Chapter 11- Surviving the Unimaginable

[CW- This chapter includes body horror. Please look after yourself while reading.]

Blinding light filled Peggy’s vision. She shielded her eyes and then looked back at where the rogue had been. Icy blue runes filled her vision. The rogue snapped and thumped against the runic shield. Eli winced as he tried to keep up the magic.

“Snap out of it!” Eli shouted. Peggy looked at them and then stepped back from the shield and started running up the hill.

EEEEEUUGH!!!

Eli winced as the rogue headbutted the rune. They were pushed slightly into the soil and grass. They took a shuddering breath, their chest filling with the cold air of the North.

“Come on, come on,” they growled, barely holding up the shield.

Yonus launched at the rogue, knocking it to its side. Nieve launched next to him, aiming for the chin of the rogue.

Crunch

“Keep going!” Eli screamed. Yonus nodded, launching himself at the chin, too. The rogue tried to right itself, scrabbling against the floor, its ribs rattling as it attempted to breathe in deeper. There was no more space in its shriveled organs to take in breath.

Nieve jumped in to hit it again.

This time, the rogue managed to put its hand up to protect its throat. Nieve's jaws clamped down into the thickened bones of its hand. Nieve growled, his fangs stuck in bones and dried cartilage.

Yonus went to attack again and got swatted away, skidding up the hill. He landed next to Peggy, who yelped as she looked down at him.

“Mik-?” she started, but Yonus shook his head and growled as he stood.

“Keep running,” Yonus said psychically to her before running back down toward the rogue again. Peggy froze, having never heard anyone speak in her mind before. She didn’t have time to process this and began sprinting away again.

Yonus skidded down the hill, aiming for Eli.

“Springboard!” Yonus shouted to Eli in his mind. Eli nodded, standing wide and crouching slightly, holding the shield over their head. Nieve watched and threw his body weight to the side, pulling the rogue to the side with him.

Yonus sprinted, jumped on the shield, and used the momentum to leap at the rogue’s chin again.

With a sickening crack, the rogue’s head split from its body, rolling down the hill behind it. The body fell limp, crumpling in on itself. Yonus’s body flew over with the head, and he skidded down the hill with it, his fur unable to protect his skin from the friction burn.

“Shit, shit, SHIT!” he shouted as the treeline rapidly came toward him.

CRASH

Yonus slammed into a tree. Pain radiated through his back and around his shoulder.

Peggy gasped as pain shot through her. She fell to her knees over the crest of the hill.

“What… What the fuck?” she coughed out, gripping at the grass.

Yonus groaned. Eli started skidding toward him, but he shook his head.

“Peggy…” he growled.

“She ran away, she’s ok,” Eli said into Yonus’s mind.

“No, she’s hurt,” he panted. Eli hesitated, looking between Yonus and where they knew Peggy had run to.

“Go to her…” Yonus panted, slowly righting himself.

“You can feel her pain?” Eli asked, their eyes intense. Yonus looked up at them.

“... Yes,” he growled. Eli’s eyes widened.

“Oh… Oh, it’s not just a crush…” Eli whispered.

“No,” Yonus panted. Eli hesitated, then backed up and ran over the hill to Peggy. They found her on her knees, breathless.

“Can rogues do some kind of psychic blast of pain?” she asked.

“Nope,” Eli said, running down and wrapping her arm around their shoulder. “I’ll get you back to the top and do some healing. Mikael needs to deal with the rogue a little and Nieve-”

They froze as they got to the top of the hill and realised that Nieve was still by the rogue body. He glared up at them.

“A little help?” Nieve asked, although because his fangs were still stuck, it sounded like “a liffle helf?”

Eli burst out laughing. It was a high, slightly hysterical laughter that spoke of frayed nerves and too much adrenaline. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," they gasped. "It's just, after all that…" 

Peggy just watched in disbelief, shaking her head.

“How the hell do we get him out of that?” she asked, her back still aching.

“Good question!” Eli cackled. Peggy sighed and wiped a hand down her face. Her hands were still shaking with adrenaline. She took a shuddering breath and looked down to where Yonus was. He had transformed back into Mikael, his dark skin sheened with sweat as he started digging a hole. She heard a rattling noise and realised that the rogue skull was still moving, shuffling toward Mikael and gnashing its teeth.

“Should we tell him?” she asked Eli, pointing down toward Mikael. They both watched as he smacked the skull with the flat of his shovel.

“I think he’s got it,” Eli said. "... At least I hope so."