Whumptober 2022 Day 23: "Hold them down" (Twilight & Wild)
AO3 link. Trigger warnings: graphic description of injury (open fracture), violence, field medicine. The prompt basically demaaaaanded a genderqueer character, so of course I had to comply ;)))))))) Wild’s pronouns are they/them in this one.
Twilight heard Wild’s cry of pain from across the battlefield. Their yell was loud and clear over the clashing of swords and battle cries of the other heroes, like Twilight’s ear was specifically attuned to it. Against his better judgment, Twilight’s eyes left his own battle to search the field for Wild.
A weight slammed into his side. Twilight faltered, but quickly regained his balance and planted his feet securely into his battle stance.
“Focus, pup!” Time yelled. His shield was raised against the lizalfo Twilight had been fighting, and there was a spike from its tail embedded in the splintering wood. Twilight shook his head to clear his racing mind.
Twilight leapt around the monster, dealing a killing blow to the lizalfo while it was distracted. It fell to the ground with a horrid screech, and just as it hit the dirt it exploded into a cloud of black dust. Twilight took a step back, chest heaving, and locked eyes with Time. Time sent a cursory glance around the battlefield and his gaze landed on Wild.
Even from here, Twilight could see the break. Wild’s left arm hung limply by their side, crooked and misshapen. It was steadily dripping blood. Wild had dropped their sword, but still held a shield in a loose grip in their right hand. They were swaying on their feet, being driven back by a moblin.
“Go,” Time instructed. Twilight tore his eyes from Wild to meet Time’s.
“Battle’s almost over, we’ll take care of the rest,” Time said, then jumped back into the battlefield.
Twilight ran across the field. His gaze landed on Wild just in time to see their shield shatter into pieces. Wild barely paused, backflipping out of reach of the moblin’s club. They landed next to a discarded tree branch, picked it up, and hurled it at the moblin. The sharp end of the stick embedded itself into the middle of the moblins throat.
The monster dropped its club and its hands went to its neck. It stood motionless, choking on its own blood, before Twilight reached it and drove his sword through its heart. Twilight pushed it off his blade with his foot as he scanned his immediate surroundings. No other monsters nearby, just the ones across the field the others were finishing off.
“Nice throw,” Twilight said, sheathing his sword and stepping up to Wild. They were hunched over slightly, right hand cradling their left arm. Wild raised their head and offered Twilight a shaky smirk.
“I was aiming for its chest,” Wild said, huffing a breathy laugh. Twilight reached out his hands toward Wild’s arm, eyebrows raised in question. Wild sucked in a breath and nodded, letting their right hand fall from the injury.
“What happened?” Twilight asked. He took Wild’s arm as gently as he could, and did his best to hide his flinch as Wild hissed in pain.
“Bad angle, lucky hit,” Wild muttered through clenched teeth. “Heavy club.”
Now that Twilight had a closer look, he couldn’t keep the grimace off his face. Wild’s forearm was bent unnaturally, and already swollen to twice its size. It was hard to see through the bruising and the blood, but it looked like at least one of the bones had pierced the skin. Twilight felt his heart stutter in his chest, and he swallowed hard.
“That bad, huh?” Wild asked, voice small and shaking. Twilight glanced up to meet their eyes, but Wild had screwed them shut. Their face was pale and they were leaning to the side.
“Why don’t you sit down,” Twilight said gently, bracing Wild’s arm. Wild nodded.
Twilight held Wild’s arm as they lowered themself to the ground shakily. Wild paled further, even as careful as Twilight tried to be with their arm. Twilight knew special care had to be taken when bones pierced the skin, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember what. Twilight looked desperately around him, ready to call out for help to whoever was nearby.
Warriors was the closest, and Twilight let out a breath of relief. He knew field medicine, and would be able to keep a level head. Twilight felt like he was struggling with that one at the moment.
Just as Warriors finished off his monster, Twilight called out to him. “Wars!”
Warriors’ head swiveled towards him, and his eyes widened when he saw the pair on the ground. He briefly turned to say something to Four that Twilight couldn’t make out, then ran over. He slid to his knees next to Twilight, hands already hovering over Wild’s arm.
“I think the bone pierced their skin,” Twilight said. Warriors nodded, already turning to pull his bag off his shoulder.
“Lean them against you,” Warriors said as he dug through his bag.
Twilight nodded, giving Wild a gentle nudge. Wild blinked their eyes open, and Twilight gave them what he hoped was a smile.
“Still with us?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” Wild said, but his voice was shaking and he was still alarmingly pale.
Warriors huffed. “Not quite.”
“I’m gonna shift around, can you manage for a second?” Twilight asked. Wild blinked at him in confusion.
“I need to reset the bone and clean the wound before I give you a potion,” Warriors explained.
“Ah,” Wild said, barely audible. After only a moment of hesitation, they nodded. Twilight placed their arm in their lap as gently as he could, but Wild still couldn’t hold back a sharp gasp of pain. Twilight felt the sound piece through his own heart. As soon as their arm was down, Twilight shifted so that Wild was leaning against his chest.
“This is going to hurt like hell, Champion, but you have to stay perfectly still,” Warriors said. Wild nodded, staring up at him with wide eyes.
“Twilight, hold them down,” Warriors instructed. Twilight wrapped his arms tightly around Wild and closed his eyes. He needed to keep Wild still, and he wasn’t completely confident in his ability to do so while watching. He was so grateful Warriors had experience with this, even if he hated the circumstances that gave him the experience.
“Are you ready?” Warriors asked. Wild shifted, shoving their face into Twilight’s shoulder.
“Do it,” Wild said.
“On three. One-”
Twilight felt all the breath leave his body as Wild’s scream pierced the air.












