When it throws him to the floor he's actually winded, and he can't speak for several moments, can only grunt with the effort of twisting and writhing against the floor. It feels like there's a weight pressing down on him, a too-familiar sensation of being stepped on, pressing the air out of him, even though he is nothing but. All of this, everything that's happened to him, everything he feels, was it all just due to the whims of the rift?

Tim is giving himself up, he's agreeing, no, no, fuck, no, what is it going to do to him, how is it going to - Jay twists his neck to look up, to see the cat reaching out, see Tim look him in the eye one last moment-

"Tim!" he screams, the cry erupting from him just as Tim's body jerks and collapses to the floor.

The cat releases him, just like that. The sensation of having a body again comes all at once, and it's dizzying, it's nauseating, he's hot and cold all at once and his heart is pounding and he feels hollowed out. The cat is cheerful in its departure. Jay stares up at it, ready to growl like an animal, scream out every empty threat he can think of, but then it's gone.

Jay scrambles forward, awkward, clumsy, until he's huddled over Tim, lifting him up. He's so heavy. He's so still.

"Tim," he whispers. God, no, no, no. "Tim, please, wake up. Tim." He moves one hand to Tim's forehead, his neck, feeling for a pulse. It's there, thready and slow. He's not dead, he's just - out.

Tim's body is either empty or in remission.

Jay feels himself trembling, his fingers tightening uselessly around Tim's arms, digging into his shirt.

"Tim, please," he says again, and again, and again. "Tim, come back, don't - don't leave me."

It's over.

They got what they wanted, got it by using him. Let him play the pawn in their hilarious little game.

Jay curls up, clinging to the nearly lifeless body, he doesn't know for how long.