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contrastparadoxx · 9 months

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Wings of Fire

Summary- Apollo gets in a sticky situation and has to get rescued Cast- Apollo Faurux, Fether Khikwi, Chowow Sonshi ( @trollcafe ) Trigger Warnings- Violence Word Count- 1774

The noise was deafening. His ears had become so much more sensitive, and the sound of an entire crowd yelling and cheering and booing crashed around him, even with the muffling of doors being closed. The scents surrounding him too… Everything was Too Much and it was Bad. He couldn’t see anything, however, as everything was pitch black. Why was it black? He tried to move and instantly bumped into a wall. Okay then, maybe another direction.

It didn’t take long to realize he was in an entirely enclosed box. That’s when the panic and fear really started to set in, even before the entire thing started to move.

——————

Fether Khikwi hated fight nights. Especially when they actually took place during the day, specifically so escapees had nowhere to go without burning. But they were a regular part of his life, and had been for most of his life, really. And there was some enjoyment in it, when he could outsmart someone, outfly them. Well, maybe not the later anymore. Ever since he almost pulled off an escape, they were sure to keep his feathers trimmed. He could use them to stay out of the hungry jaws of half mad shifters and starved Lusii, but not get any further.

Tonight promised some fresh blood, too. That was to be expected, since the watchers could only witness the champions beat each other up so many times before they stopped being willing to give money, after all. It was easy to pick out the newbies. Fether wondered how many would die, or if any would find themselves capable of surviving multiple rounds. Maybe they’d even see the birth of a new champion tonight. He snorted, as that certainly wasn’t likely, then leaned his head back against the wall. He might as well close his eyes and try to relax between now and go time. You get used to the sounds of the crowd eventually, after all.

All too soon, he was roughly yanked to his feet, his small stature making it all too easy for the large purple to jerk him around. It was whatever-- Fether had learned long ago it was easiest to relax and let them think they were being a bully. It saved more energy for the actual fight. Speaking of which, he was shoved into the arena from about the height of the stands. Practice kicked in, and the rust snapped his wings open, shortened feathers requiring him to flap hard to avoid the snapping jaw of what looked like a marred tiger mixed with some sort of giant insect. What were the ones with all the legs called? Centipedes, that was it. Instantly, everything below was in a bit of a frenzy. That was his job, wasn’t it? Rile everything up enough to put on an entertaining show, then get rescued back to the back for the next one.

And if he failed, got too low, well… simply being there wasn’t the only thing that would whip the fighters into a frenzy. He felt a phantom pain in his leg from the last time he messed up.

Everyone here was familiar, a mix of shifters far past remembering they were trolls, and a couple Lusii. They were all smaller fighters, as the champions would be pit more one-on-one later. The mutant scanned the group, already climbing over each other to get to him, to stop the breeze from his beating wings, to get to the morsel painted in sticky blood- a cruel facsimile of the almost protective paint of a proper clown. He knew it angered some in the crowd, to see mocked what they viewed as sacred, but the ones who ran this show seemed to enjoy that almost as much as the money that poured in.

Movement came from the lower wall. One of the reinforced doors slid open just enough to shove something new into the ring. A fox, with the most beautiful golden fur that Fether had ever seen. A shifter, then, rather than a Lusus, and one that was obviously well loved, either by themselves or someone else, as their fur was full and healthy. He was almost surprised to see them dropped in here to be torn apart, rather than sold to the highest bidder for a ruff. Mistakes were made, then, when the two made eye contact. Fuck, they were definitely still mentally here, and terrified. Fether cussed under her breath, before taking a deep breath and diving.

——————

The sound got so much louder, as he was shoved out of the box and into a brightly lit arena, only now with the snarling of angry creatures mixed in. Apollo instantly froze, cowering as small as he could manage, scanning rapidly as he attempted to figure out what was going on here. It was some sort of ring, filled with animals, shifters maybe? Maybe that’s why he was here. But oh! Someone above, a troll with wings, locked eyes with him for just a moment. Then the other started to dive.

Apollo started to move, his fur quickly picking up blood soaked sand in it, and didn’t look back. He stuck to the edges of the ring, ears pinned back. CRUNCH! The noise caused him to glance back just in time to see the winged troll drive his foot into the rib cage of a malnourished bear that otherwise would have just sunk its teeth into his tail. The pyrite’s fur bristled as the troll landed in an impressive roll, even taking their wings into account, then bounced up to his feet and started running. He could more see than hear what was being implied, go go go go, no need to tell him twice, so he started running again. The troll caught up, more used to running in sediment, and scooped him up. He could feel the other struggling with his weight, and avoided struggling to make it easier, instead watching as the pack was temporarily distracted by tearing the poor bear from earlier to pieces, now that it was down.

Terror settled in him so deeply that even he felt cold.

——————

The fox was… warm to the touch. Almost hot, really, certainly warmer than Fether himself, which was surprising, since he was a rust. Must be some sort of mutant. There was no time to dwell on that right now-- he managed to balance carrying the creature with his hip and one arm so he could use the other to reach and pluck one of his full length feathers. This was much harder to do with just one hand, and he had not expected to implement this plan tonight, but sometimes life gives you lemons.

Or, in this case, shifters whose lives you could save, if only you can pull this off.

After twisting it a very specific way, Fether brought the feather up to his lips, and blew. The sound was nearly inaudible, even if you ignored the screaming of the crowd, though the fox winced. Sorry bud, this was a vital part of the plan. And sure enough, several of the fighters reacted, immediately getting whipped up into even more of a frenzy. It was an unfortunate side effect, but the way the guards immediately began checking their Walkies talkies and taking off told him the other half was in play. Good-- they would need the distraction.

He had never been able to test this previously-- that would have been far too dangerous-- so they had only one shot at getting out. He booked it to the one part of the fence that no longer had people around it. The fox needed to be dropped, since he had to have both hands for this. Hopefully they will understand and stick close. Khikwi held his wings tightly to his back as he got to work on jiggling the fencing, knowing it was loose in this area, so if he had just a few minutes he could get it open enough to at least shove the newbie through. Sweat soon started to drip, as he felt an intense heat from behind him. With no time to look, he had to just move and hope it wasn’t some new threat.

——————

Some of the weaker creatures that were shoved out of the way of the bear had turned their attention back to the two, and the whistle had drawn even more attention. Apollo felt that they were trapped, though for some reason he trusted the winged mutant. Even he could see that they needed time, though, so he did the only thing he could think of and stepped towards the approaching enemies.

He snarled, fur rippling all down his back, as fire started to curl out of his mouth. More flames danced down his spine, following the line of fur before gathering and splitting at the base, manifesting as extra tails, and the sand around his paws started to almost glow from the heat the flames left as he stepped forward. Everything headed their way hesitated, unsure how to deal with this new threat. Good-- that’s all he needed, he thought-- that’s right, focus on him, let his impromptu partner in crime do whatever it was he was doing.

Hopefully quickly.

——————

Fether barely had time to get the fence open enough to possibly drag himself though when a strange blue with a cybernetic arm grabbed his own. Cold fear drove straight through the rust’s heart, but it was replaced by shock when instead of getting shoved back down, he was almost effortlessly pulled up and through. His wings caught on the fence, but after a bit of tugging, and losing some feathers, he was through. Instantly he turned, only then seeing the fire on the fox. The blue said something, a name, and the shifter instantly was put out, turning and leaping, getting pulled through as well. The fence got shoved back in place just in time for the tiger bug from before to slam into it with a snarl.

Fether’s chest was heaving. What was going on, who was this, his mind raced, but the adrenaline hit again instead. No time, no time, they had to go go go go! The blue took a moment to remove the collar from the fox that prevented him from shifting, then insisted they should follow. And… he did. He had nowhere else to go, and confidence tended to have a lot of strength in these situations. He didn’t catch everything said as they moved, but something about safety, and not going back, and the blue would take care of it. And for some reason…

Fether believed him.

(Pictured, Fether Khikwi, post freedom, as drawn by @memurfevur )

#My Writing #Apollo Teusin #Fether Khiwi

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