Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

66

A/N: Warning for more gore! Fun

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The imposing silhouette of the infamous Technoblade stands wreathed in the light of a tall window behind him. Small ears not unlike those of a pig are visible on top of his head, the long locks of his pink hair pulled back into a tight braid that snakes down to his hips. Covering his face and obscuring his eyes within the shadowed sockets is a mask made to resemble the skull of a hog, tusks curving up from his mouth completing the image of a feral creature.

Skeppy has a moment to see a dark spot clinging to the man's neck and back; a pulsating pile of something that sent shudders down his spine- and then the sword that Techno clutches with both hands descended towards Dream.

The prince throws himself back, and a startled look crosses his face. The way he targets Dream wouldn't be worrying- Skeppy knew the two had history-if not for the shot of darkness that attempts to make a grab for Dream's neck.

"Look out!" He shouts, forgetting stealth in his alarm over the realization. "It's trying to get you- the, the thing-" Dream nods, and there's a clang of metal on metal as Techno twists to block Punz's strike. Tommy looks a bit perturbed by the situation, but that slips Skeppy's mind. As the parasite makes another attempt at latching onto Dream, the prince fires a blast instinctively; Techno ducks and it blows a hole in the window, opening a new danger.

Despite their attempts at following the strategy they'd decided on, the way he's mindlessly targeting Dream changes things; the prince doesn't have a single second to activate the seal. Something seems wrong. Something had to have alerted him to their approach, right? Otherwise why would he have been standing there, staring at the panel with his sword?...

But they hadn't made a scene entering. They had been quiet. So...

The plan falls completely apart with the sound of retching.

Skeppy turns around in alarm, and locates the source of the sound with horror.

George is on his knees, coughing and dry vomiting onto the bricks beneath him- or it was dry at first. A paralyzing dread freezes Skeppy in place as he watches something he never wanted to see, but somehow remembered; a black, sludgy being bursting out of the back of George's neck, dripping from his mouth, and as his voice grew weaker, unable to scream, the black fluid began to seep from his eyes.

Dream can't do anything, busy fending off the attacks from Techno; but the look of absolute horror and desperation in his eyes says everything.

"Get away from him!" Skeppy all but shrieks, and Awesam realizes the situation. They all pull away from George, watching as what has to be the parasite seeps over his form, insidiously overwhelming the archer.

I've seen this before. The realization slams Skeppy like a cart of bricks; George's barely-human outline coated in the living, writhing sludge of the parasite he had somehow fallen victim to, the hollow eyes that could no longer be seen, and the dim fiery light that floods the room. I dreamt about this.

And so he knows what happens next, as he moves against his own volition, in a lunge that seems almost slow motion; he passes by Dream, and a look of understanding passes between them. A quick exchange, a brief second; and Skeppy is the most powerful person in the room.

His skin brushes Dream's as the candle is pressed into Skeppy's hand, and he wraps his fingers around it firmly as he continues his trajectory; the rest of the room looks on in dawning realization.

Skeppy feels the ground slide out from under his feet as he jumps through the hole in the window, catching himself as he had done in the dream so long ago; the burning sensation of holding his weight on one arm flares, and he winces, now in the open, the world of the Nether laid out around him like a playing board.