Chipped
Hey, who wants a new fic? Cuz here it is. Just a note: This isn’t an end I planned for the story, just a scenario that I had to make. It’s possible things end out with a happy ending.
2xo (aka Rocky) is owned by @drawbauchery.
Rating: T
Wordcount: 1,591
The first thing you notice when you form is pain. Your shoulder explodes in pain as your arm fades from existence. Your right hand goes to your shoulder and squeezes down, hoping to take the pain away.
Once the pain has receded, you pull your hand away and look at where your arm is supposed to be. Your shoulder looks like it always has, just without an arm. Carefully, you push your body to form your arm.
Pain stabs into you and your hand returns to your shoulder as your attempt falls apart. Looks like that was a no go. And you liked that arm.
You look down at your gem, knowing what you would find. Just as you thought, the gem that your leg formed around was chipped. Guess your days as a soldier were over.
Gem chipping was only ever something you had heard about, but you had heard enough about it. You had heard about the pain, about the disruption in your form. Worst of all, you had heard about how a gem becomes more fragile the bigger the chip is taken.
Looking at your gem, you can see you’ve become a lot more fragile.
Woundhide
You shake your head as you get to your feet. It was odd. You felt like a strange fog had come over your mind. You shake the fog away, but you feel like you're forgetting something after it lifts.
You look around to get your bearings, but it was no use. The land was too broken to recognize where you were. It was to be expected of the battlefield for the final battle against the Rose Quartz rebellion.
No. The thought runs through your mind. It wasn't a battlefield, not anymore. The weapons scattered around and what you can tell are shattered gems around them makes this place into something different.
This isn't a battlefield, it's a graveyard.
Hurthideheal
You shake your head clear once more. Your paw rubs at the side of your head, but you don't feel any pain. Your hand travels down from your head to cover your shoulder again.
With another squeeze, you pull your hand away. “Stop it, 7XC,” you mutter lowly. “You aren't gonna get anywhere trying to hang on to an arm that isn't there anymore.”
You turn your head up, looking at the scattered weapons. It's easy for you to notice a few paths you could travel. Lifting your feet, you start on one of them.
“Let's start getting somewhere.”
Your worrying starts a while after you start walking. It wasn’t something that you could pinpoint as something to worry about. Just this vague feeling that something is wrong.
Your head has been clouding over more and more since you started walking. You want to think it's just the walk getting to you, but you know better. You had walked longer than this little trek and you were perfectly aware of your surroundings.
More distressing was that your head was starting to hurt a bit. About as often as the fog, a slight pain would shoot through your head. It was as though whatever was causing one was causing the other.
There was also the occasional feeling that something was off about your body. The feeling that your hair was heavier, or a strange feeling in your fingers. You tried to check your body for any problems after a few times, but every time it seemed like nothing had happened.
You don't know what is happening, or even if anything is happening, but you don't like it. You just hope that you can find a ship soon. Once you get home, maybe one of the kindergartners can tell you what's happening. For all you know-
“Aaaaugh!”
A shout of pain interrupts your thoughts. Without a thought, you bolt in the direction of the sound.
It only takes you a couple minutes before you find a gem, bunched up on the ground holding onto its body. You slowly walk closer to the gem, hoping not to startle her. “Hey, are you okay?”
Your soft tone doesn't seem to help as the gem snaps straight and looks around wildly. As her eyes lock onto you, they widen and she clambers away from you. “Nonononono.”
You hold your hands out in front of you, as though placating an animal, as you step closer. “Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna help.”
She shakes her head, her short hair flapping wildly into her face. “No, you can't help. You camf-” Her words are cut off as a group of three tentacles spill out of her mouth.
You jump back as she seems to cough, her tentacle tongues flailing in the air. As you step back, a handle catches your foot and sends you tumbling to the ground. You look back at the gem and she appears to have gone back to normal.
Her stare is fixed on yours, and you know she's not the same as when you found her. Her eyes were empty as her mouth lolled open. A single word escaped her mouth.
“Run.”
All at once it seemed, her physical form changed. Her arms disappeared from her form as her head became one with her body, her mouth spread across the ball that was her body. Her legs lengthened and bent backwards, taking on a birdlike appearance as they stomped some dust into the air. Finally, her gem settled itself above her mouth, a glint of light shining off of its surface.
You couldn't move as the… the creature in front of you stepped closer to you. It stood above you and raised its face to the sky, releasing a squawk that wriggles it's tongues in the air. It turns its head back to you as it raises a leg, your arm going to block the attack automatically.
The attack never came, though. You watch as the creature lowers its leg again and cocks to the side, as though listening to something. After a moment it turns away from you and runs into the field of weapons. It was then when you started to hear a faint sound in the distance.
Finally finding some strength in your body, you pick yourself back up from the ground and start walking towards the noise. The closer you get, the more you can tell that it’s someone yelling out. When you can finally make out the word, it makes you freeze in fear.
“7?”
A million questions run through your head at once. What is she doing here? How did she get here? Did she see what happened?- All of them disappeared as the image of that gem changing returned to you. It’s followed by the thought of what had been happening to you.
I can’t let her find me.
You are about to turn to run away from the voice, but stop as your eyes see a flash of pink turning a corner in front of you. You knew it was too late to run as she turned, your eyes meeting hers in a wide stare.
"7!" With a cry, 2XO ran to you, nearly tackling you with her hug. Your legs keep steady, though, as her arms cross to your back. It's only after you're in her arms that she seems to notice your missing limb. "7, your arm."
"I know." You shake your head and pull away from her. Any other time her worrying about you would make you happy. "2, what are you doing here? It isn't safe."
"I was worried about you. I heard that you weren't on the ships heading back and I had to come find you." She looks down, her eyes glancing over your gem. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
You don't try to hide the injury- hurtpainhide- your gem has taken. The lack of an arm makes it quite obvious about your chipped gem. "I'm sorry I worried you, but you need to go. I don't know what's happening, but it's not good."
"Let's go then. I have a ship waiting nearby. We can get on and leave this terrible place-" She tries to grab your hand- paw- but you pull away as though stung.
"I-I can't leave. You have to go, 2." You turn your back to her and look at your hand. Right before your eyes it suddenly turns into a paw. You didn't change it. It just suddenly was.
You can hear 2xo step closer to you. "I'm not going without you." It sounds wet to your ears. You can feel her hand hovering over your shoulder, but you pull away again.
"You aren't safe around me." You choke back a sob as you feel your mouth change much like your hand did. You don't know what is happening, but you know that, unless you ended this now, you were going to hurt 2. "You need to go. Now!"
“I don’t care!” She shouts back at you. “I don’t want to leave you here.”
“You don’t have a choice.” The words leave as a whisper as your body continues to change around you. As quickly as you can, you stand and start to run into the field of weapons once again, shouting back your last words. “Forget about me 2! I can’t come back!”
As the world fades into a fog around you, you hear the sound of footsteps coming from behind you. One last thought passes through your mind as a tear falls from your face.
Goodbye 2XO.
You look around this odd place that you found yourself. There were pointy and sharp things scattered all over the place. This was not a safe place for you, not with only three legs like you have now. You were not safe.
You hear some soft feet approach you and growl. Whatever it was that was following you, it was persistent. As quickly as you can, you start to run away from the sound.
You have to find somewhere safe. You’re too hurt to survive anywhere else.
