Three days later.
After defeating Vannix Laura shut herself in her room. She kept to herself and refused to talk to anyone. The only time she would open the door was to get food brought to her by Avery. She ignored everyone and spent these three days alone.
"Has she still not come out?"
"No sir she hasn't."
Roderick sits at his desk in his office looking over the financial reports from the fights three days ago. He sighs deeply before addressing Oliva once more.
"I'm not happy about her shutting herself in her room just from something that insignificant. Honestly she needs to take responsibility for what she did. It's because of her that Vannix retired."
"With all due respect sir she's only 12 years old. So of course she'd be feeling lost after what she almost did."
"Honestly Olivia I don't care if she's only 12 or 30 I paid good money for her and she needs to be ready to fight. I have no patience for stuff like this."
"But sir she's just a child. I think it's fair to assume that she's going through a lot right now so maybe we should let her sort this out on her own."
"I did not adopt her, I bought her as a fighter so she would make this place a lot of money. That's just the relationship we have and I'm more than willing to make her fight even if she doesn't want to. She's lucky I'm considering using her sparsely instead of every week."
"But that too cruel sir. I'm sure there's a better way to solve this."
Roderick raises his hand to stop Oliva's protest.
"There's nothing more to say here. Unless someone wants to pay a huge sum of money to buy her from me then there's two options for her. Either fight and give me a reason to shelter and feed her or don't and end up dead by the hands of the church."
"End up dead?"
"Do you have any idea how Laura is even being kept alive right now? It's because I paid a huge sum of money to the church in order to keep her alive. You know how the church kills those demons without mercy, she's only alive right now because of me. If you think I'm being harsh on her then do something about it."
Olivia stares at the floor.
"I'm unable to do anything about it."
Roderick shakes his head before standing up.
"We'll let her sort out her problems for a little while longer but if she's not out of her room by then then we'll have to force her out. We can afford to not have her in matches for a while after her overwhelming win but once the hype around her starts to die down and people start questioning when she'll fight again that's when she's going to fight next. Until then we'll leave her to her own devices."
Roderick walks off towards the exit leaving Olivia behind. She stands up and follows after him.
In front of Laura's door Avery stands positioned like she's guarding the room. She has repeatedly attempted to get Laura to answer her but to no avail. Attempts from Eleonora have also been fruitless.
Inside the room Laura sits on her bed with the covers wrapped around her. Every time someone knocks she jolts as if she's been spooked by a ghost. She keeps shaking her head vigorously to try and shake away the memories of her almost taking Vannix's life. She imagines what the scene would have looked like if she didn't stop herself over and over again constantly.
She sees herself stabbing his throat with her claws and blood dripping onto the stone arena floor. She sees the resentful gaze of hatred and the light leaving his eyes as the last amount of life slips from him. Her heart thumps heavily in her chest as she imagines killing Vannix. She knows that she didn't kill him but what if she didn't stop herself in time? What if she didn't regain herself before stabbing him? What if next time she wasn't able to stop herself?
The thought of what she almost did makes her feel sick. She can't explain why she feels this way. Maybe it's the guilt of knowing that she nearly killed someone. Laura keeps shivering and shaking as she continues to picture what almost happened. She feels cold all over.
It's all because her demon side took control. She stopped thinking, she responded to Vannix's provocation and in doing so she almost ended his life. Had she continued to do what she did then he would have died. Laura closes her eyes and tries to block out the thoughts running through her mind.
Two weeks later.
Laura is sitting on her bed in her room. She's lost weight and looks pale the fact that she's barely eating isn't helping either.
She hasn't heard anyone knock for a while now. They've either given up on her or they're just letting her sort it out on her own. At least those are the two options she can think of.
Her stomach growls begging for some food but she doesn't move to grab the food that Avery brings her. Laura remains seated and looks at the wall. She doesn't want to move or eat or go anywhere. She knows that she should be training but she just wants to stay in her room until everyone forgets about her.
"You look really pathetic right now."
Laura's eyes snap open and she jumps up. She turns to try and find where the voice came from to no avail. There's nobody there.
"You go out there, almost kill someone and now look at you."
The voice calls out from behind her but she sees nothing when she turns around.
"You wallow in your own self pity for days. HAHAHAHA, What a pathetic demon you are."
"I DON'T WANNA BE A DEMON!"
Laura yells to the voice and throws the blanket she was hiding under on the ground. She takes a deep breath and slowly calms herself down. She knows that she shouldn't be yelling.
"What's wrong with you? You say you don't want to be a demon but you have no choice. You were born this way. There's nothing you can do to change that. All you can do is accept it."
"I don't wanna accept it."
Is she going crazy? There's nobody here. Laura stares at the ceiling and shakes her head. She has no idea what's going on.
"This isn't real. This is all in my imagination. I'm dreaming."
She turns around so she can lay in her bed but she stops in her tracks. In front of her is herself. The herself from her dream the night she asked Groel to help her with magic.
"So what if it's a dream?"
"I don't wanna be a demon."
"Why are you so determined to deny yourself?"
"Being a demon is why everything was taken from me."
"So what?"
The other Laura holds her hand out toward Laura. The other Laura's hands are coated in blood dripping on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
Laura steps back startled by what she saw.
"Nobody sees you as a human Laura, nobody! You lost that right as soon as your horns grew."
Laura grits her teeth and stares angrily at the other Laura.
"Don't act like you're special."
Suddenly the other Laura is standing behind Laura.
"Killing things that stand in your way is natural for a demon. Whether you want to or not doesn't matter you will kill someday."
The other Laura grabs Laura by her shoulders and pushes her against the wall. She stares into Laura's eyes.
"When you kill for the first time It'll feel natural. Look forward to it."
Laura jolts up in bed drenched in cold sweet. She gasps for air trying to get a hold of herself. She rubs her eyes to make sure she's not dreaming. She shakes her head to clear her mind. She looks up at the ceiling and wipes away the tears running down her face.
"It'll feel natural?"
Laura stands up and walks to the bathroom in order to wash her face. She sees herself in the mirror for the first time in two weeks. She looks so weak. Her skin is pale and sunken. She looks awful.
The most prominent feature on her head; her horns stick out like a sore thumb. They're black and sharp.
Laura looks at her heterochromatic eyes; one blue and one red. She remembers when they were both blue.
She grasps the sides of the sink with both of her hands and stares at herself in the mirror. She then slaps her cheeks with both of her hands.
"I can't change it."
She runs her fingers through her long hair.
"I can't change anything."
She wraps her arms around her body.
"I'm tired of being afraid."
She feels a tear run down her cheek.
"I'm tired of being weak."
She forces herself to laugh even though it hurts.
"I'm going to do it."
She stops laughing and stares at the mirror.
"If I don't then who will?"
She moves her hand to touch her horns.
"I'm going to be stronger."
She smiles at herself in the mirror.
"And I won't stop until I am."
***
Avery paces back and forth of Laura's door. All of a sudden she hears the lock click. She jumps back in surprise. Laura opens the door and walks out holding her wooden practice sword.
"M-miss Laura, are you ok?"
Avery sees Laura's complexion and immediately worries even more.
"I'm fine Avery. Can you please go find Eleonora and tell her to meet me at the training ground. Tell her it's important."
"Right away."
Avery dashes away and Laura heads to the arena. As soon as she gets there heads to the center and sits down to wait for Eleonora. After ten minutes of waiting she arrives.
"Yo! Finally out of your room I see."
Eleonora strolls in with a very relaxed attitude and a wide smile.
"Yeah I am, I figured a few things out. Now I have a question to ask you."
"A question? Ask away."
"Have you killed anyone before Eleonora?"
"I have. I've killed a lot of people before I ended up here."
"Why?"
"I was a war orphan. After my parents died I had to fight to survive. I still remember the first time I killed someone too. It was during an attack on our village."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Of course not. I saw his life drain right before my eyes and before I knew it more men showed up at my home. I didn't have time to think I just killed them all."
"I realized something Eleonora. I've been caged, my mother never allowed me to go on hunts with everyone so I never even saw a dead animal until I killed a wolf in the forest. But the world isn't that friendly is it."
"No it's not Laura. One day you may have to kill someone, if that's too difficult to accept right now then that's fine. But you will most likely fetch a high price for Roderick in the future. Everyone here at the colosseum has a price. We either make money over a long period of time by fighting or in a lump sum by being sold off. We have no idea where we'll end up."
Laura thinks about this for a moment and stands up.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
"It's fine Laura."
"I feel like I need to catch up on my training after taking two weeks off."
"You bet you do."
The two of them draw their wooden swords and face each other. In that moment Laura's stomach growls.
The two stare at each other awkwardly.
"Maybe we should get something to eat first."
"S-sounds good."
Laura's cheeks blush in embarrassment while the two of them head to the cafeteria.
Three days later.
After defeating Vannix Laura shut herself in her room. She kept to herself and refused to talk to anyone. The only time she would open the door was to get food brought to her by Avery. She ignored everyone and spent these three days alone.
"Has she still not come out?"
"No sir she hasn't."
Roderick sits at his desk in his office looking over the financial reports from the fights three days ago. He sighs deeply before addressing Oliva once more.
"I'm not happy about her shutting herself in her room just from something that insignificant. Honestly she needs to take responsibility for what she did. It's because of her that Vannix retired."
"With all due respect sir she's only 12 years old. So of course she'd be feeling lost after what she almost did."
"Honestly Olivia I don't care if she's only 12 or 30 I paid good money for her and she needs to be ready to fight. I have no patience for stuff like this."
"But sir she's just a child. I think it's fair to assume that she's going through a lot right now so maybe we should let her sort this out on her own."
"I did not adopt her, I bought her as a fighter so she would make this place a lot of money. That's just the relationship we have and I'm more than willing to make her fight even if she doesn't want to. She's lucky I'm considering using her sparsely instead of every week."
"But that too cruel sir. I'm sure there's a better way to solve this."
Roderick raises his hand to stop Oliva's protest.
"There's nothing more to say here. Unless someone wants to pay a huge sum of money to buy her from me then there's two options for her. Either fight and give me a reason to shelter and feed her or don't and end up dead by the hands of the church."
"End up dead?"
"Do you have any idea how Laura is even being kept alive right now? It's because I paid a huge sum of money to the church in order to keep her alive. You know how the church kills those demons without mercy, she's only alive right now because of me. If you think I'm being harsh on her then do something about it."
Olivia stares at the floor.
"I'm unable to do anything about it."
Roderick shakes his head before standing up.
"We'll let her sort out her problems for a little while longer but if she's not out of her room by then then we'll have to force her out. We can afford to not have her in matches for a while after her overwhelming win but once the hype around her starts to die down and people start questioning when she'll fight again that's when she's going to fight next. Until then we'll leave her to her own devices."
Roderick walks off towards the exit leaving Olivia behind. She stands up and follows after him.
In front of Laura's door Avery stands positioned like she's guarding the room. She has repeatedly attempted to get Laura to answer her but to no avail. Attempts from Eleonora have also been fruitless.
Inside the room Laura sits on her bed with the covers wrapped around her. Every time someone knocks she jolts as if she's been spooked by a ghost. She keeps shaking her head vigorously to try and shake away the memories of her almost taking Vannix's life. She imagines what the scene would have looked like if she didn't stop herself over and over again constantly.
She sees herself stabbing his throat with her claws and blood dripping onto the stone arena floor. She sees the resentful gaze of hatred and the light leaving his eyes as the last amount of life slips from him. Her heart thumps heavily in her chest as she imagines killing Vannix. She knows that she didn't kill him but what if she didn't stop herself in time? What if she didn't regain herself before stabbing him? What if next time she wasn't able to stop herself?
The thought of what she almost did makes her feel sick. She can't explain why she feels this way. Maybe it's the guilt of knowing that she nearly killed someone. Laura keeps shivering and shaking as she continues to picture what almost happened. She feels cold all over.
It's all because her demon side took control. She stopped thinking, she responded to Vannix's provocation and in doing so she almost ended his life. Had she continued to do what she did then he would have died. Laura closes her eyes and tries to block out the thoughts running through her mind.
Two weeks later.
Laura is sitting on her bed in her room. She's lost weight and looks pale the fact that she's barely eating isn't helping either.
She hasn't heard anyone knock for a while now. They've either given up on her or they're just letting her sort it out on her own. At least those are the two options she can think of.
Her stomach growls begging for some food but she doesn't move to grab the food that Avery brings her. Laura remains seated and looks at the wall. She doesn't want to move or eat or go anywhere. She knows that she should be training but she just wants to stay in her room until everyone forgets about her.
"You look really pathetic right now."
Laura's eyes snap open and she jumps up. She turns to try and find where the voice came from to no avail. There's nobody there.
"You go out there, almost kill someone and now look at you."
The voice calls out from behind her but she sees nothing when she turns around.
"You wallow in your own self pity for days. HAHAHAHA, What a pathetic demon you are."
"I DON'T WANNA BE A DEMON!"
Laura yells to the voice and throws the blanket she was hiding under on the ground. She takes a deep breath and slowly calms herself down. She knows that she shouldn't be yelling.
"What's wrong with you? You say you don't want to be a demon but you have no choice. You were born this way. There's nothing you can do to change that. All you can do is accept it."
"I don't wanna accept it."
Is she going crazy? There's nobody here. Laura stares at the ceiling and shakes her head. She has no idea what's going on.
"This isn't real. This is all in my imagination. I'm dreaming."
She turns around so she can lay in her bed but she stops in her tracks. In front of her is herself. The herself from her dream the night she asked Groel to help her with magic.
"So what if it's a dream?"
"I don't wanna be a demon."
"Why are you so determined to deny yourself?"
"Being a demon is why everything was taken from me."
"So what?"
The other Laura holds her hand out toward Laura. The other Laura's hands are coated in blood dripping on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
Laura steps back startled by what she saw.
"Nobody sees you as a human Laura, nobody! You lost that right as soon as your horns grew."
Laura grits her teeth and stares angrily at the other Laura.
"Don't act like you're special."
Suddenly the other Laura is standing behind Laura.
"Killing things that stand in your way is natural for a demon. Whether you want to or not doesn't matter you will kill someday."
The other Laura grabs Laura by her shoulders and pushes her against the wall. She stares into Laura's eyes.
"When you kill for the first time It'll feel natural. Look forward to it."
Laura jolts up in bed drenched in cold sweet. She gasps for air trying to get a hold of herself. She rubs her eyes to make sure she's not dreaming. She shakes her head to clear her mind. She looks up at the ceiling and wipes away the tears running down her face.
"It'll feel natural?"
Laura stands up and walks to the bathroom in order to wash her face. She sees herself in the mirror for the first time in two weeks. She looks so weak. Her skin is pale and sunken. She looks awful.
The most prominent feature on her head; her horns stick out like a sore thumb. They're black and sharp.
Laura looks at her heterochromatic eyes; one blue and one red. She remembers when they were both blue.
She grasps the sides of the sink with both of her hands and stares at herself in the mirror. She then slaps her cheeks with both of her hands.
"I can't change it."
She runs her fingers through her long hair.
"I can't change anything."
She wraps her arms around her body.
"I'm tired of being afraid."
She feels a tear run down her cheek.
"I'm tired of being weak."
She forces herself to laugh even though it hurts.
"I'm going to do it."
She stops laughing and stares at the mirror.
"If I don't then who will?"
She moves her hand to touch her horns.
"I'm going to be stronger."
She smiles at herself in the mirror.
"And I won't stop until I am."
***
Avery paces back and forth of Laura's door. All of a sudden she hears the lock click. She jumps back in surprise. Laura opens the door and walks out holding her wooden practice sword.
"M-miss Laura, are you ok?"
Avery sees Laura's complexion and immediately worries even more.
"I'm fine Avery. Can you please go find Eleonora and tell her to meet me at the training ground. Tell her it's important."
"Right away."
Avery dashes away and Laura heads to the arena. As soon as she gets there heads to the center and sits down to wait for Eleonora. After ten minutes of waiting she arrives.
"Yo! Finally out of your room I see."
Eleonora strolls in with a very relaxed attitude and a wide smile.
"Yeah I am, I figured a few things out. Now I have a question to ask you."
"A question? Ask away."
"Have you killed anyone before Eleonora?"
"I have. I've killed a lot of people before I ended up here."
"Why?"
"I was a war orphan. After my parents died I had to fight to survive. I still remember the first time I killed someone too. It was during an attack on our village."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Of course not. I saw his life drain right before my eyes and before I knew it more men showed up at my home. I didn't have time to think I just killed them all."
"I realized something Eleonora. I've been caged, my mother never allowed me to go on hunts with everyone so I never even saw a dead animal until I killed a wolf in the forest. But the world isn't that friendly is it."
"No it's not Laura. One day you may have to kill someone, if that's too difficult to accept right now then that's fine. But you will most likely fetch a high price for Roderick in the future. Everyone here at the colosseum has a price. We either make money over a long period of time by fighting or in a lump sum by being sold off. We have no idea where we'll end up."
Laura thinks about this for a moment and stands up.
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
"It's fine Laura."
"I feel like I need to catch up on my training after taking two weeks off."
"You bet you do."
The two of them draw their wooden swords and face each other. In that moment Laura's stomach growls.
The two stare at each other awkwardly.
"Maybe we should get something to eat first."
"S-sounds good."
Laura's cheeks blush in embarrassment while the two of them head to the cafeteria.
