I Die Often Hank

Chapter 14

Crimson's POV:

I glanced at the wall to my left in my "room". I had engraved two sets of tally marks one for the number of days, one for the number of fights. 24 days, and 57 fights. I had gotten no sign from the outside world that someone was trying to free me. I had given up and just accepted that once again this was my life. Maybe someday Midas will let me move back into my house, but I doubt he'll trust me that much again. My door slid open and the men grabbed me and brought me to my second fight of the day. 

I was brought to the cage as usual and put on the far side while my opponent was placed in. 

"Tonight gentlemen we have The Bloody Knight and The Duplicator!" Midas yelled out to the rowdy crowd. 

I readied myself as the divider raised up. My opponent was a fairly small woman who didn't appear very strong. Then nine versions of her split from her original form. They all mixed together and I lost track of the original. 

I rushed forward and swung at one of the women, who just turned to mist when I made contact. More versions of the woman sprung out. I pulled myself up onto the cage wall and sprung forward kicking two more of them into a mist. Upon landing I slipped on the floor that was soaked from the mist. I tried to grab onto one of them to pull them down or me up but they all just faded away between my fingers. I kept trying to get up and hit more of them but I couldn't find the original. Then one of them kicked me in the front of my throat and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I started to feel dizzy and weak as my vision started to slip away. I continued to fight and grab the women who disappeared as soon as I grabbed them. My vision was almost fully gone when I saw a man show Midas a photo and then the two shook hands. The man looked like Erik? Was he finally here? I lost consciousness. 

I woke up in the locker room. The woman had already left. Midas loomed above me looking angry. 

"My champion, I expected so much more from you. Perhaps you merely needed to be treated like what you are; a weak little bitch," Midas spat. He turned to look at his men and ordered them, "No food for this one for the next week". 

Six days later

I was starving, nothing hurt but I felt empty and tired; weak. I had already fought twice today and hoped that was it, of course, it wasn't. I had been instructed to prep for another fight. I pulled on the blood-stained jeans and tank-top. My bare feet froze against the concrete floor, it must be below freezing today, it explained why the healing was taking extra long lately. 

Soon the men came and took me like usual and placed me in my half of the cage. I awaited the fight trying my best to focus and stay up on my feet. Between the starvation and not being fully healed I was at a very low point, but I had to win I couldn't stand another week without food. 

"Gentlemen, tonight The Bloody Knight will face off against The Beast!" Midas announced. 

I looked around the crowd for familiar faces, I spotted Erik again for the first time since the night I fought The Duplicator. Hopefully, he would actually do something this time. 

The divider raised and I spotted my opponent. He looked like a big teddy bear, but blue. He was rather tall, very muscular, and covered head to toe in thick blue fur.

He didn't make a move to begin the fight, so I did. I rushed him and slid my foot under his leg causing him to fall onto the floor. He grabbed my ankle with his paw and yanked me down. He rolled on top of me and looked me in the eyes. 

"Just think about bones" he teased out. I looked at him confused still trying to struggle out of his grasp. I looked him directly in the eyes again as I flipped us so I was on top of him. His eyes looked like the familiar blue eyes of Hank? There is no way. Right? 

I pulled myself off the ground and he did the same. I pushed him against the wall of the cage. 

"What prank did we pull at my first Sunday dinner?" I questioned wrapping my hands loosely around his throat.

"You, Peter, and I dyed Erik's hair blonde and you called him Betty White," he answered. It really was Hank. Somehow, this was Hank.

"Break my leg and end the fight," I whispered to him backing up and away from him. He hesitated for a moment before climbing up onto the cage wall and kicking at my knee bending the bone back in a way it should never go. I fell to my knees and made a show of trying to get up or reach him and failing. 

"It would appear that The Beast has vanquished The Bloody Knight!" Midas called out. The men escorted me and Hank to the lockerroom. I looked to the men who watched on. 

"Boys, why don't you be gentlemen and give us some privacy?" I asked them. They made a face and turned around. I looked to Hank and motioned to choke the men. We moved in sync and choked a guard each. 

"Go through the air duct, Erik is holding the fan blades still for us," Hank explained. I hopped up onto the sink and pulled the vent open. I hoisted myself up inside and began to crawl through. I could hear and now human Hank pulled himself up as well. 

Should I tell Hank what I was going to at the proposal? No, it's probably not the best time for that. I also can't even see his face. Wait, is he looking at my ass right now? Not important.

I followed the ducts for a while, crawling up quite a bit. We could hear an alarm go off in the building, they knew we were missing. Eventually, we reached an external duct. I moved my arm back as much as I could and punched the vent several times before it dropped. I squeezed my head out of the vent and looked around. I didn't see anyone. It was below freezing outside and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground. I pulled myself out of the duct and fell very ungracefully into the snow. The snow was at least a foot deep. I struggled my way up and I felt goosebumps cover my skin. I turned around just in time to see Hank plummet into the snow. 

"Keep going forward, Erik should be waiting in the jet," Hank explained. 

We moved as fast as could pulling our bare feet out of the snow just for them to sink back down with the next step. My leg only barely started to mend itself but I just dragged it along. Hank had moved several feet in front of me. He turned back to look at me. I saw shock all over his face as his eyes went wide. I looked down to see a golden arrow pierce through my chest going straight through my body and embedding itself in a nearby tree. I turned as I collapsed and saw the archer walk back inside. I fell into the snow which caved in around my body. I watched as the snow around me became stained with blood. Hank rushed towards me and picked me up, holding me tightly in his arms and he started to run. I looked up at him and began to cough up blood everywhere. My entire body started to feel as if it was on fire, I was so hot. The world around me began to fade away, as my eyes became heavy and my hearing became distorted. Hank looked down at me crying.

"You're gonna be okay, I promise," He spoke reassuringly. 

"Hank, I lo-" I began to speak before I started to slip away. 

"Stay with me! Hey, come on, stay here with me! Please..." He called out frantically. I could see the lights of the jet in the distance. I could see a figure move out from the jet and run towards us. I tried to fight against the darkness that tried to consume me closing in faster and faster. 

"I lov-" I spoke out before the darkness won, engulfing me.