2.10: Takeover

“Grim! Carter! What the hell was that all about!?” asked Ed as we were nearing our old abode (i.e. the inn).

“Y’guy’s did good!” Carter answered back with a huge toothy grin on his face.

I thought we finally understood the siblings as of recently, but apparently neither Ed nor I knew entirely what was going through their heads.

“Why would you lie about this, Carter? And you, Grim, why did you enable him to do so?” Ed asked once more.

“Listen,” I stopped to explain myself, “I thought this was part of the siblings’ plan, I didn’t know Cecily wasn’t a part of this!”

“Oh hoho! Thinkin’ ‘bout ma’ sis’ even at such a crushal’ moment? She really found a catch witcha’!” he joked.

As I reprimanded him for his poor comedic timing, Ed simply sighed with a So what now?

“Now,” Carter finally got serious, “we join The Blue Lions.”

Both Ed and I simply stood there, mouths agape. I knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think even he knows how stupid of an idea it is to join our enemy’s (much less our losing enemy’s) side. We asked what we should do about Cecily, but he simply brushed it off with a She’ll be fine.

He then explained the plan from the very start:

There are two reasons for this: they’ll both be quite worn down from the previous war; and two: we’ll know both sides’ weaknesses. With this we are to dismantle both sides and destroy them as our own gang.

The plan was so crazy, so ludicrous, that it might actually work. The only thing he stressed is to not harm Julius’ group, as that’s where Cecily is, but we had no intentions of doing that at all.

After finishing up another gang meeting, this time without Cecily, we decided to go to sleep and head out to our new base tomorrow morning.

***

Waking up in the morning, Ed and I put on our BBG uniforms out of habit, but were quickly told to change into our leisure wear by Carter. The reason being “Wearin’ the enemy team’s uniform when negotiatin’ our initiaishin’ ain’t the best idea now, is it?”

What he said made sense, so after bidding farewell to our comfy tailored uniforms, we put on our signature, nostalgic garbs.

Walking back to the depot where everything started, we felt a bit of unease, fearing what they’ll do to us. But Carter assured us that if we just follow his lead like we did so far, everything will work out somehow…

“Halt!” said the guard in front of the depot.

“What do you guys want this time? Granto again?” he asked.

“Nah,” Carter shot back, “we want Padane.”

The guard immediately readied his weapon, but Carter stood calm as he elaborated.

“Ah, soz’. I din’ mean you fellers! I meant the BilBros.”

At this point the guard was thoroughly confused, but he still lowered his guard enough to hear us out. After a while, he just went Grahhh! I’m too dumb for this, I’ll take you to the boss and you can discuss this between yourselves!

This turned out great for us, since there was no need for us to beat around the bush. This time we really wanted to just meet the General and get this over with.

We were taken to an underground hallway that stretched to a wide door. Entering it we saw a man sitting face down in what we figured was his office. He looked up for a second with a tired expression, but quickly got angry and leapt up from his chair to yell out to us.

“You! You’re the ones who caused Jean’s death!” he screamed out with vigor.

Jean was probably the General that died in the assassination. We calmed him down as much as we could, before explaining to him ‘our side of the story’.

“Hold it! We want revenge just as much as you do! We were wronged by BilBros, so we came here to-!”

“SHUT IT!” he interrupted, “I DON’T WANT REVENGE! I JUST WANT JEAN BACK!”

After screaming these words out, he started sobbing uncontrollably, making the air in the room that much more heavy. We thought of consoling him, but we really didn’t have anything to say to him. First and foremost, we have no clue who shot General Jean, but if we can gather anything from this man’s reaction just now, it’s that he cared an awful lot about this man…

“Listen, sir.” I continued with a more apologetic tone, “The reason we got kicked out of BilBros is because we wanted to find the person responsible for the assassination of your General.”

He seemed to react positively to that answer, he lifted his head up like a dog who heard it’s owner shout Food!

“The truth is,” I added, “I was under General Leonard’s command, I saw firsthand how happy he was to see this atrocity happen. I lost all my respect for him the moment I saw his goddamned smile.

That damned coward then spent the rest of the war huddled up in a tent, afterwards he was called a war hero! FOR WHAT!? FOR BEING AN UNFAIR ASSHOLE?!?”

I had raised my voice to prove my point, but I think I got the point across.

“After we tried outing him for his cowardice,” Ed added, “we were thrown out of BilBros and were properly shunned.”

“… I see.” he quietly sighed.

It looks like we got him on our side. Now that we successfully set up a vendetta against Leonard, all that’s left is to continue raising the tensions between these two.

“Even still,” he asked anyways, “you really expect me to just let you in the gang? I’m about 90% sure you’re just spies. I can’t take any more deaths…”

He seemed glum enough, so Ed and I wanted to leave until he calms down a bit. That is until Carter decided to make another outrageous demand:

“Thas’ it! I’ve had it witchu’! Here’s tha’ deal, we’re doin’ this the ol’ fashioned way: We duel in the courtyard. If we win, we take over the gang. If not, we’re out of yer’ hair!”

The General looked at him for a solid minute, then surprisingly agreed.

“I like it! That’s how we do things here in the slums! But according to the ‘old fashioned rules’, I get to choose who I duel, since I’m the oldest.”

Note: he was in his twenties, and it was noticeable.

Standing up from his seat, he marched over to us and stuck his hand out towards me. Just his sheer height was enough to intimidate me, but he was quite lanky, not really built in terms of width.

“Your name?” he asked.

“Lune Grimheart.” I shot back.

“Cool, your name?” he pointed at Ed.

“E-Edward Saint! Sir!” Ed answered back.

“Ehh, don’t like it, your name?” he pointed his finger to Carter next.

“Carter.” He stated it as a matter of fact.

“Last name?” The General inquired.

“What’s it to ya’?”

I always wondered what the siblings’ last names were, but to think it was such a delicate topic…

“Jus’ so y’know,” Carter added, “I ain’t givin’ out mah name if I dun’ get a name back!”

Ah, I see, so he just wanted to hear his opponent’s name first. Charming.

“Sigh, guess it can’t be helped.” The General spoke, “Aaron Gray.”

Ed gasped as if he heard something outrageous just now. We looked at him, wondering what the problem was.

“Grim, you think this person could be…?”

“With all due respect to the General, I’ve never met him in my life.”

“Same here.” The General stated, “Anyways, Grimheart, you’ll be the one I best in combat.”

Huh? Why me exactly?

“Your name’s the coolest, who cares about Carter’s last name. With a first name like that, you really can’t redeem it no matter what.” He laughed.

“T’fuck?! Carter’s a cool-ass name, Aaron.” He spit back.

After they bickered for a while, we got told to wait in the middle of the courtyard for the battle to commence.

***

I didn’t have time to discuss any battle tricks with neither Ed nor Carter, but I was instead put in a colosseum-like arena, with the entire Blue Lions (plus Ed and Carter) looking down on mine and Aaron’s fight from their seats.

This in turn made me extra nervous, I was never good with crowded areas, much less a public that stared into your soul as you encroached upon their turf. I felt daggers being sent from the public’s eyes. Something about the aura around this place made the air feel heavy.

As I was frantically checking my weapon’s durability and sharpness, I even accidentally cut my finger.

“(Hope it heals fast…)” I murmured to myself as I recalled Quinn’s theory.

Aaron, on the other hand, looked like a real hero standing in front of his people. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was the protagonist of this story!

“EVERYONE READY?” the announcer shouted through the voice amplifier.

“Ready!” shouted back Aaron.

“R-ready…” I bit my tongue as I spoke out.

I heard snickers from the public, with loud jeers thrown at me from all over. I literally felt like scum as I started running up to attack Aaron.

“Hup!” he jumped over me, leapfrog style.

I stumbled on the ground, but quickly got my bearings and stood up to brush the dirt off my clothes.

Where did all my confidence go? I’ve been in tons of fights before, why’s this one so different?

This time, Aaron was the one to instantiate the attack, but he purposefully feinted my block and shoved his sword up against my neck, forcing me to lift it up.

“My win already?” he yawned.

“My ass!” I shouted as I threw dirt in his eyes.

“Fuck! So you’re the type to play dirty, eh?”

He started revving up for another attack, to which I ran around the arena in an attempt to outrun him.

“Quit running, coward!” the crowd booed.

I guess I don’t really have the motivation to fight him after seeing how sad he was to lose someone… I wonder what Cecily’s doing right now?

“C’mon Lune! Y’ain’t gonna survive marryin’ mah sis’ if you’re this much of a wuss!” a brutish but youthful voice shouted from the seats.

Marrying Cecily, eh? NO WAIT! The fuck are you talking about, ya dope!

I should be saving the sweet daydreaming for a later time. But he’s right, though. Cecily would be disappointed at me if she saw me like this…

“Fuck!” I said as I turned around suddenly to sock Aaron in the face.

The crowd (and Aaron himself) was utterly shocked at my sudden change in tactics. Aaron fell on his butt, before quickly getting up to crack his neck and spit on the ground.

“Now that’s what I was waiting for~!” he said with a tune.

I readied my sword and parried with all my might. It was at this moment that I remembered my father’s training and advice. He spoke ill of cheap tricks, but I guess I didn’t really take those lessons to heart, as the very next thing I did was take off my shirt.

This confused Aaron, and gave me enough time to throw it on him. As it flew in between us, it both blocked his view of me and allowed me to land another punch straight to his face.

What I didn’t expect, was for him to punch back as well. Our fists promptly bumped each other at full speed, leading to a comedic exchange where we both had to stop for a second to check our fists.

“Ain’t this more interestin’?” Carter nudged Ed.

“I just want Grim to win, honestly…” Ed answered back.

“Fuck dat! I wanted ta’ see exactly what mah future brother-in-law’s made of, and my guy’s deliverin’! Now cheer on, Eddie!”

“Y-yeah! C’MON GRIM, GET HIM!” he squeaked with all his might.

Everyone stopped to laughed at Ed’s voice crack, even us, the fighters.

I do believe he won’t be cheering anyone on anytime soon purely out of shame (pffft-!).

“Quit using your fists! You’ve got a green iro, you wouldn’t mind this, right?” Aaron said as he suddenly threw a hidden knife into my side as I was busy parrying his sword.

I fell to the floor shortly after, and after a second or two of silence, everyone cheered for Aaron’s victory, all the while Carter and Ed shouted in terror.

“Don’t worry,” Aaron said, triumphantly standing on my shirt, “since you were kind enough to expose your body this much, I had no issue locating a non-fatal spot to throw the knife at. You’ll live.” He reassured me.

But I wasn’t having it. Shit! That asshole never mentioned that he didn’t have any cheap tricks himself! I ain’t dying here, not like this!

Dying… Here… Will I… Die here? Dying… So early on…

………………

…………………………

……………………………………………………………..

“………re! Fire!” I heard a voice.

“…That bastard! How’d he set the General on fire?”

“That shirt! It’s flammable! The General was standing on it! Get some water!”

Looking up, I saw everyone huddled around a shaken up Aaron as he simply stood there, looking at me with a face that was a mix of intrigue and fear.

“What’d you do to the General?!? Speak!” a grunt picked me up.

“STOP!” Aaron raised his voice, “The kid won, that’s what he did.”

I… won? How?

The crowd split into two factions, those that booed me for winning, and those who simply had fun witnessing a spectacular fight, no matter the outcome.

“Grim! What was that?!” Ed and Carter ran up to me.

“…… That was… Adventure…… That was… Revenge...” I chanted.

They understood what I was doing, so they joined in.

“THAT! WAS AUTHORITY!” they shouted triumphantly.

We won the gang, but even though we’re the generals now, the grunts still don’t see us as such. We’ll have to fix that…

As I felt my body up in search of the stab wound to no avail, I noticed a scorch mark on my hip where I was stabbed, then promptly collapsed from the blood loss.