After a few minute of scrounging through the rain, Grayson was struggling to maintain his Astral form. He had been able to rescue a few more of the quickly dwindling bunker mates, however most of the ones he reached were far too ravaged by the acid to save, if they weren't already pooling in their own innards.
After one final glance through the pouring rain, Gray closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, forcing his body to reunite with his Astral form. The pain instantly exploded in his chest, coursing through his lungs and into his veins. Sweat drenched every inch of his body, a side effect that confused him, seeing as his body was usually inert while he was spiriting away.
A pounding headache and wave of nausea accompanied the searing pain that clogged every single passage in his body, however he pushed it aside, struggled onto shakey legs. He made his way down the hall to near the entrance of the bunker, looking at the mottled bodies of the acid's victims. Most of them were screaming in pain, shouting incoherant commands and pleas, however a few of them remained still, leaving a haunting, ghostly image.
Gray scrounged through the survivors, helping in any way he could, however his medical knowledge of the physical body was rudimentary at best, leaving him to just hold hands and whisper hopeful lies.
After he had soothed the girl he had witnessed first be rescued by Harley, his stomach dropped as he realized he hadn't seen her. Gray had assumed she was safe, seeing as she was in the bunker and could possibly control the acid, however her absence was disconcerning, to say the least.
'Harley! Har!' His voice rang out over the din, however it was quickly swallowed among the screams of the others. He scavenged through the crowd until he came upon her unconcious form, lying face down on the ground.
He fell to his knees and pulled her into his lap as tears began to cloud his eyes, praying to every single entity out there that she was still alive. After a moment, he felt her Astral energy coursing through her body, dispelling his worries.
The commander came over after fixing up the others that were in more grave danger and he looked at his two bunker heroes and smirked and shook his head.Two of the most hard headed people he knew.
Crouching down next to Grayson he put his hand on Harley's arm and the acid burns disappeared. Her coloring returned to normal and he looked at Grayson who looked a little grey himself from all of the astral projecting he had been doing. "Sorry guys I wish I could restore your energy and not just heal you alone. Unfortunately, that I can not do. I can take you to your room though.
Cody looked at Grayson,
"I'll take her to her room if you can't. It's ok, I know you two are together don't worry."Gray cautiously watched Cody heal Harley back to full health with a skeptical look in his eye. Seeing new super powers that he hadn't encountered before was still a sensation for him, and he didn't want anyone harming Harley further.
After a moment, he cleared his throat and blinked repeatedly, still trying to process what the commander had said. After a few seconds, he once again cleared his throat and nodded.
"I think... I think I might drop her..."Gray trailed off, slowly turning back to see Harley's face. The exhaustion of being out of his body for almost ten minutes was massive, causing a hint of bitterness to creep onto his face as he realized the true drawback of his powers.
Without another word, he pulled Harley into a sitting position and helped the commander get her into his arms, gently stroking her hair away from her face.
Cody picked Harley up and walked slowly enough for Gray to keep up with him. He was a bit more tired than he realized from all of the healing but he was still ok to get Harley and Gray to her room. Once there he put Harley on her bed and took her boots off and put them by her bed.
Harley was out cold and she only began to resurface a little when she felt her boots leaving her feet. She snuggled up to her pillow and mumbled,
"Grayson..." Cody grinned and left Gray in there with her and he walked out of the room shutting the door quietly.
Gray gently collapsed onto the bed beside Harley, laying down with his arm tucked under his head. The other arm found Harley's fingers and entwined them in Gray's, giving the man peace of mind.
"Hey, love." Gray smiled gently and let out a small cough, forcing the nausea that still persisted back down. He wasn't going to leave her.
He sat there in silence, observing her drowsy face with a peaceful smile playing at his lips. The quiet of the room paired with the mild darkness brought comfort and drowsiness to the man.
Harley felt his fingers intertwine with hers and she rolled closer to him and put her arm around him and laid her head on top of his shoulder and hugged herself to him with her eyes closed.
"Did we get most of them? I held it up as long as I could." Harley mumbled.
A brief flash of the disintegrating victims flared through Grayson's mind. The skin melting away, blood being secreted through their pores, the eyeballs dissolving into a sludge as the skulls emerged from underneath...
Poor bastards...Grayson coughed again and forced the thoughts away, faking a smile.
"Yeah, you did good. You got them out."Grayson couldn't help but think of the ones he didn't get to in time, the boiling skin, and the screams...
Harley mumbled something and sniffled. Tears were running onto her pillow.
"I covered most of them, but not all. I couldn't get to all of them." She buried her face into his chest. Her incoherent mumbling was lost amidst the sniffles and tears. She just held onto him. She wasn't going to let him go. Not at the rate she was losing people. The images of the acid victims in her mind was excrutiating on her heart.
"We have to figure out how to predict the acid rain or how to stop the damage or I don't know. I just know we have to figure it out. I'm just glad you weren't out there physically. At least your astral self can't be effected by the acid." She lay her head back down on him and murmured.
"I'm so tired."Gray pulled her closer to him, resting his chin on top of her head. He pulled Harley's head against his chest and sighed, synching his breathing with hers.
"I know. Me too."The exhaustion, both mental and physical, began to overwhelm him, numbing his insides. The images of the victims raced through his mind, however they elicited no response from Grayson. They played like a film on repeat, never ending, silent. Their ghastly images haunted Gray to the point of collapse, drowing him in his own thoughts.
As the darkness closed in, it isolated the both of them. They were together, but in their own separate hells.
They were divided, united only in their misery.