Characters in this prompt: Artorias the Abysswalker, Great Grey Wolf Sif

Summary: It isn't easy dealing with a nose bleed on the battlefield.

Artorias grinned triumphantly when he saw the blade of the sword his enemy was wielding flying through the air after it broke with a clank. What he didn't see coming was, that the Darkwraith didn't falter and promptly shoved their hilt into his face with full force, making his face exploding and pain, making him see stars.

Artorias tumbled a few step backwards. He had let his guard down for only one second, what a stupid mistake. He had been sent to New Londo to hunt down the Darkwraith's, who were terrorizing the innocent citizens of the town once again. Artorias only had taken Sif, his wolf companion with him. He was the only one who had made the necessary pacts to walk safely on the ground the Darkwraith's inhabited. He already had killed three of them when the blow on his face of the fourth had happened.

After his vision cleared, he noticed something warm trickling down his nose. Oh no, the hit must have crushed his nose. He would need a moment to sit down and stop the bleeding, but he saw two more Darkwraith's approaching him. Was one of them the enemy from earlier who brought him into this situation or did they ran away while they had the chance? Whatever, Artorias adjusted his sword and made himself ready to fight. If only his nose wouldn't hurt that much and the blood running down his face and the taste of copper in his mouth wouldn't be so distracting...

Suddenly, he saw Sif jumping between him and his foes. Sword tightly in her jaw, a deep growl escaped her throat. While still young, the sight of a wolf wielding a great sword made even a Darkwraith wary. While the both of them carefully considered their options, Sif turned her head to Artorias and let out a sharp bark.

"Thank you, my friend.", Artorias mumbled and retreated so that he would be able to take care of his nosebleed.

After he was far enough what he considered a safe distance, not seeing the Darkwraith's anymore, but still being able the hear the battle sounds to know how Sif was doing, he sat down on a rock and rummaged around in his pocket. Oh come on, he knew he had one with him. But even after desperately searching his other pocket, he couldn't find it. All he produced was a large handkerchief with a stitched on wolf. He clearly had forgotten to take a bloodred moss clump with him that would have stopped the bleeding immediately.

Artorias sighed. The handkerchief was better than nothing and he pressed it against his nose, head tilted slightly forward. What should he do now? He didn't had the time to sit around doing nothing for several minutes. The nosebleed wouldn't do him the favor to stop instantly. He was on edge. He wanted to help Sif out.

While he was still considering his options, he heard that particular sound of the Darkwraith magic. Artorias jumped to the side before their kiss could hit him and picked up his sword. With one hand busy trying to contain the blood loss of his nose, he hadn't his shield available at the moment, so it was only his sword for now.

Luckily, him dodging that sneak attack had surprised his foe enough that a single somersault attack in their direction was enough to cut them down. … And this had been a bad idea. Artorias could feel the dizziness in his head, he saw the blood drops slowly fall down to the ground, unsure if they were his own or the ones from his enemy.

Artorias slowly lowered the handkerchief, it took him some time to realized how much blood there already was in there, the blood was seeping right through it and stained his right gauntlet. Then he shot up, when he heard a pained yelp. Sif! He had to help her. He pressed the handkerchief against his nose again despite how wet it already was and hurried to her position. He felt blood trickling over his lips, more of it flowing in his mouth, the sweet coppery taste of it almost made him gag. But no, he was the wolf knight, he had a unbreakable will of steel, he wouldn't let get himself down by a mere nosebleed.

Artorias arrived at the scene and saw that Sif had took down one foe and was bleeding out of several deep gashes, one particularly bad one at her hind leg, making her limp.

"Sif, I am taking over.", he shouted and forced himself between his companion and the Darkwraith. His opponent didn't waste any time and let their sword dash down. Out of habit Artorias was about to raise his right arm to block the blow with his shield, but quickly retracted when he noticed the blood flowing freely out of his nose, hissing when he felt the pain of the sword cutting into his skin. He raised his own sword and tried a hit from the left, but the Darkwraith easily blocked it with their dark magic.

Damn, he felt dizzy, really dizzy. He couldn't faint. He wasn't allowed to faint. Sif counted on him. He couldn't leave her alone. She wouldn't be able to take it on her own. He needed to get it together. He shook the approaching darkness away and was met with the sight of Sif jumping between him and the sword slash that nearly had cut his chest open, blocking it with her sword, but it made her flying from the force. She landed with a yelp and stayed down. Something in Artorias snapped.

"You will pay for this.", he hissed. He dropped the handkerchief, he didn't care about the stream of blood coming out from his nose. He blocked the next blow, staggered the darkwraith with a heavy blow from his shield and thrusted his sword right through the chest of his foe.

Heavenly panting, he pulled it out. He staggered a few steps back and then let himself fall down on his bottom. He raised his hand to his nose and watched the blood trickle down the fingers of his gauntlet. He saw a shadow approaching him. If it was another Darkwraith, he would have a problem. But the shadowy figure turned out to be Sif, who sniffed him and then slowly licked the blood from his face.

"Sif, that tickles.", Artorias chuckled. He eyed the wolf. "Look at how beat up you are, we need to patch you up...", he murmured.

Sif nudged him with her paw and laid down besides him.

"You are right, I need to get rid of that nosebleed first."

Artorias stroked Sif's fur, applied soft pressure to his nose, wincing in pain because of the break.

"And next time I make a double check if I have my blood red moss clumps with me..."

(Author's note: I can't help it, even with a bloody nose, Artorias is still a bad ass on the battlefield.

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