The Fight of Our Lives - NewScapeSquad Fanfic

A Solution?

Tommy's POV

I worried my fingernails between my teeth in apprehension. It was taking all of my willpower to stay leaning up against the wall in one place, and not pace like a worried dog.

Ashlie was taking longer than I'd thought. She was in the room next door, trying to assess the full extent of Nick's condition and comfort him in any way possible. It wasn't sounding good.

I looked down in pity and squeezed my eyes shut as a heart-wrenching hiss of pain echoed from behind the closed door. I could clearly imagine the distress that Ashlie must be feeling, knowing that her friend was literally dancing with death. A rancid small hung in the air, covering everything with a scent that I could only describe as 'death.' Uni wasn't here at the moment, he'd said he had gone out to try and find more food, but I suspected that he'd just wanted to get away from the sick-smelling house, which was awful even for my inferior human senses.

I brought my hands up to my head and played with the strap of my mask, rubbing the leather between my fingertips. My hands slowly traveled down the length of binding, eventually touching the curved, yellow-painted mask piece that covered my face.

A brilliant, crazy idea suddenly popped into my head. I touched the mask again, feeling a strange power run through my fingertips as I did. This strange mask that Uni had found for me had healed my face and helped me control my blades. If it couldn't save him, then nothing could.

Another wail pierced the silence, this time followed by Ashlie's comforting voice, laced with fear. But what would happen to me once the mask was off? I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to think about it. It didn't matter now. Nick was dying, and if I had the means to save him, then I would give it all up to do so.

--Time Skip--

"Are you sure about this, Tommy?" Ashlie cautioned. "Uni told me how bad it was without your mask. Are you sure that it's safe?"

"It has to be," I said, placing a concerned palm on the wall that separated us from Nick, trying to hide the fact that my hands were trembling in fear. "I'll make it safe." I added with a smirk, trying to get a laugh out of her. She gave me a wry smile, but it quickly turned back into worry.

"If... you're sure. I seriously can't ask you to do anything more for us. You and Uni have done so much already."

"No problem," I assured her. My entire body was shaking now, and it was hard to prevent my blades from shooting out in apprehension. "You let us into your home, and I guess this can be considered a way to repay you and Nick."

Ashlie bit her lip, closing her eyes.

"Okay, come on in," she sighed. With a bright flash of light, she zipped into the other room, and I followed a only little more slowly, swinging my body around the corner, nearly ripping a board off the side of the rotting wall. When I got inside, I stifled a gasp. Nick's skin was bone-pale, and his black hair was slick with sweat. He was constantly shivering, even though it was a warm, sunny day outside. His lips were thin and dry, and he was mumbling something incoherent under his breath. His arms were firmly clenched by his side, covering his wound, which looked nasty and swollen under the bandage.

"He's worse," I whispered, coming over to stand by Ashlie at his bedside. "He's so much worse."

"It's been like this all day. I can't do anything," Ashlie said blankly, and when I looked at her, I could see tears glistening over her lightning-shaped pupils. Any fear that I had felt about this decision instantly evaporated. This was the right thing to do. If had the means to save this boy, then goddamnit I would do just that.

With no further ceremony, I reached up behind my head and started tugging at the leather strap that hid my scars. I felt a gentle hand on my arm, but I shook her off. "It doesn't matter now," I said, and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

I undid the binding holding the mask in place and pulled it off my face.

The pain that came as soon as I did so was so excruciating, I nearly screamed and collapsed to the floor right then and there. It was the pain that I'd felt when the bear had first attacked me, but nearly ten times worse, because it had been dulled and reduced to nothing over the past weeks, and it was all coming back with a vengeance now. My heart pounded in my ears. I could faintly hear Ashlie's scream of dismay as I collapsed onto the ground, holding my face in agony. I looked up at Ashlie. My vision was blurry and faded, impossible to make out the details of the room around us. The pain in my face was like it was being slowly peeled and scorched off by a blacksmith's hot tools. A long, slow, muffled wail escaped my throat, because I had clenched my teeth together to try and stifle the sound.

I forced myself to stand, shrugging off Ashlie's protests to put the mask back on, and with extreme agony shooting up my arms, I felt my way over to Nick's bedside. I couldn't see a thing except for blurry colors. My vision might as well have been nonexistent, or at least the quality of a bat's. Finally, just when I thought that my strength was going to give out, I felt something that was unmistakably a human chest, which rose and fell sporadically. I felt my way up, and fitted the mask over Nick's face with trembling, shaky hands, leaving the straps to dangle down, because as soon as I completed the simple act, my body collapsed, and I succumbed to the pain.

Ashlie's POV

"Tommy! You idiot!" I shouted as I tried to wake him up. Tears were freely flowing down my face. There was a rustle behind me. I turned in shock to see Nick, the mask fitting loosely around his face. He looked... better. His skin color was still sickly pale and his breath still rasped in his sleep, but other than that, he was stable. I sighed in relief that it had at least worked, but now Tommy was injured. I looked back to him in concern, and my eyes widened in distress. I started to scream.

Tommy's blades were coming back, and this was definitely not supposed to happen.   

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It's coming........