I'm A Monster

Show Me The Way

Life for Jace turned upside down, he stayed in a shitty room, surrounded by shitty people. He never thought that he could have a worse life then being born to look like a deer. Around him, everybody was un-deviated, he would normally assume that it's the reason they're treating him like shit. Looking around, he realizes that they treat Lucas like a brother, maybe he earned his place there. When he wasn't hiding from the people downstairs in his room, he was training with Lucas. Lucas refused to teach him somethings, it was odd, but Jace didn't question anything Lucas made him do. Even when Lucas just made Jace stand in uncomfortable positions for hours, he still didn't question him. After a month or two, Jace started to show improvement, upon observation, he realized that the man would soon turn 19. Jace found himself questioning the life that Lucas gave to him though, of course, not out loud. At least Lucas was starting to warm up to Jace, not trust him, but at least he didn't glare daggers at him and hit him with a stick while he was training anymore. Lucas learned more and more of Jace everyday, but Jace would never learn anything about the Warden son, all he knew is what he watched in the news. Well, he knew one thing, Lucas' mother was a sensitive subject, one time when Jace questioned him about it, training was 10x more intense afterwards. He wasn't sure if Lucas was just blowing off steam, or if he was punishing him on that day. Eventually he started to learn the names of the place, the regular giant was named Tiny, the crying girl was named Lee-Anne, the bartender was named Jim, etc. He still had many names to learn, at least Lucas had people who cared about him. From what he heard in the news, Jace thought that Lucas would live in some cave, or he didn't even have a home. He didn't know where Lucas went in between his birth home and here, but there were a few things which hinted at where Lucas came from; His mannerisms are near perfect, he used an axe as a weapon when he could, and he cussed in foreign tongue. Lucas was a forever mystery to Jace, despite the fact that he's known the man for months. One day, Jace had the courage to ask why Lucas disliked him so much, it wasn't like it was Jace's fault that bad shit happened to Lucas. 
Upon being asked the question, Lucas didn't even look up from the gun he was cleaning, "You forced this on me, made me train you, put yourself in this position and it's a pain in the ass." so Lucas was still pissed at him? Jace needed more information "I was only trying-" "... To help. Yeah, I know, but did you ever stop to consider that what you're doing is holding me back?" So Jace was a burden? "I'm a burden?" Jace asked, hurt in his expression, Lucas' expression remained in stone, "Yes." He turned and walked out of the room, Jace didn't ask him anymore questions like that afterwards. 
The truth hurt Jace, but it was the truth. After that, it was no more playing around, he practiced whenever he could, studied whenever he could, he took everything Lucas told him and used it to build on himself. Eventually, training became more fun, from Jace's hard work. Instead of being pinned in minutes and chastised for what he did wrong, he would last a few minutes, and would hear compliments like "Nice right hook." and "Good force, but you're leaving your stomach exposed." it became more rewarding. After about four months, the people in the bar started to treat him nicer, Jim showed a softer side to him, it was going better. Lucas began to unravel, he became less of a mystery. Little by little, and Jace means extremely little, Lucas began to show Jace some trust. Upon asking questions, Lucas showed Jace more patience. Step by step, piece by piece, Jace began to earn his place. 

_________________

When training began with Jace, Lucas could barely look at him, barely tolerated him, he remembered the deer boy was lost like a rabbit. The boy expected to be accepted in a slum bar on the first day, that nearly made Lucas laugh. He had no patience for the lad, none at all. Lucas made his training intense just to spite him, to make Jace turned back, but Jace refused to turn back, he persevered. The motivation Jace had to learn, that's how he earned his first shred of respect from Lucas, Jace never knew that though, because Lucas wouldn't allow cracks in his armor. Jace easily lost that respect though, with all the questions about his personal life. What was really the icing on the cake was when he asked why Lucas disliked him, it wasn't uncommon knowledge that people don't like being forced into things. Jace eventually started to get smarter, his true colors and his yearn to learn soon began to overpower his nagginess and stupidity. Lucas began to stop dreading training with Jace and soon began to look forward to the ways that he'd say Jace grow. Lucas, by all means found it hard to even give a shred of trust to Jace, but he respected the man, even if it was slightly. Soon, Lucas stopped telling himself that Jace was a boy, that a man earned respect, a boy was given it. 
Lucas expected he'd be ready to take Jace out to get his first kill soon, because holding the gun and pulling the trigger were two different things. Some people couldn't stomach watching the life fade from somebody's eyes. Lucas needed to know if he's not wasting time, if Jace had heart for the dirty work, or if Lucas needed to adapt his training to match what he couldn't stomach. Lucas made his training more intense again, but it wasn't cruel, he was teaching. He showed Jace some tips and tricks, made sure how to teach Jace to think outside the box, taught Jace that everything could be a weapon if he wanted it to be. Even something as simple as a piece of paper could take out somebody's eye. He taught Jace pressure points, sometimes Jace tried to use them on him in their sparring but it never worked, he would never tell Jace why. In truth Mathius taught him tolerance, how to stand having his pressure points prodded and poked at. Lucas didn't teach Jace those kinds of things, he didn't think he had what it took to put Jace through the pain that the pressure point training caused. A few months ago, Lucas would have put the training on him so fast that Jace wouldn't even see what hit him, but now, it became apparent that Jace was growing on him. 

_________________

Jace turned 19 as well in November, Lucas knew when his birthday was so he gifted Jace a jacket. It was getting colder and he needed it, and Jace knew that Lucas didn't do pointless things. At least Lucas gave Jace a gift, it made him realize that Lucas did in fact respect him, he just didn't know if Lucas considered him a friend. 
It was December when Jace went out to kill for the first time, he did fairly well, in Lucas' opinion. Lucas did tell Jace what he did wrong and made him learn how to fix it, but that was to be expected. The man was Rodriguez's brother, he got vengeful on Lucas so he had to die, Jace killed the man, but of course he wasn't so sneaky about it. Lucas gave it to Jace though, it was creative, he never saw a man die by refrigerator. Jace used his mistakes in the assassination to train himself to be better. Lucas began to think to himself that having somebody to work with wouldn't be so bad. It was by January, the first time Jace heard Lucas laugh, not the chuckle that he demonstrated he was a mean mother fucker, but a genuine laugh. They were in the room that they set up for training way back in October, Jace fumbled around and knocked over a shelf of weapons, normally, Lucas would be pissed but the way Jace did it and the fear in his eyes, Lucas ended up losing it. Life was beginning to become stable, Jace and Lucas fell into a stable pattern of training and assassinations, and soon began to fall into a rhythm. 
Between Tiny, Jace, and Jim; Lucas began to finally find another place he can call home. Of course he wouldn't tell them that, no cracks through the armor, no weakness. 

*To Be Continued* 

AUTHOR'S NOTE, 

Hello beautiful readers, it's my day to appreciate you! I've decided to give you guys a break from the death and the sorrow, and I brought you a cute and fluffy chapter. It took Lucas awhile to warm up to Jace, but it ended up happening. Now, Lucas is no longer alone in this killing ordeal, and don't worry, I don't plan on killing Jace, well, at least not for awhile. Enjoy the break, because honestly, if you've read this far into my story; you deserve it. 

All the good days I can wish you! 

CarlSn