Chapter Forty Seven: Never the Same

The stairway down the side of the building went underground and a flickering sign proudly displayed the name of the nightclub.

Watching it for a moment, Ronin found a strange sense of admiration for it's bright lettering, the perfect way it had been designed, it did exactly what it was created to do.

Standing there enthralled by the sign, he didn't notice that people had begun walking around him until Silas tugged his shirt sleeve and said, "We going in?"

Patting his cheeks and focusing, Ronin nodded and started walking down, his friends behind him in a line, when he started hearing muffled music from the walls of the nightclub.

Over the music he heard an equally muffled voice and picked up the pace to get inside faster.

There was no bouncer at the door, nobody waiting outside for anything really, which struck Ronin as odd.

Even though he'd never been to a club, he'd been under the impression that a bouncer kept unwanted people out.

Pausing for a moment, he worried it might be a trap when Silas ran past him and said, "I love this song!"

 Looking back at Sellius and Scalpel, he shrugged and followed her inside and felt the same hair raising feeling he'd felt back in the Hidden Truth's gate.

This time, however, he made it through with no problems, no panic and no pain, something he was thankful for.

Inside the nightclub, Ronin was surprised to see that the room was far larger than he'd expected, there was room for hundreds upon hundreds of people in the club, though most seemed to congregate at tables and isolated dance floors around the space.

Silas had grabbed a table near the door and said, "I found a spot for us!"

The three of them looked at each other and sat near her as a waitress with long black hair and dressed in a suit came over and, with a smirk, offered them a menu and asked, somehow easily audible over the absurdly loud music, "First time to the Full Moon?"

 Ronin nodded and said, "Yeah...any recommendations?"

 The waitress laughed and said, "We've got a new drink, just came in yesterday, it's called The Cathol Supremacy."

"Cathol Supremacy?" Ronin asked in disbelief.

She nodded and said, "It's clear, has grit at the bottom and it's on fire."

Silas laughed and said, "I'll take four of your strongest drinks."

Scalpel rolled her eyes and said, "Just water for me."

 Sellius asked for a shot of their strongest liquor and the waitress looked Ronin over and said, "You, Ronin, can have the drink they named after me….my name's Rav, by the way."

 Starting to turn her down, Ronin was caught by her eyes, a smooth, almost liquid, crimson that captivated him and said, "Ye...yeah..ok."

 Silas looked between the two of them, locked in staring at each other and with a hint of irritation in her voice, said, "You can't bring her home too, Ronin."

 The waitress winked at him and walked away, blending into the crowd as she walked and the announcer spoke again, "Tonight's the fun night! For tonight's fun, any challenger who can land a single hit on our reigning champion gets not only the title, but anything their heart desires! We haven't had a good fight in a long time kids, so lets see some spirit in those eyes!"

"Anything your heart desires? What if you want to destroy the world," Ronin asked incredulously.

Feeling someone tug on his sleeve, Ronin turned to see a distantly familiar blonde girl smiling at him and saying, "Then you get it! That's what makes it fun!"

 Sellius jumped back and reached for his sword by instinct and found it missing, only to see the girl holding it out to him.

The implication was clear, if she'd wanted to, she could have killed them then and there, and there wasn't likely anything they could do to stop her.

Cautious expression on his face, Sellius took his sword back and Scalpel said, "I recognize you. You're one of the musicians in that band, Another Day, aren't you?"

Remembering her from the Frozen Peaks, Ronin said, "You're the girl from the crowd at that concert!"

She nodded and brushed her long blonde hair out of her face and smiled as she said, "Yup, my name's Amy."

Looking up at the arena, she said, "Wonder if anyone'll win tonight."

Fifteen people had gathered in the space and Ronin said, noticing that they all bore guild symbols of varying kinds, including a High Cathol white circle, "I thought this was a Guildless nightclub."

"There are no guilds here, only money," Amy said very matter of factly as the lights dimmed and Rav came back with their drinks.

She set her drinks down and whispered in Ronin's ear, "You know, this might be a good place to forget where you're going."

Looking up at her, Ronin was surprised to find that both Rav and Amy had disappeared in the moment it took for him to register what she'd said.

Already on her third drink, Silas said, "You'd better drink, that looks good, I may take it."

Ronin picked up the drink curiously and it sloshed gently in its clear glass, the only clear glass at the table, and moved to drink it, noticing that it barely moved as he did so.

The fifteen men began milling around in the arena, clearly debating if they were supposed to be fighting each other, while Ronin drank and put his cup down, watching for this so called champion.

They were all clearly experienced fighters, built for combat and obviously put in the hours to maintain that kind of form, but looking at them, Ronin was confident he could beat any of them, which meant this champion would probably wipe the floor with them.

As he watched, he heard Silas say, "Where's Rav? She should be back by now for more drinks."

 "Are you drunk already Silas? I's been like fifteen minutes," Scalpel asked incredulously.

Silas murmured an assent as a different girl, dressed totally differently came up and asked them what they'd like to get started.

She apologized for the long wait and said she'd been held up by an unruly group of guests. Folding her hands over the skirt of her maid uniform, she bowed gently and said the first round of drinks would be on the house.

Turning back to the table to say they'd been helped already, Ronin saw Rav standing silently behind Scalpel with her finger over her lips and winked at him.

The waitress looked at Ronin's drink, the only glass remaining on the table and said, "I'm sorry sir, you can't have outside drinks here."

Looking back at Rav, who simply shrugged with a playful smile on her face, Ronin said, "I'm sorry, I'll finish it right now."

Pulling the strangely strong drink to his lips, he drank it all as fast as he could and bit back a cough as the girl said, "That's really impressive sir."

Silas, a look of shock on her face, said, "I didn't know you could drink like that, Ronin."

Scalpel looked at him suspicious, clearly unaware of Rav behind her laughing quietly, and said, "Yeah, hidden talents."

Ronin moved gently toward the table to put the glass down and instead of the small movement he'd intended, he lurched forward suddenly, visibly drunk, and he heard a gentle playing of low off-key tones.

The world spun around him for a split second and suddenly he was back to normal, as though he hadn't just been blackout drunk.

Looking around him, he saw that the fight was about to begin and he asked, "What..what just happened?"

 The music played aggressively while he realized he was alone at the table, Silas had gotten up to dance with Sellius and Scalpel had started drinking alone at the bar.

"Round THREE," the announcer began to say as fog rolled off the stage. It seemed to emanating from a person standing in the center of the ring surrounded by unconscious people.

The person in the ring locked eyes with Ronin and smiled as more people began climbing up into the ring.

His black eyes flashed bright red as they stared at each other and Ronin got the feeling that he was challenging him personally.

Looking around himself at the people moving to fight him, his eyes dimmed back to black as a bored expression crossed his face and he began fighting.

Moving rapidly, the man struck out and knocked the first person coming at him into the two people who'd run behind him and the three of them fell down, clearly knocked out.

Getting up, Ronin walked toward the ring as the man proceeded to knock out the rest of his opponents with ease.

An alarm rang in his V.U.I. as he climbed into the ring, but Ronin ignored it, enthralled by this man who could fight so easily and seem so bored.

"A new challenger! Will this man fare any better than the rest?" the announcer shouted out curiously.

Standing and focusing on the man, a high tone played as Ronin waited for him to come at him.

A smile played across his face as he walked toward Ronin, eyes slowly brightening until they were bright red again, he asked, "Are you afraid to die?"

 "What?" Ronin asked, the question reminding him of something from long ago.

Dashing forward, the man struck for Ronin's head and he dodged, moving to the side of the strike, seeming slow for some reason.

"Don't you dare hold back," Ronin yelled angrily.

His smile grew sinister as the man disappeared and struck at Ronin from behind, a strike he blocked surprisingly easily, almost as though he knew it'd be coming.

Spinning with a kick, Ronin barely missed the man, catching only the fringes of his short hair when he seemed to appear right in front of Ronin.

Time held for a second as Ronin studied his face, young and handsome features marred by a pitch black circle that went from the crest of his hair all the way around his left eye and back into his hair. His eyes seemed to brighten even more as he kicked upward, an attack Ronin could feel coming but simply couldn't react to fast enough.

The kick hit Ronin square in the chest sending him several feet into the air and, as he felt the air rush out of him, the man grabbed his pant leg and slammed him back into the ground, walking around with his arms raised almost as soon as Ronin hit the arena.

Pushing himself up, he said, "I'm not afraid to die, but I'm not going to die here."

The man shook his head with that irritating smile still on his face as he walked over to Ronin, barely holding himself up on his hands and knees, and said, "You will be. Trust me."

The man flickered blue in Ronin's vision as he grabbed his hair and threw him into the ropes of the arena, appearing there as if he'd been waiting and elbowing Ronin in the chest downward.

Hitting the ground so hard it cracked, Ronin screamed out and saw a blue outline of the man in front of him, striking to hit him as fast as he could, an attack the man caught with his hand and said, "Getting better, but tell me kid, who are you aiming at with an attack that slow?"

 Kicking Ronin in the ribs so hard that he shot away from him, the man held onto his arm and flipped Ronin on the other side of him, laughing as he did.

Letting go of his arm, the man made a slicing motion against his neck and the announcer said, "Another challenger, another win for the champion! Let's give it up for Ronin the Unclaimed, though, for lasting longer than any other challenger in a long list of failed fighters!"

The entire club burst into cheers of Ronin's name and the man offered his hand to help Ronin up and said, "Getting better kid, your mom would be proud."

The sound of the cheering disappeared as Ronin heard the words from the man's mouth.

His mom?

 Seeing his gesture ignored, the man crouched down and asked, "What's wrong with being a monster, kid?"

Ronin felt anger and confusion rise in his chest as the man disappeared in a burst of inky black flame.

Ronin pushed himself up and Scalpel jumped up and said, "You doin ok, Ronin?"

Looking up at her, slightly dizzy, Ronin asked, "What?"

 "Let's get out of here, you need air and we all need to talk," she said, pulling him up.

Loud music played as Silas fought to stay in the club, insisting that she loved that song and needed to hear it.

Scalpel ignored her and continued pulling her behind her while Sellius laughed at the sight.

Back up the stairs, Scalpel pointed out a Cathol church nearby and said, "We need to get over there, now."

Her voice left no room for questions and even Silas stopped fighting as she began walking over.

Dizzy as he was, Ronin still got a strange sense of foreboding from the church, like something terrible had happened there.

Several cars and other vehicles were burning, having crashed into the doors of the church. The doors were splattered with blood and burn marks, but through the fire and gore, Ronin could see distinct bullet holes into the wooden entranceway.

"While you were getting your ass handed to you, we got several alarms, Ronin," Scalpel said quietly.

Eyes widening, Ronin looked through the alerts and saw that Delta had been trying to reach them for over an hour.

"Ronin, Trigger just left, where are you guys?"

"Ronin, anyone, please, Trigger's gone, I don't know where he went."

 The last message was a video, her voice empty and her body language crushed and hollow. 

"Ronin...Trigger's done something terrible."

Looking back up at the church, Ronin got a terrible feeling in his chest, like someone had reached into his chest and squeezed his heart.

He muttered a single word as the doors exploded outward from within, "No."