Chapter 47

  A Family Gathering

  “We ask that you give time for royalty and foreign dignitaries the chance to leave first,” Sal’s voice began. “Trust me, you do not want to draw the attention of their bodyguards or service members who have sworn to protect them with their lives.”

  At that announcement, a large swath of the upper seats began to move. Watching from the stage, I could see a blatant misdirection taking place, as a lot of the secret service members and guards left via the main exit. But a few quickly darted past Sal, who was conducting everything on his booth.

  “That said, we have a final farewell piece to help end tonight the correct way. Making her way to the stage once more is Death Machine, performing her new hit single A Lost Chance.”

  With that Death Machine who never left, was once again presented her microphone and stand, and her unique violin by the ring girls. Then rather than leaving, the two ring girls, Lucia and Luna, just moved next to me, and seemed to hold me in place. As if suspecting that I might dart off and leave at any time. A fact that I had just been contemplating as I didn’t think it was important for me to be there, while she performed her song.

  That said, I was stuck, as the two ring girls gracefully looped their arms between mine and all but held me in place. Once again, the use of misdirection was impeccable, moving things in the background while directing everyone’s attention to the front. The song was again at most three to five minutes long, but that was more than enough time for everyone of importance and their entourage to be escorted out of the arena safely, while Madame Voyou played her piece.

  As she did, not only did the audience fully join in again for the chorus, but I could also see her focusing her gaze, with both eyes, squarely at me. Not going to lie, she was intense with one eye. But now that she had both, her gaze felt piercing and electric. I was not looking forward to class on Monday.

  Finally, the song was over, Madame Voyou bowed to the audience, with that the tension on my arms eased up slightly as Lucia and Luna both released their grip enough to clap loudly. I too clapped, but it was awkward at the least having their arms wrapped within mine.

  “Let’s hear it for our stars of tonight,” Sal began. “Also to the ring, can you please focus on the trio that made this whole thing possible tonight!”

  CHEERS!

  The crowd erupted into loud applause. As the brightest lights of the arena all turned and seemed to burn

  All the stage lights above turned to focus on Madame Voyou, myself and the two ring girls, Lucia and Luna, who were standing next to me and waving with their one free arm each, while smiling brilliantly at the crowd.

  “Go on wave, as this is for you too,” Lucia stage whispered out of the side of her mouth, making it look like she was just smiling while giving me directions. Realizing that this was likely used to help the dignitaries get out safely, I did as requested, waving to the crowd. I did, but only barely as I still felt my arms being pulled down and clung to tightly by both Lucia and Luna, making it so my hands could only wave at best just above my head. I’m guessing they did this to make sure I didn’t pass out? As I was tired, but not so tired that I would need to pass out, at least not yet. Though if I didn’t get something to eat soon, I might have a harder time. Fortunately, my thoughts on finding food were soon dismissed as I was distracted by the next act of this whole production.

  From my vantage point in the ring, I could finally see more of the crowd, particularly as the crew members that weren’t working the lights began dropping down the one-way polarized blast screens allowing us to view the audience better.

  Only as it dropped did I realize the ingeniousness of the design, as it seemed to also be a magnifying lens, making everything seem just that much closer. Polarized on our side so we didn’t see the distortion and get nauseous from the effects, while making it so we were effectively viewing this world’s version of a jumbotron, brilliant. The fact that it also seemed to be fireproof, or at least resistant was only a bonus.

  “Ohhh,” the crowd murmured at the sight of all of us. By now Madam Voyou had made her way off the stage to stand next to Markan and Mr. Yi, while it was just the two ring girls and me. Not quite certain who orchestrated this, but the crowd seemed to be okay with it, no signs of mutiny at the moment.

  “All right, we can go now,” Lucia finally declared. Only afterwards did I look in the direction she had, where I could see Sal clearly giving her a thumbs up gesture. The sign needed to show that we were good to go.

  With that, Lucia and Luna both began pulling me by my two arms while waving to the crowd. It was all I could do to keep up and not lose my balance, as these girls were strong. They didn’t look it, but it was clear that their classes made it so they could handle most situations that came their way. For a moment I almost wanted to ask them about their Skill build, but that might be considered rude.

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  Stepping down from the ring, we were encircled by support all around. Madame Voyou took the lead, waving and greeting fans before us, while Markan and Mr. Yi took up the rear. While Lucia and Luna both kept a loose but near-death grip on my arms, all but ensuring I was protected in all directions. It felt oddly reassuring.

  Granted, it all almost felt like overkill, but I didn’t mind. Especially not, when I looked to my right and saw Luna’s blue eyes lock onto mine, and that slight blush that came from her face before she looked away to face the crowd. It was cute and made her even more adorable. For a moment, I wondered if we could at least be friends outside of this experience. Deep down I knew she would likely be forced to do so, just to keep me close, but for a moment, I could almost feel that we might really have something in common.

  “Ohh, look at you two,” Lucia cooed at us, furthering the blush on Luna’s face, while causing me to turn and face Lucia. For her part Lucia proved that this was all just an act as she had a wide smile on her face that showed she was just teasing. That said, of the two, I didn’t know that Luna could be so embarrassed. That or I would have assumed she would be used to Lucia’s personality by now, but she still seemed to blush, which was now going down her neck and towards part of her exposed shoulder.

  Maybe? I thought to myself, but before I could think too much more down that dangerously bad thought process we entered the screen and were suddenly backstage. The contrast was like day and night, literally, as we went from having the full range of lights on our back to complete darkness.

  Darkness that oddly felt cool and soothing.

  Plop.

  The moment the large curtain swung back into place behind Mr. Yi and Markan my eyes had a fraction of a second to adjust to the light, before I saw it, the most beautiful thing I had seen all night. An unmolested table filled with sandwiches, cheeses, crackers, and cookies. This wasn’t just a meal, it was a whole buffet.

  GURRGLE!

  Just seeing the table caused my stomach to immediately awaken as it knew that this was clearly here to be eaten.

  Giggle.

  Hearing my stomach, Lucia and Luna both laughed coyly, while Madame Voyou who had been focusing forward herself suddenly turned back to see me. Now though, now when Lucia and Luna held my arms, I felt I actually needed their support. As my legs suddenly felt weak from so much effort.

  “There it is, for a moment I thought you were going to be inhuman,” Lucia cooed out.

  For a moment it was just the six of us there in the center room. Well the six that had just walked off stage, while a few younger stagehands setting up the table and plates, making sure everything looked perfectly staged. Given that they were all in the same set of dark pants, cream white shirt and black suspenders, my mind almost instantly dismissed them. Until, I saw one that looked familiar.

  “Mousey!” I called out, and suddenly everyone’s heads snapped up and stared at me. From the corner of my eye I could see Lucia and Luna both glance at me and then following my gaze towards where I was looking, or rather who I was looking at.

  The boy, who looked initially frightened paused mid hunch, before standing up straight and staring at me.

  “Ye, yes?” He called out, that same stutter to his cadence that made me instantly protective of him. Seeing him, I smiled and waved. Though he looked confused at first, I wondered why, only to realize I was wearing a robe and mask that covered most of my face.

  “It’s me,” I called out, only to realize that was not much of a help at all. Especially as Mousey still looked confused for a moment, his gaze seeming to dance over the three of us, his eyes lingering for a long time on Luna, before nearly skipping me entirely and landing on Lucia. That’s when he said what had to be the least flattering word he could have thought of saying at that moment.

  “S-sis?” Mousey called out in response to me, the only saving grace was that his gaze was fortunately stuck to Lucia.

  Again, it all made sense, as this was likely a family business that you got born into, seemingly. I also remember that Mousey’s uncle was the Mountain, the man who nearly ripped off his opponent’s hand by smashing him into the ground. Then turning to look at Lucia, I paused and tired to see the resemblance, it was there, but sadly Mousey looked far more delicate than his gorgeous and muscular sister did. A sister who was clearly hiding a massive amount of strength, somewhere. Looking at her, I tried to see where exactly she was hiding it, only to realize her attire left little and simultaneously much to the imagination.

  Just when I think that Lucia is about to get mad at my butchering what has to be her last name as well, I am met with a completely different response.

  “Mousey?” Lucia cries out nearly shrieking with excitement before continuing, “oh, that is so perfect for you.”

  As she speaks, Lucia removes her arm from mine and goes forward to playfully grab her brother’s face. I assume he is her brother, but I don’t really know. Then before I can even begin to understand what is happening, Lucia continues to prod and make fun of her clearly younger family member.

  “Is this that girl you keep speaking about? The one with the most amazing pink and purple eyes you had ever seen?” Lucia asks.

  “What? Huh? I mean, yeah,” Mousey finally stammers out, his gaze focused downward as he looks completely defeated.

  “Remind me, what did I tell you about her?” Lucia presses.

  “That she was a garbage DiVoratore, and to stay away from her, that she would never be good enough for me,” Mousey replied, his stutter apparently gone while talking to his sister.

  “Well, mark this day down on your calendar, as I was wrong. You can try to go for her,” Lucia began, but then paused as she looked back towards Luna who was still holding my right arm. “Though you will have to compete against Luna, it looks like.”

  “What?” Mousey cried out, then looking at Luna, his face dropped as he saw something in her gaze as well.

  My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the fact that Mousey would claim the Mountain, a giant of a man who looks nothing like him, as the person I would recognize first, over the super-hot ring girl when talking about his family?

  Clap, clap, clap.

  Of course, before this little scene can go on for too much longer, it is broken up by Sal coming in from the back and leading lines of fighters all clapping in unison.

  Seeing him, I can all but tell that this is still part of the ceremony. Though, hopefully after he gives his speech we will be able to eat?

  Gurgle.

  My stomach again burbles at the idea of all that fresh food just waiting to be plucked over. Patting my stomach with my free left hand, I mentally calm myself by thinking soon. Just wait, likely a long pompous speech that everyone will forget, a few accolades, likely prizes given out, and ah man, just thinking about it, I realize they can drag this out for an hour or more if they really want to.

  Mentally I am preparing for a long meeting, but hoping for a much smaller affair. You can always tell how long these people are willing to talk by the way they begin their speeches.

  “I wanted to thank you all for your hard work and effort,” Sal began. As he spoke, I thought okay, so far so good, it seemed like we might be able to get out of this relatively quickly, before the food started molding, hopefully. Until he continued, “but first I would like to let our true sponsor for these events give his own greetings.”

  Spotlight.

  Yes, one of the lighting people was backstage, shining a light on an area where the next speaker would come from. Realizing that so much production had been put into this, I realized it would likely be a while before any of us got to touch that food. Let alone the poor healer who would likely be seen as not fully participating.

  Suddenly I was glad I had a mask covering my face, as I realized I was pouting. All while, I could only think of one word to help me get through this moment, food.

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