Chapter Text
It writhed in him. Deep within his soul, within his very being, there was a larva chewing away at the edges, filling its belly and leaving behind a poison. For lengths of time, the thing went dormant but then when Twilight let his guard down, it would grow hungry and the hibernation would end. All that filled the rancher then was its gluttony gnawing on his insides, weakening his resolve, blinding him to reality and locking away all warmth and light as a cold void of hate swallowed him up from the inside out. He was nothing but a vessel. A beast mad with hunger and eventually, he would eat himself alive.
Wars gasped, his nails breaking Twilight’s skin, drawing blood as skin pilled under his nails. He clawed at the rancher’s arm, his voice dying in his throat with strained rattles. His only saving grace was the awkward grip which allowed the slightest thread of life to remain. Twilight’s nails dug into the captain’s neck, blood seeping up to the surface as the skin bruised under the wolf’s grip. Tears filled Wars’ eyes as a natural panic seized the back of his mind, but anger and confusion drove a spike through the front.
Those eyes were locked on him. Feral, primal hunger filling them. Primitive hatred, a desperate need for survival. It was almost contagious, but Wars needed to stop him .
“L-Link–” Wars wheezed, voice almost inaudible. He’d bit his tongue, blood spilled from his blue lips. His head throbbed, his vision ebbing as stars speckled it and the blood coursing through his ears drowned out the storm around them.
“Let him go !” Wild screamed, swinging his sword blindly.
The blade met the scar around Twilight’s left bicep, slicing the long healed flesh open. The flesh fell open like a sac rather than living tissue. Maggots spilled from the flesh, falling over one another into white squirming masses on the ground. Thick blood followed them, dripping like a viscous poison. The grubs feasted on the clots of blood and skin, the blood crept down the rancher’s arm and oozed from his fingertips and elbow. Twilight’s eyes widened, the sudden pain making him twitch. Wars collapsed to his side, gasping and choking for air in the mud. Twilight turned his vacant rage onto the champion. Wild’s face fell into horror at the sight and his hands shook as he held up his sword, but hold it up he did.
He had failed once. He couldn’t fail again.
“N-no–!” Wars got out weakly, reaching for the rancher.
He let out a cry as Twilight’s heel met his face. There was a crunch, the taste of blood, the burn of it in his throat. His cheek flooded in a dark bruise, the bone cracked beneath his eye. Wars clutched his face with a shuddering gasp, but the pain jerked him out of his strangled haze.
“Leave us–leave us alone!” Wild screamed, tears welling in his eyes.
Twilight tipped his head back with a cruel sigh. His breath caught the cold air in a swirl. The rain thinned the rancher’s syrup blood which spilled down his arm and dripped from his fingertips, its heat steaming in the cool night. The rain’s roar smothered any noise. Wild gritted his teeth, feeling his weight sinking into the wet earth. A flash of lightning illuminated the rancher–his bruised face, his bloody palm, his cracked shield behind him.
Twilight reached down, picking up the captain’s sword. Despite the gash in his right palm, he took the sword in hand. The spike of pain seemed to only fuel his sudden possession.
Twilight raised the sword overhead, bringing it down on Wild. Wild blocked, but was forced to the ground with a yelp. Without hesitation, Twilight moved to strike again, to cleave through the champion.
Wars let out a cry and tackled the wolf around the waist. Twilight fell to the mud, dropping the captain’s sword. Wars fixed his hands around Twilight’s throat, straddling him at sides, pressing his knees into the man’s ribs and intending to choke him out, but Twilight got his hands against the captain’s face.
Wars let out a curdling screech over a white hot pain in his eye. He jerked his head back and with the brief opportunity, Twilight threw the other hero to the side. Wars grabbed his face–his eye was blinded, blood seeping from the lid.
Wild squeezed his eyes shut, a sob and a cry escaping him as he drove his sword through Twilight’s thigh. The rancher grabbed Wild by the head in a tight squeeze. Dark bruises bloomed beneath Twilight’s fingertips. Blood seeped from the champion’s eyes, mixing with fat tears which stained his cheeks. Twilight felt the bone under Wild’s cheeks crack inwards. The champion screamed and kicked as his face was crushed inwards, as the skin was bruised into a soft pulp.
Wars grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword. He kicked Twilight in the knee as he yanked back. Twilight let out a bark of pain, brought down to the ground as his thigh was ripped open. Black blood spilled from the tear in his flesh, maggots burst from the shredded skin and festered beneath the surface. Under his skin, he rotted from the inside out as a shadowy ooze saturated layers of dying tissue. He turned his attention towards Wars, but something struck him across the back of the head.
Time stood there, face unreadable. Twilight swayed before he tipped forward into the mud. He inhaled the rainwater and muck, choking on it as he faintly rolled onto his back. Time took in a deep breath through his nose and lifted his blade, plunging it downwards through the rancher’s neck–