Three || Let The Game Begin

                                    

                                          
 You were bouncing in place. You'd taped your hands up. You're one of the strange matches in the middle of an event that rookies normally were put into. As you hopped from side to side, the metal around your neck bounced against your collar bone. Big Mama warned you not to wear it, these people fight dirty, anything to win a little bit of dough and glory.
	If you started now, you'd keep everyone safe from Big Mama's plans, keep them out of harm's way. There would be no broken bones and gashed skin, not because you were there to solve the aftermath, but because you were there to stop the beginning of it.
	Worth it to make sure they don't get injured because you're dead weight on the team. You could help from other places. Just not on the battlefield.
	As you walk out into the loud arena, your ears fill with the senseless chatter and shouts of people sitting in seats, some heckle you. Well that's an understatement, most heckle you. You recall the plan you and Big Mama devised.
	"You'll let them beat you down, maybe break a bone if you feel up to it. Play dead, wait until we're about to announce the winner, and use your mystic powers."
	"You know about those?"
	"I know everything about you Y/n, just like I knew why you'd say yes to my  contract and this job, an employer has to background check their employees."
	You had nodded, taken a deep breath.
	You, honestly still didn't know why you had agreed to that contract. The boys could take care of themselves. Maybe it was because you wanted to train, maybe it was because you wanted redemption.
	Whatever the case, you had taken it and this was your first match.
	A crushing weight rocks you off your feet and to the floor, skidding in the dirt, you cough a little, trying to regain your breath. Was that a tail that had hit your midsection?
	Beside you, something comes to a sliding halt, sharp, spiky, pointy, and large.
	You figured it had, indeed, been a tail that hit you. You spluttered, coughing up something warm and sludgy. Well that's great, you had a stomach wound too.
	You close your eyes, trying to breathe, you imagine your ailments gone, your stomach healed, your lungs losing this queasy feeling. You imagine the cuts and scrapes on your arms and legs gone. You feel your consciousness ebbing. But the cold metal on your neck keeps you awake.
	You were here for a reason, and you weren't going out yet, not when your deal had just started.
	You stood, wiping your mouth of the crimson substance, picking up the spike beside you. Before you could think, you pounced. Cutting open the throat of your opponent.
	The crowd had gone silent, and the only sound left was the spluttering of your opponent. Your breath caught in your throat, but your face was set in stone as they cart off your opponent, they raise your arm over your head. The blue fabric around you shifting on your shoulders.
	She'd insisted you wear a blue jumpsuit, the color fit you well, but she couldn't deny you the necklace or leather jacket. After all you could choose what to accessorize with.
	Your opponent goes limp on the stretcher, you'd just killed someone. Someone with a family, someone with friends and a life, you'd killed them...
	"Ladies and Gentlemen, Gentlethems and Theydies, all you lovely Yōkai, you're winner is..."
	The pause causes a smile to crack over your face, a smirk, something devilish in your eyes twists and turns. You let out harsh, haggard breaths, you'd done it, you'd kept yourself safe. You'd won. You'd kept everyone safe, and you won.
	You proved Leo wrong. You didn't need training.
	"Baby Blue!"
	It felt misleading, it felt like you were innocent, it felt like you were evil.
	That title made you feel strong, it made you feel glorious, it made you feel like a disco star and an epic fighter.
	It made you feel like things you'd only felt with one person before, and this felt good.
	Why did you come back? What else was there to come back for?
	Leo may have saved you from the Kraang with kind words and promises, but you knew better by now. You knew not to let him close anymore, to let anyone close. The best you could do was keep them safe, keep everyone safe. Keep yourself safe by staying far, far, away from anyone who knows anything remotely weighty about you.
	You didn't come back for him, you came back for this. The beauty of knowing that people want to see you out there, the glory of knowing you'll be remembered as more than a ghost in someone's past.
	You came back to be loved.
	You came back for this.