Chasing Death (TMI FanFiction) // UNEDITED

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sounds of metal rang through the room as the two blades collided together. The owners quickly parted them only for them to be reunited once again, metal joined with metal, brother joined with brother. The grunts and pants of the swordsmen joined the metal clangs that rang out with every step and every slight movement. They had been fighting for what felt like hours but neither of them showed any signs of letting up, not even when the sweat began to trickle down their faces and their hair became plastered to their forehead. One of them was going to win this battle, even it took all day. 

One of the fighters quickly stepped to the left and caught the edge of the other fighters blade, they attempted to slip the blade underneath the other and flip it out of their hands but faltered. The blade slipped and almost dropped to the floor but the owner quickly  retrieved it and went back into the fight. All power seemed to have slipped from their arms as they continued to battle it out, neither one more powerful than the other. 

The smaller of the two fighters parried the blow with their own sword and caught the tip in the ridge of the hilt. Using all of their strength, they lifted their arm above their head and the sword went spinning out of their opponents hand, landing on the floor with a loud clatter. The victorious swordsmen took a step back and lowered their weapon, a smug look etched onto their face. "I win, again," they said, a mocking tone evident to the opponent. 

"That's not fair, I had you!" He cried, stamping his foot in frustration and bending down to collect his fallen weapon. 

"You did, for only a brief moment, before I thrashed you!" The winner bragged, doing a very shameful dance across the hardwood floor. 

"Alright, Beth, stop bragging. You won. End of."

"Jealous?" Beth asked, folding her arms and raising a singular eyebrow at Jonathan, who was pouting like a five-year-old. 

"Shut up!" He replied, stamping his foot and crossing his arms over his chest. Beth laughed and almost dropped her sword, but quickly recovered and stood, ready for a rematch. Her shoulders were back and was bouncing on her toes, the sword clutched tightly in her right hand. With her left, she brushed back a singular strand of blonde hair that fell in front of her eyes during the fast battle. "We're not going at it again, are we?"

"Do you want to?" Beth asked, looking at him. 

"Not really, I'm beat from the last one," Jonathan replied, wiping his forehead with a towel. Ever since coming back from Edom, Jonathan had noticed a dramatic decline in his physical health. He was no longer the almighty demon child from all those years ago, he was just an ordinary boy who's stamina wasn't exactly perfect. To be prepared for the final showdown, Charlie had decided that the pair of them needed work. So that's what they were doing. Only, Jonathan was feeling the pressure. He wished he was up to his original standards, but knew that would take time due to the sheer amount of muscle he had to build up in order to even consider going against Lilith. 

"You need to build up your muscle young one. I know! I'll put through my amazing workout! You'll be back to your old self in no time!" Beth exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement. She loved forcing someone to take her grueling workout, it was the best part of being a Shadowhunter. 

"I'm not sure," Jonathan said, sounding apprehensive. After getting so tired from a basic sword fight, a workout was something he didn't want to face. 

"Come on, it'll be fun!" 

"You have a warped definition of fun, but fine. If it means I'm not tired all the time then go ahead." Beth shrieked and began jumping up and down like a five-year-old whilst Jonathan watched, shocked that she was even considered to be a Shadowhunter.

For the next few hours, Beth put Jonathan through rigorous amounts of training in an attempt to build up some muscle and try to make him an adequate Shadowhunter. Unfortunately for Jonathan, this workout was not fun. It was literal torture. He decided, ten minutes in that he would rather be in Edom, avoiding demons and Lilith then face any more training, but no matter how much he pleaded, Beth wasn't giving in. She was determined to return him to his former glory, even if it took a few days to do so. Her program was almost certain to get results even after a few days, but Jonathan was certain that he wouldn't be able to do it any further. 

"Come on Jonathan! Keep it up!" Beth yelled, counting the amount of sit-ups he was doing. Jonathan had sweat running down his face and his white hair had practically changed colour due to the dampness of it. It was almost a hysterical sight to see for Beth, but she wasn't going to tell him that, otherwise he'd back out. Instead, she swallowed the laugh and put on her war face as she yelled both insults and encouragements at him. Beth was finding the whole situation far more entertaining then perhaps it should have been. 

The only thing going through Jonathan's mind was finally going up against Lilith and winning. He had never felt more determined to do anything in his entire life and he'd been around for a while. The idea of beating Lilith, after all she'd done to him, was what kept him sane throughout the whole workout. If he didn't have the goal then he probably would have given up five minutes in, after all, the workout was like torture. 

When Beth had finally stopped yelling at him to do certain workouts, he dropped to the floor and just laid there. Beth waited for a few minutes, but after he didn't move, Beth kicked him slightly to make sure he was still alive and breathing. "Why, would you do that?" Jonathan said, his breathing extremely heavy. 

"The workout, or the kick? The kick was to make sure you were still alive. I don't want you dying on me, now do I?" Beth replied a sly smirk etched onto her lips. 

"The bloody workout, never have I been put through so much torture, not even in Edom!" Jonathan groaned, resting his face on the cold wood of the ground. He was still sweating profusely, but his breathing had calmed down considerably and he was able to talk without pausing mid-word to catch his breath. Beth smirked and shook her head at him as she slipped the stopwatch back into the draw it had come from. 

For a few minutes after, Jonathan laid face down on the ground, not speaking or moving. He just laid there in an attempt to calm down and gain some normalcy back into his body. "I'm never doing that again!" He exclaimed. 

"You didn't put him through the Hell Fire, did you?" Charlie's voice came from the corner of the room and Beth looked at him and smiled. "I thought you promised never to do that to anyone?"

"He needed it, Charlie. I thrashed him in the fighting so it was only right that I try to build up his muscle, even if it does kill him slowly in the process."

"Oi!" Jonathan replied, rolling onto his back and looking up at her. His face was shiny with sweat and his hair was still ridiculously damp, but at least he looked somewhat normal. "I can't feel any of my limbs. You may have to drag me around everywhere for the next few hours."

"You'll be fine. It's not called the Hell Fire Workout for nothing. you just need to stretch again, everything will be fine afterwards, well slightly." Charlie laughed and assisted Jonathan to his feet. Grabbing hold of his arm to stabilise him after he almost topped over. 

"Let's get some food in you, you'll need it after that," Charlie laughed. 

~~~~

A/N - It's currently 1:42AM and I am still awake... This is not normal for me, so be grateful! Anyways, I finally updated! I know my schedule is out of whack, and I apologise for that, but there is nothing I can do, so enjoy the updates as they come. 

I hope you guys had a good Christmas  and got lots of Fandom things :D I got books and DVD's (As usual) 

Question of the chapter - Will Jonathan be able to face Lilith in the final showdown?

Dedication - Comment below to receive a dedication.