Gonna live this life as the Heroine Villianess

🌊 Chapter 6 🌊

The month passed quickly as the two of them began to train more vigorously as ever. Ajax continued to wake up at the brink of dawn to hack at the training dummies in the arena, but brought Wren along as well. It was hard, at first, getting used to waking up so early- but she had soon became accustomed to accompanying him to the arena. On the day of the first fight, he had let her sleep, saying she needed the rest. When she argued that he needed the sleep as well, he just laughed and turned away. Only a year had passed, but the nine year old Ajax was so much more different than his past self.

Even today he seemed distant as they lined up for their daily meal. Glancing around, Wren stared sadly at the children around them, all of them probably thinking this was their last meal before their death. Some sat solemnly at their chairs, while others ate like they had been starved for days. 

Wren cut off a small piece of her cold moon pie (They must have felt sorry for them) and took a bite. There would be ten fights in total, held over the course of ten years- and in each, a selected number of children from each regiment would be thrown into the arena to fight to death. Signora, Ajax, and herself were in the first fight. Scara would definitely be in the next. Surprisingly he hadn't protested against the arrangement, but Wren couldn't help but think he had a hidden bloodlust. Perhaps that was why he and Ajax got along so well.

Wren held on tightly to Ajax's sleeve as they were led into a dark room. The platform beneath them would rise above into the arena, and then the fight would commence. As the lights dimmed, Ajax's deep blue vision became her only source of light, and she inched closer to him. Even as the ground beneath them began to tremble, he held her close.

~ 🌊 ~

She was running, but she didn't know from what. A stray windblade struck her way, and she ducked, getting away with just a shallow cut on her cheek. Wren found a small nook in the side of the wall, and huddled away into the shadows. Of course she could fight back if needed, but it she knew she wouldn't have to. In front of her, she watched intently as Ajax thought his way through the crowd, his back to Signora, who they had formed a wordless truce with in the past year. Wren winced slightly as he hacked away at an unarmed boy with a blank look on his face. Even as blood splattered onto his clothed he didn't hesitate to continue swinging his blade. A young girl with a Geo vision glanced her way, who panicked and raised a rock pillar beside her. Wren leapt to the side and ran.

~ 🌊 ~

"Are you alright?" It was over. When she had looked at the clock, Wren had only counted 57 minutes. 80 children dead in less than an hour- but it had felt much longer than that. "Yes. You?" Ajax reached up to hold a cotton ball to her cheek, the alcohol sending shoots of pain through her face. He gave her a discontent look. "You promised me you would be careful." Wren rolled her eyes and huffed, curling her fingers tightly on the tattered bed sheets beneath her. "I was! I'm alive, aren't I?" Ajax didn't look convinced, but kept quiet as he bandaged the cut. Taking her hand, he led her back out to the canteen, where he practically forced two bowls of soup down her throat. "Eat," He said. "You're skinny enough as you are." He paused, his face shifting into one of mortification. "Archons- I sound like my mother!" Wren laughed at him, even as he pressed another spoon of scalding soup to her lips.

After dinner, Wren and Ajax retreated to their bunks. She fell onto the bed with a sigh, sitting up and dangling her feet so AJax could see them from the bottom bunk. Flipping herself over, she stared at him as he threw his boots across the room, which landed with a clunk near the battered wooden doorway. "You did good today." She said quietly. He stared at her, but didn't answer. "I'm serious." Wren gave him a weird look. "Seriously, you don't give yourself enough credit Ajax." Ajax frowned. "I'm not good enough yet. Even Scaramouche could beat me in a spar if he actually tried." She giggled.

"Still," She said. "You need to know when to stop, Ajax." She hopped down and sat beside him. "One of these days you're gonna go too far, I swear." He took a few locks of her hair and began to braid it absentmindedly. Wren closed her eyes as his fingers began to weave her hair into intricate patterns. "Hey, promise me something." She opened one eye and shifted, just enough so she could see him from the corner of her eye. "...What?"

Ajax dropped her hair, and Wren mourned the loss of the warmth of his hands. "Promise you'll always be here," He said bluntly. "Next to me, I mean. Don't run away." Wren blinked, then laughed. "You're such a child!" Wren fell back onto the mattress, scrunching her nose when she felt a spring dig into her back uncomfortably. Beside her, Ajax pouted, seemingly unsatisfied with her answer. "I'm serious, though." She glance up at him. "Promise me." 

She paused, and after a moment of hesitation, bounded up and smiled at him brightly, throwing herself into his arms.  Wren pulled back and held out her hand, her pinky extended. When he looked at her in confusion, she laughed and said, "It's a pinky promise!" She looped her finger with his and continued, "You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again." Ajax raised his eyebrows. "Bit extreme, don't you think?" Wren rolled her eyes.

Her smile never faded, not even as she lay snuggled into his side, Ajax already fast asleep. Yes, Ajax was a child. A young, naive, child- being a cold blooded killer didn't change this fact. Because promises were fragile. Promises could be broken. And in the end... she had never actually promised him, hadn't she?