*Warning: Physical/Mental Abuse and Self-Harm Ahead*
Seiren and Mera were on their way to the field, walking past the other participants who seemed to be off in their own little worlds.
“That was quite the speech.” Mera says.
“I may have overdone it.” Seiren says.
Just thinking about it, fills me with embarrassment. It was ultra cliche. Seiren thinks.
“Well, I at the very least, I don’t think you were wrong.” Mera says.
“Really?” Seiren says, looking to Mera with hope in his eyes.
Mera places a hand to her chin.
“From a logical standpoint you’d want to save your fiance because, well, you love them. So I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to think they believed in her.” Mera says. “But your execution was cliched as hell.”
“That's what I thought.” Seiren says.
“If it’s really bothering you, you can apologize when we get back.” Mera says.
“Right.” Seiren says, holding his fist out to Mera. “Let’s go win.”
“You got it.” She says as she covers his fist with her hand.
Seiren tilts his head and looks at her.
“I’m kidding.” She says before releasing his fist and returning a fist bump.
The two walk out onto the field together and catch sight of their opponents. First, is a woman with rounded glasses with a beauty mark above her upper lip. Her hair was short and black, but she wore a long chestnut trench coat with a pair of rubber gloves. A pair of jeans with nary a wrinkle, and a pair of shiny mary janes. To her left, is a person wearing a large baggy suit colored burgundy, and a similar pair of slacks. On their feet were a pair of dirtied-up sneakers.
“Domino let's make this quick, these two look really dirty.” She says with a groan. “Especially the one with the black hair.”
Wow. Seiren thinks, looking down at his dirt and blood-stained clothes.
Seiren and Mera stand a good distance away, preparing themselves for the inevitable battle ahead.
“Whose clothes wouldn’t look bad in this situation?!” Mera says, throwing her arms to the side.
“She has a point Liviana.” Domino says. “Well, before we start, I guess she and I are going to be fighting.”
Domino was standing in front of Mera and he starts walking toward her. Mera hastily puts her finger gun up.
“Woah there. I don’t need you getting close.” Mera says.
Domino throws his hands up.
“Calm down, I was only trying to respectfully shake hands before the match, it’s a habit of mine from business.” They say.
“Well, your only business is over there, I don’t trust it.” Mera says.
“Sheesh.” Domino mutters.
“Let's just get this started already.” Liviana says.
“Alright, no holds barred!” Domino shouts.
Domino immediately rushes toward Mera, holding their hat down.
Looks like they were some kind of infighter. Mera thinks.
She fires several water bullets and slowly begins to back away simultaneously. Domino dodges the first two but the third one passes through him without contact. He picks up his pace and begins running in toward Mera.
What an annoying person. Can he turn incorporeal? But then, why did he dodge? Mera thinks.
“Think long and hard about my little magic trick!” He exclaims.
Types like her tend to overthink things. Domino says. They’re always the best victims.
On Seiren’s side, he watches as his side of the field begins to fill with crescent-shaped objects. From his position to Liviana’s it’s a literal minefield.
“Sorry, but I don’t want you getting near me at all. I’m quite the germaphobe you see.” She admits. “I’ll slice you up before you can even get close.”
Such an awe-inspiring ability. He thinks sarcastically. Annoying as it is, she’s lowered my mobility on top of that, I’m not sure how these things even work, so it’s gonna be trial and error. Seiren thinks.
He throws his spear at a distant crescent and watches as it splits apart like butter. Using the shadows underneath his clothing he makes another spear.
“Alright, I think you’ve had enough fun.” She says. She raises her hand into the air and the crescents begin moving toward him, each with their own varying patterns. Seiren dodges to the left to avoid the one in front of him, then dodges back to avoid another to the side of him. He looks up to see them in the air as well. While Seiren is dodging for his life, Mera breathes heavily as she can’t seem to land a hit on Domino. She grits her teeth in frustration, as she once again aims her gun.
This is getting me nowhere, I still haven’t figured out what his ability is, nor have I landed a single hit. To make matters worse, there isn’t any natural water on this layer, so each attack is literally draining me of water. Mera thinks.
“You haven’t even seen the beginning yet.” Domino says as he continues walking toward her.
Mera tenses up for a second as she takes a moment to listen.
Wait a minute. Whenever they walk toward me, there’s a bit of a delay between when they actually step and when the sound reaches me. It was hard to hear, because of how loud the crowd is, but if I focus on it, it becomes apparent. At this distance, the sound should hit my ears at a fraction of a second. It’s as if the sound is coming from somewhere closer. Mera thinks as her eyes widen. She turns around, she sees Domino standing behind her.
“Checkmate.” They say. Their hand touches her shoulder.
Everything within Mera’s surroundings fades to black and she stood there alone.
“This is an illusion and knowing that fact will not allow you to escape. In fact, the door to your escape has been laid out in front of you.” Domino’s voice booms.
“Looks like I’ve got no choice then.” Mera says.
A door begins to appear from the foggy darkness. Smooth to the touch its wood begins to splinter with each step Mera takes. Her legs begin dragging through the darkness and her speed slows to a snail's pace. Eventually, she’s forced to stop in order to catch her breath.
“I’m not making any headway.” She mutters.
The wooden door begins to move closer to her and she picks up where she left off. She continues moving forward, while simultaneously sinking deeper into the murkiness, at first knee deep, she then becomes hip deep. The door being a few inches away, she reaches toward the knob, and the nail on her middle finger scratches it. It’s not enough. She keeps reaching and reaching, nearly pushing her arm out of the joint just to get slightly closer. Her muscles screaming in protest as they can barely keep her upright in the murkiness. With one last lunge, she manages to pull the door open, revealing a blinding light. She blocks her eyes with her arm as she’s enveloped.
As the light fades, she stands on solid ground as she collapses, onto her knees. Her breath ragged and her heart pounding, she looks up and sees a little girl standing over her. Sharing eye color and hair color with the girl, Mera is initially surprised, but not by that. The little girl has a gun in her hand. Shaking like a branch and sweating profusely, the girl inches toward the trigger. Sweat begins to form on Mera’s face as she tries to look away, but the girl appears in every direction she looks. Even appearing when she shuts her eyes.
“Calm down, Mera. This is an illusion. This isn’t real. Not anymore.” Mera says to herself. Feeling a chill down her spine, followed by a heaviness in her right hand. She finds herself standing in the position of the child. Standing over a slovenly dressed man, with torn clothes. A foul musk fills the air and beads of sweat drip down from his forehead.
Mera’s trigger finger grows heavy and with a squeeze, a pop erupts from the gun followed by a brief flash.
“No!!” Mera shouts.
The man’s body sank to the floor, and red began to coat the wood. The liquid began to trace the cracks in the wood, tracing its way over to Mera like an elaborate web. She takes a step back. Then another. But it keeps traveling after her. She takes off running in the opposite direction, where she runs through another doorway and into a school. The deafening silence of the space becomes filled with whispers. From every corner, hallway and classroom, the whispers come in full force.
They rolled in at her like an avalanche filling her ears with a large. A deluge of papers come racing down the hallway as she runs and hides in a classroom. The classroom was dark and her every step squeaked against the linoleum tile. Each desk is covered with marker and nearly black. Students begin appearing one by one in the classroom.
“Teacher we found a dead cat outside. When we found it, She was standing over its body. She must’ve done it.”
“I saw her hit it with a rock!”
“Yeah me too!”
“My mom said she doesn’t want me in class with a murderer.”
Mera covers her ears, but the sound still reaches her. When she next raises her head, she finds herself back home. All she can hear is yelling and screaming from beyond her door. Her name flying back and forth between her parents. Trembling under her bedroom desk, she balls up with a blanket.
“I can’t even help my own daughter! It’s been such a gross overreaction to what she did! She saved us!” Her father shouts.
“Society doesn’t see it that way! Our friends, coworkers, and everyone else for that matter couldn’t give a damn! She killed someone at the age of 7! Why wasn’t your gun locked up?!” Her mother shouts back.
The screaming battle continues back and forth and Mera simply lays her head down.
I need to get out of this. I can’t just sit here hiding from my own memories. She thinks.
Meanwhile, back in the tournament, Seiren is covered in a multitude of cuts and is bleeding profusely. He breathes heavily while his vision flashes in and out.
This isn’t good. I think it’s safe to say I’m not too suited to this opponent. Now that Mera appears to be out of commission, It’s looking like this might be the end. Seiren thinks.
“So are you gonna let your partner continue to suffer, oh so deliciously?” Domino says. He kneels next to her as her eyes look lifeless, tears flowed endlessly like pouring rain from them.
“I can feel all of her emotions while she’s trapped. Each one brings me more and more excitement. This is the absolute high!” He exclaims. “So please, by all means, resist as long as you can! I want to relish this feeling!”
Domino grabs Mera by her ponytail and tilts her head back as her lifeless eyes stare into the sky. He licks the tears right off her face.
As much as I want to kick that guy in the face, It’s better if I give up. I can’t let Mera continue to suffer through this. Seiren thinks.
“I for-” Seiren begins as his eyes widen in surprise.
“Don’t give up! Not yet!” Mera shouts.
Slowly but surely, my senses have managed to come back. It’s given me some semblance of info on this situation. I think it’s time for us to make a comeback. Starting with getting out of this illusion. She thinks.
Mera places her fingers to the side of her head in the illusion simultaneously doing the same in the real world.
“So you're going to shoot yourself?” Domino questions as they stand up. “That’s your grand plan to escape my illusion. Maybe I overrated your intelligence. When you die, I’m gonna get some fun out of your partner’s suffering.”
Here goes nothing… Mera thinks. You better be right Maya.
Seiren merely watches as Mera smirks at him. Then a water bullet blasts straight through her brain. Her body goes limp as she hits the ground. Blood begins to flow onto the ground, but Mera remains lifeless.
“What a blunder.” Domino says he walks past Mera’s body and continues toward Seiren. “Now I hope I can enjoy your pain in full.”
Seiren continues to back away but has to come to a stop when Liviana’s crescents are close behind him.
Time to make something happen. Seiren begins to think as he watches Mera move.
She slowly rises from the ground, gripping her head. Her formerly glazed-over eyes were now back to their usual bright color.
Ugh… I feel like garbage. Plus this hurts like hell. It’s like a million headaches all at once. Mera thinks. I don’t even know how I’m able to still think. But, as long as I can deal with the pain, we can keep up the attack.
Mera notices a shadow coming toward her, it stops on the ground and spells out something.
Let’s switch opponents. She reads.
As Mera readies herself, Liviana adjusts her glasses.
“Domino, she’s back up.” Liviana alerts.
Their eyes widen as they turn around on the ball of their foot.
“What a surprise! I never expected you to survive.” They say.
Mera scowls while doing a curtsy.
“Well, deal with it,” Mera says.
“Things are just going to go the same way, you should both give up. I doubt you have the strength to pull another of your crazy stunts.” They say.
“Who knows?” Mera says, nodding to Seiren.
She takes off running toward Domino, she was struggling to stay upright but managing.
“You’re handing yourself over on a silver platter.” Domino says.
“Am I?” She says.
Domino gets slammed in the back by Seiren, using his shield of shadows. Seiren pushes him away then, with a bash of the shield, he sends Domino flying forward before crashing into the ground and rolling. Mera continues running until she’s standing before Liviana’s field of crescent blades.
“So this is what you had in mind.” Domino says as they rub their lower back.
“You’re fighting me now.” Seiren says.
Well, I did want to see what type of suffering he’d show me. Domino thinks.
“Let's see how you fare against me.” Domino says as his body splits into triplets.
“Be careful Seiren! He uses illusions, don’t let him touch you!” Mera warns as she and Liviana face off.
“Not like knowing is going to make any difference.” Domino says.
Speak for yourself. Seiren thinks.
Seiren stands before the three Dominos and readies his spear. He extends his shadow behind him in the shape of a semicircle.
If these are just fakes, then I’ll know if he tries being sneaky. Seiren thinks.
Seiren rushes in with a spinning slice, cutting through the first’s head, the second’s body, and the third’s lower abdomen in a quick yet fluid motion. Right after finishing his attack, he turns around to the feeling of something in his shadow. Raising his spear for another attack, he turns around and sees his mother standing there. He hesitates for a brief moment, and feels a hand on his chest, as Domino touches him.
“Now! Reveal your trauma to me!” Domino shouts.
Seiren is engulfed in jet-black darkness as all of his senses begin to leave him. Seiren finds himself in his old home, Surrounded by pictures of his mother and father, with Seiren sliced out of them. He wades through the ocean of pictures struggling with each step to touch the floor. He falls face-first onto the floor, smashing his nose into the tile. His nose bleeds, but he wipes it and gets up. He notices his small arms in front of him. His hands trace his small frame and he sighs.
Maybe I shouldn't have said anything at all. Seiren thinks, remembering what he said moments prior.
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