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skyward-floored · 13 days ago

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Whumptober Day 19 - Blood trail, abandoned cabin

Is this good? No clue. But it's something babey. At least I squeaked the colors in, they're always fun to write.

Warnings: blood, violence, very brief allusions to slavery

ao3 link

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Tracking wasn’t his strong suit in any sense of the word, but even Four could follow the crimson splattered across the pink petals on the ground.

His footsteps were oddly muffled as he hurried along, loose petals sticking to his boots and falling on his head. The forest he was in was beautiful honestly, full of pink and white flowering trees, petals whisking by in the wind, but Four didn’t have time to stop and enjoy it.

Not with Wild missing. Not with the trail of blood on the ground.

He’d already been following it for a good hour, and the amount of bloodstained petals had seemed to increase the farther he went. There were signs of something being dragged too, and Four’s stomach grew tighter the more time went by.

He thought he would have caught up to whatever had taken Wild by now, but there was no sign of anyone but himself in these woods. Apart from the quiet sound of petals landing on the ground and being blown in the breeze, there was no noise apart from Four’s footsteps.

Wild, where are you?

A noise suddenly rang through the trees, something that sounded like a scream. Four jumped, then rushed forward, following the trail of blood even faster. Several minutes went by without any sign of Wild, and Four started to wonder if he’d imagined the noise.

But then he saw something through the trees, something other than petals.

He hurried forward, and a cabin rose up out of the woods, ramshackle and dirty against the carpet of pink surrounding it. The trail of blood led right to the front door, and Four crept up to the structure, keeping away from the windows as he went.

The front one was dirty, and had a large crack in it, a pane in the corner missing. Four quietly went to it, and peered through the broken glass, careful not to cut his fingers.

And gasped.

Three men stood in the cabin, two standing above a limp figure, the third setting some supplies up on a shelf. Even though the cabin was dim, Four could see that it was Wild who was lying on the ground, his hair covering his face. He wasn’t moving, and there was blood matted around his hair and tunic.

“...pretty good catch,” the one man was saying, kneeling by Wild and tightening a rope around his arms. “He looks like a well-off kid, you think if we find his parents they’ll pay good money to get him back?”

“Eh probably, but they’d be just as likely to send some knights after us afterwards. The Calatians don’t ask questions though, and pay good money for strong young men,” the one standing further back replied. He gave Wild a sharp kick. “We’ll head for the docks first thing.”

Four heard a small groan, and the men laughed, then moved out of his line of sight. Based on the footsteps, he guessed they’d gone into the other room, probably to eat or something.

Four bit his lip, heart thudding as he stared at Wild. There was no way he’d be able to sneak into the house and help Wild out without being seen, and while Four was accomplished with a blade, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to fight three well-armed men alone. Especially with the chance of Wild being used as a shield or something.

Four looked around, then glanced behind him at the woods, feeling a little tickle of magic.

A stump caught his eye, and he stared at it, gears turning in his head. He couldn’t just storm the place, and he couldn’t sneak in the way he was now, but maybe....

Four quietly unsheathed his sword, and crept back off the porch.

Hold on Wild.

(...)

Wild’s head hurt.

Actually, most of him hurt, but his head was the only thing he could really focus on at the moment, any attempts at figuring out what else was bothering him nearly making him pass out again.

He thought his leg might’ve actually been the biggest issue, but again, he really couldn’t tell. He had enough awareness to feel that his arms and legs were tied up, and his mouth had some sort of cloth over it, which made breathing a chore.

He couldn’t even remember all of what had happened. He just... hurt.

Something brushed against his hands, and Wild stiffened, wishing he could fight back. He didn’t know what the men had wanted with him, but he didn’t recognize where he was.

Second location. That was bad.

He tried to swing his arms at whatever had touched him, but all he could do was groan as the movement sent pain shooting through his body, concentrating sharply in his head.

“Wild shh, stay quiet,” a voice whispered, not the voice of one of the men. A familiar voice. Wild frowned, then cracked his eyes open.

A tiny blob stood in front of him, colored sort of red. Wild blinked hazily, and the red blob moved forward, patting him on the cheek.

“Hold on just a little longer,” it said, and Wild’s vision focused enough for him to make out blond hair and a worried smile.

“...mmffy..?” he mumbled through his gag, and the red part of Four nodded with a wince.

“Yeah, it’s me! Or, us I guess. Me and Green are here, Blue and Vio are outside still. Here, I’ll get your gag off.”

The tiny Red scurried out of view, and Wild felt something mess with the cloth around his mouth before it finally loosened. Wild eagerly spat it out, grimacing as he licked his chapped lips, and Red came back into view with a relieved look.

“Green is still getting the ropes off, I’m going to go help him finish. Stay quiet, okay?” he asked, and Wild nodded, too exhausted to really reply.

Red disappeared again, and Wild felt the motion at his wrists speed a little. They fell loose after a moment, and then he felt the ropes at his ankles move.

He stayed still and quiet while Red and Green worked, his heart pounding while he waited for the two to finish. He hadn’t heard the men who’d beaten him up and dragged him here in a while, maybe they were asleep? He hoped Four wouldn’t get spotted.

Wait... how was Four tiny?

The ropes at his ankle fell limp as he wondered, and Wild relaxed, relieved at the pressure finally gone from his limbs. They still hurt, but at least they weren’t being unnaturally twisted anymore. Red reappeared while Wild gingerly shifted his arms around, a greenish blob following behind him.

“Hey Wild, just hold tight a bit longer, all right?” Green asked, and Wild hummed in response. “Thanks. We just need Blue and Vio to respond to the signal we sent. Which should be any moment now.”

A soft hoot of an owl came from somewhere outside, and Green smiled.

“Right on time. We’ll be right back Wild, we just need to get big again.”

“Then we’ll carry you out while Blue and Vio distract those guys!” Red said with a worried grin. “Be right back.”

The two hurried off, their footsteps sounding like mice skittering across the floor. Wild waited patiently, watching the tiny patch of dying sunlight that shone on the rotted flooring. It was dusk at his guess, though he supposed it was possible he’d missed some hours and it was dawn.

He hoped not, though.

Wild just started to wonder what exactly Four was doing, when an eerie cry rang out from outside the cabin.

It sounded like some sort of ghost or undead thing, and Wild stayed completely still as he heard footsteps pound through the cabin, the kidnappers’ voices raising.

“...was that?! I thought you said monsters didn’t come in these woods!”

“They don’t! That must’ve been something else, it was probably just an animal or something.”

“It wasn’t the kid, right?”

“The noise came from outside, how could he have—”

The cry rang out again, louder this time, and the men went deathly quiet as they listened to it.

“...You don’t think it’s a spirit or something, do you?” one whispered.

“Don’t be an idiot, there’s no such thing as—”

The cry was more of a scream this time, wild and eerie, and one of the men made a frightened noise.

“That’s a ghost. I know it! It’s retribution for all we’ve done!” the one yelped, sounding terrified. “It’s here for revenge! I knew I should have gone into the baking business!”

Wild heard a slap.

“Shut up and get a grip you two! We’re going out there and figuring out what it is,” the third voice snapped. “No spirits come here, and no monsters either. Nothing comes here, except for us and the goods. If anything is out there, it’s something we need to deal with. Now come on!”

Wild heard loud footsteps, and a door slam, then the cabin went silent, except for his quiet breathing.

Something creaked, and much quieter footsteps came in his direction before two smiling faces came into view.

“Smithy,” Wild said with a weak smile, and they both nodded. “Nice... distraction.”

“Could be better, but it was all Vio could come up with on short notice,” Green said with a shrug. Another wail came from outside, and his smile grew. “But it’s not bad. Let’s get you out of here.”

Wild began to sit up, and Green and Red helped him when he tilted rather heavily to one side. His head spun as he changed elevation, and it was even worse as the two helped him stand.

But it was much more preferable than sitting around and waiting to see what exactly those men were going to do with him.

Wild tried to put weight on his foot and nearly screamed, pain tearing up his leg like lightning. Green and Red had to scramble to not drop him, and Wild clutched at the two of them, his head spinning.

“Ohh no, Green, his leg is all torn up,” Red said in dismay, and Green‘s expression tightened.

“We’ll have to make do. C’mon.”

They started to move, Wild moving his leg as little as possible. It still dragged on the floor though, Green and Red too short to really lift him off the ground, and he had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying out.

They made it out onto the porch, and suddenly yells and the sound of weapons clashing rang in Wild’s ears. He saw a blur of purple and blue, along with darker shapes, and one of them turned towards them, fury in his eyes.

“They’re getting the kid! Stop them!” he yelled, and Red yelped, him and Green hurrying much faster.

Wild tried his best to keep up with them, the throbbing in his leg and head growing to a near unbearable degree. Someone around him suddenly yelled, and Green grabbed Wild, yanking him to the side.

They hit the ground and Wild’s world exploded into pain, his vision whiting out as his leg hit the ground. A scream rang in his ears and it took Wild a minute to realize it was his own.

Someone grabbed him again, and Wild couldn’t figure out who it was until a warm hand clutched at his.

“—ild hold on!”

More hands grabbed him, and Wild cracked his eyes open with a gasp, a blur of pink and red and too many other colors swirling around in his vision. Someone yelled, someone else let out a cry of pain, and then suddenly Wild’s entire world was tunneling in on itself, and his body was pressing in and squeezing and he screamed again.

Then he collapsed, and the next thing he knew, someone was patting his cheek and telling him it was okay.

Something was pressed to his lips, and Wild drank, recognizing the sweet but bitter taste of a potion. He felt it sink into his stomach with a tingly feeling, and Wild fell back with an exhausted sigh as the pain throbbing through him eased.

“How are you feeling, Champion?” someone asked carefully, and Wild cracked his eyes open, a purple version of Four leaning over him.

“...Better,” he rasped, looking around a little dizzily. “What... happened?”

“We jumped in a minish portal— we shrunk,” Vio explained. “Green got hit, and we couldn’t get you out of there, so this was the best option.”

“We... shrunk,” Wild repeated slowly, looking around. Dark wood was all around them, a few mushrooms on the walls, and Wild saw some giant petals resting on the ground beside them. “...huh. Are those... guys gone?”

“They’re looking around, but they won’t be able to find us in here,” Blue said as he walked up, his arms crossed. “We’re safe.”

“Good,” Wild sighed again, and let his eyes trail to the side. They landed on Green, curled up beside him and clutching his arm to his chest, and he frowned.

“Is Green...”

“He’ll be okay, we already healed him. He’s just resting. Which you should also be doing,” Vio said pointedly, and Wild hummed.

Someone sat down beside him, and Wild saw Red curl up at his side, Blue and Vio also sitting next to him. He smiled a little, then let his eyes drift close, exhaustion grabbing at him again.

“Thanks Four,” he whispered, and someone’s hand grabbed his, giving it a squeeze.

#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu four #lu colors #lu wild #fic #whumptober #whumptober 2024 #no.19 #blood trail #abandoned cabin #writing from the floor #ough

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