Battle Damage | A CaeJose Story

Caesar

Caesar took a deep breath to even out the rhythm of his lungs, steadied his balance on the wire beneath his feet, and lifted his hands again, orange sparks crackling across his gloves. No time to think about the aches of various blows that had found their mark or the creeping fatigue beginning to settle in, and certainly not about the hundred-meter fall waiting for him if he lost his balance. He narrowed his focus down to a pinpoint that included only Meshina poised on the wire some ten feet away, waiting for slightest movement to attack again. He had trained for this for weeks. Caesar bent his knees slightly, tensed, preparing to spring. He could do this -

"Caesar!" Meshina's voice rang out across the distance, echoing faintly off the cavern beneath them. Caesar paused but didn't let the hamon fizzle out, wary of letting his guard down. Meshina shook his head. "If we continue this, only one of us will be walking away. And much as I hate to admit it, it wouldn't be me." Caesar finally let his fists drift back to his sides as Meshina gave a deep, formal bow. "Congratulations. You've passed your final test."

The spark of elation at hearing those words was nearly drowned out by exhaustion, but Caesar managed a bow in return. "Thank you, instructor. You fought well, but..." A wicked smile spread across his face as he looked up. "There was no way I was going to lose to JoJo."

Meshina barked out a laugh, and Caesar turned to make his way carefully back to one of the high stone pillars that anchored the wire, more than a little relieved when his feet touched the stone again. He had made it through each one of the last 27 grueling days of Lisa Lisa's training, passed his final test, and somehow survived the whole ordeal. So why was there still something knotted up inside him, refusing to let the tension melt away?

The answer was there in the back of his mind even before he reached for the binoculars sitting by the pillar's edge. It was reasonable to wonder how he was doing, Caesar told himself, bringing the lenses into focus and sweeping them across the island in the direction JoJo had left. It was the sort of thing a friend would do, wasn't it? Especially when the idiota could barely -

A chill slithered through his blood. Through the binoculars, he could just make out JoJo standing in the combat arena across the island, a gaping maw full of wicked spikes. The towering silhouette who faced him was one Caesar recognized immediately, and it wasn't Loggs.

Esidisi.

He must have stiffened visibly, because Meshina's voice from beside him, all the levity gone, said, "What's going on?"

"Esidisi. She must have showed up early –" Across the island, the two figures started into motion. Caesar strained his eyes but couldn't make out what was going on in the darkness. Merda. He dropped the binoculars without looking away. "I have to go help him."

"It's too far. By the time you get there, the fight will be over. We need to think about protecting Lisa Lisa and the stone if she gets past Joseph."

Neither of them needed to point out that there was only one way the pillarmen would be getting past anyone.

Caesar scrambled to his feet, his thoughts racing until they became a dizzy blur he could no longer make sense of. Meshina stood in his way, and the gaze that met Caesar's was steel, almost cold. Caesar knew everything he had just said was right – the entire width of the island lay between them. And if the pillarmen left this place with the stone, nothing else mattered. Not JoJo's life, not his own, not anything they had done here. He knew that. You know that, Meshina seemed to be telling him silently.

The words were wrenched out of the deepest, weakest part of him. "I have to go."

It felt like some kind of madness taking over him. It felt like losing in the worst way, losing to something he didn't dare to name.

Caesar brushed past Meshina and ran.

A little more on the angst side today. Hope y'all enjoy.

 - Wesley H.