Hide Your Love Away // [Conqs Searching]

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

there's a sick little suicide in all that we do
you decide, which one's for you?

Asunder sat on the steps of the Temple of Sacrifice, raking in deep uneven breaths. He leaned over his right leg, clutching the knee and willing his heart beat to slow. At first he had been glad that his shoulder had hurt from the sting far more than his leg. But now that he was coming back to his senses, he recognized that sign for what it was: a very bad thing. He could hardly even look at his mottled left leg, black and blue and lumpy. If only he had held onto a blanket or something to cover it up. His backpack just wasn't big enough to hide his crushed thigh. He'd done some minimal first aid on it, sewing up the gash where the stone roof had broken his skin. But what was he supposed to do about a bruise? About a fracture? About a break?

He felt a pinch in his left arm, and it was as though his blood began to hum. He looked up to see Owen lifting an anti-venom needle out of his own flesh. Asunder hadn't even realized he'd been shaking and drooling until the medicine's hum worked its way to his mind and cleared the fog. Poisoned kitties, he remembered, and finally, blissfully, his heart beat began to comply with his demand and came down a few miles per hour.

"Th-thanks," he choked out between the shivers, his fingers locked together around his knee. "Others?" He asked, and even Asunder wasn't sure if he was referring to more Demon Cats of Doom or the Keeni twins. Both. He wanted to know about both. And he wasn't just going to sit around, either. His thoughts began to fall into order, his breaths came more easily. Asunder reached for his harpoon, placed it down two steps from his feet, and then leveraged it to bring himself upright. He grinned, pleased with his own triumph, and then began to work his jaw side to side to release some of the poison's tension.

The lockjaw proved to be one of the more stubborn side effects. "The clue," he said, before it seized up on him. He jerked his head to his right, which was really the only way he could walk, and began to slowly row his way along the step, reaching out the harpoon, planting it, and dragging himself to it. Wash, rinse, repeat. His shoulder still burned, happily now though, and his leg continued to throb distantly, as though it already belonged to someone else.

He made it halfway around the Temple before the cave-in's rubble blocked his path. It had cleared an opening inside the stone building, not so far from where he had been crushed. Pwned by the very stuff he was supposed to dominate, day in and day out in a district far away. He looked into the shadows and vigorously shook his head.

"Not seeing anything!" He called back, rather pleased that he had managed to string three whole words together. It was strange, though, because he hadn't remembered any water inside of the temple, and something liquid had spilled across the floor. Asunder squinted as he turned back towards the crack, and then dipped his harpoon in the puddle.

It came away crimson.

He immediately looked down to his leg, assessing the wound he had hurriedly stitched. He just hadn't bled that much, not to leave such a large pool. And if it wasn't his, and the rest of his companions seemed alright... who else could it belong to? He thought about Cricket shadowing their movements, contorting her way silently around them. Had she followed them? Curiosity got the better of his sense, and Asunder reached further into the crack with his harpoon, hoping that it would, and hoping that it wouldn't bump into something. He leaned over the jagged rocks, tapping it around, putting more and more strain on his healthy right leg, until finally his knee buckled.

And he went tumbling into the pool of blood.

He screeched through his locked teeth, flailed around until he ended up on his right hip, arms wrapped protectively around his harpoon. He winced as his body instinctively tried to curl up into a fetal position and found his left leg unwilling. He huffed, the outburst of air rippling over the shallow puddle. And there, just in front of his face, floated the clue. Asunder gingerly lifted it out of the gore, but still managed to leave his thumbprint in blood near to the writing. He read it over, just once, before somebody pulled him upright. He immediately turned over the clue to attend to more pressing things, like the fact that he was now dirty and coated in blood.

"Not my day," he said, shaking his head. "What do you make of it?"

banner credit: thg's izoe
song: the matches sick little suicide

[Lulu]

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rolled together with a burning paper heart
rolled together with a burning paper heart
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I'd never had much of a way with animals; my magic touch was concentrated solely where fire was concerned. In a way, I was kind of scared of them—alright, maybe not scared, but I didn't like them, to say the least. To me, they were wild, untamable creatures, while even flames could be controlled if you had the gift to keep them in line. When I was out in the sparse woods of my industrialized district near Mama Keeni's house gatherin' firewood, I would jump and run at the mere sound of a howl or a strange rustlin', though I knew full well that those beasts were all far away. They didn't come to District Six. But they were plentiful in the arena, and dealin' with those glorified house cats had proved that, to say the least.

I gave the one we killed a prod with my foot; the others had fled right away. Its beautiful rainbow coat shimmered under the light of the jungle sun, almost like a flame turned blue at the tips and stained red, red with blood. There was some blood on me, too, but not a lot; definitely not a lot. I'd gotten off easy, especially when compared to my allies who were all pretty beat up. "You okay, Asunder?" I asked, concerned, sitting down beside him and Owen on the steps of the crumbling temple. Just looking at his leg, though, I knew he wasn't, and a feelin' of dread crept through me. His leg was crushed to the bone; no way would he be able to walk, and at least not fast. Not fast enough to run if we came upon trouble.

For a while I played with the idea of leavin', takin' Py and getting away from the now-crippled ally who might turn out to be our downfall. We could go somewhere else, lose ourselves in the jungle, explore this place without worryin' about anyone but ourselves, watchin' our own backs. But as soon as I thought of it, I realized I would never be able to go through with it; I'd made a deal with Owen and Asunder during that weekend of training, a deal to stick together in the face of all our enemies. How would it look now, leaving Asunder to die? I had certainly turned into a bit of a monster the past few days, but no way had I become that heartless. I'd need to kill a lot more people for that to ever happen. Besides, I knew I needed the boys too; a little girl like me couldn't survive out there on her own very long. I needed their protection, as grudgin' as I was to admit it.

When Asunder brought up the clue, I realized that entire search had completely slipped my mind; we'd had much more pressing things to deal with. I rose to my feet and followed him cautiously as he hobbled around the interior of the strange temple on his bed leg. I was actually pretty proud of him for managin' to do it with his injury and all, but then all the sudden he slipped in a massive pool of blood and went tumblin' down. "Asunder!" I cried, rushing over to him to help him up, but before I could he held up a piece of paper and waved it around for us to see.

Here holds naught but ancient death, so flee whilst you have feet
(Waste no time, for death still stalks each lingering heartbeat)
Treasure waits where you'd expect, if you can find the way;
Journey fast, should you still want to live another day

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I scanned the clue carefully, my limited readin' skills impeding my progress; I was nowhere near as fast as anybody else because they'd never been my thing, letters and numbers. Or school in general. Once I finished, though, I puzzled over it, my nose wrinkling as I did. Here holds naught but ancient death. I tried to ignore the smell of fresh blood that was wafting into my nostrils. So flee whilst you have feet. I didn't wanna do any fleein'; I was more of a face things as they hit me kind of person. Waste no time, for death still stalks each lingering heartbeat. "I dunno, seems pretty cryptic to me," I said finally. "But it sounds like there's treasure involved, so I'm in."
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pulled together but about to burst apart
rolled together with a burning paper heart
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