The Blood-Stained Sword
A/N – Part Two of my 'series' of slightly darker oneshots instead of the typical drunken escapades. Title contributed by Mixxy (3)
Sweat plastered Hollow's hair to his forehead. He peered out into the forest from the ruined house he and Fluke were taking shelter in. Rage and Evanz were somewhere out there in those woods and all four of them were tense.
"See anything?" Hollow muttered to his companion. Fluke pulled his goggles down over his eyes and turned the small dial on the left goggle, turning it to telescopic mode.
"No movement yet, but Rage will come. He'll be pushing now, he's not gonna go on the defensive."
"So what should we do? Wait and hide out here or-"
An arrow cut Hollow off mid-sentence as it whistled through the air a few centimetres in front of his face and bounced off the stone wall behind them.
And then they were running.
Hollow sprinted and jumped, grabbing onto a low branch of a tree and swinging himself up, leaping to the next higher branch and crouching low behind the leaves. He breathed hard, drawing his diamond sword from the strap on his back, clutched it tight in his hand, and pulled his neckerchief up over his mouth. Rage passed beneath him, sword in its hilt on his right hip, bow clutched in his left hand, arrow at the ready.
Hollow crept to the edge of the branch, then jumped. He tackled Rage: they both hit the floor and Rage panicked, let the arrow fly. It just caught Hollow's sword arm, tearing the blue fabric and drawing a line of blood.
The taller man hissed in pain and gave Rage an opening to flick his hips and throw Hollow clear of him. He rolled and jumped to his feet as Hollow leapt up a few paces away.
They stopped, blue eyes locked on brown. Rage dropped his bow and slowly drew his sword.
Hollow charged.
And suddenly, Rage's body would not obey him. He frowned, looked down, saw the sword buried to the hilt in his stomach.
"Oh."
Hollow pulled the sword out, and caught Rage's now limp body as he crumpled. The blue-clad assassin laid his dying friend on the ground.
"Sorry it had to go down this way. But you know how it is. I need the points, man."
"No hard feelings, asshole." Rage smiled weakly, with pale lips drained of blood. Hollow smirked.
"See you soon. After the game."
"You know, getting stabbed still hurts like fuck. Despite respawn. Just so you know."
"I remember from when you stabbed me in the neck last week." Hollow grinned. Rage returned the smile. He coughed, sighed, and his eyes rolled back in his head as Hollow watched his friend's blood permeated the dirt and the grass, staining the earth a deep, deep red.
Fluke sprinted through the trees, nocking an arrow as he went. Turning, he fired into the figure behind him. Evanzdive rolled under the arrow, came up, kept running. Fluke took a split-second break to take a bite of an apple, and that pause was all it took for Evanz to pile on the speed and knock Fluke to the ground. They tumbled and rolled across the ground, teeth gritted and dirt smeared across their faces. Evanz straddled Fluke's legs and cracked his fist across Fluke's cheekbone. Fluke grunted in pain, before firing an elbow into Evanz's chin. Evanz cursed as his head snapped back. Fluke shoved his slightly dazed would-be assassin off of him and scrambled to his feet. Fluke rubbed his cheek as he scowled down at his assailant, who was still sprawled across the floor.
"That fucking hurt, man. Was that necessary?"
"Was it fucking necessary to elbow me in the chin?" Evanz retorted, pushing himself up into a sitting position.
"You were on top of me. I needed you to get off." Fluke smirked, pulled out his enchanted iron sword. The purple sheen glinted in the fractured light of the evening sun.
"Could you have made more innuendoes in that sentence?" Evanz raised an eyebrow, subtly sliding his bow off of his back.
"Hmh. I'm sure I could have." Fluke lunged, swiping his sword at Evanz's neck. At the last second, Evanz rolled out of the way, nocked an arrow, and let it fly in the time it took for Fluke to correct his stance. The arrow buried itself between Fluke's bright blue eyes. Surprise briefly registered on his face, before he collapsed into the dust.
"Sorry, Fluke." Evanz stood, stepping closer to the prone body of his friend. "But I'll see you after the game, ok?" Evanz bent down to gently close Fluke's eyes. As he did so, Fluke's body began to flicker and fade.
Evanz turned away from the slowly disappearing body of his friend. "You're gonna be so pissed at me later."
Hollow ran deeper into the forest, silently hoping that Fluke was ok, and knowing in his heart that if he was, the game would already be over. Which could only mean one thing…
Evanz ran deeper into the forest, silently hoping that Rage was ok, and knowing in his heart that if he was, the game would already be over. Which could only mean one thing…
Final showdown.
Evanz's heels scuffed up the dirt as he slid to a halt, locking eyes with Hollow across the small clearing. Both instinctively readied their swords and adjusted their positions, neither wanting to be the first to attack. A moment passed.
They ran towards each other and clashed in the middle.
Swords clanged and sparks flew and Hollow pushed Evanz back a step. The taller warrior swung at his opponent's head, and Evanz ducked and jabbed at Hollow's knees.
"Low blow." Hollow muttered, as he dodged back. He swung his sword again, meeting Evanz's in the middle and they pushed against each other.
"That's pretty much all I can reach." Evanz smirked. He skipped back and to the side, pulling his sword away to let Hollow stumble forward and the shorter man whirled, faced his sparring partner. He parried the first attack, but Hollow's sheer height and strength advantage shattered his guard on the second swipe and the third swipe cut a shallow line across Evanz's chest.
The younger fell to one knee, blood flowing freely from the wound.
"That was a good fight. You're getting better." Hollow smiled. "See you in a minute, after respawn." Hollow thrust his sword forward, piercing Evanz's jugular with its diamond tip. As he pulled the sword free of his friend's neck, Hollow teleported to a glass room with a marble floor.
Rage and Fluke lounged on red and blue chaise lounges, both of them looking up as Hollow and Evanz appeared before them.
"About goddamn time. Alright, you win this week Hollow. A-goodbyeeeeeeeee."