"No, you're terrified of heights! You panicked when Llyris made you step on a ladder. You can't even look down the side of the ship–!"
The courtesan clenched his teeth, a singular hand firmly forcing Sae to sit still before he worsened the state of his wound.
"Now's not the time to humiliate me, sweets."
Saeger's eyes remained shut, those two lively emeralds hidden behind his eyelids, but Faine sensed it nonetheless, the glare the other so badly wanted to send his way. His friend was stubborn about keeping him there, proving once again that he was Evelina's child, but this wasn't the time to be picky about who was gonna save who.
"Faine. You're not fucking doing this."
"What? You think I can't?"
"No, that's not it—! Captain, you can't..."
The man opened his eyes without thinking, a gasp leaving his eyes at the sight of vines, the same that encased the stranger they encountered earlier, curling around Calixto's legs painfully, forbidding even air to come between them. A feeling of relief washed over him upon spotting the white fabric hanging from the top of his face, but the panic returned in his chest just as quickly. His nerves were relentless, especially now that a person he cared for deeply was risking himself for their escape.
"We don't have much of a choice, kid. I can't.. do it, either." The pirate rasped from the other side of the pit, slumped over the ground much like Sae was. He looked worse than the newbie, groaning ever so often at every squeeze of the persistent tendril. His hands were bloodied from trying to scratch the damned things off, more of the same blood dripping from the top of his head and tainting what once was Faine's shirt.
Sae's surprised his friend wasn't in a more similar state.
"You can't let him do this. What if he falls?"
"I already fell. That's how I got here, Sae." He crouched closer to the injured man, hands cusping the side of his cheek lovingly, too lovingly, it made Saeger feel as if it'd be their last time seeing each other. The thought was shattering enough to push his last meal up his throat, fortunately slow enough that he could swallow it down.
"I'll be fine, yeah? I'm gonna be fine, please believe me. I'm gonna get us out of here. I'm gonna run to the ship and... and get some help. Get some rope or something, I'll figure it out."
"What if they're still up there? They'll attack you like they attacked me." His hand moved over the one on his face, desperate to keep Faine in place.
"They're not. It's too quiet. They must've went ahead and helped themselves." He replied, the urgency in his body only worsening as their conversation stretched longer than what could be allowed.
"You don't know that." Saeger snarled through gritted teeth.
"We don't have the time to speculate either."
They glared at each other. The reality of the situation slowly started to sink in as Sae's gaze dropped in defeat, unable to look his friend in the eye when tears were slowly starting to form. Faine removed the ruby necklace around his neck, wrapping it around his friend's hand.
"I'll get you out of here. Safe. I promise."
The newbie refused to meet his gaze, opting to stare at the nothingness beside him instead. He nodded silently, unable to bring himself to say anything else, causing Faine's fists to clench tightly.
The courtesan looked around his surroundings, trying to figure how exactly he was gonna climb out of the damn pit.
"Dove, here..."
With the assistance of their captain, Faine was able to make his first step, the weight of his body straining his arms along with the sure bruises that formed around his body causing him to groan in body.
"Fuck, I have so many regrets."
And so, he climbed, carefully placing his foot on stone, sternly gripping a sturdy vine, hands calloused and wounded from all the sharp edges he forced his palm against. His heart thumped against his chest, realizing that the sky had grown darker. He couldn't waste more time, darkness would come eventually and make his task all the more difficult. Upon realizing that he was half way out the hole, Faine's insides churned in celebration, his eyes shooting downwards to fully take in the lengths he had reached.
That was a big mistake. An awfully stupid mistake.
It felt like the ground distanced itself further away from him the longer he stared. The world around him spiraled and the risk of falling suddenly became very, very real. Breathlessness was an understatement, Faine was full-on suffocating.
"I'm— I'm gonne die."
His hands held on tighter, the wetness of his palms giving way to a miserable amount of imagined scenarios involving him cracking his skull open from a loose grip. God, he should've listened, he was gonna crack his skull open, the impact would've been hard enough to make his death a quick one or even worse—
"Calm down, dove. Don't look down. You're so close, okay? So close. You're doing a great job, dove. Just keep going, put your foot over there, that's right..."
Calixto's voice soothed him, even when his lungs could barely fit in his chest anymore, his thoughts at the very least stopped racing. He sensed it, death whispering into his ear—the hairs on his skin stood, sweat dripping down from all the hidden parts of his body like he was melting lava—but the pirate's heedful instructions, his loving praise, drowned out the nearness of death.
Before he knew it, Saeger was joining in on the commentary.
"Fuck, Faine! Just one more, come on!"
The courtesan's hand reached the ground where his feet had been standing on the surface, using it as leverage to lift himself up and out. Only then did he realize how utterly drenched he was. Other than the new batch of tears flowing from his eyes, his pained heart forcing him to cry out of sheer relief, his bare chest, back, and face was dripping in his own sweat.
"Holy shit, holy shit.. Fuck! I made it!" He panted out, the dirt dampening where his face levitated over.
"That's my dove."
"Fuck, yeah..!" Sae yelled out enthusiastically, followed miserably by a fit of coughs.
"Shit, Sae. I need to get help."
Faine picked himself up on his feet, rushing in the direction opposite of the wall. He couldn't bother with looking for the path they had taken, desperation overwhelming him beyond rational thinking. He just had to get somewhere, anywhere, quick. He'd search for the unmistakably massive ship once he arrived at the beach.
Blurred shadows of trees flew past him, wind urgently blowing against his face. He felt like a gazelle running away from nature's apex predators. It was a race against his own mortality and, in a literal sense, it really was. Only then did he realize that raindrops had started falling from the top of his head, and the mystery of the sky's grayness was finally solved. There was no sense of celebration, however, no "aha!" moment, only pure panic as he realized what the endless rain meant for his friends still at the bottom of a deep pit.
He ran and ran until adrenaline replaced the ache in his body. Nothing could get him to stop, not when two lives were on the line. He didn't quite expect that anything would try to, really. There were no predators in sight, not since their arrival.
So when a spear pierced through the roaring wind, effectively causing a sharp pain to bloom from Faine's shoulder, the scream of agony that left the courtesan's lips had shocked even him.
A figure swiftly jumped from the trees, landing a few meters in front of his curling body.
"Oh, it's you. I should've known master would bring you here for some revolting... fantasy." A bitter voice hurled as Faine's vision slowly restored its clarity, a pair of pale violet eyes looking down at him condescendingly.
"Fuck, not you. Not now." Faine bit straight into his bottom lip at the sight of a very familiar immortal, hard enough to draw the blood that was now streaming down his throat. Every instinct inside the courtesan's beaten frame told him to just jump the other and get it over with, but he held back, sharp breaths leaving his lips as he supported his weight with his hands placed on his knees. He knew that even if he tried to attack him, he'd fail pathetically, especially in the state he was in.
The little shit known to Faine as the incarnation of all his life's misfortune was Elias, the one and only half-blood Yvnir sponsored with his power. To this day, Faine had not a single clue what the god saw in him.
"Unmannered as always. Nothing behind those empty eyes, but an ocean of profanities—"
The courtesan gripped the newcomer's collar, bundling it up threateningly as he brought the other's face closer to his.
"Listen to me, brat. I may look like this right now, but don't you dare forget who I am. You are in no place to disrespect me." He snarled, splatters of his saliva tainting the other's face.
"You look feral—"
"And you look hideous with that bowl cut. I thought you'd have more dignity." He snapped, words more rushed than he'd like to acknowledge. He let go of the bundle of fabric, causing the other to stumble backward. The startled expression on his face gave Faine a rush of pride. Pride he had no time to indulge in.
The courtesan was quick to sidestep the walking bane of his existence, trying to search for the route he had been previously running in. With the wall too far to spot, there was no telling which direction the beach was. The last thing he needed was to get lost deep in the woods late at night.
"It is not— hey! Where are you going?!"
Elias, however, as he always had, would not let Faine's life be so easy.
"Looking for someone who can actually help me."
He reflected the other's frustrated expression, brows furrowed, and a clear scowl on his face.
"Hey! If you really think there's someone out there more useful than me—"
"Look, you either help me or I fucking kill you on the spot."
The snow skinned bastard only exploded in laughter, finding his words, their entire situation wholly hilarious. His arrogance made the courtesan's blood boil, even more so than usual, knowing that the people he cared for were seconds away from dying inside a miserable pit.
"And do explain to me how a mortal like you can kill an immortal, a fucking immortal, like me." He chortled, wiping his tears. If he had any, Faine couldn't discern the rainfall from anything else anymore. The sound of fearsome thunder awakening his sense.
"You know how." Faine warned.
"Ha! Don't tell me you are going to bed me and kill me in my sleep—"
It was the courtesan's turn to snicker. "You fuckin' wish, bowl cut."
"It is not a bo–"
As he struggled against Elias' hold, an idea popped into his head, recognizing the intricate writings embedded on the spear that caused his bleeding shoulder.
"Call Yvnir."
"What? Are you gonna come crying to master because I said one mean word?"
"No. Call Yvnir."
The immortal glared straight into his very soul and the amusement he previously sported drained from his spotless face, nowhere to be found.
"Do not bring my master into this."
"Trust me, he would want to be involved in this." Faine replied, just as fiercely. He had no idea why the half-blood was so reluctant, both of them knew he'd be there for his every beck and call.
"Even if I did, he wouldn't be able to come. He's been in trouble because of a.. certain somebody."
Faine gripped his hair out of frustration, making the mop of black even more unruly than it already had been. "Curse the consequences of my sex life."
"What—"
He turned to the other with an expression of pure mania, a battle of hopelessness and desperation being fought in his head.
"You. Do you know how to climb?"