Work Text:
Cascade
[[Whumptober prompt—BLEEDING OUT]]
Zell was usually quick. Quicker than most. But today, he hadn’t been quick enough.
By the time he rounded the corner, Squall was already on his knees, cradling his gut. Blood soaking through his shirt and jacket, staining his hands. Dripping from his mouth.
Zell roared and punched the assassin’s heart right out the back of his body before he could get off another shot. It lay beside the attacker, glistening with crimson. His pistol still clutched in his hand.
Squall collapsed completely, falling onto his side. The blood immediately started to pool beneath him.
Zell had never seen so much blood in his life. As he desperately tried to hold pressure on his Commander’s—his friend’s—heaving abdomen, he couldn’t help but stare at it all.
The smell—metallic and pungent. The feel—viscous and slick. Squall coughed and some splattered from his lips and onto Zell’s face. His knees slipped in the puddle, steadily growing beneath the trembling SeeD Commander.
Hands grabbed his own.
He looked down to see Squall’s fingers, intertwining with his. Shaking.
“Squall, just hang on…” Zell tried to hide the terror in his voice. He needed to be strong. For the both their sakes.
Squall’s skin was turning ashen as his lifeblood pooled on the cobblestones of the Timber back alley. Eyes fluttering, unable to focus.
“Don’t you go out, Squall! You hear me?” Zell slapped his face, leaving a bloody handprint on his cheek. “Listen, dammit!”
A grimace. Pained and desperate. Eyes rolling back into his head. Whites showing through half-lids.
Zell shook him, begging him not to die. Squall’s eyes fluttered open. They had lost their brilliant blue luster. Gray and lifeless, Zell knew he was staring into the eyes of a dead man.
He pressed harder on the hole in his friend’s belly. How could something so small do so much damage? Ruin so many lives? Maybe if he applied enough pressure, he could stave off the end just a little while longer. The blood was so warm. Sticky.
It was happening incredibly fast.
Squall swallowed hard, blood choking him. He coughed, spraying droplets of scarlet into the air. It trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Tears rolled down Zell’s cheeks. “Squall, man…I’m so sorry.”
The Commander blinked languidly. Breaths shallow. His lips moved, soundlessly. Blood bubbled from his mouth, staining his teeth.
There was no shudder, no cry to the heavens. Just one last breath. Empty, lifeless eyes staring at the blue summer sky.
The blood soaked through Zell’s pants as he sobbed.