Work Text:
“Are we almost there?” Itadori groaned for the sixth time. Fushiguro was counting.
“We’d be there faster if you walked in a straight line,” he snapped as Itadori wandered to the edge of the path to look at a rabbit.
Itadori ignored him. “Surely Ijichi could have driven us the whole way. The path must be wide enough for a car.”
“I’m not sure the car is meant for driving up hiking paths.” The path seemed to be getting less steep. Hopefully that was a sign that they were almost at the top. “Besides, you’re not even breaking a sweat.”
“Would still be nice,” Itadori said wistfully. Then he perked up, looking ahead. “I think we’re here.”
The trees that had arched over the path gave way to a wide, sunny clearing dotted with cabins and fire pits. The forest surrounded it, dark and eerie. Fushiguro could hear water running somewhere as he surveyed the area.
Several children had disappeared at this campground recently, and there had been many reports of something lurking in the woods, though no one could say for certain what it was. It seemed that a feeling of fear and unease had settled over the camp, which stood empty until they could exorcise the curse responsible.
“We should split up,” Fushiguro decided. “If we stay within earshot we should be fine, but it’ll take a while if we stay together.”
Itadori gave him a salute. “Aye aye,” he chirped. “I’ll go left!”
Fushiguro rolled his eyes and headed to the right as Itadori bounded off.
It was unnaturally quiet. Fushiguro would have expected to hear birdsong, animals rustling in the bushes, but the forest was silent. Even his footsteps on the dirt path felt loud.
He weaved through a group of cabins, staying on high alert. They weren’t sure what form the curse would take, or where it resided. It was likely in the woods, but it would be good to do a sweep of the cabins first. They might even attract it into the open with their presence.
One of the cabin doors was partially open, and Fushiguro approached it carefully, listening for movement. It was quiet inside. The door creaked as he pushed it open.
Something moved behind him, flashing in the corner of his vision and raising the hairs on his arms.
He turned quickly, raising his hands, prepared to call Divine Dog. Across the clearing, the shadows inside the tree line shifted. Fushiguro took a step toward the forest, but suddenly the silence was broken by a familiar cry of pain.
Itadori.
Fushiguro was already running. Itadori shouted his name, and Fushiguro found him a moment later at a long-cold bonfire. He was clutching his arm and whipping around as if expecting another attack. His eyes snapped to Fushiguro immediately.
“What happened?” Fushiguro demanded.
Itadori lifted his hand. It was stained red, the arm underneath marred by four deep slashes. “It came out of nowhere. I hardly saw it at all, this massive cursed energy just appeared behind me and it attacked. It was black, and big.”
That was unsettling. It was hard to catch Itadori off-guard.
“Do you know where it went?”
“Into the trees, I think.” He gestured with his head. “It’s fast.”
Fushiguro eyed the tree line. “We can assume it’ll be back.”
He positioned himself at Itadori’s back so that together they had a 360 view. The curse evidently knew that they were here, and was on the attack. They would wait for it.
For several long moments, they listened to each other’s unsteady breathing, tension hanging in the air, and then it struck.
In a split second, the curse materialized from the trees in an impossible way that had Fushiguro’s brain fumbling to catch up. It lunged out of the forest, and Fushiguro barely had time to yell before Itadori was on it, prepared this time. He landed a punch and the thing screamed. Fushiguro caught a confused glimpse of sharp teeth and red eyes. He summoned his dog, but the curse was already gone again.
Divine Dog growled, watching the place the curse had disappeared. A few seconds later, it turned, pointing behind them, snarling, and then it shifted again. It barked, frustrated. Fushiguro didn’t like this. The curse seemed to be everywhere.
Finally there was a larger flare of energy and the curse appeared from behind a cabin, seemingly from thin air.
Fushiguro couldn’t decide what it looked like. One moment he thought it was a bear, then a wolf, then a cat. It shifted from four legs to two and back. The only certainty was that it had teeth, bared in a snarl, and long clawed fingers like talons.
Divine Dog attacked. For a moment the two were locked in a brawl of teeth and claws, and then something very strange happened.
The curse grabbed the dog and dragged it with unnatural speed into the trees, and they both disappeared.
There was abrupt silence. Megumi’s heart was pounding.
What the fuck.
It didn’t feel like the dog had been destroyed. It was more like it had been dismissed, but he hadn’t dismissed it.
Itadori was staring at him with concern. “Fushiguro,” he said, “what just happened?”
Wordlessly, Fushiguro summoned Nue.
The shadow formed and started to shape a head and wings, and then it contorted. Fushiguro watched in horror as another shape appeared in the shadow, attacking Nue before it could fully form. The shadow writhed, filling the clearing with the horrific sounds of animals fighting, and the curse dragged Nue back down into the shadow, where they both disappeared. The shadow dissolved as if nothing had happened.
“Fushiguro,” Itadori demanded. “What the hell is going on?”
Fushiguro clenched his fists at his side. “It can travel through the same shadowspace as my shikigami. Itadori – this is bad.”
The shadow beside another cabin rippled and convulsed, and the curse lunged again. This time both Itadori and Fushiguro met it with fists. Itadori’s attack landed with much more power, sending the thing flying. It dissolved into the first shadow it touched.
“My technique is virtually useless against it,” Megumi said, helplessness making him seethe. “It can attack my shikigami before they’ve fully manifested.”
“That is bad,” Itadori agreed.
They scanned the tree line and the cabins. Fushiguro tried to keep his eyes on every shadow. There were so many; it was impossible to know what direction the curse would come from.
He nearly missed the ripple in Itadori’s shadow.
“Itadori, look out–”
Pain sliced through him so hard he froze, uncomprehending.
There were four red-slicked talon points protruding from his stomach. The curse had appeared from his shadow behind him and speared him through.
For a moment, time stopped and Fushiguro stared at the dark stain starting to spread across his uniform. Then the curse wrenched him backwards with brutal strength. The back of his heel dipped below the ground into his own shadow, and a surge of primal fear took over him. He’d never felt so much like prey.
But before he could be dragged into the darkness, Itadori was there, landing a blow on the curse that shoved it back into the shadows and ripped Fushiguro free of its claws.
The pain shorted out his brain for a moment, and suddenly he was on the ground, grass against his cheek.
Somewhere above him, Itadori was talking in a panicked voice. “Fushiguro? Fushiguro!”
Hands were on his arm, and then he was being rolled to stare at the sky, and at Itadori.
Itadori ripped off his uniform jacket, leaving him in a T-shirt, and Fushiguro wondered why until Itadori shoved the jacket onto the wound.
Fushiguro gasped as dark spots dotted his vision.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you gotta put pressure on it – here, hold this down –” Itadori grabbed Fushiguro’s hands and put them over the jacket. It already felt wet. That was probably bad.
“The curse,” Fushiguro managed around unsteady breaths.
Itadori grimaced, and Fushiguro could see the conflict in his face before he stood, placing himself protectively over Fushiguro with his fists raised. “Keep pressure on that, and stay down, okay? Don’t make a bigger shadow.”
Fushiguro was fairly certain he couldn’t stand up even if he tried. The clouds above him were starting to spin.
Itadori watched for the curse while Fushiguro tried to breathe.
Suddenly there was a snarl, and Itadori sprung into action. Fushiguro turned to follow him with his eyes, but it made him even dizzier.
The curse had emerged from another shadow, and Itadori was dashing toward it with his incredible speed, grabbing it as it lunged. It slashed and bit at him, but he ignored it and dragged it into the open.
No shadows. Smart move.
The creature tried to free itself so it could retreat through a shadow, but Itadori held it down, attacking it with his fists. He couldn’t keep that up forever, though; he was already a mess of wounds from the talons and teeth.
Fushiguro could feel that his own energy was low from the steadily bleeding wound and the damage done to his shikigami, but he raised his shaking hands to form a pair of wings.
Come on, Nue.
Nue’s shadow formed far enough away from the curse that it wasn’t able to use the shadow this time. It took to the sky, and Itadori heard it coming in time to leap away from the curse before Nue struck with lightning.
The curse was exorcised in a blinding flash of electricity.
Fushiguro let out a shuddering breath. His hands tingled as he dropped them. He was so tired. It felt like he was being pulled down into the earth, and for a moment the pain lessened, fading into something numb, and his eyes fell closed.
Then there was more pressure on his stomach, and he sucked in a ragged breath as pain shot through his body.
Itadori was tapping his face. “Hey, hey, stay awake, stay awake Fushiguro, come on. Oh shit that’s a lot of blood. It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay.”
Fushiguro cracked his eyes open. His chest felt heavy, but his head felt light.
“There you are, hey, you gotta stay awake. Keep your eyes on me.”
“Why?” Fushiguro muttered. “There are better things to look at.”
Itadori laughed, but there was an edge of hysteria to it.
Fushiguro’s awareness slipped for a moment, and when he came back to himself, he realized that Itadori was talking again.
“No, there’s no time to walk him back to Ijichi, it’s too far, it’s – it’s really bad, sensei, please –”
One of Itadori’s hands was still pressed to Fushiguro’s wound, the other clutching a cell phone to his ear. His eyes were strangely bright.
Fushiguro tried to raise a hand to his, but abruptly someone else appeared next to Itadori.
Gojo wasn’t wearing his blindfold, and his blue eyes were piercing as he crouched to look at Megumi. His expression was deadly serious, something Megumi hadn’t seen in a long time.
He said something to Itadori, and then Megumi was being lifted. He hissed as the wound was jostled, the world tilting around him.
Gojo gripped him tighter. “Stay with me, Megumi.”
Megumi tried, but everything hurt so much, and he was so tired, and the arms around him made him feel small and safe. He let the darkness take him.