper for a few moments before a thankful smile formed on her lips and she rested her head on top of his. Cooper chuckled lightly before heading up the bank and toward land once more.

"What about your rifle?" Twilight questioned, her eyes flicking back to the lake and the trail of red slowly seeping into the snow.

"Getting your shoulder to stop bleeding is the first priority. I'll get the rifle once you're fixed." He answered, simply.

Cooper carried Twilight another twenty steps before they arrived at a heavily snowed in silhouette of a house. His knees sunk deep into the snow with each step he took, but he continued on without complaint until arriving at the door.

"Alright, I'm gonna set you down now. Try not to put weight on that leg." He advised.

Twilight gave a small nod before being gently deposited onto the snow beside the door. Cooper brushed some of the powdery ice off of the doorway until the black handle was finally visible and accessible. With that finished, he reached deep into one of his pockets and procured a key. It slid into the lock and easily unlatched the door, allowing Cooper to turn the handle and push the door open.

With that taken care of, he scooped Twilight up again and made his way inside. From her position against his shoulder, Twilight could only scan the dark house with her eyes as she was carried through the doorway and into what appeared to be a living room. At least, it used to be a living room.

The couch was shredded and the carpet was covered with so many different kinds of stains that Twilight wasn't sure what was blood and what wasn't. Each wall had several bullet holes and even more stains splattered all over the plaster that painted a haunting picture of what had happened in this room long ago.

As Twilight took in the room around her, Cooper gently set her down on the tattered couch. She winced slightly as she accidentally put a bit of weight on her foreleg, but managed to keep her attention on the room around her, rather than her pain.

Once Cooper was satisfied that she was situated, he quickly made his way over to the doorway and closed it, ensuring to lock the door before returning to the living room. "Alright, I'm gonna go get the first aid kit. Sit tight." He instructed before heading off through one of the other two doorways in the room.

Twilight nodded and waited patiently for his return, shivering at the lingering cold in the room. Her gaze flicked back and forth between the rest of the room, eventually stopping on a long dormant fireplace on the opposite side. For a few moments, she considered using the rest of her magic to create a fire, for them both. Then her attention went back to her wither.

"Try not to stare at it too much. Don't want you losing your lunch or anything." Cooper joked. "But, in all seriousness, we didn't have much here in terms of medical. Best I can do is clean it and wrap it up... it'll be a pretty nasty scar, but you'll live, at least." He said.

"Thank you, Cooper. I don't know why, but it just doesn't hurt. It's... almost fascinating to see what I look like on the inside... wait, that sounded so much better in my head." Twilight's brow furrowed.

Cooper laughed for a moment before a serious look appeared on his face. "Yeah, you are definitely going into shock. Here, lay down on your good side and don't move."

Twilight complied with his instructions and laid down. Once there, Cooper leaned down and closely inspected the wound on her shoulder. He gently pulled the flap of loose skin up to look into the muscle beneath for several seconds before pulling away with a sigh and then closing the wound as best as her body would allow.

“Do you wanna have some salad, Copper, my mom made extra,” Twilight said, lying her head down before groggily blinking to clear her eyes.

Ignoring her comment, Cooper said, "Okay, from what I can see, it doesn't look like any arteries were damaged. I think you're just going into shock from the blood loss. Can you feel anything right now?" He asked, looking down on her with kind eyes.

Twilight looked down for a few seconds before looking back up to Cooper. "N-not really. I feel like... like it should hurt, but I can't really say I notice the pain. This is just a bee sting, doctor, do you have to be so serious?"

Cooper gave a friendly smile. "I'll patch this up as best as I can, but I've only got one arm to work with." He looked down to his ruined forearm and shrugged.

"Oh my gosh, that's right! Your arm! W-we need to fix it!" Twilight shouted, as she tried to sit up.

Cooper immediately pushed her back into the couch. "No. We fix you first, then we fix me. I'll be alright. I've been hurt worse before; besides, I'm not the one talking about salad and bee stings." He asserted.

"You have!? Wait, I've been talking about what now?" Twilight shook her head. "I mean... a-are you sure? If we don't fix your arm, you might lose it!" She protested, frowning slightly.

"Twilight, you're bleeding all over the couch. I've at least got a tourniquet on my arm. I've got time. No more arguing, let's fix you up." He chastised her as he pulled out several alcohol wipes and a roll of gauze from the first aid kit. "Now, this is probably gonna sting like hell. I need you to bear with it for me, okay?"

Twilight put on a brave face as she nodded, although there was a slight tremor in her lip as she watched his hand approach with the alcohol wipe.

"Just take a deep breath, okay?" Cooper comforted.

Twilight complied and inhaled deeply, only to scream in pain as the burning sensation of the alcohol seared into her open flesh. She grit her teeth as Cooper worked over the wound again and again, each wipe only serving to send a wave of pain shooting up her wither and into her neck. Tears spilled from her eyes while she desperately clenched them shut from the pain.

Even though his movements were gentle and quick, the pain from Cooper's soft strokes nearly made her pass out. However, after less than thirty seconds, it was over. He set the bloodied wipes on the floor and pulled out the gauze. Using his teeth to pry the gauze open, Cooper swiftly set about packing the wound with the white material. Soon enough, it was packed to the brim and he looked up to Twilight's tear-streaked face to confirm she was still awake.

"You okay?" He asked, softly.

"Mm-hmm." She whimpered.

"Alright, can you sit up for me?"

Twilight managed a shaky nod before she leaned forward. Cooper quickly helped her up with his hand until she was sitting on her haunches and looking up to him with bloodshot, barely focused eyes.

"Why did that hurt so much more than the actual bite?" Twilight questioned, her eyes drifting down to Cooper's hand as he began wrapping the excess gauze around her barrel.

"Adrenaline, probably. That and you went into shock. Now that we're back here and you've calmed down, you're starting to feel everything. Honestly, that's a good thing. Mean's your blood pressure isn't too low. We're not out of the woods yet, though." Cooper replied as he finished tying off Twilight's bandaging.

"What do you mean?" Twilight questioned, wincing slightly as he snugged the gauze down against her wither.

"You just need to lay down for a bit. Take it easy and rest. Like I said before, if you get dizzy or anything, let me know immediately." He answered before bringing his hand to her face and gently lifting her eyelid slightly. "It doesn't look like your pupils are dilated, so that's a good sign," he said, bringing his hand away from her face.

Twilight nodded slowly before leaning back into the couch and laying down, keeping weight off her leg. She watched Cooper with curious eyes as he sat down against the couch, facing away from her as he set about fixing his own wounds.

He eyed his own lacerated forearm for a few moments before pulling out the last alcohol wipe and ripping it open. He took a deep, sobering breath before Twilight nickered softly. Cooper turned and looked back to see Twilight giving a small supportive smile and nod as she rested her head against the cushion.

He nodded as a smile found its way on his lips as well, and then proceeded to wipe the wound. He growled in pain as the searing agony made its way through his forearm and up his shoulder.

Just like with Twilight, the action took little time and soon enough his forearm was wrapped in a tight layer of gauze.

"O-okay... okay... just need to splint the bone now, and then I'll be right as rain." Cooper stated flatly as he got to his feet.

Twilight watched as he made his way over to the other side of the room.

"I'm gonna look for something to splint my arm in the rest of the house. If you start to feel dizzy, or like you're gonna pass out at all, you yell for me, alright?" He said, glancing back at Twilight.

"I will. Thank you, Cooper." Twilight gave a smile, feeling better by the second.