Francis watched the exchange with faint amusement.
> FRANCIS: “I’ll be clear, Remnant. You are not a prisoner. You’re a guest. One we’re… evaluating.”
> TOM (dry): “Funny way to welcome someone.”
> FRANCIS: “You’ll find we’re not the ‘burn the world’ radicals your mind might’ve conjured. We’re surgeons. We cut out rot.”
> TOM: “With swords.”
> FRANCIS: “With precision.”
---
A beat.
Then Francis clapped twice. A warrior in black stepped forward and cut Tom’s bindings.
Tom stood slowly, rubbing his wrists. He didn’t reach for his sword. Yet.
> FRANCIS (gently): “Explore. Train. Learn. Tammy will guide you.”
> TAMMY (grinning): “Try to keep up, handsome.”
Tom met her gaze.
> TOM: “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were obsessed with me.”
> TAMMY (softly, stepping closer): “I don’t know better. That’s the problem.”
She turned, hips swaying as she walked back toward the throne.
Tom watched her go.
And silently wondered if he’d fallen into something deeper than just another war.
Chapter 12: Hardships
Part 12 – Tamed by the Blade
(Some battles aren't about victory. They're about exposure. What breaks. What bends. And what blooms in the blood left behind.)
---
Interior – Shadow League Arena – Training Hall – Day 1
It began with a step forward and a quick snap of Tammy’s katana.
Tom blocked it—barely. Her strikes were swift, exact. A rhythm in motion.
Tom grunted, parried, swung wide—and missed.
> TAMMY (teasing): “You’ll have to do better than that, soldier.”
He swung again. She leaned back, her foot sweeping under his legs. He hit the mat.
Hard.
From above, she leaned in—smiling, lips parted, breath warm on his cheek.
> TAMMY (low): “Too slow.”
She blew him a kiss and skipped backward before he could rise.
Francis sat high in the balcony, watching silently.
---
Day 3
The clang of steel on steel echoed through the arena. Tom moved faster now—more measured, less brute strength, more balance.
Tammy ducked low, slid beneath his guard, and tapped his thigh with the flat of her blade.
> TOM (frustrated): “You could’ve gone for the kill.”
> TAMMY: “Could have.”
She smiled and tapped the bridge of his nose with her fingertip.
> TAMMY: “But then we wouldn’t get to keep doing this.”
Tom stepped back, shaking the sweat from his brow.
> TOM: “You enjoy humiliating me.”
> TAMMY: “I enjoy watching you try not to enjoy it.”
Another blown kiss.
---
Day 5
They circled each other.
Francis watched from above, arms crossed.
This time, Tom landed a glancing strike—a nick on her shoulder.
She stopped.
Touched it. Looked at him with a surprised smile.
> TAMMY (genuinely impressed): “Well look at you. The Remnant learns.”
She lunged.
Fast. Too fast.
Tom blocked once, twice—then she twisted mid-spin, wrapped her leg around his and threw him down.
She straddled him for just a moment—eyes glittering, her hair falling around them like a curtain.
> TAMMY (whisper): “But not fast enough.”
Francis stood up. He turned and walked away without a word.
---
Day 7
The bruises began to layer. Tom’s body ached. But his footwork tightened. His grip refined.
And Tammy? She was still better.
Every block she made looked like dance. Every strike she delivered—measured, beautiful, brutal.
He hated how much he admired it.
They clashed again, blades sparking. She forced him back and kicked him into the padded wall.
> TAMMY (mock pout): “Aww. Did I hurt you again?”
> TOM (grunting): “Not as much as I hurt your pride when I cut your shoulder.”
> TAMMY (smirking): “Oh sweetheart, all you cut was my patience.”
Another kiss. This one slower. Playful.
He didn’t smile back. But she noticed the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
---
Night – Tom’s Quarters – Later
Tom lay in bed, shirt off, his chest rising and falling as he stared at the ceiling.
He touched the bruise on his ribs where she’d elbowed him earlier.
It stung.
But not as much as the feeling that she was getting under his skin—and not in the way knives did.
He sat up. Looked at the single black rose in the corner.
And wondered if maybe… he didn’t want to win.
Chapter 12: Hardships
Part 13 – Unmasked
(We all wear masks. Some to fight. Some to hide. But the most dangerous are the ones we wear to protect our hearts.)
---
Interior – Tom’s Room – Shadow League Base – Late Night
The room was dim, lit only by a single low lamp in the far corner, casting long shadows across the concrete floor and the edges of the bed Tom lay on.
He hadn't moved in hours.
His arms were folded behind his head, eyes locked on the ceiling, thoughts distant—drifting between the past and the future, pain and the whisper of something else. Something softer. Something he wasn’t ready to name.
Then—a soft knock.
The door creaked open.
Tammy stepped inside without waiting for permission. She wore a loose black shirt, barefoot, her hair down in soft waves that framed her face in a way Tom had never seen before. No blade. No armor. No game.
Just her.
> TAMMY (smiling): “You’re always so serious. Like the world’s about to end.”
> TOM: “It did. For me.”
She crossed the room slowly, her bare feet silent against the cold floor. Her presence filled the space—warm, teasing, and just slightly dangerous.
She sat at the edge of the bed.
> TAMMY: “Can I see you? The real you?”
Tom hesitated. The mask was his line. The thing that let him hide behind rage and shadows. The thing that kept him from feeling too much, too fast.
But now?
He reached up.
Clicked the latches.
And removed it.
Tammy looked at him—really looked. Her eyes softened. She reached out, fingertips brushing a scar beneath his jaw.
> TAMMY (whisper): “God... you’re even more broken than I thought.”
> TOM (quietly): “And you’re still here.”
A silence passed.
Thick. Fragile. Charged.
Then she leaned forward.
Her lips brushed his—slow, searching.
He didn’t resist.
Didn’t run.
His hand reached her back. Pulled her close.
The mask dropped to the floor.
And so did the walls.
---
The blanket rose with their silhouettes. Her fingers in his hair. His hand at her spine.
No words.
Just breath.
Whispers of skin. Laughter muffled in kisses. A tangled, fierce tenderness that neither of them expected—and both knew couldn’t last.
But in that room, for that hour, it did.
And when sleep finally claimed them, they lay entwined—not as Shadow and Remnant…
…but as two souls too damaged to say the word love, and too stubborn not to feel it.
Chapter 12: Hardships
Part 14 – After the Fire
(Some nights burn so brightly, they leave scars in the morning light. But not all scars are ugly. Some mean you lived.)
Interior – Shadow League Quarters – Early Morning
A pale beam of morning light filtered in through the high sewer vent, catching flecks of dust in the air like drifting ash.
Tom opened his eyes slowly.
The first thing he felt was the weight of the blanket across his chest.
The second—the warmth beside him.
Tammy lay facing him, her breathing even, hair scattered across the shared pillow like dark silk. Her lips slightly parted, a faint crease between her brows like she was still fighting in her dreams.
She looked different in sleep.
Softer.
Vulnerable in a way he hadn’t thought possible for someone so sharp, so deadly.
Tom watched her for a long moment, chest rising and falling in rhythm with hers. There was a stillness to the space between them. A silence he didn’t want to disturb.
And yet… he knew it couldn’t last.
He slid out from under the blanket, quiet as possible, bare feet touching cold stone. His clothes lay folded on a nearby chair—thanks to her, no doubt.
He dressed in silence.
Before leaving, he looked back once more.
Tammy shifted slightly in her sleep, reaching out for where he’d been.
Tom clenched his jaw. Then turned and left.
Interior – Training Hall – Thirty Minutes Later
The lights buzzed overhead as Tom ran drills with his katana—strike, pivot, block, lunge. His footwork echoed faintly across the polished floor. Alone in the chamber, he moved like a man trying to outpace something inside himself.
Sweat clung to his back. Bruises still lingered along his ribs. But he pushed harder. The blade sang with each arc through the air, sharper than his thoughts.
Then—
Ø TAMMY (from the doorway): “You didn’t say goodbye.”
Tom turned slightly, breathing hard.
Tammy stood at the threshold of the hall in a tight black training outfit, her hair tied back. No flirtation in her eyes now—just quiet emotion, well-hidden but not gone.
Ø TOM (simply): “Didn’t want to wake you.”
Ø TAMMY (softly): “You already woke something. Might as well stay for the rest.”
A beat.
Tom nodded toward the second mat. She walked toward it, each step silent.
Ø TOM (half a smile): “You still gonna beat me today?”
Ø TAMMY (smirking): “Wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t.”
They faced each other. She drew her blade. He raised his.
And for the first time, they didn’t fight as opponents.
They fought as equals.
A slow, thoughtful dance.
Sometimes a strike. Sometimes just a glance. Sometimes her hand brushed his arm between parries—and he didn’t flinch.
When their swords clashed, the sound was music.
When they broke apart, breathless, something in the air lingered.
Chapter 12: Hardships
Part 15 – The Rules of Pain
(Some truths aren’t learned. They’re branded. And every warrior walks through fire before they earn their name.)
---
Interior – Shadow League Training Hall – Later That Day
The hall was quieter now. Only the low hum of lights above. The echo of footsteps. And two blades waiting to meet.
Tammy stood in front of Tom, a katana slung across her back, her black suit fitted, hair damp from earlier sparring. No teasing in her voice this time. No games.
This was different.
> TAMMY: “You’ve trained. You’ve bled. You’ve stood back up.”
She crossed her arms.
> TAMMY (firmer): “But surviving is just the start. If you’re going to walk this path, Tom... you need to understand our rules. My rules.”
Tom raised a brow.
> TOM: “Rules?”
> TAMMY: “I call them Hardships. Five. Simple. Brutal. Every Shadow learns them. Every survivor lives by them.”
She stepped forward and tapped his chest with two fingers.
> TAMMY (quieter): “And every killer carries them like scars.”
---
Hardship One – Silence Before Storm
She paced slowly.
> TAMMY: “Speak only when the moment needs it. People love to fill silence because they’re afraid of what it says.”
> TAMMY (eyes locking with Tom’s): “But silence... it’s power. If you can stand still while others panic, you control the moment.”
Tom nodded slowly. He remembered a firefight where his team all screamed—and only he stayed quiet long enough to think.
---
Hardship Two – Never Show Pain
She raised her wrist, showing a thin scar there.
> TAMMY: “I took a blade through this. Kept smiling.”
> TOM: “Because it didn’t hurt?”
She smirked.
> TAMMY: “Because it did. Pain isn’t weakness. But showing it? That’s permission.”
> TAMMY: “Out there, no one cares how close you are to breaking. They just care if they can finish you.”
---
Hardship Three – Leave Nothing Behind
She stepped to the rack and pulled out a curved throwing dagger.
> TAMMY: “This rule’s simple: never leave your past where someone else can pick it up.”
She held it out to him.
> TAMMY: “Cut ties. Burn maps. You want to be the Remnant? Then forget what made you Tom Cole.”
He looked at her. Didn’t take the dagger.
> TOM: “What if I don’t want to forget?”
Tammy’s smile faded just a little.
> TAMMY (soft): “Then make sure remembering doesn’t get you killed.”
---
Hardship Four – Trust is a Liability
She threw the dagger. It hit dead center on the target dummy.
> TAMMY: “Even me. Especially me.”
> TOM (flat): “Noted.”
> TAMMY (smiling again): “That’s the spirit.”
She stepped close again, brushing a hand over his shoulder.
> TAMMY (softer): “But if you ever break this rule... you better be sure they’re worth dying for.”
---
Hardship Five – Kill Clean, Die Quiet
She stared him in the eyes now. No grin. No flirt.
Just weight.
> TAMMY: “If it comes down to the end… kill clean. No rage. No cruelty. Just purpose.”
> TOM: “And if I lose?”
> TAMMY: “Then die with your mouth shut, blade drawn, and no apologies.”
---
Tom exhaled slowly. The air in the hall felt heavier.
> TOM: “You live by these?”
> TAMMY (nods): “I have to.”
She stepped close again. Her voice dropped low.
> TAMMY: “You don’t get to be someone like me... without giving things up.”
> TOM: “Like what?”
> TAMMY: “Innocence. Sleep. Softness.”
She pressed a finger to his chest.
> TAMMY (quietly): “And hearts. Especially hearts.”
Tom didn’t move.
He didn’t speak.
Because maybe… silence was the start of learning.
Not lust.
Not regret.
Something else.
Maybe… a beginning.
Comments (0)
See all