Chapter 8

The rest of the day and night pass by like a wildfire. It took a while for the guys to get Bryson to sleep, but they eventually knocked him out. Whether they bothered to even put him in a bed or not is a mystery to me, a mystery that I don't really care for. The guys seem extra hyper this morning though, they're all riled up and picking fights with each other outside. Although I guess that this is the first time that I've seen them all in the village since the first day I came here. They're happily laughing as they punch and kick each other, sometimes even slicing each other with their swords.

"That's it, Anthony," Bryan shouts cheerfully as I watch them from the window inside the safety of the house. "You and me, one-on-on!"

"Alright," Anthony smirks, readying his weapon in front of him. "Let's fucking go then."

They swing their swords towards each other as the others watch close by. Blood and mist alike shine on their dark blades, glistening under the early morning sun, sparkling like fairy dust. The other guys cheer as the two-fighting pant and pause for a breather, clearly both of them are out of shape. Nothing that my potions can't fix. There's a loud grunt that echoes through the air, Bryan kneels on the ground, holding his gut and wincing in pain. A cat meows in the corner of the room, somehow grabbing my attention more than the actual fight and Bryan's eventual death. Its fur is clean, luscious, and completely black. It has bright blue eyes that remind me of an ocean, and claws that can cut through wood if it were to try. Though, this doesn't look like the sort of cat that would even bother doing that. It lays peacefully on top of a chest, lounging about and enjoying its days and nights of sleeping.

"Who's cat is this?" I ask, scratching the back of its ears. It purrs as I move onto its belly, joyfully holding its paw up in the air.

"Cat? What cat?" Renato asks, looking around excitedly. He then notices that I'm still inside the house and comes after me, joy, and cheer in his large smile. He opens the door and sees me playfully tapping the paws of the glorious feline. "Oh that's mine." He grins, calmly strolling over to me. His smile doesn't fade as he lifts his cat up over his shoulder and it comfortably hangs limp, meowing and licking its paws. "Isn't she beautiful?"

I giggle, watching as he holds the cat in front of him, smiling lovingly into its adorable eyes. "Absolutely gorgeous."

"Kill it," Anthony jokes, chuckling victoriously as he slices Bryan's head off.

"Fuck you," Renato fires back, nose scrunching up in defense, he looks like a bulldog from this angle.

"Go right ahead," Bryan comes running back into the village, smirking coyly to himself.

"Maybe later," Anthony kids, sheathing his sword back onto his back.

"Where's that Mavrick bitch?" Bryson screams, sprinting into the village with a full set of armour made from hell, as well as a deep black blade made from the same location. "I'm gonna slice that bitch!"

Already knowing that I'm gonna lose, I take out Bryan's diamond axe since it's my strongest weapon, I will not die without a fight. "Bring it on, you screeching bitch!" I shout, sprinting towards my demise.

"The fuck did you call me?" He shrieks as I whack him with my axe, continuing to hit without relenting. I will get as much damage on this idiot as I can before I'm slaughtered.

"You heard me, you virgin ass mother fucker!" I yell, just barely dodging his sword with the best reaction speed I can possibly have. My back cracks as I limbo under the blow, time seems to slow as the dark blade glides past my view. My reflection shines back at me, my black sclera with a red pupil and iris stares down at me, intimidated yet motivated. My long, brown hair hanging down onto the grass, bugs moving around the follicles.

The large blade now fully hovers above my face, time seems to stop as I gaze up at myself in the dark metal. My round, soft face and average jawline seem downgraded by the black eyepatch covering my left eye. Some people would kill to have an average appearance like mine, but instead I ruined it, and the eyepatch is the only thing that can help hide my hideous injuries. My short, button nose has some blood leaking out of it, staining my scarred skin. My narrow, glossy lips appear dry under the blade's metal, though I know that isn't the case. My protruding cheekbones slowly drift out of sight as time begins to move once more and the blade speeds past my view.

Time speeds up, this time moving at an ungodly tempo. The cheers and shouts of my friends become high-pitched as Bryson seems to sprint towards me with a flash level of haste. My reflexes take over, swinging the axe around in front of me at the pace of a tornado. I'm completely unable to register the world around me as my axe continues to swing and slice past his armour, penetrating his skin and letting his blood flow into the Earth.

"Son of a bitch!" He cries, holding his nearly severed arm. Time finally resumes back to normal, Bryson stands hunched over in front of me, bawling his eyes out as blood pours all around him. The guys are cheering, wincing, and cringing at the very sight of it all.

"On the contrary," I grin, stepping over to him and turning the axe over in my hand, letting the diamonds reflect under the bright sun. I raise the axe into the air, holding it steady in my hands as I position it for his neck. His armour only has a few scratches on it, so clearly all of my hits somehow found a way around it all. "I'm a daughter of a dick." The axe dashes towards the terrified boy, penetrating past the meat on his neck and completely breaking through his bones.

He dies instantly, the cheers and challenges flow in as his growing presence shows anger and intensity. I won, but I know he'll be back, he'll somehow go even more out and kill me where I stand. The guys jump with joy and joke together about how petrified he was as they get ready to go back to fighting each other once more.

"Fuck that bitch is scary!" Bryson's voice bellows with a mixture of anger and terror. I can already tell that he's preparing for round two, possibly even enchanting his weapons to do more damage and increase his range. "I'm going to slice off your fucking head, you hear me?" He shrieks.

"Yes," Anthony winces. "We can all hear you loud and clear."

"Especially the loud part," I add, forcing a smile to form on my face in an attempt to reassure them that I do not fear the definite death coming my way. I'm not scared of dying, that's probably the last thing I could possibly be scared of. But I am, however, scared of losing this axe. Not only is it not mine, but it's also the best weapon I have and I really don't want to lose it. I'd probably never get the chance to possess a weapon like this for a while. Although, I guess that if Bryson does end up taking it from my dead body then I could just blame the missing weapon on him. That's if Bryan were to ever notice his axe missing in the first place. After all, it's not like I even run a risk of being in trouble if I'm found with this weapon, they just assume that I mined for it. Meanwhile, I don't even have the balls to go into a cave.

"Fuck you!" Bryson hollers, sprinting towards us in the distance. He's holding a totem of second chances, a new deep black sword, and enchanted hell-ridden armour. This time his wings are not present, they have been replaced by a demonic chest plate that reflects solemnly under the high sun. A long iron and wooden shield hangs by his side, somehow not slowing him down one bit.

His sword intensely blinds me using the luminance of the blazing ball in the sky. His armour soon joins in, doing the very same thing. My eyes squint and my axe moves up in front of me just in time to block one of Bryson's attacks. The diamond of my axe blinds me even further, making my eyes water and knocking me off guard. Bryson raises his shield, using it to block both the blinding light and my off-centered swing. My axe barely even makes splinters fly as Bryson's fist collides with my gut and blood exits my throat.

"Ha, you're never going to beat me now, bitch!" Bryson smirks, taking hold of the handle of my axe and pulling me closer to him. He lifts up his leg, the hardness of his boots make my ribs crack upon contact. The sound exits my body, echoing through the vast green and making the guys cringe. "How do you like that, bitch?" He snickers, using the handle of my axe to crack my nose, knocking me to the ground as I cry out in pain.

"Lol Bryson's going nuts," Rodrigo hollers from laughter as he watches Bryson slice at my legs.

"Nobody fuck with him," Anthony adds in, laughing his ass off as Bryson moves up to my stomach driving his sword completely through my gut. I can feel my organs get sliced open and begin to bleed internally as his sword is pulled out of me once more. My cries and screams shoot through the sky, blood-curdling and frightening enough to even scare off the beasts of the night. Blood pours out of every part of my body, soaking the Earth once more with the definite possibility of my death. Soon, my body will sink in the ground and I will reawaken good as new in my bed.

His sword reaches my chest, he hovers the point of his blade over my heart, shouting and cackling indistinguishable sentences. The guys cheer and laugh as they watch my suffering come to and end once he finally drives his demonic blade through my heart, relieving me from this pain for a temporary amount of time.

Bryson's cheers and cocky words are the first thing I hear when I awaken in Bryan's bed. His dog cheerfully barks upon seeing me and I rush over to Bryan's chests to find anything that might be useful. Taking out a stone sword, some crappy iron armour, and some food, I rush out the door after tossing the wolf a steak.

"Don't take my shit!" I shout as I speed down Bryan's staircase.

"Don't worry, he didn't," Angel reassures me, though I already know that he took my axe because I saw him pick it up before everything went dark.

"Wait, where are you?" Bryan asks with light confusion.

"Your bed," I answer swiftly. The guys break out into laughter as I speed out of the berry surrounded doors and make my way up a hill.

The guffaws continue for a bit more, taking over any sort of sounds in the area. Finally, Bryan's voice is just noticeable enough for him to ask, "Why did you spawn in my bed?"

The laughter breaks out once more, engulfing all audio with the chaotic mixture of their voices. I manage to shout above them all as I reach the top of the hill, "Because I slept in your bed last night!"

"What?" Everyone asks in constant repetition, this time their concern overtakes their laughter.

"Why the fuck?" Anthony asks, only judgement in his voice. I reach the group, seeing that barely any of my stuff was still on the ground. Bryson smirks mischievously, holding my axe behind his back. I know that I'll have to take it from him by force, and I also know that I can't do that with my lack of gear.

"Because it was dark," I shrug, picking up my stuff and shoving it all into my pockets. "Where's all my shit?" My tone is flat and sharp as my eyes stab into Bryson's, staring him down with great fury.

"Is it not all there?" Angel asks with a calm, sincere tone.

My eyes start to water but I push it all back down, I can't cry in front of these guys. My voice cracks as I respond with, "No."

"What are you missing?" Angel asks, as he and Renato search the area for my stuff that may have rolled down because of a slant or something.

"My diamond axe is the main thing that I care about," I squeak and choke back the sadness and frustration.

"Bryson," Renato turns to the no longer smirking boy. He spins on his heels and flees in the other direction, screeching in fear. "Bryson give us that axe!" Renato shouts as everyone except Bryan and Alberto chase after him. Bryan instead heads back to his castle and Alberto makes his way back to Lil' Japan.

"I don't have it!" He lies, though I can clearly see a bit of the diamond sticking out of his armour.

"You fucking liar!" I shout, my tears now showing through my sadness and distress.

"Bryson just give her her axe back," Angel orders with disinterest as he grabs hold of Bryson's armour and pulls him back.

"Fine," Bryson mumbles and tosses the axe onto the ground. The second that Angel releases him, he sprints towards the water engulfed mountain and swims upstream. Anthony attempts to pick up the axe and run away but Rodrigo manages to get to it before him and holds it tightly as he makes his way back over to me. I stand silently in the village center, trying to wipe as much moisture off of my face as I can before they get to me.

"That's my brother for you," Angel jokes and swims up the mountain as well. The water doesn't even make him wince.

Renato, Rodrigo, and Anthony finally catch up to me, none of them bother to ask me about my cracking voice or still slightly wet face. Rodrigo holds the axe up, flipping the handle around for me to take hold of it safely. Both Anthony and Bryan appear out of nowhere, taking hold of the handle along with me. Rustler let's go of it and heads off towards the mountain with Francisco, leaving just the three of us with the axe as we tug and pull at it in an attempt to claim it.

"Bryan, alliance," Anthony mentions with a wicked grin.

"Alliance," Bryan smiles.

Just as when they're both distracted by meeting each others' eyes, I take one hard tug at the axe, surprisingly managing to pull it free. I'm knocked back onto the ground, gripping onto the axe tightly as I gaze up at them and their disappointed expressions.

"Aww," Anthony pouts, hanging his arms by his side.

"You're no fun," Bryan groans and heads off towards his castle.

"Yeah, Darcila, you're so lame," Anthony scowls at me then heads off towards the watery mountain.

"I-I'm sorry," My voice squeaks, but it's too quiet to be heard over their complaining. An emptiness rises in my chest, but I promptly push it back down, putting more effort into keeping this one under wraps than my sadness. I was just trying to get my axe back, it's not my fault that they felt like messing with me while I was in a bad mood. Douchebags.