Au: Yeah we're on chapter number two and I have beaten my procrastination. I wanted to thank all the people who read last chapter and decided to continue on with this story and my followers and without further ado prologue number two.
T
Swoosh! The sound's direction was incomprehensible at first but my ears quickly picked up it came from behind. Knowing how often he plays with fate I closed my eyes in fear as the object rushed past. I opened them to find a knife smack dab in the middle of the red dot.
"Haha Copper you better get the measurer I think I just won myself a new record." I heard a triumphant cry from the direction of the throw. I quickly wiped my head around subconsciously plotting my eyes on the speaker's wine-purple eyes. He had his arms crossed facing me down with a look of friendly rivalry.
"Come on Tyr let's see you try and beat that." He followed the taunt with a scuff lifting an eyebrow at his fan club, who erupted into an echo of screams. "Like you ever could." I wanted to laugh at his over the top nature but couldn't let those large words leave his tongue without a punishment. Before I could respond with a perfectly placed come back Copper came back, dragging his scaly tail behind him, with the measurer saying the numbers out loud as he counted.
"Ding ding ding he hasn't just broken his record but he's broken every record here." I didn't even need to look at his face to know what he had done all I had to hear was the sound of squeals to know he had flipped his dirt brown hair back or something else that was hot to the ladies. I put my hand out like one of those no-good butlers serving fancy food and howled out.
"Copper get me my good knife somebody has to put this guy in his place." I put great emphasis on the words "good knife" clenching my fist. "Copper smiled and went off to my tent, which was pitched right next to the Knife Throwing Pit, and brought out a knife. The knife was made out of steel and built with a semi-aerodynamic design that, unlike most knives, it didn't have a crescent curve in the middle. The handle was wrapped with a bunch of small ropes that I put on depending on my age, I was at thirteen by now, and the end had a hole in it so I could swing it with my finger. I stepped up to get behind the red line in the ground flipping the knife and catching the knife a few times to get a feel for it again.
"Really you're using the pie cutting knife? Was the cake one too hard for you?" His raspy-voiced called out before laughing followed by the echo of his fans. I twisted my blade backward staring at it with a clinch. Pfft, it doesn't look like a pie cutter his wrong completely wrong in fact. Majority of my mind thought although I had to admit, it might've been because I was still hungry, it did kind of look like a pie cutter. I shrugged it off, both mentally and literally, looking around suddenly realizing that more people were starting to gather at the news of the record being broken. Copper stepped into the center between me and my challenger.
"Alright since we have more of an audience maybe we should raise the stakes a little." He took off his newsboy hat and took out a single gold coin.
"I bet one coin on Tyrian anybody else who does put it in this hat." He then passed the hat around, and to nobody's surprise, everybody thought I would lose and gave little to no money at all. Once the hat came back it was hardly even filled to the brim.
"And if you think our leading champion will win put it in this pot" He pulled out a pot from behind him, it was mostly used for cooking large meals, and quickly flashed out of the way before the masses crushed him. At this announcement almost everybody, even some who gave money to me, and dropped in numbers ranging from ten to fifty. Copper then pushed them away as if they were a murder of crows. With this, the crowd was now riled up each no longer seeing this as a friendly competition but a gamble.
"Kick his butt."
"Don't let the twenty go to waste."
"Give up there's no hope."
With that last remark, people glared at the speaker and he squeezed into the size of a mouse and scurried off. I wanted to gulp but held it in knowing they would hear it as well. If that's how they treated a speaker how would they treat the loser? Okay, no pressure just do what you were told. I looked down at the blade gripping it like it was my life source. I let the weight fall onto my right leg, because even though I could use both it was more comfortable on that side, before moving my left leg in front of my body. Everybody knew what I was setting up to do and held in any sound they were making. I lifted my elbow up, with my right hand, and put it next to my head keeping it a good distance away from it but still close enough so the throw would be accurate. I still remember the time I cut myself on the side of my head and scratches a big piece of my chocolate hair. What's with me today and food analogies? I just had lunch I can't be that hungry! I noticed my arm was in a position that would cause the throw to lower than I expected and moved my arm higher so that it straightened with my ear.
"Just throw it already." Some impatient bystander yelped from the pack. I huffed to myself and quietly thought some not so nice things about the person. I closed my eyes thinking of the first time I was taught to throw, with my dad. He was the perfect instructor patient, clear with instructions, and encouraging. I clenched the handle hard fueled by the thought of him and remember how he said that helped him. I quickly shifted the weights of my legs while at the same time moving my elbow so that my arm was right in front of me like a slightly bent branch. Then I just let the knife flow out from my hand like water down a stream. If I had the time to hold my breath I would've although the knife quickly hit the target in about three breath takes. It hit the board with a loud boom, it was followed by an eruption of cheers, Copper ran up to the board, measure on hand this time, and started to get the number. I could feel the touch of a hard grip on my shoulder, the one I didn't just throw with.
"I have to admit that was one good throw." I smiled at him before responding arrogantly.
"You bet it was." Copper had raised his hand into the air and nobody moved.
"Well, folks look like we have a tie." At that moment, the attitude of the crowd changed in a snap.
"And when there's a tie then the challengers get all the cash because there was no winner." He used his best face to hide his pleasure but some of it seeped into his words. Copper if you ruin this for us I swear that board isn't the only thing getting a knife in it. I started to get goosebumps at the fact I even thought of such a thing. What am I saying? It's not like I hate him that much he's just an old man. With that thought, the goosebumps had disappeared and I sighed looking around to make sure nobody saw anything. When I looked at the crowd all the adults huffed and went back to their tents yelling while the kids just went back to playing their games. Copper came over and gave me the money I won, which was no more than some poor soul's spare cash aside from one fifty, I lifted my eyebrow at it and grabbed it checking it in the sun for its legitimacy.
"Who left this? I didn't see anybody, do it?" Copper lifted his tail after giving the prize to my competitor. They both exchanged narrowed eye contact for a moment before Copper started to speak his tone changing from that of a sports announcer to that of a businessman's.
"Meet in the usual place?" He extended his hand before my opponent grabbed it.
"The usual place." He exchanged a glance at me, which prompted me to nod at him, before leaving. Copper padded back over to me staring at the fifty gripped in my hand.
"Oh yes that she gave it to me after the crowd." He said the pronoun with flirtatious emphasis so I would know exactly who he had meant. My heart fluttered at the thought of that knowing that she gave me that much after saving up for herself.
"Really, where is she? She left real early this morning and she didn't even eat breakfast. I swear that girl is crazy" I said trailing behind Copper as he started to take down the equipment.
"How should I know? Once she gave it to me she said she couldn't stay and watch because she had to go outside the walls. You know better than anybody else she doesn't like giving information about missions." He said yanking my knife out and handing it to me. As the knife landed on my hand I sighed before turning around.
"At the usual place." I spouted out heading off towards the setup meeting spot. Ugh! Why does she take every job so seriously? Why can't we just be a normal couple and go out on dates or something that happens in young adult novels? I shook my head and let my eyes wander to the tents around me glaring at my tent. We were set up near the family district, even though it was just the two of us, so there were lots of kids pitched next doors. I hated every single one of them. They were either too loud, or got in our way, or asked stupid questions that waste even more time. Yet I can't really complain without being a hypocrite because I was just like that as a kid. Man, how did my mom deal with that? I stopped in the middle of my walk feeling my stomach clench up frantically turning my head both ways as if people could actually hear what I just thought. After what she did to even talk or think about her in public without my stomach clenching. As if the universe wanted to give me an icebreaker thought to distract myself one of those annoying kids rushed into me and fell. I didn't look at or help the kid and he didn't look at me I just walked past him not helping him and the kid didn't care if I didn't cause that's all he's ever known. The rest of the walk was uneventful normal everyday things male adults discussing the newest sin a businessman had committed, the kids training amongst themselves (although I had to step in to fix the idiotic way one was holding his knife), and the mothers hanging out their clothes at the time the sun was highest. As I grew closer to the spot I stopped having such a relaxed position and shifted to one that was ready to pull out a knife and hold it against somebody's throat. The spot we choose to meet at was the spot everybody went to do bad things, in between the homes of the merchants in the area, it was the perfect place to do the things you want to hide from the world because everybody knew merchants had weird things behind their tents, to begin with. I laughed to myself remembering the time a merchant sold animal skin on Fool's April, nobody even asked where he got it and that was probably for the best. I stepped right in front of the small flap of cloth that served as a door to the place and lifted it up seeing the usual assortment of people. Lurid, a cat, had a Semblance that allowed him to make duplicates of anything so of course he used it on money, Olive, a lion, was a hired bodyguard who keeps things back here a little bit in check, "Primrose" was a woman, nobody knew what she was, who always wore a mask and could steal anything for you all people knew about her was her name which we all knew was fake. That was it those were the only people who my native self talked to when I first started coming here thinking everybody here were friends. Boy was I wrong. Even though we were all doing things we knew were wrong nobody was having afternoon teas together after this. I had been so lost in thought I had nearly missed Copper's tent and walked back so that I was facing the back flaps. I took out my knife and stuck it through the holes of the flaps waiting for him to grab it. Staring at the tent made me realized how tall I had gotten last year I could hardly reach the ceiling on the tips of the toe but now I probably could. I was about to try it from the outside but my hand was quickly yanked into the tent surprisingly which had lead to me landing on my knees. Copper saw this and gave an elderly sigh extending his lizard tail over.
"Oh get up boy this old tail isn't that strong." 'That strong.' Is he kidding? That was like as strong as a bike. At least I guessed it was that strong since I never actually owned a bike. She meant on getting me one but-. I mentally slapped myself again. What is with me today and thinking about her? Stop it what if he heard what it was saying. Copper must've noticed how I was staring off into the distance because for once he took his eyes off counting the money.
"Where's the other one? Shouldn't he be here by now he left first I guess I'll have to take a late fee." At this, I got up and clenched his arm with the same strength I did the knife.
"Wait please just wait a little longer? It's been harder for him to be alone since those girls started to follow him." He flicked his tail on my arm causing me to flinch and let go heading back to the original position I had, standing slightly straight with my arms crossed.
"You need to remember your place boy I'm the payer and you're my employee got it? The only reason I'm doing this is the fact you two get results." I blew out a puff of air at the way he took all the credit again. Without us he would still be living in some ditch outside camp even if he doesn't want to admit it he owes us and besides, we're the ones doing all the scamming not him. I felt that same stomach clench for the third time today. I always told myself this was for a good cause or that we were stealing from drunk gambling fathers who were wasting their money but as these jobs for Copper got more extreme it became harder to not see them as what they were scams. People today genuinely bet on my partner because they thought they would get a lot of money to spend, and yes maybe some spent it on alcohol but most spent it on their family or bettering their lives and we just took it from them. I wanted to sigh but knew Copper would hear it and ask what was bothering like he always did and even if I said "nothing" he would pester on and on until I spilled. I had learned the first time and didn't need the lesson taught twice. In the silence, not complete silence it was sometimes lifted at the sound of coins clattering, I started to hear the sprinting footsteps of somebody who was running late and knew it. Copper and I exchanged a glance and both nodded as the footsteps stopped right at the tent. I opened the flap and the figured rushed in panting and bent over.
"Copper I am so sorry for being late I can explain." Copper his tail up to his mouth and responded finally started to put our shares in bags.
"Don't worry Tyrian over here told me about your fan club if this becomes a problem." He spoke up moving Copper's tail from his mouth.
"Which it won't just keeping a public image." Copper paused the flow of money into my bag and glared at him for the distribution. He gave a half smiled and just moved Copper's tail up to his mouth and smartly shut up.
"If it does then this will become a problem and you know how I deal with problems." At this, he had grabbed some coins from both our bags and put them into his own share. As if we were mirrors we bit our bottom lip and nodded. Copper rolled his eyes and brought his tail over to his side to help him with the sorting.
Once he had turned around the late arrival puffed out a sigh of relief before walking over to me and trying to ruffle my hair, which was hard to do in its ponytail style.
"I got to say Tyr that was a good show out there made it seem like we absolutely hated each other." I laughed relieved to have to put off that pathetic excuse for an act.
"I please you were doing all the work everybody loved you." I put one hand on my check in a feminine manner.
"Oh, Goldwin you're so handsome, and wise, and kind, and handsome, and just wonderful in every single way! Oh, did I tell you how handsome you are for the hundredth time today yet? I don't think I did." At this, we both burst into a fit of laughter.
"Man, I didn't even think your voice could get that high weirdo." He said playfully hitting my elbow.
"Insult me all you want but remember I have one thing above you. I'm the actual good knife thrower in this tent, not you." Before Goldy could even protest Cooper had already been shaking his head up and down in agreement.
"He even beat your record today by two meters but to preserve the job I had to bend the measurement a little." I raised my head up.
"A little really? That's quite a lot" Copper tried to hide his eye roll but he always had the unconscious habit of turning his entire head with the eye roll. It was then I noticed that he was done sorting and before I could speak up he slowly turned around to face us with the bags.
"Here you go with this you two have a hundred bucks, and yes Tyrian before you asked I left in the fifty she gave you I'm not that heartless." Goldy had a grin the size of the sun on his face and took the bag. "This is great and now that Adam is moving us next to the assassin's district we don't have to pay rent for the land now we buy whatever we need to." He raised his hand for a high five and I sighed knowing I couldn't leave him hanging no matter how much I wanted to see his disappointed face.
"Well remember you two you guys can't stop working for me until you get a worthy replacement, which will be hard with your skills." Copper blurted out naturally ruining the mode.
"Copper not now okay we're kind of having a moment. You know what that is right? It's when people actually express emotion for once." Copper exhaled and inhaled before starting the beginning of an old person rant about or they were once young like us and know what it's like. I sighed smiling at how I treated this as something normal how any of this seemed normal to me at all.
"Sir, did you hear me? Sir?"
I opened my eyes and it took me a moment to remember where I was. I felt the ground moving at lightning speed under my feet and the feeling of the stiff cushion spiked my back like needles. Oh, right I'm back on the train. I looked in the direction of the noise that had woken me up. It had come from one of the hostesses who I honestly couldn't differentiate from the other because of how boring she looked.
"Ahh oh yes sorry how long have you been waiting?" I asked trying to sound somewhat genuine.
"Oh, not long at I just found this on the ground and realized it was yours didn't want to miss you since I'm just so forgetful." Then why are a hostess if you're so dang forgetful? Is what I wanted to say but I was still so drowsy I didn't have the energy to be sarcastic to anyone. I grabbed the paper that was in her and hand and was about to rip it before reading the heading.
Beacon Academy Acceptance Letter
"Oh, thank you, Miss…" It was then I noticed the giant diamond ring she had on her finger practically screaming 'I had money.'
"Uh, Mrs. thanks didn't want to forget this." My back started to burn at the awkwardness and knew the situation was heading downhill fast, and from the look on her face, she could as well. She looked over to another chair and pretended somebody called her over and started to leave before saying.
"By the way congratulations on your acceptance." I honestly didn't want to draw more attention to myself by giving a response so I just gave her a thumbs up, which actually caused more attention than if I just talked. I just sighed looking out the window noticing one of the clouds looked a lot like Copper. Why does the sky have to torture me with my chooses now as well?
AU: Now that you've read it fully it would be great if you left a review so I can better improve my writing and next chapter don't worry the C prologue will be done soon.