"Yeah I know. Just mean—will need—a couple of breaks on the way there."

Hyup back they go.

"mumblemumble"

"Sorry, didn't—catch that," he says between panting, and here he needs a break again.

"don't have to," Lex mumbles. "'ll be fine"

"Only enough space," pant, "for one self-sacrificing idiot in this vee." Pant pant. "Triad? Throuple? Who knows."

Onwards thank goodness the library is no longer stretching the aisles and the lights are strong again.

"You know that's not true," Edmund says.

"Trying to," pant pant, "will it to be true."

Edmund shakes his head a bit miserably. "If we still had our clothes I'd be able to give you a strength enhancer potion."

He shakes his head but opts to save his breath and keep walking. And a couple of breaks later, they're back to where they left their clothes and all the evidence of their earlier activities.

Edmund - gets to the desk, checks on the wards -

collapses against the side of it and starts crying, very quietly.

Scorpius gently lowers Lex to the ground, too, then finds some space between him and Ed to sit, and wraps both arms around them.

"This fucking place," Edmund eventually manages.

Scorpius kisses Edmund's temple. "This fucking place," he agrees, turning to look at Lex and gauge his—everything, really.

He's not dead?

He's still shivering. The shivering actually seems to be getting worse. His eyes are dry and dull.

He leans into Scorpius' touch, though, a little.

"...Lex. Please tell me how you're feeling and what I can do to help."

And Scorpius still has his arm around Lex and he's not really sure what more to do and—this fucking place.

"Empty."

"Empty," he repeats slowly, then looks at Edmund. "Is that normal? With that spell?"

"The memory spell? No. The killing a maw-mouth spell? I have no idea!"

"I meant the memory spell." Back to Lex. "Hey. Hey, love. I'm here for you. Okay? I don't know what you—wait." His crystal. The one on his neck. "Do you need mana?"

The crystal's cracked and blackened. Lex flinches at the question.

"Lex, do you have a reason for me not to give you some mana right now because if that's—I just killed four huge things."

Lex clumsily tries to scurry away.

Mana. Again, he still does not have a ton of... fine control... over how much mana he can give. And he just killed four enormous mals—he dumped enough of the mana he got from them into the sharer to not be actively glowing but he's still rather full.

Lex flares with energy. On reflex, he does - something - which causes a flash of white light and makes Scorpius feel... better? Like he didn't just have an awful experience, like he's not in a death trap filled with monsters, like he's not sitting naked on a moderately grimy library carpet.

If Edmund's reaction is anything to go by, something similar just happened to him. The color returns to his face, and he lets out a hoarse, slightly breathy laugh.