'Attachment' AU (MATT)

Part 3

With Mictlan

The wind roared in his ears as he plummeted through the sky, the weightlessness of freefall twisting his stomach in a way he despised. His body, once revered as an indomitable force of war, now spiraled helplessly toward an unknown fate.

Then—impact.

A crushing force slammed into his back, branches snapping beneath his weight as he crashed into the dense embrace of a massive bush. Sharp twigs jabbed at his skin like mocking needles, as if the very land sought to punish his intrusion. Mictlan groaned, pushing himself up with a wince. His entire body ached from the landing, but pain was nothing new to him. He had endured worse.

He had died.

And yet, he still lived.

His mind burned with rage. He shouldn’t be here. He should be ruling, conquering, standing atop the corpses of his enemies as they begged for mercy. But fate had played a cruel joke, casting him down after his victory. He had slaughtered Maya, that insufferable princess, and the other fools who dared oppose him. There was no way they had survived their battle. No one had.

So why was he the only one left to suffer?

"When I get back up there..." he snarled, clenching his fists until his nails dug into his palms.

But his fury was interrupted. A heavy crack rang out, and his gaze snapped downward just in time to see a massive tree collapse in front of him. His brow furrowed. Something wasn’t right. The tree wasn’t just falling—it was melting, its bark sizzling and dissolving into a foul-smelling sludge.

His eyes widened in dawning realization.

The rain.

Mictlan's breath hitched as he scanned the landscape. The water—if it could even be called that—was eating through everything it touched, reducing the once-thriving forest into a wasteland of withered trunks and blackened soil. The ground hissed where it was exposed, the sickly fumes curling into the already gray sky.

"Tch!" Without another thought, he scrambled out of the bush, dodging between dissolving trees, searching frantically for shelter. But there was nothing—just more trees, each one melting into uselessness.

Then, he saw it.

A makeshift shelter, a structure formed from the dense interwoven roots of a towering tree. It resembled a tent, a crude yet sturdy sanctuary against the acid rain. Without hesitation, he darted inside, pressing his back against the twisted wood as he turned to watch the relentless downpour outside.

"This is ridiculous!" he growled, his pride flaring. "I'm the God of war! I shouldn't be worried about some rain!"

And yet, the scene before him told another story.

Now that he had a moment to think, something about this place unsettled him. The proportions were off. The trees were taller than he remembered, the landscape vast in a way that made him feel smaller than he liked. Even the shelter itself—it seemed tailored to his height or smaller, which meant someone else had been here before.

His eyes narrowed.

This wasn't the world he knew. It resembled the mortal realm, but the dangers here were far more unpredictable. A realm he had never encountered before.

As the acid rain continued its merciless destruction, the hissing and sizzling sounds echoing around him, Mictlan felt something stir in his gut—something he despised more than anything.

Weakness.

He had spent his existence being feared, bending others to his will with sheer power. But now, standing here, in a foreign land where even the rain sought to strip him of his strength, he found himself facing a new and unsettling reality.

Here, he was no longer the hunter.

Here, he was the hunted.

With Soar

Thoughts tumbled through her mind like echoes in an empty hall, each one clawing for dominance before fading into silence. She exhaled slowly, watching the rain taper off. The storm was finally dying, its relentless assault easing into a weak drizzle.

That meant he might return soon.

She frowned at the thought, gripping the stone wall of the cave she had taken refuge in. It wasn’t often she considered someone an ally—especially not in a place like this. But Ike was different. He was one of the few who could withstand the acid rain, his strange physiology rendering him immune to its corrosive touch. Unlike her, he could move freely, unaffected by the world’s cruelty.

That defectiveness—the thing that had gotten them both cast out—had become his strength.

Ike…

Her mind conjured his image with ease.

He was a lithe, bipedal creature, his form reminiscent of a kangaroo but sleeker, more agile. His long ears twitched at the slightest sound, their tips adorned with vibrant hues of red, orange, and yellow, like embers frozen in time. Intricate, colorful armored plates covered the front of his legs, leading down to razor-sharp claws that could slice through flesh and bone with ease.

Spines protruded from his forehead and along his back, jagged and untamed, like remnants of a once-majestic crown. His body was speckled with delicate deer-like markings, their patterns a stark contrast to his otherwise fearsome appearance. The thick tufts of fur on his chest, head, and the tip of his tail that didn't seem to match his usually jumpy demeanor.

She had met him decades ago. Back when she still clung to the illusion that she could belong somewhere.

Now, they were both outcasts, left to wander this forsaken land with no purpose but survival. Her gaze drifted toward the dissolving remains of the forest, the skeletal trees standing as monuments to this realm’s cruelty.

If Ike was still out there, he would return soon.

And if he didn’t…

She would find him herself.