Another rush of pain, this time seizing his entire body with its claws, whirling landscapes, and then bam, the world rocked and tilted over. So much for breathing. Now the only thing he could taste was the blood filling his throat, and every attempt at taking in air was met with a sudden

stop.

Up was down. Down was up. Brown filtered into his vision again and then he was falling, falling, falling, but he could still feel the ground under him and he could still see Saitou and Kiryu standing there. He choked. Coughed. Wheezed.

He wasn't gone yet, but he was barely there. Not much longer now. Something told him now was a good time for the Prayer to the Cloud of Unknowing (said in his head, of course, 'and above all, a measure of acceptance--') but that was the irrational part of his mind that was still afraid of death and only because it was staring him in the face, but he was not going to pray, that was ridiculous, and--

and--

He tried swallowing and even that didn't work.