Death's Feather

Chapter 9: Life And Death

Emmanuel was dying.

Alone, his skin taking on the pallor of a corpse while blood ran down like a stream. He was still on his knees, unable to move while Amelia walked forward, cornering Ignacio against the closest wall.
The beast kept on wandering around, his three pair of eyes paying close attention to the scene in front of him.
All this time. All this long and miserable time. She was just waiting for the right moment to attack; to kill them both. It was all an act and he fell for it like a fool. But not Emmanuel. He told him what she was, what she probably did. He was suspicious of her and he was right all along. But he followed Ignacio anyway. He helped him rescue her; and now he was dead for it.
All because of him. All because of Ignacio.

"¿Why?" Ignacio said. It was all he could say.

Amelia looked at him contemptuously. The afraid little girl who was crying all the time was gone. Like she never existed.

"You are aware we're in Death's tournament ¿right? We are supposed to fight to death. We are supposed to kill each other for that precious chance of going back." She played with the stick, throwing it from one hand to the other. "And I plan to win that chance; even if I have to tear it from your dead body."

Ignacio bumped against the wooden wall behind him and stopped moving. Amelia did the same, since she was already too close to him. Close enough to breathe in the same air.

"¿What happened to you?"

Amelia didn't seemed to like that question. She threw the sharp stick against Ignacio's cheek, making a cut deep enough to tear a yowl from him. He grabbed it in the air, but Amelia pulled back so hard Ignacio had to let go when his shoulder roared in pain.

"If you must know." She added, like nothing happened. "I was murdered."

"Seems doubtful." He snarked back.

Amelia arched a brow and threw the stick down, cutting both of his legs. Ignacio clenched his teeth, covering the fresh wounds while blood still found its way out.

"It isn't. I may be a murderer, but I'm not a liar. And I was murdered. ¿You want to know what happened to me? Life did. It was unbearable. Everyone was unbearable. So I killed them." She threw the stick one more time when Ignacio began to slide sideways, trying to escape; but she noticed it and tried to stab him again. He barely dodged it.

"¿That's it?" He said.

Amelia was getting closer and Ignacio was running out of time, just like Emmanuel who was already lying on the ground. The beast with three heads decided to stop wandering and sat down, piercing them with his six glowing eyes. He needed to make time; to distract her long enough to find something to defend himself with.

"¿Something bad happened so you decide to murder everything and everyone?"

Amelia stopped. The stick stopped moving and Ignacio was able to see his own blood mixed with Emmanuel's, dripping from the pointy end.
The maniac didn't move, apparently she was only able to look at him intensely and without blinking.

"You don't know what I've been through." She hissed menacingly. "You don't know what happened to me."

Ignacio looked at her like, well, like she was crazy, and said:

"Oh poor you. Something shitty happened to me so now I make shitty things to everyone else, like murder.
I'm sorry to tell you princess; life happens to all of us. Good, bad, mediocre or shitty. Either way, there's no excuse for doing what you did. There's never an excuse good enough to become everything that is already wrong with the world."

He saw it coming—he expected it—when Amelia growled with raw anger and threw herself and the stick onto Ignacio. He dodged her and grabbed her arm, forcing her to let go of her only weapon. The pain from his shoulder was nearly unbearable, blurring his vision and forcing him to move slower than her. But he still had enough strength left and the element of surprise to tackle her down and grab her wrists together above her head. He jumped on top of her, using his thighs to trap the rest of her body and immobilize her.