Ch 24: I'm Sorry.

Ace’s eyes burned with conviction.

Pressing the gun's barrel to the back of Hiro’s head, time itself had paused.

Even the light, soft breeze blowing through the entrance had ceased.

Hiro stood still, motionless, with a shadow cast over his eyes.

In this old clock tower with hollow walls, there was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
No one to call for help—not until Oden was supposed to show up at the end of the night.

It was just Ace, Hiro, and the unheard screams that still lingered in the air.

Gong. Gong. Gong.

A haunting chime echoed through the clock tower, and with it, the seconds resumed their marching.

“You.” Hiro’s voice was stone cold. Empty and emotionless. It was frightening that this was the same cheeky, grinning person who always had a bounce in his voice. “Your hands, they’re shaking, you know.”

POW!

With a spinning elbow, Hiro knocked the pistol from Ace’s grasp. Ace pivoted, swinging with a right hook. Hiro shifted his head to the side, dodging, before returning another elbow.

BAM!

Clean hit. Ace stumbled back, pulling up his guard. The floorboards screeched as Hiro stepped forward, fist first. But it was feint. A swinging right kick slammed into Ace’s abdomen, causing him to retreat backwards.

“Is that all you got?” Hiro said, patting the dust from his trench coat.

Hiro returned to his stance as Ace caught his balance. What’s next? A flying knee? A roundhouse kick? Neither.

Hiro’s eyes went wide as Ace stepped forward, only to swerve towards the pistol.

Ace leapt towards it, clutching the metal handle in his grasp.

Hiro knew he wasn’t going to reach it in time; he knew he wouldn’t be fast enough to stop Ace from pointing the gun right in between his eyes.

And so he let it happen.

“Pull it.”

Once again, time stopped.

The pistol trembled in Ace’s hands as his fingers traced the trigger. Their eyes met, both festering with unspoken emotion. But only one of them faltered.

“I knew it.” Hiro’s grin returned. But it wasn’t cheeky, it was crooked and condescending like he was looking down at a filthy rat.

“You never had it in you anyway.”

BANG!

Hiro ducked. The bullet pierced the ceiling, and suddenly it was raining wooden shavings and timber.

Throughout his life, Ace was never the strongest or fastest person he knew. Sports and physicality weren’t what he excelled at. However, one thing he excelled at was memory. Throughout all the times Hiro and Ace had trained together, preparing for the Forgotten Library, he hadn’t just improved his technique and agility. He was adapting. Day by day, he memorised Hiro’s moves and studied his openings.

Perhaps training Ace was his greatest mistake, because now, despite having less experience and slower agility, he had levelled the playing field.

Worse yet, Ace was wielding the very weapons that Hiro had given him. Pointing them right between his eyes.

BANG!

Hiro dived, the bullet flying right past his shoulder. Knowing how well Ace could aim, his only choice was to try and close the distance.

Hiro lunged forward, and their gazes collided. Hiro’s neon green eyes were unyielding against the darkness, whereas Ace’s eyes were enshrouded in it. Drowning in it.

Under the abandoned, looming clock tower, two men were fighting to the death with more than just their lives on the line.

Hiro knew Ace. Or at least he thought he did.

After having death knock on his door, and crawl into his soul, Ace no longer feared the end.

He ducked forward, under Hiros's slicing knife. It slashed across the side of his head, spraying droplets of blood into the air, and taking the top half of his ear.

But this pain was nothing. Nothing compared to the depths of torment Ace was acquainted with.

As he lifted the gun again, Hiro's blade caught his finger. Bouncing across the splintered floorboards, it fell to the floor with a clang.

It was a quick slash. The blade didn’t struggle, not even at the bone.

Hiro watched in fascination as the finger fell to the floor.

“I don’t remember you being such a monster. What happened to the coward I met in the Barrens?”

“He’s dead.”

One finger. That’s how long they’d been fighting for. This was nothing. After all, he still had nine others and the head on his shoulders.

Hiro was taken completely aback by this new reckless fighting style, and Ace was making sure to take advantage of it.

Ace dropped low, sweeping Hiro’s legs before leading with an elbow. Using his left arm as a pivot, Hiro kicked backwards, doing an explosive cartwheel to evade.

“Why?” Ace said, wiping the blood from his temple, “I thought we were friends.”

“Ironic, coming from the friend who tried to shoot me with my back turned.” Hiro jabbed his blade forward. “Are you not grateful? Should I have let you kill yourself when you tried?”

“Stop the lies. You always had a goal in mind. What does Dr Hemlok want from me?”

“Hemlok?” Hiro’s eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s that?”

Suddenly, Ace stepped back, the blood from his hands dripping onto the fractured wood.

That’s right. The profile was classified. Hiro didn’t know the name until Mira spoke it.

Wait. Something doesn't add up.

Hiro’s so scared of the Commissioner. It doesn’t make sense why he wanted to follow Hemlok the first time.

“Do you not…know?

“Know what?” Hiro stuck his blade out towards Ace. “Stop with this cryptic shit, Ace. Why are you attacking me?”

“Did you not…curse me?”

“Curse? Do I look like some voodoo b*tch to you?”

“I’ve lived today multiple times. I’ve been tortured. I’ve been killed. I’ve experienced things I can’t even begin to explain.”

Hiro’s eyes softened.

“That’s just like what the doctors reported…reliving the same day.”

Hiro felt a mix of confusion and apprehension, but from the look in Ace’s eye, it was likely to be true.

“Here.” Hiro tossed a small crystal gadget. “What does it say?”

Ace looked up to catch it, but when he looked back down, there was one extra person.

Huh?

A large, bulky frame, both tall and wide. Metal-plated armour and black hair streaked with grey.

Oh yeah. Oden was supposed to show up right about now.

“Oden. We need your help, we-“

As Ace blinked, the next thing he saw was Hiro being held in the air by his neck.

“How dare you."

Ace felt his heart sink six feet into the ground.

That’s right. There was one thing that didn’t make sense. One important detail I missed.

In the first loop, we lost track of Hemlok when we bumped into Mira, and then we went to the clock tower.

In the second loop, I managed to follow Hemlok, and that led me straight to the clock tower.

So why didn’t we bump into Hemlok the first time?

But now. It all makes sense.

That night, we bumped into Oden at the clock tower.

But it was never Oden.

BOOM!

Hiro attempted to escape using a grenade, but it proved futile. In one slash, his insides were beginning to pour out.

“ACE RUN!”

CRSHHH!

An arm went straight through Hiro’s chest, leaving a wide, gaping hole.

Gong. Gong. Gong.

A haunting chime echoed through the clock tower.

No. No. Not again. I can’t go through that torture. Not again.

Without looking back, Ace pelted into the dark streets.

CRASH!

A plume of smoke erupted from the falling of bricks. As he ran, the buildings behind him collapsed. One after another, they fell. He couldn’t see it, but he could hear it. Running, he could feel the vibrations of the crumbling townhouses resounding through the ground.

Like a recurring nightmare, he was once again in the same game of cat and mouse.
Even running as fast as he could, the cruelty of the world was catching up. It was inescapable.

But this time, he didn’t feel the same fear. Instead, he felt understanding.

I get it now.

Back then, you never abandoned me, did you?

You didn’t drop the artefact. You left it there for me.

Even though you knew it might get you killed.

As the footsteps came closer, Ace stopped running.

This time, with the resolve to turn and look death in the face, he raised his pistol.

I’m sorry.

But it wasn’t facing the Commissioner.

I'm sorry I doubted you.

And then, closing his eyes, he pulled the trigger.

BANG!