Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
How did he get here? Where even is here? It's dark. Wait, no, it's bright now. Like the sun. Fuck. He hasn't felt the real sun in, what, days? Weeks, maybe? He has no idea how long he was even down in that hell scape. That place where he was. That thing. A god? He doesn't even know.
Wait, focus. Where even is he? There's a river, slow and running smooth. A small, almost nasaly sound. A pig, maybe. He blinked, trying to sit up straight, but god, his body hurt. How, he doesn't remember, a different flood of thoughts pounding through his skull.
Thoughts of the past. Wars, colonies, history. Everything that happened. But also the future. New leaders, betrayals, discoveries, and death. Plagued by thoughts that belonged to no one and everyone who died and will be born.
The King. Those crossroads. God, it had been so blinding, so quick that he had no time to think. That's must be why he couldn't remember why he was by this river.
He let out a groan, or at least he thought he did. He could hardly hear himself with everything going on. He stopped trying to sit up, laying down on the damp grass and staring at the leaves of the oak trees around him.
The pounding in his head won't stop. It's too loud, too demanding. Was this even real? He must be dreaming, surely this is all just a—
"Holy shit–!" A voice, new yet oddly familiar, yelled out. Far, but coming closer. Running like they were panicked.
He hardly had time to look at who the owner of the voice was before there were two hands grabbing onto his shoulders. Cool to the touch even through his blood stained armor.
"Are you alright, man?" The voice, another man, asked. He even helped the fallen knight into a more upright position. He was kneeling in front of him now, the knight could see him better.
A slime person. Wait, no. Not just a slime person. Avery. That name stuck out among the depths of knowledge his kind possessed now. This slime was important. But how, he can't recall.
Avery's eyes quickly looked the knight up and down, worry crossing over his features quickly. "You're bleeding a lot, dude, can you walk??" He talked fast. Faster than the other could process right now.
He must've nodded in some capacity, because Avery was already helping him to his feet, one of his arms holding up the shoulders of the knight.
"It's alright," The slime tried to soothe, but the panic in his voice made his words shake. "You'll be alright. Do you have a name? Can you talk?" He had so many questions.
"Derlorde." The knight managed to speak, his voice rough and hoarse as if he hadn't drank anything in months. He coughed, the one simple word feeling like a chore.
"Alright, cool, cool." Avery nodded, guiding Derlorde along the side of the river. When did they even start walking? "I'm Avery."
The walk felt both like an eternity and only mere seconds at the same time. Derlorde could hardly remember any of it, just suddenly being walked into Avery's home and sat by his fireplace.
"Ok, easy." Avery mumbled, more so to himself than to Derlorde, as if trying to tell himself that this was ok when it really wasn't. "Alright, uhm, I'm going to get something to patch you up, just... Stay here, ok?"
Derlorde didn't answer, his throat feeling like it was closed up completely. He hardly moved, feeling cold despite being by such a warm fire. His mind was a mess, everything felt too predictable, too coordinated. He knew everything that was happening. He already knew Avery would take him to his house, knew he would leave to get bandages, and even knew that he'd come back with food later.
He didn't even notice Avery leaving the room, but he tried to distract him from the pounding in his head. The room was cozy, decorated minimalistic yet welcoming. The fireplace was built from bricks, carefully constructed, but the rest of the room was rather lacking with only a simple green carpet and a window to view outside. Nice for a living room, though.
Derlorde heard the faint creak in the floorboards behind him and turned around, only to find no one there. Yet. A few seconds later was when Avery walked in with a variety of bandages and medications, the same sound of the creak in the floor replaying.
Avery tried to offer up a smile, but the worry in his gaze persisted heavily. He moved to sit down next to Derlorde, setting all the supplies to his side a little clumsily. It all felt so familiar to Derlorde despite never meeting this man until moments ago.
Avery had looked back to Derlorde at this point, focusing on the blood stained armor the knight was wearing. He reached out, slow and careful, right for his helmet to go and take it off.
Derlorde didn't know he reacted to this, he didn't even plan to, but he did. Grabbing Avery's wrist almost too quickly, his posture tense. "Don't."
"What– But you're—"
"Don't. My head is fine." Derlorde claimed, his tone a lot sharper than he intended. He couldn't remember why he refused to take the helmet off. Maybe it's because of what happened behind those gates. What he saw...
"I'll take the rest of my armor off, but not my helmet." He tried to compromise, moving to take off the bloody gauntlets. He winced slightly, but he was quiet enough for Avery not to notice.
With each removed piece of armor, Derlorde finally felt the extent to his pain. Yes, his armor had been covered in blood, but he didn't assume all of it was from his own wounds. He couldn't remember how he got most of them, but he could guess it was from when he crawled his way out of that dark cavern with whispers of the universe.
Now in just a long sleeved red shirt and casual pants, Derlorde tried to control his breathing. The pain was rough, enough to almost numb the thoughts taking over. He could feel the scrapes on his knees, the cuts across his palms, the deeper gash across his collarbone.
"Christ, man–" Avery, ever the socially inept, muttered mostly under his breath. "I mean‐ ok, it's not THAT bad, right?" He rephrased with a nervous laugh Derlorde remembers hearing time and time again.
Avery seemed... a little out of his depth here, his face clouded with a sense of anxiety and worry. He shook his head, picking up some kind of disinfectant and wrap bandages. That's when he grabbed one of Derlorde's hand by the wrist, his skin a surprisingly cold temperature and sticker texture than imagined. Odd, but not uncomfortable. Familiar.
"This might sting a bit." Avery warned as he carefully brought the disinfectant spray to the other's hand, spraying enough to cover the small cuts.
Despite Avery's warning and already knowing it would sting, Derlorde still winced, sucking a breath through clenched teeth. But he didn't pull away, letting Avery start to wrap up his hand.
"I know, I'm sorry." Avery sympathized, glancing up to loom at Derlorde's face for a moment before grabbing his other hand, repeating the process. This time it didn't hurt as bad.
Avery did the same thing for Derlorde's scraped knees, a careful layer of disinfectant and carefully wrapped with bandages. But that just left the gash in his collarbone, which even Avery seemed hesitant about.
Derlorde knew why, but it didn't make it any less awkward for him. The cut was on his collarbone. Somewhat underneath his shirt. He tried not to make it weird for them, staying quiet as he tugged down the collar of his shirt enough for the wound to be visible, which showed just the slightest bit of his chest.
Avery looked as if he was about to choke on his own spit for a minute, his face seeming almost a deeper green. He tried to ignore it, moving a bit closer to tend to the wound. The close proximity was almost too much.
It was silent. Too quiet while Avery sprayed the disinfectant across Derlorde's collarbone, making the knight grunt a bit in pain. He tried to wrap bandages around the wound quickly without it being too messy or touching his skin too much.
When Avery pulled the bandages tight to secure them, Derlorde winced again, louder and more audible this time. It made Avery hesitate for a moment.
"Sorry." He muttered, his voice softer than earlier, like he was scared of breaking the quiet surrounding them. After he tied off the bandage, his hand lingered. Derlorde tried to ignore that.
Avery had stood up again, Derlorde somehow missed it. "I'm going to make you something to eat, ok? Kitchen is right there." He stated, nodding his head to a doorway.
Derlorde just nodded, leaning his back against the wall behind him. His head still hurt, but it felt less invasive for the time being. Who knows how long that will last.
He turned his gaze to the fire, watching the flames flicker and pop around the wooden logs inside. Serene, peaceful, relaxing...
Touch it.
.... What?
Go on, touch it. Touch the fire. It can't hurt that bad.
Derlorde felt stuck, his body refusing to listen to how he wanted to look away from the fire, to forget about that nagging voice in his head.
You know the severity of burns now thanks to that knowledge you were gifted. Touch it. Only a little.
Derlorde reached his hand out.
"Hope chicken is ok!" Avery's voice nearly startled Derlorde, making him draw his hand away almost too quickly. Avery noticed.
"Hey, you ok?" He asked, moving over to sit down next to Derlorde, back against the wall as well. He held out one of the chicken legs he had cooked, offering it to the knight.
Derlorde nodded, taking the offered chicken but not yet eating. "Yeah. Fine." He mumbled, not even bothering to look at Avery fully. Not like the slime could tell. The helmet covered all of Derlorde's features.
Avery nodded in return, taking a bite of his own chicken. Which was... odd. He's slime, so you could see how the food he swallowed just kinda... sank down. Thank god he was wearing a shirt.
"You don't really talk much do you?" Avery spoke up again, tilting his head slightly to the side to look at Derlorde better. "It's not bad! Just... an observation." He added with a smile.
Derlorde didn't respond. He knew he didn't have to. Avery understood, and that was enough for him. He focused on eating instead, even if it was difficult through the gaps in his helmet.
They only ate in silence for now, but Derlorde could practically hear Avery's thoughts. All the alternate times where Avery does question him, about how he got here or who he is. Yet in this world, he didn't. And Derlorde was fine with that.
It was only a few moments for both to be finished eating, Avery standing up with that sort of energy you can't help but admire.
"It's getting pretty late. You can use my room tonight." He stated, as if it was a mere fact, already offering his hand to help the other stand.
Derlorde took his hand and stood, the touch lingering a moment longer than he should've expected. "Thanks, however don't you want your own room?" He asked, voice low.
Avery just shook his head, an almost endearingly cheerful smile on his face. "Nah, I don't mind, man. I can chill out on the floor."
So that's how Derlorde ended up in Avery's bed, Avery making sure the room was comfortable and accommodating for Derlorde's injuries. Believe me, Derlorde had tried to protest, but Avery was rather persistent.
"Alright, all good. I'll be out in the living room, ok?" Avery explained, standing at the edge of his bed where Derlorde was sitting. "Just give me a shout if you need something."
He had turned to walk away, making it close to the door before Derlorde spoke.
"Avery."
It made the slime pause, turning his head to look back over at where the knight was sitting. "Yeah?"
"Thank you." Derlorde said simply, his voice genuine despite its quietness. "For helping me. And letting me stay."
Avery blinked, processing the information, then smiled. "Of course. I'd do it for anyone. Goodnight." And he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Though Avery's parting words bothered Derlorde. I'd do it for anyone. He's kind, too much so. He's naive. Not always a good trait.
Yet the knight was drawn to the slime like finding light in darkness.