[05] Mountain Sector FIGHT

[DA 2009]

SOPHIA VS. ALEXANDER TRAFFORD

Here they were, two completely broken people on the side of a mountain located God-knows-where on the planet of Dante. Amazing how the collars seemed to select the perfect opponents this round, matching up those who felt the same pains, yet had to be the ones who walked away.

“Don’t give up?” Alexander laughed bitterly, raising his palm and alighting a nearby boulder with a golden sphere of energy. At first, it seemed as though the word Sophia had spoken would soothe the savage beast, or at least give him pause to contemplate their meaning, but Trafford was lost to his inconsolable rage. “That’s funny. I want to give up. But I can’t. Belle thought he understood, but he didn’t. He couldn’t understand, couldn’t know.”

The addict grunted, moving to launch the now psychokinetically charged rock at his opponent. It could, after all, prove more effective than it did against Zulenka. Suddenly, however, the strength left him, and the golden lining around the chunk of earth dissipated; the rock fell short of its target. The Leech Seed was beginning to take effect, but the street entertainer didn’t seem to notice.

“I know,” Sophia said, her empathy almost causing her tone to mimic his own. “I know what it feels like to lose somebody. To have them be the reason you’re even here, and then one day they’re gone, and you have nothing else to live for.”

In her case, those words could almost be taken literally.

“And something within you…something inside…it just…dies,” he sobbed brokenly. He closed his eyes, and whispered desperately to himself, “I want to see you, Alice.”

But she would not come. He could not summon her from within, as he had realized before. So instead, he summoned his pistol. As it touched his fingers, he squeezed the trigger repeatedly, firing at the woman who reminded him so of his lost love. Had he even loved Alice? Had he even known her long enough? He must have, or his heart wouldn’t be broken this way.

Sophia dodged a widely aimed array of bullets, of the normal variety. She ducked behind the boulder, which had conveniently fallen into place and given her shelter from his maniacal assaults. The bullets, devoid of any psychokinetic influence, shattered harmlessly against the thick skin of the rock, sending sprays of rubble and debris in all directions. Finally, the priestess heard a series of empty clicks, indicating that the clip had expelled its last projectile. All that the healer had to do was wait for the Leech Seed to take full effect…and stay alive until it did so.

Hearing Trafford speak only reminded Sophia of her own loss. But, her situation was ironically reversed. Alice floated somewhere on the spiritual plane, and Alexander was trapped in a mortal body. Sophia was relegated to the afterlife, and Kaden unable to ascend beyond the living. She wouldn’t want him to, either. She didn’t wish death on anyone, not even Tempo. For a moment, for a brief fleeting second of hope, the healer wondered if the tournament really was real. If it was as Sage said, she’d go back to King Kai’s, as she already had resigned herself to. But if it wasn’t…if it was real, then that meant Kaden was dead, and maybe, just maybe, she could meet him when she crossed the threshold of death once more. Did she dare to hope?

“No, don’t think like that,” she chided herself. She had to stay alive, as long as she could, because this opportunity, as hollow as it had become, would never come again. The great divide that separated the pairs stretched out agonizingly before them, and there was no bridge. Sophia simply had to accept it, although she could fight it as long as she could.

“COME OUT!” Trafford suddenly hollered, causing her to flinch from the sheer torture in his voice. “I have to finish this!”

“Yeah, me too. Me too,” Sophia said quietly, too softly for her opponent to hear.

Trafford shook, barely able to hold the pistol straight as his world became a watery blur of what it once was. His face was streaked with salty tracks, his eyes puffy and crazed. “If you don’t come out, then I will make you,” he threatened in his wavering tone. With his free hand, he exerted his powers once again, this time to lift the boulder.

Sophia squeaked as her source of refuge against his relentless assault was picked up and thrown from the path. She turned around, standing jerkily on her feet, knowing that the seed hadn’t quite finished its designated task quite yet; she needed to stall for more time.

“Don’t lose yourself to this,” Sophia said, forcing a fake grin. “You have to just keep smiling, you know?”

She must have been out of her mind, trying to console him while he had gun pointed to her chest. Perhaps better than any other player in this tournament, Sophia was the only one who completely understood the demons that deviled Alex. He had given in to them willingly in search of absolution, while she resisted. That strength alone was what separated the two. Alex began to stagger drunkenly as his energy sapped away; still, he did not once suspect the source.

“I don’t have anything left to smile about,” he slurred, trying to keep his concentration on the attractive girl in armor. “I killed them. Killed them. They’re dead.”

Her concern only increased twofold with those words.

“They just got in my way, and I had to kill them,” Trafford rationalized. “You’re in my way.”

Sophia could easily put two and two together. She couldn’t blame him; hadn’t she done the same? What she didn’t know, couldn’t possibly know, was that she finished what Trafford started in Tempo, a strangely binding link.

Alex summoned his other pistol, aligning their sights together and letting fly a fresh salvo of bullets. He no longer had the strength to consistently sustain his psychokinesis. The girl dodged, moving closer. She figured him weak enough to be able to inject a source of venomous ki to accelerate the process. All she had to do was get close enough to touch him. Somehow, though, things went terribly awry. As soon as one of Trafford’s clips emptied, he dropped the gun, and stopped firing the other. He reached out his hand, grabbing a loose collection of rocks and charging them with his last bit of power. They exploded at Sophia’s side, grazing her body as she spun around to avoid them, tripping over her feet as she stumbled.

Sophia hit the ground on her knees, using her palms to stop her fall. Alexander walked over to her, solemnly raising his last pistol and aiming for the back of her head. He grabbed her by the shoulder, lifting her up until she was on her knees.

Now this scene was familiar…

Alex swallowed hard, his mind nearly breaking in half as he realized where he’d seen this before. Only then, it had been from the other side, where he’d watched as Alice was executed right in front of his eyes. His chest heaved up and down as he began to hyperventilate.

“But you’re not her…you’re not her…you’re not her,” he repeated over and over again, chanting the mantra as if to hold the painful memories at bay.

“I’m not her,” Sophia agreed, hoping it might help her cause.

The gun trembled, and finally completely fell from his hand. He dropped to his knees, full blown sobs erupting from his throat. He buried his face in his hands, and couldn’t stop crying. Sophia’s first instinct was to back away and let the Leech Seed take him, put him out of his misery. She realized, though, that he wasn’t the same as Tempo or Tamsin. He didn’t need a mercy killing. Instead, she turned around, and hesitantly put her arms around him, withdrawing the sapping seed. Trafford didn’t resist, and the two just sat there until their collars finally separated them.