If our lives are but a spark in the eye of the gods, then let us blind them at least once (12)
So I'm kinda back? But also not? I found this in my drafts and I wanted to post something before 2022 ended so here we are! I am very sorry for not posting fics often but... uni has been kicking my ass and I also caught a very bad flu last week- I might write shorter stuff with the blorbos later so uh look out for that ig?
Anyways, here's the next part of the post-apocalypse/ hollow knight au Matt Murdock x Reader fic. This part, we're in for a ride- the path to a new area opens, an introduction to another character who may or may not be the key to the true ending, and a lil bit more bonding between Matt and R!
It has been a while, but I'm tentatively tagging the people who had wanted to be tagged- @beautifulbows924 @mattmurdocksscars @spiderleaks @no-te-lo-voy-a-dar
Masterlist/ Prev Part/ Next Part
You and Matt had lingered in the pink caverns for a while, listening to her sing her song, watching the way she swayed side to side. Watching the icy crystals reform around her, relentlessly attacking the wall covered in the hard stone.
The sound of clanging and crumbling had somehow harmonised with her singing. And you had seen the way her face crumbled with grief briefly before taking on that carefully neutral look once more.
Luna had asked you if you wanted to stay here with her, had even offered you a place you could stay, and something inside you- something bright and nagging at your ear- something whispering to you that something valuable, something trapped, lurked beneath, and that you only needed to dig a little deeper- had nearly accepted her offer-
But Matt had grasped your hand just as soon as you were about to nod. He had squeezed at your fingers before shaking his head.
She had shrugged, saying something along the words of ‘Your loss, but feel free to join me any time’ before returning to her mining.
And so, you had said your farewells to her, with you handing her a packet of jerky before leaving.
Here you were now, walking along the now somehow familiar road. Watching the pink crystals fade away into the greyness the more you ventured. The sound of clanging soon disappearing, replaced with the now comforting screeching and scuttling of this forgotten crossroads.
Matt stopped in front of a high ledge, looking up.
“We came from up there, didn’t we?”
You nodded before peering up. You then looked reverted your gaze to an open entrance- one you had not taken notice of before, too entranced by the sound of Luna’s singing, right next to you.
“There’s an entrance right next to us.” You tapped out onto your slightly unsheathed blade, making him turn his head towards where your body was faced. “Was that always there?”
“Yeah- I could hear scuttling and scratching coming from-” he tilted his head towards the open hole in the wall “- but you were focused on going the other way.”
Huh.
“Should we go through here then?”
Matt didn’t answer you verbally, simply giving you a small grin before grabbing your hand in his own bandaged one, and tugged you through into a new chamber.
~ ♥~
You expertly leapt over a charging insectoid creature, slamming your blade down the moment you were right above it. However, it seemed as if your swing lacked a little in power, as it simply staggered, instead of being hacked in half.
Thankfully though, Matt was there to land the finishing blow, slicing the critter neatly in half with his katana, orange viscous liquid spluttering all over the place, coating his black sneakers in orange.
You landed on the ground with a soft thumping sound, the dust fluttering around you and covering your cloak slightly. You then turned around to face Matt once more, watching as he wiped the liquid off of his blade.
“I thought I was supposed to land the finishing blow.”
Due to the black mask covering the top of his face, you couldn’t really see the exact expression that would grace his pretty features. You couldn’t see the way his eyebrows would furrow when he was in thought. You couldn’t see the way his nose scrunched slightly whenever he attempted to lie. You couldn’t-
You stopped your train of thought.
How did you know all this?
“They aren’t people.” Matt said rather casually, unknowing of the turmoil coiling up deep in your chest. “I’m only really against killing people. Or anything that had been a person.”
Without much thought, you reached out for him, and were surprised once more when the man made no other move than to tilted his face closer to your orange covered fingers.
Matt was… pliant under your touch, allowing you to peel his black mask off of the upper part of his face. Revealing to you his warm, brown eyes. Blank as ever, and yet you knew that he was truly looking at you.
Your thumb wiped at the trail of orange your fingers left behind on his face.
His nose was unscrunched, and his eyebrows unfurrowed.
However, you could see the slight tremble of his lips as he grinned at you.
“Matt, are you tired?” you gently tapped onto his cheek, your fingers still curled around his face. You didn’t seem to feel fatigue or hunger. But Matt- Matt was different from you. He was… living. He was… human.
But did that mean you weren’t? Living or a human?
His face seemed to grow hotter under your palms. And you suddenly felt so, so cold. You attempted to pull away from him but-
The same warmth engulfed your hand. Rough bandages scratched at your fingers. Callused, yet gentle fingers keeping your touch firmly on his cheek.
“I can make it.” You could feel his rough stubble under your palm as he guided your hands to cup his face. “Are you okay?”
You nodded. You weren’t really alright- but Matt didn’t need to know that.
“Lie.” He softly murmured, and you froze momentarily. You thought he couldn’t really hear your heartbeat- So Matt couldn’t know- “You always tap your foot when you tell a lie.”
You abruptly pulled your hands away from him. Have you lied to him before? Did you really tap your foot when you told a lie?
Matt bit his lip, as if he too couldn’t believe what he had just said.
You didn’t comment on his previous words, and neither did he.
Instead, the two of you continued down the winding tunnels of the crossroads, you in your own thoughts, and Matt in his.
Your hands, however, were interlinked with one another. Even with the confusing actions that confounded both of you, you knew that Matt was the one constant in this dangerous world. An anchor of sorts-
And from the way his hand squeezed at yours-
You assumed he thought the same.
~ ♥~
“Stay back.” You tapped out on your charm, grabbing them to stop them from making needless jangling noises. You saw Matt open his mouth to protest. “No. Too dangerous.”
The man tilted his head to the side, and you glanced at that particular direction, seeing the shield wielding humanoid creature that stood guarding the only entrance to the plant filled caverns.
“But-”
“Acid, Matt.” You gave up tapping at your charm and instead opted to tap at his exposed cheek. “I can handle that. You can’t.”
Matt scowled at you but reluctantly nodded. You pet at his cheek absentmindedly and pulled away, your hand now resting on the hilt of your blade and a familiar warmth curling in your chest.
You turned your back to him and faced the creature that had once been human.
No longer human in your eyes, as orange viscous liquid dripped down its cheeks. As its limbs moved raggedly- stutteringly, as if its movement was not of its own. As the sound tearing away from its throat was more screeching and less speech.
The creature screamed at you, clanging the shield it held onto the moss-covered ground- reminiscent of a battle cry.
You pulled out your blade and readied yourself for a battle.
~ ♥~
The fight itself… wasn’t hard, to your surprise. It just took a while to figure out the distance in which the creature raised its shield to protect itself. And it took a bit of time to figure out how to gather the needed soul to launch a ball of it towards the creature.
From behind you, you could hear Matt’s low hiss of ‘What the fuck’ as something small crawled out of the creature’s mouth and launched at you. You assumed that he heard the sound of something scuttling up the larger creature. But you weren’t really sure how much Matt could perceive.
Not at all expecting a projectile of a living enemy, you reeled back, your blade instinctively raised to protect your face- but you were too slow-
Bang-
The insectoid creature fell to the ground with a low thump, orange liquid pooling under it as its movement came to a stop.
You glanced back to see a gun in Matt’s grasp, smoke coming from the muzzle of the weapon. His bandage covered hands were steady and his posture was… confident. As if he had done this before.
How was it possible that he could use a gun? Where did he learn to shoot?
Many questions swirled around your brain, but from a grimace and a curt shake of Matt’s head, you decided to push those questions into the back of your mind.
If he could help, then you wouldn’t ask any questions.
You focused the soul nestled in your chest so that the essence covered your form completely. You could feel something wind up inside you- something burning right beneath your skin-
Then, you let go.
You watched as a white ball of flame torpedo away from you to hit the humanoid creature straight on its head.
You readied yourself to attack it once more, but-
The creature crumpled, the shield clattering onto the floor. Orange liquid streamed down it’s battered face, and it reached out a hand to you, as if it wanted to hand you something-
But that hand soon fell limp onto the ground.
~ ♥~
You watched as Matt knelt down next to the carcass of the creature, his hands clasped together, muttering something incomprehensible to you.
You had wanted to venture along this Pilgrim’s path, as in the distance, you could hear the sound of flowing water, as well as scuttling different from the ones you had heard in the forgotten crossroads. It was a new area, and you wanted to explore and map out the place as fast as you could.
But it was Matt that stopped you. Tugging you back when you moved to step over the mangled body of your enemy.
You had wanted to argue, and had readied your finger to tap at your charms, but-
Matt had looked… lost. His black mask was off, and you had seen the way his fingers tremble as he picked up something shiny from the creature’s outstretched hand.
So, you waited. You sat perched on top of a ledge, feeling the slightly moist moss under the pads of your fingers.
“I- I knew him.”
You tilted your head at Matt’s voice- which was closed, as if he was choking back something.
“He- He was a friend of mine. And Foggy’s. I knew he’d be dead but-” He took in a sharp breath. “Not like this.”
You nodded in an understanding manner, although you didn’t really understand. Either way, it was dead.
‘Have some compassion.’ A cold voice. Sharp and almost disgusted, rang in your mind. ‘You don’t have to show that you’re not human anymore.’
And for once, the warm British voice did nothing to come to your defence.
You shook your head to rid yourself of the unknown pain clawing in your chest.
“What is- was his name?”
“Mahoney. Brett Mahoney.”
A sharp pain slammed into your head-
You knew this man? You think you did. But nothing was clear. Everything was a jumbled mess of colours and voices and giggling-
‘Do not succumb to my sister’s realm.’ The sounds and visions died down instantly as a new voice spoke in your mind. This voice was… not as forceful as the three others, but more commandeering. More powerful. Just… more in general. ‘For you are the one who can free me.’
Free? Who was the voice? Why did they have to be free?
‘Deep within the caverns, I exist. Trapped in this endless cycle.’ The voice disregarded your inner questions and simply spoke. ‘Gather my tools and find me. For that is the only way to end it all.’
“Ghost?”
You blinked rapidly and looked down at Matt, who was looking at you with his eyebrows furrowed and a frown tugging at his lips.
You hopped down from the ledge and landed by his side.
“I’ve been calling you for a while. Are you okay?”
“Just-” you paused momentarily, your finger lingering above your charm as you thought of the right words “-in thought. I’m alright. Are you?”
“Yeah.” Matt took in a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m good now.”
You peered behind him to see its carcass- You shook your head. That wasn’t the right way to phrase it. You saw the man’s body still on the ground, the orange liquid seeping into the moss under him.
“Do you- Do you want to bury him?”
You saw his jaw clench.
“No- We have to make our way down. We don’t have the time-”
“Matt.” You reached to cup his face in your hands. His calm expression soon crumpled away and you silently brushed your thumb under his eyes. “We have the time. And he was- He was your friend,” you gently tapped at his face.
The man may not have been able to die with dignity, but at least he could be buried with it.
I listened to Stephen fry read the book you have to fucking eat and got inspired. Apoca belongs to @nocty-nocturnus "You woke me and asked for some breakfast so why the fuck won't you eat? You're cute little tummy is rumbling and pancakes are your favorite treat. I'm surprised that you suddenly hate them. That's bullshit! Stop lying and eat!"
