Chapter Text
“Get away from me!” Ethan screamed in hysterics.
Guilt along with something sick curdled in his stomach, he hadn’t meant for it to turn out like this. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. They were supposed to be walking side by side, together.
The blonde had done a full body recoil, minus the leg, and was leaning away from Karl, crazed panic glimmering in his eyes. “Please! Don’t hurt me! I need to save- I still need to save-“ he choked.
“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose…” he repeated like a broken record, eyes glazed over.
“Please… I still have to save Rose… I don’t think- I don’t think I can take anymore.” the blonde whittled, voice catching in his throat.
The generator beside them sputtered briefly before resuming its chuffing, startling the both of them. Ethan flinched hard, jostling his broken leg and making him whimper in pain as blood began to flow once more. Crimson dribbled out like a thick waterfall, staining the floor with a dark puddle.
At any rate, Ethan was going to die of blood loss, if he could die, but he wasn’t going to risk finding out. His brain scrambled for a solution that would hopefully mend their broken relationship. Not that it was ever so strong to begin with. It was simply a hesitant one sided truce, the title of a “deal” lazily tacked on.
The bottle of healing fluid he had brought along sat heavy in his grip. Cold glass sapping the warmth of his palm.
“Ethan,” he creaked, voice unsteady like a ship in a storm. “Y-You need… you need help, I’m going to… help you, alright?” he struggled out, words coming out unsure and clunky. He stayed put, even with his promise to help, waiting for a reaction from the injured man.
Said man stilled, thinking, loud as ever, as he weighed his options. The words rolled out of his mouth slowly, “Nnh… no… you’re going to… use this against me, you’re going to do something bad.” he mumbled, half to himself while he chewed his lip bloody. His thigh spasmed, Ethan hissing as hands flew down to his leg to hold it still.
He was getting paler by the second, his breaths coming shallower. If he didn’t figure out something quick Ethan was going to die. And he needed him for his plan, he needed him alive. Ethan was mumbling to himself now, inaudible muttering clipped off sentences as he leaned against the rumbling generator.
Karl grit his teeth, second times the charm? Ah shit that wasn’t how the saying went but hell if he cared. “Ethan,” he tried again, “I need… You need my help, I won’t pull anything, no strings attached.” he promised, holding out the familiar green bottle to Ethan. A peace offering, hoping to sooth the fathers nerves.
Ethan looked as if he were considering it, his dull eyes searching Karl’s gaze for a sign of ulterior motives. A shaky hand reached out to him, about to accept his offer.
Ethans breath hitched, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed against the generator with a clang. His hand dropped, falling into his lap as he slumped over. He was unconscious.
Shit.
Looks like he wouldn’t need to talk the blonde down if said blonde was out cold. Or dead. No, definitely passed out, he decided, not wanting to even consider the latter option. Ethan twitched in his unconscious state, eyes darting under his eyelids as his mind fought against his body to wake up and fight once more.
All living things had their limits, even in Ethan’s special case. Pulling out the bandages, and accidentally ripping a few in the process, he did a super shitty job at tying a tourniquet. Hey, he usually worked with bodies that were already dead, he was new to this.
Deciding that there wasn’t enough time to make a splint for the unconscious man, he summoned a metal panel to place Ethan on top of like a stretcher. He was thankful that the other man was knocked out during this part. He was sure he wouldn’t have taken too kindly to being lifted on a floating metal platform just after he had been dropped by one.
Frustrated and a bit worried, he turned back towards the entrance to quickly make his way towards his lab which had proper medical equipment. His eye twitched when he was met with the frustrating wooden shelf that blocked the way. There was no fucking way he was squeezing through that goddamn shelf again.
With a growl a heavy booted foot kicked out, splintering wood and breaking it away. The shelf crumpled in on itself, leaving Karl to step over its spintery remains and transport Ethan over it with ease.
He practically sprinted back to his lab, holding the blonde in front of him to make sure he wouldn’t slide off the panel.
Ethan had stopped twitching by now, finally stilling as his tear tracks began to dry and his breathing slowed. He hastily, yet gently, transferred Ethan onto a rickety old medical cot. He didn’t have anything fancier than that. His patients didn’t usually complain about comfort in his past experience.
The blonde's head lolled to the side, his breathing being puffs of air that were barely noticeable.
Shit.
What did Ethan usually do?
He fumbled with the bottle of medicine, dumping it onto Ethan’s open wound with no precision or thought.
Fuck. He was going to die.
It wasn’t fair.
Ethan had to stay. He wouldn’t allow anything else.
The metal in the room began to shake, clattering and filling the room with noise as a storm began to build in the lord's chest. He wouldn’t allow it, he wouldn’t allow the closest thing he had to a relationship be stripped away from him all because of a stupid joke.
A black tendril licked around Ethan’s visible bone.
Karl froze, fascinated at the sight of the doused skin and bone beginning to bubble black. His skin knitted together, bone slotting back into place and replacing missing chips. Ethan’s pale face regained its color, his breathing slowly returning to a steady rate. Black veins in his leg slowly faded, the skin smoothing over like an ironed out bed sheet.
So this was the power of the megamycete. Karl thought in awe. He’d have to run experiments, see what makes Ethan tick, do more background tests on the man, figure out what made him this.
He pulled off a glove, feeling Ethan’s now perfectly fine leg with his bare hand. Unfortunately his healing properties didn’t seem to fix fabrics, leaving his jeans torn and bloody, the only remaining physical evidence that anything had ever happened in the first place.
Ethan let out a groan, the man shifting in his forced slumber, the pain from before now resolved.
“You really do have an interesting body, don’t you papa?” Karl leered, reaching his hand up to sweep Ethan’s bangs away from his face.
The man was disheveled, a mess. Hair sticking askew with blood and grime marking his body and clothes.
He stroked a gentle thumb over his cheek while he cupped his jaw. The gesture was so strangely genuine that Karl pulled his hand back as soon as he had done it, Ethan whimpering at the only form of comfort he had received in a long time.
Tears dripped down his face and ran down ruddy cheeks as the unconscious man shook terribly.
Karl returned the hand, petting Ethan’s hair softly until the man further relaxed. His tears slowed and he fell back into a calm slumber once again before Karl slowly eased away from the blonde.
A warm feeling blossomed in his heart, something akin to fondness.
This wasn’t good.