#four angst

There was blood. 

A lot of blood.

Wild was breathing quick and harsh as the adrenaline began to fade — some mortal traits were harder to kick than others — and his inhales became slower, more drawn-out as the scent rolled across the roof of his mouth and filled his lungs. 

There was a flavor to it. 

Black currant and pepper, baking spices and candied cherries, pomegranate and loam. His mouth watered as he rubbed his tongue against his palate, trying in vain to taste it, and he hungered. It had been far too long since his last meal. 

Someone was crying. 

Wild tripped over a lifeless limb and reached out to steady himself against the brick wall. His neck, his shoulders were singing in pain. But it would be short-lived once he began to feed. The alley was littered with bodies, already dead, already cooling, they wouldn’t make a satisfying meal. So he leaned toward the warmest scent, long ears twitching as he picked up on the wavering heartbeat, so very close to fading. 

“Come on, come on, open your eyes you asshole…”

As he took a shuffling step forward, someone firmly grabbed his arm. Wild bared his teeth as he turned, slitted pupils flaring in his anger. 

Hyrule put up a hand in a gesture of peace, but he didn’t balk. “Easy, Wild,” he murmured. The sound of his voice, calm and controlled, brought Wild back to his senses.

“Come ON!! GET UP!!!”

Wild flinched as a bulky shadow came up on them too quickly, but Dark only held out his arm to keep them behind him. Wild followed his hard stare down the alleyway.

“Wake up!!” Shadow’s voice cracked as he shook Four by the collar much more roughly than he ought to. Four was dead weight in his own clothes. His head lolled but he opened his eyes, and Shadow uttered an oath as he got on his knees and hauled Four’s torso into his lap. He kept his hands tucked into his long sweater sleeves and blood soaked into the material as he brushed the long, sticky hairs away from Four’s face.

“Here.” Shadow supported Four’s head with one arm, using his teeth to pull up his sleeve on the other. He grunted as he sank his teeth into his own skin and gave a quick pull. A stream of blood much darker than what pooled on the ground at his knees began running up his arm. 

“Shads,” Dark warned. He made no move to approach. 

“Here,” Shadow repeated softly, just for Four. He lifted his elbow awkwardly to tilt his arm so that the blood flowed down toward his palm. “Here here here…”

Four’s eyes slid lazily to the side as he followed the motion. When blood began spattering onto his cheek he grimaced, weakly lifting a hand to bat Shadow’s away. 

“Don’t you dare!” Shadow insistently pushed his arm toward Four’s face, but Four pressed his lips together as he turned away. “I can’t do this without you, Rain!!”

Four shut his eyes tightly. His brow twisted in pain, not just from the hole in his gut that had him bleeding out across the asphalt.

“I can’t.” Shadow was openly crying now, lifting Four and pulling him closer, cradling his head against his chest as Shadow started to rock back and forth on his knees. “I can’t, I can’t, don’t do this to me, Rain, I’m not ready, it’s not— This is forever, right?? I can’t, I can’t do it, not without you. Please, please, please…”

Something that had long gone still in Wild’s chest seized at the broken sound of Shadow’s voice. Hyrule’s gaze fell before he let go of Wild’s arm and turned away, unable to watch. Dark cursed under his breath, but he remained still as stone.

Slowly, deliberately, Four leaned away from Shadow’s chest. He looked pointedly at Shadow’s wounded arm, then back to his face. Shadow’s exhale wavered as he looked Four in the eye, searching for some sort of confirmation. 

Four’s breaths were quick and shallow as his lips parted and he mouthed something that only Shadow would know.

Shadow hastened to bring his shaking hand to Four’s face. “Okay… okay…”

Hyrule tilted his face to the sky and shut his eyes, his fists flexed at his sides. Wild could do nothing but stare, transfixed, as dark blood spilled across Four’s lips and into his mouth. 

And Dark startled them both as he abruptly turned and stormed away toward the mouth of the alley. He made it about half way before he needed to lash out, kicking the side of a metal dumpster hard enough to leave a dent. 

When Billy died, a little piece inside of you died with him. He was the first boy you ever loved, but he was gone now. You couldn’t even go to his funeral because, to put it nicely, you were a wreck.

After everything the two of you have been through, he was just, gone. Dead. He left you, the only thing he promised you he would never do.

You knew exactly what he was involved in, the dangerous situations he put himself in, but you never dreamt of actually losing him.

At least you thought so.

Billy was always looking after you, well, when he could. Being a ghost had it’s advantages, he had little to no responsibilities, can do whatever he wants, and he gets whatever he wants.

Whenever he was back in England he visited you, not to your knowledge though. He was keeping his distance. Today for example, you decided that after months of grieving you were ready to at least get a cup of coffee with your friends. 

They were distracting you from the very obvious fact that he was sitting just a few tables away from you.

The team just finished their recent mission, so he decided to take a few off and visit his home, his lover.

“Girls, I’m gonna get another cup. Any of you want something?" As an answer you received chorus of 'No's and 'Thank you's. "Okay, fine by me."

On your way to the counter you let your gaze fly over the other customers, seeing if you might recognise someone. It was a small town after all.

And you did.

In the far back was a young man, wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses, which you thought was ridiculous, and a beanie, only allowing a few strands of blonde hair to peek out from under it. His features reminded you of someone, the round face, plump lips… Your gaze moved down to his hands spotting a familiar tattoo on his right one 22ES.

For a second you thought your mind was playing a trick on you. Closing your eyes you took a deep breath, before looking at the blonde again. Nope, still there.

‘No. It’s not Billy. Billy’s dead. Gone.’ you reminded yourself.

But curiosity got the best of you. As you got closer to the man  you seemed to catch his attention as well. It’s not like he’s been watching you for the past half hour.

"B-Billy?", your voice was barely above a whisper, you weren't even sure if he heard you.

The man ducked his head, avoiding your gaze. That didn’t stop you from getting closer, sitting down across of him, “Billy?”

Finally looking up from his apparently oh so interesting Jane Austen novel he sighed, taking off his sunglasses. You were able to look into his eyes, those green eyes you loved so much, and still do. "(y/n)... Hi."

For a moment you lost yourself in his eyes, in his voice, forgetting the anger bubbling inside you. "You made me - us all - believe you were dead… why?"

"If I'm going to tell you you're going to be mad."

"I am either way, so spill", your voice laced with slight anger.

Shocked at your tone Billy hesitated for a second, "Y-you know on that mission, where I supposedly died? I really almost did, but there was this guy we're calling him One-"

"Hold on, who's we? Did you, did you find someone else?"

"God no, there isn't, there has never been anyone else, we're a group, 6 people to be exact... But anyways, this guy saved me, threatened me first, but saved me then."

You listened carefully to what he was saying. Telling you about everything that happened in his life the previous months.

"Just to sum it up - You faked your own death, left your family, left me, alone to be part of a group of vigilantes?"

Nodding in response he slowly took your unoccupied hand in his, "I don't expect you to forgive me or anything, because I lied to you, probably made you feel miserable- but I still love you! A-and I was hoping that maybe we could, somehow work this out?"

Processing his words, your vision blurred, "Who do you think are?! You broke the only promise you've ever made to me and think you can just come back and act like none of this happened?!"

Billy was stunned, and at a loss of words, of course he did not, he knew about the damage he's done, the pain he caused you.

You took his silence as your cue to leave.

Already halfway to the door, not at all caring about your friends, purse or coat, his large tattooed hand wrapped itself around your wrist preventing you from leaving. “(y/n)... why can't we give love that one more chance? Because I know you still love me, just as much as I love you.”

You hated that he was right, but you didn’t want to give in right away. He hurt you, broke your heart. You felt like an empty shell for months, the only thing you did was sleep and cry over the fact that your boyfriend died. But he was alive and well all this time.

Pulling away from him you allowed your eyes to meet, “I-I’ll think about it.”

He knew that giving you space now was the best decision, so he let you grab your things and leave without protest.