Willy sat up from his bed, using the rails and wall as
leverage. His attempt at standing up was going quite well without the crutches.
While standing up didn’t instigate any trouble, walking was another matter
altogether. He gently took his hand off of the wall, making a break for the
door. He took his first step, grimacing with a great, whirling sensation of
pain circulating through his whole leg. The pain, unusually, was quite tame, at
least compared to the week prior to this. With Lara in school, that left only
him at home. He made Lara promise, even swear he wouldn’t do anything stupid.
She still didn’t seem to trust him, even proposing a swift pinky promise. Like
it mattered, what could he do In his
situation?
Oh well, he was about to find out himself.
It had been one week exactly since Sora visited Willy’s
hospital room, giving him a strange syringe. Looking back, Willy realized that
taking an unidentified syringe with no idea what it was probably not one of his
smartest ideas. He slapped himself mentally for his foolish display (since his
hands were busy), never in his life had he felt like such pitiful squander.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, was his justification for the event.
As foolish as that may have sounded to anyone else, to Willy it was all that
mattered, him getting better. It was everything, and if so meant destroying the
rest of him so he could run again, he would willingly, even gladly destroy
himself.
Willy smiled in triumph, beaming with a confident, well
endowed smirk that he was acknowledged for in Heretic High. His strength was
returning. With no physical therapy sessions yet, not even giving enough time
to fully heal from the operation, he was walking,
needless to say a huge step in the right direction. His progress was
overwhelmingly rapid. It was the happiest Willy had felt in two weeks.
His confident smirk was soon replaced by a shocking
revelation; his knee gave out under him. Willy crashed among his own weight,
groaning in pain, he bit his tongue to avoid screaming, latching on to his
nearby nightstand to retain his balance, to no avail. He flipped over his lamp,
crashing next to him, the bulb flickering its final moments of illumination,
dimming away from underneath him. Willy rolled over on the floor, clasping his
forehead with both of his hands, covering his eyes. Despite his apparently bad
situation, he was smiling, even chuckling.
“It’s working,” he said, barely above a whisper. He slowly
sat up, a look of satisfaction plaguing his features. “It’s really working.”
Through all of this, Willy had currently one motive to get
better, and fast. No matter the cost, he had
to improve himself. He was already behind from before, to that boy. The boy who single handedly, within a day’s time,
shattered his school record of 100 meter rush. That wasn’t going to fly with
Willy, he was not about to let that record sit. Willy’s knee had to get better,
to reclaim his title, his rightful
title.
Willy turned his head east, looking toward his single
bedroom window, he noticed it was open… and a figure sitting upon the window
sill as casually as can be. Willy’s eyes widened upon the realization of who it
was.
“Who are you?”
---
“Thank you for your time. Meeting adjourned,” Lara closed
her clipboard on the desk, sitting tall among the edge of the table in the
student council room. The members of the council, each sitting in their
respective chairs surrounding the table, nodded in appreciation of Lara,
grabbing their accessories, leaving the room proudly. Lara sighed to herself,
standing up from her ‘honorary’ position in the front of the classroom. With
the lot of moving bodies among the school halls due to the end of last period,
the students were grabbing their things from their lockers, associating with
their fellow peers, and heading out for the bus stops. Being on the official
student council meant a free skip to their last period, but they were still
overseen and observed by an instructor. Still, the man never said a word, and
never got involved in matters that he wasn’t concerned with, leaving the
students to their tasks.
“Great job today, Lara,” Jesse stood next to Lara with a
somewhat conceited smirk. “You practically had the council majority on their
knees, admiring your large, prosperous brea-“
“Need I remind you the only reason you’re on this council is
because of a favor I owed Willy?” Lara interrupted insensitively, not giving
him any eye contact at all. Clearly, she was not as amused about his comment as
he was. “I’d suggest watching your tone. It really wouldn’t hurt my feelings at
all if I were to suspend you from the council.” She stated coldly, making her
way for the exit. Jesse turned back, smiling conceitedly.
“Alright, excuse me madam. I actually just wanted to ask how
Willy was doing,” Jesse cut to the point. He hadn’t even spoken to Willy since
his accident. Due to Willy accepting no visitors, not even his best friend, he hadn’t
seen him at all either. Lara cut her eyes back.
“He’s holding up,” Lara replied simply. “It’s been really
hard on him. A guy like him is not used to being handicapped. He’ll get through
it, his motivation is something really unorthodox.” Lara smiled to herself, but
made visible to Jesse as well. Jesse nodded.
“Good to hear. When will he be back in school? I just got
this new card the rare Utopian card at the latest auction and he has to see
it,” Jesse’s eyes lit up, clenching his fists in triumph, holding the single
card over his head. Lara merely looked back at him like an idiot.
“I can’t answer that,” Lara shrugged. “Whenever he’s ready,
he’s ready. You know how he is.” Jesse chuckled lightheartedly, an uncommon
occurrence. Most people that knew Jesse referred to him as ‘Stone Cold Jesse’,
as a reference to his usual cold nature, yet his hard-ass persona he often
displayed only during card games. Unlike Willy, he was a very motivated
individual, but he could be when he wanted to be. He barely even took his work
as a council vice president seriously, merely riding the benefit for skipping
the last period of the day.
“Alright; Thanks Lara,” Jesse nodded casually, walking
outside of the room. Lara watched Jesse leave, folding up her papers, stacking them
within her backpack, she sighed to herself, a fairly hefty intake of fresh air
symbolizing her relief. Her day was over, and like she promised Willy, she
would be home right away, after she stopped by the grocery store. Picking up
her cell phone, she speed dialed Willy’s number with a single click, listening
in on the other line.
“I wouldn’t bother trying that,” a smooth, yet
unrecognizable voice reverberated through the vacant room. Lara turned her
head, cutting her eyes toward the desk with a rather spiteful scowl. The young
man kicked over the chair to the main desk hastily, smirking sinisterly as her
phone was disconnected. The door immediately shut, leaving only the two of them
inside, with apparently no signal. She showed no signs of intimidation, only
annoyance for getting in her way. Upon further speculation and glancing at the
new arrival, her face twisted in a sign of irritation.
“What business do you have with me, Anthony?” Lara inquired,
glaring seriously at the golden-eyed, freakazoid styled red hairdo of the
eccentric looking man sitting on the desk in front of her. His eyes widened in
an unhinged, yet focused gaze. He cracked a widespread smile that only further
carved his eccentricity.
“Lara Willman. I’ve been stalking you around school,” he
leaned closer to the desk, leaping off, landing upright on his feet, he stood
in front of Lara, staring down at her, keeping his eccentric glare.
“So, you’re going to admit you’re a stalker?” Lara asked,
raising a brow. Despite his antics, she didn’t find him funny at all. He was
often regarded as the class clown of the senior class (aka Lara’s class). “You
realize I can not only have you expelled for this… but arrested, as well?”
“Yeah, but you’re not gonna do any of that stuff to me,”
Anthony leaned closer, prompting Lara to step back.
“Why wouldn’t I? From the way you’re acting now, you’re only
giving me more indication to turn you in…”
“I’ll put it simple, Lara,” Anthony began. “I like you, and
I want you. We can do this the easy way… or the hard way,” Anthony smoothed in, caressing her face with his hand.
She smacked his hand away, glaring at him with intense hazel eyes.
“You and I aren’t going to be doing anything, any kind of
way,” Lara walked by Anthony, who turned his head slightly, watching her leave.
He grinned madly, gesturing with his finger behind Lara, twisting his fingers
in an unorthodox pattern.
“Ahh… I didn’t want to use this trump card… but you’re being
reaaally difficult,” Anthony smirked.
Lara stopped, glaring back at Anthony somewhat uncaringly. “I know your secret,
Lara.”
Lara continued staring at him like a dupe. “Well?”
Anthony walked up to Lara, gently grabbing her arm, much to
the young woman’s protest. She attempted to snatch his arm away from her… but
oddly enough, her strength couldn’t compare. He held up her arm effortlessly,
even as she struggled. The girl in Heretic High, regarded for having monstrous
strength and stamina, was being bested so easily by this clown?
He lightly stroked her wrist, among doing so, a matched set
of round-shaped runes lit up like a matched set of decorative lights around her
wrist. The sensation burned, causing her to cringe. The runes appeared white in
color, pure white. Anthony’s eyes widened upon examination of this phenomenon
in her body.
“You’re a war-rune user,” Anthony, for the first time,
bluntly spoke up. Lara’s eyes widened, her teeth cringed, as she finally began
to relax, panting slightly. The searing burns plaguing her arm diminishing, as
did the appearance of the round runes as Anthony let go of her flesh. The runes
that were apparent just a minute ago were gone just as quickly.
“You know about War-runes?” Lara asked, seemingly shocked.
Anthony nodded.
“Yeah girl,” Anthony smiled somewhat crazily, his eyes
widened with a unique ecstasy. “Studied them under my father.”
“Your… father?” Lara’s mouth fell agape. “Your surname… It
wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Anthony Reid. The pleasure is mine, darling tulip,” Anthony
placed his hands in his pockets, leaning back lazily against a desk in front of
Lara, clearly not fond of proper greetings, taking his known status lightly.
“Don’t say embarrassing stuff like that,” Lara rolled her
eyes. Anthony laughed out loud heartily. “But… what exactly are War-runes,
anyway? This was given to me as a gift,” she said, pointing to her wrist.
Anthony observed, leaning back against the desk (practically lying upon it now)
and inhaled.
“War-runes are specially crafted minerals that embed into
the physical structure of organic mass. Upon fusion with living matter, the
runes distribute singular compounds through DNA. This grants the wielder of a
rune special ‘abilities’ that are only accessible through a successful fusion.”
Anthony twisted his head, cocking his neck back during the explanation, as if
bored of explaining it, as if he had done it so many times before. Lara was
thoroughly interested, and finally took the creep seriously. Even if he was a
creep, he was… interesting.
“Because of the unique properties of everyone’s DNA, just
the same, war-rune abilities are different in every person. The power it grants
to the user is based on a number of factors; physical traits and mental psyche,
for example, different for every person.” Anthony shrugged.
Lara looked down, her body somewhat shaken up. She couldn’t
believe what she was hearing. Never in her life would she imagine she would
meet another war-rune user. She had heard they were so rare, meeting another
one, in her school, was big, grand news.
“Where did these runes come from? What’s their origin?” Lara
asked. She didn’t want to play 20 questions with him, but she felt she had to
know this. Anthony looked up, and shrugged.
“I’m not entirely sure on that. No one knows, not even the
man himself, my brilliant father,”
Anthony replied with a sardonic tongue. Anthony sat up, resting his arms on his
knees, his head cocked to the side, staring at Lara through the windows to her
soul, piercing straight through. She felt as if she were a prisoner to him
already, so reserved, she hated feeling like that. She didn’t like him, at all.
His vibe he gave off was extremely unorthodox as well, an unpredictable nature
about him. Being the son of a legendary, worldwide famed genius who was known
to ‘act out’, that would come as less of a surprise being a hereditary trait.
He certain had the deranged look nailed.
“What do you want with me?” Lara stepped up, her eyes
narrowed, she glared back at Anthony with a fierce resolve. Anthony’s lips
carved into a one sided grin, his eyes widened in response.
“I told you. I want you,”
Anthony repeated, leaning closer to her, staring gallantly, dominantly into her
eyes. Lara clenched her fist, pushing Anthony back, he barely caught his
balance along the edge of the desk, lifting himself back up to balance, he
appeared virtually unphased, and incredibly amused. “I guess I didn’t make
myself clear earlier…” Anthony said slowly, his glare becoming more menacing
and concentrated. His pupils shrunk as his face twisted in a livid expression.
“I wasn’t offering you a choice.”
Lara charged forward, grabbing Anthony by the collar,
yanking him to her face, where she stared him dead on, challenging him where he
stood. “Get the hell away from me,” Lara pulled back her fist, gritting her
teeth. Anthony smirked deviously as Lara pulled back her fist full throttle,
pummeling Anthony straight across his face. Anthony’s body flipped and curled,
crashing among the desks, creating not only a loud commotion, but also a large
hole in the wall, where Anthony’s head was lodged.
“I see you’re choosing the hard way…” Anthony forcefully
pulled his head out of the wall, white excess among his face. Anthony stood up,
wiping it off, and grinned madly. “Listen to me, Lara…” Anthony began. Lara
glared ahead. “This power… you love it, it’s great and all… but it carries a
burden. You can never remove them, as I’m sure you’ve already discovered. You
gotta fit in like that with the rest of your life, knowing that you’re different. In a society that typically
employs the approach of ‘politically correct’, being different may as well be a
crime. You’re required to be normal, or you’re hated for the rest of your life
for being different. No one will treasure you for who you are, you’ll be alone,
sad, lead to depression… which could ignite
rapidly. Unless… you have someone like you, who understands you and treasures
you for who you are.” Anthony lifted
up his hand. “Join me, join us, join
Nebelion!”
Lara stepped back, somewhat startled. She hadn’t expected
this sort of speech. It may as well have been psychological warfare, but either
way, she knew where she belonged, and she was not about to change her side,
especially for her brother. “I’d rather be where I know I belong,” Lara said
calmly and rationally. Anthony looked on. “I don’t know what this Nebelion is… but I can’t accept your
offer. I will remain here.”
Anthony frowned, disappointed. “The perfect world… you can really turn that
down so casually? What else do you want, Lara Willman?”
Lara looked on with a fierce content, the answer was
painfully obvious to her. “There’s people here
who need me, who care about me. They don’t know about the real me but… who cares? As long as they don’t know, no harm will
befall anyone close to me.”
Anthony tapped his cheek playfully with a playful gesture. “Well
well, I suppose I see… in that case, I suppose I will have no choice but to
destroy every attachment… burden you
have in this world, with my own hands.” Anthony stared darkly at Lara.
Lara’s eyes widened with a furious glaze. Anthony had just made
the wrong turn, and he was about to regret what he said wholeheartedly. “You
can threaten me all you want to. You can even pick on me and call me names,
even spit on me… I can laugh that off. But I won’t tolerate anyone who picks on those dearest to me!
I’ll kick your ass to Kingdom Come!”
Anthony cocked back his head, accepting Lara’s challenge
head on. “You’re coming with me, my dear Lara.”
“Not in this lifetime!”
---
“You- how did you find my house?!” Willy exclaimed, standing
up, somewhat unconsciously, as he had no idea what he was doing at the moment.
Upon the meeting at the window sill, the figure jumped down, standing somewhat sluggishly,
carrying him in an undignified manner. His blonde hair smoothly brushed along
his head. He wore a golden-trimmed coat with metallic strides along the
shoulders.
“Your window was open,” the man replied, gesturing toward
the window. Willy felt the fumes burn in his head as the man toyed with him.
“Because you opened it!”
“Right,” he replied hysterically, as if shocked himself he
discovered this for the first time. “My name is Zeru. I’ve been wanting to meet
you for quite some time. It’s a pleasure, Jon Willman.”
Willy stared up at the mysterious man with baffled eyes. Looking
into Zeru’s eyes, he couldn’t even paint a picture of the man, despite looking
directly at him. As if he was entirely an enigma, nothing remained on the
outside. It was strange, and Willy couldn’t pinpoint what it was about him that
threw him off. He gave him a feeling of restlessness. The fact he knew his
name, his full name, was even more impressive. Hardly anyone knew his full
name, even the teachers referred to him merely as “Willy”. It was just his
trademark.
“Ah, you’re standing? That’s quite fascinating!” Zeru
acknowledged vigorously, throwing up the peace sign. “You’re getting stronger.
Rock on, Jonny-boy.”
“Who the hell are you?” Willy stood up, conspicuously gazing
at him. Zeru laughed with gusto, enjoying the situation for all it was worth.
“Heh, you really are a character,” Zeru looked down on Willy
as a form of superiority, which was something Willy utterly resented, the
feeling of being looked down upon, not recognized for what he was worth. “You should
be careful just how you address your superiors, little boy,” Zeru cocked his head back, caressing his hands along
his face as an indication of pre-eminence.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, barging into my house,” Willy
glared head on, standing straight up, he felt a jolt of pain emit throughout
his leg, which was easily subsided… much quicker than he had anticipated. Willy’s
eyes widened in shock. My leg… what’s
going on? It feels… so much better… great, even…
“Looks like the CPES syringe is taking effect,” Zeru walked
closer to Willy, standing at over 6’2, he was clearly much taller than Willy.
Willy looked up at him. “It’s a rather fast performing drug, eh? Really gets
the job done in a jiffy. You must be feeling… overwhelmed, indulged with power
beyond even your own dreams.”
“Wha-what the hell?” Willy staggered. “How do you know so
much?”
“Well, you were visited by my mistress, right?” Zeru
inquired, his bright, emerald eyes gleaming with a positive glimmer. “She was
acting under my request.” Willy instantly flashed back to memories of Sora
visiting his room a week ago today. Injecting him with the syringe. ‘This is everything to you.’
“You… you did this
to me?” Willy looked in wonder, truly shocked at this discovery. Zeru nodded enthusiastically.
“I did,” Zeru sincerely stared. He seemed trustworthy
enough, but his actions were still apprehensive, at the least, and really random.
“Why?” was all Willy could ask. “Why did you choose me?”
Zeru paused for a minute, as if contemplating the question. “Well…
I would have to say, probably because of your ambitious, resolute temperament. See…
there’s a pretty grave secret about this city. It’s really scaaary,” Zeru over acted, waving his hands among the air like a
ghoul. Willy remained unamused. Zeru cleared his throat and continued. “In
order to control this injection; one must have an absolute will. Your resolve
to live is… really quite extraordinary, even among humanity. I haven’t felt
such a strong will in normal humans. You’re really quite unique, you know.”
“I feel strange taking such compliments from a stranger… but
thanks I guess,” Willy sighed. “So what are you doing here now? Observing your
little experiment?” Willy asked sarcastically, and somewhat bitterly. Zeru
nodded.
“Exactly. You seem to be doing well. But I feel I should
tell you…” Zeru began. “You’re the second test subject that has been injected
with this serum. The other two are people close to you. Really close, actually.
I just wonder, which of you will survive… and be the last to stand.”
At this point, Zeru had lost Willy, but determining from his
tone, this all appeared to be a game to him. He had to have an ulterior motive
behind these actions. It all seemed so… obscure.
“I won’t let you have your way with us,” Willy stood up,
facing Zeru. Zeru looked on amusingly, cracking an innocent appearing smile.
Willy narrowed his eyes and glared, taking up a stance. His pupils dilated, his
soul burned with a simple desire to punch this man through the wall. Where this
impulse had gone, it run through his veins, taking him over, as if, like when
he lost himself to ‘the zone’, his primal instincts would take over… this was
exactly like that now.
Willy charged forward, kicking off of his good leg,
straight-up punching Zeru across the face. Zeru’s face twisted upon the impact,
his flesh flipped up and distorted from the collision with Willy’s fist. Willy
glared on, his eyes widened with an intense resolve, watching Zeru crash course
through the house. As the smoke cleared, Willy walked forward, his leg still
sore, but at this point, walking on it was a cakewalk. Willy clenched his fists,
his muscles bulged within his arms. He flexed his muscles, observing his
muscles, and more excited by his physical strength. This had to be a dream…
wasn’t it? No way this could be real… he felt fine, better than he ever had,
actually, minus a little leg sore. It was… amazing.
He clenched his head, still unsure of where exactly he got
the impulse to strike Zeru. It came out of nowhere.
“Still confused, I see,” Zeru’s voice startled Willy from behind.
Willy looked back quickly, on guard, seeing that Zeru was completely unguarded,
full of openings… yet he wasn’t even scratched from the previous attack. What
the hell? And how did he end up behind Willy at such impeccable speed?
“I’ll take this as a token of your appreciation, Willy. All
I ask in return…” Zeru began. “The elimination of Sidian Shamal. That’s all.”
Willy’s eyes widened gravely. “S-Sidian? Why Sidian?”
“Hehe,” Zeru turned back around, flaunting his golden cape
among his body. In doing so, his body swirled in a mass distorted of the fabric
of space and time. Willy watched with amazement as Zeru instantly teleported
himself outside with a trendy dimensional rift. “It’s already starting, Willy.
What we carve now… will surely be one for the books. Assuming there is anyone
left to write them.”
Willy stood, leaning against the wall. He looked on, averting
his gaze down to the ground. He was still so confused… but Zeru, the man who created him, ordered him to take down
Sidian? His rival from the beginning of their first meeting? The man he hated,
yet also admired? Zeru also mentioned secrets of Heretic City. What the hell
was he talking about? Willy wanted to ask so many things… and yet. He lost
himself.
“I… I will do what I must,” Willy said. “But… I can’t kill
another man… if you’re listening Zeru… I refuse your offer. I will find my own
way… and beat Sidian, my own way!”
No comments:
Post a Comment