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Mountain remembers it like it was yesterday, despite happening nearly two years ago. It was just barely spring and the winter snow had let up, leaving the earth damp and yellow. He had just finished breakfast and was sitting in the dining room, putting on his (unfortunately still necessary) winter boots. He typically got up with the sun during winter, but when the snow began to melt he would wake before she rose.
Which is why it shocked him when he heard a door open from down the hall, noticing a little fire ghoul tiptoeing back to his room from Aether’s. Mountain smiled to himself and cleared his throat, loud enough that he had turned to look at the earth ghoul, caught.
Dew sighed and stumbled his way over to Mountain, arms crossed. Mountain’s smile grew as he bent back down to finish tying his laces.
“Where are you going?” Dew whispered.
“Over to the greenhouse,” Mountain grunted when he finished tying off his boots, looking up at Dew. “The snow is gone, so repairs need to be done now.”
Dew sighed and kissed the top of Mountain’s hair, laughing quietly as he plucked a newly sprouted firelily off his horns. Mountain laughed with him, nuzzling his face into Dew’s cheek before standing.
“I can assume we won’t see you until dinner, then?” Dew held the flower in between his fingers, not looking up at Mountain. He knew that look, though, the sadness in his voice giving him away. Mountain hummed and tucked a strand away behind Dew’s ear before caressing his cheek. “You’ll call if you need help, right?”
“Always, Firelily.” Mountain lifted Dew’s face to see those tired eyes look back up at him. Mountain kissed him briefly before letting go, heading to the front door. “Go back to sleep, I’ll see you later.”
He heard Dew begin walking away with a mutter before closing the door behind him. The cold air welcomed him and he sighed. He watched as the earth woke up around him on his way to the greenhouse. The sun was just behind the horizon off the lake, letting the critters know it’s time to get ready for the day.
___
It was around noon when Mountain hoisted himself up from the ground. He could hear the Abby waking up around him all morning, Siblings making their way through the gardens to get to various locations, whether it be the church or for the mess hall. birds calling for a new day. Nearing noon the wind had picked up slightly, making the greenhouse groan quietly at the movements.
Mountain had been content all morning as he assessed the damages around the greenhouse and gardens. Not much needed to be fixed this year; all the earth ghouls had done a good job at making sure nothing would go wrong before winter came, and all of that hard work seemed to pay off.
Except for one thing. Not being out in the greenhouse all winter meant that the assigned Siblings had to take care of the few things that needed daily care no matter the season while all the earth ghouls stayed inside and hibernated.
Mountain made his way to the back of the greenhouse, noticing a very broken door that led to the lake. He sighed quietly as he assessed the damage. The door was not on the hinges, just propped up to look as though they were. The hinges themselves were rusted over, most likely from the snow that made its way in and not being oiled properly. That meant a few of the plants near the door were also frostbitten, near death.
With a gruff growl that would send anyone running, Mountain made his way out of the greenhouse. The wind had picked up dramatically, forcing him to tie his hair back. He walked through the courtyard to make his way to a dingy shed, one that the other’s used to smoke weed when they couldn’t inside their own den. He opened the door and took a look around. A bookcase was in the back that held various tools, including his own personal toolbox. He left it alone for now and made his way to a small box next to it, one that had things like nails, screws, and thankfully, hinges.
He heard a sharp groan from the shed as the wind picked up again, forcing the door shut and he pursed his lips. He never hated the shed, but he knew one day it’d come crashing down, no matter what they did. They’d have to build a new one eventually, and that made him somewhat excited for the molded thing to come down. Just not while he or anyone else he cared for was in the damn thing.
He opened his tool box and threw what he needed inside, closing and picking it up. As he went to grab the door handle and jiggle it open, he heard a loud crack, and before he could react he was forced to the ground with a shout, toolbox dropping from his grip and the contents from inside flying everywhere.
He heaved in to try and even out his breathing as he took in his surroundings. The door was still closed with a large piece of wood laying next to it. He looked up and saw where the wood came from; the roof. Well, he thought, the wood definitely was not dry from the snow, so it made sense. Just terrible timing.
Next thing he took in was himself. He was forced to kneel by the impact of what he assumed was the plank, and assuming from the sudden pain from his shoulder, it wasn’t hard to figure out what it hit. A few of the things inside his box had hit him in the legs and arms, which caused minor scrapes and scratches, nothing he couldn’t deal with.
Last thing he took in was the blood. There was blood all over his arm; and a lot of it. Too much, actually. It wasn’t hard to trace the injury back to the gnash in the middle of his forearm, where a razor blade had made its way after the crash.
He cursed. How did that manage to happen? He wasn’t stupid enough to take it out, but he could tell by the blood seeping through the razor that it had hit something, and he needed to do something about it quickly. His head was beginning to swim as he used his good arm to reach for his- phone. Right, he left it in the greenhouse. He needed to call for help from someone, anyone, but what could he do?
He sat flat on his butt against the sofa and thought before his brain finally caught up with himself. He can call out, he has a link with his pack. He took in a deep breath to try and clear his head to call.
Help.
He didn’t know who he called out to. Maybe one person, maybe his entire pack. He used his good hand to clutch above the wound, finally figuring to add pressure to it.
Mountain? Dewdrop.
Help. He called back.
Where are you? There was a frantic energy in that, and Mountain cursed himself. Obviously he needed to say where.
Shed. He took in a deep breath as his vision started to grow splotchy. Old shed.
During the few minutes it took for Dew to get to him he watched as the blood began to pool onto and around his leg, his breathing becoming ragged. The doorknob wiggled, but no one came in.
“Mountain?” He could now hear the franticness in Dew’s voice. “Mountain, are you here?”
“Yeah,” Mountain called back, albeit weakly. “Open the door.”
“I can’t,” Dew wiggled the doorknob again before, Mountain could only assume, he slammed into it. “Shit, are you blocking it?”
Mountain looked down and groaned. The plank. “It’s… blocked.”
“Fuck, Mountain, fucking open it!” Dew tried pushing through the door again. Mountain mustered a little energy (when had he lost it all?) and used his foot to move the plank just enough for Dew to finally open the door.
Dew pushed through the crack and was on Mountain immediately, assessing the damage.
“Dude,” Dew whispered, his own hand coming up to help add pressure to the wound. “What the fuck happened?”
“I’ll explain if I live to tell the tale.” Mountain laughed quietly at his own joke. Dew did not look pleased.
“Hey, Mountain, big guy, I need you to stay with me, okay?” Dew pulled out his phone with his free hand and began dialing into it. “I’m going to get Aether here, see if Omega can come too, and-”
“Firelily,” Dew hesitated momentarily before going back to calling Aether. “Why are you so worried?”
Dew looked up at him and even Mountain, in the unconscious-conscious state he was in, could see the other’s face pale and his expression grow tighter. Why was he so worried?
“What the fuck do you mean?”
Mountain’s free hand moved to Dew’s face, rubbing his thumb over his cheek to try and ease out the worry lines. “You look so scared. What’s wrong?”
Mountain closed his eyes as his world slowly caved in. The next time he woke up was by his own scream, a burning sensation going through his arm. He growled as a warning to whatever it was hurting him.
“Good, Dew, keep going,” he heard someone’s voice before he opened his eyes again, seeing the outline of Aether right behind Dew with a flashlight, holding it down towards Mountain’s arm.
Right. He was hurt, why was he sleeping? He looked down to see the razor blade replaced with Dew’s claw deep inside the wound, a small thing of smoke coming out of it.
“Good, the bleeding stopped.” Aether said and Mountain looked back up at him, confusion swimming through his mind. “You can take your claw out.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Dew muttered as he did as instructed, his face paler than he last saw it.
“Dewdrop,” Mountain murmured, reaching out for him. Dew was shaking, scrambling to hold Mountain’s hand in his. Mountain whined, he wanted to help Dew calm down but he was just so tired.
“Hey, big guy,” Dew forced a laugh as Aether began making his way to the shed’s door. “We’re gonna get you to the infirmary, okay? Can you try and not die again?”
Mountain nodded, closed his eyes for only a second before his environment was changed. He opened them and squinted at the bright light, white walls around him as he laid in an unfamiliar bed. He looked around him, realizing he was in the infirmary.
“Good morning.” He heard to his right and turned his head. Aether had his arms folded across his chest, a tight smile on his face. “Gave us a scare there, man.”
Mountain frowned. He looked down to himself and noticed his arm wrapped and bandaged, a couple of IV’s in his other to provide blood and fluid.
“Oh.” Mountain let out a forced chuckle and looked back up at Aether.
“ Oh, ” Aether mimicked. Before he could get another word in, a familiar fire ghoul nearly ran into the quintessence ghoul trying to get to the now woken Mountain.
“Mountain!” Dewdrop nearly collapsed into him, Mountain letting out a low huff at the impact. Before he could react, Dew was back up and frowning, tears threatening to pour over. “You asshole, what the fuck were you doing!?”
Mountain took hold of Dew’s hand with his own, rubbing at the knuckles with his thumb. “Was trying to fix the greenhouse. Wind blew too hard.”
Dew’s frown deepened at the response, clearly confused but not bothering to ask for clarification.
Aether came up behind Dew and placed a hand on his slumped shoulder as the fire ghoul began to let the tears fall, Mountain’s hand never leaving his. “I knew that shed needed to go last year,” he mumbled.
Mountain let out a quiet laugh and nodded. “I’ll make sure we have a new one in the summer.”
“Just…” Dew took in a deep breath, nodding his head. “Just-"
Mountain smiled and took Dew’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the knuckles. Dew slouched down until his head was resting on Mountain’s leg, letting himself cry in his hold.
___
Two years later, Mountain was staring out the window into the dark morning. The snow melted a couple of days ago, which meant damage control had to happen. He sipped on his tea that he let brew as he got his boots on, now enjoying the peace before the day began.
They did tear down that shed after he was deemed okay to work again, replacing it with a new one in the summer. Mountain now kept his toolbox in the greenhouse and avoided the new shed during windstorms. Dew was wary of Mountain working anywhere outside of the den when it was stormy out. It began with him having panic attacks in Aether's arms, anxiety ridden tears telling him Mountain wouldn't make it another day, but now he opts to pop in wherever Mountain is working to say hi.
He heard someone coming down the hall and turned, noticing a very tired fire ghoul making his way over to him. He opened his arm in invitation, Dewdrop humming as he shoved himself into Mountain’s side.
“Where are you going?” Dew asked quietly.
“Greenhouse.” Mountain bent down to kiss the top of his head. “Repairs need to be done.”
Dew looked over to Mountain’s arm, the one holding his tea, staring at the deep scar that laid there.
Mountain intertwined his free hand with Dew’s, raising it to his lips with a kiss. “Ivy will be there with me, okay?”
Dew sighed the tension out of his shoulders, staring out the window with a nod. “Okay. You'll call if you need something?”
"Always, Firelily."
Mountain watched as the tired ghoul fought falling back asleep and smiled, taking another sip of his tea. He stared back out to the Abby as the sun slowly rose from behind the lake.
Repairs could wait for a few minutes.