Thanatos felt the water tugging at him, dragging him into the depths. He was not a versed swimmer, like most fliers, he avoided water whenever he could. But right now Henry's life depended on him handling the water. So that's what he did.
His echolocation was limited underwater, and it was partially thanks to luck he located Henry at all. All he perceived was a human floating in the water that had approximately Henry's size. Thanatos latched onto his leg and tried to use his wings to propel them upwards.
He had almost run out of air when his head finally broke the surface. He saw the shine of metal in one of the tunnel entrances and realized that's where he'd thrown Henry's sword. With the last of his strength, he leaped out of the water and into the tunnel.
Turned out he'd made it just in time – after him, a giant tidal wave, most likely caused by the angry serpents, rose and smashed against the wall with the tunnel he had just disappeared into.
It caught him and Henry and propelled them forward in the tunnel. Thanatos lost track of the boy when he was spun around by the angry water. He desperately tried to gasp for air when the current smashed him against the floor so hard he almost saw stars.
An angry pain jolted through his left wing when the flier hit the ground and when the wave finally died down and the water retreated, he remained lying on the floor for a moment, dazed from the impact.
Then Thanatos remembered Henry. With sheer willpower he lifted himself up – when he tried using his left wing to support himself it gave way and he felt a jolt of sharp pain.
Thanatos tried inspecting it, only when he moved closer to one of the bigger puddles that had remained from the wave on the floor and glowed with the algae of the waterway, he saw well enough to realize they had a big problem. The far end of his wing was bent in an unnatural way, clearly broken, and it wasn't just torn – no, an entire chunk of tissue was missing.
When he tried to flap it to see if he could still move, he realized his wings were unbalanced now as one covered more air than the other. Flying would pose extremely difficult like this. Not to mention, every time he so much as moved it, the pain was almost unbearable.
He would need to at least put the broken bone into position soon, or it could have long-term consequences. But he also knew he couldn't do that on his own. He needed Henry.
Henry.
Finally, the flier took a look around the cave and when he saw the figure of the boy lying on the other side of the puddle, he crossed the distance fighting the pain with all his will.
"Henry?" No reaction. The boy lied awfully still, and a wave of panic indulged the flier. Henry couldn't die now, he couldn't. He was just a kid, he was much too young to die. And if the boy died now, what would Thanatos himself do? He would lose the only thing still important to him, the only person – the only hope he'd had in almost eight years now.
"HENRY!" He didn't care if the gnawers or the questors would hear him. All he wanted was for the boy to finally answer. Or at least move. Show him in any way that he wasn't –
When Thanatos had finally reached Henry, he used his claw to roll him around, so that he could see his face. At the sight, that now unfolded before his eyes, the flier winced back in shock. He hit the wall with his back and pressed against it until his brain had processed what his eyes were showing him. What the serpents had done to Henry.
He finally drew closer again, whispering his name, unbelieving. Thanatos tried not to shake as he looked once more, making sure it wasn't just the lighting playing tricks on him. But no.
Henry's face was almost entirely covered in blood. The right half was far worse than the left one, as that was where the blood came from. A thick layer of the red covered it and dripped to the floor, Thanatos realized Henry was lying in a puddle of his own blood.
His hair was smeared with it as well as his shirt – and at the spot where his right eye was supposed to be, Thanatos saw only dark, red blood, pouring from the socket.
The flier's scream was high-pitched and violent, on a frequency that was nigh-inaudible for his surroundings but filled with pain and desperation. He cowered beside the boy, shaking him, calling his name.
No response.
Thanatos closed his eyes, trying to process what was happening, he instinctively wrapped his good wing around the boy for shelter. Henry rolled over from the motion, and suddenly Thanatos felt a shiver running through his body.
He called his name once more, and this time he received a strained cough as a response. Henry moved his arm now, blindly reaching for support, Thanatos caught it with his claw and helped him lift his upper body until he was sitting up. Then, he leaned over and vomited.
Henry threw up multiple times, trying to empty his stomach of all the water he had swallowed. When eventually, nothing came anymore, he remained kneeling in the same position, bent over the remains of his stomach's contents. He was holding onto Thanatos' claw so firmly it almost hurt, like it was a lifeline – frantically heaving and shaking violently.
All the flier could do was sit and watch, letting him hold on until he realized the coughing and trembling had turned to crying. Thanatos was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do. Never before had Henry seemed more like the kid he was, and a crying kid that had just almost died a horrifying death was a new situation for him. He had never been much for comforting others, and the situation left him feeling utterly helpless.
Instead of worrying about what the serpents had done to Henry, he tried focusing on the fact that he was alive. He was alive, and everything would be okay. It had to be.
Henry cried until he had used up all his energy and when his strength finally left him, he fell back on the floor, still shaking. Thanatos caught him and made sure he didn't fall into the water or the vomit.
The boy still had his hand closed around his claw, and now reached out the other one, as if to test if Thanatos was there.
"W...ho... who is there?" His voice was barely a whisper and a wave of fear indulged Thanatos. What? Why was Henry asking...?
"I'm here... It's me, Tha – Death, Henry... can't you see me?"
The strange and yet plausible nickname the boy had given him was an attempt to convince Henry it was indeed him.
"Death?" He uttered as if speaking was painful, "Death, you came back!" His voice sounded so happy for a moment, that Thanatos almost forgot what had just happened.
Then Henry frowned all of a sudden – "Death... I can't... I can't see you... where... what...?" Henry started hyperventilating and coughing again. He lifted his hand to his face and touched it carefully as if to feel if it was still there, if he was still himself.
"Henry you need to clean your eyes... of course you can't see, your face is covered in blood!" Thanatos tried to sound calming, but in truth, he was just as panicked as the boy. What if it wasn't just the blood?
He led Henry by the hand to the water puddle carefully, until he could feel the water. Still trembling, Henry fell forward, to his knees, and finally let go of Thanatos' claw.
The flier cowered behind him, watching the boy try to wash his face from the blood. Eventually, Henry turned around to him, and Thanatos' eyes widened in shock. He winced back and stared at the boy before him, the face that had always smiled and cried and frowned with bright, expressive purple eyes.
At Thanatos stared only a single purple orb, widened in fear and misted in pain. The blood was gone, except for what was still pouring from the gaping black socket where Henry's right eye had formerly been.
The boy lifted his hand to his right cheek, still staring at the flier unbelievingly. "Death... Death, what is the matter with my... eye? Why can I not open it? Is it badly blocked with blood or what?"
Thanatos only stared at him, unable to speak. Unable to verbalize what he saw. How does one tell someone something like this?
When Thanatos did not respond, Henry tried to move towards him, but his weakened body gave way and he collapsed on the floor. He is losing too much blood, the flier thought, trying desperately not to panic more than he already was.
"Death... speak to me, please... what...?" Henry wasn't able to finish his sentence. Once more he stretched his hand out and closed it around Thanatos' claw – not for support this time, but for confirmation the flier was still there. That he wouldn't leave.
"I am here, I am not leaving you", he muttered and Henry twitched. He raised his left hand and slowly reached for his eye, the missing one. "Death..."
"Don't – don't touch it, Henry, it's..." Thanatos took a deep breath, "it's... the eye isn't blocked, it's... gone."
The boy widened his remaining eye in shock. Thanatos saw he started breathing heavily, he pulled himself up again and reached to touch it once more – but hesitated. "W... what...?"
His voice was nothing but a whimper at first, but Henry soon started screaming the word, over and over. He frantically crawled over to the puddle to look at himself, Thanatos attempted to stop him but he wasn't fast enough with the broken wing.
The scream Henry gave off when he saw his own reflection was mortifying and soul-crushing, never before had the flier heard a cry so full of desperation, and his ears vibrated painfully. He saw Henry started gagging again, but his stomach was already empty.
Instead, he kneeled there, bent over, heaving heavily and attempting to vomit, as if he could rid himself of the pain and the horrifying image that was now his own.
Thanatos wanted to do so many things at this moment. He wanted to find a way to comfort the boy, he wanted to turn back time, to destroy every serpent in the Underland – and most of all he wished it had been him, not Henry. If anyone was to be mutilated like this, why did it have to be the boy, the boy that still had hope and not the flier that was already lost anyway?
"H... Henry... we need to get out of here, you hear? The rats will have heard us... and smelled our blood." His own voice was almost unrecognizably hoarse. He suddenly asked himself how they should even get out.
Henry turned around to him, the right half of his face was entirely smeared in blood again. He threw the flier one last, desperate glance, and then collapsed, right there on the floor.
"No!" Thanatos couldn't stop the scream from escaping his throat. He scurried over to Henry and bent over him, trying to shake him awake. "No, Henry, you can't fall asleep now! You need to stop that bleeding or you'll lose too much blood! You need to help me set the bone in my wing straight to help me get us out of here!"
He had barely heard his own voice so desperate before.
Henry opened the good eye again, only a little tough. "Your... wing...?"
Thanatos scoffed. "It's... broken. But I'm fine, I can fly us out of here still. You know I can. I am the flier that nearly crossed the waterway, remember?" He tried to smile.
Henry glanced down on his wing. "You... you're not fine, are you?"
"I am, I promise. You'll just need to help me set it back, and we'll be out of here in no time." Thanatos was lying from desperation now. He knew he wasn't okay. With the missing tissue, he would have a hard time flying, even if he managed to lift off. And if you disregarded the pain he'd have to endure if he actually planned to fly anywhere.
But what choice did they have?
"Show me" Henry lifted himself up again and Thanatos stretched out the broken wing. It took Henry several attempts because of how much the trauma and the blood loss had weakened him, but he managed to set the bone straight at last. He pulled a piece of bone and some rope out of his – miraculously having remained on his back – backpack, and created a makeshift-splint.
The task had apparently drained him of his last remaining strength. As soon as he was done, he collapsed back on the floor – into the puddle of his own blood that had built up while he had been lying down. "I'll just... go to sleep...", he mumbled, before closing his eye.
"No! No, Henry, you can't go to sleep. You need to bandage your eye and get on, we need to leave!" In fact, Thanatos was scared if Henry closed his eye now, he might never open it again.
Henry blinked at him, and the expression he saw in his remaining eye shocked him. "You need to leave..."
Thanatos thought he'd misheard. "What?"
Henry coughed, but it was a weak cough. "YOU... need to leave. We both know that you won't make it out of here with that wing... AND me weighing you down. I don't even know if you'll make it at all. But your chances are better without my additional weight."
The flier heard his voice almost like through a cloud of mist. He couldn't believe his own ears. "H... Henry, you aren't serious, are you?"
"I am", Henry was barely whispering now. His eye was closing again. "I've lost too much blood... I... just go. It's time to end our alliance. You were right – I was foolish, it wasn't them who needed me, it was I who needed them. And I've paid for it. Leave me and save yourself – don't you remember our rule anymore?"
Henry was interrupted by a coughing fit. All Thanatos could do was sit there and stare at him, unbelievingly.
"Don't risk your life for me", Henry continued, "Not for some stupid alliance of which neither of us even knows what exactly it is. You have no obligations towards me – and if you ever felt you had any, you don't anymore."
"Henry if you don't stop that nonsensical babbling right now I will make you regret it!" Thanatos wasn't even attempting to hide the desperation and fear in his voice anymore. This was all wrong – Henry was supposed to be the one who gave him hope – how was he the one who had no hope now?
"You –" Henry started, but Thanatos interrupted him. "You are not supposed to be here, you know? On this floor, bleeding to death. You wouldn't be here hadn't I left you alone. This is all my fault, and that is exactly why I will not abandon you."
He was making excuses now. Thanatos knew he wouldn't leave Henry bleeding on the floor, no matter if he was responsible or not. But he was, and guilt gnawed at his heart stronger than ever. "Just do this one thing for me, just this once. And get. On."
Henry averted his eye and fell back. He was entirely powerless. Thanatos nudged him, trying to load him on his back himself, but he couldn't. He finally fetched the sword that had been lying in a corner of the tunnel and placed it at Henry's side. "You'll need this. Come on, grab your backpack and get on. I'm not arguing about this."
He perfectly knew he wouldn't leave here without the boy. If Henry remained, he would with him. Thanatos knew he would die at his side, right here, if he had to.
Reluctantly he let himself fall next to Henry, almost accepting that this was his end now when the boy moved again. "What... are you doing?"
"If you stay, I stay with you", was all the flier said and spread the good wing over Henry like a blanket.
"N... no, you can't... don't do this, please..." Henry's tone was pleading. "Don't think you have to die with me because you blame yourself for my own stupidity. I don't blame you... it was the serpent, and I... I shouldn't have said that... I..."
"Shut up, will you?" Thanatos grumbled, "I don't stay because I blame myself. I..." He stopped. Why... was he staying? The flier knew that he didn't have to. But at the same time, he felt like he had no choice at all. Henry had become his everything – the only reason he was able to find joy in life again, after so much loneliness and pain.
He knew he could never go back to that desolate, miserable excuse for a life again. Not if dying at his side was an option.
"Death... why?" Henry continued, "Why are you doing this? You have no reason to still be here. You – you know, breaking our rule and saving each other is one thing but – what you are doing now... You have no reason to –"
No reason. No reason. The words swirled around in Thanatos' head. No reason. He wants a reason?
"You want a reason?" A lump formed in the flier's throat. "You want a damn reason? Then I'll GIVE you a reason. Give me your hand." He slowly rose up again until he was cowering above the boy.
Henry stared at him, confused, as Thanatos extended his claw. "Give me your DAMN HAND. Do it!"
Slowly, as if he had no idea what the flier was planning, Henry grasped his claw with his hand. "What are you...?" He started, but Thanatos didn't let him finish. "I'm giving you your reason."
He knew exactly what he had to say, even though it had been so long. Taking a deep breath, still trying to come to terms with what he was about to do, he uttered the first words –
Henry the Human I bound to you.
Henry widened his remaining eye in shock when he realized what was going on. He did not let go of his claw though. "Y... you...?"
But the flier didn't let him finish.
Our life and death are one, we two.
In dark, in flame, in war, in strife,
I save you as I save my life.
As he spoke the words aloud, he realized he wasn't simply doing this because it was the only option to convince the stupid boy to let him save him, no, he meant every single word. He would have already meant them had he spoken them months ago.
"Is this REASON ENOUGH FOR YOU?!" He finally blurted out after a moment of deafening silence.
Henry was still staring at him, almost as if he couldn't believe this had actually just happened. "You just..."
"You have to say it back, Henry. I mean, you don't, but –"
The boy closed his eye. His voice was quiet and Thanatos heard it trembling, but the words were the same. He repeated the phrase, while he spoke, his grip on Thanatos' claw grew stronger and stronger.
The last words had barely escaped his mouth and for a split second Thanatos thought everything would be okay again now, and Henry managed to give a little smile. "You're a madman, you know that?"
"And bound to save your life as I would mine, from now on until I die. So GET THE HELL ON MY BACK NOW."
Henry didn't protest this time. With Thanatos' help, he lifted himself off the ground. He managed to wrap a few layers of cloth around his eye, put his sword back in its sheath, shoulder it, together with his backpack, and heave himself on the flier's back.
"You know you will regret this, right?" His voice sounded weak and Thanatos felt the blood pour through the makeshift-bandage from Henry's face into the fur on his back.
"Oh yes. I know that very well."
The way out of the Labyrinth was by far the most agonizing trip Thanatos had ever undertaken. It took him more than an hour in his state, and every single second felt like an eternity, an eternity of unimaginable pain, and of him telling himself he had to keep going.
His wing was barely functional, he couldn't maintain balance in the air without the missing tissue, which made it impossible to fly farther than maybe five or six – at best eight or nine – feet in one go, before having to land and jump-crawl the next few feet. The fact that the halls in the Labyrinth were winding and narrow most of the time, didn't help either. Though through some miraculous streak of luck he did not encounter a single rat over the course of the entire trek.
Perhaps the rumors were true and not many of them even came here, maybe they had fled from the serpents or were chasing the questors or protecting the Bane – Thanatos couldn't care less, as long as they left him alone.
In retrospect, the flier had no idea how he managed to even muster up the physical and mental strength to pull through – yes, he had always liked to test his own limits, but this was nothing short of torture.
Or maybe – he did know. Henry was still on his back, after all, and he was awfully quiet. He had not said a single word since they had taken off, he was but a limp weight making the trip even more arduous. But Thanatos meant what he had said – he would have rather died with him then left him behind, no matter how much worse his weight made it for the flier.
Henry was quiet, so awfully quiet. The silence was killing him, so Thanatos himself started talking. He didn't care if he was wasting his breath – he talked and talked – talked to Henry as if he was not bleeding to death on his back, as if he was awake, as if he was listening.
"Oh come on, are you really going to allow that little scratch to affect you so much? You're a fighter, you once said you'd fight the universe for every ounce of life in your body – where is that spirit now, huh?"
He mocked, then soon went over to words of comfort – "Everything will be alright, you will be – you'll see! I'm here, and I will not leave you again, you have my word – I mean, I kind of gave you my word earlier but, just to be certain – listen, I know you'll be fine! You know what, I've heard somewhere that serpent-spit is supposed to be antiseptic, and what's the difference, one eye, two eyes – think of how much character such an injury builds, and the nice eyepatch you can wear. One day, you'll tell this story like you tell the one of Goldfang now, and everyone will admire you – like you always wanted!"
Eventually, he started talking about the future. About what they had already achieved in the past and about possible plans and adventures to undertake and look forward to. About more mercenary-jobs, about visiting the nibblers again, about truly crossing the waterway one day. About anything that came to mind, just to distract himself from the arduous trip ahead and from the frighteningly lifeless boy on his back.
Thanatos realized, as independently strong as both of them were usually, in this very moment their need for each other was mutual again. Henry needed Thanatos to carry him to safety, and Thanatos needed Henry to live, to give strength and purpose to both of them.
When Thanatos finally left the last corridor of the Labyrinth behind, he could almost not believe what he had done. As nigh-supernatural as his stamina was, even he had gone way past his limits today.
Heaving heavily, he flew through a nice, open corridor now, when he suddenly realized he recognized the area.
Only a few minutes later he finally landed – unceremoniously and ungraciously on his stomach, but in one piece – at the bank of the very same river bordering the very same cave he and Henry had first talked to each other in after he had carried him away from the bottom of the cliff.
Thanatos remembered the scene as if it had been yesterday, he almost couldn't believe it had been half a year already. He remembered the animosity, the desperation – and Henry's "word"-joke, that even now made him chuckle slightly.
His entire body hurt, and he could almost not feel the torn wing anymore. He would have to do something about the tissue damage soon... but later.
"Hey, Henry... we'll take a... break here... okay?"
Quiet.
With the last of his willpower, Thanatos shook Henry off his back until he lied beside him – motionless and quiet.
The flier tried not to look. He wrapped both wings around him in a desperate attempt to comfort and protect. "You will see... in a few hours when we both have gotten some sleep, everything will be better. You just need to rest, right? Rest... like me. You'll probably be the first one awake tomorrow, telling me I'm a lazy ass. Can you do that for me...?" His voice was barely a whisper, husky from pain and fear, fear Henry might not wake up at all. So instead, he wrapped his wings around him tighter, firmly telling himself the boy would be awake when he woke up himself.
He would be... he had to be.