Ira jumped into the air, blasting it in the same direction she went. It was a strange feeling, rapid acceleration without wind resistance. The new technique worked less like a rocket, and more like a bullet. She switched it around, slowing her fall as she fell to another rooftop, securing her landing with a final cushion under her. Her purple hair flew back as she landed, billowing with her cloak. After a short walk across the rooftop, she jumped off into the air again.
In the air, she looked around, spotting the few lights glowing that were her target. She quickly jumped over, dashing across the sky. Crashing down onto the final rooftop, she stopped and looked out at the stars throughout the sky. They were far clearer in this district than any of the others.
"Am I really doing the right thing?" she asked herself.
"Are you?"
It was an unexpected response. She turned around to see Sebastian standing in a corner, hidden from the light of the moon.
"What are you doing up here?" She brought her hand down to her thigh, resting it on one of her knives.
He stepped out of the shadow, the light of the moon shining off his hair. "It's my roof, why can't I be up here? I should ask you the same thing, but I know the answer."
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew, nothing happens in this district without me knowing. I'm not one of those do-nothing mayors back in the city. Things need done out here."
"So what do you want?"
"I want my son to have a brain sometimes. I love him, but he's a real handful."
"Don't you think your expectations are just a bit high? You had him thinking everyone here relied solely on him."
"How I grew up, that's what a man was for. That's how you had purpose from being a man. You were to be a rock."
"Quite old fashioned. It's honestly a lot of your fault."
"I know, but I don't know any other way to be. It's a real head-shaker."
"I hope you didn't expect parenting advice from me."
"You don't seem to particularly sure of your position either. Is Cyrus putting you up to something nefarious?"
"Quite rude to eavesdrop."
"I was here first." He walked up to her, with his hands in his pockets.
Her hand tightened around the handle of her knife. "Are you going to try something?"
"No. I just wanted to make sure the boy knows what he's getting into."
"You don't intend to stop him?"
"How could I? He won't keep himself away from his sister, and he doesn't view me as family. In the same position, I wouldn't stop." He pulled out a hand, empty, and put it on her shoulder. "You are Ira, correct?"
"Yes, that's what I'm called."
"Wrath, your mind seems a little too compassionate to be called wrath. Have you also softened with age?" He let go, and walked to the edge of the roof.
"It is quite rude to call a lady old."
"It isn't rude to call a wonderful wine aged. It is merely a fact. Though I haven't touched one of those in over two decades. Cyrus saw to that."
"A wine or a woman?"
"Guess you could say both, but I was referring to the wine. Me and my old friend Charles were quite fond of a brew from right before the millennia. Last time I had some was at his funeral. Dumped the rest out on his casket, not that his body was there to get it. Randall didn't even show up."
Ira loosened her hand, letting go of the handle and dropping back to her side casually.
"Hey, Ira. Can I ask you to do me a favor?"
"Depends."
"Can you pour one out on my grave?"
"You're asking a stranger to honor you?"
"No, I'm asking Ira. The one I could talk to with my final thoughts. It's just the ravings of this old man. I'm sure a young woman like yourself wouldn't mind spending some of your time."
"You're just going to throw yourself away? That's it?"
"It's not throwing myself away, it's a cost to change someone else's future."
Sebastian walked through the metal door, back inside.
"That's ridiculous," Ira said to herself, shaking her head. She stopped mid shake and instead let out a heavy sigh. "It really is ridiculous."
***
Ricardo walked past the light post as the lights flickered for a moment, a familiar plume of smoke broke his view of the stars on the horizon. The smell of salty air was heavy, with a faint sand making it's way into his mouth.
He stood outside the hospital, looking in through the windows. Sebastian came down the stairs and locked eyes with him. They met outside, without saying a word. In his hands, Sebastian held two swords, rapiers, with ornate handles. He tossed one onto the floor in front of Ricardo before strafing over to the side. The light from the hospital shone out onto them, and the few working street lights lit up the surroundings.
"Are you ready?" Ricardo asked.
"No. Let's begin."
Sebastian brandished his sword, bringing it up between his eyes. He turned his torso and brought his other arm behind him, before relaxing into his stance. His sword pointed forward, and his fist hovered by his chest. His left foot was forward, and his right leg was pointed to his side.
Ricardo wrapped one hand around the handle, cupping it with the other.
Sebastian lunged immediately, with Ricardo swatting it barely to the side of his face with the flat of his blade.
"Swords? Just how old are you?"
"You asked for a duel. Did you expect a brawl? Maybe a firefight?"
Another lunge came towards him, this time towards his gut. Ricardo threw himself to the side, rolling back into a kneel. A slash came this time, right towards his exposed leg. Ricardo brought the sword up, scraping against the ground and just barely blocked.
"Put your foot behind you, settle into a more elastic stance."
"Why are you telling-"
A lung came toward Ricardo's right leg, which he jumped back on. A slash then came towards his hand wrapped around the guard, which he barely moved in time.
"The guard is to protect your hand, not the other way around."
"There's not enough space to-"
Another slash came towards his hand. Ricardo didn't question, and ripped his other hand away, letting the slash ride up the guard to hit the blade. Ricardo broke from the lock, and then went forward with an overhead slash of his own.
Sebastian caught it with his blade, and then stepped forward, bringing his left fist into an uppercut against Ricardo's chin. Ricardo fell back.
"Stand up."
"That's not fencing!"
"Stand up!" Sebastian lunged toward his core.
Ricardo scrambled backwards up on to his feet as the sword stabbed into the ground between his legs. He went into a stance, trying his best to copy Sebastian's.
"Better," Sebastian said.
Ricardo lunged forward, leaning into his knee as he aimed for the neck. Sebastian whipped his sword around, spinning Ricardo's sword and ripping it from his already loose and sweaty grip. The sword clattered uselessly against the ground.
"Why are you doing this?" Ricardo asked, not even moving towards it.
"I can't just cut you down. There's no way you'd accept that. There's no way I'd accept that."
"So you think you're giving me a fighting chance? This is stupid." Ricardo held out his hand as an ice blade formed around it.
"So you are done with the gentleman's duel?"
"I'm not a gentleman."
Sebastian dropped his stance, crouching lower to the ground. He lunged forward again, this time towards the chin, only for Ricardo to whip his hand around, slicing through the metal. The detached spike spun past Ricardo's chin as the cut blade stopped an inch short of his neck.
Ricardo scoffed.
Sebastian dropped to the ground, spinning around to hook his heel behind Ricardo's knee. Ricardo fell face first into the concrete, scraping his cheek against it. Sebastian dropped the broken sword, and held out his hand. The other sword flew from across the ground into it.
Ricardo tried to twist his wrist around, only to get it stomped on. Sebastian pushed the sword right up against Ricardo's face, threatening him. He struggled around a bit, but stopped when the sword drew blood.
"God dammit," he said, gritting his teeth.
"I don't want to do this, Ricardo. You aren't leaving me any choices."
"Of course you have a choice! You always have a choice!" Ricardo yelled.
Sebastian jumped off of him, as a knife came from the rooftop of the hospital. Random scraps of metal flew towards him as he turned his attention upward. The metal bits slowly floated around him, moving into place as knives fell down, clanging against the metal as it clumped up in response. The knives that had already landed joined his armor, spinning around him to deflect the new projectiles.
"Stay out of this!" Ricardo shouted at the building. "This is something I have to do!"
"You aren't in a position to deny help, son."
"I'm not your son!"
Ricardo pulled himself to his feet and immediately charged at him. The ice blade in his hand simply broke before his fist slammed into a clump of metal.
"Of course you are. I've raised you for so many years now."
Ricardo pointed his arm towards the hospital. A shimmering wall of ice formed, catching a couple of knives in it.
"I thought you said you had what it takes. That you would make the tough decisions to get our people out of here."
"That's that. This is this."
"You won't even take every chance you can to get to that point. How am I supposed to trust you?"
"Shut up!" A new ice blade formed around Ricardo's hand, this time slowly dripping with water.
Sebastian lunged at him, only for his sword to be countered again. The ice didn't snap the thin metal this time, and instead was bitten into, locking the blade in place. Sebastian pushed the swords aside and smashed his foot into Ricardo's gut. He fell down, spitting up blood.
Sebastian looked back up at the roof of the hospital, staring at the shadow leaning over the edge waving at him through the frosted wall.
"Have I crushed your resolve?" Sebastian asked, turning back toward Ricardo.
Ricardo pulled himself to his feet once again, wiping his fist against his mouth. He didn't answer, and just focused on a ball of ice in front of him. He wound back then punched it, sending shards of ice flying forwards towards Sebastian, only for them to be blocked by the scrap metal shield.
Ricardo started flinging icicle spears, watching as the were dodged, blocked, or simply stopped. His last one was simply shredded into snow as the metals spun rapidly in a circle.
"Fuck!" yelled Ricardo.
"Give up," answered Sebastian.
Instead of yelling again, Ricardo held his hand forward, summoning a cloud of mist around the two of them. Sebastian didn't move from his spot, but Ricardo staggered forward for a moment. He dashed forward through the cloud, focusing on the ice blade formed around his hand. He lunged forward with his whole body, squarely aimed at Sebastian's heart. The scraps of metal embedded themselves into the ice blade, bringing it to a halt. As Ricardo had lunged, so had Sebastian, stabbing his rapier right into the left side of Ricardo's chest.
A single icicle fell from the sky, silently dropping into the cold mist.
The haze cleared in seconds, and Ricardo panted heavily. He fell backward without resistance. Sebastian stood there, with the icicle stabbing through the left side of his neck, right into his chest. He stood there for a few moments, with a look of content on his face, before falling to his knees, and then onto his face.
Ricardo put a hand across his chest, feeling right where the sword had jabbed him, right over his heart, where the ceramic plate of his vest had shattered under his shirt. It felt like he had been shot, and the uneven texture of ceramic shards was stabbing into his skin, but he was alive.
The ice wall collapsed with a loud crash. Maria ran out of the hospital, looking at the scene in front of her. Nero scuttled along behind her.
"Ricardo! What's going on here? Are you alright? Father!? What happened!?"
"I'm sorry, Maria."
"Why are you- No. No, no, no!"
"I'm sorry." Ricardo closed his eyes.
"What happened?" Nero asked, looking at the scene in front of him with confusion.
"No! Ricardo!"
"We need to get him to a doctor." Nero tried pulling up Sebastian by the arm, only managing to flip him over on to his back.
"Nero! We don't have a doctor!"
"This is a hospital what do you mean you don't have a-"
"We're just pretending to be functional! Of course we don't have a doctor! We don't even have medicine anymore!" Maria pushed Nero away from Sebastian and started pulling at the icicle.
"Don't touch that! It'll make things worse! We don't know how deep it goes! Here, hold on. Let me call someone. I still have my phone."
Nero fumbled around in his pockets and pulled out his phone. After a few seconds, he had already clicked onto Fetter in his contact list and held the phone up to his ear.
Maria held her fingers onto Sebastian's face, with tears running down her cheecks and snot coming from her nose.
"Fetter? Fetter!? Are you there?" Nero turned away as he yelled into the phone. "I need you hear right now. I'm in District 13, at a little town area. You know it? Okay good, I didn't know anything more- Bring Don! It's urgent... No it's not me, it's Maria's dad. Get here as fast as you can."
"It's too late," Maria said, sliding his eyelids closed.
Sebastian laid there, with the same content look on his face.
"I should still call them. We have to hope that there's something-"
"Nero. Don't drag- Fine. Fine. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong."
"Are you already on your way?" Nero asked into the phone. "What do you mean? Someone's dying Fetter! Hello? Hello?!"
"What's wrong?"
"He's not coming."
"What? Why not?"
"The last time he came here, he got shot. He said he's not going to risk taking his brother out here when it's not for me."
Ira landed on the ground with a soft thump. Chunks of ice cracked under her as the blast of air sent others skittering away.
"Who are you?!" Maria yelled, standing up from beside Sebastian.
"A friend of his." Ira pointed to Sebastian
"I don't know you. Go away."
"Let me help you get him inside. I don't think you two could get him up the stairs. I owe him that, at least."
"Wait. You are that woman who was with Ricardo!" Maria yelled.
"Yes. I am."
"Why are you here?! Can't you see what happened?"
"I can. But I can't just let that man lie out here now. I'll do it myself if you won't help, and neither of you could stop me."
She knelt down for a moment and grabbed Sebastian from under his arms, pulling him towards the door. Maria yelled loudly as the tears streamed down her face before grabbing Sebastian's feet. Nero was left outside with Ricardo, who was breathing heavily as he laid against the floor.