Best Served Cold

Don't Think About It

Note: I’m pretty sure I don’t need to be disclaimering every single chapter but y’know, it’s only half about disclaimering chapters. It shows up on Fanfiction and Wattpad as just a bolded word, but on Tumblr those are direct links to the artists’ Tumblrs, and I wanna give them all the exposure I can with my minimal ability to do so, CAUSE THEY TOTALLY DESERVE IT ALL. So the characters belong to MysteryBen and Artsy. BUT THE SANITY OF THE CHARACTERS BELONGS TO ME. Be afraid for them…

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            Arthur lunged up, his arms coming up to clutch at Mystery. “M-Mystery!” There was a second person inside of him and the cave had fallen apart and Vivi was holding onto him, but nothing else mattered. He couldn’t afford for anything else to matter, but he could afford for Mystery to matter.

            Mystery’s breathing was shallow. He had a deep gash running down his side, and his forehead was matted with blood, and his belly had several parallel shallow cuts. Arthur’s breath caught at the sight of Mystery’s left hind leg, severed at the hock. He shed his jacket in seconds and yanked off his shirt. “G-gotta stop the b-bleeding.” He tore his shirt apart, taking the longest shred and using it to tie off Mystery’s leg. The tourniquet bit into Mystery’s skin, but he had to cut off the blood flow. He checked the other wounds, determining the only one still life threatening was the gash in Mystery’s side. But when he tried to bind the gash, Mystery gasped, yelping in pain.

            “B-broken ribs, b-buddy what did you do…” Arthur pulled Mystery onto his jacket and wrapped the dog in it, lifting him up. He turned, still disoriented. He caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye, and turned fully around. “V-v…V…” Why was it so hard to speak? “V… c-call for help, please…ease…"

            Vivi’s face, there was some emotion on Vivi’s face. He couldn’t connect to what it was. Why couldn’t he read her face? Vivi was an open book, he always knew what she was thinking.

            “Because you’re still broken.”

            Arthur leaped at the voice from inside, slamming his mind against it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Think about Mystery. Think about making sure Vivi called for help. “V…” WHY COULDN’T HE… He stared imploringly at Vivi. She had to know what he meant.

            “I called, they’re on their way Squire.” She managed, wiping her face hard.

             As she spoke, the sound of a siren wailed in the distance. He struggled to his feet holding the dog-and-jacket bundle, then sank back down with a scream.

            “Squire! What is it?”

            “I… I…” His chest heaved. He tried to stand again, and again fell back to the ground, making frantic, panicky noises.

            “Come on, we have to be ready to go!” Vivi grabbed his arm to pull him up, but he yanked away from her, eyes wide.

            “T…t…. too high…” His eyes were round as dinner plates as he stared up at her, begging her to understand. “Too high, I’ll f… I’ll f….”

            “Squire what happened to you?” Vivi’s eyes were spilling something strange. The sirens were getting louder. “You can’t do this Squire. They’re going to throw a rope or a ladder or something, and you’re going to have to get yourself up it cause I can’t carry you, please stand up!” She tugged at his arm.