Sanity

22. Tank

Jaelyn swung her blade wide, and Tank brandished his own, holding it up to parry her. A loud clang echoed through the courtyard as Jaelyn quickly followed through with a low punch, aiming for the gut. Tank grunted in response, almost dropping his weapon, but responded with a savage kick to her thigh that made her knees buckle. She hissed in response to him, rolling quickly out the way as he swung his sword wide at the ground where she had fallen. She tightened her grip on her sword as she staggered to her feet unevenly, the wound in her back starting to wear her down. She felt pale and weak, but her anger towards Tank and the lies she had been fed was fuelling her body to ignore the searing pain that was threatening to put her down. She would not die before getting her revenge.

"No matter what happens here today," Tank growled as he stood before her, "you are going to die. Do you really want to humiliate yourself like this? Just let me finish what I started back in the square." His stance was low and threatening as he stared her down, holding his sword out to his side.

Jaelyn did nothing but spit at his feet, just as she had back at the square. It seemed Tank understood, too, because his scowl deepened and his posture tightened. He was getting ready to strike.

Jaelyn cut in quickly before he could take a step forward, dashing to the first step that led to the altar and jumping up on it, kicking off with one boot and soaring down towards Tank with her blade pointing straight at his throat. He went to move out the way, but caught his foot on someone else who had been running from the chaos that continued around them. In his distraction, Jaelyn kicked her boot into his leg and heard something crack as she made contact somewhere near his knee. He screamed in pain, dropping instinctively to his other knee as Jaelyn landed before him in a crouch, her blade now brandished at his throat. She could have driven her blade into him when she had jumped, but it seemed too... easy. Not cruel enough for what he deserved. No, she wanted to make him suffer. She wanted him to know that she beat him.

In a desperate attempt to survive, Tank swung his sword forward and let go, letting it soar as he fell backward from his knees. It missed Jaelyn by a hair, but it missed her nonetheless. She moved over and kicked it away before he could think to retrieve it, and limped forward, anger sparking in her eyes as she glared down at him.

"You haven't won yet," he hissed, glaring right back up at her from his awkward position on his back. His injured leg stuck out to the right at an angle that was not normal, and Jaelyn was convinced he wouldn't be going anywhere.

"It looks to me like I have," she snapped back, gesturing at their differences in situation. She tilted her blade towards his throat. "I've hated you ever since I could remember you."

"The feeling is mutual," he growled.

"I never thought this day would come so soon," she continued, ignoring him completely. "Now that it's here... I almost want to drag it out longer."

"You're weak and pathetic," he spat at her, hate clear in his fiery gaze. "I will not die at your hand."

With that, he swung his arm forward and took Jaelyn off her feet. She yelped in surprise as she plummeted to the ground face first, lifting her arms up to cover the impact. She landed hard, and with a cry of pain as her other wounds all flared up at the jolt. She hadn't much time to register anything else before she felt Tank's large, clammy hands grab her neck and twist, so that she was almost sitting in his lap if his legs hadn't been out to the right when he'd leant over. He brandished a knife, the same one he had stabbed her with as it still held her blood, and held it to her throat.

"If I'm going down," he muttered in her ear, his breath hot and his grip tight, "then I'll be damned if I don't take you down with me."

"I don't care," she hissed back, holding her hands up at his arm that was wrapped around her throat. He was squeezing tight; her sight was already spotting. "As long as you're dead, I don't care what happens to me." She choked a cough halfway through her sentence, grimacing at the tightness of his hold on her.