by Nicol, Andy
“No more proof… Can’t — can’t prove it was the gemini!”
“The correspondence between you and Frankenstein is lost, but we have solid evidence that they didn’t get! Besides, after the tournament, we’re going to out them for good and they’ll confess; they’ve already admitted to working for Frankenstein!” I reassured him.
“Frankenstein… Viktor … the letters! N-now … gone!” He continued to shout, even punching the wall a few times, twisting his wrist in the process. I was going to try to tell him again that we had more evidence, but the anger in his face startled me. I wouldn’t want to get in his way right now. He pushed past me and snatched a camera. I shrugged and followed my partner down the hall.
“Hell to pay!” he shouted and cursed as he darted through the locker room, grabbing his axe, and then bursting into the arena. I panicked for a moment, then grabbed one sword from my locker and followed him.
We got to the gate and he knocked Jeremy off his feet, then swung at Angel with one hand. It took a great deal of strength to be able to lift the axe at all, let alone with one hand; his adrenalin was pumping and he was angry. He fiddled with the camera to turn it on; then he held it up, setting it so it would broadcast his message live.
“Burned my evidence … destroyed my equipment. The Beauty works for the doctor! The Beauty is against all of us! Gemini…” he paused and kicked Angel while she was down, sweat dripping from his nose. “Gemini will burn!”
I was frozen in place as he spoke and again kicked my former roommate.
“Gemini … caused the problem… Gemini work for the doctor… Take this as a message, boys! Take this as a warning that if you continue to hurt and bleed and scar, you … will … burn …”
He tossed the camera on the ground and crushed it under his boot. I knew I had to move quickly but I only started to walk. Stress tugged at my stomach as I watched him heave his axe out in front of him, then onto his shoulder. I gradually picked up speed as he raised it above his head. As I reached them, I flung my sword out over Angel, calling out and falling to one knee as I narrowly stopped the axe.
Crow stepped back and stared at me, both angry and surprised.
I silently watched him as he shook his head, raising his axe again and trying to go after Angel once more. She screamed and tried to crawl away. I jabbed at him, but he dodged to the left and wrapped the handle of his weapon over my neck as he stepped behind me. I was forced to drop my sword as I grabbed at his arms, using one hand to pry his weapon away from my throat.
“Soul, don’t do this!” I shouted as I gasped for air.
“Need to send a message… Need to show them we’re stronger!”
“Soul, we’re the good guys! We…” I suddenly got light headed and slipped back, resting against his chest.
“K9 … is wrong … become a bigger monster than the one you’re fighting… R-right?”
I shook my head slowly, then let my head roll to the side. “No, we need to show them. We’re not going to kill an innocent woman.”
I felt his hair brush against my cheek as he put his head down and shook it.
“Not innocent. Not going to leave unpunished…” He rubbed his nose on my cheek, and I continued to push the axe away from my neck. “Sorry … my K9.”
He quickly dropped me to the ground, then bolted back towards Angel. Yes, she was a traitor, but she wasn’t as bad as Jekyll and Hyde. She didn’t deserve to die. I pushed myself to my feet and tackled Soul to the ground. I straddled his middle and leaned over him, digging my nails into his wrist and hoping to make him let go of his axe.
“Listen to reason! We don’t need the evidence. We can’t just kill her!”
He gritted his teeth and let go of his weapon. I wheezed slightly as I consciously slowed my breathing. My arms still felt weak.
“No!”
Soul started to struggle and easily reversed our positions as he shouted at me. I turned my head to the side as he rambled, “K-K9 might… No, not possible. Maybe … dog … needs to pay, needs to pay. Hell! Hell to pay, no angels. Not here!”
I chanced a look back up at him, worry plain on my face.
“C-can’t… They all think the bird is a monster anyway. Just want justice…” His lip quivered and his raspy voice cracked. “J-just want to be good enough! Teach them a lesson!”
“Then embrace it! If they all think we’re dangerous, we’re going to be! We’re going to fight as hard as we can — as hard as we have to — in order to win! Once people have made up their minds, we can’t change what they think. Let’s prove to them that they should be afraid of us. But if they’re already afraid, then we don’t have to make it worse. We’ll wear their masks if they make us, if that’s what it takes, but there is still a line.”
“No… There’s no angels, only monsters and demons… Some not as bad as others?”
I shook my head and softly smiled. “Exactly, and monsters like us, the not-so-bad ones, don’t leave collateral damage.”
He wiped his nose against his shoulder, then looked back down at me. My arms were still pinned above my head, and I was still partially out of breath. Slowly, he removed his grip and sat back, allowing me to sit up.
“You are good enough.”
“A-angry …,” he muttered to the ground, a look of frustration playing on his thin face. “And … scared …”
I gave a small sigh and draped my arm over his shoulders. “Yeah, me too.”
He looked startled as he twisted his neck to look at me.
I inhaled deeply and shook my head. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m kind of scared too.”
He nodded slowly and leaned against me.
“For now, we should focus on the tournament. That was our goal from the beginning, right?”
Soul nodded and helped me to my feet. I walked over to where I had dropped my sword and picked it up as Angel glared. A grim chuckle left my lips as I started to scowl back. I pointed at her. “Don’t think this means you’re off the hook.”
Twenty-Two
I was starting to stress about how we were going to prove Soul’s innocence.
Some of the locals didn’t seem too happy that the man who had been attacking their favourite warriors was now one of them, and the warriors were still pretty cranky themselves. Obviously, we knew what happened, but how could we prove it? We knew that Jekyll and Hyde were the ones enforcing Dr. Frankenstein’s requests. We also knew that anyone who potentially worked for him — No… There was no way.
I was sitting beside Soul and across from Chrissy at our usual table in the cafeteria as my face drained of colour.
“That … that can’t be right.”
“K9?”
I turned to Soul, disappointment written on my face “W-were they all involved?”
My hands shook but I had to laugh, mainly out of disbelief. “Randy, Ronin, Jeremy, Robert — that new reporter — and Jekyll and Hyde all have code names based off of old monsters from either books or movies, right? They’re also all favourites of the boss.”
Both of my co-workers shared a look, then shot their focus back at me.
“If anyone caused a problem, Ronin would be pitted against them as punishment. Randy has been caught sabotaging Jeff’s kits, but he was never punished for it. Jeremy is a complete suck-up, though I don’t think that worked in his favour. Robert has been put in charge of any media coverage involving this city, and Louis used to be put in charge of making sure all the favourite warriors got proper medical treatment,” I explained.
“Think about it.” I bit my lip as my hands continued to shake. “Who were the only four people to have taken part in every qualifying battle three years in a row?”
Chrissy silently nodded, and Soul clenched his fist.
“Beast, vampire, and the gemini… He really is Dr. Frankenstein…” he growled.
“Ben, are you sure? If you accuse him and you’re wrong, you could lose your job. You two are in hot water as it is,” Chrissy warned,
her perfectly arched eyebrows creasing slightly.
“I’m hoping I’m wrong. I want to be wrong but it’s the only… Everyone who was taken out — maybe that’s the connection!” I jumped up and ran out into the hall.
I slid on the tiles of the white floor and made my way to my room with Soul quickly following. I reached my door moments later and unlocked it, only to see the room was trashed. Dan hadn’t been exaggerating.
I stared at the mess on the floor for a moment, then shrugged my shoulders and scowled. I couldn’t worry about that now. Soul followed me in and closed the door, stumbling over a small pile of clothes. Those weren’t part of the search; I had left them there in the morning.
“Do you remember who you took out?”
He begrudgingly nodded and gave me a confused look. “I’m going to need their names.”
He wrote down everyone he could remember and I got to work. He sat down on the bed behind me and picked up the picture of my brother off the table beside him.
“Good man.”
I smiled to myself. “Yeah. He is.”
“K9’s sad? Wh-when she thinks about him?”
I stopped typing and swivelled my chair around to see my dishevelled Crow watching me intently. With a slight nod I started to speak, “He was a warrior too, but after my run-in with Jekyll and Hyde, he was left nearly unable to walk. It’s only been recently that he’s started to walk without a crutch. It was really bad. I worry about him.”
“Sorry,” he muttered quietly.
I stood and stepped over to him. “Don’t be. It was a long time ago.” I fell onto the bed beside him. “And we’re making up for it now.”
Humming softly, Soul slipped his hand over mine, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Little girl, little girl
The one I love the most
Falling down, falling down
And I am just a ghost
Can’t help, can’t help
But still my girl will boast
Little dog, little dog
I will do all that I
Your crow, your crow
Will say ‘you should have ran’
But never, but never
‘Because we’ll fight together.’”
He leaned against my shoulder and turned his head enough to let his nose touch my cheek lightly. I grinned and he nuzzled me slightly, making me smile wider.
“I have a question,” I said softly. “Why me? Why didn’t you just … shove me around and tell me to get lost like the others?”
His breath hit my face as he chuckled. “S-saw you fight… You were like the bird. You were strong but … scarred. Unafraid but aware. You got better. You … y-you were lonely and the bird … wanted to fix it.” He placed his hand on my cheek and forced me to look at him. “Wanted to tell you, didn’t want to hurt the dog. Thought … thought that maybe she could help the bird. After all, we are the same. D-didn’t think it would go like this … Never expected…”
He shyly looked away from me. I leaned forward, gently kissing his cheek. His face instantly changed to one of shock as his cheeks burned. Leaning back, I looked at him. His eyes were wide and he had a goofy grin, like he was trying as hard as he could not to show how baffled he was. Shaking my head, I stood up and hopped back over trinkets and clothes to my desk chair. I started to research all the people on Soul’s little list and what they had been doing before they were taken out.
I went through as many people as I could, looking up history and stats. The common factor between all of them was that they were rising in ranks. They were all major contenders for the tournament. They had booted out all of the monster-clique boys, and that must be why Frankenstein sent Soul after them. I just don’t know why that would be important to him; none of them have ever won anyway.
I must have been sitting there for a while. My back was sore and when I turned around to ask Soul if there was anything else he could remember, he was fast asleep, lying across my bed, his arms spread out to the side like a bird’s wings. I couldn’t blame him. It was 1 a.m.
I sighed and closed my search pages, then pulled my boots off, carefully stepping over a sweater on the floor and turning off the light. I could hear Soul grunt and sit up as I tripped over myself, trying to find my bed. Bumping my shin on the edge of it, I fell forward.
“Oh no…”
My face hit the comforter and I sighed. I am the single most uncoordinated person I know. Soul chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me close and burying his nose in the front of my hair.
I welcomed his warmth and fell asleep in a matter of seconds, letting my mind wander far, far away.
My neck cracked as I rolled onto my back.
“Benji, get up we have to — oh my god!”
I gritted my teeth as I opened my eyes. Matt and Chrissy were standing in the doorway with Dan and a camera. One of the three (guess who) was blatantly disgruntled and the other two were just shocked.
“There is no way…! You two didn’t…!” Dan stammered, face red.
“Calm down, Danny-boy. We’re big kids now.” I sat up and rubbed my neck. I looked to my left and saw Soul lying face down with one arm draped across my stomach and the other tucked under his chest, very much like a cat. I shook his shoulder and he bolted up, looking around and then looking down at himself, disoriented.
“Oh my god…” Chrissy mumbled again, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “Oh. My god.”
I scowled at her and Soul licked his lips as he ran a hand over his hair. “M-morning?”
I nodded and he stood up, stretching his arms above his head and grunting. Chrissy just shook her head, while Dan was in the process of mangling a water bottle.
Soul turned his back as he smirked at them.
“Did you all want something, or…?” I waved my hand around as I stood and went in search of my sweater.
Matt nodded as he stuttered, “Yeah, Johnny just released a statement explaining what happened to Soul and why you’re helping him. He refused to release any evidence but people still bought it. Now that someone’s said something, most of the Valiants are backing you now too!”
I smiled from my closet door. “My brother’s always been good at setting people straight.” I pulled out a black jacket and held it up — not what I was looking for but it would do.
“Remember, you guys leave tomorrow night, so gather your things today,” Matt instructed.
I scowled and nodded curtly. “What time is it?”
“Eleven, why?” Chrissy asked.
I smirked and left the room, following a few white halls to Frankie’s room. When I pushed the door open, he was standing in the centre of the room in his boxers with a hairbrush in his hand. Some kind of pop song was playing from his radio. His room always smelled like musky aftershave. It tickled my nose. We simply stared at each other for a moment before I shook it off and walked over to his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out the small metal piece that was previously fixed to the end of the electric prod.
“Thanks for looking after this.” I sauntered back out and tossed the piece to Matt. “Keep an eye on that. If it goes missing it’s your head on a platter.”
The thirty-six hours went quickly. We were told that a few of our friends would be going to Rhys-Mordred a few days after us. We were also told that any family we had would be invited as well, so I called Soul’s mother and Tina. The little girl was so excited that she started to pack right away.
“Careful out there. Louis is going to be there as a representative and as your main medic, so talk to him if you need anything,” Matt instructed as I handed a gym bag with my armour and weapons to a man in a suit. He nodded nervously and bowed to me.
The wind sweeping his grungy hair to one side, Matt shook my hand and grinned. “You’re going to do great!”
“I’m going to do my best. Look after the place while we’re gone.”
The next thing I knew, I was being held tightly around the neck and had
a face full of dirty old sweater.
“Relax, Matt, it’ll be fine.”
He nodded quickly, then let me go, turning to Soul who was in the process of saying goodbye to his sister — and it was a long process.
“I’m so excited, I told all my friends. I said, ‘That’s my brother! That’s him and he’s going to the Tournament of Survivors. We have to root for him because we want him to win!’” She stood in front of him and danced around with stars in her eyes.
I started to make my way over to them as Tina tripped and fell onto her stomach. Embarrassment took over her delicate features. Soul tucked his hands under her arms and lifted her up, holding her against his chest.
“I can’t wait to see you there!” his mother told him. She was standing proudly behind them. When she saw me, she reached out and shook my hand. “Please keep him out of trouble. We’ll be there in one day.”
I looked at her children and shrugged. “One day … I think I can avoid trouble for one day.”
Soul squinted as his sister pressed her hands against his cheeks.
“Th-thank you … going to win for you,” he told her. She grinned so hard her cheeks must have hurt.
“See you tomorrow,” she said as he placed her on the ground and straightened his shirt again. Soul lifted his bag onto his shoulder and waved to her as we walked back to the nervous young man in the suit.
“Calm down, kid. This isn’t a place that’s used to private jets; we barely even know how to handle a guy taking care of our bags.” I told him.
He seemed to calm down a bit. “It’s my first day … I don’t want to make a mistake.”
Nodding, I patted Soul’s arm as I followed him up the steps and slid into a seat. I sat across from him and looked out the window. I’d never flown before, but something told me I wouldn’t particularly like it.
“Nervous?” Soul asked suddenly. I turned my head back to him and shook my head.
