Hardships and Blood

Blood splattered over the teenagers formal Commanders uniform. His heart raced, hurting his rib cage as some of the blood had reach his right cheekbone, and the bridge of his nose. His own blood ran down the left side of his face from his head wound. His navy blood bandana was soaked in blood, as it kept his hair back, out of his eyes. Arecio’s teeth clenched tightly as his lips formed a forced, strangled and shaky smile. Tears escaped from his working, left eye as his disable right one clenched tightly. The tears or the young Commander mixed with his blood as it fell from his chin. ‘Kid, you’ll be fine. You’re a damn COMMANDER for gods sakes!’ The war god inside his conscious tried to comfort him.

    He couldn’t even manage a mere ‘Thanks’, even thought he meant too. He knew that was the closest thing to actual comfort from Ares. Arecio managed to muster up enough strength to disappear then reappear outside of his HQ. That’s right. His. A possessed and crying 16 year olds territory. Shaky and meek legs carried him to his quarters. Unsteadily, Arecio stumbled through the halls, as he passed by his Lieutenant. The brunette haired, blue eyed second in command, Blair Moon, had tried to get his attention.

    Unintentionally, he ignored her, or at least didn’t see her. But she saw him, saw his blood, saw the enemy’s blood, saw the terrified expression, but most of all saw his tears. Her eyes widened. ‘What had happened?’ She thought curiously. Arecio made his way to the door of his quarters, kicked open the door, removed his bloodied uniform shirt, revealing a large scar which extended from his left shoulder towards his right hip, along his heaving chest. He stumbled over towards his couch, ignoring his wounds and sat on it, hugging his knees to his chest, and cried.

    That was the first time “he” actually killed someone. Ares normally killed them, and when Ares was out, Arecio was unconscious, so technically, Ares killed them. Plus when Arecio fought, he make sure not the kill anyone, for he couldn’t live with guilt like that. His heart was already weak enough. For one, he was scared, afraid that he’d see the cold and lifeless look in the corpses eyes as it’d look up to the sky, sort of like a silent plea to be saved from the grip of Hades. And two, he thought the way he was trained, considering he was merely a tool, so he thought that people should repent in jail.

    The door opened, revealing a concerned, which was rare, Blair. She saw his condition, causing her heart to drop. What she was viewing right now, is something she had never really seen. Sure, she had seen him sad at sometimes, but never terrified. His tall, firm and shaking frame rocked back and forth as he continued to hold his shaky smile, as his eyes were wide, like a dear caught in head lights. All he could really see at the moment was the look on the enemy’s face when Arecio struck him down with his blade.

    Blair made her way to her younger friends side and asked quietly, “What happened, Arecio?” She sat down next to him and pulled the kid into an embrace. He tried his best to regain his composure as he tried to explain it all. He stammered a lot, but got the message through as his heart ached. She tried her best to soothe him, like muttering quietly of, how strong of a Commander he was, or how amazing he was for being able to handle the burden that had been placed on him at age 5 and continuing.

    She had always felt sorry for him, considering that he had no family anymore, always surrounded by death that Ares caused, forced by the Organization to train extensively in melee fighting, and how to act like an adult. He became a Commander at age 10. All thanks to the shitty god that resided in his conscious. That was the only reason the Organization had recruited him. To the elders, he was expendable, not the god. For they had believed that having the God of War on their side, that they’d be unstoppable. But they were wrong. Arecio himself could stop them.

    He just didn’t know it yet. The bad thing about him though, was that he’d put everyone’s safety before himself, causing so many close calls with his life. She hated it. Whenever one of his subordinates would get hurt, along with himself, he’d refuse treatment until the subordinate was completely healed. That was his weakness. He was afraid that if he had been selfish, for even one minute, that he’d loose the friends he managed to gain while being here. He had never had friends before being forced to join the Organization. The kids where all mean, and afraid of him.

    Blair suddenly felt a wet liquid drip on her hand. She looked at it and sat that it was red. Blood. Shit! She had totally forgotten about his wounds. “You idiot!” She yelled. He flinched. “You’re hurt! Why didn’t you heal yourself first?!” Arecio pulled away and looked at her through his teary eyes. Right…He was about to go into shock…