AU NAME: What is Logical?

Warnings for blood, death, and ANGST related to those things. Very heavy angst. Mostly just in the first part.

This was supposed to be a hurt/comfort, but I ended it before I got to the comfort part, so it's just hurt.

Also, I'm only on episode 4 of WTNV, so if you spoil it for me I'll murder you. (If you've spoiled it for me in the past, fear not, for I have completely forgotten about it and am coming in with a fresh mind.)

Oh, and one final thing! This has also been posted on AO3 under the name "What is Logical? (Well, I Can't Tell)." Check it out if you wanna. It's the exact same as this, but I figured I'd let you know.

The Knight was dying.

It wasn't sure how it knew this. But it knew, without a doubt, that it was. There would be no waking up at a bench, no hunting down their Shade. They wouldn't even return to the Void and become one with it again. Their life would end here, and they would be forgotten.

It hadn't quite accepted its fate yet. They thrashed, staring with wide, desperate eyes at their attacker. It used every bit of its Soul to try and heal its wounds, but the searing pain remained. Their pitch-black blood dripped onto the floor and made a sizzling puddle beneath them as they sank to their knees.

The Knight's opponent loomed over them, radiating malice. The monster raised their weapon and prepared to strike them down.

Their thoughts raced. If it could just raise its arms, then it might be able to survive this fight. I can do it. I just need to move. Please, just move. Just move, move, get out of the way, GET AWAY–

A blow to the head cut them off. It tumbled to the ground and felt its life slip away, even as it tried desperately to hold on.

It was dying. It was dying. It was...

...waking up. For a long while, the little vessel just laid there, barely conscious.

Then, finally, their mind stuttered back into motion. It jolted to its feet and drew its nail. They were still in fight-or-flight mode, and it took them too long to realize that the monster was gone.

Slowly, it came back to itself. Its breathing evened out. They lowered their nail, allowing it to scrape against the ground. They were safe, at least for now.

The first thing it did from there was look around. They were in an odd-looking square room. Rickety slats of termite-eaten wood made up the walls, barely keeping the dirt from crumbling in on itself. The floor was tightly packed and laden with footprints, though they didn't match any bug the Knight had seen. Directly in front of them, there was a ladder that led up to some kind of cellar door, made of the same kind of wood as the walls.

The room itself was mostly empty. The only things inside were the piles of boxes, which had been shoved into the corners. As the vessel looked down at their feet, they noticed a circle carved into the dirt below them. Had someone been waiting for it? Was this room magic...?

A voice from above distracted it. "Distant screams echo from the desert. We scream back, if only to be polite. Welcome to Night Vale," the voice said calmly.

If the Knight could have frowned, it would have. They walked towards the ladder and climbed up to the door.

But they didn't go through immediately. Instead, it waited and listened.

The voice seemed to be talking to... someone? Many someones? They didn't get much more information than that, as soon after the voice began, he stopped.

"...Listeners, I have just noticed the door under my desk." He didn't sound surprised, just mildly puzzled. "It seems like some kind of rickety old cellar door. I'm not quite sure when or why that happened, since we're not due for renovations for another week."

The only thought that came to the Knight's mind was Uh oh.