DTT: Round Four, Kaiden vs Mal

I know better than to ask this place if that was the end. If Penelope was the last. That pull towards Jules’ soul is so powerful I almost lose my balance, stumbling over my two left feet and looking up toward the sky. Nah. This aint the end. But goddamn is it tempting to ask, just for the fun of it. Showman of hell, my audience nothing but fog and darkness and one lone boy across the way.

So it continues. I steady myself, swinging the glaive in my hands as a test. It cuts through mist so swiftly, like it were made for me. Mal Stuart, reaper of lost souls. Huh. That don’t sound so bad.

Looking at him, I try to think of something grand. Something clever. Even a friendly hello and a wave. But goddamn I’m tired, that pull in my veins leeching me of any remaining energy to waste on words. My face shifts, contorting through options, tilting my head left, right, then eventually shaking with a sigh and a shrug of my shoulders.

“Fuck it.”

And I charge.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

qhQnPPQ0YZglaive


mal damage: 0/20

I can taste blood in my mouth. Aint that funny? I'm dead, but I still have my senses. Well, the five main ones. Think I was born without any sensibility. Ma used to say that, 'til they dropped bombs on Twelve and put her in an early grave.

Huh. Suppose they put me in one too. I never really thought about it like that. Her death was so... large. And mine so small. Maybe it's because I'm in here, taking a blade to the arm (a hiss slips from my teeth), but I haven't really acknowledged that I'm dead. Stubborn old bastard, just like Pa.

Strange, how the memories of them come and go. I know who they are and then I don't, remembering all over again. Tumbleweed of living, dead, living, dead. Stuck in the motion, somewhere in-between.

I want to ask his name, like Penelope's. "What's-"

It's all I can get out without collapsing, waving my white flag. I'm so tired. 

I swing anyway. Stubborn ol' bastard.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

lTEihjXP4Lglaive
0


mal damage: 3.5/20

His face scrunches up in confusion: "What's what?"

I'm still hauling my arm left and right like there's an axe in my hand, quick and fast. There's not enough to push the larger weapon forward. It hits the ground between us with a thunk and I groan, tugging upwards with difficulty. The tip of the glaive catches in stone, dirt, whatever - I tug again, it barely budges. Come on, I think, panic rising as my opponent strides forward. Come on -

The glaive breaks free and I stumble backward, caught off guard. Not quick enough, his weapon so like my own slices visciously across my stomach and I cry out - the worst thing I've felt since... since...

Since what?

"I'm Kaiden."

"Mal," I gasp, throwing my weight to the handle of my own glaive to keep me upright. Blood pools in my mouth, thick and hot, and I spit it out onto the dirt below. I groan with the effort, every breath a gentle tug at the severed nerves and mangled muscles of my torso.

I look up at him, flexing my fingers around the glaive stem as my weight shifts back to trembling legs. "I'm Mal."

Can't remember my last name. What a goddamn shame.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

deR1WlNQvBglaive

3.5

mal damage: 12.5/20

Kaiden’s looking at me with pity, I think. Looking down at me. It twists furiously in me, but instead of that hot, bitter rage I’ve become so accustomed to it feels like a cold, numb hand wrapped around my heart.

Is this dying? Bleeding out slowly, soul leaving your body with every drop of blood that’s spilled? Or will I wake up just to do it all over again: get so close, just to have a chance of freedom and peace I ain’t never known plucked from me, piece by piece?

My lids droop. I’m so tired. Jules is over there but she feels so far away. Maybe I made her up in my head. Maybe I’m dreaming… maybe… maybe… may…..

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

3|gV1|vOE1glaive

9


mal damage: 16/20

There goes his foot. There goes my last sliver of energy. He falls to the ground and I follow, toppling onto my hands and knees with the clatter of my glaive. The world spins and spins and spins, ghosts in the fog and thunder in the mist.

I don’t even think I have a heartbeat anymore. It’s just Jules…. Jules………. Jules………. Jules……. in my head. Just a name. Just a sliver of who I once was.

“I think we’re done now,” and I just press myself further into the dirt with the hit, the floor cool against my forehead, my palms.

“Thank god,” I cough back.

Jules………..




Jules.

She’s all that’s left.

mal attacks kaiden, glaive.

KLwzOHKeoXglaive




mal damage: 19.5/20