Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 7 ~ Part 1||

Get her on her side!" Tokoyami shouted.

Shouto clenched his teeth and rolled off of Yaoyorozu. Everything within him hurt, and he was acutely aware that his vision had become one-sided. Even with his eyelid squeezed tightly shut, the pain on his left side was overwhelming. It made him feel sick. He pushed Yaoyorozu onto her side, trying to ignore the burning in his head that was steadily growing as though his eye was melting out of its socket.

Tokoyami scrambled across the wood plank. "Yaoyorozu, stay with us!"

His voice trembled as he clasped her shaking hands between his. Blood on his palms dyed her fingers a watery copper.

Yaoyorozu twitched and then heaved, her body rejecting the water in her lungs.

"She's not waking up!" Tokoyami said, looking up sharply.

Shouto felt something within him twist viciously. It must be an effect from using Endeavor as a mortal.

"We need to get her to a doctor." Shouto leaned back over her. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tokoyami stiffen. Shouto ignored him as he shakingly pushed tendrils of inky black hair out of her face. She was deathly pale, and her skin felt cold to the touch.

Shouto swallowed over a tight throat. His hands were trembling uncontrollably. He laid his left palm as gently as he could between Yaoyorozu's shoulder blades, but the usual sensation of magic rippling through him was gone. It felt like his insides had been flayed.

"Fuck," he said, pulling his hand away.

A splashing to his left drew his attention. Shouto slowly turned his head to keep from blacking out. In the water was a beautiful young woman with long, thick black hair and large dark eyes that seemed to take up her entire face. A nereid. Shouto stared at the woman as she approached the raft.

"Aizawa," the nereid said, grabbing onto the side of the wood and pushing Endeavor onto the plank. "Aizawa can help."

Shouto gave a short nod, instinctually pulling the blade back to his side. "Where? Take us to him."

"On the island of Aretias. It's close. I'll - "

"No! We can't!"

Shouto tilted his head back to stare at Tokoyami. The demigod's bird-slit eyes were wide and terrified. He looked as sick as Shouto felt. "That's the isle of stymphalians. It's a place of immense darkness. We can't go there. Not like this. The stymphalians will tear us apart with their bronze beaks."

Shouto's jaw tightened. "Then we'll break those beaks."

He didn't have the mental resources left for a debate. The searing pain in his head was overwhelming. If it wasn't for the curse making him so worried for Yaoyorozu he was sure that he would have passed out already. "I'll freeze them, or burn them, or cut them to shreds. It doesn't really matter," Shouto said coldly.

Tokoyami's eyes hardened and he straightened.

"We cannot walk in there thinking we will come out unscathed," he said slowly. His blood stained hand, not applying pressure to his wound, curled into a fist on his knee. "Hercules killed most of them, but the remaining flock migrated to Aretias. They are vicious and cruel. Not an easy foe to defeat even on one's best day. And, as you can't see out of your left eye and I can't pretend I am in better shape, we will be at a disadvantage. The stymphalians are led by eight creatures known as the Teppodama Hassaishu, and they are said to be cruel and ruthless with powers of their own. We must choose our path wisely."

Shouto stared at him, cold fury rolling through him

"I didn't realize you were such a coward," he hissed.

Tokoyami stiffened, and his eyes widened as though he had been punched in the gut. Shouto paused as guilt immediately struck him. He swallowed over a thick lump in his throat. As much as Shouto didn't care for the demigod, it was unfair of him to accuse Tokoyami of being a coward, especially when he was only speaking the truth. Shouto's chest tightened. He opened his mouth to say something - he didn't know what - but the nereid cut him off.

"Aretias is the closest island, and Aizawa is a skilled doctor. He can definitely help. And the stymphalians only come out after dusk. We should be fine, but we need to move quickly. Kero."

Tokoyami didn't say anything.

Shouto shifted and pulled Yaoyorozu closer to keep her warm as the plank teetered. He hadn't realized she was so skinny. He could feel the bones of her spine curve under her wet chiton. The war hadn't spared the temple priestess. Tokoyami was probably in no better shape. The only reason the raft hadn't capsized already was that, combined, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu probably weighed as much as Shouto.

His lips thinned. Once they got out of this, he'd make sure she never went hungry again. For now, they needed to get to the nearest doctor. Shouto looked up and met the nereid's gaze.

"We don't have time to discuss. Take us there."

She nodded. Her gaze hovered over the left side of his face a fraction of a second too long before she turned and grabbed the rope attached to the raft.

A cold shiver ran up Shouto's spine, but he pushed the sense of unease to the back of his mind.

There was no turning back now.