Silver Knives and Blackened Petals (Hiatus)

Chapter 25: Immunity

"Interesting..." a soft voice whispered. "One to be immune to such plague? Interesting indeed..." It spoke again, a shuffling in the distance with a clank of glasses. "May we take some of his bl-" The voice was cut off promptly with a much stronger, deeper voice.

"You will not touch him, you will not hurt him... If you ever so get close with a needle I'll shove it in your very own throat!" The voice growled.

"What about the forest? If it dies then the world dies..." The voice muttered softly.

"I'll take my chances..." The deeper voiced growled. All Charles could see was darkness. Until he got picked up.

"Charles!" Bill shook him awake, his voiced rang in the distance, slowly coming back to normal. "Wake up son, stay with me!" He shook Charles again, slapping his cheek softly. "Stay with me boy!" He looked down at Charles chest. It bled a normal red, the purple corruption fading slowly. "Oh thank god..." He signed. Covering Charles wounds with his shirt. "Toriel!" He yelled out loudly. She opened the door, seeing Charles on the ground and ran toward them.

"What happened?" She asked quickly.

"The beast hit Charles" Bill said bluntly. "Go get some bandages, he's bleeding badly" Bill commanded as Toriel quickly ran into the cottage. Within a couple of minutes she came back out with a medkit and a lot of gauze. Kneeling beside Charles and started to clean up Charles' wounds.

"How did he get cut?" Toriel asked, slightly frightened.

"By the tree branches" Bill lied to her. Wrapping Charles' wounds up, slowly picking Charles up and brings him inside. "Tristan lost control faster than before" He laid Charles onto the couch.

"I heard" Toriel muttered.

"O-ouch..." Charles whimpered.

"Shh, it's okay Charlie. You're safe" Toriel said soothingly. Bill watched silently as Toriel cared for her child. He turned and walked toward the door. "Where are you going?" Toriel asked him, wrapping more gauze around Charles' blood soaked chest.

"I'll be back" he growled as he slammed the door behind him. A silver iron sword strapped to his back.

The beast or Tristan whimpered. Dirty red tears dripped from his eyes as he stared at his hand, covered in Charles' blood. It remained surprisingly, the black corruption didn't make a move to cover it. Almost as if it was healing his paw. The blood continued to roll down his paw, a pinkish flesh like colored followed. He had stopped sobbing and looked straight at the shattered mirror. He rubbed his bloody paw against his face. The corruption turning back to pink flesh. His face furless but repaired and normal once again. But after the few moments of bliss went by. The labem quickly destroyed it and covered his face with pain and agony as if it was punishing him. He grabbed his face, screeching and slamming into the rotten logged walls. After a few minutes the pain dulled and he looked at his paw once more. His paw normal as if the blood acted like a border from his repaired flesh, to the labem. "Charles..." His voice, half normal and cracked, he looked out into the corroded forest from the rotten cabin. He ran out of the cabin, hungry for more, hungry to be normal once again.

Bill walked through the dead forest, the gleaming sword in his right paw. Each step was followed by a angry grunt. An infected feral deer, the same one he had watched die had staggered in front of his path. The twitching deer turned it's horribly deformed face turned toward Bill. The teeth once flat was now sharp and carnivorous, dripping with the labem. Bill spun the blade and prepared himself as the deer charged toward him. Only soon to have its head rolling on the ground and the body slamming into a tree. "Rest well deer..." He muttered as he continued his walk. After a few minutes of putting the poor animals out of their misery he had stopped walking. Bill stood still, his fiery eyes stared directly into Tristan's purple eyes.. Tristan lifted his paw, showing it to Bill.

"Charles'... Blood heals!" Tristan cracked.

"Yet he won't have enough to heal a forest" Bill growled.

"Then find what is in his blood!" Tristan creaked, staring at his purified paw. "I can live once again..." He screeched softly.

"And I want you to live. But he doesn't have enough blood" Bill muttered. He couldn't take it. He wanted his friend back, he wanted Tristan. Not this deformed beast that randomly decides to kill.

"I'll make you a deal. Find the Roses and destroy them" Bill told him.

"I cannot. They'll regrow quickly from the others and with even more..." Tristan informed.

"Then find them and prepare to show them to us..." Bill grunted,

"They are guarded with vines. Making it hard for the untainted to destroy them" Tristan wavered.

"They never done that before." Bill growled.

"You've been gone for sooo long..." His voice cracked.

"Will the Vetitilux destroy it?" Bill asked.

"The forbidden light weakens each day. There are no more in the forest but the edge of your clearing" Tristan told him, point to a corroded plant on the ground.

"Then we don't have time to waste" Bill said starting to turn.

"The amber book..." Tristan mentioned. A chill went down Bill's spine.

"No. It is too dangerous. Especially after the last time we used it" Bill turned sharply.

"Yet now he is stronger, and immune." Tristan said. Bill glaring at him

"I will never put him through it again!" He growled as he jabbed at the beast's rotten chest.

"It will be the only way to get to them safely. He is the only one who can come out unharmed." Tristan grabbed Bill's arm and dropped it.

"Toriel won't let it happen to Charles again. She refuses to open the book or even look at it." Bill muttered. "How much time do we have till it over powers the barrier?" Bill asked. Tristan thought carefully.

"The protective barrier to the world? One year. The Vetitilux, one month." He told him. "Surprisingly my brain still works." He muttered to himself. There was a couple minutes of silence with the exception of the bubbling rot in the distance.

"I'll see what I can do. Find the Surrexerunt nigrum and we'll try to get rid of them. Keep us updated on their defenses." Bill said in a formal Elite way.

"You're not in the military... Don't mission brief me" Tristan told him.

"Force of habit" Bill told him as he walked back to the cottage. Tristan looked at his normal hand. His mind stable than ever before.

"I'm sorry... But thank you for your blood Charles." Tristan walked back, deeper into the rotting forest to find the Black Roses.