We're Keeping Her | #Wattys2021

Heels and Faces

Pitch-black darkness was all he could see. The dust particles floating around him were more visible than the enemy he was fighting. He could hear his light footsteps landing on the different beams. His ears tried their best to pinpoint his opponent's shifting locations.

He heard another set of feet stick a rough landing to his right. He reflexively sent four blades into the darkness. He hissed when he heard them colliding with the roof's support beams.

Leon searched for a sign of the bird. He would often make out the shadow of Crow dashing to another beam, but whenever he turned to challenge him, the bird would disappear. Crow's movements were silent like a cat landing on the carpet. His body remained hidden like a mouse running through a field. To put it bluntly, he was almost invisible.

Meanwhile, Leon stood in the middle of a black room wearing a bright green-and-yellow hoodie. He looked like a highlighter in a sea of black sharpies. He stuck out like a sore thumb.

But there was one intriguing flaw in Crow's assault: His honed daggers made more noise in the silence than his movements. With the speed Crow threw them and the amazing craftsmanship of his blades, Leon was able to hear them cutting through the air.

His ear twitched when another volley played a shrill song with the wind. The boy leaped to an adjacent board to fire his counterattack. Again the younger acrobat bit his lip when he saw his attack helplessly fall to the diner below.

He followed the blades' descent and inspected the scene below. That bastard Bull was hiding behind a table while Bo rocked the area with a storm of arrows. His eyes crept to Rosa who was currently going toe-to-toe with Bibi. He winced when Bibi nailed a solid kidney show, but Rosa responded with her own heinous haymaker. From his position, it looked as though Bo and Rosa were winning. 'Which means it's my turn to win now.'

"Focus." a whisper came from the darkness.

Leon snapped into a powerful punch from Crow. The force of the blow sent him falling off his wooden beam. Leon contorted his body so he could latch onto another massive board. His desperate maneuver saved him from the deadly twenty-five-foot fall to the unforgiving wood below. His feet helplessly dangled as he took in the severity of his situation.

A dagger lodged itself into Leon's hand. The shallow wound proved to be more of a bite than a chomp into his skin. But he nonetheless relinquished his grip and persisted to hang on with one hand. He again tried to lift himself up but the sound of Crow's daggers cutting through the air made him twist and turn to avoid the fanning attack.

Crow landed beneath one of the illuminated support beams. He sported a devilish grin, "Not bad, but not good enough."

Leon saw Crow lunge towards him. Thinking on his feet (or in this case his hands) he flipped himself back onto the board while Crow was mid-flight. Crow was unable to react to Leon's stiff kick. The boy booted him back into the large log he leaped from.

Crow landed with a painful thud. Leon quickly readied himself with more of his signature sawblades. Leon would have continued his attack, but a low and unsettling noise chilled him to the bone. It was akin to the maniac laughter of a wildebeest. Crow shifted back into the shadows with a chilling smile stretched across his beak.

"Not bad, kid." Leon heard the voice originate from behind him. But how could that be? Crow was just ahead. How did he move so fast? "You're an impressive fighter," Leon turned around again. The voice had somehow leaped to a new location. Another unsettling laugh leaked out from the darkness, "Much like your sister."

"You leave her out of this!" Leon sent a few blades in the direction of Crow's voice. But his back was skewered by a set of three feathered-shaped blades.