Party, Party

Chapter 13: And What About Me?

"Ugh..! Give me a fucking break you sadist!"

"Oh c'mon, you've barely even started, dog." Spades runs besides me in a mad sprint as I pant trying to keep up with him.

"What are you!? The human motorcycle?"

"What? We've only done 30km."

Every morning for the past five days since I'd been forcefully initiated into Nox Mafia, Spades would wake me up a good two hours before dawn so we could run the whole half circuit of Inner City. Running. No walking, no jogging, no nothing. Beads of clear sweat drip down my forehead and my limbs are aching up a storm. I can barely see past the red in my vision and hear through the loud beating in my chest.

"A-Ace, please can we have a break." I pant in between staggered breaths, my white hair falling in front of my face.

"Then you know what you have to say!!" The idiot running a metre in front of me turns around to meet me with a stellar grin. "If not, keep running! Hahahah!!"

"Ugh...!" Each day, Ace reminds me that if I say the 'special words', he'll let me have a break. "A-Ace...!"

"Mhmmm?" He smiles while running.

"I-I'll be a good dog if you give me a break..."

Ace immediately stops running and so do I. I collapse onto the floor in absolute bliss, gasping for air on the cold gravel which is beginning to bask in the soft orange light of dawn. We're in the middle of no where as far as I can tell, only a few power lines and train tracks to show we're some what near civilisation. My limbs seem to give out underneath me and my chest burns, tears form in my eyes and I'm just about to give into the darkness before I'm propped up into a sitting position.

"Don't even think about going back to sleep." Ace looks down at me with cold eyes. "There's no point having working dog who can't work."

"Oh yeah...?" When Ace is about to start running again, I sit on my knees, still exhausted. "There's no point having a master who you can't trust, let alone believe they won't 'work' you to death. What kind of a trainer are you-" There's a sudden gust of air before I'm thrown onto the floor, a throbbing pain in my cheek. The man above me grabs my uniform by the collar and pulls me harshly towards him.

"You've got some guts, you know that. I admire your stubborn to hell personality and sense of pride, but honestly," Ace looks me in the eyes. "I want to run you dry until your a broken doll in my hands."

I know I'm suppose to take his sentiment seriously, but... "That's so insanely stupid I'm gonna start throwing up clichés." I roll my eyes at the male, grabbing at the hands tightly wrapped around the cloth of my uniform.  "Isn't it better when someone has personality, wouldn't it be incredibly boring for you if they were just empty. No wonder your trainees don't last long." I free my self from Ace's powerful grip, and sit in front of him. "Look, I don't know why your always so happy-go-lucky and sadistic all the time, but you must've had some fucked up shit happen to you in the past or something like that, so I'm not gonna judge." Achingly I stand up, wobbling in each movement of limb.

"You don't know what fucked up shit is..." I hear him mutter behind me.

"Grow up Ace. We all had something happen to us to get here. You're a part of Nox Mafia's top 5, so when someone asks you 'How did you get to this point?', what do you say?" I look down to Ace, who's trying to figure out what I'm trying to get at. "But for me... I'm a parentless rank of 1010 who's the dog of Nox Mafia's top 5. If someone asks me 'How did you get to this point?', what do I say...?"

"And if someone were to ask, what would you say?" Ace asks curiously, but his eyes still lay dark under his fringe.

"My parents were killed when I was 13, I raised myself by stealing anything I could, even if it meant not eating for three straight days if I couldn't get anything." I sigh. "Everyone said, 'Don't be selfish. At least you didn't lose them young, it would've hurt more.'" I blink at the sun which is slowly rising over the outskirts of Outer City, now visible in the distance. "But honestly... Isn't losing someone once your older hurt more...? You know who the person is, and the more days you spend with them, the more they mean to you. It works like that with everyone." I shrug.

"And how about me?" Ace gets up, one knee at a time. "The time you've spent with me, do I treat you any different?" He smirks.

I feel the gentle breeze sift through my hair, the temperature of my skin slowly rising. "The fact that you can ask me that question without a thought, doesn't that show that we're even the tiniest bit closer then we were before?" I shrug again, head leaning to the left. "And now, your even giving me a break and I only have to say a couple of words instead of sucking ya' dick."

"Shut up." He wraps his gloved hand around my eyes and I can tell he's concealing laughter from the way his hand is shaking. "Your logic is irritating."

"Wouldn't really call it logic now would we? Just lighting the mood." 

Ace smirks. "Not the only thing your lighting at the moment."

"Oh my god stop please."

"Your not the only woman to ever tell me that."

"What have I done?" I mock him sarcastically, holding back the temptation to collapse on the floor and start bawling.

"What haven't I done-"

"Ok we can stop now Casanova." I lightly slap him on the chest and start picking up my walking pace. "We gonna finish this stupid ass run or not, Mr. Slick?"

"Sure." His evil smile returns once again. "When we get back to base your not eating until you complete 100 sit ups."

"At least your gonna feed me sometime."