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This was wrong, so very very wrong! They had fought together countless times, side by side, unstoppable as long as they had each other's back. Much greater enemies than these had fallen at their feet. They always watched each other’s backs. So how had something so simple gone so horribly wrong?
The bleeding wasn't stopping, despite how hard Toa was pressing his massive hands into Felix's way too small body that was growing paler and paler by the second. He was still conscious, for now at least. Toa could tell by the heartbreaking sounds the man in his arms made. Never had he heard such a horrible mixture of panting, gasping, whining, and whimpering. Felix was tough, it took a lot to make him admit he was in pain and even more to take him down completely. But even when he was hurt Toa could always protect him till Iris could come and fix it. But Iris wasn't here, and all Toa could do was offer hollow apologies and reassurances as his best friend squirmed in his arms, digging blood-soaked hands into his arm and chest as the wizard searched for any sort of comfort through the agony. He was so pale, and what parts of him weren't soaked in blood were soaked in sweat as the blood loss took its toll. Part of Toa silently wished Felix would just pass out, he wasn’t sure how much more his heart could take of the animalistic pained noises coming from below him. But if Felix lost consciousness there was a good chance he’d never wake up again. So Toa kept talking to him, panicked ramblings of a desperate man trying to hold together the shards of a shattered vase.
It had been fine at first, or at least as fine as it could have been. A caster had managed to send an ice shard into Felix’s stomach while Toa had been distracted. He would never forget that horrible pained cry Felix made when he was hit. He had stayed on his feet, obviously in agony but never willing to leave his best friend in combat alone. They always watched each other’s backs. Toa had taken this as a sign he was okay for the moment and let the pure seething rage overtake his senses. Their attackers didn’t last very long after that, and if a certain caster was beaten beyond recognizable as human they probably had it coming. And then that gasp. A gasp of pure surprise and pain, a sound that would haunt Toa’s nightmares. There Felix was, standing with the shard of ice in his hands. Shock, fear, and pain will make you do strange things, and as smart as Felix was, he had still removed that shard from his body. They had both stared as the wound began to bleed. Not the dripping or even steady stream of blood that came from most injuries, no this was the type of bleeding that happened when something extremely important had been damaged.
“Toa, I-I think I made a big mista–.”
Toa had caught him as he dropped. Of course he did. They always watched each other’s backs.
That had only been minutes ago. Why wasn’t the bleeding stopping? Toa was pressing hard and yet he couldn’t seem to fight back against the blood that flowed between his fingers with alarming pressure. Somewhere along the line, he had the sickening realization that the gushing happened in rhythm with Felix’s heart, each beat of the thing giving him life pushing him closer and closer to death. Felix’s grip on his arm and chest was weakening as the whimpering and whining faded away to nothing but struggled panting. Toa felt something warm and sticky splatter across his face as Felix made a choking noise. Toa froze, staring at the liquid now oozing from between his best friend’s lips. The contrast between the red blood and Felix’s pale face was haunting. And yet somehow through it all Felix was still awake, staring at him through unfocused half-lidded eyes. Toa felt the hand on his wrist squeeze him weakly as Felix mumbled out what vaguely sounded like an apology. And then he went limp. Toa watched his best friend’s eyes roll back as the blood-soaked hands that had been desperately clinging to him fell limply to the ground.
Toa screamed, an ear-piercing wail of heartbreak and grief. This wasn’t fair! They always watched each other’s backs! His best friend was dead, gone from this plane leaving Toa alone. His best friend was… breathing? It was barely there, hardly noticeable, but he was breathing. Maybe he still had time to fix this. Looking around desperately for something, anything he could use Toa’s eyes landed on a still-flaming branch from a fireball Felix had shot earlier. Toa remembered that sometimes back on his home island when someone was seriously injured, the warriors would burn the wounds closed to buy time for the healers to get there. It didn’t always work, and sometimes it caused more damage than good, but it was an option. Oh gods, could he actually bring himself to do that? Looking down at the limp body in his arms and the warm red puddle that was still growing around where he knelt, Toa made a decision. The man he currently held meant more to him than anything in Avantis, anything beyond Avantris. If death wanted to take him fine, let it try! Toa wasn’t going to let Felix slip away without one hell of a fight. They always had each other’s backs after all.
Toa thought the bleeding had been fast when he was pushing on the wound, but when the pulled his hand away it was as if a dam had burst. Toa rethought his entire plan in that moment, could he get up and grab the flaming branch before Felix completely bled out? He didn’t really have another choice. So he ran and grabbed the branch, ignoring the bodies he passed as he went, before dropping to his knees again by Felix’s side. He didn’t want to do this, but he didn’t want to be alone even more. So taking a deep breath Toa pushed the flame into Felix’s stomach. As much as Toa had been dreading the screaming, he now realized the silence was much more terrifying. Felix didn’t stir at all as flesh melted to flesh, effectively stopping the bleeding in the most grotesque way possible. Toa tried his best to turn his senses off, to ignore the sight, the sound, and oh gods the smell, but he knew he would never be able to wipe those memories from his mind. Once the bleeding had stopped completely Toa threw the branch as far away as he could and picked Felix up and held him, just held him and sobbed. Toa couldn’t even tell if the wizard was still alive, and he couldn’t bring himself to check. The emotions and stress had boiled over and he had nothing else to give. So he just held his best friend and cried. They always had each other’s backs. Toa wasn’t leaving him behind.
He had no idea how much time passed. He didn’t care. How could things have gone so horribly wrong? They were a team. They protected each other. Thinking back to when everything had first gone wrong, Toa played the fight back in his mind. Oh, gods no. It hadn’t added up, Felix should not have been where he was for him to have been hit. He had been well out of harm’s way so Toa could take the hits. At least he was supposed to be, sickeningly realization hit Toa so hard he couldn’t breathe. That shot had been for him, it had been lined up perfectly for his head. Felix had protected him and taken the shot. They always had each other’s backs. Felix had taken that to heart. Toa hated that promise now more than ever. Felix was never supposed to die for him! Guilt and shame and utter despair washed over Toa as he let out a scream for a second time that evening, though this time he didn’t stop. He just cried and screamed and yelled and sobbed, never once letting the limp body in his arms go.
He didn’t remember much of the details after that. Somewhere along the line there had been yelling that had gotten closer. Then there were voices around him. They were yelling and talking to him and though he recognized those voices he couldn’t understand the words. He felt as if he were underwater. Someone had tried to take Felix from his arms and Toa had fought back. They always had each other’s backs. He vaguely remembers the sound of an instrument and being hit with some sort of magic that made him feel strangely calm and tired. Felix was pulled from his arms and this time Toa couldn’t stop it. He felt hands on him and heard gentle soothing words as flashes of light blue filled his vision. Lufti. And if Lufti was here then Iris was here. Sure enough, looking now it had been Iris who had pulled Felix from his arms and he now watched as Iris, Hyrja, and Carpice all frantically worked together to heal the wizard, each contributing with their own style of magic. He still couldn’t understand what they were saying as he desperately tried to tell what was happening. Please let Felix still be alive. His attention was drawn away to something else though, a dagger. Felix’s dagger, laying on the ground covered in its owner’s blood. But that wasn’t what was important.
What was important was the small blue bird huddled next to the dagger. He stared at her, and she stared back, awake and aware, breathing and alive. And as Beatrice let out a chirp, Toa felt hope for the first time that night.