Thank You, Next {Red & Nell // Day 8}

The buzzing glow cuts into the arm of my newly discovered opponent, the recent enemy who had achieved the unthinkable, the person now marked as Cedar’s killer. But it’s scarcely a scratch that marks her skin so; encircling me back to two days ago when my weapon refuted to scar Orion as deeply as I needed it to, upon the cable bridge that fenced all of our lives in uncertainty… the last battle I shared with Cedar at my side. Then there was yesterday’s first battle without him, where my weapon refused entirely to even touch my foe - until desperation collapsed upon me to go find Cedar, and it ended right there with a final strike of my sword. Now there’s today’s, while only revenge licks upon my lips, and I’m uncertain which motive is the one that’ll keep me alive.

Will the absence of Cedar be my own demise? Or will the knowledge that it won’t be him versus I at the end of all of this, keep me alive? Do the souls that I’ve stolen wish for me to carry on their names with my continuing breath, or for me to join them where I sent them?

“Why did I kill Cedar?” She questions, and though I know it’s rhetorical - it almost sounds as though she’s wondering the reason herself. Her own weapon is drawn, leaving me without doubt that it’s surely another battle brewing. “I wanted you to notice me, of course.” Confusion swirls through my mind from her words that she delivers with such slick confidence. The gun of lasers aims my way; while I don’t flinch from its stare, not even when it rattles in my direction. “Did it work?” It almost seems as though it’s another rhetorical question spewing across her tongue. No shit, I want to say - while a laser colliding into me distracts me from such.

Something cracks, pausing my heart for a second in the wait to see if it’s one of my bones. But with a curious gaze to the infliction, it’s the armor I had stolen from Eos’s corpse that shatters - leaving only an ugly welt of a bruise in it’s wake. Perhaps my kills do wish for me to carry on in this nightmare, as it’s her glove that protect me from a laser potentially ripping through the entirety of my hand. There’s no certainty if she died with acceptance or hatred, or what any of them felt in those last moments.

A sigh flutters from my chest in an almost annoyance, as though unable to believe all of this has carried on for so long. “So you killed Cedar for me to notice you?” I question her back in the same manner, rhetorical with a genuine wonder. “Like in a school kid crush kind of way? You fucken murdered someone rather then tease me? Or is it in a neglected child kind of way, who’s acting up to get any sort of attention?” Deeper reasoning now questions from my core with a tone of accusation, simply unwilling and unable to swallow the explanation she’s given.

“See, that’s simply not good enough. To survive, to protect, to revenge - that I can understand. But to be noticed?” The comments that breach almost sound to be solely the thoughts in the head, as I expect a reasonable explanation will never be gifted. “Well, you got your wish. I’ve definitely noticed you.” Just as I noticed Kit, and Dusty, and Orion, and Eos - and as I did to them, the light of sword swings once more.

^{[ Thank You So Much Incredible DARS <3 ]}

“If anything, my school kid crush was on Eos.” The sarcastic truth of her words collapses upon both my stomach and chest simultaneously, crushing the entirety of my torso. Honestly, I can’t blame her for such a crush, the girl from Nine was extraordinary in every sense of the matter. And it might crush Eight even more to discover I destroyed that girl from Nine. No envy nor spite flutters my core at the lighthearted comments from my foe. “But I definitely was neglected. Nail, meet head.” Humor continues to relish across her tongue in a manner I know all too well. Still none of it is good enough to excuse killing Cedar.

The generous light of my sword finally discovers the strength I’ve strived to will it with today. Blood boils upon her skin as an unforgiving sight that I’m forced to need a desire for. Perhaps survival will not see me from this place, while it sure as hell won’t be escorting Cedar’s killer from here either. Plus five spiteful welcomers to the next realm will be much better than four. A weight-full breath curdles past my lips, blankness rumbling through my thoughts once more - while my silent muscles scream an entirely different story. Confusion may be numbing my thoughts, while my goal is surely not lost from me.

With mastery of the machine we’ve all been gifted with, she beams to heights above my own - automatically inducing my arms to cross before my chest, staring up at her with my impatience growing to simply finish this. “Red,” she speaks to me from up there as though upon her high horse, “please understand. He killed Dusty.” She swallows, and I choke on my own unspoken words. “He killed Dusty.” She releases her towering distance, plummeting towards me with her weapon in tow. And as though an eye for an eye, a gash tattoos across my own arm, upon the same side and nearly the same spot that I implanted a pretty mark across her own skin.

A laugh trims from my throat from disbelieve, or perhaps from the pain I’m unable to concentrate upon, or maybe it’s simply from the irony of all of this; either way a laugh cackles across the hallways that are growing quieter and stiller by the day. “I killed your schoolgirl crush, Eos - you know?” A smile implants upon my lips despite my complete lack of pride in this matter. “While you were off killing Cedar, I killed that gorgeous girl from Nine. She seemed like such a badass to, yet somehow I killed her in one swing.” Ego swirls from my tone. Technically it was four swings, but given that my weapon had only touched her once - I solely count that.

“You know who else I killed? Your little friend Dusty.” Guilt, and rage, and pure disbelieve continues to dance in their own battle within my head. “It was the day all the lights went out. I had night vision goggles on… Cedar didn’t. He hit me more times than that little redhead. But she accidentally hit him while being blind as a bat… and because of that mere accident, I killed her.” And she was strong, and innocent, and deserved to live - and I killed her. “Just as I’m going to kill you.” And like any promise my words create, my strength will hopefully followthrough.

^{[ Thank You So Much Incredible DARS <3 ]}

The center is aimed for just as it always is, where the heart is, where the largest target is. But as the other four attempted, Nell succeeds in her desperate attempt to prevent my destruction from kissing her skin once more - solely it’s not by dodge, nor blocking with the proper necessity. Armor cracks to being unusable once more. And it seems as though this year’s protective guard has been crafted thinner than ever before, shattering from the smallest touch. In past Arenas armor was the most vital equipment to discover or receive within these nightmares. On many occasions we witnessed upon the projection a chest-piece rejecting a knife stab that could have killed. But here it scarcely absorbs a beautiful bruise that would have erupted without it.

But perhaps it’s the pretty bruise that would have pushed us over the edge of survival.

Injury hardly inflicts upon Nell due to even the petty armor we’ve been granted with. And with this lack of a distraction, she absorbs the words just given even more so. “You killed Dusty,” her words are so hushed that I can barely dissect them, while somehow I manage to despite. A red contorts the hue of her cheeks, and I’m unsure if its remorse or anger rumbling through her veins. “You.” A growl enhances with every half a second to pass, passion and fuel growing with it - it’s definitely anger gracing her now.

“Fuck you, Red. I didn’t even m-mean to kill him.” Her claim arches my eyebrows inward in confusion, baffled by the differing reasons she continues to present. If she didn’t mean to kill him, then what the hell happened? With the explanations transferring with every speech to pass, perhaps I will never know. While she’s been told exactly why I had to kill her little friend, exactly why anyone kills within this nightmare, to survive or protect. “And I didn’t kill the only good person here. She was here.” But she wasn’t when she destroyed Cedar, meaning the last good person left was stolen by her hands.

She masters the technology of the jetpack once more, flying towards me with force I didn’t know these things pertained. “BIIIIIIITCH!” Rage curls from her throat with a disarray I purely consume within. She slams into me, while her weapon is denied the surface of my skin by own grip. And together we burst into a nearby wall, my back slammed against in - in a manner that would invoke a pristine kiss between two romantic partners. Except here, those don’t exist… can’t. Maybe this is why Cedar refuted all of my flirts.

“I’m sorry…” An apology surprising dances from my tongue with true sincerity. Confusion continues to rattle in my thoughts, wondering if she has just as many rights as I do to seek revenge now. Subtly my head shakes back and forth. “But you weren’t there to protect her. You weren’t willing to give your own damn life for her to survive. You should have been there for her, she deserved that much.” A lecture brews out of nowhere, spite flicking from every word.

With a swift slide I regain the distance once more. “And when you killed Cedar, Dusty wasn’t here.” I correct in an odd determination to be right. “And if you didn’t protect her with every ounce you had in you, you have no right to seek revenge in her name. But me? I tried to stay by him, I tried to find him, I tried to protect him! And I will seek revenge for what you did to him with everything I have.” Because within this nightmare, that’s all that I have left. And once again the light of sword pursues behind my need.

^{[ Thank You So Much Incredible DARS <3 ]}

The buzzing glow of my weapon returns to the brutality I require from it. Straight through from the tip of the light, it dives into the likes of my Opponent’s foot - as though to claim the dominance of pinning. The pain radiating upon Nell’s features in undeniable, in a manner that should strike at my core with a load of gruesome guilt… while no longer, after eight days and four souls stolen by me, can I afford to absorb such remorse. And sure enough, the moment that she’s released from the stab of my red beam she’s maneuvering her jetpack again to retrieve from the ultimate threat I have now become.

With a hole through her foot and all, she scurries from my presence as though it were pure escape required to win this Game and not the demise of others. Without a thought of it, my eyes automatically roll with the lack of patience she has already induced. And to make matters even more pleasurable, she halts at the door with her fingers wrapped around its edges, and her expression returning to my view with a turn. “I was protecting her. I left to protect her. You’ve seen the death that I bring.” She claims with words that return confusion to my thoughts.

There’s no protecting anyone without them around to ensure the protection is true. That is why I was desperate to find Cedar once more. That is why I know I must retrieve back to Mycelium’s side.

If death is invoked from Nell, she should have used such to protect Dusty - not run from her in hopes she could kill for herself. Her hand returns to the buttons of the jetpack, and I know she’s about to use it once more. “Cedar saw firsthand.” She raises her weapon as though to gesture to her implication, her aim returning to my direction. “You’re not mad at me, dude. You’re mad that you didn’t protect him. You weren’t enough.” Accusations pool upon her tongue as if seeking desperately to discover one of my own buttons and to press it as she does with the jetpack.

If only it’d work.

A hearty laugh bubbles within my chest. Perhaps I’m not good enough, and perhaps one day I’ll realize this. But for now my laughter even continues as her weapon flies across the room, to collide brutally into my shin - my laughter prevails. And like that she’s gone in a search for a haven away from me. Her goal may be intelligent, while her execution surely is not. It’s too late in the game to play hide and seek.

The buttons are finally attempted by my own fingertips. Instantly I fly up, banging my head into the ceiling of this place while I seek to gain control of this stupid thing. With a humorous ache rupturing in my shin, this thing will hopefully help in the chase. And eventually I find myself in the hallway, at the ankles of the one who dared to kill Cedar. “Sounds like you’re trying to project your own self doubt onto me.” I claim as though a therapist who truly gave a shit. “But I kept Cedar safe and sound until we… until we lost each other.” Until he left me, while those words are to difficult to conjure.

“You chose to leave Dusty to fend for herself! Because you were to coward to protect her! If you truly cared about her, you never would have done that.” And even if I’m not good enough for anyone, at least I know I tried to be. My fingers attempt to snatch at her jetpack to force her return to this battle, while my hands are unable to stretch far enough. “So how about you stop being a coward and fight me! Whoever is supposed to get their revenge, will.” But my weapon is reachable, and with that I crave for my own revenge through it.

^{[ Thank You So Much Incredible DARS <3 ]}

A hand goes plummeting from the limb is was attached to just seconds ago. The body it was connected to then comes crashing into my arms with no pressure against the buttons she was just pressing to keep afloat. And together we collide into the unforgiving floor, that one of us will soon lay down upon without the ability to ever retrieve from with our breath still intact again. But for now the ability somewhat graces us both, while at the moment the air has been ripped from my lungs - both from the fall, collision, and hand that I have taken. The breath of my Opponent remains however, along with the capacity to communicate.

“This isn’t the roof.” A joke coils from her, while her voice rests with such seriousness that leaves me questioning. Has numbness coaxed her as well now? Perhaps insanity is seeping through her veins with the loss of blood its intaking? Or maybe a monotoned joke is apart of the punch. Either way I feel the laser gun press against my stomach that immediately turns in knots due to it. “And this isn’t about you.” Pain ruptures afterwards, and the vision before me sways in a threatening manner.

Instinctively I slam her from my close proximity, my free hand automatically curling around the wound now overtaking my stomach. The chances of returning to Mycelium appeared so close before, while now it seems to be growing into the distance - like the light at the end of a tunnel dimming no matter how fast I rush towards it. Crumbling to defeat feels so peaceful; while the second that idea passes my thoughts even vaguely so, I can see Mycelium’s raging disapproval screaming for me not to. And then there’s all who I’ve murderer, who would die in a vain if I were to cave. And of course there’s Cedar as well, who I know I must live for… who I must avenge.

With a hefty breath I return to my senses and a sturdy stance. The reaper is licking upon my Foe just as much as myself. And with the reaper I have become, perhaps I can refute it from me - can enhance it upon her. So many are counting on me to do exactly that. My grip tightens around the buzzing glow of my weapon that refuses to flick off even through all the commotion, that rejects a halt from its beautiful song.

“That’s good. I don’t need this to be about me.” Words of nonchalant acceptance coils from my lips with a shrug. Her reasoning for this battle continues to shift with every passing second, while at the end I understand - at the end it’s solely about survival, while at the beginning this is still about revenge. “For me, this is about what you did to Cedar. Why you did it keeps changing, but what you did never will. And I truly understand now, none of us seem to want to face the truth.” Speaks from all that I’ve really learned within this place. Followed by the second thing I’d rather have not learned, and the light of my sword swings once more.

^{[ Thank You So Much Incredible DARS <3 ]}