In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction

06.01 - 01/06 - Who can make themselves taller

»Five minutes. Ya' think you can beat that?«
They stood at the entry to the maze. It had grown since the last time they went in. By now, the probably trained four or five times a week in it, and every time it would look different. Some mazes would require pure stealth and complete silence, others would be overrun by yaegers, forcing them to fight their way through them.

Today's maze was the most extensive Annus had seen so far. The outmost ring was filled with five large, circular arenas. The three inner rings twisted around themselves in an irregular pattern. Somehow it reminded him of a clockwork.
They've had encountered moving mazes before. Annus didn't mind them all that much. Unlike Unus, he wasn't the guy to plan ahead. When a wall suddenly disappeared before him, or a path opened up somewhere he couldn't go before, he'd just take it at face value.
     »I'll be in and out in three.« Unus had every right to be confident in his abilities. But Annus wouldn't let him win that easily.
»Bet.«

On a silent commando, they both rushed in. Annus feet pounded rhythmically against the floor. His vision narrowed down. His mind concentrated only on the path ahead. A wall moved. The passage to the first arena began to narrow. He ran faster, leaving Unus behind. The entrance slowly drifted away, but he was determined to make it. He ran and jumped forward, with his upper body twisted sideways. One foot passed, then the next one, and he was through. The wall closed behind him, and he was alone in a large circular room without a ceiling.

Unus would have to take a detour, making his way over to the next arena.
He focused on the take before him. Three targets. Two on the opposing walls, a larger yaeger in the middle of the arena. It instantly targeted him. He quickly circled it, staying on his toes, while simultaneously dodging it's metal claws.
The one on the left wall jumped down, trying to attack him from above, a move he had seen coming from a mile away.

His hand shot up, releasing a powerful blast which hit the yeager point blank, effectively tearing it apart.
The one on the ground used it's chance, lunging forward with four metal claws outstretched in front of him like the mouth of an alien.
Annus jumped backwards to avoid the crushing clasp.
He took a sidestep, materializing the baseball bat in his hand and swinging it at the head of the yaeger, breaking the mask apart.

The remaining one now crawled along the wall, trying to get behind him. The door at the other side of the arena was unguarded. He sprinted forward, and the yeager followed with an angry screech.
He was long gone when the creature reached the door. It was too big to pass through, and he couldn't help but chuckle throwing a look over his shoulder.

The move at the beginning had given him a solid lead over Unus. Or so he thought, until the sky darkened. He looked up, and his mouth fell open. Unus had just passed him, supported by massive stilts.
Every step seemed strong enough to shake the maze in its core.
He couldn't believe his eyes. That clever bastard. He'd be at the center in five, maybe six steps.

He couldn't let that happen. Mid sprint, he closed his eyes, trying to visualize stilts for himself. It worked semi-well. The wooden grip was solid, and so was the stilt itself, at least until he took the first step.
It began to wobble and bend like rubber, and it took him all of his concentration to keep it at least somewhat solid.

Naturally, Unus reached the Center first. He let the stilts vanish, elegantly hopping down to the Golden glow that marked the goal.
   »You cheated,« Annus yelled from above, unable to concentrate on talking and letting his stilts dissapear on the same time.
   »It wasn't against the rules,« Unus yelled back. »Do you need a hand?«
Annus snorted. »Real funny. You'll see that I'm perfectly capable of getting down without your - oh oh.«
The left stilt broke on the middle, and dissapeared.

For a second, Annus hung in the air, clinging to the remaining stilt. He looked like Wile E. Coyote.
Then, like a falling tree, the stilt tilted sideways.