~~
With her master dead, Applekill began to fade. Warmth had called it Spiritual Hibernation in her memories, a reversion back into a waiting energy deposit. But she did not want to go. She refused her call and fought this slow death to try and save Maya.
Applekill jumped into Maya and forced the last of their Cyrus Force into her body in an attempt to heal her. The muscles of her heart tried to knot themselves together, her lungs tried to seal their puncture, her chest attempted to reassert itself... but nothing happened. Applekill wasn't strong enough to resurrect her.
Maya was already dead. There was nothing she could do. She had failed Warmth, had failed Nephilim. She had failed Maya.
Applekill looked up and saw the fighting going on behind them. No, fighting was too kind a word: it was butchery. The people of Aureu had never stood a chance against the Disciples, and they were dying because of her inability to revive her master.
Desperate, Applekill tried to think of something, anything, that would save them. “Peace! Peace! You've got to save her!” she entreated.
The great Spirit was gone, though. There was no response. Either she could not answer, or she had died from her wounds.
Applekill was alone and fading fast. What could she do? What could she do?!
“Wait! You! Taint creature, demon, help me! She will die, your host will die, if you do–”
Her skin started to crawl, an experience she never would have thought possible. Turning, she saw the Taint inside Maya. Jagged and swirling and solid and liquid, it had a hundred ruby eyes appearing and disappearing across it. Looking at it made the back of her eyes itch.
“There is little connection between us and you,” it whispered. “We are not like Spirits. We might not die if you do.”
Applekill screamed as she began to fade, her energy tried to fold in on itself and return to Maya's sword. But she clawed back, holding onto the world with pure resolve. “'Might'...? Can you risk... risk it for 'might'? Whatever you are, you're a new... a new... a new creature on Geos. You can't just... let yourself die if she... does.”
All its crimson, blank eyes blinked at once. “Perhaps you are right.”
It remained silent. Applekill roared again as her treacherous form tried to pull her away from the world. “Well?” she asked.
“We conclude it wouldn't damage us to repair you. But you must hide us from you. We cannot be acknowledged. Do you understand? You cannot tell you.”
She didn't need to understand its strange way of talking to get the basics of what the deal was: she couldn't tell Maya about the Taint within her. “Yes! Yes! I won't tell her about you. Just... save her!”
The Taint closed all of its eyes. That now-familiar bass tone rang out, and Maya was repaired: her heart was whole, her skin returned, her lungs and bones asserted themselves. She sat up, taking a deep breath with tightly-shut eyes, and then fall back onto the floor unconscious.
Applekill no longer felt the call to return to her sword. It was as though Maya had never died. Her master's breathing was shallow, but she was alive.
Applekill cheered. “Maya! Thank fuck. Oh, Maya, you're alive!”
“We are not bound by your laws, and so we have eaten your destruction. Remember, if you tell you of we, we shall return your destruction. You cannot tell you. No matter what, you cannot tell you. We will reveal ourselves to you when we feel the time is right.”
“I promise,” Applekill said, feeling guilty and overjoyed and delirious and tired. Whatever it was, this Taint creature had save Maya, so she didn't care whether it was wrong. Warmth's warnings were nothing compared to having Maya alive again. Lying to her master would be hard, but surely it would be worth it.
Surely...