Chapter 10: Cut

"Don't worry, King. I know you're going to kick his ass."

"Thanks Peter. I'll see you after the fight." I watched as King entered the center of the cage arena. He was about to face Marduk and avenge Armor King's death. Though his voice was layered with anxiety, I could sense the anger and fury emitting from his body. It felt as if waves of it were hitting me as I stood next to him. And once he walked away, I no longer felt them. While he may have been worried, I wasn't. I knew that he was going to win this battle. On the other side of the arena, Craig Marduk prepared to fight.

"I'm gonna beat your ass this time!", he yelled. King showed no reaction, which told me that he was probably using Marduk's taunts as fuel for the upcoming clash. Instead he jogged in place, stretching his arms as Marduk continue to yell various obscenities and insults at him. Hell, it was enough to make me want to get in there and fight him, so I couldn't imagine how King was staying so silent. The referee came in between the two and began to count down. As soon as the word 'fight' was yelled, King's peaceful demeanor did a complete switch. He roared loudly as he ran towards Marduk, throwing a flurry of carefully calculated punches. The bigger man was hit with almost every punch. He was obviously taken off guard; the look on his face told me so. I couldn't help but snicker at how stupid he looked right now, holding his nose with his mouth wide open in shock.

In all the fights I had watched King take part in, I'd never seen him fight this hard. I winced as he stomped on Marduk's foot and head butted him to the ground. He was obviously very angry and had clearly been preparing for this battle for awhile now. Again and again, King drove his boot into Marduk's side. Each kick seemed to increase in force, along with King's brutish yells. He was winning the fight so far and I was glad for him. After about two more kicks, things took an unexpected turn. Marduk grabbed his ankle and tripped him before rolling on top of him and pummeling his upper body with his fists. My hand covered my mouth as I watched King take this beating. It was as if I was feeling each and every blow with him; the sight of him being in pain becoming too much for me to handle. Thankfully, King kicked him off and jumped to his feet, seemingly unharmed. His right fist plunged itself into Marduk's throat, ceasing his movements as he began to cough.

With a quick spin, King brought the same fist colliding across the man's face. I noticed a bit of blood fly out of his mouth as King back handed him into one of the cage walls. The audience began to yell louder now as the fight became more intense. Marduk turned around with a firm kick to the stomach. King stumbled backwards, temporarily distracted. That moment of weakness was all Marduk needed. He grabbed King around the waist and threw him into the wall. Then he stomped his foot into King's exposed back. Holy shit!, I thought. I could see King struggling to get up after that last kick, and I prayed to god that he'd move out of the way.

"King watch out!", I yelled. As if he had heard my voice over all the others, he rolled out of the path of Marduk's falling elbow attack. Instead of crashing into King's back, Marduk's elbow hit the hard ground underneath him.

"Fuck!!", he yelled in pain. Grabbing his arm, King performed one of his locks on the man. He pulled it up over the back of his head and strained with frustration as he tried to break it. Marduk's voice yelled out in pain. But just when it looked like King had the upper hand again, Marduk escaped the lock and threw King over his shoulder onto the ground. I could already see that he was hurting bad. I wished I could run in and stop Marduk from hurting him anymore, but this was King's battle to fight. I had no right to interfere now. The cheers of the audience continued to boom across the area, motivating both fighters to continue. Marduk stood in the corner holding his arm while King slowly rose up from the ground. He was holding his side, yelling out in frustration. Quickly, he ran at his opponent again and kicked him in the back. He then leaped onto and off the wall, delivering another kick to the back.

"Yeah, that's right!", I yelled in excitement. As Marduk turned around, he was met with a firm drop kick to the chest. After landing on his back, King stayed there for a moment to catch his breath. Unexpectedly, Marduk jumped up to his feet and charged at him. Unable to move out of the way fast enough, King was hit with a sliding kick to his stomach. Releasing a loud yell, he held the spot where he'd been hit and curled into a ball. Oh no, come on King, get up. Get up!

"King, get up!!", I yelled. The audience also motivated him to stand up again and continue the fight, but something was wrong. He wasn't getting back up. The referee came in and checked to see what King's condition was. After a few seconds, he raised his hand towards Marduk and the announcer yelled 'K.O.!' over the speakers. My stomach twisted in knots as Marduk pumped his fists in victory. King had lost...

"Excuse me sir, can you please let me in?", I asked anxiously to the guard by the gate door. He recognized me and nodded, opening up the gate for me to get through. Without hesitation, I ran over and knelt down to his side.

"King, are you okay?!" Instead of replying, he groaned in pain. I wrapped my arm around him and helped him to sit up. He sat there for a second, his eyes stuck on the ground. Next to us, Marduk laughed and taunted, mocking King for his defeat. Knowing this would upset him, I tried to comfort him.

"Don't listen to him. You did your best, don't feel bad okay?"

"...I let Armor King down..."

"No, no you didn't. You fought bravely and Armor knows that. He's proud of you King, he is." I sounded so desperate to make him feel better, I just couldn't bear to see him this hurt and upset. He sat still for another moment and for a second, I could've sworn I heard him sniffle. King never cries...

"King...?" I fought to find words to say, but it was too late. He pushed me away from him and rose to his feet, briskly walking away and out of sight. As I sat on the ground, I watched as he disappeared into the crowd. He looked so sad, so defeated. I couldn't believe he'd lost the fight. But he'd worked so hard, I didn't understand...Dusting my pants off, I stood up and took a step towards following King when suddenly, Marduk started to taunt me.

"I told you! King doesn't have what it takes to beat me, he just got lucky last time! I stomped his bitch ass, and I would've stomped yours too just to rub it in. Maybe now you both understand who's the better fighter." With that, he broke out into a fit of laughter, the blood still trickling from his mouth. Watching him laugh, I became enraged. This was the man who had hurt King so much. This was the man who had killed Armor King. And this same man was now rubbing it in his face and making him look like a fool in front of all these people.

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up?", I asked. His only response was his fat index finger in my face, pointing at me and laughing even harder now. No more. Taking advantage of this, I grabbed him by the thumb and twisted his hand, making him yell out in pain. Before he could make a move, I yelled out and kicked my right leg high over my shoulder, the heel of my shoe colliding with his chin. Blood spurted out of his mouth as he fell to his back, unconscious. Now he was the one who looked like a fool. The referee came over and pushed me away, yelling things that I couldn't hear over the noise from the audience. There was a mix of gasps, cheers, 'boo's', and laughter. It didn't matter anymore, because I was done here. Quickly, I brushed past all the people in the crowd, running to the elevator. I was assuming that King had returned to our room and as I waited for the elevator, I looked down the hallway to see a door swinging slightly in the wind. It was the door to the courtyard from last night. Was King over there?

I left the elevator and jogged down the large corridor, eventually reaching the courtyard. Upon opening the door and looking outside, there he was, sitting by the fountain on his knees. His head down between his hands, he looked as if he was praying for forgiveness. It depressed me to see him so hurt. I had to compose myself before approaching him.

"King?" I expected for him to say something, but what he did say caught me off guard.

"Peter, please just leave me alone. I just need to be alone for a little while...please?" His voice shook and I could tell that he was either fighting back tears, or that he was already crying. Stunned by his words, I stood with my jaw slightly open before turning around.

"Okay.", I said, almost too quiet to hear. It was getting harder and harder to keep acting brave for him. Inside, I still felt like a coward, ready to break down at any given instance. But for his sake, I'd have to pretend to be a stronger person for him. I walked through the door and shut it quietly behind me. Barely seconds after I'd closed the door, I heard him start wailing, begging Armor King for forgiveness. I couldn't deal with it anymore, my face reddened and my eyes watered. One single tear managed to fall before I wiped it away and got a hold of myself. Why couldn't he get what he deserved? King was always helping me, always putting others before himself and yet somehow, he never really got the appreciation that he should've. I knew I had to talk to somebody.

Down the hall back by the elevator, I saw my friend Tiffanie approaching. Thank god she's here.

--

"Wow Pete, that really sucks."

"I know, he seems to be taking it pretty hard. What can I do?"

"Just give him time.", Tiffanie replied. There it goes again. Time. We sat together in the gym, noticing that we were the only two occupying the large room.

"I just feel so bad, you know? Like I wish I knew what to say to make him feel better."

"I know what you mean. Sorry if this is a bad time to ask, but you never did tell me what happened between you two. How did he take the news?", she asked me. Having been good friends for a long time, I trusted her enough to tell her most things. She gave me that innocent look that only I understood. With a sigh, I started to speak about it.

"Well, it was weird. He just said that he didn't think of me any less, but he seemed so different afterwards. I...I kinda lost it and ran outside into the rain." Tiffanie's eyes widened, not so much in shock, but in confusion.

"You ran outside?", she asked.

"...Yeah." We looked at each other for a few silent moments before smiles started to stretch ever so slowly across our faces. And then finally, we laughed. It did sound kind of funny once I really thought about it. I was acting on impulse and it led me into doing something stupid. But Tiffanie knew me. She knew I did things like that, so we just joked about it.

"Hope you brought an umbrella!"

"I know right? Oh and what's worse, is that I got locked outside.", I added. Tiffanie laughed harder now, and her laughter only encouraged mine. It was a good minute before we calmed down. I thought about mentioning what happened afterwards, but I figured I wouldn't because it might sound worse than it really was. Wiping her face of tears, Tiffanie asked me another question.

"So what the hell did Marduk say to you after King's fight?"

"The usual shit."

"'Cuz you really kicked his ass! You were all like, 'hi-yah!', and then all I heard was, BOOM!" We started to laugh again, holding our hands over our mouths. She then got up and imitated my kick, re-enacting the entire little skit. I could tell she was making me laugh on purpose, trying to cheer me up. Even though it was working, something inside me felt wrong for making jokes right now when King was off feeling devastated. The images of him running out of the arena and of him kneeling down in tears in the courtyard returned, making me feel guilty for laughing. I tried not to show it, so I continued to talk to Tiffanie for a few more minutes. That's when I noticed Julia coming into the gym. She looked relieved when she saw me, waving at us both as she approached.

"Peter. Have you spoken to King?", she asked. I nodded, telling her that he wanted some time alone. "Oh, well I just saw him leaving the bar. He looked pretty bad.", she said. I looked down to my watch. How long has it been since I left him? Unless it was broken, my watch was showing that it had been nearly an hour ago. Panicking slightly, I stood up and started to jog towards the door.

"Julia, where did you see him?", I asked as I looked back.

"He was getting into the elevator.", she called back. After thanking her, I waved goodbye to my two friends and ran down the hallways until I reached the elevator. He was probably upstairs in our room by now. What made me nervous was that King didn't really drink as much as he used to. So hearing that he looked pretty bad made me worry that he was drunk. And when he was drunk, he had the tendency to get a bit angry. Once inside the elevator, I tapped my foot in anticipation as it carried me up to my floor. The doors opened up and I ran down the hall towards the room. After using my key, I pushed open the door and walked inside.

"King? King are you here?" I quieted once I closed the door and turned the corner, seeing him sitting at the table. The table had a number of beer bottles tipped over on it. Getting closer, I realized that they were mostly empty. He took another gulp of his current beer, not even acknowledging my presence. Slowly, I approached him.

"King...I know you're upset. But can you please put down the beer and just talk to me?" The room went silent and I wasn't even sure he heard me. But then he spoke up.

"I failed, Peter. I let Armor King down." Hearing his voice, I could tell that he wasn't drunk, but he was damn well getting close enough.

"King, you didn't fail him. You honored him by sticking up for him; by fighting in his name."

"I'm letting everyone down. I let you down, and now I let him down."

"...What? What do you mean?"

"You came to me and told me that you were raped. And then you told me that you loved me. And I shot you down.", he said to me. I went silent after that. What was I supposed to say to that? It wasn't his fault, it was mine for pressuring him. He lifted the beer bottle up and began to drink again. This was the problem. I reached forward and gently tried to take the bottle away from him. I could feel him resisting, trying to keep it for himself. Finally, I yanked it from his grasp and said, "It's my fault for telling you." Surprisingly, he grabbed my wrist, preventing me from taking the bottle, preventing me from backing away. His touch was rough this time, not like the warmth I usually always felt from him. He leaned closer to my face and looked up at me as he sat there.

"Tell me why you love me.", he said. I felt nervous, unsure of what to say or do.

"King, I don't think we should-"

"I said, tell me why you love me.", he interrupted. He said it louder this time, his grip tightening on my wrist slightly. My mind thought back to the man who raped me when I was twelve. That roughness, those callous hands, it was starting to feel the same. I closed my eyes and tried to push the thoughts away.

"King, can you please let me go?" My voice was bathed in nervousness, I wasn't sure if he was going to get violent or not.

"Tell me why you love me. Tell me how it is that you can love me when nobody else ever did. Not my parents, not my family, no one. Tell me how this is different." Was this why he was so distant? I wanted to tell him, but fear wouldn't let me. After a few seconds, he let my wrist go.

"You see. You can't even tell me.", he said. Getting up, he brushed past me and headed for the door.

"W-where are you going?", I asked.

"I'm going to go get Marduk. He'll see what I can really do."

No. He was getting violent and out of hand, I couldn't let him leave this room. Quickly, I grabbed his arm and tugged him back towards me, away from the door.

"No, you're not going. Stay here.", I said with determination. If I let him go, he would do something that he'd regret later and I couldn't let that happen. I had to protect him like he protected me. Unfortunately, he wasn't seeing it that way.

"Get off.", he said to me.

"King, you're not thinking straight-"

"Peter...get off."

"No! I'm sorry, I'm not letting you go!", I yelled angrily, trying to keep him from walking towards the door.

"GET OFF!!" His palm shoved into my chest, knocking me back into the table behind me. I crashed into it, hearing the sound of shattering glass as it gave way.

...

The room was silent. In shock, I looked up at King. His expression had totally changed into one of surprise. It was like he couldn't believe what just happened. More silence filled the room as I tried to get up. Then, with a small cry of pain, I realized that I had a piece of broken glass sticking out of my elbow. It wasn't big, but it was large enough to make me bleed. Once King saw my injury, once he saw my fear, he quickly knelt down and tried to examine it. In fear, I pulled away from him and ran to the bathroom, yanking the glass out. It hurt worse than I'd thought it would, blood dripping from my elbow. Grabbing a towel, I wrapped it around my elbow and turned around only to meet with King.

"Peter..."

"I'm fine. Please just move." He had me cornered in the bathroom and I was afraid of what he might do next.

"Peter, I'm so sorry..." His hands touched both sides of my neck and traveled up to my cheeks. He knelt down enough so that we were at eye level with each other. I tried to look away, unsure of what he was going to do. But he wouldn't let me. He held my face in his hands, brushing his forehead against mine.

"I'm sorry...", he whispered over and over. His hands reached around my back and I could feel that he was pulling me in for an embrace.

"I...I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me, I'm so sorry...", he continued. I noticed that his touch had returned to its normal warmth. His voice shook with regret and after I saw that he wasn't angry anymore, I slowly let my arms wrap around him as well. We stood there, heads resting on each other's shoulders, moving back and forth slowly. A minute later, I found the courage to speak again.

"I think you should go to sleep. You've been through a lot today and you need to calm down...okay?" After I spoke, his hands gently squeezed my back and massaged it softly. He nodded before slowly letting go. Seeing that he was still a little intoxicated, I decided to help him get back to his bed. He stood against the wall behind me as I rinsed my wound before wrapping a bandage around my elbow. The whole time, his hand slightly rubbed against the back of my shoulder, trying his best to comfort me as best he currently could. After I was finished, I grabbed his wrist and started to leave the bathroom. He then did something that shocked me. He slid his wrist out and locked his fingers with mine. He was holding my hand. Swallowing hard, I continued on to his bed and helped him lay down.

"You'll feel better in the morning. We'll talk about everything then, alright?", I said quietly as he lay there. I pulled the blanket over his body and turned to go to my bed when suddenly, his hand once again stopped me from moving. I looked towards him to see what he wanted.

"Please, stay with me.", he said. My eyes gave him a questioning look, not fully understanding him. "Sleep with me.", he said now. It was odd seeing him like this, but I knew it was the alcohol. One look from his green eyes and I felt I had to give in to him. Slowly, I nodded and sat down on the bed, getting underneath the covers with him and shutting off the light. My back faced him, but then I felt his arm wrap around me. His warmth reminded me of the other night, when he had held me before. Again, he whispered how sorry he was and how he didn't want me to leave his side tonight. I had nothing to say, but my body chilled with goosebumps at his touch. So loving, so kind, so warm. This was his true side, his true feelings...and he was sharing them with me. A minute later, he was snoring. I smiled to myself, finding security once again within his arms. Before I fell asleep with him, I reached down and held his hand that was resting on my stomach, gently brushing my thumb back and forth over his warm skin. I'd never seen King so vulnerable, so fragile like he was tonight. I curled into him, feeling safe knowing that he was my protector, and that I was his.