Wrath.

"Ta gueule."

"Come now, you think that switching languages will somehow help me understand a little better?"

"All right. Shut up."

"Hasn't worked yet."

"It will."

"Oh so very sure of ourselves are we? Just like how we were so sure -"

"Mmhmm. Just like how you're going. To. DIE!"

"Nice try blanco nino, too bad your ass just got haaaaaaaad."

"It's "sacked" you bastard. And maybe it won't be today. Maybe it won't be tomorrow. Maybe it won't happen while we're alive... but I'll see you dead!"

Sending a snarl his way, I stand up, reassembling my leg. He is in every way identical to me. The same tenacity, the controlled fury. We share the same brilliant, ruthless tactics; the same moves.

He's fast, but I know it's coming. I parry his sword thrust and suddenly he's spinning into an eviscerating slash with his clawed offhand. I catch the flash, as his fist comes up under my guard, directing it up past my shoulder, moving in to trap it between our bodies.

Then I'm past.

Out of range. But not from his laughter... Too close...

Too close?

I try to turn, but my back screams out and I hear my spine collapse into my left kidney with a squelch that makes me wince. Not in pain, but...

"Ahhh I love that sound! Hahahahahahaha."

That bitch... He cheated...

"You fight like this is real."

Is that a hint of disappointment I hear?

"Damn straight it is."

"kek." I hiss through my teeth, bringing up the iron taste of blood, but there's no answer.

Just silence.

Just that damned silence I hate. I hate it so much. I HATE IT. I HATE IT SO MUCH. When there's nothing to keep my mind off the terrors that surround me.

"Come ba-urg-k arnd speh FIGHT ME. Kuh... COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

I know I should stop. I know it so deep inside me it blackens my soul and leadens my heart. This isn't the way? I don't have time for any other way. This. Isn't. The. WAY.

"THIS ISN'T THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!!!"

*

I watch the pool swirl and darken. It's waters eddy and burst from their seams. Igniting the air around me. Sending me tumbling through the void.

Towards...

Then it's a blizzard and we're at it again. The snow makes it hard, but I don't need my eyes anymore. I know where he is. Blow after blow we exchange. Who needs to stop!?

A desert hill, the sand kicking up into our hakama, settling into our mouths, screening for vicious slashes.

A field of violets crushed beneath relentless attacks, their hearts splashed with teardrops from weeping cuts.

He falls off a mountain, grinning as if he's off for a spot of sky diving, his ribs grinding his own heart to pulp in my hand. Then rolling backwards to propel himself from giant redwood, impaling me into another.

A rocky beach, with its waves smashing us apart. A frozen wasteland deep beneath, our shouts echoing for miles.

I stamp the leaves of an autumn forest, burying my foot, under the onslaught of blade and vehemence, deep into the soft loamy soil underneath.

***

He raises a bladed finger.

"Please. No more."

"No more?"

"Yeah... You're killing us. I can't stand all your quasi-poetic bullshit."

He smiles wanly, flicking the blood away with a flourish before sheathing his sword. A kind of lopsided grin with the flap of flesh, formerly his cheek, dripping blood onto the grass.

"Too. Bad," I scream, rising into a fevered laugh, and we're back in the jungle again.


And again.




*****

"Just let It go."
"Just let It go."

"Yeah."
"Yeah."

"Maybe it'll be easier."
"Maybe it'll be easier."

*******

"I wish it was that easy."
"Yeah."