Work Text:
You get up.
The demonic beast before you watches as you rise, wiping away a single tear at the beautiful and morbid poetry you produced from your lips moments ago. She takes a ready stance, watching you carefully as you reach down to pick your blade up. As you rise, you look into her eyes, her fiery bloodlust and passion burning brightly in them. You can't help but smile, and she smiles back, her grin seemingly stretching from ear to ear as she does.
You then rush forwards, raising your Pristine Blade high as she roars, slamming her right fist into your side. But it is for naught, as you sink the blade deep into her chest, piercing into her heart. As you stagger backwards from the hit, you can tell. It was lethal. You're going to die soon, no matter what you do. Everything goes black, and you feel your body go limp as death embraces you...
No.
No it was supposed to be more. You had just gotten a taste of the beautiful buffet of violence, passion, a lust for the fight that just evaded you. You yearn for her strikes to hit you, you yearn to slash her with your blade, to grab her with your hands and try to choke her out, you yearn for her to collide with you, gripping you tight as she slams you to the ground.
No, not yearn. You NEED it. You NEED to fight her. You must. Death be damned, you must.
Get up damn you. Move your limbs you pitiful body. Work. Push. Get.
UP.
Suddenly, a warmth fills you as you slam one foot on the ground before you, stopping yourself from falling and cracking your skull open against the hard and nigh-jagged rock below you. You take heavy gasps of air, the darkness retreating from your vision. You pushed away death, and what welcomes you is a grim sight.
As your eyes focus, warmth returning and filling up every crevice and pore and inch of flesh you have, your blood beginning to flow and heart beginning to beat loudly once more, you look forwards... and down at the crumbled body of the Princess before you, slanted against the wall like a tossed away doll. She is limp, her breathing non-existent, blood slowly oozing it's way out of her heavy wound.
You came back from the dead before, and she was fine. Surely she's fine as well right? She can't die if you can't. You're supposed to fight each other, to love each other with your fists, your bites, your kicks and stabs for eternity, until the landscape around you is stained crimson with your passion, your lust for blood making it's mark on the universe itself.
The Princess can't die. You still have so much to do to her.
The Princess can't die. She still has so much to do to you.
The Princess can't die. You and her still have so much to do together.
The Princess. Can't. Die.
As you force this thought out of your head, shouting it out to the basement, the Cabin, the forest, and the night sky that stares down at you both forevermore, she doesn't. She raises her head, her eyes quickly focusing on her surroundings, and then at you. She smiles gleefully as she raises herself up with steady hands. However, it seems it took a small toll on her, with her suddenly falling to her knees before you yet again. Her breathing is disorderly, chaotic, her chest rising and falling quickly like that of a cheetah's after running a day straight.
You take a couple quick steps forwards, the pain that flowed through you quickly dissipating, your body seemingly mending itself back to proper form with each step you take. Your breathing steadies as hers declines, becoming weaker, still keeping it's heaviness. The blade. Remove the blade, it's still wedged in her heart.
And so you do. You kneel down and grab the blade, wrapping your fingers around it's cold, steel hilt. You place your over hand on her shoulder, and she looks up at you with a slight tear in her eyes. They're so beautiful. You want to strike her then and there, but that would be unfair. Fighting a weakened opponent is never fun, you both know this.
You tighten your grip on the blade and push her against the wall with your other hand. She holds her breath as you swiftly swing your arm backwards, the blade sliding out of her chest a fluid grace, fresh, hot blood spraying against the side wall from the blade as you release her heart from the coffin embedded inside.
You toss the blade aside, vehement on not using it anymore. After all, it just ruined Adversary's grand return to the beginning of your eternity together. The blade clanks against the wall much sooner than you expected, and your gaze quickly shifts to it, watching it thud to the ground, it's blade slicing into it like a knife through hot butter as it embeds itself into the stone floor below. Your gaze quickly returns to your partner, your rival, your foe. You watch as she begins you rise, steadying herself on the base of the heavy, iron chains embedded in the walls, the chains that once held her prisoner and were so unceremoniously broken from her newfound strength and power.
She looks down at you, the passion and bloodlust in her eyes reigniting almost as quick as she reaches her hand out and pats you on the shoulder, being surprisingly gentle. She then thanks you for taking the blade out of her heart, thanks you for accepting her and letting the two of you battle for eternity, for letting her fulfill her needs and purpose. You step back as she takes a battle ready stance, and glance to your side to the blade embedded in the ground below. You raise one hand up towards her, your palm facing her like the smallest shield in the world.
She stands up straight from her position and looks at you confused. The basement is too small for us both to enjoy this fight, you tell her. Why don't we move outside? That way, we'll have much more room to satisfy each other's bloodlust, much more ground to paint red with our passion and devotion to destroy and maim each other forevermore.
She crosses her arms and her gaze shifts from you to the basement around, her eyes examining the height and size of the room, her gaze tracing down every crack and jutted rock inside. She shrugs, and agrees. Why the hell not, she says, a smug and excited grin growing on her face, stretching from ear to ear. It would be a nice change of pace, you tell her.
You then turn to the rough, jagged staircase of rock and hard stone as she stomps towards you, her every step causing the basement to tremble slightly. You take the first step, and begin climbing. She's right behind you, her hot and heavy breaths pressing against you, breathing down your neck like a predator eager to devour the prey before them. You turn back to look at her as you ascend, and her strong jawline, her large, piercing eyes, her silky smooth and long hair greet you. You feel your heart skip a beat as a new emotion starts to grow inside you, it's growth quickening the longer you look into her eyes, analyzing her and examining each and every minute detail of the face you so wish to strike, to crush, to... kiss?
You shake your head as the thought suddenly emerges. No, no. You're here to fight her, to strike her down and vice versa, not to make out with this demonic goddess of battle and war behind you.
Your thoughts begin to cloud your eyes, as you suddenly ram your head into the now closed, heavy stone doors meant to keep your partner locked away forevermore, never to see the grass, the trees and all the world has to offer. You place one hand on the door and push, but it doesn't budge. You hear Adversary quiet a laugh. Apparently she's amused at your new headache, your forehead still sore from the impact. She moves forwards and pats your shoulder before ramming her own into the barricade before you. The door barely moves, with a single crack suddenly breaking onto it, covering a large part of it's stony face. However, it wasn't enough.
You then try it yourself, the door creaking slightly as you slam your shoulder into it as hard as you can. A smaller, but equally long crack as the one Adversary made makes itself known, your hit decorating the door with another fresh scar. But it wasn't enough. You and Adversary lock eyes, and you both tense up, reeling back before you both slam yourselves into the door at the same time, causing it to immediately shatter into large chunks that fly forwards into the opposite wall of the cabin, the rocks leaving large cracks and dents in the otherwise pristine and jagged stone.
You barely have any time to process that however, as one of your feet rams into a chunk of the door before, the last hurdle preventing you from fulfilling you and her both forevermore, seeks to have it's last laugh by cracking your skull open on the jagged surface below.
Just before your face collides with a particularly sharp piece of stone, you feel something grip your right wrist hard before it is suddenly yanked backwards, the grip releasing as you fly back towards the stairway opening. Your back then suddenly slams into Adversary's strong left arm, acting as a safeguard to keep you from falling down the jagged stairs. The wind is knocked out of you slightly, and so you gasp large gulps of air down your throat. You hear her chuckle and look up to see her jagged teeth greet you, her smile wide and excited, freedom and fulfillment just before the fragile wooden door before you both.
You flash her a smile of your own and regain your balance, intent on breaking down the flimsy gate before you both. You step forwards to open it, to shatter it, but she beats you to it. Adversary takes a couple large strides forwards until she's only a couple feet from the door. She raises her right fist into the air before reeling it back and slamming it into the door, causing the top part of it to break off in a jagged mess, flying backwards over the path and directly into the shadowed maw of the forest. You can't help but gaze in awe of her strength, a feeling of pride washing over you as you realize you easily withstood many of those same punches that easily destroyed the door with one hit.
You stand beside her and kick just beside the hinges of the now splinted bottom half of the door, splinters of it laying on the ground before it like a small splatter of paint. The broken door easily caves in from your kick, falling backwards onto the patio behind it. It's only now that you realize a fresh breeze has made it's way into the cabin, and you can't help but inhale deeply. It feels nice on your body, still weary and sore from wounds now healed. You look to your right and see Adversary doing the same, her smile pursed into a happy, satisfied grin.
You both then exit the Cabin, onto the patio and look out onto the hill before you. It's changed. It seems wider, larger, flatter. Like it was in the middle of becoming a fine plateau of grass and dirt, but you and your rival escaping halted it's progress.
Adversary moves first, stepping on the grassy plateau-hill before you both. She looks down as she moves her foot around, the grass caught between her large, hound-like feet. She seems mesmerized by the feeling, not even noticing as you move to stand beside her. You place your foot against hers as she digs into the dirt with her talons, and decide to do the same. You kick up some dirt onto her foot, which makes her swing it into yours with some force, just enough to make you lose your balance.
However if you're going down, you're taking you with her.
You grab her leg and pull it, causing her to fall flat on her back just as you do. You sit up, and can't help but laugh at your quick thinking. She sits up and glares at you, before giving you a slightly, toothy smirk and laughing along with you. You both laugh into the night, the breeze pressing against and flowing through you both as you do.
You cough a small bit, the laughing causing your throat to dry out slightly. In response, you stand up and offer her your hand. She stops laughing accepts it, gripping it firm. You go to pull her up, however she doesn't budge. You look from her hand, all the way up her strong arm, and look at her face. A sly grin has grown onto her face. You realize what she means to do too late as she swings her arm upwards and backwards, flinging you over herself and causing you to fall hard onto the grass below. The wind is knocked out of you as you stare up at the stars above, acting like spotlights to the bout to begin shortly.
You hear her laughing as you stand up and brush off your legs. You look up to see her staring at you, impatience beginning to grow on her face as she waits for you to be ready. Ready you are, as you take a ready stance, both fists prepared to strike. She grins madly as she lowers herself to the ground, her arms outstretched to her sides, her hands pointed towards you with murderous intent. You steel yourself as she rushes forwards, you both finally beginning your fate, eternal battle.
You block her jab and reciprocate with one of your own, cracking her jaw in the process, a shard of bone sticking out of her now split chin from the sudden counter. She suddenly swings her head downwards towards your own, intent on cracking open your skull with her thick, hard forehead. You counter this too, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her downwards, causing her head to miss yours and instead meet your rapidly raising knee. You can feel gore and viscera cake your knee, and see a bit of brain matter escapes her now broken open skull. She goes limp and you simply push her off you, breathing heavily as you finally notice the blood pouring from your chest. You look down to see one of your ribs has ripped clean open from your chest, creating a rectangular window directly into your insides. You also see one of your lungs has been pierced by said rib.
Great, you think to yourself, as you fall forwards, darkness quickly consuming your surroundings, encasing your body in a null void, ripping away any and all feeling you once had, with the only thing to keep you company being your mind. You're used to it by now, and like clockwork, you quickly revive, rolling onto your back and taking deep, gasping breaths as you refill your now healed lung, and body, with precious oxygen.
You hear the ground tremble as a thud emanates from behind you. Still catching your breath, you look up to see Adversary leaning forwards, a smile on her face as she stares at you. I wonder how she's going to reward you this time. That makes it... 972 to 938 now?-
Your thought is quickly interrupted as she raises her right leg and stomps it down towards your face. You quickly roll out of the way, just dodging the devastating death blow. You dig into the dirt and launch yourself a couple meters away, quickly getting to your feet as you feel rapid thuds from the ground below make their way to you. You sidestep out of her tackle, however she was prepared for this, one of her outstretched arms acting as a hook to catch you if you were to evade.
She wraps both arms around you and stops suddenly, her heels skidding against the rough dirt, kicking it and small stones up into the air behind her. You try your best to wriggle out of her grip as she tightens her squeeze on you, your arms quickly breaking, the bones in them shattering as she intends you crush you between herself and her arms. Not the best kind of hug, but you'll take it. Your squirming and desperate attempts to escape are cut short by your spine snapping in to, your ability to move going with it. Your body goes limp, however you can still feel the pain of your ribs splintering into small bits with her ever-closing embrace. You're used to the pain by now, but it never fully goes away.
You look at Adversary and muster the last of your strength to spit blood into one of her eyes. She closes it and laughs madly and gleefully before suddenly releasing the hug, grabbing one of your legs and swinging you up high above herself, your body ragdolling as she does. Just before gravity can begin to pull you down however, she does it's job for it by slamming you down into the ground with one mighty, heavy swing, as if your body were a large axe she was using to chop wood.
You can feel the rest of your bones shatter into multiple pieces, your ribs stabbing into your heart, lungs and stomach. You feel the blood inside your body begin to bleed more and more, quickly gushing out of your mouth and broken wrist and elbows, piercing by shards of bone protruding from inside. Darkness consumes you once again, with the last thing you feel being Adversary throwing you.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
And, like a clock that never fails, always on time, you revive. You're on your side, your face buried into the grass, a piece of dirt lodged inside your mouth. You quickly sit up and spit it out, brushing your head free of other pieces of dirt that now cake it. You can see a small trail of freshly pushed dirt in front of you, and you see Adversary quickly approaching. Guess that makes it 973 to 938 now.
You stand up, the feeling of warmth and feeling of your body itself quickly reemerging. You dash forwards and shout, with your partner reciprocating the battle cry with one of her own, her roar almost making your ears bleed. It's music to your ears.
Just before you both ram into each other, Adversary slips on a sudden hole in the ground, causing her to fall flat on her face. She quickly rolls over, only to find you falling onto her. You forgot about the lip caused by your face digging into the ground from her throw, and now pay the consequences for your blindness.
You flip and fall onto her, your back slamming onto her, knocking the wind out of her, and yourself as well. You move quickly, flipping yourself over so you're both face to face, your chests and stomachs and legs touching. Her heavy breath pushes itself into your face, causing your eyes to close a small bit reflexively. You raise your right hand, and she immediately blocks her face with both arms.
1.
2.
3..
4...
5.....?
The strike doesn't come. She releases her guard, and your right hand quickly swings down to her face, her only defense gone. You accidentally smack your hand full force into her face. She slowly grabs your wrist with one hand, moving it aside to look at you. Embarrassment rises onto your face as you can't help but laugh. You really biffed that strike, you think it's the worst one you've done so far.
You try your best to stifle your giggling, but look up to see her smirking. She giggles as well and pushes you off of her onto your back beside her on the ground below, the grass acting as a weak cushion for your sudden but small fall. You're both breathing heavily, the mental strain of all the deaths and punches and breaks and pain finally catching up.
You raise one hand and pat her shoulder with the back of it, causing her to turn her head and look at you. You can see it in her eyes, she wants a bit of a break too. Surprising. You never thought you both would ever get tired of fighting, but here you both are, laying together, side by side, recovering from your hundreds of bouts as equals.
You reach the hand you raised back down, catching a glimpse of one of her hands laying flat on your thigh. You look at her and catch her staring at you, and feel her hand tap your thigh again, like it's trying to get your attention.
You offer her a smile as you reach and take her hand in your own, interlocking your fingers with her own. For such a battle hardy brute, her hands are surprisingly soft, her nails being the only sharp thing about them. You lift your hand and hers, still interlocked together in a tight but tender grip, and place it in between yourselves. Your eyes never leave hers as you flip onto your side, with her quickly following suit. You then gently move your free hand up and place it on her cheek, the moonlight shining upon you both like a spotlight.
She copies your tender move with her own free hand, her palm warm against your cheek, tender and strong and soft. You smile lovingly at her, appreciating her beauty for the first time in forever. She offers you a smile back, a wide smile, but not one of bloodlust. Still full of passion, the bloodlust is replaced with a tender love for her partner, her rival, her... lover.
A blush rises to both your cheeks as you both free your held hands from each other and quickly wrap your arms around one another, hugging each other tightly and gently, as to not hurt the other and ruin this once-in-a-lifetime loving embrace between you two.
Your face buried in her chest, you feel her begin to caress your back, her nails gently scratching it, the light touch of them against your skin making you shiver from the new ticklish sensation. She stops suddenly, holding one palm on the back of your head and the other between your shoulders. You pat her back as you lower your arms, holding one hand on her middle back, with the over gently pressed against the back of her waist.
You close your eyes as her heartbeat thuds against you, her breathing steady but powerful, her large and warm body making you feel safe and protected since who knows how long. You smile as sleep begins to creep into you, all of her, her heartbeat, rising and falling chest, her warm breaths against the top of your head, and her warmth acting as a perfect lullaby.
You feel safe. Stronger with her than you would ever be alone. You feel proud of your own strength, and happy you can share it with another. You feel a deep joy in knowing you can be tender with the one you show your strength to. You and her were meant for each other, whether it be for bloody battles or tender touches, bloodlust or love.