Chapter Warnings: Attempted murder, character death, injury, blood (marrow), drug use, swearing

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Lotus forgot how to breathe, how to move, or even think. The only things he could register were the five claw-like daggers embedded in his sternum and the ice spidering across his ribs and soul.

"H-Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Rurik finally stepped forward, their face a mix of alarm and anger, "We're supposed to bring him back alive!"

"Piss off, that plan's ruined!" Diz shouted, retracting their hand; the ice left behind kept migrating. Lotus tried to breathe in, but his chest had already begun to lock up. All he could do was struggle feebly, gaping like a stranded fish as asphyxiation began to take hold.

"You heard him, he's useless! We... we have to kill him! Yeah, kill him and find another hostage!" his attacker was rambling hysterically, waving their arms around wildly as Lotus hung helplessly in his ice prison, "If the boss asks, just say... say he had an accident! He did something stupid and you had to kill him!"

"That won't-"

"SHUT UP! I'm n... catchi... ...it for this!" Diz swiped at Rurik, then glared at their captive; Lotus could barely focus his eye light as his body grew slack. The hazy sea of white and green began to darken amid the shouting, "...t was ....osed to .... my big bre...!"

This was it... he was dying...

"...'s all thi... ...tle shit's fau....!"

He didn't... he wasn't ready to go... not like this...

"All hi... ....ult, and h... ...ld die fo... ...!"

Someone...... help......

His body slammed into the ground, forcing a choked gasp out of him. Each cough and shudder was unbearably painful, but it also allowed him to register that he was breathing again; somehow, he wasn't trapped anymore, though he still couldn't seem to make his body move.

His socket slid open, and blurry blades of grass greeted him. A thumping noise behind him followed by a hand yanking his arm reoriented him from his prone position until he was lying on his back staring up at Rurik; they were digging in their jacket pocket for something. The skeleton pulled out a small black case, red stains decorating their hands... right, he was impaled earlier, which meant he was bleeding out right now.

That meant he was still going to die; the only difference was that it would now be a slow death.

"Take this," Rurik urged, shoving something closer to his face; it looked to be a small pink pill.

"R-Really...?" Lotus rasped, coughing to clear his airway, "Of a-all the things... p-poi-son?"

"It's not poison, it's medicine," Rurik denied.

"Why sh-should I tr-," he choked, gritting his teeth against the pain wracking his chest. He clenched his sockets as a wave of dizziness passed over him.

"Look, if I wanted you to die, all I'd hafta do is walk away," Rurik growled, looking thoroughly irritated, "Plus I kinda killed my liaison, so I'm in hot water too. Now, are you gonna let me help or am I gonna hafta force it down your throat?"

Rurik had a point; poison wouldn't be necessary to finish him off when he was already on the brink of losing consciousness. Figuring he had nothing left to lose, he opened his mouth obediently; the pill dropped into the back of his throat and he swallowed, coughing to clear the irritation it caused. "... Alright...," he paused as a shiver passed through him, "w-what happens now?"

"We wait for it to do its thing," Rurik sighed, shifting from their knees into a sitting position next to him; their expression and posture seemed more relaxed now. Through the numbness, a tingling sensation began to make itself known.

Letting his skull fall to the side, Lotus was barely able to make out the other monster's body past Rurik... Diz was the name; there was a dark stain surrounding the hole in the back of their black tank top matching the small pool under their dusting form. "You know, you could tell the Family I killed him," he mumbled; part of him noticed it didn't hurt to speak anymore, "that's what would've happened if you didn't interrupt me earlier."

"Heh, don't really feel like dealing with that Family of nutjobs anymore," Rurik laughed easily; Lotus let out an airy chuckle. They smirked, "You sound better; your ribcage looks like it stopped bleeding, too."

His arm reflexively moved to cover himself, only for a stab of pain to travel up the appendage and force it back down. To cover the reaction, Lotus growled out, "Pervert..."

"Just calling it as I see it," Rurik rose to their knees and reached over Lotus; he grunted as they pulled him into a sitting position. He saw what they were intending to do and tried to lift his arms to push them away, but the lingering pain and fatigue in his bones allowed them to heft him onto their back without much resistance.

"W-Where are you taking me?" he mumbled once he was able to catch his breath.

"Well, your bed's not an option since the bedroom door's always locked, so I'd say the couch...," Rurik felt around for the handle, yanking the door open once he found it, "unless you wanna sleep on the grass?"

Lotus grumbled in place of a response as Rurik descended the staircase, using their boot to nudge open the lower door they had propped open with a book. "Why now?"

"Huh?"

"You didn't give two shits about the predicament I was in earlier, but now you're helping me..." A small part of him wondered if this was just another ploy; not that it mattered much since his 'savior' had only delayed the inevitable, but knowing their motives would at least allow for some closure. "So, why now? What made you change sides?"

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Word Count: 963