Even with all of the odds working against them, their hands managed to meet, and for once touching Anise was a blessing rather than something he had to recoil from. Still, he could tell how weak her grip was and realized that she wouldn't even be able to move herself forward and out of the cage. Instead, he was forced to pull her himself.

As he'd guessed, her head made it through the gap without any problem, although trying to maneuver the rest of her body through was proving difficult, especially since he only had one hand to work with.

In the end, he had to be rough, yanking her further out and hoping that the momentum would be enough to twist her body the way it needed to be positioned in order to squeeze through the open space. He wished he could apologize to her then and there, but all of those words could be exchanged when he got her to safety.