Whumptober Day 18: Alt. Promt #3: Fever

Whumpay - Day 4

Main Challenge - Mad Science - Vivisection Mini Challenge 4 - Torture - Begging To Be Killed Original Work - The Sleeping Stones

(content warning - graphic violence)

The silvery light of the glowing noose illuminated the tears running down Ylen’s cheeks from below. He rushed to grab hold of the rope of light, and reeled back with burned hands.

“Alixor.” Ylen gasped. “Alix, what are you doing?”

“You did this.” Alixor sat down heavily in the dewy grass, panting and sweating as though he had just run miles. The spell had taken almost all of his energy. “You did this.” He gasped. “When you refused to help me.”

“What?”

Ylen fell to his hands and knees. His eyes were wide and stared into Alix’s face.

Alixor looked down to the ground, averting his eyes from Ylen’s stricken look.

“You refused to help me.” He said again, much quieter than before.

“Alix, I-”

Alixor pounded his fist into the wet grass. “You won’t help me!” He screamed. Alixor looked to Ylen again. Braved the terrified eyes. “You won’t help my people!”

A beat.

Ylen’s face softens.

But instead of looking scared, Ylen just looks sad.

“I will not kill for you. That is what you mean.”

Alixor shook his head. No, Ylen can not change this. Ylen is wrong.

Ylen continued, voice becoming stronger, the furrows of rage in his face becoming deep in the silver light shed by the noose around his neck.

“I will not use my power to kill.” Ylen said.

Alixor shook his head again, feeling tears pouring from his eyes. “You won’t help me.” He sobbed. “I need help.”

“I am not your weapon. I am your friend.”

“We are not friends. Not anymore.”

Ylen fell silent at this. With shaking hands, Alixor pulled out the rest of his supplies from his bag. When he set the ornate knife on the rock, it rang out softly against the stone. Ylen started and stared at the weapon. But he asked no more questions.

Ylen remained quiet as Alixor finished the spell and bound his hands and feet to the ground, spread-eagle.

Ylen said not a word when Alixor picked up the knife and crouched over Ylen’s body.

He only looked at Alixor. Studying him. Eyes shimmering with the light from the luminous ropes.

“I’m sorry.” Alixor sobbed.

“No.” Ylen smiled. “You are not.”

Alixor plunged the knife into Ylen’s belly and began to carve. Ylen screamed and struggled, but the shining ropes held him fast to the ground. Alixor’s vision was blurred by tears. He continued to cut and cut, laying Ylen’s body open to the air. Exposing every facet of the god’s existence. When Alixor finally found Ylen’s heart, the ground was soggy with blood.

The crimson organ beat wildly in the god’s chest, cradled in a nest of blood and bone and sinew. It was hot. Burning. It almost smoldered.

“Please.” Ylen wheezed.

Ylen had watched Alixor’s every move. Almost like he was committing this atrocity to a memory that would soon be gone.

Alixor wished Ylen would screw up his eyes and just scream. Rather than this. Rather than pleading with him. Anything but this.

“Please.” Ylen repeated. “Please kill me.”

Alixor set down his knife, now slippery with viscera.

“Please don’t use my power for this.”

Alixor had long ago run out of tears. He was feverish and thirsty at this point. Dizzy with the heat of Ylen’s burning body. Who would have thought a god of wildfire would boil on the inside? Alixor braced himself and reached for Ylen’s heart with his bare hand. He wasn’t thinking. He wasn’t lucid. The cold night spun about him and he gasped for breath.

The heart seared his flesh. Alixor cried out but did not let go. He pulled and tore and wrenched and ripped and twisted. The heart came free. Alixor slumped down on the ground, clutching at his scorched hand. The heart flopped onto the grass and continued to beat.

“Please.” Ylen continued to whisper.

Alixor sobbed, great heaving sobs that nearly choked him. He vomited bile. Then lay there for a long time trying to catch his breath.

“Please don’t use me to kill.”

Alixor, laying on his side, watched the heart continue to beat. It steamed in the cold night air. His hand throbbed. He had to do this. This was the only way. He had to save his people. This would give him the power to save everyone. Alixor reached for the heart again with his blistered hand.

“Please.”

Alixor’s mouth was scalded when he took the first bite of flesh. It hurt even more when he swallowed down the second. Agony bloomed in his stomach. He was on fire, from the inside out. Still, he ate.

Ylen watched him. “Please.”

Alixor kept eating.

WHUMPTOBER 2020

DAY 7 No 7. I’VE GOT YOU. Support - Hughie Campbell - The Boys

Hughie stumbles out of the van after it was rolled in a blast from a supe. It results in him getting impaled with a piece of metal, forcing Butcher and Annie to rush him to hospital.

@whumptober2020

Merry Whump of May 2024 Prompts

Event tags: #mwm2024 #themerrywhumpofmay #mwmday[X]

Thank you everyone for your patience in waiting for this post. We can't wait to see what you create this year! Have fun!

Image text under the cut-

Transcription:

ABOUT THE EVENT

The Merry Whump of May is an event run by @wormwriting and @painsandconfusion. There are 31 days of prompts to be completed each day of May. Feel free to do as much or as little as you’d like. 

Prompts can be filled in prose, poetry, art, or any other medium you resonate with. 

There will be participation and completionist medals in downloadable pdf format.

Prompts

01 - Breathless “Get back in there” | Ring box | Cliff

02 - Scorching “Don’t you dare.” | Glasses | Storage Shed

03 - Lost “See what happens.” | Screwdriver | Club

04  - Forgettable “Who are you?” | Lamp | Alleyway

05 - Strained “Put that down.” | Electrical wires | Plane

06 - Suspicious “You thought you could get away with this?” | Barbed wire | Riverside

07 - Fallen “Forget about them.” | Piano | Edge of town

08 - Pitch black “I’m fine.” | White-hot blade | Passenger seat

09 - Frostbitten “You’re nothing” | Blanket | Parking lot

10 - Jaded  “Revenge is a dish best served.” | Mask | Rooftop

11 - Numb “Pretty little thing.” | Bracelet | Stairwell

12- Known “Let me hear you.” | Garrotte | Desert

13 - Restless “Tell me how it feels.” | Needle | Trail

14 - Punchable “I just want you.” | Rock | Closet

15 - Stone-cold “Let me hold you.” | Candle | Cellar

16 - Naive  “Say aaaaa-” | Whip | Library

17 - Hungry “Wait, are you afraid of me?” | Fork | Lake

18 - Conditioned “Why do you love them?” | Record player | Ballroom

19 - Distracted “Rot in hell.” | Soup | crate

20 - Alone “Don’t tell me you forgot about me.” | Lipstick | Training grounds

21 - Charismatic “Sit.” | Vial | Balcony

22 - Charred “It’s been too long.” | Straps | Rafters

23 - Overthrown “Close your eyes.” | Rock | Truck

24 - Shadowed “Break a leg!” | Plants | Cave

25 - Practical “I’ve always loved the rain.” | Bottle | Shop

26 - Resilient “Get in.” | Pocket | Marsh

27 - Mistrusted “You’re trembling.” | Dagger | Couch

28 - Loyal “Smile.” | Water | Workshop

29 - Reflective “Chin up.” | Trap | Office

30 - Tenacious “Did you have a bad dream?” | Paper clip | Doorway

31 - Broken “Last one.” | Key | Under the bed

Alternate Prompts

Hidden

Waking

Betrayed

Garish

Garden

Theater

Docks

Street corner

“Lean on me.”

“I don’t have regrets.”

“Take me.”

Shoe

Ribbon

Corset

Crown

heroes s4e6 ‘strange attractors’

Mediwhump May - Stitches

(BBC Merlin)

@mediwhumpmay

Merlin didn’t know how long he had been hiding in the thorn bushes. The shouts of the bandits and their crunching footsteps in the snow had long died away. But he dared not move. He could not move. 

The deep wound in his thigh made it impossible.

Merlin shivered. The sun was going down.

The frigid, wet snow has soaked deeply into his clothes, contrasting with the hot and sticky blood oozing from his leg. Merlin sighed. Closed his eyes for only a moment. Just a moment. He was so tired.

So tired.

Snow had begun to fall again.

“Merlin!”

Merlin was shaken awake, thigh throbbing with fire. He gasped.

Bandits.

They were after him.

His eyes flew open and before he really saw anything, he sprang away from whatever had grabbed him. He struck out and tried to twist away from the grip on his arm.

“You idiot! Stop it!”

Merlin stopped. The voice was familiar. His vision cleared and Arthur’s face swam into view, cheeks pink with cold.

“What are you doing here?” Arthur’s voice was entirely too loud. The bandits would hear. They would find them. And Merlin was too tired to protect Arthur.

Merlin opened his mouth to warn Arthur.

Prince Arthur stuck his torch upright in the ground and began to haul his manservant to his feet, dusting snow from his clothes. “We have been looking for you for hours. What are you doing napping in a bush? In the snow?”

As soon as Arthur let go, Merlin crumpled, pain flaring in his leg. He gasped as he hit the ground. 

“What is wrong with you now?”

“Leg.” Merlin whispered. 

Arthur didn’t try to pick him up this time but instead brought the torch closer to examine Merlin’s leg.

“You’re hurt.” A rough gloved hand probed the wound.

Merlin jumped and cried out. “Yes.” He panted. “Bandits… attacked me while I was-”

“Gathering herbs for Gaius.” Arthur finished, removing his hand quickly. “I know, he asked us to look for you when you didn’t come back. This is still bleeding, Merlin, we should- What should we do?”

Merlin saw Arthur looking at him for help, eyes wide, face white. Arthur was scared. Arthur didn’t know what to do.

Merlin swallowed and nodded, trying to focus. What would Gaius do?”

“I’m cold and-”

Before Merlin had finished speaking, Arthur had taken off his cloak and wrapped it around Merlin’s body.

Merlin smiled a little at the warmth and closed his eyes. 

“And?” Arthur prodded him. “What else?”

Merlin opened his eyes again. “The wound, I need to look at it. Either bind it or sew it. Got to… got to clean it.”

“Can’t I just get you back to Gaius?” Arthur frowned. “He can fix you up.”

“No.” Merlin shook his head, the world spinning a little. “No, it’s still bleeding. I might not get back in time.”

“In time for what?”

Merlin gave Arthur a look. 

Arthur met his gaze then nodded. “Right, yes, dying. Sorry.”

“Obviously.” Merlin sighed. He thought a moment more. “Can you start a fire?”

“It’ll be difficult with the snow.”

“I know.”

“I’ll do it.” Arthur got up. “I’ll get kindling. Don’t die while I’m gone.”

Merlin huffed out a laugh. “I’ll try.” He tried to put pressure on the wound and winced in pain.

Merlin drifted a little. Arthur came back pretty quickly and using the flint that Merlin carried in his bag, started a little campfire. Merlin finally began to warm, the feeling returning to his fingers and toes.

“Better?” Arthur asked, finally sitting down nearby.

Merlin nodded.

Arthur leaned forward. “Now what?”

Merlin swallowed hard. “I need to look at the wound, close to the light of the fire.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur stood up again and helped Merlin slide closer to the fire. 

“Thanks.” Merlin grunted and looked down at the slit in his pant-leg, dark with blood. “Do you have a knife so I could-”

Arthur leaned forward and just ripped the pant-leg open, revealing Merlin’s thigh and the ugly, oozing wound.

Merlin sighed. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.” Arthur looked at the wound. “That looks bad, Merlin.” His voice had become tight.

“I know.” Merlin opened his bag and began to dig around. “I think-... I think I have to suture it.”

“Like sewing? What are you going to use for needle and thread out here, idiot? I should have taken you to Gaius.”

Merlin held up his small sewing pouch under Arthur’s nose.

“What’s this?”

“My sewing kit.” Merlin smirked a little.

“You carry a sewing kit everywhere you go? You are such a girl, Merlin.”

“A prepared girl.”

“You have me there.” Arthur admitted. 

Merlin unrolled the pouch and pulled out the roll of gut and a curved, sharpened fish bone. His trusty needle. He’d made it last summer and was rather proud of it.

Merlin prepared the needle and thread and sat up against his bag and Arthur’s rolled up cloak. This was the best view he was going to get of the wound. Merlin raised the needle.

“Wait, wait.” Arthur stopped him.

“What?”

Arthur gestured towards the wound. “Is that it? You’re not going to clean it? Or take something for the pain?”

Merlin frowned. “Arthur, Prince Dolt, we are in the middle of nowhere. There’s nothing to clean it with. And I have no herbs for pain, nor any way to prepare them. My main concern is just not to lose enough blood that I die. So I will suture this. Bind it. And then we can get back to Gaius for the other things. Understand?”

Arthur had gone a little pale, but nodded. 

Merlin took a breath and began to sew.

The first suture was awful. The second was worse. 

Well, they were very neat. Gaius would be proud. But they hurt so much on top of the fiery pain of the sword wound. 

The third made sweat bead on Merlin’s forehead and upper lip. The fourth had him panting.

In the middle of the fifth, Arthur asked. “Does it hurt?”

Merlin didn’t take his eyes off his work and couldn’t really form words. He had just enough energy to grunt.

“Right, sorry.” Arthur kept quiet after that.

The sixth made the blood drain from Merlin’s face. He stopped counting after that. Or he lost count.

He tied off the last suture and cut the gut. Arthur pressed some strips of cloth into his hands and Merlin managed to bandage the wound, tying it with numb and blood-stained fingers. 

His whole leg throbbed. The forest spun around him. Merlin closed his eyes. 

A strong arm wrapped around his shoulders and the other supported his knees. He floated away.

—Why is his pain so slutty?

Charlie Hunnam and Tom Hiddleston in Crimson Peak

Toshiro Mifune as Detective Murakami in Stray Dog (1949) dir. Akira Kurosawa

Whumptober 2023

Day 30: Bridal Carry

Merlin 4x02

@whumptober @whumptober-archive