Unsurprisingly, Figgel recovered first. "Well, the air in here is worse than a shitter. Let's get the children out, shall we?"

The huddled refugees exchanged glances and hushed murmurs. Then Miss Too-Fluffy led the way toward the lowest vent and began to shove a table toward the closest one.

Apart from her excessive fluffiness, she was perhaps alright.

Others soon joined her in creating a platform of tables, and the largest people in the room stepped onto the seats and then sank to their hands and knees on the highest platform. Others climbed over them, stacking toward the ceiling. The rest circled the growing mound.

Only Serigg and Rekkan remained by the door. Serigg's shoulders shook with sobs, but Rekkan just stared at the door with a faint frown.

When Fennikk approached the base of the table-and-human pyramid, Rekkan snapped out of his trance. He strode toward the small girl to offer her an open palm.

"You can do this," he told her.

She considered the offered support. Eyed the pile she needed to climb. And fistbumped his hand.

"I know," she replied.

Rekkan and Nikkla spotted Fennikk as she clambered up the tables and then the hill of bodies. The hill grimaced as she kneed spines, elbowed heads, and clutched hair in her ascent.

At the top of the pile, the distance to the vents remained a bit too far for her reach. Nikkla, Rekkan, and I all sucked breath as Fennikk measured the distance.

She leaped.

Grasping the metal edge, she pulled herself up and squirmed out of sight. Seconds later, two hands reached down, one flesh and one bionic.

"Who's next?" Fennikk called.

Rekkan's face broke into a grin. Fuck, the pride there. My non-existent uterus felt just about ready for birthing.

Applause scattered the room and steamrolled into a thunder. Hearing the encouragement, the rest of the children hurried toward the human mound. Other adults crowded around to spot the rest of the children as they climbed.

The enthusiasm in the room was contagious. I could almost believe Fennikk was truly super and that she could easily save us all. But I knew the truth—the air was rapidly approaching unbreathable, and even if all the children made it out, few heroes were left above. 

Pakket ventured a few steps toward Figgel, smiling tentatively. She plopped to the ground to swat an already dead fly. His brow furrowed, and he turned toward the climb alone.

I approached the tiny boy. "I'll help you, Pakket."

"That's alright," he said. "I'm used to being alone. I know nobody wants me."

An exhale drew my attention to Rekkan, who stood several feet away, eyes pinned to the boy. He looked as though he had been socked in the gut. When Pakket started toward the mountain of bodies, I hurried forward to spot him, but Rekkan beat me there.

I slid into place beside Rekkan, providing an unnecessary second spotter for the uncoordinated but very light climber who held my man's attention.

When Kazap shoved past the smaller boy, Rekkan shot him a glare – a glare Kazap ignored as easily as he ignored all of my climbing advice. A bit higher up, Kazap began to fumble. His parents and I rushed to steady him. He continued, unbothered, but the three of us exchanged nervous glances.

"Be careful, Kazap," one parent pleaded, their eyes wide.

While the three of us stopped Kazap from killing himself, Razalu stepped onto the highest back and rolled up to her feet to grab Fennikk's hands. Fennikk scooched back in the vent to tug Razalu in. Then the two maneuvered around inside the metal constraints until both could hang their hands over the edge.

Together, the two girls pulled in the next few children. When Kazap reached the top, they grasped his hands and dragged his flailing legs up into the vent. The two girls climbed onward, and Kazap took their place, hanging two larger arms over the edge.

Kazap's parents released a sigh of relief and hugged each other, but I turned my attention to the child closest to the ground – Pakket.

Rekkan guided Pakket's slow feet from the table onto the first back. As Pakket reached for the next back, Rekkan supported the boy's legs and hands like touching glass, hesitating a millisecond before each quick adjustment.

When Pakket left his reach, Rekkan tensed further and hissed an exhale, eyes still pinned on the small boy. "Easy, hey? Just take it slow."

Taking it slow hardly seemed a good idea, since I was already growing dizzy from the declining air quality and held little faith in the too-human mountain. Still, I understood Rekkan not wanting to rush the scared child. So instead of contradicting Rekkan, I shifted to the other side of Pakket to match Rekkan's spotting position.

"Just watch where you put your feet," I told Pakket, "And trust your muscles. You got this! Nothing here you can't do."

"Yeah, I know," the small boy squeaked. "I totally..." His hand floated a few inches forward, but then he teetered and tucked his hand into his side once more. "Got this?"

Panic flashed across Rekkan's face, but he quickly resumed his expression of confidence. "Slowly," Rekkan reminded Pakket. "We're right here. We got you."

Pakket's hand slipped over someone's shoulder, and Rekkan jolted forward. Pakket regained his balance and drew himself to his feet. As Pakket wavered, Kazap stretched down to nab his arms.

When Pakket disappeared from sight, giddy laughter spilled from me. Relief, or perhaps Oxygen-deprivation. Come to think of it, it was becoming hard to breathe.

The human mountain disassembled with a flurry of blundering movements.

Rekkan whipped toward me. "Wait, what about you? Can't you fit in the vent?"

I started to laugh before I noticed the sincerity in his expression. "You're serious? No, I'm not that small."

"You told me you fit."

"Yeah, but barely."

"'Barely' is still fitting."

"Except I'd probably get stuck and suffocate while unable to move."

His eyes bleared, but his expression remained stern. "Oh. That is not ideal."

His bleak realism made me giggle. "Definitely not ideal."

One side of his lips ticked up, an adorable half-smile. "Why are you laughing, sweetheart?"

Unable to tame my smile, I said, "We really need to get out of here."

Serigg nodded – a few more times than necessary, like a bobblehead. "We certainly do. So let's just..." She glanced at the door, where the lab experts knocked and flies still buzzed ominously.

"Let us in," one triplet called sweetly. "Please let us in!"

And then, considerably less sweet: "Let us in!"

Serigg turned wide eyes toward us, pinching the drooping side of her lower lip.

Some tickle at the back of my consciousness told me to panic, but I couldn't be bothered. Around us, flashlights clattered to the floor, and loved ones hugged each other. Panic depleted as rapidly as the Oxygen. I watched them with a morbid kind of humor.

"We're not going to survive much longer, are we?" I said to Rekkan.

"Probably not," he agreed. "But at least you finally got to see me tied up."

I snorted. "That wasn't quite the ropes scene from my fantasy."

"At least we got to spend a few months together."

"I wanted a lifetime."

"Well, at least we met."

I slipped to my knees. He attempted to catch me, but his arms moved in slow motion, and he stumbled, ending up on the ground beside me. The next thing I knew, his arms were around me, and our faces were inches apart.

The remaining flashlights hit the ground, highlighting the lightest hairs on Rekkan's arm as he reached toward me. He sifted through my hair, the touch clumsy but heavenly. Goosebumps of pleasure spread over my scalp.

There were worse ways to die.

"If we somehow live through this," I murmured, "I'll tie you up way better than Ivogg did."

"If we live through this..." His voice slipped away halfway through, but I read the words on his lips. "I'll marry you."

I rolled down to my back and smiled up at the ceiling. The never-ending abyss was calming. When I squinted hard enough, I could imagine the light of Ether glimmered in the distance.

Wait, no. There was an actual light.

A crash rattled my eardrums. The half-asleep crowd of refugees withdrew from the caving corner of the ceiling like a retreating wave. Rubble piled at the freshly-cleared side of the room, and light streamed through, warm and bright.

Oxygen stung my lungs like fire thawing frozen skin. My head swayed sideways to meet Rekkan's equally-shocked gaze. We both turned our eyes to the opening overhead to take in the impossible sight.

Fennikk and Razalu waved down at us beside the tire of a giant excavator.