Chapter Text
The creaking and groaning of the megamycete above is the last thing Ethan really notices before being tugged away from the place he’s been rooted to for the last few seconds.
The hand gripping his arm is harsh and strong, pulling him down to the river under the bridge. He doesn’t notice how his shoes become even more wet and dirty as he runs through the stream to the other side. Neither does he hear any of the words that are being shouted at him throughout the whole ordeal, the shock still not leaving his system.
His body moves on autopilot, running through unknown, maze-like caves into the depths of the mountain. The hand that has been pulling him that whole time throws him into a room harshly, its owner following right after and closing the door behind them. Then, the other person that Ethan finally recognizes as no one else as Heisenberg, grips the detonator with him and presses the button.
For a second, there is complete silence.
Then, the explosion happens.
It is deafening, it is terrifying, the ceiling of their measly room shaking and rubble raining on the two men huddled in the middle of the room together. The rumble of the explosion shakes for a few moments longer before it settles into a comfortable silence.
Ethan looks up at Karl and immediately passes out.
* * *
Ethan doesn’t remember much as he wakes with a groan full of pain and shifts on… something warm. With a frown, he barely opens his very dry eyes only to see dirty, dusty coat fabric right before his nose. He blinks. He looks up. There, Karl, who’s lap he is laying in, looks down at him and huffs.
“Good fucking morning, sleeping beauty. Tell me, what the actual fuck did you think you were doing?”
“You’re dead,” Ethan deadpans.
Karl blinks.
“I saved your ass and this is all you have to say?” ,the former Lord says incredulously. “You were about to fucking blow yourself up together with everything else, and this is the first thing that comes to your mind?!”
The blond has no reply to that. He slumps even further down, if that’s possible, and sighs a very quiet ‘sorry’ into the other’s stomach. He is exhausted, incredibly so, his temper having died down through the whole ordeal.
Karl tenses for a second before sighing and leaning back against the stone wall. Only then does Ethan realize they are actually sitting on the floor, the tiny room having nothing but an old rusty chair in a corner. Which really doesn’t look all that cozy, the man has to admit. He decides to just focus on breathing, inhaling the musky and dirty scent of the Lord under him, a mix of his cigar smoke, dirt, burnt oil and metal. To others it would seem uninviting and off putting, but to Ethan? The best thing at that moment, a reminder that they are both alive and safe, even if surprisingly.
Quiet minutes pass, nothing but breathing interrupting the silence. Suddenly, Ethan sighs and slowly starts sitting up, the other looking at him bewildered.
“We should get out of here,” the younger man says, rubbing his face with a sudden sneeze that startles them both.
Karl stays quiet for a second. “Okay,” he finally mumbles, standing up and brushing off the dust that collected on him while sitting down.
Ethan stands up too, or, at least, tries to. His body feels as if gravity became too heavy, so he whimpers and bends over slightly, emptying the remains of his stomach onto the floor, coughing through the burn in his throat. Heisenberg stands next to him, stroking his back: ‘I understand,’ the motion suggests, letting the blond compose himself slowly and finally stand up properly without bile rising up in his throat.
Karl nods at him in a silent question, which Ethan answers with a nod of his own, and they open the now heavy and damaged door. Words feel too loud, so they don’t speak as they walk through huge piles of rubble that the explosion caused. Luckily, they reach the open exit rather quickly, taking in the scene unfurled before them.
The sacrificial place was in ruins, no sign of the mold whatsoever. The two men took tentative steps, slowly going around the mountain they were hiding in the cave of. Neither of them register how long they walk for, only that they reach the village soon enough.
Or, well, what used to be the village.
Chris did not lie. There really was enough explosive to blow the village into dust. And for a crater to appear in its place.
It was truly a sight to behold, both Karl and Ethan unable to utter a single word. There were no detectable corpses: everything turned into dust.
Ethan is the first one to finally walk down. He does not know why, only that he feels obligated to. Chunks of wood and stone, reminders that people lived there, lay around in seemingly perfect disarray. The younger man doesn’t feel anything other than numbness. He could not understand how he ever survived this hellhole, to save his precious daughter, and that now the place and its inhabitants all lay in shambles.
He does not hear Karl come up to him. They still kept silent - the dead should not be awoken and it felt like even just a single word would do that to them.
The blond turns to the mechanic and hugs him tightly. Said mechanic hugs him back.
* * *
It is a few more days until the two survivors hear the helicopter propellers loud and clear above them. They spent those days in some shack in the woods, surviving solely on the cans in its closet (neither of them knew how old those were, only that it didn’t smell too bad.).
They both look out the window to see the heavy machine above. Neither of them are sure it would see them, so they decide to stay put and barricade themselves in.
The people step out of the helicopter right at the edge of the crater.