The sound of clanging metal fills the weight room as Lucas throws the weight bar in the air and catches it. He wanted to work out his frustration. Julius told him the kid would be easy. "He's an untrained boy" He told him. "You could easily take him out." Julius scoffs at the memory and tosses the weight bar up higher than earlier.
I didn't even want to attack anyone. Lucas thought to himself. I don't want to kill anyone. Lucas catches the bar for the last time and props it back on the stand. He sits up on the bench and catches his breath, his chest stinging from the burns left by the kid. Footsteps draw Lucas' attention to the door of the weightroom as it slams open. An older man in his 50's barges in, he's wearing a monogramed robe and sporting a balding hair style.
"Must you cause all that racket?!" The man asks.
"I'm working out, Julius." Lucas replies. "You want me fit for the games don't you?" Julius glares at Lucas.
"Well keep it down. I have company and you're being disrespectful." Julius replies. A young blonde wearing what looks like expensive lingere appears behind Julius and grabs him around the waist.
"Jules. Come back to bed. Who cares if your son is working out?" The young woman winks at Lucas from behind a scoffing Julius.
"My dear this is not my son. He merely works for me." Julius replies. "And considering he recently just screwed up a big job that I had asked him to do, he can wait." The young woman shrugs and leaves them.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Lucas exclaims standing up. "You're with another woman?!"
"I don't need to be lectured by some child!" Julius replies.
"You do when it could cost me my life!" Lucas felt on the verge of tears. He would never be free of these games as long as he was tied together with Julius. How many people did he have to kill just so Julius could get his rocks on with some blonde chick?
Julius did not appreciate the tone. He lumbers over to Lucas and with a flick of his wrist sends him flying into the weight bench. Lucas attempts to stand, but Julius is now towering over him. Although Lucas was significantly taller than Julius, his power overshadowed Lucas and made him feel as though he needed to slink into a corner.
"Get it through your head you ignorant fool." Julius belittles. "Your life exists to serve me. So if I feel the need to push the boundaries you say 'yes sir' and ask what you can do to please me. Understood?" Lucas nods his head in submission as Julius slinks away and slams the weightroom door shut. Lucas stumbles to his feet and begins to clean up the weights. One thing he appreciated about being Julius' fighter was the use of his house. Full weightroom, in ground pool, a sauna, hottub, multiple flat screens and not to mention the softest beds. Lucas was allowed to live in the guest house in the back in exchance for upkeeping the place when Julius couldn't sneak away from the council.
As long as Julius was on the council he was able to do as he pleases. He was able to determine the outcome of all universal events; wars, countries forming, natural disaters, man-made disasters, stock manipulation, election outcomes. All and more decided by the council of eleven winners of the games. The reason Julius is so rich in the mortal world is because of some well placed investments that he managed to convince the council to get behind. Amazon and Apple to name two. Julius only managed to get Lucas to agree to this by giving him a huge bank account, which worked for Lucas considering he was able to pay for his daughter's college and have six digits left over. Once all the weights were placed neatly back, Lucas left the weightroom and quickly made his way towards the front door making a valiant attempt to ignore the pleasuring cries of Julius and the young blonde woman.
I think I'd rather be fighting someone. Lucas thought as he gets into his car. He drove around for a bit before finally settling on the park. It was a bit early, but Lucas would occasionally wait at the park for awhile before his visits with Kaylee. He liked to relax and get into 'dad mode'. If you had asked him at 18 if he was going to be waiting for custody visits in a park in five years, Lucas would have laughed to the point of collapsion. He never wanted to be a dad, not originally. One careless and passionate night with his now ex made Kaylee, but Lucas didn't really have any regrets. He loved her more than anyone else in the world. His only regret was not making the relationship work. The same time Samantha had been pregnant with Kaylee, Julius had come calling for the first time. Lucas being gone while Sam dealt with her pregnancy mainly alone was definantly what dissolved their relationship. But what could Lucas have done? Tell her the truth? That he was competing for an ancient emperor and that he might not come back alive? Lucas didn't blame her of course. She was in the right, he should have been there more. But he did the right thing, he provided for his family. Samantha and Kaylee never wanted for anything, even if Lucus only got weekend visitation. Lucas closed his eyes on the park bench and reminisced about holding Kaylee for the first time just days after returning from the games. He didn't have anyother family; mom ran off in his youth, dad was physically and verbally abusive, no aunts or uncles or grandparents. Kaylee was his world, she was his only motivation for surviving the games last time and she was his only motivation for going through it again.
"Daddy!" Kaylee's sweet voice slices through Lucas' thoughts and worries. She starts running from halfway across the park, a piece of paper she's holding flaps in the wind and flies out of her hand. Lucas hops off the park bench and runs towards Kaylee, scooping her up in his arms with a fake groan and a kiss on the cheek.
"You're getting big princess." He jokes.
"Not uh!" Kaylee replies giving him a hug. Samantha staggers towards Lucas and Kaylee carrying the piece of paper that had flew out of Kaylee's hand.
"Kaylee, you can't run ahead of mommy like." Samantha scolds. "Hey Luke"
"Hey Sammy." Lucas replied while attempting not to stare. Samantha looked good, she must have cut her hair recently as her light red hair was now cut to shoulder length, the sun made her green eyes shine which only slightly distracted from the flattering, form fitting dress she was wearing. "Thanks for letting me get her a bit early."
"Actually you're doing me a favor." Samantha replies. "David and I had plans tonight, so we get to head out a bit earlier." Lucas' heart sank. He had always held out a slight sliver of hope that he and Samantha would reconcile, instead he was basically wing-manning her current boyfriend. Not that Lucas wasn't happy that she found someone, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt.
"Anytime." Lucas tells her while trying his best to paint a realistic smile. Samantha hands him the piece of paper Kaylee dropped.
"Here she drew this for you in class." Lucas takes the paper from her, it was a stick figure drawing of what looked like him and Samantha on either side of Kaylee, another man was standing opposite of Samantha. David, he presumed. Lucas folds up the drawing and sticks it in his pocket.
"Looks like my princess is a little Picaso." Lucas comments.
"What's a Picaso?" Kaylee asks.
"He's someone that good at art sweetie." Samantha replies, giving her a kiss on the head. "Mommys gotta go, I love you. Be good for daddy." Samantha starts to head off towards the car.
"Bye mommy! I love you!" Kaylee yells while waving vigorously, almost hitting Lucas in the face. Lucas starts to carry Kaylee to the car and she goes on and tells him about her week which thankfully wasn't as active as Lucas'. Nothing but shapes, drawing and nap time. She did reveal that she was having some problems with adding, which Lucas of course promised to help her with. When they arrived at the guest house, Lucas noticed an extra car in the driveway.
He must have gotten another girl. Lucas thought shaking his head. His irritation was clearly visible. "What's the matter daddy?" Kaylee asks.
"Nothing princess." Lucas assures. "Daddy's boss is just having people over that's all." Lucas pulls into his spot and helps Kaylee out of her carseat and walks her to the guest house. It wasn't as big as the main house, but it was still larger than most. It came with five bedrooms, a large living room and kitchen. Lucas had no complaints, when he was given the house by Julius the first thing he did was convert two of the rooms into rooms for Kaylee. One a bedroom and another as a playroom. Kaylee went and put away her backpack in her room while Lucas set up a series of math problems at the table. Just as he put his pen down, Kaylee ran into the kitchen dressed in pajamas. "Pajamas already?" Lucas asked.
"For bedtime daddy." Kaylee replies.
"But it's not bedtime." Lucas counters, he picks up Kaylee and starts to tickle her. "It's not bedtime yet silly!"
"But they're comfy daddy!" Kaylee laughs. Lucas plops Kaylee down at the kitchen table.
"Ok you can wear them, but we're gunna work on these problems, ok?" Kaylee starts to pout. Clearly that's not what she had in mind. "Mommy said you've been having issues with math, so we'll work on these until dinner time and we can watch anything you want." Lucas promised. "Deal?" Reluctantly, Kaylee nods her head.
"Deal." Lucas went up to the counter and took five apples from the basket he kept up there and brings them to the table.
"Ok, how many apples did Daddy bring over?" Lucas asks. Kaylee counts the apples, she needed a bit of help getting there but she still got there.
"Five apples." Kaylee responds.
"Good job." Lucas praises. "Ok, lets take away two apples. How many are left?" Kaylee once again counts the apples. Since just counting to five, she got to three a lot quicker."
"Three left."
"Ok, so whats five minus two?" Lucas asks. Kaylee thinks about for a moment, assure if the answer she came to in her head is right.
"Three?" Kaylee asks.
"Great job!" Lucas praises. "So reverse it. If five minus two is three, what is two plus three?"
"Five." Kaylee declared, this time more confidently.
"Awesome!" Lucas cheers. "Just awesome." Kaylee looked pleased with herself, for the first time understanding what someone was teaching her when it came to math.
"I wanna do another." She tells Lucas.
"Alright princess." Lucas tells her. "We'll do another."
Lucas and Kaylee worked on her math problems for another hour or so, improving with each problem. Even when Lucas walked away to order the pizza, Kaylee stuck with working on the math problems using the apples at first. "When you don't have any apples, use your fingers. See." Lucas demonstrates adding and subtracting on his fingers. To his surprise Kaylee picked up on it really quick. Finally she got done all the problems that Lucas had written out for her, getting every one of them right.
"All done?" Kaylee asks.
"Yup all done." Lucas assures her. Kaylee gets up from the table and plops herself down in front of the tv.
"Can we watch tv now Daddy?" She asks. "Plllleeeeaasssseeee?" Lucas chuckles and joins his daughter.
"Alright. Alright. So what are we watching?"
"Wreck it Ralph." Kaylee replies.
"Wreck it Ralph? Again?" Lucas asks jokingly, knowing full well she meant it. He goes over to the his movie cabinet and takes out 'Wreck it Ralph' and injects it into the dvd player. Everytime Kaylee came over the first thing she wanted to do was watch 'Wreck it Ralph.' It was apparently her favorite movie because Samantha also had a copy that she complained was 'worn out.' He had asked Kaylee once why she liked it so much, only for her to comment that Ralph reminded her of him. Strong guy that's seen as a villain? I can relate to that. Lucas thought. Which is why he never got tired of watching it. He hated to admit it but on days he really missed Kaylee, he would pop the movie in by himself and watch it. It was something they could share. The pizza arrived shortly after and in traditional fasion, Lucas attempted to teach Kaylee the fold technique. And as usual, she still asked for it to be cut up.
"Next time I'll get it." Kaylee promised.
"Alright princess. I'll hold you to that." Lucas replies, handing her a plate of tiny pizza slices. Halfway through the movie, a knock disrupts the movie. "Wait here and watch the movie, ok?" Kaylee nods her head without breaking contact with the television. Lucas opens the door to reveal Julius standing in the doorway, a manila envelope in hand.
"Took awhile to answer the door." Julius remarks. "You weren't asleep already, were you?"
"I'm with my daughter." Lucas replies. "What do you want?" Julius shoves the manila envelope into Lucas' hands.
"My contact found another one." Lucas looks to him in shock and begins to look through the manila envelope. "Don't screw this one up." As Julius was about to close the door, Lucas grabs it.
"I'm not doing anymore." Lucas tells him. Julius looks like he was punched in stomach.
"Excuse me?" Lucas stands his ground.
"I don't wanna take anyone out to begin with, so if I have too then I'm gunna wait for the games. Like everyone else." The anger radiates off of Julius. "I don't know how you keep getting this information, but I don't want it." Lucas throws the envelope at Julius' feet. Lucas attempts to shut the door, but it was his turn to be interrupted as Julius holds it open with his foot and picks the envelope off the floor.
"Oh I think you'll want this." Julius says tossing the envelope past Lucas into the house. "Just remember you ingrate. I own you. This house, your car, bank account, little Kaylee's college fund. It's all my money and it can all be taken away." Lucas takes his hand away from the door,
He's right. Lucas thought. I'm stuck.
"You will take down whoever I bring to your attention. And just remember, I can oust information just as easily as I can get it." Julius threatens.
"You wouldn't oust me." Lucas proclaims. "You need me alive."
"True." Julius admits. "But what a determined competitor would do to gain a leg up on a winner of the games." Lucas looks over to the couch to see his argument with Julius had garnered Kaylee's attention as she was peeking at them over the couch.
"You threatening my daughter?" Lucas whispers.
"Me?" Julius asks sarcastically. "Never. But then again, I'm not a competitor." Lucas glares at Julius. As much as he wanted to tell him to screw himself, he couldn't risk any of the contenders knowing of his daughter.
"I'll take a look." Lucas informs him.
"Good boy." Julius shames him before slamming the door shut. Defeated, Lucas gathers up the envelope and all the follow up papers.
He can go screw himself. Lucas thought. I can stall long enough to keep whoever is in that folder alive. I won't kill anyone else outside the games. He can't make me.
"Daddy?" Kaylee cuts into Lucas' thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Why is your boss so mean?" Lucas places the envelope on the counter and goes back to sitting with his daughter.
"I don't know sweetie." Lucas replies.
"I wish you worked for someone nicer."
"Me too sweetie." Lucas admited. Kaylee stands up on the couch and hugs him. Lucas hugs his daughter tight. He knew that he would never be done with Julius. He would keep breaking the rules, and Lucas would get dragged into his mess again and again until he was dead or too old to compete. Lucas and Kaylee continue to watch the movie until she fell asleep right before the ending.
Atleast she's already in her pajamas. Lucas thought as he picks up his daughter and carries her to her room which was described by Sammy as 'a little girl's dream'. Which makes sense considering it was a little girl who designed it. When Kaylee started to get older she began to draw on the walls to 'add some color'. So Lucas took her shopping and let her pick out whatever she wanted. Pink paint for the walls, white furniture that could be decorated, and of course My Little Pony bed sheets as the icing on the cake. Lucas tucked Kaylee into bed and carefully tiptoed out of the room.
"I love you daddy." Kaylee called out in her slumber.
"I love you to princess." Lucas whispered before closing the door. He walked back into the Living Room and began to clean up the excess of pizza slices and math homework, glazing over the folder Julius had left. His strategy is smart. Lucas thought. There can't be any games oif there are no competitors. But Lucas couldn't help but still feel that it was nothing short of murder. It's not like they're coming after me. Lucas continues to clean when he comes across the picture Kaylee had drawn him in class. Even though she had drawn another man in the picture, Lucas couldn't help but take a sense of pride in his daughter's drawing. He takes a few magnets from his fridge and hangs the drawing up. As he takes a step back and admires the drawing, something Kaylee says comes to mind.
I wish you worked for someone nicer. Lucas couldn't believe it hadn't come to him before. Wish. The winner of the games received a wish that would be granted by the council. Of course certain restrictions applied, for example they couldn't get rid of the games. Lucas had used his wish to assure his daughter lived a healthy life. No serious illnesses that could take her from him earlier than planned. Originally he thought they might not grant it, but to his shock they did. This time I'll use to be free. Lucas thought. I'll wish to be free of Julius and never compete in the games. No more killing, no more life or death competition, he could just live his life as a dad. Lucas can't help but plaster a grin on his face at the thought of going back to a normal life. But the looming sense of death draped itself onto Lucas. The smile faded as he limbered over to the kitchen table. Lucas began to think of his future, finding a stable job, watching Kaylee graduate high school, walking her down the aisle. And although he morally objecting, the promise of the envisioned future was too strong. Lucas picked up the folder that Julius had left, and began to read.