Leon
I was already waiting in the arena for this Caelum boy to arrive. We still had a couple of minutes left before we had to fight.
The crowd was cheering, it was loud. I put one finger in my ear and twisted it around, like that would get rid of the noise. I scoffed, irritated.
Suddenly, a voice, like a whisper, came from behind me.
"How vulgar." The voice was icy.
I turned around, but there was no one. I whipped back around just in time to see Caelum walking up the tunnel. His steps were slow and steady.
The moment he stepped out of the tunnel, the crowd went silent, and everyone was still. They were afraid, hell, even I was afraid.
His presence was suffocating. He had an aura of pure hatred and rage pouring off of him, like a raging thunderstorm ready to strike anyone down.
I flinched back. He must've seen this because he spoke.
"Now you want to show weakness?" His voice was icy, full of malice. His voice alone felt like it was going to slice my throat open. "You kicked someone while they were down and showed no weakness, so tell me, why show weakness now?"
This was no ordinary ten-year-old you'd see strolling around an academy; his aura and voice told me that. What made him this way? What horrors did he witness? What kind of child carried this much darkness?
I tried to compose myself and spoke, my voice was still a little shaky.
"I-I-I was just s-surprised. I didn't expect a ten-year-old to have such an aura."
He simply scoffed at my answer. He knew I was lying, he knew how scared I was.
He kept walking towards me until we were standing face to face. I felt sweat start to form on my forehead. Now he was close enough, I could see his eyes. They were still blue, but they were glossed over and dull. No light, no reflection, just... dead. Like whatever soul had lived in him had left. No more like fled.
Sophie Victoria
The moment Caelum...
No, not Caelum, Rain.
The moment Rain stepped out of the tunnel, the crowd was silenced. As if Rain had sucked the air right from everyone lungs.
I looked at Rain intently. I've seen this look in his eyes before. When he showed me the cellar. This wasn't the kind boy anymore. This was the Rain I knew from that day.
He walked slowly, and each step felt like thunder in my chest. His aura was more frightening than his eyes, though. An aura of pure hatred and malice. The shadows clung to him, as if they belonged to him. He no longer had that all-blue hue about him.
I couldn't move. All I could do was turn my head slightly.
Arya was standing next to me, stiff and unmoving.
I heard the chill of Rain's voice.
"Now you want to show weakness?"
My stomach turned, and my heart dropped. This was the same voice.
"Are you one of them?" It was the question he asked me when he saw me in the Victoria house. It had the same chill to it.
I wasn't scared of him.
I was scared for him.
He was slipping.
I didn't want him to revert to his old self, not when I was about to tell him that I don't blame him, but I couldn't speak.
All I could do was hope... pray, that when this was over, there was still a piece of him left.
Rain
The air was still. Like the world was holding its breath.
It was so silent I could hear my heartbeat. Arya, Sophie, the crowd, they didn't exist. The only thing that existed was the boy in front of me.
The same boy who had kicked Lyla while she was down. Like she was trash. The same boy who had smiled while he slashed her.
The speaker's voice cracked through the silence.
"Begin."
Leon rushed in recklessly. He didn't hesitate, his blade aimed straight at my throat.
I tilted my head slightly to the side, his sword grazing my cheek in the process.
I didn't blink.
Then I moved.
My hand shot up, grabbing the flat of his sword. His eyes widened.
I pulled him towards me and slammed my forehead into his nose.
He stumbled backwards, blood gushing from his nostrils. However, I didn't let him fall.
I hit him with a left hook to the jaw, and his head whipped sideways.
Clang
He dropped his sword, and I picked it up. It was too flashy, and proud, just like him.
I kicked his legs out from underneath him and caught him by his collar. I hurled him across the arena like a rag doll. He rolled, gasped, and stammered to his feet.
Just as he got to his feet, I was already in front of him.
I threw a barrage of punches. Jaw, ribs, kidney, anything that was open.
He fell backwards.
I saw it. Not the arena, not Leon, but the cellar, the cages, the smell of dried, rust colored blood.
I blinked and looked down at my fists. Blood was all over them, and all over the rocks of the arena floor.
He tried to crawl away.
I stabbed the blade into his pants.
"Get up," I said flatly.
He didn't.
"GET UP," my voice boomed throughout the entire arena, breaking the silence.
He flinched, but he pushed himself up to his knees.
I pulled the sword from the ground and raised it above my head.
The crowd gasped, not that I didn't pay it any mind.
I hesitated, though, not because I couldn't do it, but because I could.
I stood there, blade raised above my head, staring down at Leon. He looked small. Weak. Pathetic.
The sword felt heavy, it wasn't the weight of steel, it was the weight of choice, of history. Would it repeat itself, here and now?
No, it's not. I'm not the same person I was back then.
I let out a breath and dropped the sword. The clang echoed throughout the arena. The silence that followed was louder than anything else.
Leon looked at me confused, but he didn't move.
I turned around and walked to the edge of the arena.
"Winner.... Caelum." The referee's voice shook as he announced the winner.
There was no cheering from the crowd.
I heard something move behind me. I turned around and Arya was climbing down from the stands.
Sophie, however, didn't move. Her expression unreadable. All I could see was the faint shimmer of tears forming in her eyes.
Fear? Relief? Understanding? Or maybe... hope?