Against the Odds (A Crossmare Fanfiction)

Pheasant

Cross' head was pounding when he woke up. It felt like the dull blade of a knife was digging into his skull, slowly trying to lever it apart. He raised his hand to rub his forehead, only to find something wet and sticky wrapped around his wrist.

Frowning, the smol lifted his arm into sight and stared at his wrist. A bracelet of dark leaves were curled around his wrist, having some sort of paste beneath them. Upon further inspection, he realised that he also had similar paste covered leaves on his neck, cheek, hands and ankles. And then he realised, those were the places where he'd been stung.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, ripping the leaves off and cringing at the texture of the mystery paste. He didn't have a clue where he was, what had happened, or who had helped him. All he could remember was a tall dark figure yelling at him and dragging him away. Could it have been Nightmare...?

He didn't have much time to think any longer, because the sound of a twig snapping sent him into panic mode. Whipping round to face the direction of where the sound had came from, he went to pull out his knife. It wasn't there.

"It's not there."

Cross stiffened, turning to see a figure stood by a nearby tree. Instantly as he did so, his body slumped and relaxed. "Oh, Blue. It's you."

The small skeleton nodded, giving a shy smile. "Your knives and pack are over there." He pointed to Cross' side.

He turned to his left, blinking as he saw that his knife he usually kept up his sleeve and his pack were indeed laid out for him. The knife was resting on a tree root, his pack next to it with the top still tightly sealed. "Oh, Thanks."

"No problem." He stepped over slowly, fiddling with his fingers. "Do your stings still hurt?"

Cross looked up at him in surprise, his hand subconsciously rubbing at his neck where he got stung. "...No, they don't actually. Thanks, again."

He smiled a bit, nodding. "No problem, again."

The two of them shared a giggle, the smaller of them situating himself down next to the black and white bean.

"That trackerjacker idea was clever, you know." He hummed, glancing down at him.

Blue nodded in response, fiddling with a twig in between his fingers. "I saw your situation and had seen the nest earlier the other day while trying to find water. So I snuck up the tree while you all slept and waited for you to wake up."

"That was dangerous." He frowned. "Why would you risk your life trying to help me?"

He shrugged. "Well you were really nice to me, and I felt like I wouldn't be able to walk off knowing I could have done something to help..."

Cross sighed, resting his hand on his shoulder. "You're a real good kid Blue, you know that? You honestly don't deserve to be in a cruel game like this..."

"But neither do you Cross!" He looked up at him with sad eyes. "You have family at home. Family that really care about you..."

"So do you!" He protested.

"No..." He shook his head. "Not really. I told you how my brother did nothing to help me."

"And I said that maybe he was just too frozen." He responded.

"Cross, you and I both know that's not true..." He smiled sadly. "If you, a sixteen year old can volunteer for your twelve year old brother without freezing up, then surely my eighteen year old brother can step forwards for his twelve year old brother without doing the same."