Topeka, Kansas. Big city filled with lights and drama like any other. But something that Topeka was filled with but wasn't known for was its horrific crime rates. Each year ascended the next and the police force wasn't holding the bastards down. But as melodramatic it may seem, there was one beacon of light. One single light that illuminated the streets of each dark and violated alley. His name was the Trickster and this is the story of the Tricksters rise and fall.
The hot sun is beating down on my back, I pant as I wipe the sweat off my brow. I am surrounded by ten other men and five women. All dressed in the proper attire, tan war suits, armed with AK-49s. Their names were Inias, Rachel, Uriel, Anna, Zachariah, Virgil, Balthazar, Samandriel, Adnachiel, Liwet, Nathaniel, Elijah, Dina, Sammael, Jamaerah. Their stories implanted in my brain. We were a family, brothers and sisters fighting for liberty. To be honest though most of us were running from the beasts that resided in the states.
"What's the plan, Gabriel?" The youngest asks. His name is Samandriel. He has light brown hair and dark green eyes. The kid is only twenty two. He is one of those adorable kids, who can find the best qualities of people and magnify them. The kid is an idyllic image of reverence. He joined the army when he was 18 when his parents abandoned him. The kid still says that they just couldn't take care of him any longer. Sometimes I wonder if that was how he actually felt or if that's what he told himself to help him sleep at night or whenever the shift allowed. He rose to the top of his class as his passion for the military grew over time. Now here he was four years later, at the center of the fight. I wonder if he was proud of himself or happy about where he was but I never ask. We're in war time and have no time for stupid questions.
"Listen up. We're heading toward the focal point of the fighting. I know that we haven't seen much action lately but that is going to change a lot, like final boss of a video game change. As you've heard, Base 207, has been put under the terrorist control and we are the relief program. There are 150 American troops held in that Base. We are simply the badass first responders. We will receive aid before the raid as we approach. Everyone on top behavior and once we do a bang up job, beers on me at the home base." I smiled as everyone's face brightened at the mention of alcohol. We all cheered and laughed. Not even a war with its unexpected dangers could dampen the spirits of the group.
"Alright. Shut up, you dorks. We leave at sunrise so get to sleep." I try to sound serious but that was far too out of character. The laughs die and everyone clears out, leaving me hunched over the wiggly desk that dances as I try to write on the plans. My eyes focus on the paper intently as though the minute I looked away, it would spring to life and stab me.
"Look at it like that for any longer and it'll spring to life and shag you." A familiar British voice calls from my left. I glance up and smile at my best friend, Balthazar. He is taller than me (but then again that wasn't a challenge) with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes alongside an attitude that screamed "fuck you, I do what I want." Balthazar and I enrolled into the military academy together and had spent the last five years together. Balthazar is more of a brother to me than my actual brothers.
"Well at least I don't force myself upon inanimate objects like a certain British twit I know." I tease back, reminding Balthazar of the time when they had both got pissed as drunk and Balth started making out with a toaster. Oh the blackmail material.
"OI! That was one time!" We break out laughing. Our laughs calm down and eventually melt into a comfortable silence. Balth then sits down beside me.
"I'm proud of you, Gabe, look at you! Our knight in shining armor. I could kiss you." Balth fake swoons as I roll my eyes.
"Well we can't all be Rapunzel, Balth. Some of us need to be the dashing hero." I dramatically run a hand through my hair while striking a pose.
"What are you two? And your hair is longer than mine." Balth points out.
"You're still Rapunzel and I refuse to believe otherwise." I tease.
"So tomorrow is a big day. Think we can do it?" I turn to him.
"Of course, we're getting help before and we've been in these situations before."
"I know but we don't have a specific number of how many we are going against. What if we get out numbered? We're fucked."
"Balth, trust me. We will be fine, okay? I promise." I give him a reassuring smile and he returns a small one in exchange.
"You know best. Alright, Gabe, I'm sure that we will be fine. It's just the nerves; you know how they act up sometimes."
"Yeah, Balth, I get it. Go eat and then sleep." Balthazar nods.
"See you bright and early, Gabe,"
"Night, Balth," I say as he leaves. I go to bed shortly after, asleep by the time my head hits the pillow.
Hours later, I blink awake to find the sun beating down on my tent like always. The morning is a haze, a blur of moving figures that scramble from place to place. Within a half an hour, we were heading toward our mission.
We had been moving for an hour or so until the fatal medley of bullets sent our world into panic. My head whips around to see an advancing team of terrorist, firing at us. "Shoot!" I call to my team, turning to face them. I glance around for a way to escape but every possibility is quickly stricken out with the presence of another oncoming force. We had faced sticky situations before but never like this, there were too many. Where was the damn aid? They were supposed to be here by now. We continue shooting though. The deadly symphony of bullets exploding through the air ways. Time freezes as I look to my team. Each of their faces conveying the same terrified look that beg a absent God for mercy. "We're going to be okay. I promise." I assure them with a smile that seemed to have crakes of panic because it too conveyed Gabriel's hidden fear. A massive BANG erupted into the air. We are tossed off of our feet like paper in a strong wind. Our eyes all begin to fall shut as darkness himself reaches out to us before taking hold.
I feel a grating pain against my back and groggily awaken. My eyes meet the sun and cringe, squinting as they try to adjust under its powerful rays. My legs were not moving on their own instead they were being grabbed onto and tugged. My eyes leave the rays of the sun to find a pair of soulless black eyes, glaring at me. I struggle against the hands that clutch onto my legs and shout. "Let go of me! BALTH! SAM! RACHEL! INIAS!" I shout as I struggle to get free. A cloth is then forced under my nose and darkness meets me once more.
Waking up is always a difficult task but it is made easy when you awake to water as cold as the Arctic being dumped over your head. I gasp like a fish out of water and struggle against the ropes that keep me bounded to the chair. I blink the water from my arms and observe the room that must be my prison. The room is dark aside from a single beam of light, which shone on me alone. The world is spinning around me too fast for me to comprehend, making my stomach whorl and making me groan and shut my eyes as I silently command the world to obey to the laws of psychics. The world slowly obeys and when it does, I open my eyes.
"Hello Commander Milton." A deep voice echoes a familiar cold voice. Who owned that voice? Gabriel recognized it but was unable to point it out. The voice comes from the left corner of the room, wearing the darkness like an invisibility cloak.
"Who the fuck are you? Where are they?" the man chuckles and I struggle against the ropes, the friction causes me to cringe in pain.
"I am no one but to you, I'm everyone. I'm your worst nightmare. Your friends are merely next door. You'll see them soon." I could picture the man's smirk being as wide as a Cheshire cats.
"Listen to me, you hurt any of them and you'll regret it. I will kill you all." I glared and my voice becoming my weapon with its ability to turn fatal without raising its volume. I had learned from my father the best way to send fear down an enemies spin and that is by intimidating them through small gestures. I continue to struggle until I feel a short cut of the rope, knowing that it is my only hope, I freeze and stop struggling, and turn my attention to the man whose face I couldn't see. The man laughs again and waves at me as a child would to their dear friend.
"See you soon, my bonne amie." the door slides open, a column of light sneaks in and reminds me of the sun, which had been stolen away from me. As soon as I hear the sound of metal clinking shut, I rub my wrists against each other. I bite down on my lip to ignore the pain due to the friction. I feel as though the stupid ropes would never let loose until suddenly I feel cold, free air brushing against my wrists and hear the soft thud of ropes landing the floor.
I smirk. "Take that bastard ass." I chuckle to myself. I then stand, noticing that my war coat had been removed, leaving me in a white tank top and my pants. My smile drops as I reach down to my pocket to find it empty; missing the pistol I hid there. I go to the door, press my ear against it to hear sweet silence. There was no one outside. I kneel in front of the door; my eyes scanning the room for something useful until they land on a pair of rods. I grab them, twiddling them in my hands as I observed them; they should fit through the door slot. I slide them into the door slot, I began working with them in hopes of defeating this demon of a door. The joyous click of the door being unlocked sends a smile to my face. "Look whose on top this time?" I chuckle to myself. I crack the door open, gather the rods, rise to my feet, and exit the room. I glance over my shoulder, trying to ignore the whispers in my head of "it's too easy" and "Isn't this fishy?". I need to find my team, that's all that matters, I remind myself. A fire builds up in the pit of my stomach, reminding me of how much of my life they had become in the last 5 years. They make me laugh, frown, pout and shout but most importantly, they make me a better me. You know those chocolates that have those nuts in the center that hold everything together? As crazy as it may sound, they are my nut at the center. They are my center and it's stupid that I haven't realized that until now. I needed them in the way that I hope they need me.
I take the rods and slowly go down the hallway, pressing my ear to every door to try and hear any sound. I was about halfway down the hall when I hear it, a low groan of pain. It was coming from the door to my left; I kneel down in front of it and use my rods to fidget with it until I hear the click of the lock undoing. I pause. Anything could be behind this door. I could only hope that it would lead me to my family, my real one at least. I take a deep breath, swallowing my anxieties and push the door open. The room is disguised with darkness; I can't make out any shadows at all. Just black and never ending darkness. I take a step forward then another until I was deep into the room.
The door is flown shut behind me. I turn back with the rods raised as a defense weapon to find nothing. I take a step forward and feel my foot stepping on something. The lights suddenly flash on and I look down to solve the riddle of what I was stepping on but I didn't expect such a horror. My eyes widen and my jaw drops.
There below me lays Samandriel, his blank eyes staring right at me. His chest was covered in blood, with a serious blow to the head as well. The chest wound was so deep that I could- God, I could see his organs from where I was standing. I look around with fearful eyes and all I see is one primary color. All around me is red, red, red, red. The blood perfumes the air and paints the walls and floorboards. I scan each of their face and see the bitter end of their stories that I had grown to love; Inias, Rachel, Uriel, Anna, Zachariah, Virgil, Adnachiel, Liwet, Nathaniel, Elijah, Dina, Sammael, Jamaerah. Each new death worse than the last. My nostrils find themselves disgusted by the smell of new death, my stomach finds itself sick as I cover my mouth my hands. But then I hear it, a soft breath. I scramble to the barely noticeable breath. There hidden beneath Nathaniel and Elijah, laid Balthazar. He clutches his stomach, which was a river of red that would surely lead him to death. He smiles up as me as though there was no one he would rather see. I feel to my knees, my final strength losing itself at the horrible sight of my good friend.
"Balth, no, no, no. Not you too." I shake my head and whisper, feeling the tears start to escape. I wrap my arms around him with his head in my lap and my hand applying pressure on the wound.
"About time you showed up. You always were bad with the time." he chuckled and then coughed so harshly that blood trickles down his mouth. I wipe it away.
"You're not going anywhere, Balth. Got me? Do you understand you british cock?" I whisper harshly to him.
"G-Gabriel, you're the best friend a man could ask for." he whispers and I shake my head.
"Balth, there's no time for goodbyes okay? You're not going anywhere." Balth struggles for breath and his heart beat begins to slow down.
"Let me finish, I'm so sorry that we won't be able to go sky diving together or be each other's best mans. I'm sorry but I want you to know that I wouldn't change a thing. I didn't realize that until now. You're my brother and I'm yours. We're-we're brothers okay?" he reaches for my hand and I take it.
"Of course we are, Balth. God- I owe you so much. I owe you so fucking much and I'd do anything for this not to be happening."
"Gabriel?"
"Yeah?" The tears started streaming down my face like rivers.
"I'm scared. I am really fucking scared. D-Don't let me go alone."
" Never, I'll be here until the end and beyond that."
"Really?"
"Now have I ever lied to you, Balth?"
"Yes."
"Well this will be a first then."
"A first and a last then." Balthazar smiled softly.
I gingerly stroke his hair as I hold onto him. I tell Balthazar a story that revolves purely around him, telling Balthazar everything good that he should know before he goes. Gabriel's eyes never left Balthazar. The time slips away like sand sliding off of one's fingertips, I don't know whether it's minutes or hours but eventually Balthazars eyes no longer need to blink nor do his lungs require to breath. Through my tears, I check his pulse to find that he is gone. Death has taken the last one captive. When would he come for me? I gingerly rise, shutting Balthazars eyes and moving his body so he is neatly laid in the center of the room. I did the same to each one of them. When I was done, I went to the door and reach for the doorknob but turn before I grasp it. I look at their bodies, longing for them to sit up and smile at me all the while knowing that they will never move again.
"I'm so sorry, I've failed you all. Be somewhere better, be happy for me okay? Because you deserve everything good that me and this fucked up world couldn't give you." I rub my eyes with my sleeve before turning the doorknob to find it locked. I go to bend down in front of it when a mad laughter engulfs the room. I turn around and my eyes meet a speaker implanted to the corner of the room. The speaker mocks me and laughs at them, it mocks their deaths. A rage unlike any other engulfed me as I went to the speaker, shouting into it.
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! IM GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" The laughter only continues until the rage consumes me and convinces me to pull the speaker down from its home and rip it out of the wall. The door remains locked no matter what tool I find. For hours, I am left there. Looking at the bodies, watching them rot and looking at the blood, watching it dry. The guilt rises higher and higher like the current but this time, it is too strong to ignore. I can't sleep because they plagued my mind. I just sit against the wall, trying to stare at the one across from me but my sight of vision was blocked by the bodies of my center. My friends for the past five years were now nothing more than decomposing meat. The center has crumpled into pieces that I can't fix. Madness reaches to me like a mother to its child, urging for me to embrace it. The world spins, colors mix, their deaths filling up every container of my mind. My body trembles and shakes. I feel sick though have no urge to vomit and get rid of the bile in my throat. No, I want it to sit there. I want to feel it all and then when it becomes difficult to breathe without being confronted with the vile disgusting feeling. I then think that I will take that steel rod and plunge it into my own chest. But someone disrupts my plans, the same person that stole everything else. They swing open the metal door and look down at me with their soulless black eyes that understood me. Those soulless black eyes see the monster within me, he sees it and he smirked before snapping his fingers and having his men drag me to my new chambers.
Gabriel jumped awake with a start, panting. His breaths calmed but then he hid his face in his hands and fell mute. This is one of those times when he couldn't say "It was only a dream" because it was a terrible memory. A knocking on the door and a voice interrupted his distress and he wasn't sure whether or not to be thankful.
"Hello, Mr. Novack. It's Sam Winchester with the Topeka police. Would you please come out here? We have a few questions for you." The voice called to him. Gabriel looked up, wiped at his eyes, took deep breaths and rose to his feet. He threw on his pants and went toward the door, hoping that whatever was so important would be done with soon so he could go back to mourning. He didn't know what beautiful disaster waited for him outside of his front door.