She helped him out as best as she could, and she supported him when he caved. Rose knew until she did something about the root of the problem, things would not get better. Even though Taylor was busy these days, Rose knew that once the competition was over, it would be back to the old ways.
He would have nothing to do, no purpose. He would have nothing to strive for and would fall back in his old lifestyle of partying. Rose had thought long and hard about what to do, and finally she had an idea. She didn’t know if she could go through with it, but she was going to try her best.
Rose had just finished getting ready for the semi-finals when Delma dropped by.
“You ready?” Delma asked, excited.
“Of course, I am ready,” Rose said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
“Really?” Delma asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No! I am nervous wreck! I barely slept last night,” Rose said.
“Do you know who you are going against?” Delma asked.
“No. They are having us pick out chits from a bowl,” Rose said, wringing her hands nervously.
Delma gave her a tight hug and said, “It’s fine. You are ready for this. You have been training all your life for this. Especially the last few days. You have barely done anything else.”
Rose sighed and said, “Thanks, Delma.”
Delma looked at her, a mischievous smile on her face. “By the way, we couldn’t help but notice that you have been training with Taylor a lot. What’s up with that?” she asked.
“Shush!” Rose said, blushing.
“You never officially rejected him in front of the ritual master. As far as I know, you need to say the official words. So, is there going to be a change in your decision?” Delma asked, winking.
“I don’t know,” Rose said. “Maybe? I mean, I have gotten to know him better, and he isn’t that bad. He is actually a rather good guy.”
“Ooh!” Delma said. “You guys kissed yet?”
“No!” Rose said, lying. She quickly changed the subject and said, “We are going to be late. The matches are about to start.”
∞∞∞
Rose was panting, every fibre of her body was on fire. Her body was about to give up, even though she’d barely been fighting for half an hour. It had just been Rose’s luck that her opponent turned out to be Harry. He stood in front of her, barely a hair out of place. He had the upper hand, and he knew it.
He wasn’t even attacking. He just stood there, goading Rose, and when she attacked, he not only dodged her, but managed to land a blow on her instead. Rose was already bleeding, cuts and bruises covering her body. Harry was a ferocious fighter and cruel with his tactics.
Rose knew that she would lose this match, but Taylor had been shouting encouragements at her all this time, and she couldn’t let him down. She jumped at Harry again, keeping her movements controlled, trying to predict where she would land and how Harry would react.
She could see Harry’s ankle twisting and she knew he was going to dodge. Harry jumped as well, twisting sideways to dodge Rose’s attack. Too late, Rose realised he had twisted in such a way that he would have easy access to her stomach. Harry’s claws ripped through her stomach, tearing it open, sending shooting pains throughout her body.
Rose howled in pain, collapsing on the floor. Harry stood in front of her, daring her to get up. Rose felt like she was going to black out, but she knew she couldn’t afford to. She almost didn’t want to get up, but she did. She did because she couldn’t let Taylor down. She got up, her legs trembling, breathing hard.
Harry smirked at her and said, “You won’t win this. Why do you keep getting up? Give up.”
Rose didn’t reply. She barely had the energy to do so. She knew she had to finish this fight soon. She was losing too much blood. She lunged at Harry, who lunged back. For a second, they went head to head, clawing at each other. Rose had just managed to get an upper hand when Harry managed to land a blow. His claws slashed through her flesh once again, tearing her open.
Rose collapsed. She was in so much pain that this time, she didn’t want to get up. Harry wasn’t even bothering with pinning her down. He wanted to defeat Rose so thoroughly that she wouldn’t be able to get up.
“Rose. Don’t give up. I believe in you.” Rose heard Taylor shouting from the audience. She forced her weak body to stand up.
“Rose, don’t forget your dream. Don’t forget how hard you have worked for this,” Taylor shouted.
Harry smirked at her and this time jumped at her. Rose managed to roll out of the way, but he jumped at her again. Rose lunged, and they both went head to head again. They clawed at each other, Rose barely dodging his attacks.
“Hey, Harry. How do you think it makes you look that you have been fighting a weak little girl for so long without defeating her?” Rose said, in a desperate attempt to anger him, so he lost his guard.
