Chapter Text
You were exhausted, and somehow you could argue it was more than that.
Carrying a burning skull in your hands was harder than you thought. While the lower part of the skull you held wasn’t where the fire bloomed, it felt similar to holding a freshly hot bowl of food straight from the oven. You spent most of your time running, pushing your feet into the ground as hard as possible while tossing the osteon in your palms back and forth gently. You could hear the skeleton whine out, “Watch it!” as you shifted the weight in your hands once more.
“Trying to focus on running away right now!” You hollered as you took a glance behind yourself. The only blur of colors you have seen so far were the various shades of grey and aqua from the nuclear flowers and rock you have passed, but you were certain you had seen what resembled a four-fingered claw, about the size of a car slamming against the wall.
You could only process that as the harsh sound of crumbling walls erupts your eardrums, making you cry out and dig your shoes faster. You could feel your stomach do flips and tricks a gymnast could only dream of, way past due for food and rest. You wondered which one could be more hungry, whatever was chasing you, or … well, you.
“Can’t ya pick up the pace a bit more, shithead? It's on your tail!” The skull's shrill scream passes the ringing in your ears, which makes your developing headache worse than a second ago, thanks to him. You can't help but let out a growl in return, “We're gonna make it out, just shut up and let me focus!”
“You’re shittin’ me!” he continued to shriek, “You've been doin’ nothin’ but running for the past two minutes! Do ya even know where the hell the exit is?”
“We're gonna find out sooner or later because this thing is gonna get tired eventually!”
At least you hoped so, and more preferably before you could too. You could have sworn there was a fork in the cave, two prongs. It's got to be close to here somewhere. You could recognize some scratches on the wall to your left, still hearing the loud ‘thunk thunk thunk’ from the beast behind you. You've been around situations where you had to use problem-solving skills under pressure, but being chased down by some unknown creature was a bigger issue.
You didn't bring your weapon, it's back in your ship. If you had it, you wouldn't have an issue trying to knock this thing out. You could feel your chest grow heavy at the realization of it, and the osteon in your hands feels like a sack of bricks──
“Point my head forward! I want to see!” he speaks, dragging you out of your thoughts. You blink as you reply, now wheezing,
“Huh? Does it matter? You just told me that you had no idea where we were!”
“Will ya listen t’ me and do what I said? Not like you have any better ideas!”
“What? But you──”, You tilt the head around, fingers tucked under the upper jaw; meanwhile, you try to hold the back of the skull with your thumbs. It's an awkward position, but this osteon insisted on looking where you were running.
“Perfect,”, His eyes swirled around, lightly rocking the skull itself in your palms. Fire blazed, barely under your nose as you heard another rumbling growl behind you. The beast’s claws scrape the gravel below, crunching and clawing. You could hear the heavy, ragged breathing, a mist of hot steamy air tickling the back of your neck,
“Okay? What now? Uhhh, skull dude?”
“Sharp left!”
“What?”
“There! Right there, right──NOW! HERE!”
You gasp as you clench your teeth, doing as you're told. Your shoes almost tripped over themselves as you forced your body to turn to the left. There was another route, and you continued to sprint down. The path you have taken started to be more narrow as you went.
You feared being stuck in a dead end, “Are you sure you──”
“Keep going!” there was complete confidence in his tone. He sounded nothing like he did earlier, whimpering as soon as you joked about leaving him behind. You can't help but continue to question this situation. He's not tricking you into doing something stupid, is he? Or maybe he's trying to pretend he knows what he's doing? You were unsure, especially with that serious tone of the osteon's…
The walls were dragging closer to you, threatening to trace your shoulders and elbows. You still heard the echoing roars from behind, but the crunch and scraping of the claws were fading back.
Fading?
You kept going until you felt safe enough to slow down. A sprint, a jog, to speed walking. The roaring and hot breaths have faded; instead of sounding like it was behind your heel, you felt its presence a couple of feet away.
“Whhhha…”
You mumble as you turn around, the flames twirl with you like a ribbon as you drag your eyes up. Whipping its claws and snapping its jaw, the being that has chased you was trying to wriggle its body out from between the walls. It reminds you of a mix of a reptile, a bear, and a bird. Big bug-eyed with pin-pricked pupils swirled around in different directions as it let out growls that reminded you of tearing thick sheets of paper. You didn't have too much time to analyze the thing, because you wanted to get out. As you backed up, you heard the osteon cheer and whoop in your hands, laughing.
“Fuckin’ stupid! Yeah! Look at ya now! That's what you get for rippin’ me apart, dumbass! Woo!”
“This thing is how you lost your body?” You asked with slight disgust in your tone. To put it simply, the monster that has been chasing you looked more disappointing than you imagined. The roaring and stomping was intimidating, and you expected this sad excuse for an animal to look… well, scary. Thinking about it while you look at it it just looks like a sad furry chicken.
And thinking of it this way, the fact that this osteon was defeated by it is kinda funny too. You can't help but smirk as you chew your lip, “Wow.”
The osteon’s cheers have died down, now only stuttering as he lost his grin, “That thing no joke! Ripped my fuckin’ head off! You should have fought it yerself!”
You squint as you glance back up to the thing as it continues to squirm in place. Yeah, It was an awkward position, and It looks like they wedge themselves pretty tight in there. It may look pretty disappointing right now, but you had to remind yourself that it had busted down a few walls on its way to chase you.
Ah yeah.
“Yeah, whatever. Let's just…”
You finally felt comfortable enough to turn your back on the chicken-bear-thing, walking down the path you had ended up in. It was still narrow, but the further you walked with the osteon, eventually, the walls departed, allowing more space for you and the skull. You breathed out slowly, feeling your calves and forearms ache with each step. After all of this, you're going to make this guy give you something in return.
“Hey, you,” you muttered as your shoes echoed the now quiet cave path.
“Hah?”
“How did you know to go that direction specifically? I thought you said you didn't know where you were.”
“Oh,” the skull let out a long ‘uhh’, it stretched out for a couple of seconds until he mumbled, “Instincts, I guess.”
You had a simple thought pop in your head at that moment, but as soon as it bloomed, you had to push it away immediately. ‘I need to smash this guy's head!’. It was obviously not a great idea, and you didn't need to explain why. You did express your frustration with a simple, “Aaaaare you fucking kidding me?”
The skull snickered, “Ay! I just said before, it was better than whatever the fuck you were doing!”
“Yeah, but what if that leads us to something else, like, I dunno, a dead end? Were you really gonna risk that? We could have died! What if the walls weren't narrow enough?”
“We're out of there, aren't we?” His question was said in a low rumble, his flames fluttering softly, “Should thank me fer’ savin’ our asses.”
You could feel your entire body grow stiff after hearing that, but you forced yourself to slowly focus from top to bottom to relax your muscles. It's gonna be a strange day. It's already been stressful, especially since you're still hungry. Especially that you're probably gonna walk out of this planet with nothing in your hands. Dammit, thinking about it, you wished you could have scanned that weird chicken-bear before you left. It could have been worth something!
You imagined yourself physically flying in the air and tossing this damn guy into some trash can, away from this. Somehow just thinking about leaving is helping you calm down. Maybe just focus on that for now. You wished you could have called up a friend to explore with you, especially hearing that there was barely any life on this planet.
You circle your left thumb slightly on the dusty bone, humming, “Why are you here then?”
“Huh? Oh. Trinkets.” He replied casually, you could feel his eyeballs roll on your hands, “Heard there may be some good shit here. What, were ya here for th’ same reason?”
You hummed, nodding, “Yeah. It's not something I always do,” your eyebrows knit as you are reminded of your growling stomach. Ewww. It's making noise now. You can feel your cheeks growing red. You whined, “I just need some money to get food. I don't like going out hunting all the time.”
“Huh. Pity.”, a curt response, and from how the skull shifted in your hands, it resembled a shrug. Wow, this guy could not give anymore of a damn, could he? It makes you wonder if leaving him behind was a better idea than this. Unlike him, you probably had more of a heart…
Well, physically.
His voice echoed, “What's yer name anyway?”
“Me?”
“Yes you,” you could feel him roll his eyes in your hands, ew, “Y’ really think I'm gonna leave this place without knowing yer name? C'mon,”
You mumbled your name, nothing too special. Just some guy who's a merc and was low on money. You already mentioned the other stuff so you didn't have much to say. The skull hummed afterwards. From the way you slightly looked down, after a laugh from him, you see him smile.
“I'm surprised you haven't heard of me yet, but meh. Maybe you'll recognize me when we find my body.”
“Whaddia, some lost prince or something?” you snickered, still trying to dodge the pompadour flame, “I don't know too many people in general. Just a handful.”
You don't know if you can count a couple of bounties you've seen, smacked in a poster with a six digit number underneath. You haven't met them, but it looked interesting to risk it all and throw yourself into a witch hunt. Some were Terrans, some were outlaws that looked like they'd kill you just for looking at them wrong. It's been a while since you've seen any news, so you weren't up to date at the moment.
“Shame, it's fun to travel in groups.” The osteon mumbles as you glaze your eyes around the walls. You were trying to see if you recognized this area at all, nothing much.
You had to ask, “Got separated?”
“Not really,” the skull answers with a tone of annoyance, “Didn't need my gang with me for a dusty ass planet like this.”
“Underestimated it. I mean, I did the same thing. I should have come here with a friend. I also should have brought my gun, but, yeah,”
“Damn, n’ I thought I came unprepared. At least I brought my own fuckin’ weapon.”
“Which is now with your body, I assume?”
“Dammiiiit!” He let out a groan, rolling his eyes back like a grumpy teenager. You can't help but flinch because he was pushing his own skull backwards a wee bit too close. The fire, oh shoot, don't let it touch your face!
“It's──hey, I will help you find your body, just, it's gonna be a while. You owe me after this, you hear me?” you half assured, but also made it clear that you weren't going to let this guy run off without a price, “Like I said, I could have just left you there.”
There's a few swears that were muttered under his breath, and for the rest of the trip, it seemed to be the only thing the osteon did while you walked. Your eyes felt heavy, and holding the weight in your hands was starting to make your forearms ache. Your nose did tingle a couple times, being caught by the tip of the flames that flicker below. Doesn't help that the osteon in your hands lets out a small giggle after hearing you cry out.
Your footsteps were the closest thing to the only sound you could hear, and the repeated noise that echoed throughout your walk was driving you nuts. Left foot, right foot. Just how long have you been walking with this skull?
Left, right, left. You can feel your body slightly lean to the right, but your catch yourself and try to readjust.
Left, right, left. Did you close your eyes for a second? Two seconds? Is everything starting to feel more distant than usual? You needed to hurry up, maybe you should run.
Left, right. No, if you run, you'll run out of energy. You'd end up fainting and dropping this guy.
Left. Who cares… you're hungry. Maybe you should ditch him. He can find his own body, hell, if he has this so called “gang”, maybe he can be found by then later. If they cared they'd come over──.
Bump.
Huh?
You look down hazily, not even hearing what the osteon was saying in your arms. You felt something roll under your shoe. It looked like a white stick. Groggy and disoriented, you dared to bend over and pick it up, tucking the skull to the side of your hip.
Actually, this stick is pretty heavy. It's got multiple curled branches that touch in the middle like a cave. Was there something dark and green on the ground too?
Fabric, two arms. To your right there's a pair of pants, it reminds you of a silly cartoon where someone exploded and all that was left were their clothes and bones.
Oh. Bones?
You blink as you huffed out, “Hey, hey I think I found something. Could this be it? Huh?”
Everything around you felt like it was rolling you over like a washing machine. The ground below shook, just for a second before your head collided with the dusty rock below. You hear screaming from the osteon, and you swore he was in your right hand just a second ago…
Sleepy. You're really sleepy and the ground feels cold. You wished you had something to cover you up with right now. The warmth that was in your arms is now gone. Did he roll off somewhere?
More yelling, clattering bones, distant growls. A deep voice letting out a grunt or two as metal slices through thin air.
You didn't care anymore, you're tired. You can wake up and figure out what's going on later.
You wondered if the osteon would be okay with it.
…
Your body was lifted up. You're floating, no, you're being held. Your eyes can only see the same rocky ground as before, but you felt like you were walking on the ceiling. There were backs of shoes, they popped in every step or two. Not your shoes. Your stomach was wrapped over something bumpy and uncomfortable, and your hands draped in front of you like a loose towel over a rack.
You let out a groan as you raise your hand up to your face, thumb and forefinger rubbing the corner of an eye. To your left you could feel a strong sense of heat.
The heat felt familiar.
You can't help but squirm in whatever grasp you were in, but the hard arm that held you down kept you tightly against the captor’s body. You felt your heart quicken, memories rushing back to you. Where are you now? Are you in a different part of the cave? How long were you out for? That osteon, where is he now?
Your heart felt like it was going to fall into a pit and never come back. You felt immense guilt, recalling the thoughts you had as you fainted, probably dropping the skull. Wherever he is, he's probably extremely pissed and feels betrayed by all of this. You were mad, sure, but you don't want to leave him out like that!
You tried to kick your legs, swinging your fists as you cried out, “Hey! Put me down! Put me down or I'll kick you!”
“Ay! Cut it out!”
You didn't recognize the voice right away; you focused on wiggling your body to thrash away, “I said, put me down! I'll get you! I'll kick your ass!”
You felt the world spin again, hearing a harsh grunt from the guy who held you. Your back met the ground and took the air out of your lungs. You clenched your teeth, bending your knees to scoot backward. You were ready to chuck your fists up if you needed to, already about to climb to your feet until your eyes met the other.
Same head as earlier. Jagged teeth, black scalars, green aura, triangular green pupils, and a pompadour flame. He was tall, and it felt weird to no longer look down to see the head, and it was strange to see it connected to such a tall body.
You don't know how but there was a creeping feeling that you should not have thrown those threats around like that.
The osteon was not happy.