Chapter 29 - Drinks

Tetsuo slammed his cup finishing another beer. It tasted like lukewarm leather, but that hardly mattered. The other cups rattled on impact, turning over and leaking the few drops that remained onto the table. The barkeep came back, extending his hand out again. Tetsuo handed him a handful of sivs before shooing him off to bring him more. The barkeep placed three more filled cups on the table. Tetsuo began to force down the next one.

His vision was blurry but he could tell everyone was watching him. Especially that hooded figure. He couldn’t confirm it but he felt his gaze on his back. Each drink made his mind feel fuzzier, letting him think less and less, but the pain he felt still wouldn’t leave him. Passing out may be the only way to get rid of it completely. He set his head down against the table as he mulled over ideas to win her back, wondering how things had turned out like this.

“Hey.” A knight sat down at Tetsuos table. “You look– –ful. –Keep sh–ld’ve cut you off by now. Seems he ain’t r–lly the caring type though.” Tetsuo groggily lifted his head up and could make out the faint outline of what seemed to be Alon. He yanked away the drink Tetsuo had been holding and set them on another table.

“We were… together again. She’s here… but… that damn knight!” Tetsuo attempted to stand up but his hand slipped, landing him back into his chair.

“Woah easy there. That ‘damn knight’ asked me to come check up on you. Good thing she did too…” Alon started picking up the empty mugs and began moving them to a different table.

“It wasn’t supposed… to turn out this way…”

“Tetsuo buddy. No offense, but how did you think this was gonna go? You remember what you were like when you got here? You tried to pull a fast one on me before we even made it to the city.”

“You… had it coming…”

Alon muttered, “like you don’t right now?” He cleared his throat. “Let’s get you out of here, buddy.”

Alon walked to Tetsuo’s side and attempted to hoist one of his arms over his shoulders. Tetsuo groaned, not being particularly helpful. “No… I’m not done yet…”

“Yes you are.”

“No… Not until she’s back…”

Alon attempted to pull him through the exit of the bar.

“Stop… one more… please…”

“Yeah, I don’t plan on carrying you while you sleep bud.”

They made it outside of the exit and were standing in front of the bar when Tetsuo pushed him away, falling to the ground.

“Dude, be careful.” Alon tried to help him back to his feet, but Tetsuo knocked his hand away. Tetsuo pushed against the wall struggling to balance himself.

Alon extended his hand again. “Cut it out dude you’re clearly–” Tetsuo lurched forward swinging at Alon with his gauntlet. Alon quickly stepped forward avoiding the strike, as Tetsuo lost his balance and fell to the ground again

“You–!” Tetsuo clenched his fist and threw another wild strike at Alon, more sloppily than the first. The strike didn’t even reach him. Alon looked down at Tetsuo in disappointment.

“This is pathetic.” Alon sighed. “Tetsuo, why don’t you just calm down a bit, maybe sleep this off, we can talk it over tomorrow.”

Tetsuo attempted to lunge forwards, falling over onto the ground again. “You’re pathetic…”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve got everything handed to you. You can control Ars… Live in the city... And even with all your fumbling, that knight’s still holding out for you…” Tetsuo stood up and began to find his balance. “Despite it all, you're still living alone, getting the crap kicked out of you by drunk old men, and you still can’t even tell some uptight psycho knight you're still in love with her…”

“Watch it.”

“Why should I? I’m trying to protect her! Why doesn’t she get that? I’m doing this for her! So compared to you, how am I the pathetic one?!”

Alon sighed and removed his scabbard from his belt, setting it down on the ground. “Take back what you said about Lunette.”

“Why? Nothing different from what you were saying”

Alon sighed. “I know, and I already got the crap kicked out of me for it. Honestly, I deserve it again. But right now, if you don’t take it back it’ll be your turn.”

Tetsuo looked at Alon, who raised his fists. Tetsuo spat out, “Psycho icicle of a knight.”

Alon rushed forwards at Tetsuo. Tetsuo leaned forwards, throwing a straight. Alon easily parried the strike, swatting Tetsuo’s arm outwards exposing his body. Tetsuo attempted to pull his arms back in to defend, but his movements felt sluggish, unable to move how he was used to. Alon bent down, before bringing his fist nearly to the ground, and pulled it straight into Tetsuo's stomach.

“Hck–!”

He fell to the ground coughing, struggling to breathe. He gasped for air but couldn’t find any. He clawed at the ground, tears dripping from his eyes. He began to feel a bubbling sensation welling up from below. His eyes felt like they were bulging as he began to gag. His stomach convulsed and he ejected the contents of his stomach over the road. He coughed slowly, regaining his breathing. He could vaguely hear echoes of a voice.

“I’m taking you home. Figure the rest out on your own.”

Tetsuo’s consciousness began to fade, as his vision faded, and he lost sensation in the rest of his body. Although the pain in his heart lingered, for a few moments it nearly felt numb.