#ellen cho

-

Realizing that life wouldn't be worth it without Asta was more than a wake up call. Suddenly, D'arcy was aware that Asta was the only thing she was living for in this shit-hole town. It felt a bit weird to have a specific moment she could point at and say That's when I knew. That just wasn't how things usually went for her.

D'arcy never had a specific moment when she realized she liked girls just as much as she liked boys. She didn't have a specific moment when she realized she should stay as quiet about that as she could in a small town in Colorado, either. No specific moment she realized she loved to ski, or that her parents only valued her if she could prove that value. These were all just things that she knew before she understood that she knew.

She always seemed to either have known all along or get slapped in the face with information that should have been obvious.

But it turned out that there was a specific moment of realization that she was in love with Asta. She still couldn't say how long she'd loved her, but D'arcy knew when her arm was crushed trying to climb out of that damn crevasse. Because if it had only been her, she was pretty sure she would have given up. Harry wouldn't have been enough of a motivation, either. It was the thought of Asta freezing to death that drove D'arcy to climb. Again and again, no matter how many times she slipped.

This was also the moment D'arcy realized that this had always been true. Without Asta, there was no getting up, no pushing forward, no holding her life dear enough to deem it worth protecting. After her Olympic disaster, D'arcy might never have stood again if Asta hadn't shown up out of nowhere and pulled D'arcy out of the dark. So the crevasse was D'arcy's turn to pull Asta up, too. Except literally, in this case.

When she was told her forearm had fractured and she'd broken a finger and thumb during the escape, she paled. That meant that all that screaming pain she felt could have made escape impossible. In fact, it probably should have. By all accounts, she, Asta, and Harry ought to be dead in the ice.

“That's adrenaline for ya. Feats of unhuman strength.” Ellen quipped as she braced D'arcy's bones.

“Hey, pretty sure you mean super human. Unhuman seems kind of rude to say about the hero here.” D'arcy scowled as Ellen feigned regret.

Ellen rolled her eyes as she adjusted the last strap. A full cast wasn't going to be required, but D'arcy was going to have to wear braces and splints for a while.

“Right, totally. But you just became super human because you're really gay for Asta and love is basically the same thing as adrenaline.” Ellen lightly smacked D'arcy's arm, giving her a fake smile when D'arcy grunted at the pain.

Just as the nurse was leaving the room, D'arcy frowned. “Wait, when did you realize I'm in love with Asta? I only just figured that out like three hours ago.”

Ellen's ever-sardonic face remained impressively impassive, relaying information to the patient (though one could always debate the quality of Ellen's bedside manner). “You've shown symptoms for years, starting just before your Olympic trials. But since Asta left Jimmy, I'd say the infection spread out of control. If you only noticed it three hours ago, it may be too late. I think it's terminal. I'm not the doctor, but it's an easy chart to read.”

“Are you insightful or just a bitch?”

“I don't know. I just know I'm better than you.”

“Bitch it is, then.” D'arcy said. She and Ellen stared each other down, then Ellen gave an exaggerated shrug and left.

D'arcy stayed a moment, examining her bound arm with a sigh. “Well, Asta, looks like I've got some cheesy confession to make.”

-