Whumpay - alternate prompt 3: loss of senses
Hero screamed when Villan’s dust flew right in their face, landing on their eyes. Hero started wiping them furiously, but they already knew it was too late. When they opened them they could barely see. Water. They needed water to wash the dust away.
Hero started rubbing their eyes so hard tears were beginning to spill. They heard their friends’ voices shouting at them with worry, calling out their name.
They heard Villain as well. “You should be worrying about yourselves, should you not?” They laughed. Hero swung their sword blindly. They kept their eyes closed. It wasn’t the first time the villain had got them, so they knew opening their eyes would only make it worse. They heard the villain gasp in surprise. “Oops! Almost had me.” The hero knew their assailant was grinning.
Something whooshed past their ear and Villain grunted. A hand touched their back gently. “Don’t worry, handsome. I have your back.” Leader.
Hero smiled. “Thanks man.”
Villain growled. “Oh, great, it’s y- ow! Hey!”
“Focus, Villain.” Hero laughed as their leader presumably shot the villain with another arrow. They felt their leader’s breath on their ear. “Just stay right beside me, Hero.” Hero heard Leader shoot another arrow and Villain hiss. “We’ll fix your eyes.” Another grunt, from Leader this time. “As soon as we’re finished with this lot.”
Hero was shoved by their friend left and right. They assumed Leader was guiding them out of harm’s way. “How did they even find us?”
“I know that.” Leader sighed in frustration. Hero wished they knew what was happening around them. They didn’t hear Villain anymore, but they could still hear the fight going on. They didn’t know why Leader had stopped. “Alright, listen. As soon as I find an opening I’ll put you somewhere safe. Then the team and I will get rid of these guys. They caught us by surprise, but they can’t be hard to take down.”
Hero's grip on their sword tightened. “You’re sending me away?”
Hero shook their head. “No.”
“No.” Hero repeated. “I just need some water. Remember the river we passed a while ago?”
Leader suddenly pushed the hero away, and the hero felt something warm whoosh across their face. “Ugh, Henchman and those damn fireballs of his. Stay behind me.”
“Leader, I need to go there to wash my eyes.”
Leader grunted. “In the river?”
“Absolutely not. Hero, that’s too far away.”
“I’m not just going to stand here useless!”
Before the hero could question those words, Leader grabbed their hand and pulled them. The wind that blew in their face irritated their eyes, even though they were squeezed shut. Hero hissed and covered their face with an arm. They heard the voices of their team getting a bit more distant.
Leader stopped suddenly and grabbed the hero by the shoulders, directing them somewhere. “What are you doing?” Hero demanded. They nearly opened their eyes.
“Stay right here.” Leader shoved them and Hero was forced to sit. “Don’t move.”
“So searching for water isn’t safe but sitting in the open is?”
“You’re not in the open.” The hero heard something rustle. “You’re deep in the woods. Surrounded by trees.”
Something tickled Hero’s shoulder. They touched it and felt a papery object. “Leaves?!” They gasped in disbelief. “You’re covering me with leaves?”
“Don’t shout. And stay still! The villains won’t find you here.”
“Right, because the villains are idiots, apparently.”
“Because we’ll deal with them.” Leader huffed in annoyance. “Honestly, Hero, I’m doing this for your own good.”
“I know that! I just…” Hero’s lower lip almost trembled. Almost. “I can’t just stay here. I want to help.”
“I know.” Leader wiped a tear out of their face. Hero opened their eyes and immediately regretted it. They hissed as their eyes stung. Leader wiped another tear. “I know. But you cannot help us if you can’t see.”
Hero flinched. The cold in the air nearly made them shiver when Leader stood up and left. “Stay here, Hero. Please.” And they were gone.
Hero had sheathed their sword. Not like they were using it anyway. They sat still and tried to stay. But they could only stay in one place so long before the voices of their teammates fighting for their lives got to them. At first, the hero paid them no mind. Everybody shouted when they fought. But Sidekick’s scream chilled them to the bone. It was like they were burned. Hero remembered Leader mentioning something about fireballs and bit their lip. Enough was enough. They were going to find that river and they were going to fix their eyes.
Hero stood up with determination and let out a small groan when they banged their head on a branch. With a small hiss they stepped slowly out in the open, away from whatever nook Leader had put them in. The hero knew their leader had have to put them somewhere they’ve already been, so the place should be familiar.
Hero hated what they were about to do.
It burned. “Fuck.” Hero whimpered and took a quick glance of their surroundings, mostly the ground.
Villain’s dust had the ability to mess with people’s sense of sight, although it varied how, depending on the person. When it had touched Leader once he'd got so dizzy he couldn’t even sit still. Medic hallucinated. And Hero would go blind if they didn’t wash the dust out.
Hero closed their eyes. They knew where they were and they knew in which direction they had to go. They also noticed that their vision had gotten so blurry they couldn’t even make out shapes.
The hero muttered a small apology to the leader, even though he couldn’t hear them, and left, promising they’d be back in top shape.
Easier said than done. Turns out, the river is a bit far. Especially for a blind person stumbling and tripping on roots. Hero had lost count on how many times they’ve faceplanted a tree and kissed the ground. Their face was wet with tears; not because they were scared, no. It’s just that the pain in their eyes had become unbearable. And the Hero’s system was still trying to get Villain’s dust out of their eyes. They sniffed.
Their vision had gotten worse. If the hero opened their eyes now, they would see small black spots that would get bigger if the hero wiped their eyes once more. Even the wind aggravated them. Hero had settled for an arm over their eyes as they marched blindly, using only their sense of touch and hearing to guide them.
It had been a while since their friends’ voices had disappeared. Hero had walked so far from the ambush that they could even hear a few birds here and there. If they weren’t going blind, they would’ve called this walk peaceful.
Hero then heard something. The rush of water. They stopped. Yes! Yes, I found it! To their left. The river had to be to their left.
Hero was about to take a step forward when they heard a twig snap. They didn’t know how, they didn’t know why, but they knew the sound wasn’t natural. Something was watching them. No, not something, not an animal. Someone.
“Who’s there?” Hero demanded, turning their head where the sound came from. Nobody answered. Nothing moved. The birds had stopped singing.
Something touched Hero’s cheek. They gasped and threw a punch, but their hand was caught and held firmly. “Who are you?” Hero lowered the arm covering their eyes, putting it over the hilt of their sword, but they didn’t draw it. The mysterious stranger wasn’t attacking them. Hero could feel the other’s breath fall on their bangs. They licked their lips nervously. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
The stranger released the hero’s fist slowly. Hero took it as a gesture of peace and didn’t attack. Instead, they froze as a finger touched their lips in a simple gesture to keep quiet. Hero assumed this was one of their teammates and nodded hesitantly. Had Leader figured out Hero had left and sent someone to find them?
Cold hands rested on their face. The touch was so gentle, they almost leaned into it. “I don’t… Medic?” Hero whispered. She had cold hands. Apparently not, though, because whoever was in front of them didn’t make any other moves and didn’t say a word.
Hero was starting to get nervous. If only they could open their eyes and look. A thumb brushed one of the corners of their eyes. “Leader?” The silence was deafening. Hero reached out and touched the stranger’s face, whose body now went still.
Hero felt their features. Their hair, their eyes, their nose. Their mouth. And the scar that ran across it. If Hero’s eyes were open, they would’ve widened with horror. They felt the mouth form into a smile.
“And here I was enjoying myself.” Supervillain grabbed the hero’s wrists, the touch no longer gentle. “Whatever are you doing out here all alone, sweet thing?”
“You!” Hero gasped and pulled, knowing it was useless. They squinted their eyes open and were met with the very blurry shape of Leader’s sworn enemy looming over them. That was all the hero managed to see before their sight filled with black spots. Fuck. Their eyes got so watery it looked like they were sobbing now. "Let go!"
“Oh, dear. I’m not that horrible looking, now, am I?” The villain laughed and tightened the hold on Hero’s wrists. "You're coming with me."
Fine. If the hero couldn’t hit them with their fists, with their legs it was. They swung a kick and landed a hit. Supervillain hissed. “Is that how you want to play?” The villain growled and before Hero could even think of kicking again, their head was banged against a tree. Supervillain’s hands had let go of Hero’s wrists and grabbed their throat. The villain lifted them up. “Okay, little hero, here’s what’s going to happen.” Hero clawed Supervillain’s hands desperately. “You are coming with me.”
“Yes. And, if you want what’s best for you, you’ll listen to every word I say.”
Hero couldn’t breathe. They reached a hand towards their sword, but the villain caught it too. Even with one hand, the villain still managed to hold the hero up by the throat. The fingers around Hero’s throat squeezed, drawing out a choked whine. Right when their chest felt like exploding, the villain let them go. Hero fell forward, exhausted. “Listen to me,” Supervillain’s breath was right on their ear, “you’re all alone here. My men are busy keeping your team, so no help is coming. You’re entirely at my mercy.” Hero’s eyes were almost wide with panic. They couldn’t see a thing now. “And, by the looks of it, completely blind.” Supervillain chuckled. “How lucky am I, huh?”
Hero made one last half-attempted struggle. Supervillain didn’t even notice. They grabbed Hero by the arm and pulled. “No… no, wait! Please. At least,” their throat tightened, “at least let me wash my eyes, please, I’m-” The words stuck at the back of their throat.
“Oh, sweet thing.” The villain cooed and wiped a tear out of their face. “Are you frightened?”
Yes. They were terrified. Their eyes were open and they couldn’t see a damn thing. They hated how useless they were, how helpless they felt. The weight of the sword on their hip felt like a burden. The hero turned their head towards the ground and bit their bottom lip. They nodded, once. Hero could hear Supervillain’s smile. “Good.” They pulled the hero harshly. “That’s exactly the face I want you making when we face your Leader.”
@jumpywhumpywriter @dreamingofviolence @whumplicity so none of you were going to tell me there was a whump event for may? Because my dumbass kept searching for "merry whump of may" but only the event for 2024 came up so I thought there wasn't a may event this year :/ (turns out there was and it was called whumpay but I'm an idiot)
