The Day She Fell

Chapter 1: The Nameless

The bar I was at had the kind of atmosphere you would find in a Roman Colosseum. People gathered to watch terrible things for entertainment, and you could always find at least one intriguing person between the fight and the audience.

I found my brother among the shadows of the brawl. He stared at me with an incredulous look, rightfully so may I add. Why aren’t you stopping them? He seemed to say. I rolled my eyes and sighed to myself loud enough that some people nearby glanced in my direction. I decided to do the responsible thing and stepped towards the skirmish.

It was a visually uneven match. A bulky member of the Serif gang, the sector who controlled the Southeast district versus who seemed to be a first timer, a gangly limbed boy with shoulder length wavy hair. Most people would think it was impressive that he had held up so long. They didn’t see what I saw. A glint of intelligence in his eyes conveyed a clever strategist that had ultimate control over his body. Hah I thought. Everyone else in the room was confused as to how it was taking so long to beat up an unimpressively built person such as him.

“Pfft,” I couldn’t hold in my laughter any more, “Pff ha ha ha,” oh this was rich, I was turning heads, I continued cackling until attention was diverted from the altercation to me. Even the brawlers were glancing to see where the noise was coming from between blows. I stepped into the ring of cleared space where the fight was occurring, my black hood covering my eyes.

“You’re trying to make this a spectacle, aren’t you.” I sneered under the black mask hiding the rest of my face. They had stopped punching each other and looked at me like wolves deciding whether to chew me or each other apart. I had addressed the smaller man, but the muscular one answered.

“This bastard thinks he can insult our leader and get away with it.” now that i was closer I could see the flush in his cheeks and smell the alcohol on his breath. There were bruises forming on his cheek and jaw that aligned with the bruises on the other man’s knuckles.

“So you insulted the leader of the Serifs and expected to get out unscathed?” I asked the other man.

The scrawny guy remained silent and staring at me, trying to see who dared to interrupt his debut. Unlike the other man, he was stone cold sober.

“While I agree that he’s not the smartest around you still should respect the higher ups if you don’t want your brains splattered on the floor.” I caught an eye roll at that.

The gang member tried to reply defending his boss but was interrupted, “You’re all their faithful dogs anyway.” he responded. The audience tensed with anticipation.

“HA! I like you kid, you seem entertaining.” Oh how fun it would be to provoke him further.

“I told you to break up the fight, not scout out entertainment.” my brother emerged from the crowd, his shaggy white blond hair sheared off geometrically at the jaw and the sharp angles of his face gleamed even with the dull lighting of the bar being barely enough to see by.

Everyone watching immediately tensed away from him. They all knew who he was, what happened if they got in his way, and that these brawlers could be dead in three seconds flat if he wanted them to be. Furthermore, it would be a sin to not know the manager. They all inclined their heads to him in submission and I felt glares on my back when I neglected to do the same. The muscled bloke inclined his head, while the newbie subtly scanned the room and decidedly did not want to get himself into more trouble.

“All but you two leave.” he pointed at me and the thin brawler, now with his head bowed.

The people quietly shuffled away along with the muscled man who stumbled as he scrambled to his feet. I heard some unintelligible whispers from the crowd but could guess what they were saying. The other man who was supposed to stay tried to leave, but I grabbed him by the collar and tossed him towards the counter, ripping his shirt with my nails, grazing his collar bone. That got me a few nervous stares from the exiting party. Once everyone but that one man was gone my brother turned to me.