The look that Renji was describing was most likely a look of utter shock and terror. But Artemis couldn't be sure. He'd lost all feeling in his face when he'd heard what Renji had told him.

"N... No," Artemis finally found his mouth after a few tries. "No Renji, I won't do any such thing--it's not necessary. You're going to be fine," Artemis' voice was wavering. "The Captain says we'll find a healer and you'll be fine... you can't die while I live, you just... can't."

The tears spilled over his eyelashes and down his cheeks. "It's not fair... it can't happen this way, I won't let it. I didn't even have a chance to tell you...!"

The way this was going, Artemis was almost certain that nothing would be okay. If Renji died for his sake, nothing would ever be right again. Renji served people, and what did Artemis do that was so grand? Serve himself? No, this was all wrong, this was backwards. He should have been the one suffering from the poison now, not Renji. Not Renji, who had been his first friend here and the one he turned to regularly for sound, down-to-earth advice. This wasn't fair at all. This couldn't happen.

"TOBOE!" Artemis shouted, gripping Renji's hand as though that would keep him alive. "WHERE IS THE GODDAMNED HEALER?!"

He'd never felt this powerless before.