Motley (#Wattys2016)

23: The Big One

Room after room Nori whipped by. She sped up as the emotion boiled still more uncontrollably in her stomach, until she was sprinting through the castle, not bothering to fight the people she passed. Needles stabbed her side, and she finally gave up. She whipped around a corner and slammed into it, grabbing the wall furiously. Nori panted and gasped for breath. Thank god she wasn't crying. Still, it was odd there were no tears. When she had calmed down, she took one last deep breath and kept on moving. There were no tears left for Satoru. It was his choice to die in that way.

She paused at one of the rooms. The door was slightly ajar. Hadn't she been in this room before? She threw the door open. Sure enough, it was the pearly white courtroom. Even now she felt dizzy looking inside.

"No more hiding," a voice growled. A bolt of lightning shot into Nori's chest. She yelped and buckled over.

"So it is you," she spat up at the man above her.

"That was repayment for the wound my ex-general gave me," the Ivory Prince said. One hand was on his stomach, where blood still oozed from the stab. "I must say, I was surprised." He kicked her body on the ground. Nori rolled away clumsily, but was able to stand up. Her legs felt light as feathers and the rest felt heavy as lead. The electric wound sparked on her blackened chest.

"Tch." She threw off her coat. "This is just a scratch."

The Prince smirked. "You look serious. How sweet."

Nori conjured flames in both hands. She charged at the prince, who dodged her and tapped her waist, which was electrocuted nearly as badly as her chest. She fell to the floor again, now clutching her waist furiously.

"Sloppy form, Nori." He kicked her in the back, so she crumpled to the floor at his feet. She started to conjure more fire, but he clamped copper bands on her wrists again. "Too bad copper nullifies your magic," he gloated. "And here I thought you would give me a fight. He brought his foot down again on her chest, pushing her into the ground. Nori coughed violently and noticed flecks of blood trickling out of her mouth. "Before I kill you, I want you to know my name."

"I... don't..."

"Hmm? Speak up, I can't hear you." He leaned in closer, smiling serenely at her pained expression. She grabbed his foot, trying to release the pressure on her chest, but he was too strong. "I haven't told anyone my real name. You should be honored."

"Get... off..."

"My name is Tetsuya. Now you don't have to talk so much to say my name, since I can see you're having a bit of trouble forming words right now."

Nori's arms went limp. She felt extremely hot right now, with fury and pain at this man for destroying her and mocking her at the same time. This was the man who killed Satoru, and the man who cut off Kei's hand, and the man who caused any number of terrible and gruesome deaths.

Slowly, painfully, the copper began to melt.

Tetsuya noticed the scalding metal dripping onto his shoe and backed away quickly. "How are you doing that?"

Nori sat up to watch the copper melt away, sliding like wax onto the floor. The tattoos on her arm burned with inner fire. Adrenaline surged back into Nori, from her fingertips to her wounds to her legs, which miraculously were able to stand again.

"Hey," she said, managing a cocky smirk, "did you say something about killing me?" She held up both hands and shot long jets of flame at Tetsuya. He threw his arms up to shield his face, howling with rage. When the fire died down, Nori saw satisfactory red burns on his arms. Tetsuya's blood-red eyes narrowed in fury. He shot crackling bolts of electricity at her, but this time she was quick enough to leap away. Fire sprang from her fingertips at him again, setting his boots on fire. He stamped out the fire, but he was distracted for too long. Nori charged at him and grabbed him by the throat. His skin sizzled ominously. "What did you do with Satoru?"