Arc 2 - Chapter 50: Luke and Hope vs Gemma II

He stared forward at the mist in front of him.

Feeling his body heat returning, sweat caressed every ounce of skin. Along with her arm being wrapped around his, he didn’t delay for a single second. Pulling her away, she made sure that she wasn’t standing on the same spot.

“Get behind me!”

Hope widened her eyes, and felt her breath be stalled in her throat. Making sure her hands were wrapped around his waist, he forced her to. She didn’t mind, and she didn’t fight back, as her hot breath caressed onto the back of his leather jacket.

As a sudden gust of wind swept by, right where Hope originally stood.

“You saved me … how did you …”

“I uh … I don’t know …”

—Wait, how did I know…

Luke squinted his eyes all around the mist, and tried to look for Gemma. His blessing activated, the back of his hairs stood up like ice. Clenching his teeth, quivering his body, he gulped down a huge load of saliva down his throat.

“Let’s get out of here, Hope. I don’t think we can fight her in this mist.”

“But if we go back … we’ll lead the fight to where Fred is.”

“I know … but I think we have no choice.”

Hope let go of Luke’s waist, and let her hands drop to the side. She had her grip on her pistol, and with Luke having his fingers reaching his holsters, he pulled out his uzis. Gripping them hard, both of them twisted their bodies around, and ran back the way they came.

Thumping the metallic floor with their boots, they felt their heels burn the more they ran. Continuing to run, they felt their breaths dry their throats.

“We’re almost there…”

—His face turned a ghostly pale, and his body stiffened.—

Unable to glance in back of him, he wouldn’t be able to tell what was behind. But he knew what was coming. In fact, he perked his ears up at the hearing of gushing wind.

“Come here!”

She exposed herself, leaving himself to leap to the right without warning. Pulling Hope, he made sure that his body aligned with his, as she kept herself in back of him.

Feeling another gust of wind blew past them, he could feel his feet blister. Holding onto Hope, as he narrowed his eyes the most they could, he ran like hell—and so did her. Both of them together, connected, in unison, it was a symphony both of them played.

Until both leaped out of the fog. Plowing out of the room, they found themselves in the same area Gemma escaped from.

“We made it…”

Another service bell rang his soul. Just as he turned, he saw a blur of white plowing out of the mist, her arms pulled back. Aiming right at him, Luke held nothing but a simple uzi in his right hand, but the speed at which the woman traveled…

Was faster than he ever imagined.

“I didn’t tell you that you could go!~”

He tried to shoot, but her hands quickly wrapped around his torso. Keeping him locked with an iron grip, Luke coughed out air from his lungs. Feeling like he was being choked, stale air littered the windpipe between his tongue and chest.

—Got … got to … do the technique David taught me …

Raising one of his free hands, he dug his fingers onto his throat, and placed enough pressure to squeeze. Flaring both his lips and nostrils out, it was enough for it to penetrate down to his lungs.

But a tiny flare of something burned inside of him. Boiling his stomach like hot soup, his body quaked. Allowing himself to breathe, but ever so slowly, Luke had his other hand be equipped with an uzi.

“You’re … You’re …”

As if he heard a glass veil broke, everything that was bottled within his heart … began to pour out. Frustration flowing into every ounce of nerve, veins scattered his forehead down to his cheeks and neck.

“Eat this you piece of shit!”

Luke pulled the trigger. Burning the barrel with lead, the light flickered all across the metallic walls and blue pipes. Booming a requiem for everyone to hear, even the lich that held him down widened her eyes.

Being pelted by his bullets, Gemma immediately let go of his waist. Dripping out tar from her cheeks and face, she glared her all-black eyes at him.

“What did you just call me!?”

“You heard me! Nobody hurts my friends, you bitch!”

Just as he stopped firing, Gemma had already placed her bare feet on the solid metal. With many bullet holes lodged into her face, tar rolled all over her white paled dress.

Having her forehead cheekbones be crackled with lead, Gemma reassembled her face. Bone and muscle molded and burned, it left the white pigment to be the last to cover. Once she finished, she cocked her head to the right, and narrowed her eyes with a cold stare.

“Someone’s pissed … and now I’m pissed …”

Luke didn’t dare let his reddened eyes be loosened on her. His right side bang covering some of his face, all of his body shivered and quaked. Unable to even clear his throat, he directed his raspy and trembling voice toward Hope, who was a few meters in back of him.

“Go to Fred. Now.”

“But … I want to fight with—”

“Now Hope! I’m not telling you again!”

“... what’s gotten into you…?”

His eyes widened, and his mouth clattered.

Feeling his heart beat against his chest like a drum, his breathing began to fasten. Combined with his lungs feeling like balloons, they were on the verge of exploding from rapid circulation. Keeping his eyes on Gemma, he lowered his voice.

“Just listen to me. All I ever want is to keep you safe. Safeguard Fred until—”

“Let her do what she wants!”

Gemma kicked the ground with both of her bare feet, sending the metallic floor to dent. Her eyes narrowed at Luke, she pulled back her hands, while seeing him holster his uzi.

In fact, he let himself be unguarded, since one of his hands was stationed in his pocket. With his other to his side, he glared at Gemma with lock-on eyes.

“Come at me!”

Using his blessing, he glided through the metallic flooring with a swishing body. His boots squeaking through the floor, the butt of his heels creaked some of the floor that Gemma dented. Trying to punch him, he dodged and outmaneuvered every single fist that was hardened in pale.

Shifting his body to the left, he had already kept his close eye on a certain object in red.

Feeling her punches trying to reach her mark, some of his hair was grazed by. Swishing it back, another one of her attacks tried to strike him, but only his leather jacket was scraped.

—Let’s see if she likes foam…

Grabbing the helm of the object, it was stationed and locked tight on the wall. Yanking it out with a surging amount of force, he gripped it with both hands. Losing his balance, he slammed his tailbone to the ground.

Because of this, Gemma thrusted her popping knuckles like sore thumbs.

“Who’s the bitch now, huh?!”

With no other choice, Luke extended his hands outward, and shielded himself with the object. Digging his fingers into the metal, he closed his eyes and arched his back. After a single second, both her knuckles made contact—

Sodium bicarbonate blasted out of the container

“Ah!”

But the real issue was the sudden air blast. As he felt the boom riddle his fingers, all of the force struck into her face. Her ears ringing with tinnitus, the sudden gust of air made her mouth swell with tar.

Luke threw away the extinguisher, and took a couple steps back.

He saw her own tar riddle down her neck. In that single instant, she growled the words from her rumbling throat … and slid her right foot back.

Pushing herself off the floor, she dented the metal with the tips of her toes. Pulling back her arms, she gathered the air with her knuckles, while Luke settled his hand into his jacket.

—I could outsmart her … I could finish her off …

Pulling out a ziploc bag from his jacket, he narrowly avoided a single fist that grazed the edge of his jacket. With both of his hands free, he took out the element from the bag.

‘Wait what is he doing…?’

With a white crystal firm within his fingers, he had his other hand inside his pocket. Narrowing her eyes, her thoughts dimmed a bit of her anger.

“Can you still hear?”

“Who gives a shit if I could still hear you. You’re dead to me.”

“And you’ll be dead to everyone.”

Jumping to his left, he avoided a barrel of mist flying toward him. Barely grazing his right knee, some of his pants were scraped off by the razor like water. Feeling his eyes grow heavy, he pulled back his right arm.

Her chest upheaving, she tried desperately to move back and forth to avoid his eyes. Trying her best to hit him, she couldn’t as his blessing gave him that protection. After ceasing his little dodging spree, he dug his heels firm onto the metallic floor, his eyes brimmed with red.

—A hand gripped his wrist.—

________________________________________________________________________

He was halfway in making his water bomb.

Pushing valves, pulling levers, he also had a collection of metal steel within his disposal. Creating nothing more than a simple bomb, he had to make sure it would work.

‘I can’t disappoint Luke now.’

Using nothing but small welding stitches, he had a long wire attached from the pipes. With the water being pressurized, it meant that it could store a lot more water than it needed to be. As if he altered the mass of the water itself, it was like thinning the water before expanding it inside the casket.

‘Everything is leading up to this bomb. This is the only way.’

Sweat rolling down his temples, he squinted his eyes the more he worked. Most of his hair beginning to humidify, he convulsed in and out through his parched throat and chest.

But then he remembered…

[Hey Fred. You don’t have to always cling onto me.]

Her voice throttled his very soul. Ringing his ears, making his tongue shake, his fingers that gripped the outer layers of the bomb tightened. Feeling bits of his nails strain, chip even—

He remembered again…

[A gift? Really? Am I the first girl that ever found you cute?]

He stalled everything, and he just stared at the water bomb in front of him. Seeing his own reflection, seeing the face that he looked down upon, he saw a man who shriveled and cowered in fear. Wrinkling his face, trying to make himself look disgusted, he then …

Loosened his face.

[Hey … you don’t have to be a wallflower for me. Speak from your heart…]

‘Oh Gemma…’

Back to the present…

Both of his eyes cleared off red, and returned back to his natural eye color. Taken aback by the presence of warmth, Luke slowly turned toward the man that stopped him.

“Fred…”

Luke averted his eyes to the floor, and didn’t dare take a glance at his face. Letting his arm drop, it left Fred to let go of his wrist. Pushing his hands into his jacket, he kept the crystal safe within his pocket.

Hope couldn’t tell what face he had, as the camera only showed the back of his head, or a shadowed face. Gripping her pants with her fingers, her hands trembled, as she looked at Fred with a quivering throat.

“I was busy taking care of something … sorry if I didn’t listen to you…”

“That’s okay babe. I know that you’re still confused, I mean after all…”

Gemma extended both of her arms, and pushed a smile that radiated … an evil warmth. His hands in his pockets, he slowly walked, while his boots trickled the metal that he stepped upon.

—“You were always my little wallflower~”—

Once he was within grabbing range, she pulled him in for a big hug. Wrapping around his waist tightly, she kept his chin resting on her shoulder.

Without doing the same in return, he pulled out both of his hands from his pockets. Keeping them still on his waist, she felt her icy cold body create an equilibrium with his heat.

“I’m ready.”

“I knew you would come around. Don’t worry, it’ll be like giving you a hickey…”

Pulling his head away from her shoulder, he kept his back straight and his eyes forward. Staring into the abyss, Luke and Hope still couldn’t detail the shadowed face that blocked his eyes. Just as she licked her lips, Gemma closed her eyes, and slowly leaned her face toward the nape of his neck.

Hope took a step forward, but fear had driven the insides of her feet. But Luke grounded his teeth together, and slowly reached his right hand toward his—

“Listen Gemma…”

Both Luke and Hope stood with frozen feet. Staring only at Gemma and Fred, she saw her lips millimeters from his skin. Blanketing the room with silence, she had her hands on his chest … but she couldn’t move.

“Ah…”

—A burst of magnetism encapsulated around the room.—

Resembling that of a statue, she couldn’t pull back her face from his neck, or her hands from his chest.

“I know you wanted me … but I can’t accept the new you…”

“F-Fred?”

Within his right hand, a small device was garnished in black. Along with a red button stationed on the center, a beeping light was seen in the front of it. Gemma couldn’t glare at his transition, as she stared only at his neck.

“You… you … why you little …”

“I’ve accepted you back then; when you were the only thing keeping me forward … but … I’ve learned that you weren’t the only one pushing me to run…”

Pulling out a razor yo-yo with his left hand, his hand trembled the moment he took it out.

Glancing her eyes down at the toy, she twitched under her statue-like body. Without taking any steps back, he then thrusted the razor yo-yo forward, and waited for it to return to him…

“I have so many friends to live for, so many friends to take care of. I can’t just give up now, because that’ll be too selfish. So Gemma … Gemma Gemma … if you’re still hearing this from the prison of your heart …”

The room turned silent. No breath was drawn, and no muscle moved.

For the first time, Luke and Hope saw the darkened face Fred wore. His lips curled into a frown, and his attention staring forward into the abyss—

—“Thank you for taking care of me …” —

The yo-yo reached its designated mark.

As it spun into her heart, tar instantly drooled from her mouth, making her whole body loosened. Quaking, she leaned her body back, and at the same time, he pulled the yo-yo from the other end of her chest…

Which led a river of tar to rivet forth.

“I … loved …”

Plopping onto the metallic floor, her whole body trembled as she was laying to rest. A tar lake forming around her corpse, every cell began to … turn to ash. Crumbling away like a dead leaf, she withered away as time had captured the innocence of her soul.

All three of them staring at her remains, Fred especially cleared his throat and wiped away tears from his eyes. Turning toward the two of them, he looked at them with reddened eyes.

“Thank you guys … I wanted to deal the finishing blow…”

Turning her head toward the man next to her, Hope saw Luke’s face darkened and full of regret. Seeing that he wouldn’t even muster a whisper, his throat jumped the more he stared at the floor. Unable to look at anyone, she pressed one of her hands onto his right arm.

“What happened?”

He felt his lips beginning to shake, and his hands beginning to creak. Digging his fingers into his palms, he tried to punish himself by stabbing his nails into his skin.

Finally loosening his lips, he steadied his jumping throat as he spoke.

“I … I don’t know …”

“You … you lost yourself … like you were a different person …”

—“That’s because he lost composure … gasps … I believe that’s called … gasps … impulsive anger.”—

A lich girl stood in the doorway.

Her hands and arms low to her sides, she looked to breath heavily through her mouth. Looking at the three of them, her body was drenched in an unholy amount of sweat.

Luke crinkled his nose down to his lips.

“Who are you?”

“The name … gasps … that was bestowed to me was Mia. I will not speak … gasps … of my last name here.”

“A Fron accent…” Uttered Fred.

Both men kept their weapons at glance, with Luke trickling his fingers on the butt of his uzis. But Hope gripped her combat pistol with a tightened palm, staining the metal with sweat. Taking a step back, she hid half her body behind Luke.

“How did you escape?”

“That cat-human girl summoned her storm on the floor … gasps … catching me off guard. If I hadn't pulled out my heart and threw it onto the second floor … gasps … I would’ve certainly died.”

Luke noticed Hope fidgeting behind him, along with her throat quivering the more she stared. Having his right hand trickle his uzi, he pushed his left into his jacket. Meanwhile, Fred straightened his back, and gripped both of his yo-yos that were stationed on his waist.

But the more they stared, both men noticed something.

“You look familiar…”

“That observation … gasps … is quite obvious. Do you not see … gasps … the familiar face right next to you.”

Both Fred and Luke turned toward Hope.

Her nose and ears were relatively similar to Mia. Same density of hair, same body type, Hope looked to be more mature when it came to age. Considering that liches don’t age, whatever age they turned undead, is the age in which they’ll roam Terra.

—Come to think of it, Hope never explained about her past, other than she lived in the streets.

Luke softly turned to look at Hope, who felt his eyes blunder into her soul. Her face growing pale, she tilted her head down while wobbling. As Fred kept his watchful eye on Mia, he had his hands readied on the side of his waist.

“Hope … where are you from?”

Hope clasped her hands together, and tightened her fingers onto the outer regions of her knuckles. Unable to lift her head upward, as her eyes were averted away from his boots, her throat jumped even more.

“I don’t … I don’t remember.”

“Not to worry … there’s a reason why you don’t.”

“Come here girl!”

A yell came from down the stairs. Hearing the red-haired man’s voice, Mia flinched as she remembered the cat-human.

“I suppose I should take my leave.”

Extending out her right hand, it melded to form something metallic and circular. Garnished in dark green, it had scales wrapped around its shell, making it a—

Grenade.

Pulling back her right hand, she threw the metallic ball straight toward the wall in front of her. Just as the grande made contact with the rust, it exploded, sending a shockwave that rippled their hair and clothes. Making them close their eyes, the sudden gust of wind loosened their footing with the floor.

Giving Mia the chance to escape.