"FIGHT!"
They both charge full speed. Each step sinks into the mat. Gritting their teeth, bracing for impact..
BOOM!
Both of them punched each other in the cheek, sending each other flying - thus dropping on the mat..
Everyone on the bleachers started mumbling about what just happened. The ref rushes between them as he starts counting.
1!...
Voyim smashes his fist against the mat, pressing himself up
2!...
Suddenly Reyna wakes up gasping for air, she tries to get up but her limbs are shaking
3!...
The crowd witnessing the both of them getting up explodes in excitement, their screams louder than before
4!...
Both of them are now standing on their two feet, however their shoulders are still drooping.
The ref stops counting. He commands both fighters to return to the center. Voyim stretches his back backwards, while Reyna cracks her neck, as blood begins to drip from her mouth. She spits a little bit of the blood away from the mat. The ref grabs her by the shoulders asking
"You good?"
She nodded a yes, while he did the same for Voyim.
The ref lets them fight again and the crowd explodes even louder.
They get into scraping
He started swaying his shoulders towards Reyna, once he got close he started throwing haymakers. Left, right, left, right - He throws a hook to her right arm breaking her guard, SLAM hitting her by the liver. She audibly grunted in pain, she's forced to step back a bit, dodging each slug with a backstep. She notices Voyim slowly gassing out.
BANG
Gunshots from the mat!
She kicked his head so hard that his jaw and neck stretched away from her shin.
Oohs and ahhs from the crowd as Voyim rattled. He looks around him and lightly punches his head. He roars as he charges - throwing a knee at Reyna, she blocks it by crossing her arms on her stomach. He tries smashing her with an overhead elbow.
She luckily dodges it in time to graze her ear.
Reyna punches him on the nose, hooks to the ear, then butts her head onto his face! Briefly stunned - she took this opportunity to dropkick him by the face. But before it hit Voyim snapped out of it - grabbing and spreading her legs mid-air as he slams her back on the mat.
Bracing for impact, she covers the back of her head
SLAM
Her back slams against the mat, rumbling the hardwood underneath the EVA. The crowd audibly gasped. Voyim began mounting her on the stomach. She puts her guard up, blocking the hammerfists as he was smashing on her face. With each strike she swipes the fists aside while sneaking a few strikes of her own. Then he began slamming his elbow towards her face, but she luckily blocks it
However one of his legs was loose when he walloped his elbow slipping away from Reyna's guard - down to the mat. So she bucks both of her legs, immediately breaking him out of the mount. Both scramble to their feet. Reyna ducks under, pressing her shoulder on his stomach, arching her back backwards yelling "GERMAN SUPLEX!", SLAMS him onto the mat. As he landed with his back against the mat, Reyna drills his chest with an elbow, snuffing the air out of his body.
With Voyim on the floor, Reyna immediately wraps her legs around Voyim's arm. She rushes to pull the arm by the wrist. He realizes what she's trying to do, so he swiftly snaps back to snatch his arm off of the grab.
She also shuffled herself out of his reach, thus resetting the fight back to neutral. Both of them are huffing their breaths like there's no air left. Their blood and sweat kept dripping onto the canvas.
Voyim tells Reyna with bated breath "I always knew you and pixie (Claire) can fight, but compared to her? You still hit like a bi-"
Reyna rushes to suckerpunches Voyim on the jaw, but he doesn't seem phased - while Reyna's fist is still stuck on his cheek, Voyim slowly turns his face towards her saying "Like I said-" He proceeds to grab her wrist "you hit like a BITCH-" Then punches her on the face so hard it sent her body flying.
She tumbled down the mat, yet stops herself on all fours while she slides back, inches away from the edge of the ring as blood from her nose kept dripping down her chin, glazing her teeth red on the edges
Voyim rushes forward, he shimmies down to a stop while Reyna gets up from her feet. He attempts to knock her back, but she luckily stops it with her hands. They lock hands, fingers clawed together - shoving each other back and forth. She attempts to pull him back, then steps to the side reversing their positions - now Voyim is near the edge.
However, with his sheer strength, he pushes her back. Reyna tries to stop it but her metatarsals only slide against the mat slowly pushing her to the edge - she digs one of her toes on the cut outs, stopping her position, but with Voyim still pressing her, she's forced to bend herself backwards.
As he pushed her down, her leg was completely knelt and folded leveraging only on her left leg. Her lips quiver as her body was about to touch the mat. Then Voyim raises one of his knees to his stomach, telegraphing a kick to her chest.
But when he was about to spring his leg straight. Reyna looks at his leg, and realizes her knee was already on the ground.
In one swift motion she swept his leg, tipping him off balance. THe direction of his kick suddenly steered to the side for balance, but it wasn't enough to square up, so one of his knees drops to the ground.
Reyna yells "SHINING WIZARD!" steps on Voyim's knee, grabs his arm, then BANG! Kicks his head, right before his back is against the floor - she pulls his hair, then flops her body on the floor slamming his face on the canvas.
Right when he could roll himself to face Reyna, she rained stomps on his stomach, with each strike making him groan. But then he grabs hold of her leg, twisting it. She was forced to drop on all three - she pushes herself back with her arms, then throws a knee onto his liver, grunting loudly as Voyim screamed in pain.
Then she mounts on his stomach, pummeling his face with knuckles, then he puts his guard up, however her small fists keep slipping through his guard. He struck his face elbow after elbow, his face began to cut and swollen with each repeated strike.
Then Voyim grabbed him by the neck trying to choke her out, but she just kept punching. Then she strikes the crook of his elbow and the blood on his hands makes the grip on her neck slip, so she headbutts him down to the nose, flinching in pain. Then she pins both of his arms to the floor, then she repeatedly strikes her forehead on his face.
Again
And again
And again
And again
And again
And again
And again
Until his face was crushed beyond recognition, as the blood was starting to puddle on the dent of his face.
The referee rushes towards them, pushing Reyna back, whilst landing on her butt on the canvas. The referee takes a good look at Voyim and begins counting.
1!...
He began to move his arms
2!...
He rolls back to all fours
3!...
He slowly stands up
4!...
He's now standing upright, but he was still wobbly - thus the ref was still counting
5!...
He locks in as his wobbling stops
6!...
But he was still losing balance
7!...
He gains his footing again
8!...
He plugs his nose shut, then blows really hard as his cheeks puff.
9!...
The dent on his forehead popped back in place, then he squared up again.
The ref signaled everyone he's still good
The crowd exploded even louder than before, and the entire stadium was chanting her name
"REYNA!
REYNA!
REYNA!"
She looks at her surroundings smiling, then her vision snaps back to Voyim - while the referee was calling them back.
With both of them squared up. The ref made them touch gloves. The match continues.
This time Reyna doesn't strike, but she lets Voyim throw haymakers. However she would just weave under them, with Voyim's body kicks even getting blocked. Even the knees and elbows ended up getting blocked by her, each strike was flawlessly foiled by her.
But then, for a hot second; Voyim locked the fuck in and charged at her, aiming to hit a body shot lariat. Jumps over his arm. As she landed right behind him, she grabbed both of his wrists stretching his arms backward - jumps leveraging from his wrists, then hits the back of his knees, forcing to bend backwards shouting "PAPER CRANE!.
She immediately went for a rear naked choke.
Voyim squirmed all he could but Reyna's arms were locked like an alligator bite. The choke went on and on as he kept squirming to break free, but her legs were locked onto his and his arms were onto his neck.
His movements suddenly slowed down, and his pupils roll to the back of his head.
"CHOKEOUT!" The referee yelled, as he rushed towards them to break them free.
Reyna quickly lets go of Voyim and stands. Pumping her fist to the crowd right before she slides her knees on the mat raising finger-horns.
The crowd babbled in chaos as kept pumping her arms in the air. Then she stands up as she pounds her chest
Voyim finally snaps out of the choke, wakes up dazed. He was still gasping for air while lying down, almost drawing in his own blood. The referee calls out for a stretcher - as the medical team arrives, the referee walks towards Reyna, grabs her wrist and raises it. The head mistress announced "And your winner via chokeout - Queen of the Ring! REYNA FOOOOOOX!"
She pumps her fist in the air as she righteously grins, showing the blood in between her teeth.
*Meanwhile in the locker rooms*
Nicodemus is walking close to Clarice back and forth, arms crossed while tapping his chin. "What to do? - what to do? We gotta at least make this shit believeable-"
Clarice's arms resting on the seat of the bench, while she's got her legs crossed "Watcha thinking about~?"
"Imma let you win; it's easier said than done because the faculty is gonna notice" said he as he continued circling around.
Clarice leans her upper forward as she crosses her arms "Nick, what is with this obsession of me winning? You saw what Reyna could do, I'm clearly not built for this!"
Nicodemus slowly turned to Clarice "Wait so, Gertrude never told you?"
"What're you saying? All she told me is that, if I win all of the trials, I get to stay in Jardin de Liberté" scoffed she.
Shaking his head "That sly bitch~ She really didn't tell you everything" Nicodemus stared her down with a blank expression "-you really wanna know why I need you to win so badly?"
Clarice leans her arms back to the bench "Lay it on me"
He deeply sighs, and says "Me and Gert had a deal - what most candidates don't know is that they're handpicked by certain members of the parish and the faculty. Gertrude just happened to like you."
She scoffs "What about you, did she like you?"
He doesn't answer, and faces himself away from her.
"Erm, Mars to Nick? I'm asking you a question?"
He crosses his arms "Sorry, princess. That's all you're gonna get from me"
She pouts down while standing up as he pulls the back of his collar, forcing him to face her. Pulling her close she locks her lips to his.
Both are loudly moaning in the locker room, some would even smack each other's lips. Nicodemus lifts her up and plops her on the bench, while Clarice wraps her arms around him.
One of the lights over them began to flicker. Clarice slowly wipes her lips against his neck - opening her mouth, fangs extend from her gums—hollow-tipped, snake-like. Her warm breath slowly blows against his skin
Momentarily, he pushes her away as the strings of saliva stretch from the side of his neck "W-wait, I can hear them cheering Reyna's name - the match must be over"
Clarice pulls him back close to her face "C'mon Nick~ you taste really good, how about a little more?"
He pushes her back again "Sh- No! We are literally next in line! Besides I've got a plan: basically, I'm gonna let you win. So PLEASE take it easy on me cuz we still don't know what 'that' drug does to you"
Somebody knocks on the door shouting "Hello? Mr. Brown and Ms. Phoenix, both of you are up next!"
"That's our cue."
The both of them walk out of the locker rooms and see Voyim on a stretcher, blacked out. He was speaking in unintelligible Russian, whilst muttering the words 'mama'.
Both of them emerge from the bleachers, faces coated with a thin layer vaseline as the the crowd rumbles the court with their screams,
Countless people are cheering them on as they walk.
Once they reached the center where the referee was waiting for them. He waves the two to approach him. As the two face off, the place was flooded with the voice of the crowd, as murmurs and gossips can be heard, yet not understood.
Both of them were given gloves and mouthguards. They stare down at each other. While the referee was explaining the rules, Clarice was swaying her body left and right while Nicodemus was hopping in tiny bursts. Yet both of their eyes are still locked into each other.
Clarice smirks with her mouthguard while Nicodemus keeps a straight face
"TOUCH GLOVES!"
As they do so they go to their respective corners while the ref stays out of their way.
They shimmy towards each other, taking careful steps, however Clarice's steps covered more ground, closing in on him faster.
She rapidly throws haymakers straight from the hips, her shoulders swaying left and right, albeit her swings are more akin to wild swings rather than precise strikes. So Nicodemus delivers a low kick PLAP! Striking Clarice by the inner calf, forcing her to split down.
As she loses her balance he lightly punches her face, in actuality he just pushed her cheek.
The crowd oohs, but it wasn't as loud as Reyna's match, so Nicodemus whispered "Shit, they're not buyin' it! Imma need to hit you a little harder!" So he skips around her, while skipping he throws a shower of flicker jabs at Clarice, she keeps blocking these jabs with her arms. Each strike would make a smacking sound - she throws out a mean hook, but He was able to lean back to dodge it in time.
The crowd cheers for a moment, witnessing this spectacle. But instead of countering he would just tap dance away from her, gesturing, taunting her to come and get him.
So she blitzed at him, charging a mean cannonball punch. She was so fast all Nicodemus could react was a block by raising his guard up.
BAM!
Her fist smacks against his arms making a loud clapping sound, launching him back - he rolls himself on the canvas right before sliding close to the edge of the ring. The crowd of course reacted with excitement.
Both of them looked around, then looked at each other in glee. Both of them nod as both took the offense by charging each other. Clarice telegraphs a left roundhouse only for Nicodemus to side-step left. As she was about to face Nicodemus, he swung a blazing-fast backhand right towards her face, but she luckily blocked it just in time. It threw her off balance. However she took a knee to the stomach as her guard was still up.
She grabs his leg, tries to sweep him off the ground. But he jumps, dodging the leg sweep. The crows gasps, with her arms stuck to his leg SMACK He followed the jump with a kick straight to Clarice's face.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" The crowd erupts as Clarice hits her back against the mat. The ref rushes, sliding down his knees towards Clarice.
1!...
With her arms and knees, she pushes herself from the floor
2!...
She bends on one knee, springing up to square her stance
The ref flashes three fingers in front of her saying "How many fingers am I holding?"
"Three!"
The ref nods and pats her on the shoulders. The crowd roars even louder while the both of them face in a reset. Nicodemus putting up a smirk saying "Don't crash out on me now princess!"
Her nose twitches and so are her eyelids, her face contorts with rage.
The ref positions them on the reset, placing them close against each other. Nicodemus was already squared up, while Clarice's arms were down, clenching her fist - staring down at Nicodemus; lightly hopping on the opposite corner. The ref drops his hand yelling "FIGHT"
She lunges with a far reaching teep to Nicodemus' stomach, he blocks it with a knee but it makes him wobble with one leg; forcing him to drop the other for balance. With an exposed stomach, she lands a clean uppercut, squeezing the gas out of him as his eyes bulge out slightly. It also forced him to hunch down.
His head was open so she threw a right hook right after the uppercut BAM! Spraying his sweat all over the ring.
He's still standing, but his legs are starting to lose their balance, as he starts wheezing back the air that was knocked out of him. His sweat began dripping down his nose as his ears began ringing without a single sound being heard.
He drops his guard as Clarice starts swinging. Right hook, he sways left - left uppercut as he leans back. She tried turning the left into a back fist, he sways left - countering with two shovel punches on the liver. BANG BANG forcing her to bend sideways. Unfortunately he telegraphed a left roundhouse kick, just enough for Clarice to react, so she leans back. But it wasn't a roundhouse kick, it was a feint for a low kick, knocking her foreleg off balance.
In that split second, she loses her balance and he follows it up with a full leg sweep, dropping her to her sides - hitting her temples on the mat in the process.
The referee dashes down to her level, she got up quick - so quick he didn't give her a count. Her stance wasn't even wobbling, she squares up the moment she gets up on two.
She cracks her neck left and right, takes a long sniff. Flashing a shit faced grin, she gestures Nicodemus to come near
He smiles back.
Both of them began sprinting head first. Nicodemus starts with a tap kick to the head, she blocks it. He hooked to the right, she blocked. Both hands were occupied so he struck her by the jaw - this one rattled her.
Leaving her wobbling, though for a split second she sees him throwing a front kick aiming at her face. She tilts her head sideways - catches his leg over her shoulder. While his leg was in her grasp, she kicked him in the stomach two times, dropping him to the floor. Her grip was still on his ankles - he tried squeezing himself out of her, it was futile.
So she stomped on his stomach over and over again, she's putting all of her body weight with each stomp. It kept crushing and shocking his whole body, you can even hear him grunting his guts out with each step.
He retaliates by using his other leg to kick her away, hitting her right in the stomach, forcing her to let go.
She pulls his leg again, this time closing in on him. She mounts on his stomach. She starts pummeling him down. She kept punching even when his guard was up. But each of her punches just went through his arms, other punches that were swatted away, were hitting the mat - so strong that the shock was even felt on the floorboards.
His face was starting to swell up, with her walloping having no signs of stopping. Blood starts to splash away from his face - his arms try to push her off, but with each strike he eats just making him wimpier.
His guard finally gives up as he drops his arms on the mat, Clarice raises her arms, preparing a double hammerfist and slams it.
CRUNCH
She smashes his face so hard that the blood from his face splashed all over the mat, even the referee's uniform was stained.
The entire arena gasped as only silence followed.
She kept huffing her chest as she looked around, only to see nothing but shock in their faces.
The referee immediately pushes her away from his body.
As she stumbled onto herself, she slowly got up straight while the referee checked up on him.
She sees Nicodemus' body dead slumped as his face was cracked open, from the upper lip to the bridge of his nose. Blood squirts as he tries to speak, he only makes squelching noises as blood runs down the mat.
She stared at his body in sheer utter horror, looking at her own hands - all bloody with bits of his flesh still stuck on her knuckles.
The medical team rushes to get him up to a stretcher. They wrap his head around with bandages, whilst leaving holes for breathing.
The entire court was now loudly murmuring, some of them were cheering. But it overwhelms it regardless.
At the very back of the bleachers she sees Gertrude staring her down, no one else notices but her. She snaps her eyes towards Nicodemus, then she tries to rush to his aid as the medical team takes him away. Right before she gets close the referee stops her while she calls out his name "Nick! Wait, please let me talk to him!"
The referee just kept blocking her way while she continued to struggle - the ref couldn't push her back, thus security stepped in to stop her from getting near Nicodemus. She began to thrash out, moshing away the ref and the security. The two hulking men pinned both of her arms down as the ref kept shouting at her to calm down.
She finally calmed down once Nicodemus was out of the arena
"Aight! Aight! Let go of her!" said the referee as he swatted out the two guards. "Get up kid" He grabbed hold of her wrist just to pull her up - "Stay here!" Shouted the referee as he closed in on Ms. Song.
After she leaned in to listen to what the ref had to say, she whipped her hair and struts along with the referee. Once they got to the center, the ref grabbed Clarice's hand while Ms. Song clears her throat - "And the winner for tonight's fight, winner by technical knockout:
CLARICE 'THE PRINCESS' PHOENIX!!!"
The entire arena exploded with screams, as the people in the bleachers rambled in chaos chanting "PRINCESS! PRINCESS! PRINCESS! -"
However her eyes were wide open along with her eyebrows, mouth dropping with not a smile in sight. The fight is over, yet her sweat is still dripping down her skin. All she could do was look at the crowd, celebrating in chaos.
*Fast forward of Clarice arriving in the locker rooms*
No one was waiting for her there - heading to the bathroom, her steps echoed in the empty halls of the place, the room was cold. The gray painted lockers dulled the room of its life; in addition to its dim lights and concrete walls.
During the showers, the water washes down the blood on her skin. She didn't feel a single pain as the water drops drizzled down - each drop felt like freezing icicles stinging her back. She stares down the tile floor, as the faint red liquid gathered down the drain.
After showering she dries herself up, followed by wrapping the towel onto her hair, then another onto her chest. But a flicker of movement in the steamed glass caught her eye. She stilled, towel clutched to her chest. She leaned closer, wiping a hand through the condensation. The face that emerged from the streak. She stopped to look at her own face.
She was completely paler than usual, matter of fact: her skin looks like it's glowing in the mirror's reflection, - all hints of red, gone, as if it was bleached away. Just streaks of grays resembling a web of veins under her skin. She raised her hand. The skin on the back of it seemed loose. She pinched the back of her wrist—a fold of it stayed pinched for a second too long before slowly settling back, like dough.
She could only stare at it with widened, sunken eyes.
Leaning closer to the mirror, she pulls her cheek, as the flesh peers under her lower eyelids.
Her skin would not retract.
She starts hyperventilating, her breaths only huffed out a distressed voice, she starts tweaking out as what followed was an uncannily terrified laugh. "AAAUUUGGHHHAHAAAGH~!"
"Clarice?" three clanks on a locker can be heard
"Clarice? Are you here? It's sister Gertrude!"
Clarice immediately calms down to yell "er… just a second!"
In the faint silhouette of the bathroom walls clouded by the mist, one can see her changing her clothes. Once she got out from the showers, she was seen wearing baggy denim, and a white wool sweater drooping off her shoulders and she was hiding half of her face using her long hair. She started mumbling her words "Ah s-sister Gertrude! I- I didn't know - Nick got hurt - I'm so… I'm so sorry". She suddenly breaks down in tears.
As she began to cover her face, Gertrude approached her, embracing her whilst pressing Clarice's head against her chest. All the while Clarice kept wheezing "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" over and over again. Gertrude felt her tears against her robes as she pressed harder, rubbing the back of Clarice's head to comfort her.
"Shh… it's okay, I understand what you're going through. Everything's gonna be alright - there there ~"
Clarice moved her head back to say "B- but, what about Nick?"
"Don't worry dear, everything will be alright" said Gertrude as she weaves Clarice's hair to the back of her ear to reveal her entire face.
Her skin was already drooping out down her cheek, followed by a gasp from Gertrude "Oh child!" She weaves her hair back to cover half of Clarice's face "I'll give you medicine for that tomorrow, hide that for now"
"But sister, what about Nick?"
"Oh Mr. Brown, medical staff has already taken care of him, however I can't lie: this has most definitely been a first for them, especially for a situation this critical, but I'm sure they can handle it"
Gertrude holds Clarice's hands as she lowers herself down to her level
"Keep it together dear… You know why?"
For a brief moment, Clarice stopped sniffling
"It's because you're strong" said Gertrude as she wipes Clarice's tears from her cheek
"You've hurt someone you love for the sake of becoming better, it hurts but that's okay. Pain is part of the struggle, the struggle of your dream. The dream to live a better life after the orphanage, the dream of becoming headmistress by leading this institute.
Alas, the higher the dreams, the farther you fall - are you willing to get up after you fall?"
Clarice finally calms down. Her eyes dart at the their surroundings, until she locked in and looked at Gertrude's eyes
"Yes"
"In that case, stand up straight dear" said Gertrude while she straightens her posture as well "It's time for you to take a rest, head on to your dorms now. You still have a big day tomorrow. A trial awaits you."
*Fast forwards to the twin's dormitory*
She slowly opens the door, as the light from the outside illuminates the room inside. Clarice looks around the room, with the top of her eyebrows all scrunched up.
No one was in the room. She switches the lights open as she sees one of the duffel bags lying over Claire's bed. She hears someone flushing the toilet as she gasped "No fucking way"
The aluminum door of the bathroom as the lock is heard to be undone, finally the door slowly opens. She bites her lip in anticipation, only to find out it was -
June coming out of the bathroom "Phew, that took longer than it should" Her eyes dart towards Clarice "Oh! 'Sup princess!" she said as she picks up the duffel bag from Claire's bed
"W-where's Don?"
"Oh! We're moving over to Nick's place, somebody needs to look out for him"
Clarice drifted her eyes to the floor, as she started to look worried
"You er… fucked him up bad C" She leaned close to Clarice to whisper "Fuck you"
June leaves the room, slamming the door shut. Clarice just stared at the floor. Clarice sharply sighs as she leaves, throwing the bag at Claire's bed.
She plops her body on her bed, mind you that she hasn't changed her clothes
She huffed her chest, and did a long sigh
"I'm so tired man…"
As she lies down, she caresses the plush fabric of her bed while her eyes are glued to the ceiling.
This goes on
And on
And on
Minutes if you will
Hours if one's so inclined
She even tries closing her eyes and lying on her side
Minutes pass
Then hours
Her consciousness is still lively, yet her body is in shambles.
She groans as she tries to reach her nightstand. Scouring her drawers for a sachet of powdered milk.
Once she finally prepared the milk, she chugs it all down - rinses the glass in the bathroom, then she finally lays on her bed once more
Still nothing
Her mind is still racing with thoughts, closing her eyes is no use. It's been half an hour since she drank that milk. She tries counting sheep on the calendar beside her.
Still, to no avail.
Alas she lies her back against the plush mattress, with eyes wide open; she claps her fingers twice, turning off all lights in the dorm, all the while her eyes are glued to the ceiling.
That's when she realized for first time in her life.
She can't sleep