Prompt: Infected Wound

Fandom: Dark Souls

Characters: Dragon Slayer Ornstein, Nameless King, Gwyn Lord of Sunlight

Word Count: 1.959

AO3-Link: /works/15153839/chapters/40508006

Summary: The sunfirstborn forgets to clean a wound and it gets infected. He notices that his sister is taking care of him... but is that really his sister?

(Author's note: The idea how Nameless King got the infected wound goes to Nightmaredaisy, thank you very much.)

"What?" Gwynfor had been lost in his thoughts and didn't even notice that his father had talked to him.

"I was saying that this had been a successful dragon hunt, right, son?", the lord said, scowling at his firstborn.

"Oh, I am sorry I haven't heard you at first, father.", Gwynfor said. "But I don't know if I want to call it successful..."

"What are you talking about? That dragon is no more. Of course we have been successful. Once again.", Gwyn said with a satisfied look at this face. Too satisfied for Gwynfor's taste.

"Father, that dragon hasn't even done something bad.", he said. "It hadn't burned any fields, there weren't any signs of it having abducted villagers and it didn't want to get paid in treasures."

"Gwynfor, you have seen enough dragons to know they can't be trusted. It could have started to act like this any minute. We simply got rid of it before it could act.", Gwyn scolded his firstborn.

"Father, it feels like we killed it just because it was there, was a dragon and had the possibility to start torturing that villagers.", Gwynfor said. "How is that fair?"

The expression of the lord of sunlight darkened: "Gwynfor, I don't think you understand..."

Gwynfor had enough. "No, it is you who don't understand.", he shouted and rushed away from the scene, from his father, he just wanted to be alone. He only stopped when he arrived at his rooms, where a pain in his leg reminded him, that he had gotten a cut there earlier in the fight.

He sighed. He really didn't feel like taking care of this now. The wound wasn't even that bad, it was barely bleeding anymore and would surely close on its own. Gwynfor undressed himself and laid down into back, exhausted from the fight, exhausted from his thoughts, he just wanted to drift away into sleep.

When Gwynfor awoke later in the night in need to use the bathroom, he felt pretty hot. Hopefully he wouldn't come down with a sickness. His leg wound was also hurting more than earlier, but he didn't paid much attention to it. Surely, the next morning he would feel a lot better. He just needed the sleep.

Gwynfor awoke the next morning or what he thought was the next morning and felt like burning up. He felt hot, so awfully hot. And the wound on his leg, that little scratch from yesterday, it did hurt like crazy. He tried to pull himself up, but it felt like some hands pushed him back into a lying position. He could hear someone murmur something, but was barely able to make it out. He tried to lock his eyes with the person that was there, but his sight was so fuzzy... all he could see was a frame... a frame with long hair. The frame had just laid something on his forehead, which felt cool and pleasant, easing the burning a tiny bit.

"...Nevy?", Gwynfor murmured. That probably was his sister. It had to be. Who else did he know who had long hair and would take care of their sick big brother? He noticed that the frame in front of him had frozen in place for a tiny bit, damn, why was his sight so blurry? How had he managed to get so sick? He rarely ever got sick.

Oh no... he had an assumption. "The wound.", he said. "It must be...", he panted, bringing the words out felt exhausting. "...infected.", he finished.

"Where?", Nevy asked. Strange, the last time Gwynfor had heard his sister talk, her voice hadn't been that deep.

"Leg.", Gwynfor brought out. The pain felt excruciating now. Damn, that just had been a tiny wound. In the back of his mind Gwynfor knew that he had forgotten to clean the wound out, that there was nobody to blame but himself.

He could feel how the blankets over him got lifted and Nevy carefully removed the bandages off his injured legs. He heard a gasp and then she shot up and said: "I'll be right back."

"Wait, Nevy, don't leave me.", Gwynfor whispered when he saw her leave, ponytail swinging. ...Did she change her hairdo? Or maybe Gwynfor was just seeing things because of the fever. At least he was able to hear her, that felt incredibly comforting. If not for his condition, Gwynfor almost had laughed out aloud. How could the god of war be reduced to such a picture of misery just because of a tiny wound?

The door flung up and Nevy returned to his side. The blankets lifted again and he could hear her say: "This will hurt quite a bit." And it did hurt like hell when she finally managed to clean out the wound, Gwynfor couldn't see what she used for it, but from the smell it seemed to be something alcoholic. He was used to pain, he didn't scream, that would be unworthy of a god of war, but it still hurt a lot and he gasped and panted in pain.

"I am ready.", Nevy said and Gwynfor could feel that she had applied some fresh clean bandages to the wound. "It is already festering so we have to change the bandages every two hours. Maybe you should try and sleep in the meantime?"

"Will you stay by my side?", Gwynfor asked.

"Of course, Master." He heard Nevy say. It should have occurred to him as a strange thing, that Nevy wouldn't call him by his name, but he was simply too exhausted to think about this.

Gwynfor didn't knew how many hours passed in which he was hazy from the fever. Sometimes he could feel that the cloth of his forehead was changed, sometimes he could feel the bandages changing and sometimes he got poured some water. And he also felt Nevy taking his hand in comfort when he reached out for it, waiting for him to calm down again.

It felt like an eternity, but one time when Gwynfor woke up and opened his eyes again, he didn't feel that fuzzy anymore. He blinked a few times and then remembered what happened, that he had been sick, that Nevy had taken care of him. Was she still there? He turned his head to the side and saw someone sitting there, but it wasn't Nevy. It was Ornstein.

"Are you awake, Master? How are you feeling?", his first knight asked.

Gwynfor was bewildered: "Ornstein... has it been you the whole time?"

"Yes... but you seemed to think that I was your sister...", Ornstein said. "I felt that it was better to not clarify the misunderstanding, you were really sick..." The knight wriggled around on his chair, a sign that he was nervous.

"Now that I think about it...", Gwynfor said. "How could I have even mistook you for Nevy? The voice, the ponytail, Nevy never calls meMmaster..." He started to chuckle. "It feels insane, really."

"I guess you are feeling better, Master.", Ornstein said. The knight was wearing his armour but without the helmet, so Gwynfor could see a tiny smile on his face. He looked so cute with this smile. It pained Gwynfor that his feelings for his knight probably would never be reciprocated. But still... Ornstein had sat at his bed this whole time, taking care of him. Did he only do this because he was the knight of the prince or did it mean that he had feelings for him too?

"Allow me to ask, Master.", Ornstein said. "How did you manage to get an infected wound? It... uh... felt like a very unlikely thing for you."

"Oh, it is... I got into an argument with father.", Gwynfor said, sighing. "And I didn't want to think about it and have gone to sleep without taking proper care of this wound..."

"Yes, the lord has been upset when he sent me to wake you.", Ornstein said. "What were you even fighting about?"

"It was about the dragon we fought.", Gwynfor sighed. "It felt like it was unnecessary. We should just have left it alone. It never had hurt anyone. Maybe we have taken the dragon hunting too far..."

Gwynfor was expecting all kind of responses from Ornstein, mainly a tirade about how dragon hunting was the right thing and his father would lead them all to glory, but he didn't expect his knight sitting there with a pained expression on his face, asking: "Does that mean that you don't need me anymore, Master...?"

The way he was sitting there like this, the sad expression on his face, Gwynfor just wanted to get up and hug him, kiss him even. It felt so hard to refrain from it. Nobody would ever need to know about his attraction. So he answered instead, as calmly as possible: "No, that was not what I meant, Ornstein. I would never dismiss you from your duties!"

Ornstein visibly relaxed. "I am so glad to hear this.", he said. "Cause.. dragon slaying is the only thing I am good at. I am glad that I can stay at your side."

"What? Ornstein, you are having plenty of good traits beside this. Look at you, you stayed with me when I was sick. And you are still here instead of just leaving after I felt better. This shows how much you care.", Gwynfor said.

"Thank you, Master." There was it again, that cute smile that he adored so much. Ornstein stood up and approached his bed.

"Are you still having fever? Would you let me check?", he asked, his face was a bit red, as if he was embarrassed to even dare to touch his master.

"Sure, go ahead.", Gwynfor said. "I don't think it is completely gone, I still feel pretty hot."

Ornstein came closer to lay a hand on Gwynfor's forehead, close enough for Gwynfor to just grab him and the prince couldn't refrain himself anymore and pulled his knight into a hug, he didn't care about that he was still wearing his armour. He saw the very confused and red face of Ornstein right in front of his own. It would have been so easy to kiss him just right here and now, but... no, he couldn't do this, he wasn't allowed too. He released Ornstein from the hug. "Shit, sorry, I didn't knew what had gotten into me...", he said.

There were a few long seconds of silence until Ornstein answered: "No, don't worry, it is fine. I don't mind..." He stared at the ground and Gwynfor could see that his face had turned almost as red as his hair.

"Do you want something to eat?", Ornstein asked after several minutes had passed. "You must have been out for at last ten hours I think."

Ornstein was right, Gwynfor felt pretty hungry. And that wasn't the only thing.

"Yeah, I think I should eat something.", he said. "And also... I really need to use the bathroom."

Ornstein shot up immediately: "Excuse me, I will give you the needed privacy at once." and stormed out of the room, Gwynfor swore that he could see how Ornstein's face slowly had turned red again.

"I wouldn't even mind if you would stay.", he whispered, but his knight had already left the room. And Gwynfor knew he was polite enough to knock first and ask if he was able to enter and everything.

"Oh well, he will come back at last.", Gwynfor said to himself and stood up, realizing his lack of clothes. "...Maybe I should get dressed first..."

(Author's note: I just love this dynamic of people being madly in love with each other but thinking it is one-sided, meanwhile the other one is madly in love with them too.)