bloodflood pt.ii asa vs esme

[gamemaker kelsier]

A S A R E A U

He'd almost broken down and reached out a hand to tug at Esme's arm when they parted ways. He didn't want to be all alone in the darkness but just because they'd teamed up to kill the beast it didn't mean they could be friends. They both had alliances to get back to, they both had different intentions on what the outcome of this games should be. They couldn't stay together because the truth was that they were still enemies. He might have wrapped a bandage around the girl's arm and might have slayed the enormous mutt that had inhabited the pit before them but that would mean nothing tomorrow when they met in battle.

He'd wandered far that day, stairs taking him out of the beast pit even though his whole body ached and all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep. He needed to find them, his friends. He needed to find them and apologize for getting lost and tether himself to them so that it could never happen again. The problem was that it was so damned dark and he had no idea of where he was going. Retracing his steps did not work; he didn't know where he'd come from in the first place. This arena was hopeless, frustratingly confusing.

He was still searching when the anthem lit the ceiling up and announced a retinue of faces. He stood staring, sunglasses half slid down his nose as his heart stood still for long moments. The music faded and the rock went dark without showing hide nor hair of Pearl, Barnabas or Patricia. Valerie. They'd shared a train together and hardly spoken but she'd still been the only piece of home that he'd been able to align himself with. Careers usually lasted longer. He'd known that she'd have to die eventually if he wanted to meet his goal but eventually is such a loose term, he hadn't realized that it would come so soon.

He spent the night laid up against the tunnel wall, flicking his flashlight on and off, wishing that Barnabas would come around the corner and spot him there. He missed the familiar warmth of his friend and wondered how he fared, if he was going alright, if he'd hear a cannon go off in the middle of the night. He was sure that Pearl and Patricia would take care of him as best they could. He trusted Pearl to at least. Patricia was less certain. One night she had come to kill him, the next to heal and this night she was not in sight at all.

He moves off after a few hours of laying in the darkness but sleep has evaded him. Worry chews on him like an angry dog and somehow his fingers can't stay warm. The flashlight shakes in his grasp. He walks again but his feet shuffle somehow and an overwhelming sense of doom rests on his shoulders. He is going to die today.

His lantern has gone out. He has matches but he can't find the will to light it. He flicks off his flashlight too and the world is dark as night. His sunglasses are scratched and they hide tired eyes but somehow the exhaustion extends further than his muscles. His bones are weary.

He hears one set of footsteps in the darkness and somehow he reacts. His alliance has three sets. This is one set. He waits, silent as torchlight blinks at him but the form is too blurred behind the sunglasses to make out, his head is too blurred to slur out words and he is a machine.

He is a what those that enter the games are raised to fear.

He is a career.

[asa flicks off flashlight]
[ASA ATTACKS esme]
CTlS3VR7sword
[Stabbed in Forearm -- 8.5 damage]

sword

[Knuckles]

[googlefont="Satisfy:400;"]

Esme Truus

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

And like that I left leaving Asa behind. I ain't got time to stand around 'cause I gotta find Kirk, and there ain't much time left before the anthem. I wanna find him 'cause I feel it would make him proud knowing that I took on a monster with a career. But it's beyond my wildest imagination where he could possibly be, and I ain't able to see a thing. The light is gone, and I'm all alone trapped in the stupid arena. It's scary, and I don't wanna be alone anymore. I wanna just scream, but that would definitely alert people to where I am, and I don't wanna another fight. I wanna keep walking so I can find Kirk, and the others 'cause they are my friends. I ain't sure what I'd do without them 'cause since the training center that've been there for me, and I just walked away 'cause I'm a coward and I couldn't stand being near them knowing they helped kill my friend.

BANG!

BANG!

Two back to back cannons boom through the arena and my heart jumps into my throat. I gotta hurry and find them 'cause I ain't sure who died. It can't be them, but my entire body starts shaking. I've heard four cannons today. Four tributes have died today, and I ain't one of them. I wanna call out for Kirk hoping he can hear my voice and find me, but I don't. Not yet anyway. I ain't 'bout to let people find me. It's best just traveling alone in the dark with nothing else to worry 'bout except those mutts the Capitol creates. Oh please find me Kirk. I'm scared. I'm lost. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Please. I'm sorry. I look around trying to find my location, but I ain't had no luck. It's completely dark, and I ain't even sure what time it is 'cause I don't got no way of knowing. Not in an arena where the sun, stars, and moon hide.

I keep walking until I hear the anthem blast through the arena. I scoot back until I'm against a wall, and I fix my gaze on the ceiling. The first face is the girl from two. I can only imagine what Asa's going through losing a piece of home, but that also means only two more careers remain alive. I'm proud knowing I've out lasted most of them, and I only hope I can continue going farther. Her face flies away and is replaced with a face of someone I know, a friend, Animus from district nine. Tears start streaming down my face as I dread the next two faces that'll show. I don't wanna look. I can't look. I just wanna lay down and forget everything I just saw. Animus, my friend, he's dead. I killed a man trying to save him, and I wasn't there to save him this time. I left and he needed me. I was gone. It's my fault he's gone. It's all my fault. His face disappears, and the next face snaps every single thread holding me to sanity.

Kirk Marshall.

It feels like someone took a knife and sliced my heart in two, but someone wouldn't be able to guess that 'cause of the laughter coming from my own body. Tears stream down my face. Someone back home might think I'm happy he's dead, but I ain't happy. My eyes pour a river of tears down my face, and I ain't able to stop it. I can't stop laughing as I run my fingers through my blood stained hair. My heart drops into my stomach before my intestines twist around it choking the life outta my own body. "Kirk!" I scream at the top of my lungs mixed with the laughter that ain't stopping. This can't be real. It's gotta be fake, a nightmare, anything other than the truth. I wanna close my eyes and open them and be laying in my own bed, but I ain't. I'm trapped in the stupid arena where my brother just died. He's dead. He's gone. And I ain't sure what to say.

The next face doesn't matter to me. He's just another dead tribute, and I ain't even caring that he died 'cause someone is 'bout to pay.

I don't even think 'bout sleeping. I ain't got time for it 'cause I got some hunting to do. I'm gonna hunt down whoever killed them, and I'm gonna make sure they die the most painful death ever witnessed on the face of the earth. They won't be just a pig; they'll be a pig that's butchered alive 'cause I wanna hear them scream as I slowly tear them limb from limb. I am gonna make sure they pay.

My hand slides into my bag removing the torch from inside. I ain't gonna let anyone push me around anymore. Someone killed them, and I'm not gonna let them get away with it. Laughter keeps falling outta my mouth echoing off the walls surrounding me. I take a deep breath as I walk down through the maze twisting through the turns over and over again. Sometimes I run into a dead end, but I ain't letting that stop me from trying. Twelve other tributes are out there somewhere, and I hope to find every last one of them. This is my time to shine.

I've killed once, and I'm not afraid to do it again.

Are you proud of me Ma? Pa? Are you proud of what I've become?

Something slams deep into my arm. It's dark, and I ain't able to see. I don't think. I move.

Esme Truus attacks Asa with sword
TgmbbT9Rsword
1094 -- Shallow Cut on Left Hip -- 3.5 damage

template by Anzie

sword

[gamemaker kelsier]

A S A R E A U

He is a mechanical man, a dancing monkey. Put a dime in the hat and he'll dance monkey, dance and if this were a movie rain would be coming down in sheets so thick that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. He can't see shit anyway because as it turns out, in case you're late to the show, it's dark as ditches where they are, even hell is brighter because at least hell has flames. He's doing it now, he's doing it. He's everything his father has ever wanted him to be.

He's a prodigy, a honed weapon, an emotionless dirt bag spilling soil and other poisonous things where ever he goes. He hears a screaming howl through the darkness and it turns out he's useless too because either there was more than one howling asshole or the beast that he 'killed' didn't die. Yet another thing he failed, yet another thing his father can hit him for, yet another thing he failed to protect Barney from, yet another time he was a waste of space with garbage for brains.

If there ever was one thing that Asa Reau was good at, he had yet to find it.

He was good at failing. There we go.

He felt savage as his sword dug into the flesh of his first real human victim, savage and angry and wild as he felt his prey's blade dig into his own in the darkness. There wasn't much for sound but the muffled breathing of two teenaged kids mauling each other to death in a place that was deeper than any grave there ever was. There wasn't much for feeling except for intense anger at all his failings, his failure to properly kill the beast, his failure to protect barnabas, his failure to find his friends, his failure to be anything that he was actually meant to be.

If only his father could see him now, see his blood spattered son and instead of smacking his head into the bathroom doorway where his mother is waiting for him with a roll of bandage and useless wishes than maybe he'd be proud for once of his 'waste of space'.

and he'd paint the town red with his blood or the other's.

[ASA ATTACKS esme]
M5SvO|btsword
[Stabbed in Back -- 9.0 damage]

sword

[Knuckles]

[googlefont="Satisfy:400;"]

Esme Truus

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

The oversize blade met something. I ain't sure what it was, but I don't got no way of finding out. It's dark, too dark. I wanna light the torch up to show the face of the person or monster standing near me, but I don't wanna know. What if this person is Crusader? He ain't got no way of knowing I'm the one standing next to him, but whoever it is I'm gonna tear them limb from limb. I don't care who's standing in front of me right now. I wanna kill. I wanna feel the blood of another person running down my own skin. I wanna slice their neck open so the blood and spew everywhere. The feeling is amazing, and I'm never gonna forget it. I wanna cover myself in their blood, and the only way to do that is kill whatever is in front of me.

My own blood pours down my arm, and I grit my teeth fighting to stay calm 'cause there ain't nothing important here other than killing. The giant blade falls outta my hand as something sharp slams deep into my back. I yelp more outta surprise than pain 'cause I ain't expecting nothing like that. Ain't this thing got any idea that stabbing a person in the back is wrong? As it's pulled from my skin my entire body jumps 'cause it feels like a bolt of lightning just shot throughout my entire body. I know then it's a person. Ain't no creature other than that stupid monster capable of causing that much pain, that much damage in one setting. Something warm pours down my back, and I know it's my own blood. I know it ain't good, but I gotta keep trying. Not for me. Not for my family. Not for Mace or Saffron, but for Kirk, Animus, and Emery.

I tighten my grip on the giant blade before turning around. I ain't got no business here. I can feel my body getting tired from the lack of sleep. I can feel the blood leaving my body as I fight to remain standing. My legs feel like someone has stung me over and over again. I shake my legs trying to get them to work. I wanna move on. I gotta fight, but I ain't sure how much is left in me. I almost speak out, but I decide against it. I swing my arm wildly in the dark as fast as I can, but I make contact with nothing. I'm a failure. I'm gonna die, and there ain't nothing I can do 'bout it.

Esme Truus attacks Asa with sword

7sl|y1I8sword
1171 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage

template by Anzie

sword

[gamemaker kelsier]

A S A R E A U

Anger drives him forward, blade swinging through the dark to meet the flesh of his invisible opponent. It's misplaced but it doesn't matter because it's there. He's never been so angry, it's blinding rage and he's become exactly what he never wanted to be, all those years spent being not good enough, all those years purposefully slipping up because he causing pain made him feel sick and it still does, he still might vomit. He took so many punches, so many cuts just because he was weaker but now he's the strong one, he's the one with strength.

He's a career and it's about time he lives up to it. He doesn't register the rushing air of where his victim's blade was meant to fall. It's like he's working through the body only, the mind has been shut off. He spins around the absence of air in the dark and swings his blade again, feeling it connect with skin and knowing that he's killing someone while not really knowing all at once.

He wishes he could go back to nights spent in caves, smoking cigarettes and being to shy to recite poetry. He's yet to have his first kiss. He's yet to have his first beer, his first love, but he has ha his first, second, third, fourth friend.

He swings his blade for them.

[ASA ATTACKS esme]
5Tm1DrGFsword
[Deep Gash on Forehead -- 9.0 damage]

sword

[Knuckles]

[googlefont="Satisfy:400;"]

Esme Truus

How could this happen to me
I made my mistakes
I've got no where to run
The night goes on
As I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me

I don't got no idea what's going on. I killed a man a couple days ago, and now I ain't even able to fight. I wanna rip this person limb from limb, but it's hard when I can't see. I'm sick and tired of being in the dark. I wanna see the light again, to walk in the sun back home, to see the stars in the sky when the moon is shining, but there ain't none of that here. I can't believe how long it's been since I've been home. I miss laying in the grass at night next to my cow. I miss the fire pits Pa started. I wanna go home, but I can't 'cause I'm not sure I'll make it outta this alive. My legs feel like several thousand bees are stinging them, or someone's gone crazy and sticking me with all kinds of needles. It ain't supposed to feel like this. I was just fine before that blade slid into my back. Maybe it's done something. I just gotta hope I can fix it.

The sword falls outta my hand as I turn around trying to find whoever is here. I ain't got no idea who it could be. I don't got no clue what I'm suppose to do other than swing at the darkness hoping to make connection with something. I wanna scream at the person to show their face, but I don't truly wanna see it. I don't wanna look into the eyes of whoever's attacking me. I don't wanna speak words to them 'cause nothing ain't right. This games ain't right, but I still wanna avenge Kirk. I wanna find his killer and shred them to pieces. Ain't nothing right 'bout killing someone, but that's what I'm trying to do. I wanna kill. I wanna taste the blood, but I never expected it to be my own blood.

Blood pours down my face the moment the blade connects with it, and this time I scream. I stagger around trying to keep myself from falling to the ground. I quickly remove my knife from my belt. Blood runs into my eyes, and it stings. Is this what it feels like? Is this what death feels like as it creeps up on a person? I ain't ready to die. I can't die. Not yet. I'm just fourteen years old. I hold the knife loosely as I struggle to stay on my feet, and this time I connect with something. It's more of luck than anything, but I know it ain't enough. I know I ain't leaving this place alive.

Esme Truus attacks Asa with knife

Su_JQjsKknife
2093 -- Shallow Cut on Right Bicep -- 3.5 damage

template by Anzie

knife

[gamemaker kelsier]

A S A R E A U

He swings his blade again and again, slashing and cutting away at anything and everything in his way in order to get back to Barnabas. Warm blood sprays over his skin and he becomes slick, sticky with it. The hilt of his blade however does not slip from his hand nor does he let go. The blood should horrify him but he feels nothing, just cold and empty and numb. The scream is registered but not heard, the blade sticking into his skin in such a shallow yet familiar way is felt but not registered.

He spins around the sculpture he's been forming in the dark one last time in the same sort of blow that brought him to his knees so many years ago when his brother performed it on him, opening a wide gash diagonally across the back of his victim. He matched the cut length and width with the own scar that crawled over his own shoulder and haunted him still nearly every night, the burning pain of it coming back to him sometimes, a phantom pain.

It was as the fight ended that he realized what that scream of pain sounded like. He stilled, cold dread overtaking him as he fumbled for the flashlight in his pack. He dared not speak, he couldn't trust himself to. His hand closed around the stem of the light and he flicked it on, turning the flashlight in his hand to

to

"E-esme?"

[ASA ATTACKS esme]
4HbVlt4asword
[Deep Gash on Back -- 8.5 damage]

sword

[Knuckles]

[presto][/presto]

E S M E  T R U U S

I just wish it all would stop, that whoever was there would just end it instead of messing around me. The pain that once started shooting throughout my body is replaced by a sense of guilt. It's my fault that Emery died. It's my fault that Kirk died. It's my fault that Animus died, and it's my fault that I'm gonna die. I've spent the last few days fighting trying to keep myself alive, yet I ain't even able to do that. Tears roll down my face as I feel my legs growing weaker and weaker. The bee stings stop and they're slowly going to sleep. I ain't gonna feel them much longer, but there sit nothing I can do. I was blinded by rage wanting the shred his killer into pieces, but now I ain't even able to do that. I don't got no chance of winning, and I was stupid to think I could. To think that I had a chance, but I ain't got no chance. I'm too far gone for saving.

No sound escapes my lips as the blade slices against my back from one side to the other. I can feel my skin being torn away as blood gushes from the wound. I stagger away fighting to stay calm. Fighting to stay alive, but there's no way it's happening. I turn in circles looking for whoever was here. I wanna face them. I want whoever it was to look me in the eyes as my soul flows away from my body. My legs give out and I crash towards the ground. The knife flies from my hand before I can attempt to save it. My one life line gone. I can hear the rush of the raging sea, and I know where I am. I'm back to the place I killed someone. The river wants to consume me with his fate. I didn't think twice 'bout not killing him. I had to. He was gonna kill my friend. I hit the ground hard wondering what my family is thinking. I promised Ma and Pa that I'd try, and I tried. I kept fighting, but now it's too late.

"E-esme?"

His voice. I know his voice, and a light flicks on. I follow the small beam of light, and I'm looking at Asa, and he's covered with blood, my blood. I ain't gonna scream at him 'cause it's the way the games go. He wants to survive. I wanna survive, but that ain't gonna happen. Instead, I can feel a small smile growing on my face. I know we ain't suppose to have friends in the arena, but he helped me, he saved me, and now he's killed me. I ain't dead yet 'cause I can still feel myself breathing, but it hurts to move. Nothing feels right. I ain't sure what happened. Yesterday we fought together against the giant monster. He cheered me on, and here he is standing over top of me. My blood drips off his sword. My life. Everything wiped away in the midst of a battle.

"A....A....Asa..." My voice ain't wanting to work. It's weak. I'm weak, but I gotta stay alive. I ain't avenged Kirk or Animus. I ain't ready to die. I don't got no idea if I made Mace or Saffron proud. I ain't done nothing. I gotta keep going. I gotta keep fighting, but I can't. I ain't able to 'cause my body is fighting against me.

"D...d...don't let me die... He...he....help me. Please."

Please.

[presto][/presto]

[gamemaker kelsier]

A S A R E A U

He looks upon his handiwork in horror, the little girl in front of him that he worked so hard to save yesterday bleeding hard from several wounds that he put there today. Horro at what he's done grips him tight and somehow he can't move. His hand shakes, the flashlight beam is weak and bile rises in his throat. She is on her knees and he mirrors her, hitting the hard earth with a thump, beam still focused on her. Wordlessly he runs a hand through his hair and removes the sunglasses that he's barely parted with in the last few days. All this time he was so busy fighting his demons, he forgot to be Asa.

Asa wouldn't have just struck out blindly with his sword, not before the games. He was a weakling, a coward and this only proved it. Shaking fingers reached out, tracing the wound on her forehead that he had made with his own blade. Yesterday every hit she'd received from the monster had hurt him without the blades ever touching his skin and today he was the one that was responsible for this. When he took his hand away, blood came away with it. His blade was beside him now, dormant and silent on the rocky flooring and this fight was over.

The expert in him could see it in the way the blood was coming so sluggish from the head wound, how there was so much blood around them, Esme was dying and no amount of needle and thread could save her this time, he couldn't slap a bandage on her and proclaim her better. Today when they said their farewells, it would be the forever kind of goodbye. He didn't think it would come so soon. He'd often thought that he'd be the first out of those he called friends to kick it, that this wouldn't have to happen.

He didn't want to be the boy that killed the fourteen year old girl, the sweet little thing from ten and call it 'the games' or 'self-defense'. This was murder. He was murderer.

"What have I done," he whispered, carefully brushing her hair back from her forehead. "Oh god Esme, I..." I didn't mean to. but those were useless here because it was done. It was done even if he hadn't meant to kill her, he had somehow. They both knew it too, that if it came down to it, he wasn't the brave boy he pretended to be, he really was a coward. He would have tried to kill her if they were the last two in the arena. He just hadn't wanted it to be this way, in the dark with no idea who he was attacking.

Regret grips him tightly.

"I don't think....I don't think I can help this time, Esme."

[Knuckles]

[presto][/presto]

E S M E  T R U U S

It all happened so fast. He's on the ground next to me running a hand through my severely tangled hair. The small beam of light from his flashlight reflects off my blood pooling on the ground. It ain't gonna take a Capitol scientist to realize I ain't gonna survive, but I can't believe it. I ain't gonna believe it. I don't got no idea why he'd do this to me, why he'd attack me after not attacking me yesterday. He stood by my side as we fought against the beast. He didn't let it kill me. He didn't run away from it. He cheered me on as I tried my hardest to fight it, and today, today, he attacked without thinking twice 'bout it, but it was dark. Nobody turned a light on. I didn't get time to light my torch on fire. I just had to react. I just had to.

His hand touches my forehead where his sword sliced deep into my skin, and I don't fight. I ain't gotta fight anymore. I ain't gotta fight. It's over. I'm gonna be free, but I don't wanna die. I wanna stay alive. I gotta avenge Kirk, and Animus. I gotta find who killed them, but I can't. My body don't wanna move. My legs ain't working. I can't even feel them anymore. Tears stream down my face mixing with the blood caked against my skin. Loud sobs fill the air around me. I ain't able to control it no more. Nothing's gonna change what's happening. I've let everyone down. I let Mace down. I let Saffron down. I let Ma and Pa down. I let my own cow down. "What have I done?" He brushes the hair outta my face, and I only got one answer for him, but I can't bring myself to say it.

You attacked me. You're the reason I'm dying. It's your fault. It's all your fault.

"Oh god Esme, I..." He don't need to finish the sentence. Ain't no point in it. Words don't mean nothing now. It ain't nothing left. I'm gonna be gone, and he gets to go on for another day. My life is gonna end, and my face is just gonna be forgotten. Nothing matters anymore, but it don't take the fear away. Kirk promised me saying I ain't gotta thing to worry 'bout. It's a lie. I got everything to worry 'bout. I'm scared. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. Please. But all the begging in the world ain't gonna change what happened. Nothing can fix the wounds that he placed upon me. Nothing. Not even the Capitol medics. His words ain't words I ever wanted to hear, but I know he's right. I'm gonna die. Ain't nothing gonna change it.

"A...Asa... I...I'm sc...scared. I do...don't wa...wa...wanna die. Pl...pl...please d...don't go. D...don't le..leave me."

Please don't let me die. Please don't leave me. Please stay here. Please.

A bloody hand reaches into my pocket. My fingers wrap around the tiny wooden cow Pa made for me. I promised him I'd hold onto it, and I've held onto it as long as I'm gonna be able to. I placed my hand in the small beam of light before opening my fingers. I turn my head towards him. Pain rages throughout my entire body as I move. I'm thrown into a coughing fit. I feel like someone just struck a match and lit my lungs on fire. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to do anything. Why? I don't deserve this. Nobody does. I open his hand placing the tiny cow inside.

Not even him.

"I...I'm so...sorry. I'm so so...sorry. T...t...take th...th..is. Pl...pl...please."

[presto][/presto]