Shail was used to this. He had these lungs, this cough, since childhood. He couldn't even remember a time without it. He should have never thought he put it behind him. But still, he knew how to deal with it by now, forcing his breathing into some kind of control by sheer mind power. It wouldn't last, but it offered him a chance to respond to the fox he'd fixed in his line of sight.

"I refuse." Two simple words, but even behind his struggling breath, he managed to sound defiant. Once again, Shail lowered his gaze, focusing on his body once again. He didn't mind if he had to stay with a monster like this since he got caught by his own failures. It wasn't loyalty to the others that drove him, but an entirely different kind of stubbornness. It was simply because the being asked it that he said no.