Sarah checked her phone again as she ran swearing to herself. The day that her job called her into the office for an assessment was the day that there was an attack in the middle of the park and all the assorted complications that came with. Swearing up and down she sprinted down the street trying to figure out the fastest way home.
Glancing at the sky she saw the setting sun and knew that at this point Marco was likely going to be back home. Instead of going to her usual stop, she took a short cut that would take her past the gym. Marco and Jack both hated it when she did this because the neighborhood was rougher but she had to remind them every time she was an electric axe wielding woman.
Turning the corner she broke into another run and marveled a bit at it. She used to be able to do about a mile of running but she’d be out of her breath. But now she’d been running at least twice that and she wasn’t even breaking a sweat. She knew it was partially because of the celestial power in her but even before that she had noticed that she’d been getting in shape just from all of their fighting.
Her evening gym visits certainly didn’t hurt.
Speaking of the gym, she was passing it by now. The sign was still hanging on by a thread. She knew inside it was nothing like that but it didn’t help presentation. But as she passed she could hear shouting. The lights were off and usually there weren’t people allowed inside. Working her way back slowly she twisted open the door and poked her head inside.
Just out of view she could see someone in the ring. Punching, kicking and shouting at a partner that wasn’t there. She knew the general amount of people that used the gym and she could guess at who this was.
Gen was wearing a tank top and jeans, her hair still been done up like she had been doing something important prior. Sarah watched her punch and lunge around the ring. She saw the bandages on her arms, her face and at her waist. But more importantly she saw the tight band around her arm. If she had to guess that’s where her stone had been. Marco had told her what he saw. Shaking her head she went to the ring and stare at her.
Gen did a massive round house kick and shouted. It echoed in the gym and when she landed, both fist extended, she stared at Sarah. Sarah didn’t clap, wave or do anything. She just met her gaze calmly. Gen stared at her a moment longer and then scoffed. “Private session.”
“Have you been fighting yourself since this afternoon?”
“Private session. Fuck off.”
Sarah bristled and raised her eyebrow, “If you’re that pissed off then try me on for size.”
“What?”
Sarah was already taking her jacket off and climbing into the ring. Gen watched her and started making space as Sarah reached behind her head and tied her hair up. She raised her fists and Gen scoffed. “Come on. You’re just asking to get beat up at this point.”
“Then beat me up if you can.”
Gen didn’t wait for some sort of official signal or a bell. She just rushed at her. Sarah saw it in her. She was mad and she was hurting. The first few blows she went with were rushed and sloppy. Even Sarah, with only self defense training, could read and block them. And when she did Gen got more frustrated. But she forced herself to calm down and got far more precise.
Parries with her wrist that messed up all of Sarah’s punches and counter strikes that smacked her in the face. The blows hurt but not nearly as much as they should have. Her stone really was gone.
With this realization Sarah was able to leverage some of the superhuman augments she had been trying to hold back. With each faster than normal block Sarah was able to provide Gen got more frustrated. Angrier. Sarah glared and caught a kick, sending one of her own back at her. They went back and forth blocking, parrying, fighting and eventually just hitting each other. It went above and beyond sparring at this point as they traded blows, Gen letting out her pain and Sarah trying to recognizing and accept it.
“I know what happened today!”
“You don’t know anything!” Gen growled back going on the offensive.
Sarah caught her first and yanked it down throwing her off balance. Gen twirled around and punched her in the stomach driving her backwards. “I know that you saw Owen!”
“It wasn’t him!” She swung wildly at her.
“Yes, it was!” She blocked another blow from her and locked their arms bringing them close together. “It’s just as much as Owen as it is Jack!”
“They’re gone!” Gen shouted staring her in the eye. “He’s gone.”
Sarah hit her forehead against Gen’s hard and glared at her, “They’re not gone until we believe they are. The moment we give up on them is the moment we lose them!”
Gen stumbled backwards slowly, going on the back foot and Sarah pressed forward. She kept her forehead pressed firmly against her own pushing her toward a corner. “Owen and Jack are possessed by a fucking alien! And we’re both powerless to help them! We can fight and break as much as we want but we can’t help them! And I get that. It fucking scares me too. But I refuse to give up. I refuse to believe that he’s really gone and I know you refuse too. Cause you’re just as stubborn as me. And you love him as much as I love Jack.”
Gen met her eyes, met them with their unwavering clarity and screamed. At Sarah. At the circumstances they were in. Of the pain in her heart and everything around them. They slid to the ground slowly and Gen stared at the ground her voice hoarse at this point. And she cried. It was sudden, it was ugly and it was painful.
Sarah wrapped her arms around her and felt her tears running down her own cheeks. Gen whispered, “He broke my stone. How can I save him if I can’t even be on the same footing?”
“We’ll figure that out too,” Sarah said slowly. “We’re a team. We’re all knights together. Once a knight always a knight. That’s for all of us. You included. We’re going to save them. Together.”
The Harlequin Library 