Chapter Text
Avery had always wondered about the dot of amber yellow on his arm. He knew it was a soul mark, showing the color of your fated partners most prominent trait. Honestly he kinda felt bad for whoever his soulmate was, being a slime hybrid and all it was hard to imagine anything other than the green of his slightly translucent form would show up on them. But Avery couldn’t really worry about it at this moment.
Actually, for the past day or so, he went without thinking about his soul mark or the color that would show up on his partner. All because of one book in one chest with one very mysterious author.
‘Whatever you do at the crossroads, don’t turn left.’
Avery had been far too worried about D3r- about Derek to think about anything else. Had been far too worried when Derek lied to slow him down from finding him. When Derek had used his stupidly brilliant mind to trick him and pushed him into the void.
He woke back up in his little cabin he had made, but he had no time to process everything that had happened. He didn’t even know why he was so worried about him. Maybe it was because despite knowing everything about Avery, he still chose him. He still was willing to die for Avery. He didn’t have time to unpack why he was so desperate to save someone who he didn’t even think was his soulmate. He could do that later. He needed to get back. Back to Derek. He couldn’t let him die, he wouldn’t let him die.
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Darkness.
Thats all he could see. Were his eyes even open? He couldn’t tell. Not with the infinite knowledge of the universe and millions upon millions of different realities permeating his mind.
One thought did surface though. One that was his. He did it. He saved Avery, and he destroyed the king.
Derek had never been one to take off his armor, he was always far more comfortable wearing it. He never even allowed himself to look at the mark on his arm. He just couldn’t bring himself to. But now..
Now he didn’t even have to look. Because he knew. He knew everything, to be fair, but he knew. He knew from the first moment he looked behind those gates. The moment he first gained infinite knowledge. His bold, adventurous and stupidly stubborn soulmate whose form gleamed in the sun. Making shades of green fall over everything nearby when the light was angled just right.
Avery was the one thing that kept him going, he had to make sure he was safe. And he finally saved him. He felt bad for lying and tricking him, but he couldn’t bear to think about what would’ve happened if he didn’t. So now, in the vast nothingness as his mind was collapsing in on itself, he let himself dream.
He peered into the infinite realities, every single one where thy both were. Realities where they got to meet without an eldritch horror looming. Realities where Derek got to meet Avery and get to know him normally instead of just knowing. He smiled at all of the other realities, even though he wasn’t in them. For once he felt a sort of peace in knowing different versions of themselves were living happily.
But of course, he couldn’t peer for long. The longer he tried to quiet the infinite knowledge, the louder it became. His head felt like it was splitting open now, and it was nearly unbearable. Nearly. He got lucky that this is the second time experiencing this pain..
But it was time, he thought, to let himself rest. Avery was safe. The king dead. He had nothing left to do now. He let his eyes close, if they were even still open, and let himself drift off. The vast nothingness blanketing him.
…
Except instead of his mind collapsing in on itself, instead of him dying like he thought, he felt himself being moved. He didn’t have the strength to open his eyes, or move at all really, but he could vaguely hear someone saying something through the haze his mind was in. He felt himself being picked up off what was presumably the ground, felt himself being supported by a cool, gel like substance.
Avery had rushed back to the mineshaft as quickly as he could, only to find Derek slumped over the chest in the middle and bleeding profusely. He cursed to himself as he wasted no time trying to get Derek back up. And shit there was a lot of blood- he had to move. At first he tried to just support Derek, slinging one arm over his own shoulders, his hand against his waist to help him stay upright. But very quickly he figured doing that would slow them down, and they were in a rush.
With a deep inhale and a huff, Avery picked the knight up into a princess carry. Or would it be prince carry right now? Either way- he carried Derek, armor and all, as he sprinted back to his home. He was lucky slime hybrids like him didn’t take much damage from big falls, he didn’t exactly have the liberty of taking his time climbing down whatever ledges were on the way right now..
By the time he got Derek in a bed and was digging through his (poorly organized) chests for first aid supplies, he noticed he could still see the other breathing. Thank fuck. He carefully started removing the golden armor and his under shirt, Avery couldn’t see any injuries on his legs so he figured he’d leave Derek with his dignity for now. But as he tossed the shirt aside, along with the helmet, he paused.
He didn’t really notice it before, basically having a panic attack and all as he wasted rushing home, but the man’s blood was a lot like his own. When Avery got injured, his blood acted more like water and was a darker teal color (though you couldn’t tell where any veins were just looking through him. And looking at Derek’s now, it also acted a bit more like water, actually, more like a watered down syrup.. and it was a deep amber. Or was it a darker orange-red? He couldn’t quite tell..
Then Avery finally snapped out of his fascinated stupor, moving to start banding his wounds. Hold on- wow.. panic really made him blind huh? He looked through the others form, it was a bit more opaque than his own slime, and it was a rich honey color. Oh wait.. it was literally honey, took himself long enough to notice.
He finished bandaging wounds and cleaning off blood before he finally let himself truly take in Derek’s features. They were a lot like his, just yellow in color and a thicker consistency. Geez, that wording is weird now that he’s thinking about it.. but there’s not really any other way to describe hybrids like Avery and Derek, so it’ll have to do.
Derek was still breathing at least, though there was no telling when he’d wake up. Avery paced the room a while, his stomach twisting in knots. He should go outside and distract himself.. Derek needs rest.
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Eventually, Derek was able to open his eyes. He carefully glanced around the room he was in. Of course he knew this was Avery’s home, and his room, but it was still disorienting to wake up in Avery’s bed. He slowly lifted his head and looked down at himself, bandages crisscrossed across his torso, most of them starting to bleed through.
He winced slightly as the migraine started up again, but he let himself glance at his arm before putting his head down. His soul mark, right where it was supposed to be. That distinct light green staring back at him. He smiled, despite the splitting pain in his skull. He let his head rest on the pillow once more, only looking up slightly when he hears the door open.
“Hey there soulmate..” his voice was raspy and weak, but it was enough to make Avery pause. Derek looked at him with a lopsided grin, “turns out you aren’t a hard guy to save Aves.”