A rose to grind

-35-

WARNING
—————
This is the beginning of Jacklin's arc.
Mentions of kidnapping, drug use,
lots of forced actions, caging and mention
of suicide and death.

Jacklin Rogue.

The frantic white-haired man, different from the scrawny youth I had once known, was thrashing around with Castelli on the dirt. Grime seemed to spread over their clothes as they tried to wrestle each other into submission. However, Jacklin seemed to have the upper-hand since he had injured Castelli when he took the other by surprise. The struggle seemed to be endless until I steadied myself on my own too feet and walked over to them, peeling Jacklin away from Castelli, who seemed to breathe in harshly.

A bruise littered his upper lip and blood smeared his teeth which he spat out ruthlessly. He stared up at me and grinned, his blood-stained teeth seemed to glint in the evening light.

"For a person who claims to be god, you do get beaten up most of the time," I raised my foot and slammed it onto Castelli's shoulder at full force. The man jerked upwards as though he had been shocked. His blanched face grew even more pallid yet that unreasonable, victorious smile hadn't been wiped entirely from his face.

"Trials and errors," Castelli murmured, blood gurgling on his tongue. He spat it out once more to his dismay. "No one can become a god just by luck."

"Then, I'll grant you the death you've been asking for since the beginning," I sneered and lifted my hand and curled my fingers, intending to smash it onto his face and send him up on the high-way to heaven. However, before my fist could make contact with Castelli's bruised cheek, a hand caught my wrist, though seemingly weak, carried great strength that had been honed through experience.

"Yugo, no..." Jacklin's voice pleaded. His palm smoothly hovered over my knuckles and he squeezed them lightly. "I don't want you to dirty your hands."

"Jacklin, get off me right now, before I fucking kill you as well."

"Don't do it. Let me take care of it.."

"Fuckers," Castelli's low voice sounded from the ground. The two men simultaneously turned their heads in his direction. Castelli's lips were lifted in a grotesque, bloodied smile, canines shining with glee and vague mockery. "You shouldn't have given me the time to recover."

Before Jacklin could even mouth a warning, Castelli's hand reached for the back of my head, tugging on the black strands of hair that were pulled into a low pony-tail. I gritted my teeth as pain shot through my scalp, a piercing and pulsating sensation numbed my head. It was not something that could be compared to basic human instincts like punching and kicking, but a far, much worse agony that if put into words, could only be described as thousands of needles pricking into my skin. As though, Castelli was literally ripping my hair away from my scalp.

Damnit, if I had known this could be used as a leverage against me, I wouldn't have kept it so long!

One moment of carelessness could lead to death. I was well aware of that yet I.. proceeded to act so foolishly. In this situation, I couldn't blame it on someone, just like how I had always excused for Etienne under the name of 'for the plot' or I was too prideful to admit I could have been wrong.

"You... let Yugo go!" Jacklin was grinding his teeth, seeming like a bull that had saw red. "This was not in the deal that we had!"

"The deal we had?" Castelli murmured, then bursting out into a wild fit of obnoxious laughter that rang in my ears. He pulled me by my pony-tail and smushed his cheek against mine, grabbing each side of my cheek and forcefully turning me to face Jacklin. I could see his tear-filled pale eyes and the distraught expression.