beginning of the end {Chester's Last}

All his life, he heard the same story over and over again as his parents taunted him. A mother and father were supposed to care for those they brought into the world, they were supposed to love them, make sure all their needs were taken care of, but for this dying eighteen year old, that wasn't the case - Chester was a mistake, and his parents made sure he knew it.

Every second of every single day it was all he heard until they were lowered into the ground.

But the stories still lingered with him in the form of an aunt and uncle, people he tried to find refugee in. He wanted them to care for him, but it was his fault they lost someone they loved and cared for. It was his fault his life was the way it was. It was his fault he was born. Everything was his fault -

It's always my fault.

That was how his life started, and that was how it would end.

Chester was no more than a filthy, rotten, worthless being trudging along the face of the earth. Even in his dreams, he heard his family talking. Perhaps it would've been best if he wasn't born, but he was just an innocent child living in a cruel world, and that cruel world eventually stole his innocence away.

He wanted to make things right. He wanted to prove he wasn't a mistake, that he was worthy of living in the world, but it all came crashing down in the blink of an eye because volunteering had been the biggest mistake ever, and now that he was lying on the ground at the sole mercy of the man standing above him, Chester wished he could take it back. Those regretful words came back to haunt him - I couldn't let the kid with one hand die. It was a way of trying to make up for it, a way to make volunteering seem right, however, it came back to the same two words over and over that changed his life forever.

I volunteer.

A waterfall of tears streamed down the side of his face as he struggled to breathe. Cartilages popped with each rise and fall of his chest, and he watched as the sides moved at opposite speeds. A crimson rive gushed down the front of his chest - it was a miracle bone fragments didn't pop through the skin.

And he sat, eyes locked on Titus.

For a moment he felt like his pleas fell on deaf ears, and his already broken heart fell to the ground with a deafening thud. It was one thing for someone to die standing on their own two feet, but it was another for someone to lie on the ground unable to move, unable to fight as the predator finished devouring the prey.

Please.

Begging never got him anywhere in life, and it wouldn't surprise him if Titus kicked him while he was down.

But something was different.

"Here."

The world stood still, time ceased to exist, and in this very moment, Chester was a boy being helped up by someone who knocked him down. The innocent child locked away inside his mind took control for that moment, and instead of striking, instead of trying to murder the man trying to kill him, Chester placed his hand on Titus' shoulder, and pulled himself to a standing position with the help of the cane he took after kill Dandy.

Trees spun around, the ground teetered back and forth, and he couldn't control the black spots dancing before his eyes. White fire shot through his veins, and it hurt, every fiber of his being hurt.

Resting his hands on his knees, he tried catching his breath, and he tried to catch the gaze of someone he never knew, someone he never cared for. Why start now? Why pretend to celebrate for a man when he was dying? This was just a sport for fun, but where was the fun? Yeah, death was a huge part of life, but this? This was something nobody deserved.

Yet the tears stopped, and for a split second the corners of his lips twisted into a half grin.

He had the chance to kill, the chance to strike. He had to chance to stoop low enough to murder the man helping him, but he didn't. He couldn't. It went against everything that he knew.

"And I don't think you're a mistake neither."

Bones popped, ribs snapped as the bat swung into his chest, and for a moment, he teetered. Violent screams erupt past his lips, but it wasn't enough to save him. Blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, rib fragments punctured his lungs. All the air he held inside escaped as he toppled over to weak to even lift his arms to catch himself. The back of his skull cracked beneath the weight, liquid fire shot deep within the marrow of broken bones.

Warm liquid pooled in the corners of his eyes as the world stopped.

Lungs screamed for a breath of air.

A frantic heart pound inside his chest trying to pump the much needed blood throughout his body, but it only went up turning his pale face blue.

Violent roars bellowed through his ears, and Chester swore he was lying in front of the waterfall once more. The sound was so familiar, and yet it was impossible because he left it behind.

It was here in the forest where he found Teddy, Rhetoric, and Rory. It was here where they became friends. It was here when he struck Lorenza down. It was here he carried Teddy away from battle when he couldn't carry himself -

It was the beginning of the end.

Leaving Teddy behind had been difficult, and he wanted to see him now, he wanted to escape the chains holding him back, but moving was difficult - Chester could barely lift his own head.

Just this morning he saw him, and just this morning he said goodbye Had he realized it would've been the end, Chester would've stayed just one more day with him. They could've fought along side one another, but the fear of fighting each other only destroyed him. It tore at his soul, and now he was slowly slipping from the fence diving the world of life and death.

In one corner the angel of death stood motioning for him to follow, and on the other was the faces of those he cared for.

None of this was worth it.

Killing Dandy and Lorenza.

They deserved to live, but they died because of him, and now he was suffering the same fate as them.

'For what it's worth, I'm fucking sorry, y'know?'

Sorry didn't mean anything, and yet he wanted to see them, to apologize for doing what he had to do to survive when all the odds were stacked against them.

He wanted to see Teddy, to talk to him just one more time. Maybe he even tell him he loved him. That he was more than a friend, but it was all too late. He waited too long, and now he paid the price.

And it was all his fault.

A violent storm tore through his body as he coughed up chunks of clotted blood before groaning as quietly as possible trying not to cause a scene;

He had to get his attention.

Just one last plea like before.

Was it too much to ask? A second favor? Something that may never even happen? It was worth it because he had something to say, and he only hoped Titus would understand.

"If you see Teddy, tell him I'm sorry."

Every word hurt, but maybe Teddy would understand. Maybe he would see the reasoning, the logic behind it all. But what he was sorry for? Why apologize to someone that, in the end, was the enemy? Chester didn't know, but it was something he had to say. He ruined a perfect chance, and he tried to aim for the gold, but he fell short.

Weak fingers slid from the fence,

He inhaled as much air as he possibly could trying to hold onto life, but when he exhaled, it was a sigh of relief. The corners of his lips twisted into a genuine smile. All the pain was gone as the world turned black and silent.

For the first time in his eighteen years of life, Chester finally had nothing left to prove.