Chapter Text
At times, not being able to see whatever horror was currently plaguing him felt like a mercy. He would honestly be perfectly content to never have another monster described in painful detail to him. But John seemed set on sharing every horror they encountered with him. It was only fair, he supposed.
So came John’s needlessly thorough description of the creature currently in front of Arthur- A large dark green and brown scaly beast at least twenty feet tall, slimy goo coating the surface of its skin, razor-sharp claws protruding from its- hand? Paw? large jagged sharp rows of teeth in its huge maw, big glassy eyes on either side of its mouth- which was less useful and more panic inducing. Arthur was trying desperately not to think too closely on the details of the monster, instead running toward a meager shelter of rocks in order to put any barrier between him and it.
He scrabbled on the ground desperately for some sort of defence. He had no weapon, though he knew that even if he did it would hardly do anything against this creature. He finally found some purchase on a couple stones that he threw blindly in the direction of the creature.
Arthur! Du-
A whoosh of air behind him and then something pierced his stomach- right through. He was skewered on a claw.
He attempted a cry of pain that ended in a choking cough. He could feel his body being lifted up off the ground. John was screaming at him telling him to move. Where could he possibly move? He was hanging off a monster's claw.
Arthur! It's lifting us to its mouth! Jesus its teeth- wait Arthur! Its front tooth here looks loose, I think from the rocks you threw! Help me pull it!
With a groan and a surge of adrenaline he didn’t know he had, Arthur reached out and pulled with all his might on the tooth. Its sides were jagged and rough, cutting his hands when he grabbed it. He ignored the fresh pain and pulled.
The monster above them roared and tried shaking Arthur off of it, the added momentum resulted in a wet POP and Arthur could feel the tooth in his hands.
Yes Arthur!! Here, to your left! We’re right by its eye. We can stab it with the tooth. Ready, one two-!
Arthur swung his “weapon” in front of him. It collided with something squishy with a sickening squelch. The creature roared in agony in time with John’s exclamation of triumph. The monster flailed around in a pained panic and flung Arthur off of its claw. There was a moment of breathtaking weightlessness before he crashed into the hard stone ground.
Every bone in his body rattled with the force of the fall. He heard more than felt several sharp snaps from inside him. All of the oxygen was forced from his lungs and it was agonizing to take more in. His ears were ringing and parts of his body felt fuzzy, like he almost couldn’t feel them. There was a sharper point of agony that stood out from the rest of the pain, his stomach.
The burning and throbbing of his stomach became more acute as the adrenaline that had been pumping through him dissipated. He could feel warm blood dripping, gushing from his stomach and pooling on the ground. There were parts of his insides exposed to cold stinging air they should never feel. It felt like his guts were leaking out of him.
Open your eyes, I can’t see the creature.
He did so.
Oh! It’s clawing at its eyes, the tooth is still in there! Yes! Good aim, Arthur! It seems to have forgotten us for now, it's stumbling in the opposite direction. To your left is a grouping of tall rocks. We can hide behind it for a moment. Come on, let's move.
He didn’t want to move. He wanted to lay there until his body stopped its pain. He wanted to never be able to feel anything ever again. But instead he groaned and turned enough to half crawl half pull himself to the rocks.
It couldn’t have taken longer than a couple minutes to reach their shelter but by the time he collapsed against the structure his whole body was screaming at him, cursing him for every movement, every breath.
He had once thought that there was nothing after death. No sort of afterlife, a heaven or hell. Just nothing. At the time the thought had filled him with despair and fear.
Now he wished that he had been right.
How he longed for nothingness.
Oh, shit Arthur. This looks bad…
Arthur tried to listen to John cataloguing his wounds, explaining them to him as if he couldn’t feel them.
But John’s voice was drowned out by a steady buzzing in his ears. His body felt weak, depleted. He just wanted… to slip away…
-ur. Arthur. ARTHUR!
He groaned as he was brought back to the present.
I know I’m sorry. It must hurt. Here, we have to put pressure on-
If Arthur had thought he couldn’t be in any more pain he was mistaken. All of the sudden he was being stabbed- by the witch by the beast by Kellin- He screamed out with all of the strength he had remaining. His lungs failed him and he choked on it, tears streaming down his face and the buzzing in his ears intensifying for a moment.
John was frantically apologizing to him, assuring him it would help. Assuring him he would be ok.
He didn’t want to be ok. He didn’t want to get better.
He just wanted to end.
Arthur. I have an idea. You aren’t going to like it though.
Of course.
I think… you still have the lighter right?
John’s hand brushed against him as he reached for the lighter in his pocket.
God.
What could possibly be his idea?
I think we can burn the wound closed. Cauterize it.
A hysterical laugh escaped Arthur.
He couldn’t- he couldn’t be serious.
I’m sorry Arthur but… you are losing a lot of blood and the lighter is all we have on us right now. I think it might be our only option.
You could let me die
Arthur…
Oh. Had he said that out loud?
John squeezed his hand gently. Blessedly, he didn't say anything. He didn’t point out how Arthur was already dead. He didn’t point out that dying hadn’t solved anything.
“Sorry”, he mumbled.
Let’s just… let’s eat the elephant alright? Just fix this wound and then we’ll figure things out.
What choice did he have.
“Okay.”
Okay.
The lighter clicked as John flicked it open.