He opened his mouth to let the blood flow out of it— but nothing came except his own breath.
'… It doesn`t hurt?'
The silence was broken by the voice of the man 'Close your mouth and open your eyes sunshine… I should be the one doing that'
The kid hesitantly opened his eyes and saw that he had cut off half of some skin on the man's arm and the sword was in his chest.
But he was more shocked by the fact that the man's sword was also sunk into his stomach… or at least it should have been.
No wound or blood. The man's sword was penetrating nothing except the boy's cloth. The boy felt a weird feeling of something softly touching his insides, almost tickling and his strength leaving his body.
But other than that, he felt nothing, like the sword or he did not exist on the same plane.
The man laughed 'Ha~ Seriously… what in the world are you…' and glanced towards the chest of the boy near the heart where he had a stab mark 'Fool me twice… Shame on me'
The man retraced his sword back with the same injured arm and stood straight up as he took a deep breath 'I guess this is my loss…'
He closed his eyes peacefully with composure as he fell to his back as he simply loosened his grip and the sword fell beside him.
The man fell to the ground on his back with a satisfied look on his face. He had lost the battle but he held no regrets.
A warm drop of blood fell onto the ground from the kid. But it was not from his wound but his nose.
The kid was barely standing up, rubbed his nose and surely, he was bleeding from nose.
He stumbled upon his own foot as the world started to spin around him as it turned back to normal.
His eyes became blurry and not before long and eventually fell onto the ground beside the man as his stamina was drained to its utter limit.
The man asked 'Hey. How does it feel? After taking your revenge?'
The boy questioned 'Should you really be asking that…?' and paused before responding 'Still the same— but it's a pity.'
'Pity?' questioned the man in confusion
'It is pitiful. Never in the fight did I felt like you wanted to kill me.' the boy looked at him and said 'If you did, I would have died multiple times.'
'I guess that makes the two of us a pitiful soul.'
The kid whispered 'But do not misunderstand, I still would have not forgive you for killing others.'
'Haha sure… Please don`t forgive me' said the man with a laugh.
The man thought to himself 'Maybe it was never about how the world works. I wonder if we adults are the one making it overly complicated for the younglings'
The kid calmly asked 'So why did you do it? If you had no will to fight' and the man replied with 'Someone had to do something. I am nothing more than a pawn myself.'
He joked about his knowledge 'After all, a game can not start without the pawn…' and paused thinking 'No wait, except for horses… or where they called knights?' he laughed at himself 'I really did not think this one through'
But ironically it was all the time he had that made him forget it.
He felt no embarrassment and just laughed at his own attempt to sound knowledgeable. He no longer acted like a hardened veteran, bandit or the pawn he claimed to be. What remained was just a man.
'Pawn?' questioned the kid and narrowed his eyes 'So there must be a hand moving it' but was met with silence from the man.
The kid replied back as if he was challenging him 'Fine by me, I will find this player of yours and ask him myself'
The man just calmly replied with 'Sure do that. But I hope you find your way there without dying.'
And once again the silence fell onto the ground again. Awkward silence as none of them were passing out or on. Awkwardness of not even being able to move from their spot and next to the one who tried to kill one another.
'Hey, this is getting awkward but I am not going to pass out any time soon— More like I can`t so why not just answer me something else.'
The man pretending to be dead with his eyes closed opened them back up 'You know it`s really weird that you are not enraged… did you—'
But was cut in by the boy questioning with curiosity of what kind of person he really was 'Don`t you feel mad about how you should have won that battle?'
The man looked at him, sighed and thought 'I hope he is just not showing it'
He looked up as he spoke 'What`s there to be mad about, I am the one who ambushed you first. No matter what I say, it will be a loser`s excuse and whatever tricks u use… It doesn`t matter how you win, playing fair or dirty. What matters is whether you won or not, not how you won for dying man tell no tale.'
'Even if you lost against a child?' joked the boy but the man with no hesitation of shame said 'Yes, even if I lost to a kid half my age.'
'Why did you teach me? If you had not, you could had easily killed me…'
'No idea… I guess I was just curious so all I did was just throw you a hint. You are the one who did the rest.' He paused 'Don`t get the wrong idea, I don`t regret it but of course I would win if we fight again…'
He looked towards the kid who had a gloomy face 'Fear not. There is no one to remember me when I am gone.'
'I will…' claimed the kid with a serious look on his face. A look not of hatred. A seemingly strange smile 'The one who survives has to carry the burden of dead. And I still need someone to hate on'
'Ha. kids these days.' said the man as he raised his shaky left hand towards the sky with palm facing towards him looking at it.
He claimed 'That burden is going to become heavier than anyone was meant to carry'.
The man asked 'Hey. It might be late but what's your name?' to which the kid replied 'I have no name… not any that i remember of'
The man questioned 'What do they call you then?'
'The kid or Smiling Kid'
'I see. Smiley it is' the man taunted the boy with a faint smirk.
'That's not my name'
The man completely ignoring him replied 'I am Ignis Satus'
'Nor did I ask yours.' but he was a bit curious.
Ignis said 'Hey Smiley… soon the soldiers from town will come and will take you back.' he paused looking towards the sky 'As for me, it's too late'. He spoke with certainty to which the kid asked 'How do you know that?'
Ignis just looks at him and smirks 'A secret'
The kid looked back with narrowed eyes 'Forget I ever asked… I would have punched you if I had the strength…'
Ignis laughed and then took a deep breath. 'You don`t sound like a boy in his mid teens.'
Ignis looked at the sky 'I take it back. You are really amazing.' As his voice became weakened 'Remember this, you are never truly alone. There will always be someone out there who will cry for you as long as you live on. Do not let grief narrow your sight… Do not die yet till you find someone…'
The boy replied 'Does that not work the same on you' leaving him wordless once again.
He paused, questioning his own words and said 'I guess you are not entirely wrong either…'
He thought to himself 'Maybe it doesn`t take a savior to change the world… but common sense which other lost on their way…'
Ignis said 'Now I really wonder why people fight, when they just met… Well it wasn`t different in the far past either.' He paused and almost said in regret 'After all, War was a lie'
He smiled peacefully 'I have no idea how you survived… but I hope that you are the one—' said as he looked towards the kid.
Ignis paused before speaking 'Ha, here I am babbling on about and there you are sleeping peacefully… So much for "not able to pass out"…' he laughed and then sighed.
Ignis sat up with his left hand pressing against the wound.
He looked towards the boy on his right and then at his sword that laid beside him.
Ignis grabbed onto his sword and raised it in front of himself, admiring it.
His eyes turned cold "Kids really are fearless'
Ignis raised the sword in the sky after switching to backwards grip as he glanced towards the boy before striking it down.