Yamina:

When I was finally able to get control of myself, and turn myself around, I was hundreds of feet down river away from the battle. My heart pounding and my eyes streaming for an entirely new reason now, I couldn’t even see the two of them, I started channeling my mana to heal Bill, praying I could save him from death, and nothing happened. I flew my wings buzzing and my breath coming fast. I flew up and towards where the roars and howling. First, I saw the spears brown wooden shaft straight up and down. As I got closer the grass pulled back and I could the shaft ended in a bloody mess, pinning the Badgerbear to the ground. It was still roaring and howling, making my ears hurt, and swiping as Bill pounded on it, his every muscle tense beating on its head with his wooden sword, held backwards, using the quillons as hammer. The noise hurting my ears wasn’t just the Badgerbear, Bill roaring his rage back at the beast, his mouth open wide, his face covered in sweat and blood, his eyes both angry, scary and somehow empty of.. Bill.. this angry bill shaped hulk was flaming his fury at the world. Casting darts with one hand into a paw pinning it down for a moment, and then pounding again. Pure rage, His body moving and yet somehow Bill wasn’t there. It sent shivers down my back and raised goosepimples in waves up and down my arms and legs. My only friends body was there, but -he- wasn’t.

The Badgerbear, knocked the sword out of his hands with one backhanded swipe of its massive muddy paw. With a quick reverse of its paw, the next swipe pulled Bill. I saw a flicker of magic, then Bill was lost beneath the monster’s massive shaggy head and claws. Sobs were torn out of my chest, each one hitting like a fist in my gut, my heart breaking. Knowing I was alone and the massive angry beast was coming for me next. I refused to give up, gritted my teeth to hold in the sobs, as I flew towards my friend. The bears massive form bear slumped on top of where Bill disappeared, and stilled. Something pointed wet and slivery red sticking out of the top of its skull.

As I flew up towards the two still corpses, one of them turned its head slowly and looked at me ferocious fury aflame in its eyes, and it wasn’t the Badgerbear. Bill, his blood streaked half naked torso in the Badgerbear's mouth, one shiny and bloodstained arm deliberately shoved down its gullet, clawing deep in its throat, something clutched in its other gory fist. His insane grin, teeth red with blood and fur, was wild enough to make the Clown Prince of Criminality look mild and sane. His other hand was holding the piece of meteorite, its bloody and silver form stretched and pulled like taffy into a shape like an Icicle at one end. The fat end protruded from Bills dripping fist. The other disappeared into the wreck of gore and hair that was the Badgerbear's previously good eye. An eye that was maybe a foot from Bills own. Blood and thick clear goop leaking along the silver shaft and onto Bills gory hand. The meteor spike continued up out the top of the beasts head its’ tip covered in a mess of blood brains and hair. Bills hand still moved, still pulling back, twisting and sliding it back in and around for all it’s worth, seeking another target deep inside the badger bears skull, seeking even more blood. Coming out of the top of Badgerbear's skull one more time, then he slowed and finally stopped… The iron hard tension of his blood spattered and ripped muscles slowly returning to something natural, and loosening into formlessness.

Bill’s body went limp, still in the Badgerbears mouth, its two massive canine fangs on the near side still plunged deep in his torso which welled with blood oozing slowly around them between the faster pulses of blood.

Bills status bars returned to their regular color, and I watched them fall quickly, plummeting faster than I could channel my magic, I poured everything I had into him, magic will and heart. So much I tumbled from the sky next to him. I watch my hands frantically trying to pry the jaws off of my only friend, smearing the blood. I found myself screaming in to the quiet places in my mind “MOMMA HELP!!!”.

[Honey, you have all, you need, what do you want me to do?]

[But he’s dying, his blood is pouring out, I can’t stop it fast enough, If he dies I’ll be here all alone until I can get back to the grove. I’m scared. I don’t want to be alone! I can’t be here alone! I just can’t]

[“Then don’t let him die, you have everything you need to save him, but you have to do it, I can’t do it for you”]

[“MOMMMMAAAAA!!”] even my mental voice was coming out in sobs now, my control faltering.

[“I have to go dear, it’s all in your hands, I believe in you, You’re the apple of my eye. I’d never wash my hands of you. Let me know how it all turns out, bye baby. You need to be strong, for both of you.”]

My mana runs out, and Bill is still bleeding the blood coming now in sluggish spurts. My breath coming faster than I can imagine, I grab a double fist full of his nose hairs, twisting them like ropes about my hands. They are the most sensitive thing I can reach, and I yank them out, feeling each on rip in turn from him. Yelling with every bit of breath I have left, “BILL WAKE UP, YOU NEED TO EAT AN APPLE!” his head jerks and one eye open blearily. His nearly limp hand drops off the iron icicle, and gestures feebly. An apple appears in his hand, and rolls out of it limply onto the ground. Bills head falls back his mouth open wide it too full of blood and bits of fur, as if he’d been biting the bear instead of the other way around. There is no way I can pick up that apple. Either he eats it, or I’m .. he.. he leaves me here, my breath start coming out fast again, my head spinning. It’s 20 times my size even at my biggest, and as tall as my biggest. What else can I do. I flash to the river as pounding my wings like my heart, as fast as I can. Dunking myself in the river, soaking my dress, filling my hands and my mouth with water. I Fly back watching the water slosh in my hand as it drains away, I reach his lips and drip a few drops out of my hands into his mouth, spit the water from my mouth into his, making a face of utter revulsion. My shaking hands pull off my dress and struggle to ring it out into his mouth. All of me shaking I redress, and shakily fly back for more, I spot an acorn cap and pick it up, its texture rough in my hands, hoping to bring a few more precious drops next time. Drops that may be the difference between life and death for my only friend.

When I fly heavily, weakly back, he’s still alive. His bright read health bar still ticking down from a bleed effect. Thankfully more slowly, blood coming from where the shining massive teeth pierce his torso sluggishly, but no longer pulsing. I empty the cup into his mouth, do my momma bird impersonation, dripping water into him, and my shaking hands pull off and struggle to wring out my dress a second time.

A bit of blue catches my eyes and I look, my mana has ticked up enough, for one blast of healing, I pour a few measly drops of health into him, and it’s empty again. I erratically fly to the river, drifting back and forth, wishing I had a bigger bucket to carry water in.

On my third trip, the bleed effects seem to have stopped, he’s low, so low I can’t tell if it’s 1 hp or 3, but it’s not dropping. Drunkenly, my whole body shaking now, I dump my acorn top of water. I shoot the few wet drops of water between my lips and into his. I just stand on his check dripping and crying, ugly crying my whole body a shaking wreck. I feel my foot begin to slide…and I drop to my knees with a squelch where I’d been dripping at the end of each trip.

His heath bar ticks, up, only 1 hp, but it’s moving up.

Bill:

I wake up and find myself in less than an optimal position. My chest is afire, burning with each shallow breath. I’m half in and half out of a Badgerbears mouth. One half shredded arm shoved literally down it’s throat, and covered with both of our blood. Above my other, gory hand, is a meteorite stretched like taffy into a spike going into the bears eye socket. Above me through the gore and fur, Is the smeared shaft coming out of one of the beast’s destroyed eyes. Blood and gunk from the beast’s eye is dribbling down to fall off of the fat end of the silver spike. It also covers my arm from my hand to my elbow, everything is dripping deep red blood and a thick clear goop. It’s dripping off in fat gloopy drops. Something wet is on my face and moving. My head swimming and my eyes unable to sit still on just one thing, I pray it’s not a maggot. My mind isn’t right, I’m getting snaps of images here and there. No continuity. I realize whatever is on my face, it’s crying. My other hand is on the dirt, an apple a few inches away. What a strange place for an apple to be. We were in an oak tree last thing I remembered.

“Yamina is that you?’ I whisper. Whatever it is, it looks like a big wet booger in the corner of my eye. Why does my mouth taste like I bit the other end of the bastard, right under his tail? I can feel the fur with my tongue and lips.

My ears stop hearing the sobbing, Yamina stopped crying, where ever she is.

Yamina:

I pull deep breaths into my lungs, trying to focus myself. “Bill I Need you to take a bite of that apple! I need to you eat the whole thing!”

The tiniest thread of a sound comes out of his slowly moving lips. “My mouth tastes like ass, wet ass, and something else, Did I throw up in my own mouth?” Bill whispers. His lips barely moving, he continues. “Why does the inside of my nose hurt, how did this fucker bite me there?” his words hissed barely better than breathing

I stomped my foot next to his nose and shouted my body shaking this time with hot fury. “IF YOU DON’T EAT THAT APPLE RIGHT NOW, I’LL CUT YOUR DAMN NOSE OFF!!!”

Bill leaned his head back down, and fumbled for the apple, and took a bite. More scraping his teeth against it and getting some juice before falling back the apple clutched in his hand.

Bills eyes are rolling less, focused a bit more, his voice now, a stronger whisper.

Bill’s heath bar and mana bars ticked up again, but even more slowly. The bleed effects were cancelled, but he still had 2 giant gory fangs running right through his chest.

He fumbled for the apple again, taking a bigger bite,

Bill whispers, “God, that’s a cheesy hack”, and with a clumsy twist of his hand, summons a Second apple from his inventory, taking a good-sized bite out of it, its’ clear juice running down his gory chin.

I tried to make my shaking voice sound clear and serious. I don’t think I succeed, but I got out “Bill I’m going to need you to keep eating bites those apples, I can’t get this thing off you. All I can think is for you to put the bear into your inventory once you’re at enough health. I’m afraid you’ll start bleeding again. Washing you with water from the river stopped the bleeds, before, but it took me 3 trips to drip enough water on you.”

Bill’s free hand slowly reached out and drug over a piece of the Badgerbears skull, blood on the inside, and hair and mud on the outside. It had broken off when the meteor came out the top of the great beasts skull, weak bloody fingers dragging it over by him, and fumbled then, flipped it concave side up.

“Can you carry that?” he whispered

My breath was getting steadier, my heart ceasing to try to pound out of my chest. , as I realized he might make it. “No It’s way too big, I have this acorn cap though, I can carry it.”

“You keep flying acorn loads till that’s’ full, I’ll wait till then…to put him in my inventory, then we’ll walk over to the river together…and l‘ll fall in. No shitting, I promise. Wait, I didn’t shit myself when I was out did I?”

“No extra speedo bulges in the back I promise” laughed Yamina quietly. Still sounding close to tears.

“Fill that bowl up for me then, and I’ll bathe from the skull of my enemy” Bill picked up the skull fragment, and perched it atop the muzzle of the Badgerbear. “This way when I inventory it, it’ll bathe me automatically. I’ll wrap my hand about it just in case.

Yamina ferried water, and when they had mana they healed Bill, gradually getting him up to half health.

When the skull fragment was brimming, and Yamina’s Acorn cap was full, Bill summoned the Badgerbear into his inventory. It went teeth, meteorite and all.

Bill more dropped than poured the water into his wounds, as blood began to pulse out of them again. His health bar dropping like a stone.

The bleeding stopped, but the holes were still gaping in his side, a few more apples down and they half closed and scabbed over. Bill started crawling through the tall dry grass back to the river. The crawling was tearing his wounds open again, but the bleeding this time was slow steady, not the pulsing beat from before. He stopped when they were almost there. Yamina had to start yelling at him and pulling his hair, but he started crawling again. When they’d crawled to the river, good to his word, Bill rolled in, and onto his back, floating. Yamina landing on his chest, and with her acorn top, splashing water into the wounds. As they floated down river. The bleeding effects stopped, but Bills health stopped at half full. The wounds in his chest healing visibly but slowly as they floated down river, Bill exhausted and barely able to move, Yamina trying to splash water into every wound frantically.