#ive already made this comparison once and nearly died. its Cursed

[ahamkara-apologist]

oh so 8 eyed eliksni are considered lucky huh. I wonder if there are any other things or characters with a connection to aliens, the number 8, and spiders. who coincidentally might also have a connection to light based powers and resurrecting after death. vri-

KJSDHFGB SHUT THE FUCK UP, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP. It's already bad enough that Eramis is a morally grey alien lesbian pirate who's half-blind, sparks a fuckload of discourse, and has a blue theme going on with her, the last thing we need is to evoke Vriska with any greater certainty

[raetos]

Are We Dead Yet? - Part IV: Rescuers Down Under

(( Co-written with @darkestfable . @argonas / @avehi-the-adamant / @thefugitivemango , @codegemini​ , @sylaess​ for chatacter mention))

~*~*~

Landing in The Maw was more of a bang than a whimper. Fable’s soul had been torn apart between worlds, searing pain and deafening screams pulling him apart until he hit soil with an unceremonious thud. The blood hunter’s body should have been broken from the impact, but as the dust settled around him Fable realized that he was...alive? No, not alive, but not resting.

His ears rang, his head was foggy. As if every system was restarting from the ground up. The high pitched ring was subsiding, being replaced with the growls of distant thunder. The sound rumbled deep in his body before it faded away. Ash blew around his body from the constant wind, a dull roar that he could now make out between the bellows of unseen storms. A louder noise reached Fable’s senses now, and at first he thought that it must be higher winds. They wailed and moaned, echoing with metallic screams before fading. It wasn’t until the hunter opened his eyes and sat up that he realized what the sound actually was.

Souls were crying out, their wordless pleas echoing across a landscape that was far from barren. The sound was horrendous, heart wrenching. In the distance, Fable could make out what he assumed was a river with at least one bridge that crossed over. It would be a rough trek, but the jagged stone that shot up from the ground all over the landscape would make for ample cover.

Dirt crunched and plumed out from each step, a dim sound in comparison to the constant suffering all around him. The closer Fable got to the bridge, the more clearly he could see that it wasn’t a river of water at all. The mist did little to hide the floating shapes that flowed downstream, and now their screams were even louder.

They were anguished souls, cursed to the river by whatever had upset the balance.

“Fuck…” Fable muttered, pressing his back against a large, sharp stone. He couldn’t do this alone.

~*~*~

Raetos wasn’t certain how long it had been since he’d separated from Avehi and the rest of the group. He felt guilty for sneaking off after she’d helped smuggle him into the Maw, but in his growing frustration, he’d been worried any words shared would have left them parting on angry terms. Avehi was determined to help Argonas and Sylaess find Sinafay, pushing Fable’s rescue as a secondary goal. Raetos couldn’t have that. He knew Sinafay and Fable wouldn’t be in the same place, and waiting around to rescue his lover was absolutely unacceptable. Especially now that he witnessed the Maw and it’s horrors for himself. 

Finding Fable had initially seemed like an impossible trek, given the Draenei had no idea where to start looking. The moment he’d spotted the shade hounds, however, he knew what to do. He watched them with their rider, hunting down wayward spirits. He wasn’t certain if they could track specific spirits, but it was his best shot. With all the commotion caused by the Ebon Blade, Raetos found himself able to move about easily enough.

That is, until the distance between them became too great. Sneaking around was nearly impossible now. Despite his best efforts to remain unseen, the denizens seemed to detect him the moment he’d step into their vicinity. He already held a number of bruises and minor cuts from a few encounters. As it was, he couldn’t go much further alone.

He perched on top of a stone cliff, preparing to jump down onto the hound’s back. A leap of faith… that is, until a dark, winged form swooped in and grabbed him by the throat. It flew upwards, lifting him up into the air with a surprising amount of strength. The Lightforged reacted quickly. He didn’t have time to get carried off to who knows where. One hand gripped the dark angel’s wrist while the other came up to shoot a beam of Light energy into its eyes. The figure screeched as it was blinded, giving Raetos the opportunity to grab his sword and stab it into the creature’s wing. He gasped as he was released and plummeted down. Light! He hadn’t thought that part through! 

Again, he lost his breath, this time, from the impact of hitting the ground, feeling ribs, and even his crest, crack on impact. Blue blood oozed out from the wound, and also on various scrapes across his face and body from the landing. 

He hissed, gritting his teeth as he forced himself up. To say he was in a lot of pain was an understatement, but adrenaline still courses through him, giving him the push he needed. A good thing, too! His hand had barely taken hold of the hilt of his sword before he heard a howl and looked up ahead of where he lay. The shade hound and rider he’d been stalking were now charging straight at him.

~*~*~

In his slow advancement around the inhospitable land, Fable had heard hounds howling in the distance. It hadn’t been until he looked down on them from a cliff that he’d seen one of the shade hounds chasing what looked like a member of the Ebon Blade, but...glowing? There wasn’t enough time to process whatever it was, but Fable decided to act anyway. He still remembered how to fist fight.

With the rider hanging back a bit to let the hound bite their quarry, Fable made his way around behind them as silent as he could. He’d be dead(again) if a weapon was swung his way, but it could be worse, right? The blood hunter waited quietly until the rider raised his weapon to take aim, and waited until his attention was occupied.

Fable lept on the hunter’s back and wrapped one arm around the man’s neck, the other at the top of his head. A quick twist should do it, and it would show him just how human or undead these soldiers of the Jailer were. The creature clad in armor simply crumpled from the surprise attack, and the elf went down with him, landing on top of the heap. The metal bit into his skin, but his attention snapped to the Ebon Blade soldier and the hound.

It wasn’t long before some of the Ebon soldier’s more particular traits gave off his identity. Raetos had shed the heavier plate armor, but still wore the dark colors and tabard of the Ebon Blade. Even so, with the gold plated tail and hooves, long blonde hair and signature sword, marked him otherwise. 

Unfortunately for the Lightforged, he’d barely had time to get up and run before the hound was on him, pinning him down and snapping its jaws down around his forearm. 

“Hey hey! Don’t be rude!” He growled.

But as suddenly as the hound was on him, it froze. Thankfully for Raetos, killing the hunter, severed the connection to the hound. Raetos blinked, confused as he was released and the creature backed off and just… stood there. 

“Uuuh, good boy?”

He winced as he got up, hand clutching his side as he looked over towards the hunter’s body. He gasped, eyes wide as he just stared at Fable for a moment.

“Hey… no fair,” he grinned wide, though his eyes watered as a flood of emotions overtook him, “-I’m- supposed to be the heroic figure here.”

Realization flooded Fable at once, and he felt his own eyes well up with relief. The hunter was sure he was imagining the gold, and he’d seen Ebon Blade members with blonde hair. But not that shade of blue. Not accented by gold and glowing with the Light. His breath hitched when he saw that grin. It was like falling for the man all over again.

“You are, love. You are,” his voice shook as he stepped over the crumpled hunter, closing the distance between him and Raetos with a swift stride.

He could tell that his lover was bleeding, hurt. For the moment, it didn’t matter. Fable reached his arms up around Raetos’ neck and pulled him down for a desperate kiss. Guilt chewed at the back of his mind, and just the memory of where he was stabbed was enough to make the mark feel like it was on fire. But none of that mattered right now, he had his lover back!

“Sorry I died, love. It uh...wasn’t supposed t’ happen that way. I jus’... You kept your promise, ‘n I fucked up.”

Raetos choked out a sob as he wrapped his arms around Fable. Physically, it hurt like hell due to his injuries, but the relief of having his mate back in his arms pushed it all into the back of his mind. 

“Shhh,” he managed, burying his face into his lover’s hair, “It’s okay… it’s okay. I’m here… and I’m not leaving without you.”

For a moment he just lingered in the embrace; in that sweet moment of reunion, before he released his grip slightly, happy tears rolled down his cheeks as he cupped Fable’s face in his hands to just stare at it. He’d missed those blue eyes, that nose, his lips. Lips he couldn’t help but claim again with his own.

His words were swallowed up in the kiss, and for a moment their reunion was the only real thing in the world. Fable carefully pressed against Raetos as he kissed him, hands gripping at the poorly fitted armor. The blue blood from his lover's wounds wet his hands, and that was what brought him back to reality.

"I wanna keep kissin' you, but we gotta get outta here. I uh...ain't got a clue what's what. Please say you got a plan," Fable looked around, expecting another hunter.

Raetos couldn’t help but give a bit of a pout as the kiss was broken. It seemed he had completely forgotten where they were for a moment. Fable’s words were enough to snap him out of his trance. 

“—Oh! Uh… yeah! Totally,” he nodded, “I mean… sort of?”

He hadn’t exactly planned further than getting into the Maw and finding his mate. Now that he’d achieved that, he had to play it by ear. He sheepishly brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

“We weren’t too sure what to expect. Came down here with Avehi, Argonas and another one of those deader knights. Syl… something… Anyway, they were— Ow…”

He winced as he leaned over to take his sword. With the moment of euphoria passed, the pain from his wounds became more and more evident. They had to get back to the others soon, so that he could treat them.

With Fable’s hand in his, and his sword in the other at the ready, he led them up a steep slope, towards higher ground.

“Anyway… they were going to find Argo’s wife, Sinafay. She’s been here a long time, I guess, so they needed to get to her fast. I split off to come find you,” he glanced over his shoulder, offering Fable a smile, before moving on to a more dreaded yet important subject, “Hey so… what happened? Any idea who did this to you? Gotta hunt them down and destroy that dagger they used on you. Some cult ritual artifact bullshit, I guess. Only way to get you back to your body on Azeroth is to destroy the weapon that killed you.”

Adrenaline was fading, and Fable could feel his own body aching in kind. So much travelling and skulking about had left his thighs exhausted. He paused at the top of the slope when Raetos started talking, and the hunter’s ears pinned back at the question. It wasn’t a look his lover had ever seen on his face, because it wasn’t one he wore often.

Shame.

The elf cleared his throat, trying to choose his words. Were it anyone else, Fable would simply try to deflect and turn the conversation on whoever these Argo and Sinafay people were. And Syl. All names he wasn’t familiar with, not really. No faces to put to them. His cheeks burned under the dark skin. Raetos could feel the tension in Fable’s hand as it rested in the larger man’s grip.

“I was doin’ a dig t’ kill time ‘n this lady showed up. She uh… I dunno what happened but she jus’ got into my head ‘n I couldn’t stop. Raetos I… I was gonna do it. Her. If she didn’t stab me…” his gaze was on the ground. Fable wouldn’t meet his lover’s gaze.

Raetos’ brow knit into a frown, at first, in confusion. His head tilted slightly to the side, as it often did whenever he was trying to figure something out. It felt like his head was in a fog. He had to replay those words in his head a few times. Then he thought maybe they didn’t mean what he thought it did. Or maybe the wailing wind distorted the words? No. Fable’s expression confirmed it well enough. 

“...Oh…”

It was all he could think of as a reply. For once, he wasn’t quite certain what to say. He wasn’t angry… that much he knew. He and Fable hadn’t exactly determined boundaries, even after Raetos himself had almost done the same thing with Avehi. He felt hurt, to be certain, like a sharp pain in his chest, but his lover looked guilty enough, he didn’t want to express it and make him feel worse. 

“Hey,” his hand squeezed the Blood Hunter’s, “We’ll get through it, okay? Together.”

He offered a smile, showing he meant the words he’d spoken. Fable obviously regretted what he’d done, and not only because it ended up getting him killed. Raetos wasn’t the particularly jealous type, but he couldn’t pretend the thought of his mate lying with another person on his own didn’t bother him.

“If you think this makes me love you any less, you can kick that thought from your head. I’m not going anywhere… Afraid you’re stuck with me, Love. You know… as long as you’ll have me.”

Fable felt tears well up again, his voice catching in his throat as he reached up to wipe at his eyes. It left streaks of dirt on his face, and didn’t hide the emotions that had bubbled over. All the hunter could do was sniffle and squeeze Raetos’ hand. 

“I don’t deserve you,” he managed to say, wiping at the tears.

“Don’t say that,” The Draenei’s voice shook as he pulled his mate in for another tight hug. He was feeling rather light headed, and his legs felt weak, so he kneeled down, making it easier to hold the elf close. A hand came up to brush through Fable’s hair as he buried his face in his lover’s neck. 

He was well aware that they had to keep moving. The trail of blue blood would be picked up sooner rather than later. But he was so tired…

~*~*~