Chapter Text
“Astarion MOVE!”
Tav’s alerted voice was the last thing Astarion heard in the second before he spun back around to the shadow-cursed vine blight he had just taken down. The important detail having skipped his mind: they explode upon defeat.
He was instantly knocked off his feet, the detonation jolting him back and against the rocky ledge by the path they were ambushed on. His eyes clenched shut as his mouth fell agape, as if in attempt to cry out. But the air being completely knocked from his lungs only allowed a short, wheeze to escape him.
“Shit. Hold on!”
The voice of Tav now slightly further off - or was it the ringing in his ears that made it appear that way? His head felt both heavy and light at once, he couldn’t register any pain, but his limbs lacked all strength and wouldn’t cooperate to pick him back up.
The commotion around him quickly died down, the last of the needle blights hitting the dirt. Astarion’s focus slightly returned to him, just in time, as he caught the sight of Tav catching her breath right before making her way to his side.
He could also make out Karlach jogging over to Shadowheart and resting a hand on her shoulder as the cleric stood hunched over, hands braced on her thighs. They’d been reduced to a rather dire state after today. Having faced Gerringothe Thorm of the tollhouse and many a shadow along their path, and now the ambush of the vine and needle blights, the kinds of beast Jahira had warned them about.
“Still with us, right?” Tav having dropped down to his level, that all too sweet look of concern etched onto her face. Immediately, his instinct to salvage the situation and her impression of him kicked in “Quite alright, just allow me a m-moment” the line coming out more pained than he’d hoped. Something wasn’t right, but he would deal with whatever it was later, away from such prying eyes.
He manoeuvred his hands to the ground from where they had been rested over his abdomen and pushed himself up, only… he didn’t get that far. His breathe immediately caught as he tried to stand, a piercing ache shot through his core, rendering him straight back on his arse, and unable to stop a hiss passing through his clenched teeth. The ache subsided once again as he ceased any more movement, and he looked down for the source of his sudden distress.
“‘Quite alright’ my arse! What in the hells was that?” Tav now scanning over him as well.
“OH, tsshh-” she gasped out a hiss of her own as both of them could now see ‘what in the hells’ it was. A shrapnel piece of the vine blight had found itself pierced in Astarion’s side, just below his ribs. It appeared like a snapped tree branch, having come from a plant-like creature, and it still pulsated a sinister green glow.
“Oh hells” Astarion croaked out. How was he supposed to get around this?
“Gods… it’s alright we can sort this. It’s really not too bad” her words were rather rushed and high pitched, practically nullifying anything convincing or reassuring that she was clumsily trying to offer. Any retort the vampire had died in his throat as he shuffled in mild annoyance and let out another pained hiss.
Having caught onto the sense of something wrong, Shadowheart and Karlach came up quickly behind Tav, Shadowheart immediately crouching to her knees by Astarion.
“Alright you two? We really oughta’ get back to- AHHHH SHit, Astarion!” Karlach cut off and exclaimed, her entire stature grimaced as her eyes landed straight upon the giant splinter penetrating her friend’s side. “You alright?!”
“Just peachy darling” he practically spat out. His irritation quickly rising, shallow breathing rate along with it.
He didn’t enjoy being visibly helpless like this. Of course, he’d been in pain countless times in his long life, near constantly, but he’d always been able to conceal it from the people he needed to impress, from people he needed on his side. To put it bluntly, he just felt… awkward, not sure how to handle this sort of attention, no matter how direly he may need it.
“Let’s everyone just calm down” Shadowheart’s methodical tone wavering only slightly with clear exhaustion, but her cleric gaze fixated on the offending wound. “What we need to do is pull this out, bind it, and get back to the inn, all as fast as possible I might add.”
“W-wait” Tav gently cut in. “Won’t pulling it out now only leave a gaping hole to bleed? I know we’re both bone dry of spells right now. We can’t heal him.”
“It’s far from ideal I know, but imagine what damage a piece from a shadow-cursed beast can do the longer it’s invading a fresh wound, it can be dealt with properly once we’re at Last Light” Shadowheart reasoned swiftly as she rummaged through their pack for any sort of bindings they had, and her implication dawned on Tav.
Astarion had of course been listening too. Unsure of when and if to begin his protests, to perhaps salvage some of his dignity. This was nothing, he could handle it just fine on his own, he didn’t need this… this fuss.
His thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly began to feel pieces of his armour coming away. He picked his head up from where he’d abruptly become aware it had been lulling on the rocky surface behind him. He saw Tav’s hands working around the wound. She checked her head up to look at him and found herself locking eyes with a blood-red warning glare.
She made a knowing effort to keep her expression and tone neutral, albeit a bit stern. “Sorry, we just need to see clearly what we’re dealing with… alright?” Astarion’s glare diminished, the instinctive fight in him collapsing in a sense of defeat. “Fine.” He huffed out. “But stop t-talking about me like I’m not right h-ere.”
With that she carefully pulled at the fabric of his ruined undershirt and Astarion made no effort to stop her. His body tensed but his arms remained at his sides, hands gripping at the dry, crumbly earth of the cursed land beneath him. His eyes now retreated back down to the matter at hand.
Tav wouldn’t intentionally hurt him.
He trusted that. Why did he trust that?
The shirt lifted up and away from the cursed shrapnel, exposing the torn, bloody mess around it. Not only that, but they could all now clearly see the darkening tendrils under the skin, leading out from where it had penetrated. Corruption was already spreading through his veins.
“Shit.” Astarion groaned at the sight and took in more sharp breaths. Perhaps it was the full view of the gory mess that finally snapped him from his slightly pliable and dazed state, because now, insatiably fierce was the sharp, stabbing sensation beneath his ribs. His eyes were already creasingly clenched shut in agony before he could even care to take note of any of his party member’s reactions.
“Oh, Shar’s sake, it’s exactly as I thought.” Shadowheart was uttering. “This has to happen now, fast, as I said.”
“Arghh” Astarion let out an involuntary yelp as he felt a pressure take hold of the exposed half of the wooden shrapnel and another pressure over the flesh around it - a hand ready to keep his abdomen steady.
“W-wait I-”
“Deep breath Astarion.” Tav cut in.
“One… two…”
“Wai- AAAARrrrrgghhh… GODS!”
He pitched forward, fast. The sensation of the shrapnel being ripped from his side forcing him to jerk up from where he had been resting back and a pair of hands caught his shoulders before he could completely fold in on himself. His eyes cracked open, but his vision swam with bright white stars.
“Just keep him up for a moment” He heard Shadowheart instruct as he felt something new being pressed against the throbbing hurt in his side, a folded square of cloth, then her hands and a wrapping working around his mid-section. Binding it. A tooth grinding experience but not nearly as bad a what had been there a moment ago.
His head, once again both heavy and light, dropped forward, and his forehead landed on something… someone… Tav’s shoulder. Had he been in a clearer mind he might’ve pulled away, forcefully composed himself and quickly brushed it off with a show of nonchalance. But he simply couldn’t bring himself to, and he silently cursed himself inside for it.
Tav subtly moved one of her hands from his shoulder and more onto his back, a way to show what she hoped he’d know was acceptance for his lack of composure. “You’ll be alright, make sure to save some of those theatrics for later down the road, I’m sure you’ll be needing them.” Tav lightly mocked, intentionally probing Astarion away from his internal scrutiny.
“Urgh, fuck off” he projected in shallow retort, but alas, made no effort to actually move. She gave a short exhale though her nose in a form of small laughter. Honestly just relieved to see he still had a hold on his snippy temperament. She then eased him back against the rocks, as she’d kept notice that Shadowheart was just finishing tying off the binding.
“That should do for now” the cleric rose to her feet “now to keep moving, we absolutely cannot afford to be caught by anything else hostile before we’re back, so we need to get out of here… quickly.” The same thought dawned on everyone at those words, once again everyone’s gaze fell upon Astarion and once again, he felt out of sorts.
He would not being able to keep up on his own.
He didn’t like where this was going. He refused to let what he knew was about to be suggested, happen.
“Then tsshh-… let’s be off.” He hissed out, collecting and pushing himself up, to his credit he was able to make it to his feet this time, albeit his hand clutched at his side wasn’t doing him any favours in convincing the other’s he was fit to move around.
“Hey, how about I-” “NO” he immediately cut Karlach off, who had been stood feeling rather helpless and fidgety the whole time. But his own voice bellowing through his head was enough to send a wave of dizziness through him, and he already had to pause in his tracks. This was already beginning to feel hopeless.
Tav was stood before him again, he hadn’t made it very far. She placed herself there out of concern that he would suddenly pitch forward. He looked fit to collapse at any second, like a marionette with a pair of open scissors bared at his strings, despite how much he fought for the contrary.
“Astarion, you have to realise this is daft, ease up on your pride for a bit and let… someone…help you.” Karlach, he knew she meant Karlach, they all just wanted Karlach to carry him back.
“I- I can- just go on- ahead” trying so hard to sound nonchalant, but he kept having to pause to inhale, attempting to ease the spinning going on behind his eyes, desperate to stay upright.
“Ugh, this is daft! We’re wasting time. Astarion, you’re barely standing and we’re obviously not going to ‘just go on ahead’ and leave you. Please Karlach, just do it.” Shadowheart called out from the direction they needed to be heading in, her patience evidently worn down to its last nerve. It made sense, she was exhausted. They all were.
“Come on soldier, it’s what’s best for everyone, cleric’s orders.” With that, Karlach came up behind Astarion, and he was scooped up in her arms before he could even squirm. One arm under his back, hand supporting around his ribs and the other arm under his knees.
He made a rather undignified noise at the sudden sensation of his legs being lifted out from under him and being cradled in her arms, despite the relief it did for him physically, all he could think was how bloody humiliating this was. “See, mama K’s got ya! Doesn’t have to be so bad” she tittered, not even bothering to suppress any giddiness she got out of this.
“Don’t push it… and don’t call yourself that.” Astarion grumbled. His lips fell into a flat line, and he refused any possible eye contact with anyone.
Tav failed to hold back the smirk that cracked onto her own face, not like he was looking at her to notice it anyway. She couldn’t help but find this current display a little funny. After the weeks she’d spent around him and everyone else, she’d gotten used to his sharp quips, his arrogance, his charms and flirtations, but never had she seen him quite like this.
But the empathy she held onto kept her from making anymore wise cracks at his expense. She knew he hated this, and she knew he’d still need more tending to once they were back at the inn. Better to just keep her mouth shut for now if she wanted him to accept more of their help later. “Let’s go.”
Their swift march along the treacherous path was under way, Astarion keeping largely quiet. He tried to refrain from mulling over his current shameful position too much, as if ignoring it would somehow make it untrue. This had better never be brought up again.
The discomfort in his side was flaring up again, with each step Karlach took, no matter how careful, a shockwave of torment would radiate out from the wound. He turned his attention up to the permanently dusk sky and ceiling of curled branches, only to take in that familiar swimmy view sensation yet again.
“Ugh” he tried to blink it away, but the blur was relentless. Tree branches were twisting together, the already cursed environment took on an increasingly dark and sinister hue, as if it were fogging over. But it wasn’t, he knew that. Would this jostling ever bloody stop?
The stabbing pain of his injury seemed to be evolving, a hostile conquest of his entire being. Perhaps this corruption was affecting him more than he’d previously given it credit for… shit. He did not feel well.
“This, I remember this part of the trail, it’s a straight shot down from here.” Shadowheart announced from the front of the party, she’d been scanning around as she led them onward.
“Nearly there, doing alright Fangs? Fangs?... Astarion!”
No sensical response came from him. The only noises leaving him were a few pained whimpers. Karlach’s brows furrowed in worry as she realised he wasn’t all there. His lids were half drooped and what could still be seen of his usually sharp eyes were glazed over in hurt. His head pressed to her shoulder, like he was trying to ground himself, and she could feel the sweat beading up from his scalp and forehead.
He looked sick. He was sick. That damned corruption.
“Oh mates, he isn’t doing too good.”
Astarion’s lack of any form of response had already alerted the other two to what must have been his depleting state. The man wasn’t usually one for staying silent. “No point in stopping. We’re so close. Surely someone there will know how to help, any other clerics, o-or Halsin maybe.” Tav panted out from just ahead, their pace had picked up, the glow of Last Light now right in view.
“Just hang on, yeah.” Karlach’s breathy voice graced over the ears of the fitful vampire in her arms.
That was the last discernible thing he could register around him before the white glow of the arcane barrier passing over them. The soft, moonlit atmosphere informing him of their safe return, his relief dulled down by fatigue.
The agony was all too intense by now, stabbing around his wound, galloping in his skull, burning over his skin. He couldn’t bare it any longer. Couldn’t keep himself present. Couldn’t hold the darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision at bay. Finally, the dark fog enveloped his whole view and consciousness slipped out of his grasp.
He was out.