forum It's A Deal Then //Private with Chogiwae//Closed

Started April 07, 2020 by @gracehustle

tune

(Alright)

Venali was worried. It was no later than dawn but already he was up, painfully aware of his bond to Raina now that it was time for her first trial. He dressed in a particularly fancy outfit, a gold and white suit with the royal seal stitched on his left shoulder. The trial itself wasn't until noon, but his uncle had already assigned him to help get everything set up. Plus he wanted to stop by Raina's cell.

Everything he needed to do was rushing through his head and he forced himself to stop for a minute. The fact that he would possibly die before dinner was enough to make him calm down. He was sure he wasn't ready to die, but his fate was in someone else's hands today, specifically a human girl who absolutely hated him. This day was going to be interesting.

(Love how Venali is also concerned that he may not get dinner)

Serena couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t just because of the trials, but also because of the fact that she might just see Scyth after so long. Maybe the screams of her family would finally stop. Maybe she’d finally get some peace after she kills him.

Venali, undoubtedly, was nervous. He tried not to show it, but Serena knew he was. His life was on the line. Chances were he’d die in the trials, but Serena tried not to feel fear. She could do this. She knew the trial was in the woods. That gave her plenty of coverage, and also allowed for some traps. She could do this. She had to.

For Alec. For her family. For revenge.

(why of course he's concerned about not getting dinner, isn't that every Fae's focus on a day they might die? XD)
"Rise and shine Raina," Venali called, doing his usual balancing act of carrying three plates down when it was finally a reasonable time for him to bring breakfast to her and her brother. It seemed like hours since he woke up, but it had only been an hour, one painful hour filled with him roping together Fae to set up the stands that surrounded the arena.

He passed the usual plate to a guard, slid Raina's into her cell and locked the door once he got out all before sitting down outside her cell and digging into his own food. For a potential last meal, it wasn't much. Scrambled eggs, fruit, and toast topped with peanut butter. "Ready for today?"

(Of course, of course 🤣)

Serena was already up and awake by the time Venali came in, but hearing his voice made her irritated. The jitters nearly vanished, overtaken by her irritation and dislike for the Fae.

This time, when she took her plate, she didn’t question what food it was this time. Amazingly, she recognized the fruit, which she felt rather proud of. Like always, she ate with her hands.

“How many hours till I have to go?” she asked, ignoring his question entirely.

"It's at noon if that's what you're asking." He responded. Venali huffed when he saw her eating with her hands, pointing his fork at her, "When you get out of that arena, I'm teaching you how to eat with silverware." His plate was clean within minutes, set at his side as he watched her through the bars of her cell. "You're not in the arena alone, don't forget, there are other humans in there too. All you have to do is survive the longest. Don't seek out the monster." He wanted to make sure she knew that for sure.

That was what was going to keep her alive.

Serena rolled her eyes. He’d be teaching her nothing. She liked eating with her hands—what was wrong with that?

At his reminder, she cursed. Having other humans in there would definitely foil her plans. The traps she’d set out would definitely be started by one of them.

“Don’t worry about me, Fae,” she said instead. “I’ll stay alive.”

"I'm just making sure," He replied, shrugging, "This monster isn't something to mess around with, you'll know what I mean when you see it in person." Venali went quiet with that, remembering the other times that his uncle had used this creature.

The first time he saw it, even from the royal seat in the stands, it had scared him. Being in the arena with that thing was something he couldn't even imagine.

"Are you done with your food, you savage? I can take your plate and leave, that way Arya can stop lurking around the corner and bring you your supplies and clothes? She's getting antsy." In return, a slightly offended huff came from the hallway, one that clearly belonged to Arya.

Serena glared daggers at him. There was nothing savage about eating with the hands. If anyone was savage, it was him.

“Look who’s talking,” she muttered under her breath, but brought her plate to him nonetheless. “I’d love to see someone punch the living daylights out of you. Bonus if the someone is me.”

Right after she gave him the plate, she gave him an all-to-fake smile.

“I’ll see you after the first trial,” she crooned. “Don’t miss me too much.”

Venali just grinned at her threat, taking the plate, "I think you'll be happy to know that I get threats on the daily, so yours is at the bottom of my list." He scooped up his own plate as well and waved to her as he walked away, calling down the hallway, "Don't die."

He actually meant what he said, especially about her not dying. But he wouldn't mention that. Right now the last thing he wanted to do was say something nice to her and be snapped back with some snarky comment.

As soon as he disappeared, Arya appeared in front of her door, a soft smile on her face, "Hi Raina."

Don't die. She wasn't planning on doing that. She hadn't made it this far just to die like this. She had Alec to protect and a family to avenge. Though Venali wasn't looking, she still flipped him the bird, a scowl on her features that died down when Arya spoke.

Serena simply nodded in reply, then picked at her nails. Now that they were clean… it was so hard not to bite them, a nervous habit she could never get rid of. "What do I have to do before the trial?"

"You're required to change into this, and I have to tie your hair back," Arya said gently, pulling out a key and slipping into Raina's cell. She held out the clothes for the girl, as well as pulled a small knife out of her pocket and set it on top, "That's the one weapon you're allowed to have in the arena. Please don't use it on me."

As soon as she had taken the clothes, Arya slipped out of the cell, motioning for the guards to go away so she had privacy to change. Surprisingly they did and she shot Raina a small smile, looking away and leaning against the wall of her cell, "Tell me when you're done."

A knife. Good. Serena needed nothing more than that from the Fae. Everything else, she’d find in the arena.

Serena quickly dressed in the outfit provided to her, sighing at the thought of not being able to put on her jacket. But, then again, it was a good thing; she’d rather not have those clothes dirty.

“I’m done,” she said once she was dressed. “What now?”

Arya turned back around once she said she was dressed, looking over her, "That should be it." She nodded to herself and opened the cell door slightly, grabbing a discarded pair of cuffs from against the wall. "Venali said you could spend some time with your brother right now if you wanted to, as long as you came with me willingly and handed your knife back over for now." Arya seemed to know what today was, what might happen to Raina, and so she was less chatter today, though still her upbeat and usual self.

Serena spent the rest of her time with Alec. Surprisingly, Alec didn't cry, nor did he seem sad. He had faith in her, and Serena knew she couldn't disappoint him. So they sat together, just basking in the silence before she had to leave.

"I know you can do it," Alec said to her in determination, but now his eyes were glassy and his hands were shaking. He hugged her tight, nearly cutting off her air supply, but Serena hugged him right back. "Prove to those Fae assholes that you aren't to be trifled with."

Serena laughed, a true, honest sound that only came around Alec. She kissed the top of his head, the soft smile still on her lips. "I'll will. I'll make sure I do."

Then Serena left, most likely being led off to where the other humans were before being released. She exhaled through her mouth, waiting for her trial to start. She wondered if Venali would wish her good luck. Then she instantly discarded the thought. She didn't need anything from him.

(The arena is sort of similar to the coliseum, if that makes sense)
As much as Venali wanted to make sure that Raina knew what to do, he was occupied by setting up. His uncle seemed to make sure of that, making him hang golden flags with the royal seal around the seating, herd in anyone that wanted to watch and do hundreds of other things. Even after that, he couldn't go see her, forced to sit to the left of his uncle in the royal seating. He was only feet above the area that Raina would be fighting in, the tops of the trees brushing the bottom of the booth.

Arya accompanied her instead, strangely silent as she led the girl through the palace to the arena she would be fighting in. The arena wasn't attached directly to the palace, but Arya didn't lead her above ground either, slipping into a sparsely lit tunnel. It led them under crowds getting in, that much was clear from the footsteps. They arrived in a small room leading straight out to the arena, only a barred gate separating the human competitors from the thick growth of trees.

"I have to leave you here," Arya said, looking up at Raina. She took off the cuffs from the girl, reaching out and squeezing her hand before she could walk away though. In her hand was a tiny coil of thin wire, a gift that she pressed into her hand before letting go, "Good luck. Venali sends his regards. He also told me to tell you to not forget what you're fighting for." Before she could say anything back, Arya slipped back into the tunnel, closing the door behind her and dissappearing.

Serena breathed out slowly, looking down at her hand to find a coil of thin wire. She didn't know whether that was a gift from Venali, or from Arya herself. Still, she was grateful. She really needed the wire. The traps she'd thought of would work much better now that she had the wire.

She exhaled again, slowly, softly, and closed her fist. She didn't bother looking at the rest of the humans, though their state tore at her heart. Because of her bond with Venali and the bargain, it seemed that she was treated better than them. Shaking her head, Serena began to walk out to the arena, the tall trees blocking the sun from making direct contact. She could do it. She didn't need much. All she needed was pieces of wood, vines, this wire, and her knife.

"Tell Venali I know what I'm doing," Serena breathed out, though Arya was long gone. All that was left was for the trial to start. She didn't dare turn her head to look into the crowd or to catch Venali's eye. She knew he was watching. "I know what I'm doing…"

It was only minutes after Raina arrived in the cell that Eldon started off the trial, saying nothing. The signal that opened up the human's holding area was a low trumpet, and another one followed a few seconds later that signaled the release of the monster.

There was nothing Venali could do but watch, his hands clenching the armrests of his seat. No motioned showed on his face, but internally he was terrified. Raina needed to survive. She had to survive, otherwise, he would die and his plan to get rid of his uncle would never come to play.

Serena didn’t waste a single second in separating from the other group of humans, her knife in the pouch on her thigh and the wire in her hand. She assumed she had a few good minutes before the beast began its hunt and found her, so the first she thing was search for sturdy pieces of wood. She didn’t need thick ones; all she had to do was sharpen them up and give them a pointy edge, and set them up so when triggered, they were released. It just depended on the angle they were set up, as well as its speed.

Luckily, Serena had much training in setting up traps, and so she began, working as fast as she could. At the third sharpened wood, she heard several screams—and then silence. Dread coiled in her stomach. Dead. Those screaming humans were dead. If she didn’t hurry or play this right, she’d be next. She couldn’t let down her little brother. She needed to survive—she had to survive.

Finally, she set it up on one spot. Satisfied, and careful not to trigger the trap, she stepped away, and was about to proceed with the next part when the ground shook. A screech filled her ears. She had to get out of here before things sped up before things were ready. So she moved from her spot, stepped out to the clearing, turned her head, and froze.

Just a distance away was the most monstrous thing she’d ever seen. It was a quadruped with a body of a lion, a large, enormous tail like a scorpion’s, and the face of a wolf. It was hideous, with teeth so large and many she couldn’t even count. Even with the distance between them, Serena knew its gaze was fixed on one thing; her.

But she couldn’t move.

"This is fun, isn't it Venali?" Eldon asked, reclining on his chair and watching the trial with a look similar to amusement.

"No, not really," The Fae answered, tense beyond belief. It took all the self-control he had not to bolt out of his chair and scream for Raina to run, especially as he watched the beast focus its attention on her. It was blind, but all its other senses were heightened, so even if it didn't see her, it could very easily smell and hear her. "C'mon, move," He muttered to himself, very very aware of the three bands of marking on his shoulder and what they signified.

"Aww, having your life on the line made things less fun?" The king drawled, clearly having fun taunting Venali, "I wonder how much longer the girl will last? Do you think she'll make it?" He picked up a glass of wine, sipping at it in a bored manner like there were much better things he could be doing with his time, "She might just survive if that stupid creature doesn't get its legs moving."

Blood dripped from its mouth, and there were at least three dead humans near its feet. Serena felt sick to her stomach. Instantly, memories she tried to suppress flooded her mind.

Of barely recognizable faces, twisted bodies. Guts everything, mouths wide open, arms and legs torn off. Flesh ripped into itty bitty pieces, and her parents—

Serena’s breathing quickened. The ground shook again as the beast tore at her, its teeth bared, and she swore she saw an arm impaled in its sharp canines.

Then a young face flashed in her mind—Alec—and she quickly turned around, tripping in the process. She had to get away. She needed to. She couldn’t — scrambling to her feet, Serena ran back into the trees, sharp branches scratching her, but she was blind to the pain. She was so painfully aware of the monster after her, tearing through the forest, and she was so lost in her panic that she didn’t realize she wasn’t leading him to her trap.

No, she was leading him away from it, and more towards her doom.

Quickly, she found herself hiding behind a tree, gasping for breath, trying to get back to her senses. When she felt like she wouldn’t mess up, she slowly turned around and peeked around the tree to see the beast… sniffing the air. Then Serena noticed one thing; the beast had its eyes closed. Furrowing her eyebrows, she lifted up a stone, threw it in the other direction, and found the beast instantly run after the sound.

It was blind. Serena had just found its weakness.

"Ah, clever girl." The king sipped at his wine and looked over at his nephew, watching just how closely Venali's attention was focused on her, "I don't think that's going to get her far though, her movement has to be loud, and breathing is probably sounding like she's dying."

Venali felt a flash of relief when she found a weakness in the beast. Maybe she could survive now. Correction, she would survive.

Serena discarded her shoes due to the noise they made. Then she evened out her breathing, careful not to be loud. The beast was gone for now. She carefully made her way back to the trap she set up, grabbing little sticks on her way, sharpened them up on both ends and stuck them in the soft ground. The more she set up, the better. The ends didn’t even need to be extremely sharp, not like the ones she set up with the wire and vines.

She knew there was still a lot of time left until the trial was over. She couldn’t wait that long. All she’d do is find the beast, create a distraction and direct it towards the trap and it’d be dead. But when she found it again, it was chasing after a group of humans. Two teenagers, barely older than her. They were holding hands, and they reminded Serena so much of her own parents.

She didn’t think about what she was doing, so she did a stupid thing. She picked up another rock, threw it in the direction of the beast and yelled, “Hey! I’m over here, you hideous piece of shit!”

Then she ran for her life.

(Sorry it's shorter)
Venali couldn't help but glare at the arena as he heard Raina yell. What was she doing? She was going to get herself killed, as well as himself and her brother. It made the king snort though, which earned him a glare from his nephew as well. Even if she was smart enough to come up with a plan under those trees, he doubted strongly that it would actually work out. She had no clue what creature she was dealing with. It could kill her in fifteen different ways while being blind.

(It’s okay! There isn’t much you can write, anyway)

Serena led the beast to the trap she’d set up, but it was faster than she expected. It was gaining on her quicker than she thought, bellowing in rage, its teeth bared. For a while, Serena really did think it was going to kill her. Maybe she wasn’t really.

But… but she was. She wasn’t a weak human. She was a huntress. She lived in a forest her whole life; she knew how things worked. So she went past trees, dodging the ones that got knocked off, until she finally led the creature into the first part of the trap.

She knew where everything was, so she was able to avoid stepping on the sharp splinters on the ground. The beast wasn’t so lucky. It screeched when they dug into its feet, tail swinging madly. Serena’s eyes widened as the tail collided with her stomach, sending her crashing into a tree, gasping for breath.

But she’d injured its feet. There was nothing else it could do as it screamed and bellowed in pain the more it stepped on the ground, pushing the splinters deeper, and then it happened.

It tripped on the first wire. Then another. And another. It triggered the final trap. One makeshift spear impaled itself on its stomach. The second narrowly missed its back, just tore off a chunk of its flesh and stuck to a tree. The third? The third was what finished it all. It stabbed it right in the neck.

The beast howled, but Serena knew it was over. It swung its tail wildly, knocking down trees, but then after struggling, finally fell to the ground.

Serena tried to pick herself off the ground, hissing at the pain in her chest. She probably broke a rib or two, and her arm was broken. Blood dribbled down her nose, her lip was torn, everything was aching, but she couldn’t register the pain.

She’d done it. She really did it.

(I tried word-vomiting my imagination. It didn’t work very well.)

While the maneuver was hidden from the royal seating, Venali could hear the reactions of the crowd. Some cheered in pure amazement, while others booed that a human had actually killed the beat. Either way, the trial was ended with another low trumpeting noise and Venali got to his feet. He ignored his uncle as he called something after him, on a mission to get down to where the medics that were deployed into the arena would take Raina. He had to make sure that she was alright for one, but also to scold her for being stupid enough to take on the beast.

Under his frustration though, a hint of joy surfaced. He was still alive. Raina had actually done it. That in itself was a huge accomplishment. He pushed through crowds of Fae leaving the arena, using his royal blood to skip past guards down to the restricted area, the medical grounds that all immediate injuries were treated.

A medic had bandaged Serena’s nose, which had broken when the beast’s tail had collided with her stomach. She didn’t even recall it hitting her in the face, but apparently it had. Her broken arm was popped back in its shoulder, something that hurt like hell, but she took it with a hiss. Her lip was cleaned and taken care of, but her ribs were what gave her the most problem. Every time she inhaled, it hurt. Bad, even though she’d been given some painkillers. She supposed she deserved it for not being smart enough. She also hoped she’d heal just in time for the rest of the trials.

Maybe she was a bit out of it due to the medicine, but when she saw Venali, a crooked grin covered her features; tired, but satisfied.

“I told you I’d do it,” she rasped out, trying to hold back a cough. “You should’ve seen yourself out there, looking like you’d shit your pants.”

"You directly went against everything I told you to do Raina, of course, I looked like that." Venali scolded, though he felt a flash of concern at her state. She was in bad shape, he could tell from the way she looked like breathing hurt, "You know you could've gotten yourself killed, right you idiot?" Now that he had gotten to her, most of his frustration and anger had fizzled out, and soon he found himself motioning for her to come over to him. What he was doing, he had no clue.

"C'mon, I'll take you back to the palace." He eventually said. Venali waved a dismissive hand at one of the medics who wanted to protest, tapping the embroidered seal on his shirt to show who he was. "Before you cough up a lung."

Serena rolled her eyes, but she still stood on her feet and dragged herself over to him, her good arm wrapped around her stomach. Occasionally she’d forget breathing hurt and took long breaths, and then winced when the pain flashed.

“But I didn’t,” she reminded him with a wheeze, stopping when she was in front of him. “I know what I was doing. I’ve survived for twenty long years, on the run from you and the rest of your kind.”

She felt as if she’d collapse any second. She was exhausted, and the only reason she hadn’t fallen over was because her pride refused to let her. She’d never show how weak she was to them.

But if she was being serious, she’d never go through that again.