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The Makamou flies at Ibuki. A thousand spikes fly around him in a whirling in the mass of indistinguishable attacks. His own attacks aren’t working. They’re too focused, he needs something with a wide spread to block the never-ending onslaught.
He retreats through the forest. The attacks tear through trees as the Makamou follows him. There’s only so far he can retreat. The town's not far, and Ibuki can’t risk leading the monster towards innocent people.
Backup is coming. He knows Hibiki is on his way. But it feels like it's been hours, and he's wearing down quickly. The chase won't last much longer.
"Ibuki!"
Ibuki turns towards the familiar voice, and something lodges in his chest.
"Ibuki!" Hibiki screams. There's horror in his eyes.
Why...
Ibuki looks down and sees the reason. A rock is sticking out of his chest. Coming right out of his heart.
"Ibuki!"
Hibiki's in oni form now. Funny. Ibuki didn't hear him transform. His vision blurs and he drops his mask to see clearer.
"No!"
Pain sears through his chest, and he grabs the rocky spike sticking out of his chest. Hibiki is fighting off an onslaught of attacks as he gets closer.
"Stay in oni form!" the man yells. "As long as you're in oni form, you'll heal. If you turn back now..." An attack to his side cuts him off.
Ibuki looks down at intrusion again. It's buried deep in him, going straight through his heart. Not just buried. It's all the way through him, a long length of stone smeared red sticking out his back. This injury would kill him instantly if he was human, but even as an oni, could he really survive?
There's an inhuman scream followed the sound of the Makamou tearing its way through the forest in the other direction. It's running away.
"Ibuki!" Hibiki is in front of him, cradling his face. "Stay right there," he says, eyes wide and full of fear that Ibuki has never seen before, "Right here, understand? Don't move, don't drop your guard. If I defeat her, all her rocks should vanish. Stay alive until then, and you'll make it, okay?"
Ibuki lifts his trumpet. "Can't break it?" he wheezes. The rock tore through his lung. Every breath is painful and doesn't satisfy his need for oxygen.
Hibiki grabs the weapon in both hands. He looks Ibuki in the eyes, sudden sternness in his voice. "No. It won't work. Please, just trust me. I'll explain everything after I save you."
Ibuki nods. Even that small movement hurts. Everything hurts. Moving, breathing, thinking, standing still. He summons all of his energy and his helmet materializes around his head again.
"Stay alive for me," Hibiki says. He touches Ibuki's face one more time before tearing off into the forest.
And then there's silence. Almost silence. The wind blows through the tree and the insects buzz around. A bird sings as Ibuki strains his ears for any sounds of the fight happening in the direction the Makamou escaped.
There's nothing.
All he hears is nature around him and the labored sounds of his own breathing. Every breath hurts. Both the action itself and hearing the sound coming out of his own mouth.
A horrid sickly wheeze. Almost a whistle, but not musical enough. Gross and discordant as he pulls in another breath that provides him no relief.
Only one of his lungs is punctured. He should be able to stay alive on one lung. He's no ordinary human. Most wouldn't even consider their lungs as muscles, let alone ones that needs to be trained. But he's spent years training with his trumpet. He's built to survive this.
He hears something else. Water dripping on the leaves underfoot. No. Not water.
He looks down and sees blood pouring down the stone spike, sees it falling to the ground. There's nothing he can do about that. No amount of training will stop the heart from pumping and stop blood from leaking out of a hole running through his body.
Stay alive.
He's trained for this. Not this specific scenario, but breath control. The key to making it out of this is to move as little as possible, which means breathing as little a possible.
He takes a breath in. It hurts. Hurts so much, he could cry. Tears won't form, not in this form. At least, he assumes they won't.
He lets the breath out slow. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. He looks down at the blood spilling out of him, but his eyes won't focus.
He takes a breath in. Pain. There's nothing else. He can't think through the horrid screaming pain.
His head throbs. He isn't getting enough oxygen.
He lets it out slow. His lungs scream in pain, and they scream for air. He's not getting enough air.
He takes a breath in. His body shakes as he tries to hold it.
Not enough. Not enough air. He needs more.
His body jerks as he gasps for air. Pain rips through him, causing him to gasp again. Pain. Pain. More pain.
He grips his trumpet as he fights his body for any amount of control.
How long has he been there? It feels like he's been fighting for his life for hours. It's only been a couple of breaths.
He's not going to make it.
Pushing down the fear, he presses his lips together and forces his body still. His lungs scream for air as he centers himself.
He takes in a breath. One movement at a time. Don’t collapse into the pain. Stay alive.
He lets the breath out. The world around him darkens. His consciousness is fading. If he passes out, he’ll revert to human form. He has to stay awake.
He takes in a breath. Pain. Pain runs all through him. Overwhelms ever sense, every thought. He’s not going to make it.
He lets the breath out. The sound of his wheeze is inaudible under the sound of cracking rock. His knees buckle and he falls. How had he been standing before? He hadn’t. The stone had fixed him in place, upright.
Wait.
That meant.
He takes a breath in. His body screams in pain, but not the same way. The pain changes. His body knits itself back together as he lies in the dust of the stone that’d nearly killed him.
“Ibuki!”
The voice is faint, far away. Ibuki can’t even move his head to look for the source, let alone respond.
“Ibuki!” Hibiki is at his side, a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He lets out a sigh of relief. “Good. You made it. Just hold out a little longer. You need to heal more before you sleep.”
Ibuki closes his eyes. A little longer. Just a little…more...