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Spectator

Battered and beaten as he was, Aue ingested the lives of people he would never meet, submitted to medic patch-ups and went in for his next round. The dedication surprised Faustite, who could not easily conceal his interest when the second round queued. Whether Aue caught a glimpse of his expression or not, Faustite wouldn't know.

But he liked to think Aue saw nothing.

And now, seated with legs crossed and bound wrists lying limply in his lap, he looked on to the second battle. And a second surprise came at the hands of his markedly older opponent — a personal youma that Seraphinite never once used. A good idea in a no-holds-barred fight, and one that taxed Aue's ability to juggle opponents. This would have been a proper fight for Heliodor's instruction. Unfortunately, he had to leave the mobile pity party behind.

In the crowd, he spotted Tourmaline, to whom he sent a silent wave. He dared not distract from the fight.

The fight which, to his questionable chagrin, was not leaning toward another state of undress. But Aue added more attacks against his opponent this time and pressed his opponent early.

Pet? Did she call it Pet? How unimaginative. Faustite frowned. It's something I should look into nonetheless.

HP: 12/30 || DMG: 0

Rather, he meant to get up.

But that ******** b***h of a youma knocked him back down. It was toying with him, pressing it's weight on his legs like it wanted nothing more than to grind his bones to dust and maybe eat the wobbly and slightly gritty meat tubes left afterwards. Thankfully Uvarovite didn't let him.

The shitbrick of an over-sized grub did manage to slap him with it's tail right in his already bleeding guts after hissing it's disgustingly fetid breath in his face, so that was fun and nice and super appreciated.

Aue lay a bit longer before getting up, mentally going over the various parts of his body to make sure nothing new was critically damaged. Didn't seem so, just previous wounds aggravated to s**t, a bunch of new bruises and scrapes. Carry on, and all that ******** jazz.

"I hate your ******** Youma, Uvarovite. I hate it a lot." Aue tasted blood in his mouth, tongued a cut in his cheek and spat blood as he got to his feet. "It's ******** s**t."

HP: 16 // Damage: 2

"The feeling is mutual toward your magic Aue." His shoulder was still feeling the burn of the senshi's magic, even if it was fading, and every time he moved his face at all the cut across his cheek made it's presence known.

Keeping his weapon up, just moving, was jarring his injured shoulder more and the pain was enough to make him regret his decision to use his weapon rather than sending the Pet after Aue again.

The ball and chain swung a bit wide, Uvarovite not able to get the precision he wanted, but did manage to graze Aue's arm as it passed before arching back into Uvarovite's control.

HP: 16 // Damage: 8

Uvarovite's patience with the whole thing was wearing thin. He could tell how much pain Aue was in but the other man refused to stay down or give up. It was admirable but he knew there was only so much a body could take, magic or no. He also knew the sort of trouble he was likely to get in if he actually severely hurt Aue with Tourmaline watching.

She knew it was a fight, she knew them, but Aue was important to her.

"Pet ... put him on the ground but do not bite." If he could keep Aue from getting up, preferably without causing more injuries, perhaps the other man would see to giving up. Heeding it's masters orders the pet slithered over to the senshi, snarling as one large clawed hand crashed into Aue again, dragging the senshi to the dirt once more. The low hiss continued, teeth inches from the senshi's face as it waited for another order.

HP: 2/30 || DMG: 3

Aue felt staples tear and stitches give, his pants once again wet and slick and disgustingly warm with blood. At least, he hoped that was blood. Touching the fabric with his fingers made them come away stained pink, so he felt it was safe to assume that yes, once more, he was losing blood. <******** youma.

Speaking of, that b*****d wyrm was right up in his face, slamming him into the hard floor of the arena, scraping bare skin and cloth against it as it's weight pinned him, immobile so it could spray foam and spit over his face as it hissed fumes at him.

"You stink, you s**t worm."

This was it, he knew that this was to be a loss. He'd promised Kamacite he would go to the hospital and he would definitely need it. But he was also a Finn, he would not simply lie there and accept defeat. Teleporting out from under Pet's claws, Aue reappeared behind Uvarovite and lifted his leg so he could kick the older man square in the a**, letting out a grim, harsh ******** you and ******** your ******** worm!"

The use of the youma was cheap. Kamacite felt as though somehow there were rules being broken. As much as he’d wanted Aue to lose the first fight, he didn’t want him getting hurt in the process of losing the second.

Nor did he really want him to lose. Yes, he wanted him to remain unhurt, but in spite of the pain he was obviously giving this fight, and the last, everything he had.

There should have been more time between the fights. More time for them to heal and then move on to the next round. This was too rough on their bodies.

And the use of a youma just seemed like a cheap blow.

His heart was in his throat and on the edge of his seat as the youma attacked. He was tempted to stop recording so he could move to the ring, just as General Tourmaline seemed about ready to do.

While he hadn’t spoken to the other Captain, it was obvious that Aue and Tourmaline knew him well. She was even shouting at the youma to leave Aue alone. Kamacite knew it was only because Aue was getting injured more than he already was, but the way she was so protective of Aue rubbed him strangely. Kamacite didn’t like this strange emotion he was feeling. He wasn’t even entirely certain what it was. Was this what jealousy felt like? It made him feel sick and spoiled and childish and he hated it.

The Captain seemed to direct the youma more carefully after Tourmaline’s call, which Kamacite was both grateful for, and wondered how Aue felt about his opponent going easy on him. Surely he would want a fight that tested all of his abilities and strengths and challenged his weaknesses. But then again… if Tourmaline hadn’t told the other’s youma to stop… if the youma managed to bite just the right place… What if Aue...

Nothing will happen…

Kamacite swallowed back the nausea that churned in his stomach and clenched his jaw tightly shut, trying to keep his shaking hands as steady as possible as he recorded the last of the fight.

And then the match was called.

He knew Tourmaline would rush to the ring. Both of these men she knew. Both of them she cared very deeply for. That was obvious. Kamacite was also fairly certain he saw Faustite there as well.

There was no time to try and make it through the people trying to get out of the rows of seats. Aue had lost a lot of blood already. To the point where he would probably need a transfusion. Starseed healing be damned, Kamacite was fairly certain it didn’t replenish blood cell count.

Kamacite had had enough of this.

He teleported directly to the ring and closed the tablet back into his pen to store in subspace.

Just as Aue started to collapse.

Reaching out without thinking, and very similar to how he and Aue had trained when it came to being able to withstand weight, Kamacite used his shoulder to brace against Aue’s chest, one arm around his waist and his other hand used to push at Aue’s shoulder to keep him standing.

No, Kamacite was not okay. Yes, he absolutely felt like crying. His cheeks were blotchy with color and the strain of trying to hold himself together as he watched the match take place. But more importantly he knew that once the fight was over, Aue would go to the hospital. He’d said he would. He needed to go. He could barely stand.

Kamacite took hold of Aue’s good arm, and pulled it over his shoulders, not caring if he was making it uncomfortable for himself by having his stupidly long hair tugged.

Spectator

The tension cooled when a last blow was struck, and Aue succumbed. Faustite donned a frown like a familiar pair of shoes. By now, it felt comfortable to be disappointed. And as he looked on, as Kamacite wasted his energy to flicker by Aue's side, heedless of his own injuries, Faustite found more unfortunate wastes. You're a super senshi, not an energy dispensary.

Then Tourmaline accosted him, her eyes burdened with tears. Her voice rang raw with an urge to help dear friends more than comrades. She looked compromised, unbecoming of her rank, disturbingly real.

The most real of any general once faced since his conscription.

He looked to the floor immediately afterward, but he didn't need to — Tourmaline leapt up in a flurry and crested all obstacles to reach one of the fighters. She chose Uvarovite to bathe in needed attentions. Kamacite still held Aue. Her words knelled an order in his head, and more so they invited dangerous questions of their own. Are there friends in the Negaverse? Did any one of them retain enough humanity to form that kind of relationship anymore?

Faustite pushed himself from his chair, a deep breath expulsing smoke from his body. He crossed his radius of the room to see the pair in greater focus — cuts and stitches and newly-forming cauliflowers of bruising abound. Aue looked definitively the worse for wear with meager first aid alredy opening up over his body. Claret drenched the brights of his uniform. Faustite swallowed a blockage in his throat.

Against his better judgments — Tourmaline's orders, he reminded himself — he pulled the single starseed from his vest pocket. Hand out, he offered ot to Aue despite Kamacite's close proximity. "Don't end up like me." It was less a caution and more a chide spoken to the starseed itself, forbidding it from altering a comrade.

His last glance to Kamacite was a chilling contrast to his body heat. Are you going to help him or are you going to stand there and feel up his muscles?

HP: 0

Uvarovite might have been an older man, might have been using his personal youma as a sort of support to help make up for his age slowing him down or to help offset the injuries he'd taken from his first fight, but either way he'd managed to defeat Aue neatly. For a moment, the senshi cast his mind back to the tournament listings, trying to remember with whom his ally - for Uva could be said to be one by virtue of belonging to his packmate Tourmaline - had been paired with.

It came to him as he felt the barely-healed cartilage in his nose give way again: Moonstone The brutal one that worked so perfectly with her own paired youma. Was that why Uvarovite needed to have his? But no, it couldn't be - if Moonstone had brought out her Wasgo, there was no way he would have been facing Tourmaline's beau.

Pain blotted out further thought, arcing through his battered body as blood flowed rapid and heavy over philtrum, lips, and chin to further deepen the black of his fuku, to feed the hungry earth of the arena. If he tipped his head back slightly it went down his throat with cloying sweetness, enough to gag if swallowed. Aue spat, not liking the way the arena spun around him, the way Uvarovite's voice was slowed and muted. The way there were flickers of light and flecks of darkness dancing in his field of vision - Do not pass out here. the Finn admonished himself at nearly the same moment he staggered, knees buckling.

If not for Kamacite, he would have fallen to the ground. Instead, his packmate was forced to support nearly the entirety of his full weight on his slender frame. It hurt. Kamacite's shoulder was in the middle of his chest, sharp against his breastbone; there was nothing comfortable about standing there, but it was better than the shift of position, the stretch of bruised muscles and broken bone when the other corrupt slung his good arm about his shoulders. That was agony - it pulled at his torn stomach and forced a series of hissed words from between clenched teeth - Aue thought he might vomit, but manage to not disgrace himself further.

Faustite came into view - or scent. It was the scent that really did it, since the corrupt of lemons wasn't in the best shape to see people properly. He was - surprisingly - offering a starseed and giving Kamacite a look that Aue didn't have the ability, currently, to parse.

With his left arm he reached out to take the offered gem - it would help, a great deal. Would he even manage to make it to the hospital without eating it? At the same time, he didn't really want to eat another if he could avoid it. Logic rapidly prevailed, but before the Finn took the starseed, he touched Faustite's face with his bloody hand. "Thanks."

Starseed acquired, Aue looked at the glittering gem in his gory fingers, muttered "Olen pahoillani tästä.", and crunched down on the multifaceted shard of humanity. He felt, for a moment, that it had been a bad idea, that he would lose his, but then there was only the sweet rush of energy like the best high addicts talked about and relief spread through his body without a transformation from human.

It helped. He no longer felt like he was in immediate danger of dying. He didn't feel well enough to do more than nod to Aurostibite, or to cast a glance towards where Tourmaline was caring for Uvarovite. No, Aue was far more interested in taking the reprieve granted him by Faustite's offering and Kamacite's support and going where he needed to go: the emergency room.

"I am going to hospital as promised. Thank you again, Faustite." Leaning on Kamacite once more, Aue grumbled something at his packmate that might have been "Let's go." or might not have been, it was a bit garbled from the blood in his mouth.