Take A Walk With Me (One-Shots and More)

Bring Me To Life (Merome)

Prequel to Time of Dying

Wake me up inside
Wake me up inside
Call my name and
Save me from the dark

Dark faded into light of day. Silence changed to screams and cheers. Oaken doors turned to a grassy hill.
The Gladiator Arena...
Something taken straight out of a scene from Ancient Rome, I was told.

"Jerome?"
"Yeah, biggums?"
"They say the Romans built the Arena first... Weren't the Romans really cruel?"
"I don't know who the Romans are, Mitch!"

Mitch... His name was familiar, but his face foreign. Try as I might, I could never remember him.
Not quite.
Blinking a couple times, I wrapped my claws around the axe, given to me by my family as I left for the Arena.

"Why would you want to go?"
"Because if I come back-"
"Jerome! They wipe your memory before you go! Everything except basic knowledge: gone!"
"But they give it to you if you survive."
"I don't want you to go..."
"I know, Mitchy, but my family is starving."

It almost hurt that I couldn't remember who he was. I had so many memories of him.
But they were just words, really... There wasn't even a voice to go with them.
Three others came from behind doors. One was a girl, her bright green eyes shining defiantly, and the other two, men. The smaller was Tenebris (African American, as they would have called it before the third World War), while the taller one was as pale as the girl, with hazel eyes to match my own.

"Why do you always wear those tags?"
"You gave them to me."

Something glinted on his chest as he looked at the Tenebris and the girl.
We each had a weapon. The Tenebris had a tardus, a type of slow-firing gun, while the girl had a bow. The boy with the necklace had a diamond sword.
Figuring out that the girl would be easiest to take out, I made the first move.
She must have been bad with a bow, because the first shot fell short. I knew what would happen if she managed to hit me, so I was careful to dodge any that did successfully fly.
She was quick, I'd give her that.

"My dad always said there was twelve steps to firing a bow, but there really isn't. Pick it up, nock the arrow, draw back, aim, fire. That's what, four?"
"Five, Mitch. That's five."

Nock.
When she drew back, I could see where she was aiming. Jumping to the side moments before she even fired, I kept my pace, reaching her in seconds.
Her scream was cut short by her own head, lopped off her shoulders.
"Bacca!"
I turned. The boy had moved when I had, and was currently pulling his sword out of the Tenebris's chest.
"What? We aren't supposed to talk."
"Fuck the rules," he said, shaking flesh from his sword.

"Mitch... You can't just walk into Town Hall and demand I be taken out of the Arena fight."
"Why not?"
"It's against the rules."
"Fuck the rules."

I blinked a couple of times, a pit forming in the bottom of my stomach.
The boy started walking over to me, and I readied my axe. If I was right...
I couldn't fight him.
"Bacca," he cooed, a smirk tugging on his lips. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and if I were to be honest, he looked completely insane.
"Back off," I hiss.
"Can't."
He lunged, swinging his sword up. I met it halfway with my axe, the metal clanging out.

"You can't use an axe?"
"No, but I can use a sword."
"Mah gawd, Mitch."
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That accent!"
"Nothing."
"Sure, babe... Sure."

"You're distracted, bacca," he growled, his blade slamming into the handle of my axe, tearing it from my grip.
The crowds were louder than I'd ever heard them, screaming for it to be a tie.
"Yeah, I am. I-"
"Shut up," he snapped, though I could have sworn his eyes softened.
With a final strike, the diamond weapon met my throat.
Just as it did, I recognized the dogtags around his neck.

Bid my blood to run
Before I come undone
Save me from the
Nothing I've become...