Fight Night

Theodore and Dedalus were in their room in the orphanage, and after sneaking back in, they didn't do anything else risky. They just stayed in there until it was time for them to fight.

Theodore looked out the window, tuning out the noise of the other orphans chatting. He admired the beautiful sunset while playing the ring around his neck, a habit he had developed when he was in deep thought.

'If I put up a good enough show tonight without losing, would the headmaster still be furious?' He thought to himself, going over every possibility of what could happen tonight if they refused to lose.

The boy continued to think, not noticing a certain serpent slithering its way out of the bottom of his pants and next to his arm. Theodore's thoughts were cut off by a hissing voice.

"I think you are thinking too much about it." said the snake, coiling its way up the boy's arm and wrapping its scaly body around the back of his neck. Theodore almost could've forgotten that the snake was there, seeing as it hadn't moved from his ankle.

"And how is it that you know what I'm thinking? Theodore inquired as he was curious to know what the snake could do; it's not everyday you meet a talking snake.

"Ah, you wound me, human. You remain keeping me at the standards of a common garden snake," the snake hissed while resting on the boy's shoulder.

Theodore ignored the words of the basilisk and continued his thoughts while watching the night sky. The boy looked up at the stars in wonder. It was the only thing he found beautiful in this world and the only thing that magic couldn't destroy.

"Come on, brat, it's time for your fight." The headmaster said, without looking at the boy, that Theodore was so caught in his trance that he didn't even notice the tortuous headmaster enter.

The basilisk slithered its way back down to the boy and wrapped its body around his ankle once more. The boy got up and made his way down to the basement, adjusting his black shirt and tucking his ring back down his shirt.

The headmaster opened the door to the basement, pushed the boy inside, and shut it. He had to go escort his guests inside while the boy was getting ready for his fight. Theodore walked past the ring to the backrooms for the players who were getting ready for their fights.

He was opening his locker while humming the same tune that he had sung in the shower earlier that day. The boy took his shirt off and shoved it in his locker, not wanting it to be dirtied by the blood that would be spilt today.

Theodore took his chain off and shoved it in the pockets of his shorts; he didn't trust anyone with it but himself. Just before the boy was about to close the locker, out of the corner of his eye inside, he spotted an old picture.

'What..?' Theodore thought while grabbing the picture and looking at it that in the picture were a bunch of orphans standing in front of an orphanage that was different than his, but the most notable thing about the picture was that two of the faces were scratched out.

'Weird, he thought while flipping the photo over and reading the back, "Wool's Orphanage, 1987". Theodore read aloud to himself; he didn't know why he was getting a feeling like there was something clawing at the back of his brain, something writhing to let loose.

Theodore was still thinking about that picture when he heard the crowd bustling outside the room. He knew that when the place got to a certain occupancy, he would be called out to have the fight of his life.

"Damn!" he exclaimed at the time. The boy started wrapping his knuckles with gauze in an attempt to protect them from the harm that would occur in the ring. Theodore slammed his locker, not without getting a last look at the picture that gave him a gnawing feeling.

Humming the tune that always seemed to be stuck in his head and fondling the ring that was in his pocket, the boy waited patiently for the announcement that it was his time to fight. "Wait, where is Ded-,"

His voice was cut off by someone opening the door to the room and dragging him out to the ring. The boy heard the cheers and jeers of the crowd, who were seemingly excited to witness an illegal brawl between a child and whoever he faced.

'This is not what I signed up for, the boy thought while looking at his opponent, who towered over his short self by inches and was more buff and fit than Theodore. 'I'm only ten; by no means does this man want me to fight this guy.' Theodore thought he was walking closer to his opponent, ready to start the match.

"THE LION, Wilkoooo!" The crowd erupted in ground-shaking cheers as the announcer dragged out the name of his opponent. 'Definitely built like a lion.' Theodore commented in his head.

Theodore got into his fighting stance, which kept his left fist close to his chest and his right fist slightly out and extended, always moving left and right, looking for an opportunity to strike opponents down with one punch.

"Three!" The announcer's voice resounded throughout the small arena, and Theodore got a bad feeling about what was going to happen in this ring today. That feeling got even worse when he looked up at the ceiling, seeing a cage slowly descend, ready to lock them inside the ring with blood stains littered around it.

"Two!" Theodore looked out into the crowd, immediately spotting Argus at the highest point in the crowd, chatting to a posh man with white hair dressed in black garments. 'Special Guest.' Theodore assumed, but he didn't know why the man gave him a slight sense of familiarity.

"One!" The boy started shuffling his feet, getting ready for the brawl to come, but something seemed to slip his mind. He never wondered where his brother was at this time.

"Fight!" the announcer declared. Immediately, Theodore's opponent rushed towards him, jumping and aiming a punch at the boy. 'Hell no.' Theodore thought while rolling away from the punch that if it landed, it would put him on life support for the rest of his young life.

Theodore quickly got back on his feet, maintaining his fighting stance. Wilko sucked his teeth at still seeing the boy standing. "Guess you can dodge," Wilko said while adjusting his fighting stance, but he didn't know that Theodore couldn't hear him due to the loud crowd.

"What?" Theodore asked his opponent, "I said I gu-." " His words were cut off by a swift punch to his lower jaw by Theodore, and before Wilko could regain his posture, the boy threw a punch at his ribs, alternating his fists with Wilko's sides.

"Weak." Theodore said, still punching Wilko's ribs, 'Huh.' Theodore thought when, all of a sudden, he was looking down. Before he could comprehend what was happening, Wilko's knee connected to the boy's nose, causing a loud crack that roused the hearts of everyone who was watching.

Both of the boys backed up away from each other, one holding their ribs and the other holding their nose, as they both looked at each other with caution. The scuffle that they just had made them look at each other in a different light; they now considered each other an actual threat.

Theodore recovered rather quickly, rushing at his opponent with unnatural speed and throwing a roundhouse kick at his opponent's head, which was caught, but this didn't stump Theodore, for he quickly jumped off his other foot and slammed in his opponent's face, causing him to stumble back and let go of Theodore's foot.

Theodore flipped himself back onto his feet, still cautious of the knee of his opponent. Wilko stepped closer to the boy, thinking about his next move. He kicked Theodore's knee, making the boy buckle over, and followed up with another knee to the boy's already broken nose.

Wilko laughed; he knew that his win was in the bag now. He kicked the boy in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Wilko got on top of the boy and started pummeling his face.

With each punch, Theodore felt his consciousness fade in and out, and the feeling that he got when he was looking at that photo came back—that feeling of something clawing at his brain.

While everything was moving in slow motion for him. Wilko then grabbed a broken piece of concrete that came from the ring and smashed it on the boy's face, causing a gash that stretched from his forehead to his eyelid. Unbeknownst to him, the impact of Wilko's strike made Theodore's chain fall out of his pocket.

"Oh? What is this?" Wilko asked, momentarily stopping his assault to pick up the silver chain that had fallen to the ground. Theodore blinked to clear his eyes, which were blinded by the blood coming from the gash on his forehead.

Theodore spotted what his opponent had dangling in his hands with delirious eyes; the image of his opponent kept overlapping with the figure of another boy saying the exact same thing. "I think I'll keep this."

Those words rang through Theodore's head as he started to fully slip out of consciousness, but his opponent could see something different. He saw Theodore's irises and pupils turn a light white, shaking him to the core. When he looked in those, he could see his life laid out before him, like his soul was being grabbed by the devil.

Before Wilko could have the chance to regret what he had done, the unconscious Theodore's hands moved in an instant and started choking him out with the strength of a bodybuilder. Theodore slowly stood upright, still choking his opponent. Luckily, his bright white eyes were covered by his long hair, so no one suspected foul play.

Theodore smashed his head into his opponent, causing his gash to gush more blood out but knocking him out cold in the process. The boy got on top of his opponent, grabbing the same piece of stone that Wilko used to cause the gash on his forehead.

Theodore held the stone above his head, staring down at his opponent with heavy-lidded eyes, and spoke one word that shook Wilko to his core.

"Die."

The boy struck his opponent's cranium with the stone, causing brains and blood to get on the boy's neutral-looking face, but, as if that was not enough, he removed the stone that was lodged in Wilko's cranium and repeated the same action, striking his dead body with the stone until his head was crushed.

The crowd was silent at the display of gruesomeness by the small boy, especially the headmaster, who had never seen the boy act like that before. It almost made the headmaster forget that he had given the boy absolute orders.

"Sir Lucius, I am so sorry. I will deal with this scum." Argus was cut off by the muttering of the white-haired pureblood. "It can't be," he repeated to himself, ignoring the words of the slimy headmaster.

Theodore picked up his chain from the bloodied puddle and put it around his neck, which had a little bit of brains from his opponent on it.

The boy dragged his finger over the blood that was on his snake tattoo and tasted it. Theodore laughed manically at the taste of his opponent's blood.

"Here's your winner," the announcer stuttered; she had never seen this kind of display in all her years of being the commentator on this illegal operation.

"The Snake!" she announced, dragging the name out. Usually there is applause or cheering, but this time there was nothing but silence at the horrid scene left in the ring.