Archemedies struggles with his trouser leg, trying to tear off a strip with his teeth, cursing vibrantly at it as he tugs. a short stick of thin piping lays nearby, beside his still very broken leg, ready to be bound and tied as a brace. At least…that was the plan. But now, the stupid goddamn fabric won't tear, and he might break his neck just trying.
"Gah, shit, just- uuUHHG- work, damn you-"
Archemedies growls, the tough black fabric gripped in his somehow insufficiently sharp teeth. It tastes like dust…Blegh. He struggles a moment more, then sighs heavily, releasing it and twisting his head side to side, trying to work out the kinks in his neck as his other leg throbs. His attempts to heal it were…less than stellar, you could say. Touching it kinda just made it worse. He sighs again, and runs his forked tongue over his teeth, trying to get the taste out of his mouth…this isn't going well, but oh boy, is it about to get worse.
A shadow still paces between rubble with silent talons, a sickly smile spread across its face as its lopsided anatomy drags silently across the floor. It's a thing of broken memories, long-lost magic coalesced into the horrible mass of parts that it is now. it's eyeless gaze locks on Archemedies, as it paces just a little closer, slinking under a fallen beam and watching him for a moment, its fang-cluttered jaws still twisted upwards into a gruesome smile as its eyeless gaze locks onto the struggling lizard monster, sat in the light of a single flickering bulb.
Archemedies, unfortunately, does not notice it.
His teeth are clamped down on the edge of his coat now, the reptilian monster tugging and pulling unsuccessfully on the pale white fabric. He grunts with effort, and the shadow tilts its horrifically grinning head slightly, watching as Archemedies struggles the way a dedicated McDonald's representative might watch a field of cows. That is with hunger, and a smug sense of having already won.
After all, what's going to stop it from killing injured prey? What's going to stop it from tearing his chest wide open, and snapping its mangled jaws down around the soul inside? It shivers at the thought. To be alive is to have a soul, and since it has none of its own, it will take his. Archemedies stubbornly yanks at the fabric with a frustrated growl, the shadowy being extending one cruelly taloned paw forward, slinking just a little closer as Archemedies tugs so hard he nearly falls backwards.
Until, suddenly, a sound like seventeen drunk cats trying to sing opera erupts from the ceiling, and causes him to quite nearly jump out of his skin.
This near-indescribable cacophony of screeching is, in turn, drowned by a huge crash of collapsing metal- two blurred and struggling figures crashing to the floor, half the ceiling coming down with them. One is a cloaked skeleton screaming profanities in Spanish, and the other is what looks like a fridge-sized cross between the worst parts of a crocodile and a chiwawa combined in shadow demon form. The furious and utterly unfamiliar skeleton is first to hit the floor, and Archemedies can barely see what happens after that, before another shadowy mistake of nature hits him from behind.
He hits the ground with a harsh cry of pain, feeling dark claws sink into his scales, his spines instinctively beginning to bristle as he writhes furiously under its talons. His bad leg is crushed under him, and he can nearly feel individual fractures blooming across his damaged bone as the crushing weight of the creature grinds him into the tile, claws slowly sinking deeper as it relishes every moment of the hunt. Of the kill. Voltage crackles in Archemedies boiling blood, but the grinning mistake only grins wider, lipless teeth crowding its mouth as Archemedies feels the life being forcefully torn from him, the raging sea of energy that had been building in his mouth sputtering and dying with the choked gasp of a drowning man. All Archemedies can do is try to scrape air in and out of his crushed lungs as the creature snarls, and rears its head back to-
Then, with a noise like a baseball bat through a watermelon, the weight decreases.
Archemedies is faintly aware of a large chunk of debris falling to the tile, along with the twitching body of the shadow- a considerable dent in its skull oozing black onto the floor as he is also faintly aware of the sound of someone yelling.
Archemedies is faintly aware of a lot of things, not the least of which is the fact he's still lying flattened on the tile, gasping like a fish.
Suddenly an unknown hand grabs the back of his coat, dragging him up, too far up, someone Archemedies cant see yanking him up and away as gravity goes out to lunch and they hurtle up to the ceiling, the reptilian monster limp against the grip of the stranger. His leg is burning, his face is burning, his chest is burning- Archemedies distantly entertains the idea that he might be on fire, before he gives up and goes back to being stunned.
His apparent rescuer darts through the metal beams and wires at dizzying speed, rapidly shooting up into a large air vent and banging loudly against the top, Archemedies suddenly blinded as he too is dragged into the complete darkness. Archemedies just lets himself be dragged along at this point, still being hit with waves of pain as he's knocked around the small space, tail thwacking against the metal sides of the vent as the stranger drags him farther into the mesh of wires, dragging him on until suddenly beams of light shoot down from above and- Suddenly, he's in the air, the stranger having dragged him up and out onto the cracked and wire-choked roof of the lab, zigzagging dizzily until landing and finally hopping to a stop.
The stranger releases him, instantly dashing to the edge of the roof and leaning over, peering down intently as Archemedies works on remembering how to breathe. He slowly regains consciousness and drags himself up, swaying. He wobbles once, steadies, then remembers his leg is broken- along with most of the rest of him- and promptly falls back down again.
There's a dull thud, and the stranger turns her now-visible skull to blink at Archemedies, who's laying face-down on the roof, limp as jello. oh jeez. She glances quickly towards the horizon with glowing orange eyelights, then turns her back to it, moving quickly to Archemedies limp form and crouching beside him. She gives him several sharp prods in the shoulder, which elicits no response, hesitates, then hisses;
"Oi, Arco, move your ass, we gotta run."
She hisses in a low whisper, her voice thickly accented. It's a little creaky from disuse, but nevertheless it is hers, and one he should recognize. She glances at the open vent behind them, wondering whether or not she'd struck the first shadow bastard hard enough to kill it.
"…F**koff…"
Archemedies mumbles in response, twitching his tail half heartedly before going back to being extremely painful jello. The skeleton scoffs, and narrows her eyesockets at him, opening her mouth to tell him that considering she just saved his sorry tail he should be thanking- Then, there's a loud clang from inside the vent. She looks up, a large dent in one grate as scrabbling sounds emanate from within. Shit. Then, not possessing incredible patience, she opts to simply get rid of the bastards herself.
If Arch wants to stick around for that?
Well, it's his funeral.
The skeleton turns to the vent, an unholy grin spreading across her face as magic begins to crackle. Orange sparks dance in her eyes, coil in her bones- they electrify the gray, as she gathers it in her hands. The orange glow in her ghostly palms molds and joins, coiling into one another and stretching, lengthening into a long shaft of solid orange magic, pulsing softly with her own soul beat as the long shaft begins to smolder.
And as two dripping shadowy bodies burst from the vent, that shaft catches alight, and from the fire grows a blade.
This is Herman.
She is insane.
Later, the burning scythe in her hands dripping with black blood, Herman had turned. She saw Archemedies still collapsed unmoving, and had decided ah f**k it, I'll just move him myself.
And that is precisely what she did.
She unclipped her cloak, quickly looping its length around Archemedies middle (prompting a mildly disgruntled tail-flick) and grabbing the two ends firmly in her hands as she hauled him up, fixing her eyes on the edge of the roof with a grin. Herman had, in fact, never tried this while carrying another monster before, but she was sure it wouldn't be a problem, right? She's done it tons of times, it's fine... The roof blooms with an orange glow around her, tinged by the burning of her eyelights as she holds up one finger in a mock test of the wind.
Yes, she thinks to herself with an important nod, optimal conditions.
Herman looks down at the unconscious lizard, curled in the sling she's carrying, and her memories fizz in response. Her expression gains a slight bit of sanity as she stares down at him, then looks back up towards the edge of the roof, her eyesockets blazing a little brighter. Then, with a sudden grin that usually gets people put in mental hospitals, she hurls herself forwards. She's off like a shot, as her strides get longer, eyes burning bright orange as she meets the edge of the roof, gravity once again blatantly ignoring her as she crosses her fingers and-
-leaps straight off it.
Herman tucks into a ball midair, Archemedies feeling his stomach lurch as they spin wildly, careening through empty space until the skeleton who apparently appears gravity-exempt suddenly begins to fall up.
Archemedies, barely half-conscious, decides to just give up.
Herman falls upwards through the air, grinning madly, watching the hotland roof shoot up to greet her as she lands on it with a sharp thump. She straightens, and tests her weight, hopping a few times just to make sure- and every time she does, she ends up with her feet planted firmly on the roof of hotland cavern. She smugly watches a small shower of dust spiral up (or is it down?) past her nose socket and disappear into the cavern above (or is it below?) her, reveling in her ability to ignore gravity.
Herman glances over her shoulder at the lab roof, and snickers as she sees five more dark forms staring after her spitefully, presumably having appeared to answer the death cry of the last two. Herman just grins and makes a very rude hand gesture at them, then turns, beginning to walk off into the field of stalactites with a self-satisfied grin, completely ignored by the forces of motion.
This, is Herman.
And once again, she is almost certainly insane.
(AUTHOR NOTE:
To give you a little context in case you are dumb, Herman is Gaster's sibling. Also by the way; happy pride month! And 1-year anniversary of the fic! Yes, I know, I haven't been posting lately. But that's just because I've been dragged on a road trip, so, hello from Kentucky I guess. There will be more explanation of…everything, later in the plot, if I ever get there. Honestly, I'm beyond censoring anything less than the f word itself by now, so any 8yr olds…go play minecrap. I'm tired. )
