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His chest felt like it was burning from the inside. His throat bubbled with ichor, choking him in any attempts to breathe. Sharp pins and needles spread through his limbs as he continued to grow and stretch. His right eye was heavily drenched with ichor causing him to only use his left to see anything. It ironically felt like the only thing that was cooling his heating body.
He was turning into those horrible twisteds they’ve been avoiding for the entire run. He was turning and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t even comfort the toon who clinging onto him for dear life, screaming as his own limbs were monstrously stretched.
Astro’s hands gripped his ichor-drenched clothes, banging his head onto his chest as he kept screaming about feeling like his head was being splitting open, his once white star switching sporadically to red and scribbly.
Sprout tried to caress Astro’s face with the hand that was clean from ichor in an attempt to soothe him, but he didn’t seem to register his touch as he continued to push his head painfully against his chest an attempt to get rid of his painful headache.
Sprout started to cough violently as the ichor began to suffocate his throat. The sound was disgustingly wet as ichor dribbled down his mouth. There was still so much. He was still struggling to catch a breath despite coughing most of it out. Well…as much as he could get out.
This wouldn’t have happened if Sprout had come to the elevator earlier. If he had just left the bandaid alone, if he had just stayed near the elevator. If he…if he…just—
If he had just come into the elevator without risking the time, Astro wouldn’t have ran to regenerate his stamina. The elevator door wouldn’t have closed on them, and they would be safe. Astro would be safe. They wouldn’t be sprawled across the floor, slowly succumbing to the ichor that was infecting their bodies from the inside and out.
The looks on his team’s faces before the elevator closed were already heart-breaking enough. He could still hear Cosmo screams, Brightney’s desperate attempt to go after them, Pebble barking and whimpers as the door closed. The list goes on.
His body felt like it burning up even more now, his vision becoming fuzzy as the room began to spin around him. Despite all this pain, he couldn’t help but wonder if the team would be okay without him and Astro.
Cosmo was there, so they still have a healer, although they hadn’t stumbled upon a medkit for 10 floors already. Brightney was a pretty fast extractor, but her light could get her killed. Not to mention, Yatta’s stamina could easily get her killed too. The last time Sprout checked, Pebble was on one heart. He wish he could help them out. Stupid Sprout. Stupid, stupid, stu—
“Ughh—AGH!” Astro groaned loudly.
Sprout’s heart tightened at the sound, his voice gurgled harshly as he tried to console him. “It’s—It’s…gonna be…okay. Ev—everything is gonna…be okay.”
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—” Astro kept repeating his words, his fingers digging deeper into Sprout’s clothing to distract himself from the pain. “I killed you again. I doomed us. It’s my fault again. It’s my fault .”
He was freaking out. He hated seeing him like this. Astro was usually so calm and collected. Always slow in the way he talks, never harsh. Now he was speaking eractically, his fingers becoming like claws as he felt him break his skin through his clothing. Sprout hissed, but he couldn’t push him away. Not when he needed him the most.
“H-Hey…it’s okay. It’s…okay…I’m still here. See?” Sprout said weakly as he tried to pull Astro’s face to look at him.
“IT HURTS!!!!” Astro screamed as a new wave of pain swept through him, tears of ichor falling as his starry eye became permanently red. He sobbed. “…Everything hurts…it hurts…it hurts—UGH…not again…uuAARGH! ”
“…I…know…shh…shh…it’s okay…” Sprout said. His voice strained as he fought against the mind-numbing pain of his legs growing again, the sounds of bones cracking filling the haunting silence of the abandoned floor.
He shakily pulled him to his chest, his arms aching afterwards as he rested his head on top of Astro’s. He could feel his grip on his consciousness getting weaker. “…I’m…so…sorry…”
“Augh—Next…time—it’ll be better.” Astro started to hyperventilate as he felt his insides twist even harder. ”Next— time . Next time. Next time. Next time, it’ll be okay. We’ll be ok—ugH- aaay . It’s gonna be okay…I’ll save you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sprout.”
Sprout could barely register what Astro was saying. He could only feel his body finally becoming numb, his limbs slowly going slack as they made a loud thud noise against the floor. It was a blessing and a curse. He wanted to feel Astro in his arms before he loses himself. Oh well…at least they’ll roam together…
“Sprout…are you well?”