Chapter Text
4CVIT
His mind was screaming at him to run, but he felt paralyzed. He knew Nominal would be mad, but he… he never expected this. They had been shouting and shouting and shouting. He hated shouting. They both hated shouting. Nominal seemed unwilling to take much of the blame, and accusations only made him angrier. 4C knew that much of it—and maybe, just maybe, all of it—was his own fault. But as they climbed out of the room hidden in the rock, horror settled into his body. His limbs felt like lead, and he felt light-headed and dizzy.
Nominal had it again. Why did he have it again? Where did he get it from? He said that he destroyed it. Nominal said he destroyed it a year and a half ago. He said never again, but he was holding it. Either he had been carrying it around this entire time or…. The floorboards in the middle of the room were creaky…. Was it… was it buried under the floorboards? Did he put it there on purpose? Was Nominal trying to scare him? Or had Nominal planned on… planned on…?
Oh, dear gods.
Nominal was going to try to kill him…
“No…” 4C whispered as the realization dawned on him. He couldn’t stop staring at the morningstar. His throat felt like it was closing. There were too many thoughts going through his head. Some were full thoughts; others were half-sentences. All jumbled together, making everything incoherent. Yet, despite the hundreds of things he wanted to say, he couldn’t say a single thing. He’d be hyperventilating if he could breathe. “Nom… you wouldn’t.”
“You were right to be afraid, 4C,” Nominal stated coldly, his eyes alight with rage and perhaps an undertone of hatred. His hands were shaking. 4C couldn’t stand to stare at the hurt in Nominal’s eyes, but he couldn’t look away. This was all his fault… “You know what? I want you to go on remembering that you turned me into this again!”
“I’m sorry! You don’t have to do this!” 4C pleaded, stepping back.
His grip tightened on the morningstar. Nominal huffed, something between half a laugh and a noise of disbelief. A single tear rolled down Nom’s cheek. “Goodbye, 4C.”
4C watched as he launched himself off the top of the rock, raising the morningstar above his head with both hands. Nominal was going to land as hard of a hit as he possibly could. 4C had been right. Nominal was going to kill him. And it was all his fault. It was always his fault. He was the one who accidentally told Katie, he was the reason Nominal ruined his relationship with Graecie, and it was his fault that he might die today. Perhaps the Rogue God was right. If not about everyone, then at the very least about Nominal. Maybe he deserved this.
Time seemed to slow down to nothing but a creep. Nominal was falling through the air, slow. A mock heartbeat rang loudly in his ears, warning him of his own mortality. He needed to move. 4C was going to die if that blow landed. He deserved it for what he’s done, but... he doesn’t want to die. At least, not like this. If he was going to die, he didn't want to die to someone else's hand. Especially not his best friend, no matter how rocky their relationship was. 4C didn't want to burden someone with his blood on their hands. Despite whatever spell was preventing death, he knew that it wouldn’t prevent this one. He needed to move, and he needed to move now.
He barely managed to scramble out of the way, landing heavily on his back mere centimeters away from death. The edge of Nominal’s morningstar hit 4C’s shoulder, hard. If he had been anyone else, it would have shattered his upper arm and shoulder. Dark blue blood began to leak onto the sand. He held his arm as blood ran down it. He didn’t even need to look at the wound to know how bad it was. 4C stared in horror at Nominal. The morningstar was half-buried in the sand where it landed with his blood splattered across its spikes, and Nominal’s eyes were just fixated on his grip on the handle. His breathing was heavy, and his body was racked with tremors. 4C couldn’t read him anymore. He couldn’t read him beyond the sheer anger.
4C had to run while he had the chance. He needed to get back to Blue. He needed to tell someone. He didn’t know if Nominal would try to chase him or hunt him down. He was much faster than Nom, but if he decided to unfurl his wings and fly, then 4C was screwed. He couldn’t outrun someone who could fly. But he couldn’t risk Nominal chasing him. 4C didn’t want to die. Not now. He needed to run while Nominal seemed distracted.
4C failed to get onto his feet. His body was too absorbed in its panic. Nominal still hadn’t moved, eyes still trained on his grip. Something was going through his head. When 4C did finally stumble onto his feet, his balance was all over the place. It felt like he was trying to balance an elephant on a stick. His boots kept sinking far too deep into the sand. Running felt impossible, but he ran anyway. He didn’t care if he was fast or slow. He just needed to run. His hands didn’t want to grip onto the stone of the mountain, but he still climbed anyway. Slipping and losing his footing with every move up. He didn't care. He cared about getting away. 4C snuck a glance back to see if he was being chased when he reached the top of the mountain. Nominal still hadn’t moved. 4C just ran, not caring about the trail he left in his wake.