Work Text:
Dying is easy because killing is simple.
It was a truth that Liy learnt early on. And truly, being a mercenary dictates you know the most efficient way to kill so you can get in, get out, get paid, move on. Rinse and repeat.
Liy was a simple earth genasi with simple needs. A simple killing here and there was all part of the job.
Their first kill though... That was a slightly different story. While being a quick thing, it was far from simple. They hadn't wanted to kill. They'd never even considered killing before then. All it had been was self defense.
It wasn't a complicated thing. It was quite quick, but in the years since Liy had gotten quicker. The human, elf, tiefling, goblin, goliath's arteries and veins and brains and guts and trachea's were all intricate yet easy maps in Liy's brain nowadays, but back then, they'd hardly known their own anatomy. To be fair to themself, they had been 9.
They had just been trying to walk home.
Their double bass strapped to their back, they ambled through the forest back towards Stafford. A route they'd taken hundreds of times before. They were a little late out of band practice, but they knew well that at this time of day, the forest was typically quiet, just as the evening was beginning to bleed into the night.
Liy was alone. They were always alone on this route. Mama, Dama, and Sire trusted Wilbur Dorothy and Liy to do as they wanted, and Liy was more than capable of making it back home after a day of band practice.
It was quiet.
It should have stayed quiet.
It started with the snap of a twig.
Normally, this wouldn't have been any trouble - perhaps a deer or rabbit, it was a forest afterall - and Liy stopped, curious to see some wildlife. They had a good relationship with the forest! It's soil wasn't too alkaline and ranked in the top 3 dirts to eat (number 1 being their own hair, obviously), and the trees were tall and healthy, and the birds sometimes landed on Dama's arms when xe called to them.
But as then the bushes rustled, a little closer this time, and Liy recognised it was a different kind of rustle to an animal, it was bigger. It was stumbling, it was groaning, it was a person.
Liy wasn't stupid. They started walking again, hoping quietly that whoever it was ignored them and carried on their way. Of course, it wasn't the first time they'd run into someone else in the forest, but it had never been a problem before.
Not until that day.
"Hey!"
It was a human. With a clearer head and more years of experience, Liy could now say he had clearly been off his face drunk, swaying on his feet, slurring his words, and not quite looking at Liy, but Liy had just been a kid. They hadn't known how to react.
They kept walking.
"Hey, you, yer... child," The human growled, and Liy ignored them, "Stop walking!!"
All at once, a chill settled over the air, and Liy was stopped in their tracks. Forcibly. They looked down, and there was ice coating their feet, freezing them in place. That shouldn't happen.
They twisted round best they could, finally getting a good look at the person. He was probably barely 5'5, but to the child who'd barely grow to be 4'0 at their full height, he towered above them.
"You fuckin' hear me now?"
Liy blinked, staring wide eyed through their fringe that had grown out a little too long and hung over their eyebrows a little. The guy had dark hair and a clean shaven face, but forgettable features, and for the first time, the dirt ever present on Liy's hands began to wash out, sweat mixing on their palms.
"Well?!"
"Yeah." Liy's voice was small, "I can hear you."
"Finally," The guy grumbled, rubbing a hand down his face, "What was I fuckin' sayin'... uh..."
As the human became distracted, forgetting themselves, Liy tugged desperately at their feet, trying to free themselves, but to no luck. They were properly frozen in.
It was summer.
"How'd you do that?!" They cried, effectively bringing the guy's attention back to them. They immediately decided didn't like that, and swiftly changed their question to a demand, "Let me go!!"
"Frostbite." The guy smirked to himself victoriously, "And, uh... nuh uh."
"'Nuh uh'? What do you mean, nuh uh?!" Liy tugged again, and finally, the ice gave way, but they only made it three steps before their feet were encased again, and they were stuck.
"Listen, all I wanna know is how to get to bloody... uh, Stratford? Got lost in this massive fuck off woods."
Liy cried out in anguish, back to pulling their legs again, "You should stop swearing. My Sire says it's bad for you."
It was true. Wilbur Dorothy had taught Liy a few swear words - that's how Liy even knew that they were - and the next day he'd she'd mysteriously lost all his her gold pieces until he'd she'd apologised to Liy and told them to never ever do what he she did. Sire had given them both a lecture too afterwards, which was holy unnecessary, Liy got the point the first time. They didn't want to lose any gold!
"Ha ha. Bet you think you're real fuckin' funny, kid. Now, where's shitty old Stratford?" The human was advancing on them, ambling off course every few steps.
"I don't know a place called Stratford!"
The guy snorted like Liy had just told him the funniest joke in the world, doubling over on himself, much to Liy's confusion and their growing sense of unease. When he finally righted himself, he sighed, wiping a tear from his eye and continuing towards Liy. Their foot broke free again. It was immediately recaptured.
"You're lying, come onnn, this Stratford place is meant to be nearby somewhere."
"I don't know a Stratford, please, let me go!" Liy stiffened as heavy hands fell on their shoulders.
When looking back at this memory, Liy feels a mix of shame and mainly disappointment. They could have handled it so much better, but they just had to be dramatic about it.
"Get off me!" Liy shoved at him with all their might, and he swayed slightly, before falling on his butt like an idiot.
He took a few moments to orientate himself, then shook his head and righted himself again, stalking back towards Liy slowly. The air dropped several degrees quite suddenly. "I'll fucking eldritch blast your ass for that, you little shit--"
But Liy was a little more prepared this time, and the moment he laid his hands on their shoulders, they pushed a great big rock out of their conjoined palms, and shoved it against the human's stomach.
It was a new thing they had found out they could do just a few days prior. Their Mama could do the same, create rocks and minerals in their palm. She typically used it to make sure she didn't get lost when going on adventures, and Liy had been thrilled to find out they could do the same.
They thanked whatever gods existed they had that power in the moment.
But being a newly discovered talent, it wasn't exactly their finest work. The rock came out all misshapen and... sharp.
A gash spread across the human's abdomen.
He swore loudly, coiling in on himself as the rock dropped between them and blood began dripping from the wound. They both stared at it for a few moments, equally taken aback, before the human scoffed, anger sparking in his eyes, and he slowly began to stalk towards Liy again.
Liy took a step back and was sweetly surprised when their feet didn't get frozen over again. A small win. An omen that much worse was about to transpire.
"Forget eldritch blast, I'm gonna curse you, you dick. I'll make my patron rain hellfire on you until the end of time, you piece of shit, you're gonna regret crossing me til the day you fucking die." He grabbed harshly at Liy's face, thumbs digging in under their eyes as they began muttering something under their breath, in neither common or primordial.
Liy panicked, and if something's not broke, don't fix it. Another rock generated, this time an uneven, yellowish-brown topaz, was chucked in the guy's face. He stopped muttering, instead crying out in pain, and fell back, tripping over his feet, and it all happened so quickly, he fell on his back, hitting their head on the first discarded rock and knocking himself out.
Liy's hands shook as they picked up the topaz again and rammed in straight through the human's heart. They weren't thinking straight, of course they weren't, and they were running on adrenalin and the beat of their heart screaming at them to 'fight, fight, fight', and they were going to die unless they killed him first, and their was blood on their hands, and the topaz kept being pulled up and down, and the human was dead, dead, dead.
Liy finally fell back on their haunches, staring at their hands as crimson red dripped slowly to the earth. The human laid prone before them, unmoving, unbreathing, bleeding sluggishly from their several open wounds and pooling into a quickly cooling puddle, soaking Liy's knees.
There was a pressure growing behind Liy's eyes, and suddenly it was all too much. They were crashing, and it hurt. They sniffed once, twice, and began to cry.
It was a lot darker than it had been earlier. The night was setting in quick. Their parents were probably starting to get worried now.
Liy couldn't make themself move from their spot. It wasn't over, it couldn't be over, it still hurt, it all hurt too much.
The pressure behind their eyeballs increased, and, oh, it wasn't meant to be getting this dark this quick, especially not at this time, something was wrong, something was very wrong, and Liy was panicking again, because it wasn't over yet, it was just about to get worse.
The pressure reached it's highest point, and a scream pierced the air. Liy couldn't be sure, but it sounded like their own, shrill and loud and full of pain, and then all at once it was pitch black and two little somethings fell into their bloody palms.
And all the pain and pressure was gone.
Dragging in a lungful of air, they started to come back to themself. All at once, they were hyperaware of the pool of sticky blood seeping into their trousers, and their movements were slow as they dragged themself back, bit by bit.
The round things in their hands rolled around and Liy frowned, trying to open their eyes to get a look at whatever they were. No matter how hard they tried, the world remained dark.
The things were wet, that's for sure, although that could have just been the blood, and were sort of squishy to a point. Some kind of string attached to one side of each. Kind of felt like gelatine sweets, but Liy knew better than putting random things in their mouth.
It would be really helpful to see what they were. Liy pouted, trying to open their eyes again.
Nothing.
They reached up to their face, still wet with a continuous flow of tears, and reached up to poke at their eyelid.
Their finger met no resistance. The eyelid wasn't closed. In fact, there was nothing there.
Their eye was gone.
The realisation hit Liy quick, and their hand moved to the other half of their face, to be met with the same fate.
The pieces fell into place.
The things in Liy's hand, they were their eyes.
Another scream ricocheted through the trees. Liy's chest heaved, clutching their hands closed over their- their eyes, and more tears (how were they even crying without eyes, oh gods, what was going on) leaked out their empty sockets, when a quiet yell from somewhere far off caught their attention.
"Liy? Baby, are you out there?"
"Dama!!" Liy screeched, "Dama, help me, please!"
"Where are you, dove? We're on our way!"
"I'm here, please, h-help, Dama, I can't see anything," Their body wracked itself with loud sobs until the thud of several sets of footfalls sounded closer. Liy curled in on themself, their hands held tight to their chest, cradling their eyes close.
"Liy!" That was Mama's voice, "There you- oh my gods."
"What- what on earth happened, Liy?!" And that was Sire.
"I... I'm," Liy could barely hold themself together, shaking so hard they felt their bones quake and grate against each other.
"Shh, sh, dove, it's okay, let's try and calm down," There was a hand unstrapping the double bass from Liy's back, then they were pulled into a hug from behind. It felt like Dama.
"Rome, this is a dead body." Sire's voice was closer than it had been, probably checking the human's body. Liy shrunk in on themself further, making sure their eyelids were actually closed. Sire sounded angry.
"I can see that, Tex, but our kid is obviously in emotional distress right now, so I'm kind of focused on that."
"Xe're right, Liy takes priority right now," Mama said, also closer and sounding like they were kneeling in front of Liy.
"Thank you, Glow," Dama sighed, rocking back and fourth soothingly.
"I'll deal with this by myself then," Sire grumbled.
"We'll deal with it in a minute," Mama's hands cupped Liy's cheeks, making Liy flinch sharply, squeezing their eyes shut further, "Can you look at me, dove? It's over now, you can open your eyes."
Liy shook their head fervently.
"Alright, well, can I hold your hands? It'll help you calm down a little bit to have skin to skin connection."
Liy shook their head again, holding their hands even closer to their chest, and heard Mama sigh.
"Okay, dove, that's alright. Let's just breathe, okay? In... And out..."
Liy felt themselves slowly calm down with Mama's help. Unconsciously, they began to relax.
"There you go, baby, well done," Dama cooed, "You feeling a little better? Ready to move yet?"
"Bit better... don't wanna move," Liy managed hoarsely, "'M tired."
"Yeah, baby, you can sleep when we finish sorting this out," Mama hummed, raking her fingers through Liy's hair, "Think you can tell us what happened, or are you too tired?"
"Tired."
"Alrighty," Dama shifted, and then Liy was being picked up, their chin propped on a shoulder, Dama's mossy head of hair acting as a pillow.
Liy's fingers relaxed as they draped their arms lazily around Dama's shoulders. They wanted to go to bed, it had been too long since they'd been warm. Their feet were so cold.
"I'm going t' bed."
"Of course," Dama nodded, and xe began walking away. Liy let themself drift off to the faint sounds of Mama and Sire disposing of the body fading further and further away.
There was a faint murmuring before a small shriek stopped Dama in her tracks and alerted Liy somewhat.
"You two alright back there?"
Two pairs of feet came crashing back towards them, rushed words clashing with each other in a way that woke Liy up far too much than they would have liked in the moment.
"Woah, woah, woah, slowww down," Dama insisted, "I can't tell what either of you are saying."
"Liy, open your eyes." That was Sire, and uh oh, Liy was awake now, and their eyes were screwed shut again. Their fists clenched and, no, Liy had dropped their eyes somewhere as they were drifting off.
"Hey, come on, we've established Liy's tired, we don't need to do this again so soon," Dama grumbled, hugging Liy a little tighter to xemself.
"No, no, no, no, Rome this is serious," And that was Mama. Oh, Liy was in for it now, oh no, "Liy, baby, we just need to check something real quick, then you can go back to sleep again."
"We just need some peace of mind, just make sure you're okay, dove," Sire stroked Liy's hair so gently, Liy almost gave up and opened their eyes right then and there, "Please, baby, just for us. No-one else is gonna hurt you now."
"Woah, hey, can I be in the loop here?" Liy could feel Dama's head moving side to side to look at both of xer spouses. It was silent for a moment with a little shuffling until Liy felt Dama's whole frame stiffen, and xe let out a small, "Oh..."
"Baby, please, we just need to see your eyes," Sire begged.
Slowly, Liy tilted their head and let their eyelids fall open. The world was still pitch black.
Dama almost dropped them, Mama gasped sharply, and Sire let out a loud "Fuck!"
"Don't swear, Sire, it's bad for you," Liy parrotted weakly, curling in on themself again.
"Rome, get them back home now. My healing potions are where they always are, use whatever you need to."
"S-Surely, surely you should do it, Glow, I don't know how to heal eyes."
"Neither do I! I never anticipated this would happen- I've never seen something like this happen! Liy's not even bleeding, their eyes are just fucking gone! I'm holding them!"
"He," Liy spoke, and felt oddly nauseous at how quiet it went the moment they opened their mouth, "He cursed me, I think. The human. He said he was going to curse me, then started talking in a language I didn't know."
"Oh, baby," Sire sounded close to tears, and they never cried, "I'm so sorry that happened. We're gonna try and fix you up, alright? I'll stay back and finish up here, your Mama and Dama will help you best they can, alright? It's all gonna be okay."
"Yeah," Dama was definitely crying, "Let's heal you up, dove."
There was a shuffle of movements, lips pressed repeatedly to Liy's forehead (and two on each eyelid), then the world was being jostled about and the wind was whistling and ah, Dama was running through the forest, and Liy could hear Mama swift on xer tail.
"It's going to be alright now, my love, it's almost over."