The man in the suit wasted no time as usual, tossing a card towards Jack, who in turn caught it with a bit of curiosity and excitement.
It was only a 2 of hearts.
He pouted slightly, thinking that it was a bad thing to get a low card.
"Aw, I wish it was a little more."
Though given his currently still injured state, it was probably for the best that he did not fight against a particularly strong opponent. While that was happening, Jessica attempted to approach Mia, who in response shied away, turning aside and shuffling away. As for Emma, it seemed as though she didn't really care much about anything anymore, looking around with disinterest.
Seemingly oblivious to all of this, Jack only looked at the card in his hand with disappointment. Similarly, Seedy who was holding him, curiously peeked at the card with both heads as well. While that was happening, the man in a suit had disappeared for a little while.
Suddenly, his deep voice rang out from behind Jack.
"Since it's not as though you will be able to change what you will have to fight, I have brought the cage to you."
Seedy slowly turned around, bringing Jack with him, before tilting its heads to the side at the sight.
The man in a suit stood in front of a relatively small cage. The cage itself was about the size of a studio apartment. Within, was what appeared to be a tiny chick. Jack put a finger on his chin and tilted his head to the side rather innocently.
He waved at Seedy, and somehow it understood his meaning, extending out the vines and letting Jack down. Jack's feet hadn't exactly grown back entirely, leading to him awkwardly trying to walk before inevitably falling down. Still, he didn't appear to mind much and dragged himself through the ground.
When he did make it to the cage, Jack took a closer look at the chick, which in turn waddled up to the edge of the cage and also looked back at him. Realistically, the bars of the cage had a wide enough gap for the chick to easily walk through, but it didn't.
The two of them looked at each other with beady eyes. After a few seconds, both the chick and Jack tilted their heads to the side, eyeing the other rather. Their mannerisms matched up so well that it was as though they were both looking at a mirror.
The other people in his group hadn't currently noticed what was happening, all doing their own thing.
While that was happening, Jack ended up putting the card into the lock. Once he did so, the chick chirped rather excitedly, flapping its wings slightly as it waddled over to him. Jack sat down in as comfortable as a position he could and held out a hand, which the chick happily jumped into.
Jack could have easily killed it if he wanted to, winning whatever this fight was supposed to be. However, he didn't. Instead, he just cradled the chick while it looked up at him, nestling itself comfortably in his hands, standing up, and fluttering its wings to reposition itself.
For a while, the two of them remained there.
Jack slowly closed as his smile gradually disappeared. He began mumbling softly to himself. Then eventually, he appeared to string together notes, which was rather strange since his last singing escapade wasn't exactly the most skillful of things.
Rather than singing, he almost appeared to be imitating based off of some kind of memory.
Gradually, his words became audible.
"...Seagulls called at the wharf.
Unable to join, I watched them go.
Floating off at the mercy of the waves in tow.
As they flew so far away, I asked them to take my past too.
And yet here I still am, with everything I am to show.
...Hey, did you hear at all?
Our apricot tree blossomed on my birthday.
While the flowers were so bright, the bugs were all I saw.
The beauty all came from the dead, is what I have to say."
Jack's head swayed side to side slightly as he began singing surprisingly well. The duck had similarly closed its eyes and began to sway its head back and forth.
"Mint candy.
The dim light of a broken lamppost.
A dumpster that hasn't been used for years.
And the signpost of a closed-down store.
In front of the building that I once knew of.
Yet here I am, banished to the other side.
You told me if I want tomorrow to change, I have to start today.
And I get it, I get it all but still...
What am I to do if I can no longer feel it all again?
The reason for all this monotony,
Surely is because I'm still searching for...
The truth of what fulfillment really is."
The chick blinked a few times, its eyes visibly growing teary.
"Sometimes I wonder where you are.
But then I instead look at the bars of this beautiful birdcage.
Lined with gold, they shine so brightly as they hold me from going afar.
Only able to see the outside world, but I'm willing to stare as I age.
Because of what you said,
I'm fighting something I can't even see.
But is this truly what I should be doing instead?
Because what I'm fighting for is ultimately unsightly, we agree.
Perhaps the reason I can't stop thinking of death,
Is because of your beautiful smile.
And if the world has you in it's breadth,
Then I suppose I can stay here in this cage for a while"
Jack stopped singing, instead opening his eyes. However, they were glazed over while he appeared to be in thought. As for the duck, it had begun sniffling, lying there for a while. Then after a short moment, it reached up to its beak with both wings.
A normal person would've imagined it was simply going to wipe its tears.
And yet, a snap resounded.
The bird twisted its own beak violently, to the point that it blocked airflow to its lungs. After several seconds passed, it began convulsing, flopping out of Jack's hand and onto the ground. The spasming gradually calmed down, before it stopped moving altogether.
Dead.
When Jack slowly opened his eyes after a calm silence, he looked over at the bird without any particular reaction. He simply stood up, and before he fell over Seedy came over to catch him.
Even then, he appeared to be reminiscing on something, completely detached from the events around him.
The man in a suit, despite being known for his impatience, waited a long time after the fight had already been over before announcing the results. As the only person who was directly watching, it seemed he was rather bewildered by the whole situation.
"You... have won this match."
From there, instead of instantly traveling between the trees, he had decided to walk. Until eventually, he reached Emma, personally reaching out and handing the card out. In turn, Emma raised an eyebrow, looking at him rather strangely.
"That's rather unlike you."
Still, she took the card without much resistance. As for the man in a suit, he simply shrugged his shoulders.
"I am still thinking of things that I have seen."
This only caused Emma to raise her eyebrow higher.
"You are telling me that a 2 of hearts could be more notable than an Ace? I find it hard to believe that I missed out on much."
The man in the suit laughed.
"Well, even if you had seen it firsthand, that would change little to nothing. It's something that your eye can't see."
Emma looked at him for a few more seconds before scoffing.
"Sure. This is the last fight anyway. Let's simply get this over with."
Without looking at the card, she simply began walking in a direction. On the other hand, Mia and Jessica were playing a strange game of cat and mouse, as though they were trying to pretend they weren't a cat or mouse.
Though in the end, Mia gave up on the pretense when Jessica started to get close and simply began running without saying a word. This shocked Jessica. She expected their relationship to ice over slightly, but not this intensely of a rejection.
"Wait, Mia!"
Despite hearing it loud and clear, Mia didn't acknowledge it. Instead, she kept running the way that Jack had gone, until eventually he saw Jack, who was being lifted up by Seedy. She paused for a moment, remembering that it should've been his turn after hers, and should've had a fight.
Though he seemed completely fine, for what it was worth.
But while the cage was gone, she had caught sight of the padlock on the floor, and not too far from it a dead chick with its beak snapped and slightly blue body from lack of oxygen. Naturally she wasn't going to assume that the chick had done it to itself for whatever reason.
Instead, she looked at Jack with new eyes. While it was mandatory to kill, did it have to be in such a cruel and painful way like suffocation? Not to mention, didn't Jack share similar traits to Jessica's cruelty?
Then what if he was a monster of some kind too?
Mia was beginning to lose her mind.