The Black Knight (A Mercury Black Story: Part I)

Chapter 8

     I never thought a cane would hurt that much.
            After getting hit, I was hit in the ribs, arm, and my head again. It wasn't until Mercury jumped in front of me that I was able to get up. I summersaulted backwards and used my arms to lift up and jump up, making it able to turn Crystal Mayhem back into a sword. I watched Mercury using mostly melee and his knife attacks to try and get a hit on Roman, but Roman was no pushover. He was blocking or hitting Mercury with everything he had.
            "Zuri! Use it!" I heard Mercury call out as I charge towards Roman as he knocked Mercury away. I leaned back and slid under Roman's cane, jumping up with Mayhem facing the sky, getting a good hit on Roman, sending him backwards. Using some of the energy from the Dust, I jumped high into the air, activating the fire Dust, pointing the tip to the ground.
            "Mercury, move!" I shouted as he jumped up as Mayhem hit the ground, spreading a circle of fire out around me. I looked at Roman, who was trying to avoid the fire, as I activated the ice Dust, slamming the tip back on the ground, creating a line of ice shards towards Roman, hitting him and knocking him backwards. I watched as he held his ribs as I set up in fighting style in case he wanted to attack. I saw as Roman used the tip of his cane to get a shot in, but I blocked it before it could even hit me, charging at him. I clashed my sword with his as I spun clockwise to try and disarm him, but it didn't work as he tried to hit me with the tip of his cane. Once he missed his attack, I jumped up and over his back and back flipped, hitting Mayhem's trigger to change it into a bow quickly. I landed gently a good distance away from Roman as I pulled out another ice arrow, shooting it, and this time hitting my target as it encased him in ice. I smiled once I saw that the bottom of his cane was also trapped under the ice, making Roman completely helpless. I walked towards him, panting from fatigue and pain, with a wicked smiled upon my face as Mayhem changed back into a sword. I stood over Roman and looked at him for a few seconds until I raised my sword across my body, ready to kill, until I looked at my best friend, lying on the ground, grasping his right leg. I stared at him wide eyed as he looked at me with pain grimaced on his pale face, the cut on his lip reopened and spilling blood.
            "What are you doing, Zuri?" he shouted, wincing as he tried to move, "Kill him!"
            "What's the matter, Sweetheart? Not brave enough to slice me in half, are you?" Roman taunted as I grit my teeth together, moving Mayhem swiftly across his face, creating a scar on his cheek. I placed my sword in its sheath and left Roman cased in the ice while I ran to Mercury's aid, helping him off the ground, hearing his groan as he was trying to fully stand.
            "We will meet again," I said looking at Roman as I used my shoulders' to hold up Mercury, "I will promise you that." I looked at him one last time as I carried Mercury out of the city and back to the house. As we walked the woods, I set Mercury on the broken tree to let him rest a little bit, and so I could check his wound.
            "I'm so sorry, Mercury, this is my fault," I said quickly as I rolled up his orange and black shorts. He flinched a little bit, but didn't scream as I saw how badly I damaged him. His leg was burned badly, large blisters' forming on his leg that was already a sickly color. It surprisingly went up to his mid-thigh, as he struggled not to scream. "Oh my god... Mercury-"
            "No," he said, taking my cheek in his palm, forcing me to look up at him, "What you did was what you were supposed to do. Don't you dare be sorry for what you did, cause you basically saved me, okay?"
            "But your leg-"
            "Its fine," he said sternly, "I'll just sit in bed for a few days until I can go on missions again."
            "Okay," I said, gazing deep into his grey eyes, "But I'm not going on missions alone. I'm going to stay and take care of you. I'm the one who caused this anyway; it's because of me that you are in this state," I said, rolling his pant leg down and helping him back up, "Now c'mon, we're not far from home."
            As we walked back to the cabin, I felt sick and terrible. The worst part was is that I knew that even with my mother's powers of healing, I couldn't cure Mercury back to full health. I just wish I wouldn't have used that Dust attack, even though it did get a hit in on Roman, it severely injured my best friend, which was the last thing that I wanted.
            "Marcus!" I shouted as we struggled up the path to the house, "Marcus!"
            "Zuri, no, leave him out of this," Mercury whispered so only I could hear.
            "Zuri? What's the matter?" I could hear Marcus coming down the path, "Oh my, Mercury! Zuri, what happened!?"
            "I used a Dust attack on Torchwick, but it severally injured Mercury's leg. He's having trouble walking and I don't think it's going to heal that easily."
            "Okay then," Marcus said, supporting Mercury's other side, "Let's get him inside, and I'll see what I can do."
            We carried Mercury into the house and into his room as Marcus instructed his son to take off his pants so he can inspect the wound. I rushed into the bathroom and grabbed a clean rag, washing it under warm water. I watched as the water wrung out of the rag and quickly hurried to Mercury's room, where the burn spots were starting to get worse. I gently placed the rag on his skin as he screamed in pain. As Marcus tried to get his son to stay quiet, I continued to wipe away some of the blood and puss that started to infect his leg, but even after wiping down his whole leg, it still wasn't enough.
            "Marcus," I managed to get in before he cut me off with his hand.
            "Do it, Zuri. Do what you need to do before he loses it forever." I nodded at Marcus and set my hand on Mercury's leg, controlling my aura as a white light started to appear around the badly burned skin. I watched as the blisters started to heal and his skin turned back to its usual color, but sadly, that was all I could do as the light started to fade. I looked at Mercury's horrified expression as I took away my hand from his body.
            "What was that?" Mercury managed to get out after a few minutes of silence, "I'm not kidding, what was that?!"
            "Marcus-" I began, before Marcus stopped me.
            "No, Zuri, you need to tell him. Tell him, so he understands about everything you and your parents' have done," Marcus solemnly looked at me, and I nodded, understanding what had to be done, "I'll give you two a few minutes." I heard his footsteps along the wooden floor as the door creaked opened, waiting to be closed. "Tell me when you two are done talking; I want to have a word with both of you afterwards. This is mostly about you, Zuri."