Chapter 28: And the Challenger Is…

“All good things must end.”

-Unknown

Yin was ready. Well, as ready as she was going to be. She threw a few air punches to psych herself up, but her hands were shaky. She looked down at them, frowning, unable to stop their trembling.

Lax took them in his and gave them a reaffirming squeeze. “You can do this,” he said. “It’s okay to be scared. It’ll go away once the fight starts.”

“I’m not scared,” Yin said.

Lax cocked one eyebrow.

“I…” Yin shuddered, remembering the last time that great, unstoppable fist had collided with her head. She shook herself out of it. “I guess I am. A little.”

“You’ll be okay. Just remember what I taught you.”

“I remember.”

Darling’s farshout-assisted voice echoed into the changing room, telling her that she was up. Lax gave her a last clap on the back and sent her off running.

Once more, she stepped into the bright light and was greeted by the smell of old blood. Once more, the roar of the crowd accosted her ears and set her skin tingling with excitement.

“This little lady has certainly made a striking comeback!” Darling called, strutting around her with his farshout. “Her last defeat against the Bull left her with a mighty hankering for revenge! And now, here we are! You know her, you love her, it’s Yin!”

He wandered over to the other entrance, a thousand sequins setting his whole body sparkling. “And for our defending champion, a man who needs no introduction! He’s favored to win, and he’s—”

An attendant waved the announcer over from the side of the ring, and Darling went over with exaggerated confusion, gesturing to the spectators. “What is this?” he wondered aloud. “Let’s see what’s going on.” He tilted the farshout away, and him and the attendant whispered for a little while. He stood back and addressed everyone once more. “Well, well! It looks like there’s been a change of plans! We have a surprise challenger!”

Yin couldn’t help but gape. “Surprise… challenger…” she mumbled.

“Right, then!” Darling continued, twirling around and around. “It seems our little Yin has garnered some stiff competition! Please give a hand to… the Gentleman!”

“Wait!” Yin called. “What’s happening? Who the fuck is the Gentleman?”

Darling did not answer. He just threw a wink her way, grinning ear to ear.

Oh, the things I’ll do to that little piece of shit, Yin thought, stomping towards the reedling. He would tell her exactly what was going on.

A silhouette emerged from the darkened entrance opposite. Stepping over the threshold, they were drenched in the light of the ring. Black hair. Sharp suit. Eyes narrowed with displeasure behind a pair of glasses.

“No…” Yin mumbled, stopping in her tracks. “What…? How?”

“I’m very disappointed in you,” Stephan said. He marched towards her with long strides. “It’s time to come home. You better believe you’re grounded.”

Darling scrambled to the edge of the ring and let the waiting scuttler take him up and away. Stephan approached the middle and stopped.

Heat rose to Yin’s face as realization slowly dawned. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? To ruin my match.”

“Save your life, you mean.”

“I would have beaten the Bull!” Yin hissed.

“I believe that you think that. I just happen to know better.”

“How? How did you do it?”

Stephan shrugged. “Oh, come now. Your friend Darling is highly bribable. That’s the long and short of it.”

Everything was ruined. She could have showed him, showed everyone, but Stephan had ruined it all. It was his fault. Her hands curled into fists, and rage contorted her face.

“Why not just have the match canceled?” Yin asked, although she suspected she already knew the answer.

Stephan unbuttoned his suit jacket and shrugged out of it. With deliberate slowness, he rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up. “Because you need to be taught a lesson, sweet pea.”

Yin had heard enough. All rational thought went out of her head. She charged her father at full speed, faster than a regular human would even be able to process.

And struck nothing.

Confused, Yin skidded to a stop. And felt a single finger touch the back of her neck.

“Dead,” Stephan said.

That shouldn’t have been possible. Stephan was a regular human, not even athletically inclined. It should have been impossible for him to even react to one of her attacks, let alone dodge it.

Yin struck out with a roundhouse kick. Once again, it met only air. Looking back, she found Stephan standing just out of reach.

“You want to show everyone you’re a hero, is that it?” he asked. “I remember you talking about it after that first powerbrawl game we watched.”

Yin responded by realigning her body and dashing forward with a furious combination of punches and kicks. Dizzyingly fast, even for her. Before any of them connected, Stephan simply… stepped out of the way. She overextended, stumbled forward a step, and he met her by poking her forehead with a pinky finger.

“Dead,” he said and backed away from the retaliatory punch. “Now, what if I told you this had absolutely nothing to do with being a hero?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Yin snapped. She backed away, cautious. “You clearly have no idea why I’m doing this, or you wouldn’t be stopping me. That’s why I left without telling you in the first place. I knew you wouldn’t understand. I knew I’d have to show you instead.”

Stephan went on the offensive, or what could generously be described as such. He came towards her at a slow amble. Yin waited for him to come closer, formulating a quick plan, and executed a low sweep to knock away his legs. Stephan stopped outside her range, watching her leg go by uselessly, and bent down to touch her head.

Yin rolled out of the way, cartwheeling a couple of meters back before coming to a stop and returning to a normal posture.

“It’s because you don’t want to stop fighting,” Stephan said. “It’s because, deep down, you think that’s all you are. That you’re death’s chill wind, and that’s all you’ll ever be. And you’re terrified that someday, I’ll figure out that the only thing you were ever good for is killing things. That as soon as you have a chance at that normal life you always wanted, you’ll throw it away.

“And being a hero is a good excuse as any to keep fighting. No one bats an eye when the hero kills the bad guy. No one calls them a monster. Everyone roots for the hero, and no one minds their flaws, because they’ve already given the world so much. How close am I?”

“Shut up. You’re dead wrong, ” Yin said. Her voice was so calm. It scared even her.

“But let me tell you something about heroes, sweet pea. What you’re doing isn’t heroic. It’s just self-indulgent. Real heroes aren’t like the ones you hear about in the stories. Real heroes aren’t loved. They’re hated and shunned. Real heroes are the ones who do the right thing, damn the consequences. The ones who toil and die in silence, their great deeds attributed to whatever power-hungry maniac feels like taking the spotlight.

“To clarify, Quintilla Wenezian was never a hero. Once everything with Rand was said and done, she got all the credit, but she wasn’t the hero of that story. Who was, then? Maybe all of us. Maybe none of us. But certainly not her. And I don’t want you turning into another Wenezian.”

Something in Yin snapped. She shot forward, so fast her bones rattled, so fast the sand whirled around her in dizzying patterns. Stephan’s eyes widened. He was too slow. He couldn’t move.

Yin’s fist connected with his gut, his innards deforming in slow motion under impact. He went flying, landing face-down at the very far end of the ring. She felt overwhelming satisfaction, like finally scratching an unreachable itch.

“Fuck you, old man,” she said. “You don’t know shit about me.”

The audience roared their approval, and that rush of hot euphoria went through her. Darling launched into his usual spiel, and Yin was about to go for a victory lap.

When she realized that Stephan wasn’t moving.

She deflated in an instant. Somehow, she had forgotten that he was only human. That she could never go all-out against someone like him unless she wanted them dead.

Yin scrambled to her father’s side in an instant and flipped him over. He was breathing, only just, and his eyes slowly focused on her. His body contorted with pain, feet scrabbling at the sand.

“I’m sorry,” Yin said numbly. “I… I don’t know what to…”

“Right pocket,” Stephan groaned.

Looking through his pocket, Yin found two med-patches. She ripped open her father’s shirt and found his stomach badly bruising. It was impossible to tell what kind of damage had been done on the inside, but it seemed bad. She applied the med-patches and stood, lifting Stephan in her arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, forcing back tears. “I’m going to get you help. Please don’t die.”

Stephan managed a smile. “I love you, sweet pea.”

Then he slipped out of consciousness.