Mania and the Executioner (14 page)

“Consider me paid in full.” Archer says, still shocked.

“Are you sure? That only took half a liter to make so I can definitely make another.” I tell him.

“Truly!?” Archer asks. His face is almost identical to the one that Sara made when she saw Sephiroth’s katana, but his is much more weathered.

“Sure! Cheza’s ring drained me of seven times that amount!” I say as I start a draw for a second silencer.

“So you created that gun?” Archer asks curiously.

“Yeah, well, except for the springs and barrel. I didn’t want to take the chance of a silicon carbide barrel tweaking the ballistics of the bullets and springs are impossible.” I tell him while finishing the silencer. “Here you go, just don’t tell anyone where you got it and don’t tell anyone that I can do this. It will most likely lead to death in some fashion; probably not yours, but mine and the first waves of people that they send after me.”

“I am unsure if I want something like that…I’ll be careful. After all, how many chances am I going to have to obtain an item like this?” Archer asks rhetorically.

“Not many! Anyway, we need to get back so Cheza can start training again. Thanks for everything Archer!” I say.

“No, thank you Cole! If you need anything else, just stop by.” Archer replies while shaking my hand.

“Actually, now that you mention it, I need six more 25 round
magazines. Do you have any?” I ask.

“I have four currently;
I ordered them thinking that you may require more.” Archer says, walks over to a drawer, and pulls them out. “Here, in return for the silencer.”

Archer walks us to the front of the store. “Goodbye you two, and do le
t me know when the wedding is!”

The short walk to the car is an awkward one; the ride home even more so. I pull into the garage.

“Cole…” Oh, here it comes. Next she’ll be asking when we are getting married, followed by the ridiculous tons of planning that goes into a wedding, followed by a huge argument about cake.

“Fuck the flowers honey! We need to move on to the important issue: Are we even allowed to have an ice cream wedding cake or is that a ‘birthday only’ type of cake
?” My inner monologue dictates.

“Do you even want to get married?” Chez
a asks.

That is not a
question I was expecting.

“I know now that this ring was most likely a graduation present or something and not you proposing, but I’m happy that you let me think that for a while.” Cheza says quietly while not sounding happy at all.

“That isn’t a question I can answer right now, Cheza.” I say as I open my door. I get out, shut the door, and go around to the trunk for the shopping bags.

“Alright, at least it’s better than a no.” Cheza whispers, thinking that I can’t hear her.

Chapter 11: In actuality, this has nothing to do with Emo Rock or Masochism

I walk inside the house (while carrying all the bags) behind Cheza.

“So how did it go?” Tia asks. I pull out the silencer and four magazines. “Nice! Archer was so surprised that he even gave you magazines?”

“No, those were as thanks for making him a silencer. They only take half a liter so I figured, why not?” I
reply.

“That might
not have been the best idea…with Archer it should be okay, but don’t give Sic things to anyone else.” Tia warns me.

“Don’t worry Tia, I won’t. I wouldn’t have even made the second silencer if you hadn’t said that I could trust Archer’s discretion.” I tell her.

“Good. Alright, you two go change and meet me downstairs; we should be able to get in about three hours of training before dinner.” Tia says. I grab the magazines, silencer, my gun, and the grey jacket that Cheza picked out, and I bring them to Sara.

“Here,
these are for measurements. Will you be able to armor a jacket like this?” I ask.

“Yeah, I should be able to easily. Gettin
g it to look cute once it’s armored? Now that’s the real challenge.” Sara replies.

“Well, do your best. Cheza is going to use it as an undercoat while we are in Greenland anyway
, but giving her inclination to wear it here would be nice. Thanks Sara!” I say and then I start to head out the door when Sara stops me.

“Cole…I’m concerned about your mental wellbeing. Tell me honestly, what do you think about the pleasure you’ve been getting from killing?” Sara asks while slipping into concerned older sister/psychiatrist mode.

“I…feel guilty I guess…I know that it’s terrible to gain so much pleasure from dealing destruction and agonizing death, but when I’m in the act itself, I just don’t care…” I explain.

“Does Airi’s influence have anything to do with this?” Sara inquires.

“I’m not sure…” I answer without explaining that I’m positive it isn’t just Airi based on my reaction from last night. “The girls are waiting for me so I need to go.”

“Alright Cole, just know that I’m always here if you need to talk.” Sara says with a warm
smile as I exit her room. I go to my room to get changed, head downstairs, and find Tia and Cheza waiting.

“Alright, let’s get started.” I say.

“Before we start, I want you to give Chezarei more of your blood.” Tia says.

“No! I’m not draining Cheza again!” I shout.

“Don’t worry Cole; we came up with a better way than yesterday. I just sit with both my wrists open and you replace my blood in one wrist as it is drained from the other.” Cheza says.

“Alright
, but I’m only doing half a liter today, just in case.” I tell them.

Cheza and I go over by the bucket and I transfer half a liter over.

(Chezarei now has 2.5 Liters of your blood, which now exceeds the amount of her own by 0.1 Liters)

“Hey Tia, I don’t think I should transfer over anymore blood. I am over half of what’s in Cheza.” I shout from across the room.

“Don’t worry Cole, this is easy to fix. Just pull it out a little bit and then push it back in. You should be able to fit more of yourself inside her this time!” Tia says while barely holding it together long enough to finish the joke before she laughs. “I was torn between that and saying ‘whose is the other half?’”

“Hey Cheza, try sealing your wri
sts,” I say while ignoring Tia.

“All you have to do is envision your wrists sealing and my blood should do it automatically.” She trie
s and it works.

“Just remember that in case there is a time that my blood doesn’t automatically stop blood from flowing from your body.”
I tell her.

Stop blood from flowing…“Hey Tia, have there ever been any female Shorn Ones?”

“No there haven’t, and no it shouldn’t affect
that
Cole, don’t worry.” Tia says while reading my face. Thankfully, Cheza doesn’t seem to get it.

“Okay, we should get started already!” I say.

“Actually Cole, you are going to sit out today. Chezarei is going to use the two Sic blades and I will use the kukri blades.” Tia says. I shrug and go sit on the benches to watch Tia’s lesson. “We are going to focus mainly in defense so just try to block my attacks as they come.”

The lesson is slow going for the first hour and then I get a
brilliant idea: I wonder if the images I can send Cheza will work with muscle memory. I establish our link and send Cheza an image of the counter for the cross slash that Tia is moving in for. Cheza responds by fluidly blocking with the left Sic blade before following up with the right. She is moving at speeds above normal for her fastest pace, and closer to mine. Tia wasn’t expecting this so she ends up taking a slash to her right wrist.

Tia gets excited,
kicks things up a notch, and slashes Cheza back.

“Don’t Cole! It’s shallow and it won’t leave a scar or anything so let me continue.” Cheza says through the connection. I still want to stop it but I don’
t; I send Cheza images instead.

Cheza gives Tia four more hits but takes three to her person. I can’t take this anymore.

“Airi! Is there any way for you to transfer her pain to me through the link?”

(It can be done but it is ill-advised)

“Will it block her pain?”

(Yes, but it will transf—

“Do it.”

I keep sending images
to Cheza while taking her pain; it’s almost as if I’m fighting for her, which is just the way I like it. Her body takes on four more hits while dealing seven to Tia, but Tia is careful to make all the blows shallow. I take the pain for Cheza, but it stings a bit more than it would if I were the one being cut.

I stop sending images and see if any of it has transferred into her memory.
Cheza continues fighting and her scratches are healing almost instantly, even faster than mine normally can. She continues fighting and I finally see the right position to send her a finishing move. Cheza creates some distance between herself and Tia, forcing Tia to chase her. Cheza suddenly changes momentum, charges at Tia, and slides through Tia’s legs while hooking Tia’s ankles with her arms. Tia falls on her face as Cheza flips herself backward, over her head, and turns around. She lands on Tia’s back while driving a blade into the mat on each side of Tia’s neck.

“Haha!
Nice finisher, Cheza!” Tia exclaims while laughing into the mat. “What have you been teaching to her Cole?”

“Well, I guess you could call it teaching.
Throughout the match, I was sending her images of moves that I’ve learned or thought of.” Tia looks over at me and her eyes go wide.

“I stopped about halfway through to see if she was learning anything from it and she kept on fighting. The finisher was an image I sent her though. It was an idea I had from when I fou
ght one of Illapa’s vampires, in which I slid to clip off his knee.” I explain. Cheza looks over at me.

“COLE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Cheza screams as she jumps to her feet.

“What? You knew I was sending you images.” I say, puzzled.

“COLE! YOU’RE BLEEDING!” Tia screams while rolling over and sitting up. I look at the blood dripping from each of the dozen cuts on my body.

“What the hell are you guys doing!?” I shout at my blood, which instantly stops, shivers, and then goes back into the cuts and closes the door. It’s like my blood was a pet dog getting yelled at for piddling on the carpet.

“
Cole, why were you bleeding!?” Cheza asks. I look at her immaculate arms and everything clicks: What Airi was trying to say is that the slashes would transfer to me. I don’t know how they did that, but they did. I can’t let Cheza know about this.

“I’ve started cutting myself to escape the pain of living. I’m going to go upstairs to my room to listen to Emo Rock now.” I say while standing up.

(That won’t work)

“I mean, I’ve turned into a hardcore masochist that gets extreme pleasure from pain. Please excuse me whil
e I go upstairs to change my semen covered pants.” I say while walking towards the door.

(No, that won’t work because she already knows)

“DAMNIT AIRI! TELL ME THAT FIRST NEXT TIME!” I shout out loud.

“Cole!
Why!?” Cheza asks with tears in her eyes.

“Because I couldn’t stand feeling you in pain…” I say, knowing that it’s completely hypocritical.

“You’re always taking the blows for me! Do you have any idea how it makes me feel!? How I feel every time you get shot or stabbed or beaten!? Watching you nearly get beaten to death by Illapa while I sat there, unable to do anything to help, was one of the most painful experiences of my life!” Cheza cries. I walk over to her and gently hold her.

“Cheza, I’m sorry;
I’m just not strong enough to cope with you being in pain…I’m sorry that I force you to bear that burden every time but, something tells me that if anything were to happen to you…I would cause something much worse.” I whisper, thinking back to Tia’s story about the Aztec blood warrior that made himself explode and took a city with him. I also think back to when I felt Cheza’s heart stop and the reaction my body took.

“I understand your concern
Cole. It seems that I also made you go through something painful with Illapa…” Cheza says while slightly muffled from my shirt.

“Not to interrupt, but Cole? How did you do that? Chezarei’s cuts were healing at an incredibly fast rate for somebody who isn’t a god.” Tia asks.

“I’m not entirely sure. I asked Airi if there was any way to transfer Cheza’s pain to me, she said it was ill-advised, then I asked her if it would take away Cheza’s pain, she said ‘yes but—’. I interrupted her and started feeling the pain of where Cheza was getting cut. When I opened my eyes, I saw that her cuts were healing rapidly.” I recapitulate.

“I think that when Airi transferred the pain, she also transf
erred my healing ability to Cheza and it sort of stacked on with hers.” I theorize.

“Chezarei, let’s go one more time. I want to see how muc
h she can do on her own so Cole, no link.” Tia says.

They start up again and Cheza has retained the majority of her fighting skill, but she is only at about three quarters of my speed or Tia’s
.