Dream No More [The Jokers Mutt Fight Day 4]

Man once built a tower to reach the gods above, only for it to be destroyed. The tower crashed to the ground as a punishment from the gods to never reach for something that they couldn't have. Riordan Einfallen would fall like man's tower had.

The king of fools wanted everything. Strength. Skill. Speed. Intelligence. Memorable. All of that is what he wanted, but in reality, he was nothing but average. A man who could act out a scene in a moment's notice, but couldn't kill a man with his own bare hands. Even if he was supposed to, just to live to the next day. The tower had fallen, just like he had in everything. Always falling too short of the things he wanted. He wasn't meant for this. He wasn't born for this. Death was meant to take him to the next world. Blood, now dried, upon his thigh is uncomfortable. Night falls with only a shiver of breath and the realization of change.

He's growing into someone that his mother would fear. Someone his father would yell at. Someone his brother wouldn't mess with. Someone who couldn't hold himself up by the pressures in his self esteem. Bent and broken from the dead's glowing eyes that seem to follow him into the dream world that he pretends to exist, but he knows in only a dream that his heart makes. The sky lights up with the faces of the dead. Too many cannons that fired a symphony of blasts that twisted his stomach with fear that Anarchy or Cassiopeia had fallen. An explosion had been the most and least of his worries when they fired. Burns lining up upon Cassie's face like the wings of a fallen angel. And all he can do is breathe, trying to remember what beauty Cassiopeia had left, even though her beauty wasn't in looks, but in actions.

The king of fools wasn't prepared for the first face to appear in the sky. Words only a whispering tickle of the ear.

"You're not alone Riordan."

"I am now, Diorite. You promised me."

It's a cycle of remorse and death. Built himself up like a tower to reach the gods above, only to fall. Wings burning up like the fallen angels before him. Diorite Fray was gone, a piece of stardust up in the cosmos, swirling in the dreams that she had. No more oceans to swallow her whole, sending waves crashing through her body as the sorrow fills her up. Diorite was free from the shackles that kept her stuck to reality. Riordan bows his head for a moment. A whisper upon his lips as he speaks out to whatever sky's above, fake or not. His words are filled with emotion and tears threaten to fall, but he's strong. Stronger than he used to be. Forever changing with the presence around him.

"One day. I'll see you again, Diorite. I'll keep fighting. It's what you wanted for me. No more drowning under it all. I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you from the inevitable."

Fingers pick the rose off of his palm as another one grows in it's place. The scarlett rose now upon the ground, like a memory of the past. The sky transforms once again, a glimmer of his face for a second. A trick of the eye is what he tells himself, but as soon as the face of a person he didn't know leave, Ivar Hammerfell's appears. Heart aches as he remembers the threats and the teasing. There was no survival for the crippled, no Bran Wolfe's to make it to the end. Ivar Hammerfell had been disadvantaged since the start. Heart screams at Riordan as he can see the features of a man who had taken something he didn't even realize until the sinking of heart in his chest. There was something more to Ivar Hammerfell that Riordan wished he could have known.

Every detail of Ivar's face sends a shiver down Riordan's spine. The chill reminding him of when he met Ivar Hammerfell. The cocky grin upon the man's face that Riordan wanted to kiss off, unfortunately that's not how it went. A small crush that he had developed on the Hammerfell was gone, just like the outline of his face. Only a whisper of something more at the back of his neck. The face blurs away into the next of a man that Riordan never knew.

The tower was falling.

The gods were shrieking with joy.

Ronnie Cheyne was gone.

A shirtless night with drunken sweet nothings and a pleasant memory. Lips tingle just like they had with Zanita's death. There's always a time when Riordan was terrified of himself. Death seemed to follow him as close as humanly possible. Death rips anything that had been good from Riordan's hands, lovers, friends, and anyone who touched him intimately. Death's eyes always following him wherever he went. Cursing Riordan with a kiss that is both so lovely and so deadly. Arms tense as he remembers the last thing he said to Ronnie Cheyne.

There was only one thing that made him angry. Atlas Lumiere was still alive. The king himself, who was almost like a god himself, with might that seems to be unfathomable. Anger of what could have happened sends Riordan spiraling downwards. The tower of strength Riordan had built within himself crashing down to earth with a realization that no one was safe. No one was safe from the world that was around him. The king of fools was learning what change was. Changing into something that no one would love. A man with a stone heart that weighs heavily upon his chest. Air trapped inside his lungs, trying to force it's way out. Even giants like Atlas Lumiere could fall.

The next face shatters him to pieces.

A rose of black blooms upon his hand as the face of a little girl takes shape in the sky.

Iris Eckhart's face glows in the light of the mutts.

And he's shattered.

Pieces of what Riordan Einfallen had built up to hold him to a standard of who he could be was gone. Everything in him ached. The throbbing of pain and the tears that pull at his his eyes lids sends him in a frenzy. No clue of what had happened to the Eckhart that was supposed to survive. Elettra was a monster who let another sister fall for her own survival. Eckharts were supposed to stick together. That's what he had thought, but everything was different. Everything was changing. All he wanted to do was avenge the girl who shared a rose upon her body like himself. Hearts intertwined with a rose that balanced each other. A piece of him was lost to Death. Another piece of Riordan Einfallen that had been living outside of his body. Another broken person left behind by him. Wings of an angel burning as he can feel the look Iris had given him before moving on to somewhere else. A place away from Riordan Einfallen, the mad man, the king of fool, and a failute.

Iris Eckhart wasn't born to be apart of this games. An angel flying freely within the arena, until she burnt up like the rest of them. Gone forever, leaving him with nothing left. Nothing more to the story, but a boy who thinks he can do something. A fist slams the ground as he turns away from Anarchy and Cassie. Tears flowing down his cheeks. He succumbs to sleep before the images of other faces appear. Iris Eckhart's rose stuck within his mind. A burning image of the one person he would have given his life for.

The tower shatters and collapses around Riordan.

He's awaken by a constant ringing sound that sends a chill through his body. Someone else was there. Someone else was around them and Riordan quickly opened his eyes with no sleep to him. Restlessness filling his body with soreness. Weapons already in hand as he's met with the boy from District Twelve. Alone. Easy prey. Easy killing. Bent and Broken, Riordan stands calmly with weapon in his hand. The javelins feel different than the sword had, but they could still do some damage if he needed them to. Voice echoes over the orchard as he threatens the District Twelve kid.

"You better stay where you are. I'm not afraid to throw this javelin straight through your heart kid."

Caution was already his ally in this. Anarchy and Cassie are there, but he's stuck in a stare off with the District Twelve boy. Iris Eckhart pops into his mind as he stares at the boy. Her tiny smile reminding him of Jequirity's own. The rose on his hand, mashed against the pole of the javelin. A second of staring passes until Riordan drops his threatening stance. Eyes wander the boy's face. A question stuck within his mind.

What hell has this kid been through?

They've all suffered more than they let on. Friends, lovers, allies, and enemies all falling right before their eyes. Callixtus' death still puts a rotten taste in his mouth. The orchards was where the Shim boy had made his final stand. Memories of Ronnie Cheyne come next and he tears himself away from reality for a second as the field of red and purple pull at his mind. More people stand with arms open, ready to accept him into their arms, but he's cautious. Reality flashes back into view.

Just as man had built a tower to the heavens and was punished, Riordan would be punished by the gods themselves.

The cry for help by a small deer could be heard. A trap in the arena was what he instantly thought of when he saw the small thing. A mutt created to pull at the heartstrings of the weak, like himself, but he was smarter than that. That's when more creatures appeared. A mass calling it had seemed like to the ringing phone. A rolling of the eyes as four creatures surround them all. Riordan notices the weaker of the ones, deciding that it had something else in mind. The coat of fluff reminding Riordan of the animals that roamed the outsides of District Six. The difference was that this one was made to either kill or do something worse, more torturous. Riordan's already screaming out to his allies.

"We got some more of those creatures guys!"

Eyes stare at the District Twelve boy. Trust wasn't something Riordan could create easily, but he was silent. Thoughts processing in his brain. Acting fast was what he needed to do. There was no time for the boy from twelve. All he could do was sigh as he pulls the first javelin out. He shouts in the direction of the district twelve boy, words steady and strong like he wished for himself to be. There was only them four and four mutts between escaping. This was a no brainer to him, but it depended on if they could hit the creatures. Riordan's blood is pumping with anger as he remembers Iris' death is on someone's hands. The mutts would be a way to fuel that anger and get rid of it.

"Kid! Help us out! I won't stab you today, if you can help us this one time!"

Instinct tells him not to wait for a response. Instead, he can feel the tingle of lips upon his body from Ronnie Cheyne. He can feel Zanita's arms on his back. He can feel Brooke's hands brushing flowers into his hair. Diorite's words as they touch his face with pleasant compliments. Scarlett's lips upon his own. The worst of all, he can feel Iris Eckhart's hand in his own, the rose smooshed between the two as he feels himself want to both cry and scream out loud. This was Riordan's chance to prove himself. This was the king of fools chance to show that he's become something more than just a boy who wanted to die days ago. He was a man who learned to look for the future. Wings of angels burning in the past, Towers falling in the present, but the future held something more that he could reach.

All he was doing was waiting for Kairos.

The tower falls from the heaven.

Riordan Einfallen strikes.