Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Under the blood red moon four bats fluttered through the forest. They squeaked and chattered, conversing together as they flew.
One of the bats was tiny and bright white, with black wings. She shone in the moonlight, glowing beneath the deep red sky.
One of the bats was small, with black and white stripes almost like a tuxedo. He led the pack.
One of the bats was light tan, with large ears and a spike on his nose. He followed closely behind the black and white bat.
The last bat was the largest, black and white and brown with huge ears. He trailed behind the others, not contributing much to her conversation.
Shelby, the little white bat, was so engrossed in the conversation that she didn’t realize the danger until Pyro shrieked at her. She looked up and saw huge dark wings and talons descending on her. She tucked her wings in and plummeted from the sky, barely evading the owl as Pyro threw himself at it. She huddled on the ground, breathing heavily and watching the chaos.
Owen, who’d been in the back, had flown away from the owl but hadn’t paid attention to where he was flying. He ran into a tree so hard that the branches shook and he fell to the ground, unmoving.
Shelby screamed his name but was distracted by Pyro’s shriek. The owl had grabbed his right wing in its talons, shredding the delicate membranes. Scott lunged at the owl to rescue his loyal fledgling, but it bit him with its beak, opening a huge gash across his wings and on his chest. He fell to the ground, squeaking frantically.
Pyro managed to wriggle out of the owl’s grip and fell as well. He tried to fly to Scott but his wing wouldn’t carry him and he just plummeted.
The owl flew off, apparently deciding this meal was too much work.
Pyro dragged himself over to Scott, who squeaked indignantly at the fledgling’s concern.
“I’m fine,” he said, spreading his wings, but as he tried to fly he fell back down, crashing harder than before.
Shelby knew this was a disaster. She had to get help. She wasn’t fully thinking, still in shock, as she flew towards the town. Everything had happened in about 3 seconds.

Legs woke with a start, hearing frantic tapping on his window. He looked out and saw a snow-white bat beating it with its wings. He jumped out of bed, throwing his robes on and hurrying out the door as the tiny bat flew toward the forest.
“Hang on,” he panted as they entered the woods. “I can’t fly, I’m not as fast as you!”
The little bat squeaked at him frantically but slowed her pace somewhat.
When they arrived in the copse of trees where the others were, she flew right up to Legs’s face, stopping him. The others blended in to the ground, and she worried he’d step on them.
Shelby flew down to where Scott and Pyro lay.
“Why did you bring him here?!” Pyro squeaked at her.
“He can help! None of you can fly right now and none of you have turned back and we need his help!” Her words were fast and jumbled and terrified.
Legs knelt down beside the three bats. One was unconscious, breathing heavily as the other two squeaked to each other. Legs gently picked up the unconscious bat and the tan one squeaked and beat at his hand with his wings.
“It’s okay,” Legs said gently. “I just want to help you. I’m not here to harm anyone.”
The little tan bat grabbed onto his hand with his wings as he lifted the black bat into his pocket. Legs tucked both of them into the pocket and Shelby could see Pyro’s little face nervously peeking out. She knew he didn’t want to be in there but also didn’t want to leave Scott.
“It’s okay,” she squeaked to Pyro. “Trust me.”
He didn’t exactly trust Legs, but he nodded and disappeared back into the pocket as Legs stood.
Shelby flew over to the largest of the bats, who lay unconscious still after he’d hit the tree. She nudged him with her wings but he didn’t even stir. Legs bent down and carefully scooped him up, tucking him into his other pocket.
“Is that all of them?” He asked, and the little white bat nodded. “Okay. I’m taking them back to the clinic. You coming?”
Shelby flew up and tucked herself into his breast pocket, peering out. She didn’t really want to be seen by other townsfolk if she didn’t have to.

Legs brought the bats back to the clinic and laid out three folded pillowcases as makeshift beds. He pulled the largest bat out of his pocket first as Shelby flew down to the little pillows. Legs set the largest bat down, concerned that he was still out but knowing he couldn’t do anything about it, not now.
The two other bats were a tangle of wings and fur as he pulled them out. He had to separate them, but the tan bat squeaked desperately, trying to cling to the little black one.
“It’s okay,” Legs said. “I need to see him to help him, and I can’t do that with you holding on to him.”
Shelby squeaked in agreement and Pyro reluctantly released his sire, allowing them to be set on separate pillows.
“You’ve lost the most blood,” Legs said to the tan bat. He sighed. “Which one are you? I assume that’s Shelby,” he said, pointing to the little white bat, who nodded. “Are you Pyro, and that’s Scott?” Shelby nodded again and Pyro did too after a moment. “Okay. Pyro, your wing is in bad shape. May I look at it please? I need to stop the bleeding.”
Pyro hesitated for a moment but spread his injured wing, wincing as the shredded membranes stretched. He was missing a full finger now, and the area around it bled a lot.
Legs took a needle and thread out and said, “I need to sew up some of the larger gashes to make sure they heal, as well as to slow the bleeding. Is that okay?”
Pyro nodded, flinching at the doctor’s touch as he gently wiped the wing with alcohol and quickly stitched up the membrane.
“Okay. I’m also going to bandage it so it doesn’t reopen. That will pin the wing to your body for a little while, but you can’t fly on it right now anyways.”
He picked the little bat up and wrapped the injured wing, the bandage holding it tightly to his body. Pyro hated how restraining it felt but he allowed it. Not like he had much choice.
Now that Pyro was cared for Legs moved on to Scott. The wound on his chest was less extreme than Pyro’s wings, but it was still deep enough that it needed stitches. Legs wiped it down with alcohol, frowning as the black bat stirred slightly. He stitched the wound quickly as Scott’s eyes flew open and he lunged at the doctor.
Legs pulled his hand back, but not fast enough. The little bat’s needle teeth dug into his finger. It hurt, but Legs stayed calm.
“I’m trying to help you,” he said gently to Scott as Shelby squeaked. The bat did not release his finger. Legs sighed and gently pried the tiny mouth open, releasing his finger. Scott immediately tried to bite him again, but Legs held him firmly, not letting him move enough. Shelby squeaked at Scott, trying to talk some sense into him, but Scott shrieked back angrily. Legs grabbed his bandages, using his teeth to rip a length of, and quickly bound the wound on Scott’s chest as the little bat squeaked what he could only assume were curses at him.
“Okay. Are you going to calm down or do I have to keep you restrained?” He asked the little bat. He kept struggling in the doctor’s grip and he sighed. He grabbed a towel and wrapped Scott in it, tight enough that the bat couldn’t leave. “I can’t worry about you and help Owen. Just… stay there and calm down.”
Shelby and Pyro crawled over to Scott, squeaking at him quietly as he struggled and continued to curse at the doctor.
Legs moved on to Owen, carefully lifting the bat up to look at him better. There was a small gash on his head but no obvious injuries other than that. Legs cleaned the wound with alcohol but decided it didn’t need stitches. Now he just had to wait for the bat to wake up. He tucked Owen into his pocket, not wanting the bat to wake up alone, and walked over to his closet. He had a little wooden crate in there that had originally been used to transport fruit but he’d repurposed for storage. He set it on its side and spoke to the three bats.
“You guys can hang out in here for now. It’ll be safe and harder for the townsfolk to notice you. You need to stay for a bit to recover. Since none of you have turned back I assume you can’t? It doesn’t matter right now; you need to rest.” He lifted Pyro and Shelby into the crate and they hung from the ceiling gladly. Scott still struggled in his towel.
Legs picked up the little black bat. “Please Scott. Calm down. You’re hurt, as are your friends, and I can’t help you if you’re fighting me.” He carefully unwrapped the bat and Scott took off in an explosion of fur and wings. But the bat didn’t fly like he expected. Immediately a wave of dizziness consumed him and his wings wouldn’t flap like he told them to. He careened wildly before crashing into the ground.
“Scott, you need to rest,” Legs said firmly as he scooped the bat off the ground. “You’ve hit your head pretty hard. That’s probably leading to the disorientation making it hard to fly.” Scott squeaked angrily but didn’t try to fly again. Legs placed him into the crate with the other two and he joined them in hanging from the ceiling, though he kept glaring at the doctor.

Legs was cleaning up in the clinic when he felt the tiny form in his pocket stir. He gently pulled Owen out as the bat’s eyes blinked open. He looked around, confused, before squeaking in panic as he saw Legs. He dove off the man’s hand and flew in frantic, wobbly circles around the clinic, trying to find a way to escape.
“Owen, it’s okay,” Legs said to the frightened bat. “You’re safe; I’m just trying to help you.”
Shelby joined the larger bat in his circles, telling him what was happening and trying to calm him. After a minute Owen grew tired and landed on one of the shelves, as far from Legs as he could get. Shelby landed beside him and the bats talked quietly, Owen not taking his eyes off the doctor.
After a moment Owen nodded and flew back toward Legs, landing in his outstretched hand.
“Thank you,” Legs said. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve been out for a while.”
The bat hesitated, then shook his head, wincing at the pounding in his skull.
“You hit your head pretty bad I assume,” Legs said. “It should help if you rest.” He carried the bat over to the box where the other three had been resting. Shelby had returned and squeaked at Owen, inviting him in. He hesitated but flew into the crate, huddling against the back wall.

The bats rested for several hours. Legs gave them a bowl of water and a bowl of raw meat, which the bats all ate at various times through the night. Finally, as the sun began to rise, Shelby flew out of the crate.
She landed on the floor of the clinic and concentrated, finally transforming back to her human form. Legs smiled.
“Thank you,” Shelby said quietly. “We need to go home. The townsfolk wouldn’t be happy to know you’d helped us.”
Legs nodded. “Go on then. But I’m always here if you need me. Vampires or not, you’re people who I’ve sworn to help.”
Shelby smiled and grabbed the other bats. She knew they couldn’t really fly and it would be easier to sneak out as one person compared to four.
“Thanks again, Legs,” she said before vanishing. The vampire snuck out, invisible, and headed back to the castle with her friends.

Chapter Text

S v!legs and the bats
Shelby was very scared. All of her friends were sick, huddled together on the large table in the entry hall. Her nose itched and ran and her body felt heavier than normal. None of them had been able to change back to their human forms since this illness had hit.
Shelby rejoined the huddle and whispered with the others.
“I’m going to get help,” she said.
“No. We’re fine, it’s just some kind of cold,” Scott said.
“But vampires aren’t supposed to get sick! It has to be something really bad if it’s bypassing our immunities!”
Scott opened his mouth to argue but instead of words a horrible hacking cough emerged. His whole body shook. Pyro nuzzled closer to him, trying to comfort the little bat.
Even Apo had been allowed to enter the huddle. She’d only come in a day ago but they were all too sick to care, allowing her into the fold.
Shelby spread her wings and flew, her body shaky, her wings sluggish. Usually she could fly to town and back with no problem, but not today.
She flew into the town but her energy completely gave out. She fell to the ground just outside the door to Legs’s clinic. Shelby scratched at the door as best she could, exhaustion spreading through her whole body.
Legs opened the door and saw the tiny bat lying there. He scooped her up gently, noticing the white crust around her face.
“Shelby? What’s happened? Are you okay?”
She squeaked at him and weakly raised her wing to point towards the castle.
“The others? They’re… sick too?”
She nodded. Legs tucked her into his pocket and grabbed an empty satchel before heading towards the castle.

It took him about an hour to walk through the woods to the terrifying structure. He could feel Shelby trembling in his pocket. Legs carefully navigated the destroyed bridge and entered the castle, seeing the pile of shivering bats on the table.
“Okay, I’m here to help, please don’t fight me,” Legs said as he carefully picked up the bat on top of the pile. It was Owen, who squeaked weakly at him as Legs slipped him into his satchel. He recognized all of the bats except one, a small brown bat at the bottom of the pile. He set them all in his bag and hurried back to town, hearing the labored breathing and wheezing from the bats.

When Legs arrived back at the clinic he set the satchel down on his desk and hurried upstairs. He’d brought a small canister of oxygen, just in case of emergencies. This was definitely an emergency.
He brought the canister downstairs and hooked it up to a glass tank so the oxygen was the primary gas entering. He set the bats inside this tank, making sure their little noses were close to the oxygen tube. The little brown bat seemed the worst off of the group, so he put her closer to the oxygen than the others.
When Legs had looked at Shelby, he’d seen small white fuzzy patches on her nose and ears and wings. Some sort of fungus? He had medicines to help with both bacterial and fungal infections, so he mixed them together, adding some healing herbs into the solution as well. He dosed it out for the five little bats, hoping it would help them fight this off.
He grabbed the little brown bat first. He still didn’t know who this was, but she was definitely struggling the most. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and her body was hot and feverish. White crust covered her nose, which Legs wiped off with a cotton swab before slipping the syringe of medicine into her mouth. She tried to spit the foul tasting liquid out, but Legs held her tiny jaw closed until she swallowed.
He repeated this process with each of the bats, cleaning some of the spores off of their faces and giving them medicine. He desperately hoped this would help, would be enough to stop whatever infection was afflicting them.

Legs was tending to the little bats when Martyn came running into the clinic. He took in the scene for a moment before focusing on Legs.
“Doc, Cleo said she wasn’t feeling good and then I went to check on her this morning and I found her like this can you please help her??” The words spilled out as he held a bat about the size of Owen up.
Legs saw the white crust covering her face and nodded grimly. “Martyn. Go check on Avid and Drift.”
Martyn didn’t know that they were vampires yet, and his eyes widened in shock, but he nodded and ran out the door.
Legs set up a second oxygen tank, knowing that Cleo wouldn’t want to be near the other vampires. The last thing he needed was a bat fight. He mixed up more of the medicine, mixing in a higher dose of the anti fungal medicine since it seemed to be helping a little.
After a few minutes Martyn came back in, holding two small bats. A brown bat and an even tinier gray bat only the size of his thumb.
“They’re shaking,” Martyn said nervously.
“I know,” Legs said, taking the smaller bat from him. “Avid?” The tiny bat nodded nervously. “Okay. We’re going to get through this, you’re just gotta trust me.” Legs squirted the medicine into the tiny bat’s mouth, who swallowed obediently. Legs assumed he was used to taking medicine like this, considering his past and his never healing wound.
He set the tiny bat into the oxygen tank with Cleo and grabbed Drift from Martyn, giving her medicine and placing her into the oxygen as well.
“What’s happening to them?” Martyn asked, looking at all the bats huddled in their tanks.
“Some kind of fungus,” Legs said. “I don’t know for sure, but it’s making it hard for them to breathe.”
He opened the tank with the castle vampires and pulled out the little brown bat.
“Apo?” He asked gently, and the little one nodded. “Wow. That’s all of you.” He sighed quietly and set her back in with the others.
“Martyn, every vampire that I know about is sick. Can you go check on the other townsfolk, make sure they’re all okay?”
Martyn nodded and stepped out of the clinic to check on them.

About a day passed, with Legs giving the bats more doses of his anti-fungal mixture. Some of them seemed to be improving while others were getting worse. Apo especially was struggling. Her body heaved with effort, struggling with each breath. Legs had separated her from the others, putting her in a separate oxygen tank to try to keep a closer eye on her and upping the concentration of oxygen flowing to her. The little bat was still struggling, but Legs hoped she would start to improve soon. He cleaned the white spores off of her face every hour, but they kept coming back, often more white patches than before.

After two days of the bats being in Legs’s clinic, he was seeing some improvement in some of them. Shelby and Pyro and Cleo had less white patches when he cleaned them, and they were breathing slightly easier. Most of the bats hadn’t really changed, still breathing heavily and white spores growing on them. Two of the bats had grown worse: Avid and Owen. Legs upped their doses of fungicide and moved them closer to the oxygen, hoping they’d start feeling better.
Apo was still doing terribly. She’d declined even further, barely breathing at all and lying limp, barely conscious. Her body was hot to the touch despite Legs placing a cool pack with her.
As she got worse, Legs started an IV in her wing, giving her fluids and anti fungal medicine and some steroids, hoping that it would give her strength to heal. But there was no change.
As Legs worked on mixing up more medicine he heard a rattling sound and turned to see Apo convulsing in her tank. He grabbed her, bringing her over to another table and holding her gently as she shook. Her breathing was horrible gasps, her heart beating extremely fast as Legs set her on his stethoscope to monitor as he gave her more medicines through her IV. He heard her breathing slow and her heart began to fade.
“No no no no no no,” he muttered as he pushed adrenaline. The little bat stopped breathing. Her heart slowed, then stopped.
Legs swore and laid the bat flat on the table, ignoring the panicked squeaks coming from the other bats behind him. With a single finger he pressed down quickly and firmly on the tiny bat’s chest, checking her heart rate every minute and breathing into her mouth and nose. He didn’t know how long he tried to give her CPR for, but it was a long time. Finally he stopped, tears streaming down his face as he looked at the limp little bat.
“I tried,” he said quietly as he turned to the others. They stared at him, terrified. This illness could actually kill them.
Legs wrapped Apo’s tiny body in a towel, not wanting to look at it for any longer than he had to. He’d failed her. Another name on the list. Another number, another face. The memories began flooding in, but he shook his head. He had to focus. He had to help the others.

Three days after he lost Apo, Legs felt comfortable taking a few of the bats off of oxygen. They were all improving, some faster than others, but they were breathing easier and the white crust was diminishing.
Pyro, Shelby, and Cleo were all breathing comfortably and had hardly any white forming on them, which they could clean off themselves. Legs had seen them grooming other bats in their tanks, removing the spores from them as well.
He set up a wooden crate where they could hang if they wanted to and moved the three bats there. Cleo was not very happy about being housed with the castle vampires and squeaked frustratedly at Legs, but he had bigger problems.
The medicines were helping. Martyn had brought more herbs and medicinal plants to Legs, which he was incredibly grateful for. He would have ran out for sure without them.
Slowly, over a few more days, more of the bats were getting better. It was gradual, but their breathing improved. Legs took more of them off oxygen, monitoring them all closely and continuing them on their medicine. Finally, about a week after he’d lost Apo, he turned off the oxygen.

“Can any of you turn back?” Legs asked the little bats. Cleo, Avid, and Drift all fluttered to the ground and transformed.
“Thank you, Legs,” Avid said quietly.
“You can go home now, BUT you have to keep taking the medicine. If you start feeling worse you come back here immediately. Okay?”
They nodded and Legs handed each of them a package filled with the little medicine vials.

Once the town vampires had left, Shelby flew over and transformed, followed by Pyro. Legs assumed the other two just didn’t want to talk to him.
“Thank you Legs,” Shelby said, “for everything.”
“Of course,” Legs said with a sad smile. “I’m sorry-“
“No,” Shelby said. “You did everything you could and you saved as many of us as you could. You shouldn’t apologize for that.”
Pyro nodded. “You helped us even though you didn’t have to. You could’ve just let us die and we wouldn’t have been a threat anymore, but you didn’t. Thank you for that.”
Legs shrugged. “I can’t just leave someone to die, even an enemy. I hope we aren’t enemies though. We don’t have to be.”
Shelby nodded but Pyro shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Legs handed them two packages of medicine each. “Make sure you take this twice a day. And make sure Scott and Owen do too. And come back if any of you feel worse. I won’t hesitate to help you.”
Shelby and Pyro agreed, then each of them grabbed a bat and vanished, disappearing back into the night.
Legs hoped they would finish healing, and, though he knew it was unlikely, hoped the humans and vampires could stop fighting. He just wanted everyone to be safe, happy, and healthy. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen.