by Simon Archer
“Arrest this male,” Tenjen commanded. “For now, Rico and Gerry, we will have to ask that you and your company leave the premises temporarily. We can’t have you interfering with the investigation.”
“Hold on!” Warpin objected. “You’re just going to let them go? They embarrassed you, the whole MFL. They deserve more than just banishment.”
“We have Bartholomew,” Tenjen argued. “He will be our redemption in the face of this embarrassment.”
“This is wrong,” Warpin said with a sharp tone. “Rico has made a mockery of my race and should be justly punished.”
“And we will determine fairly if he does indeed need to be punished,” Tenjen clarified. “As of right now, there is only one creature here deserving of punishment.”
Suddenly, my eyes stung with tears at the corner as I watched Barth’s arms get pulled behind him and into the binding metal. He met my gaze and gave me the smallest of nods. It was the only sign I had that any of this was okay. It was a signal to trust him. As much as I hated it, I swallowed and nodded back.
“Rico, Gerry,” Tenjen addressed the pair of us. “You need to leave now. If you resist or do not comply with the investigation, we will be forced to arrest you and take more drastic measures. Do you understand?”
“Yes, we do,” Gerry answered for the pair of us.
My set jaw wouldn’t open. I felt as though the only thing I would do if I did manage to get a sound out would be to scream. So I held my mouth shut and offered a sharp nod in confirmation of my understanding.
“You may go now,” the announcer said.
Gerry, Deity, and I shuffled out of the locker room. I offered Barth one last glance, but the elf didn’t meet it. He continued to stare straight ahead and act like Gerry, and I simply wasn’t there. In less than a minute, we were out of the arena.
The three of us wandered the city streets. None of us quite had a plan or a path, so we walked in silence. We mourned the loss of our friend as if it were a death. We grieved the fierce and swift removal of our chances of becoming a fighter and a coach. It plagued our moods as the night drew on, the moon rising further into the sky.
Eventually, our feet led us to the apartment building. We stood in front of the building and looked up at the fifth-story window. It was open, and a light breeze played with the curtains, which waved like a pirate’s flag.
“Here,” Deity said as she pulled the key from the inside of her cloak. “Barth gave me the spare, just in case.”
She reached for the door, but neither Gerry nor I moved. We continued to stare up at the window and watched the curtains flutter, neither of us saying a word. We stood like that for a while, two friends sharing an uncomfortable silence as they wallowed in their own thoughts.
Deity waited by the door, seeming to understand that we needed a moment more.
“So, what now?” Gerry asked, finally breaking through our contemplative mood.
“I don’t know,” I said with a sigh. “I really just want to go home.”
“Yeah,” Gerry sympathized.
“That sounds like the best idea right now,” Deity chimed in. She tried to take my hand, but I pulled out of her grip. She stood off to the sides and wrapped her arms around herself.
“I don’t think I can come back to the farmhouse, Rico,” Gerry said suddenly.
“What do you mean?” I asked, shocked by his statement.
“It doesn’t feel right without him there,” Gerry said while shaking his head. “I think I’m going to hunker down in one of my old hideouts and spend the night there. If I feel like it, I’ll make the trek in the morning.”
“Alright, if you’re sure,” I said, giving him one more chance.
“I’m sure,” Gerry promised.
He turned on his heel and started walking down the street. I thought he was about to leave without a goodbye and called out to him to remedy that, but the gnome surprised me. He turned around of his own accord.
“We had a good run, didn’t we Rico?” Gerry asked sincerely.
“We did,” I confirmed. “We still do.”
“Oh, come on, Rico,” Gerry said. “You need to face it. They’re going to find out the papers are fake once they’re done with their ‘investigation.’ Then it’ll all be over.”
“You can’t think like that, Gerry,” Deity said, her voice full of hope.
The gnome kicked a stray pebble with his shoe. “We all know it’s true. We should just face reality and get on with our lives.”
Something deep down in my gut recognized what he was saying as truth. It registered in my brain and traveled down to my heart, shrinking it with dispair.
“I really thought we had it for a second there. I let myself believe that it was really going to happen,” I muttered.
“Me too,” Gerry lamented. “Guess it was never meant to be.”
He looked up to the stars and offered the universe a solum sigh. “I’ll see you around, Rico.”
“See you around, Gerry.” I raised a hand to wave, but the gnome didn’t return it. He simply slipped off into the night, using his illusions to disappear from sight.
24
The empty street and I stood still together. We acknowledged one another’s presence but didn’t really prefer each other’s company. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts. They were rather mean, chastising me for leaving Barth to take the fall. For taking the elf up on his crazy idea in the first place. For ever thinking that we were going to get away with such a risky lie.
Of course, they were going to find out. How could they not? And how long did I think I was going to keep up the charade? If I were honest with myself, I planned to reveal myself as soon as I had earned some respect. I thought that if I could win a few fights, make a name for myself, that it wouldn’t matter when I came out as a human. Instead, none of it mattered. They were sure to find our forgery during this investigation, and then it would be well and truly over.
Now, two of my best friends were gone, one of them lost to the night and the other locked up for an indeterminate amount of time. I didn’t want to stay in the city a minute longer.
Making up my mind, I dug my hands deeper into my pockets and began the walk back to the countryside, but a soft voice stopped me from taking another step.
“Rico?” Deity asked, cautious and small.
I paused and closed my eyes. For a moment, I had completely forgotten that Deity was there. I was so wrapped up in my own head and my own guilt that I didn’t address her at all. When I turned to look at her, I saw a gorgeous, kind, and generous woman. Her beautiful round cheeks, her messy hair pulled up into a bun, and her sleeves rolled up to reveal her tattoos. I drank in the sight of her, and my guilt increased tenfold.
I brought this woman into my lies and my deceit. I asked for her support only to have let her down. She deserved better than a man who lied to get what he wanted and allowed his friends to take the fall.
She leaned forward for a kiss, but I stepped back, out of her grip and away from her advances. She stood there, lips pursed, for a second before she realized what I had done. Deity looked up at me with hurt and confused eyes, as if it didn’t make any sense as to why I had consciously moved out of her arms.
“We need to talk,” I said, my voice hard and demanding. It sounded foreign to my own ears, but as I spoke the words, I knew what I had to do next. What I deserved.
“Talk?” Deity repeated, unsure she heard me correctly. “Okay, but is everything alright? You’re scaring me a little bit.”
“No, Deity, it’s not alright,” I informed her, my frustration mounting. “Barth’s in jail, Gerry just abandoned me to Walden knows where, and I’m about to be banned from every arena in the MFL.”
“You aren’t responsible for any of that, you know,” Deity reminded me. “Barth chose to fall on the sword, Gerry chose to leave. You didn’t force either of them to do that. Maybe the MFL thing, but you always knew there was the chance you’d get caught, right? I mean, we all hoped
you wouldn’t, but at least it’s just a banishment, not a jail sentence.”
“It’s worse than a jail sentence,” I grumbled.
“You can’t mean that,” Deity said, shocked.
“Deity,” I said as I held out my hands, stiff and straight as if I could visually lay out my point. “I may never get to fight again. Ever.”
“Okay,” Deity said slowly, drawing the word out to more syllables. “I hear you, but would that really be so bad? You got to accomplish something that no other human ever has before. You are ending your career undefeated. That’s gotta mean something.”
I closed my eyes and willed her to take back her words. I wished to be in some weird dream, a nightmare. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was still the night before the fight where Barth, Gerry, and I were eating chicken wings, and this whole day was some sort of horrible nightmare. Because there was no way that I was going to be able to accept this fate, not when everything felt ruined and irreparable.
“It’s not enough,” I muttered.
“It’s not…” Deity stuttered, baffled. She slid a hand down her cheek and rubbed it absently. “Wow, Rico, just wow.”
“What?” I snapped. “Wow, what Deity?”
“I just can’t believe you would say that,” she said with a sharp sniff. “I thought it was your dream to fight, and you got to experience that. It rather selfish to want more than that, don’t you think?”
“How can it be selfish?” I said, not understanding her. “I want to be an MFL fighter.”
“And you were,” Deity argued. “Yes, it may have only been for a little while, but it was better than never at all, right? I mean, you got a taste of it. Some of us never even get that.”
“I didn’t want just a taste,” I said, my volume increasing with my frustration. “All I have ever wanted is to fight, but because of who I am, I will never have that shot. I wanted to make something of myself, prove to all of them that I was good enough. That it didn’t matter who I was but that I could fight with the best of them. And when that chance was given to me, I did it. I showed them all, but it didn’t matter because it didn’t last. I was still shot down and told I wasn’t good enough.”
I clenched my hands into fists and fought the overwhelming urge to punch something. “To top it off, I also got my friend thrown in jail. I had to lie to even get this far. That’s never how it should have been.”
“Probably not, but it’s more than you ever would have gotten,” Deity said sympathetically.
“What am I supposed to do now, though?” I shook my head. “Just go back to the farm and pretend it never happened?”
“How about go back to the farm and be grateful it happened?” Deity challenged.
“How can I possibly go back after experiencing this?” I asked with a gesture back towards the arena.
Deity didn’t respond to that right away. She simply nodded slowly and then smacked her lips together. She then put her hands on her hips, balled into fists, and stared at the ground.
“You know, Rico, I don’t think I can do this anymore,” she said, speaking the words to the ground. Then, gaining confidence, she lifted her head. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, each syllable sharp and accusing. “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to you tell me that the farm, me, our life isn’t enough for you,” Deity said while looking at me dead in the eye. I saw the seriousness there, and for the first time, I felt fear at the true possibility of losing her.
“I didn’t say that…” I defended weakly.
“You pretty much did,” Deity confirmed. “You know, I’m never going to get my bakery in the city. Even as I walked these streets to your match, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. But I thought, I believed that other things would be enough, that would satisfy me. I was starting to believe that a life with you, out here on this farm, baking in that kitchen, might just do it. But I see now how easily you would throw all that away. How it would never be enough for you.”
Her words broke through my anger and narrowed my vision. They centered me for the first time during the entire conversation, and I felt awake.
“Deity,” I said softly as I took a step towards her.
“No,” Deity said, responding while taking a step back. “No, I can’t do this anymore, Rico. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Deity, please,” I pleaded, my voice coming out weak and small even to my own ears.
The woman backed away from me. She turned away and scooped up her basket of cold pumpkin muffins. I saw her wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, and she hurried toward the apartment door.
“Deity!” I shouted.
She didn’t say a word as she unlocked the first door and shut it quickly behind her. Knowing I didn’t have a key, she knew I couldn’t follow. My heart urged me to shout her name until she came back out here. I wanted to scoop her back into my arms and apologize for it all. But another side of my heart told her to let her run. She needed to go because she was right.
I betrayed her by telling her what I had been told my whole life. That she would never be enough for me.
Look at where all this had gotten me. Back where I started. No, worse than had I started. Because when before I had no one, I hadn’t experienced the pain that came with loss. With having the woman you love run out on you. Or one of your friends take the fall for a mistake that was yours as much as it was yours. Or a companion choosing to wallow in his own grief, instead of trusting you to get through it together.
I gazed once more up at the window, hoping to get a glimpse of Deity’s face. Instead, the window closed sharply. The bang echoed out into the night, like a final sentence, condemning me.
“Hey, Rico!” a voice called out from behind me. I didn’t recognize it right away, so I didn’t turn around immediately. It was their next sentence, not spoken to me but to someone else nearby, that made me turn around.
“I’m telling you, it’s him. That’s Rico the Resilient.”
When I spun around at the sound of my title, I saw a group of young elves. There were four of them all wearing MFL gear. Two had sashes, whereas another held a flag with the MFL logo on it. However, it was the fourth one that caught my eye. The letter “R” was written on each cheek. Could that reference what I thought…?
The elf with my initials on her face squealed when she caught a glimpse of me in the torchlight. “It is him! You’re Rico the Resilient.”
“Yeah,” I said gruffly.
“You’re such an amazing fighter,” the female elf gushed. “We were just talking about how upset we were that we weren’t going to get to watch you defeat Warpin.”
“He would have beaten me,” I replied in defeat.
“His technique is lazy,” one of the males chimed in. The others nodded vigorously. “He’s been fighting for so long that he thinks he can just get into the ring without having really practiced or trained. You’re so much better than him.”
“Well, thanks for your support,” I said with a raised hand, intending to blow them off.
“It’s a shame that humans can’t fight, especially when they’re as good as you,” the shortest of the group said suddenly.
I froze in my tracks as her words locked my joints. I huffed out a stiff breath and felt like I couldn’t get enough air back in.
“We know,” she said. “Everyone, literally everyone in the stadium was wondering what happened to the fight.”
“All they would tell us is that you had been disqualified,” the original female said, the one with the R’s. “Then Warpin was doing an interview, and he spilled the beans about you being human and not being allowed to compete.”
“That’s right,” I snapped at the group. “I’m human. So it doesn’t matter how good I might be, I’ll never get back in that ring.”
They looked a little surprised at my anger, but the shorter one took a determined step forward. “And that’s
just plain wrong. If you’re good, you should be allowed to fight. Plain and simple.”
“We were rooting for you,” the other female said as she pointed to her cheeks. “Rico the Resilient, see?”
A little spark of warmth bloomed in my chest. It caused me to soften my face as I thought back to the cheering crowd with their signs and their chants. These four were probably somewhere in that supportive crowd.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice the softest it’d been since talking with these elves.
“Since the match isn’t happening,” the male muttered nervously. The other male who hadn’t said anything yet elbowed the nervous one in the ribs. This kicked him into gear, and he remembered what he was going to say. “We were going to head to a bar. We’d love to buy you an ale, if you’ll let us.”
“Yeah!” the red-cheeked female perked up. “We can celebrate your championship.”
“I didn’t win the championship,” I argued.
“But you should have,” she said. The elf stepped forward and took her hands in mine. “And we’re going to party like you did.”
I glanced up at the window of our apartment. It was dark and seemed to be devoid of any life. Though I knew Deity was up there. She’d abandoned me and left me without a way in. I licked my lips and made up my mind.
“Where to?” I asked the group.
Immediately, all four of them started talking and suggesting places to go. I chanced one more glance up at the window as they dragged me along, down the street. I could have sworn I saw something in the window, a glimmer of Deity’s face, but I knew that was my hope playing tricks on my eyes.
25
The four elves led me to a nearby taphouse that was already abuzz with creatures of all kinds. There was a fenced patio area with torches hanging in pots overhead. The elves let themselves in like they owned the place, though the shortest elf kept looking over her shoulder as if to make sure I was still there, still real.
When we walked through the gate, the female with the R’s on her cheeks shouted out into the crowd. “Hey, everyone! It’s Rico the Resilient!”
