by Nicol, Andy
I held in my surprise and shakily covered my mouth. My eyes watered even more. I could barely see.
“Aye, Vixen, what’s got you so quiet all of a sudden? No more threats?”
I muttered no and watched Soul unclip the heavy axe from his back as the wire let go and he dropped to the ground, flipping his body right side up in the process. In turn, I scooted back and watched in horror. Brother number one shouted and cursed as he hobbled towards Soul, both of his legs still bloody. Hyde hardly managed to get a swing in before Soul drove his fist straight into Hyde’s nose. He fell to the ground, where my Crow stomped his chest as hard as he could, earning the squeal of a pig about to be slaughtered, a beg for mercy.
“Oh, birdy,” Jekyll started. “You’ve made a mistake…”
Soul still had his back to the larger man and he chuckled, then winked at me as the corners of his mouth started to turn upwards. He spoke very beautifully … poetically…
“You wreak havoc
So reap what you sow
Whether its few or some …
We will be your Kingdom Come.”
I watched him use the blunt end of his weapon to knock Hyde out. Jekyll got closer.
“Soul, look out!”
He nodded, keeping his beautifully twisted smile. The scar tugging his skin looked jagged and irritated; it had light scratches as though he’d been rubbing it throughout the day. The world seemed to blur around him, all the dull colours fading into each other. I was unable to focus.
“You created me
Drowned innocence in the sea
This is your Kingdom Come
So dead you will be!”
Soul grabbed his axe as Jekyll, standing a few feet behind him, hollered bloody murder and ran towards him with his hammer raised.
Jekyll stopped dead. Soul had grabbed his weapon in one hand and had swung it behind him. He knew what he did… He knew he had hit his mark. He grinned as he turned around to look at the damage he had inflicted. His axe was embedded in Jekyll’s flesh. The look on the man’s face was one of shock; his pain had clearly not yet registered. Soul yanked the blade free from Jekyll’s neck.
“Don’t ever touch my K9.”
Jekyll’s blue eyes widened momentarily. Then blood spilled from his mouth and sprayed out of the wound on his neck. My breathing quickened as I watched him fall to the ground. Jekyll was out, dead. His brother was unconscious, bleeding profusely from a crack in his skull … and Soul was standing in front of me, smiling contently, with his shirt torn to shreds. He dropped the large axe and rubbed his hands across his chest, smearing the blood that oozed from criss-crossed wounds. I shivered and stuttered as he ripped the fabric away from his body and sniffled.
The ground felt like it was shaking. I wobbled, sliding back to the ground. I was too dizzy to focus properly, but all I wanted was to make sure Soul was okay. Shrugging his shoulders with a look of indifference, he glanced down as he pursed his lips. One of us let out a small sob — I’ll let you guess who — and tears starting to stream down my cheeks as I stumbled closer to him. I fell against his body, legs finally giving out and my body going numb, but it was worth it. Oh god … it was so worth it. I wrapped my good arm around his neck and shivered as I kissed his cheek repeatedly. I tangled his hair around my hand and touched his chest. The fact that I was smearing blood across our bodies didn’t even cross my mind.
“I love you!” I whimpered, quickly and desperately.
I continued to mumble to him and rub my face against his shoulder, but he stood perfectly still. Soul wouldn’t move and he didn’t speak. I didn’t care. I was too wrapped up in soothing my own stress to notice his reaction.
“I-I never told you … and then I almost lost you! I’m s-so sorry,” I stammered.
“K9?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re hurt … and cold.”
I leaned away from him and nodded, still miserable. Guilt still had a hold on me. Swallowing a lump in my throat, I attempted to keep my eyes open and trained on Soul instead of the shadows and spots in the corners of my vision.
Soul became slightly more sombre, dragging his soft fingers along my cheek and up into my hair, then pushing it off my face. “The bird … never should have said what he said. Didn’t mean it… J-just … just thought … maybe K9 didn’t care.”
“I will always care for you.” I shook my head, then continued with a wispy voice. “You terrified me!”
I shoved his chest lightly, throwing myself off balance and quickly grabbing onto him again.
“You — oh god…” I started to feel my throat burn again. “Never do that to me again! Please!”
“Never?” He chuckled.
“E-ever!”
He laughed softly and rested his arms around my torso, pinning me against his bare, bloody chest. I shook against him but held him closer as best I could with only one arm. Wallowing in his warmth, my breath started to synchronize with his.
“I should have told you sooner. I’m so sorry, Soul…”
He shushed me and shook his head; his hair tickled my face and got in my eyes. He started to let me go, but I stuttered and whined in protest, muscles and body aching. He kept me at arm’s length and placed his thin, pale hands on my cheeks. My body was numb and it was getting worse. He had pride in his eyes, which shone intoxicatingly bright in the gloomy weather. Fighting to gain control over my voice, I managed to get my words out.
“I love you…”
His lips parted slightly as he looked at my drifting eyes, and softly smiled. Without either of us noticing, we had managed to tangle ourselves together again.
“I know … my K9.”
My body was still throbbing and my vision was blurred. I couldn’t tell whether it was from the loss of blood or the concussion. Either way, it probably wasn’t good, considering how laboured my breathing was getting. His soft touch below my left eye brought me back for a moment as my Crow ran his thumb back and forth.
As I smiled back up at him, my body decided to give out. He quickly wrapped one arm around my lower back to keep me close to him.
“I-I don’t think I can stay up much longer…”
“Not losing my K9 again.”
All shock had subsided, and throbbing pain turned into agony. I bit my lip and shook my head.
Soul looked focused, almost as if he was in his own world entirely. He kept his hand in place and once again rested his nose beside mine. Then he took a breath, and — as if my head wasn’t already spinning — he slipped his warm lips over mine. His eyes closed the second our lips met, and he furrowed his brow. After a second of haziness, I did the same and tightened my grip on his jacket. It probably would have been nicer if I wasn’t tasting coppery blood. Despite the joy of finally getting to feel his smooth, yet slightly cracked lips, this pain was worse than I had ever felt. Almost like when I met Jekyll and Hyde.
If not for Soul, I would have given up, lay down right there and then, and let myself freeze to death. I let him continue to tug and pull at me as he desperately pressed himself against my body, trying to stay as close as possible.
A sudden wave of dizziness washed over me, and I started to protest against him, pushing my arm against his chest and whining. Soul stopped kissing me. Once I opened my eyes, I noticed that he had kept his closed. I had also, apparently, been digging my nails into his collarbone, judging from the light red scratches on his skin.
“W-we need to … f-find Louis…”
I slipped again but Soul didn’t let me fall. He wrapped his arms under my legs and made me holler in pain. My right side was completely limp in his grasp as he started walking, and I held in as many complaints as I could.
Blood that wasn’t frozen to my body was dripping to the ground and mixing with Soul’s. He was in bad shape too, but he was still able to walk. Once again, he was saving my life.
“I’m … sorry for everything I’ve said, Soul.”
He gave me a confused look and shook his head.<
br />
“For everything … I got us into such a mess — I-I … uh…”
“My dog was scared, the crow was never mad. Love means fear, sometimes makes us sad.”
His eyes stayed fixed on mine, even though I had let my neck go limp. He seemed content — honestly happy — but there was still that little bit of sadness… It was always there. His past broke him, and you can’t pick up the pieces from something like that. He was always going to remember it but that wasn’t why it hurt me. It hurt me because I knew I was dying. Because I was going to be contributing to his pain.
I’d easily lost about a pint and half of blood. Much more and I would be dead. Soul knew that. I could see it in his face, but he didn’t say anything. I shivered harshly, and my brain was getting foggy.
“G-going to be … okay,” he muttered to himself.
“S-Soul?”
He muttered a response, so I continued as he slipped and slid over patches of ice, making me dig my left hand into his jacket even further.
“My chest hurts. I can’t … b-breathe properly… Are we almost there?”
His perfect green eyes widened and he nodded quickly. After a moment, he stopped walking and sighed miserably, shaking his head. “D-don’t know — K9?”
I grunted and tilted my head to look at him.
“C-can’t do this — don’t want to … Please don’t leave me…”
Blood was pooling into my mouth and running down my nose. It poured into my eyes. I couldn’t promise him anything, as much as I wanted to. My throat started to swell and tears washed the blood from my cheeks. “Don’t do this, Soul. P-please … I’m scared…”
Suddenly my chest burned. My lungs barely registered that I was taking breaths, and I started to shake harder. “Don’t let me leave! I w-want to stay with you!”
Shame. That was definitely the word I would use to describe how I felt about begging like that, but a lack of warmth, oxygen, and blood makes you do crazy things.
Warm drops of water hit my chest. With dreary eyes I looked up at Soul, who was biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed. He shook his head and painfully looked down at me as he started to stumble forward again. He didn’t have anything to say; we were both bumbling messes. He put on a strong face and I lightly touched his cheek, my own rubbing against his vest. He had started to shiver from the cold too…
I heard him sigh lightly as his warm breath grazed my wrist. I wanted to look at his beautiful face, but I had to keep my eyes closed; I couldn’t keep them open anymore. He whimpered my name and sobbed slightly, so I used the last of the strength in my left arm to haul myself closer. I was grunting and moaning, having to force my head up. Soul had adjusted his grip so I could rest my face in the crook of his neck. His skin was just as warm and smooth as his face. And just as bloody…
I want to kiss him again … I just … The blood in my mouth kind of made that impossible. I tried to tilt my head away from him and spit, but it just slid down my neck, covering me with thick, red drool. I was gagging and sobbing as I cuddled back into him. Without my consent, my hand started to slip from his cheek. It fell and rested in my lap. That only made me more upset. Please, just let this be over soon…
Soul rested his forehead against mine and took a deep breath … It was the exact opposite of what I was doing, which was quick breaths and painful gasping. Soul…
“K-K9 … K9, stay awake!”
“For my … Crow?”
“Wh-who else?”
I closed my eyes but nodded and licked my lips, trying to breathe slower … Blood mixed with bile and I choked as air eluded me…
“Louis!”
I spat as much as I could, and coughed and retched … I cried out for Soul between breaths and … writhed in his grip … a-after that…
Black.
Thirty-Three
“K9! K9 — Benji! W-wake up, p-please … K9!”
I watched my sister die as the man — as her first and last … love violently fought to be by her side.
It was seconds ago that he ran out of the woods carrying her half-limp body. Her right side was covered in gashes. She’d soaked them both. She was shrieking bloody murder, you know, crying and yelling for Soul, choking in the blood and saliva that was dripping from her mouth.
I’d only seen her cry once before.
Right before Louis got through the barricade, she got silent. She stopped moving. Soul had fallen to his knees and pleaded with her to wake up. He told her over and over how much he loved her, recited numerous poems … but her elegant hazel eyes were glazed over. No … amount of words could tell you how much it broke me. I just started to pray, curse, and lament for her. My voice cracked and my throat bled, but I didn’t stop. I deafened myself for a moment.
Louis had to force Soul to let her go as he repeatedly performed CPR. Soul was struggling to escape Dan, and a few other fighters. He was crying for her, clear tears dripping and slowly turning red, his nose running. His mouth was set in remorse.
He just kept telling her he loved her.
I leapt from the stage, cracking my leg and dropping both crutches. Benji’s friend Chrissy called after me, but I stumbled and slid across the ground until I was right beside my little sister. Soul had fallen into sobs as he still rested in the arms of others. His shoulders rose and fell with every harsh inhale, and his sweat mixed with his own spit and blood.
I fell apart again, so I wrapped one arm around Soul and we cried together.
One medic held a pouch of blood up while another inserted a thin needle into her arm. A third man started wrapping her wounds, but Louis continued to try to resuscitate her … I can’t watch! My little sister — Benji!
“Benji, wake up! Don’t do this to us, Ben!” I screeched and cried out for my little girl …
At this point, Soul was holding me back. With one hand on my arm and the other arm wrapped around my torso, he gripped the front of my jacket as he leaned against my back and wept.
“Clear!”
I shouted quickly as her body jolted with the shock… Her angular and sickly face was stuck in sadness and … guilt, maybe regret.
“K-K9…”
It was almost like … even in death she blamed herself — she always did, you know. No matter what, no matter how tough or rude she seemed, she blamed herself for everything and she had a hard time letting go of that guilt.
“Clear!”
I gasped for breath and bit my lip as her body jolted again. When I looked back up, her face looked far more severe, shocked and worried. I fell into the dirt crying when I caught the last tear fall from her eye — it was the last she’d ever shed. No more crying herself to sleep and thinking I never knew.
Soul saw it too, and his sobs became more vocal as he reached out his hand for her again.
“You’ve got to call it, Doc!” Dan hauled Soul back as he frantically clawed and kicked for Benji.
“One more time. Clear!” Louis yelled.
“Forget it, she’s gone!” Dan shouted back angrily. He was upset too.
Her love let out a blood-curdling shout and pounded the ground with his fist, his head down and hair starting to stick to his face.
The only reason I stopped crying was because of how light headed I felt. Instead, I sat emotionless …
I just lost my sister … forever …
My little girl … my little girl just died.
Thirty-Four
I couldn’t move.
“S-Soul…”
I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to wake up without him … and if I woke up now, he wouldn’t be there. Because I was not there.
I was dead. Or I should’ve been.
I opened my eyes nervously. My right side shouldn’t be this numb if I was in heaven — wouldn’t think it would be this numb if I was in hell, either. That’s where monsters go, right? But I would think there’d be more pain. Maybe I was in purgatory.
I couldn’t see anything. It was too bright but too dark at the same ti
me. Testing my left hand, I tried squeezing it into a fist — only … something very soft was pressing against it. The slight tension on it … felt … alive.
I tilted my head from side to side as I grinned wildly. The smell of flowers mixed with disinfecting spray tickled my nose. It smelled like home. I still couldn’t see or hear anything, but I knew I was just lying under a blanket, so I tugged my hand free and rubbed my forehead. There were thin bandages over my eye, so I carefully slid them back, yelping as my skin started to sting. Blood had dried to it and stuck in place until I ripped it free. But I could see.
Bright fluorescent lights hit my eyes and I blinked, raising my eyebrows and wiggling my nose. I turned my head again, and something tugged at the right side of my neck. probably stitching and bandages.
I opened my eyes again and heard talking. Shouting actually. Probably from some doctors…
I’m going to be honest here. I had no recollection of what happened. I didn’t know why I was in Jeff’s office. I did know what waking up with bandages on fresh wounds usually meant: I just got my ass kicked in the Pit.
My eyes finally adjusted and I looked around. My entire right side was done up in rags, some looked fresh while others were soaked red around the edges. That was why I couldn’t move, I guessed. Using the strength of my left side, I pushed myself up and looked around the pristine white room. There wasn’t much in here except for a few chairs, one of which held my boots and jacket. The quick head movement made me woozy, and I had to close my eyes for a second.
I took a breath as I settled myself, opened my eyes again, and looked to my left. I gave a light sigh and smiled to see a beautiful raven-haired man hanging over Louis’s small frame. Soul was being held back by the scowling medic, resting his left side across Louis’s shoulders and letting his mouth hang open.
“K-K9, how do you feel?” a small voice asked from my other side.
I jumped slightly and looked at a little girl, Tina. She must have been the one who had held my hand. I can’t describe the comfort I took in seeing her worried but hopeful eyes.
