Nine Lives

[Gildarts]

A scratchy groan escaped his lips.

The man sipped in breath through his cracked lips and saw the darkness cast by his own eyelids. Something stirred, it resembled a swift movement, however, nonaggressive, as heavy the footsteps approached him. A woman stood above him tilting her head and with her fiercely narrowed eyes hinged on him. Gildarts came to and found himself propped up against the outer wall of the arena, an oasis in the battle storm as he was surrounded – protected even – by people who at least hadn’t killed him yet. Her voice beckoned him to listen from the outer catacombs of his subconscious.

“I’m not exactly on the moral high-ground here, but aren’t you the one who supposedly values the lives of the innocent on-lookers? You almost killed them.” She smirked, almost amused. All of them.

There was a silence as the man’s stagnant mind grew wise to the use of english.

“Depends if you actually find an audience that seeks out death as amusement, as innocent as those committing the murder for show.” Another scowling voice mentioned with a taunting and presumptuous scoff. “Maybe he’s gone dark.”

Gildarts opened his eyes to see the smirk on the boy’s face, as well as the elusive weapon the stranger held in his crossed arms. The slim kid, about seventeen wore black clothes and a daunting, cynical smile.

“Dante’s Abyss would do that to someone like him. He lost everything, you know. Those kids, his powers, his pride. Even just for a few days. Memories like that can haunt a man’s lifetime.” The boy spoke as though he knew what it meant to be hunted by tempting thoughts and the howling demons of the past.

Those kids...?

Gildarts felt his thoughts slowly stir, prompted by the gentle faces that came to mind. Guu... Erza... They had to be alive. But did they survive? He grimaced as his body wavered to a stand. The questions swirled in his head faster than his spinning stomach. His balance was compromised as he tested his balance and dipped his skull too close to the wall.



“Whoa there, not so fast. That blade nearly sliced your artery in two.”

The risen Prime looked down, only to see a drooling trickle of blood staining his pristine bandages. The fresh, uncertain movements had torn the wound open and while he had yet to become aware of the pain, the numbed man didn’t feel so immortal now. His bones moved shakily in his body, the fatigue was draining his ability to think rationally, and his metal limb hung loosely at his side, unresponsive to any of the magic he put forth into it.

“Put a stunner on ya.” The kid of seventeen mentioned while producing a static in his fingertips that cackled with a crisp blue flash. A pretentious smile showed on the kid’s face, as though he knew he was in league with the best. "I'm Cal. And you are damaged goods. But I insisted you were worth something in this game, she seems a bit reluctant to admit it though, if you ask me. But," his voice drawled on, savoring his intoxicating superiority. "I guess the brutality of the game does that to people."

She...?

He felt like he was hearing things. Yet... Gildarts identified the voice that had sourced behind him as a woman’s. He looked to the only other warrior around and did not expect to see the bow held carelessly in her right hand.