a peek into James’ memories - Teryx incident edition >:3c
The situation was far from ideal, to put it lightly. Very far. Grimms were swarming around and it was miracle, he and Clover still stood the ground, swirling around in attempt to injure another Sabyr as badly as possible, before other one manages to jump on them from behind. Before the Teryx that somehow also arrived and circles close above them, manages to dive successfully. And so on and on. Too many to effectively just kill them one by one. Turn and shoot, turn again and shoot, repeat. All while trying not to slip in the snow nor hit Clover. Still they had to stand. It’s them or the mine workers down the valley.
At this point breathing in gasps of cold, crisp air hurts, as it doesn’t have time to warm up. It burns the throat and aches in chest, but there’s no time. Duck, turn, shoot, duck, shoot, duck. They have to stand for as long as possible, so reinforcements have time to get there. They have to.
And then the time slows down, as James turns to see Clover’s unaware, focused face and thin jaws drop down towards it, scarlet wings waving in the edges of his vision. He doesn’t think as if the decision was written in him long ago. One long step, left arm swings, doesn’t catch Clover’s shoulder, but still pushes him hard to side, swipes away, gun in right arm already on the way, eyes locked on the teeth in bone white skull.
Then everything happens at once. Teryx’s nose is in front of his face, textured bones with tiny caves, yellow and gray fibers that from afar look just white. The jaw closed. There is the skull where his arm just was, but it must be a mistake, a fever dream. He pulls the trigger. The nose shifts and he sees the clenched, sharp set of teeth go up along with his jacket. Material tears in long stripes and suddenly there’s a gap. Wait. There should be his arm. There-
Pain hits him like a train, too intense to let him breathe nor scream. Something heavy falls on his leg with a loud, wet snap and jaws fall further away, golden sparks dancing between the teeth. Something cold touches his ears and he can see the bright blue sky behind the black bottom of Grimm’s head. Its leg is too close, must be what knocked him over. Golden sparks grow to flame that bursts out and engulfs Teryx’s head. Good. They’ll go to hell together. He can feel fire heat dry and burn his skin.
