Chapter Text
Pyrite’s ears wrung as they tried to sit back up after hitting the ground. They could feel a gash on their thigh moving and tearing painfully with each movement, earning a gasp of pain. They barely registered Aster yelling for them as he fought off the same creature that had sent them flying.
“PYRO! ARE YOU OKAY?!?”
“YEAH! TRY NOT TO GET FLUNG!” They hollered back, trying to make the situation seem less scary. They did their best to put pressure on the wound on their leg like Darcy taught them, but there was a lot of blood.
“GENERALLY, THAT’S THE GOAL!”
Pyrite hissed as they pushed more weight into the gash, blood quickly seeping through their discarded hoodie. Their vision swam as they mentally searched through years of library research, hoping to whatever god was out there that there wasn’t an artery in their thigh. A pit grew in their stomach as they remembered there was, desperately trying to keep pressure on their leg as their vision swam.
They tried to tie the sleeves of their hoodie into a makeshift tourniquet, but it was proving to be pointless. Everything was drenched in blood, and as they looked up, they watched as Aster was losing in his desperate attempts to kill the creature. He was covered in blood, mostly their own. He was still upright and fighting, which meant he could run. Pyrite was losing hope they could get out of there.
“ASTER!” Pyrite yelled, gaining the attention of both the creature and Aster. “RUN!”
“WHAT?” Aster yelled back, stunned but still managed to fight off the creature. “I’M NOT LEAVING YOU!”
“I’LL BE OKAY! I SWEAR!” Pyrite lied through their teeth. “I’LL DISTRACT IT AND YOU RUN! GO GET HELP!”
Aster looked helpless as the creature lost interest in him and changed its trajectory for Pyrite, who struggled to stand upright.
“GO!” Pyrite yelled out desperately. They ducked and dodged one hit from the creature, despite barely paying attention to it. “ASTER, GO! PLEASE!”
“PYRO YOU’RE-”
“GO, PLEASE!” They cried out a final time.
Aster ran like hell, panic and adrenaline sending him all the way to the Luien ranch. He pounded on Darcy’s door, quickly rambling to explain what happened. Within moments, he and Darcy were on their way back to the field where Pyrite was.
Unfortunately, it was far too late. The creature was long gone, and so was Pyrite’s heartbeat.