#we could see Hawks fans outside cheering even louder as if they were playing a grand final

[fazcinatingblog]

See I took pictures but honestly the photos just doesn't do it justice how good it is up there

[luobingmeis]

hawk in the raven nest, chapter thirty (final chapter)

chapter summary: Class I Exy Spring Championships: The Palmetto State Foxes vs. The Edgar Allan Ravens

tw(s): violence, gore, character death

A/N: please see beginning/end notes on ao3 :)

read on ao3

previous chapter

read from beginning

chapter list

When the Ravens travelled to Palmetto for their game against the Foxes, Nathaniel found the orange rather obnoxious.

He wondered how the Foxes liked all the black.

Tonight was the end. It was the closing game of the Class I Exy season, the Spring National Championships. Tonight was the night that everything they worked towards would come to a close. Every bit of pain and grief and trauma they endured would come together.

Or fall apart.

Nathaniel would admit it: he was nervous. He needed the Foxes to win. He needed Riko to realize what he had done and how he wasn’t going to get away with any of it.

He needed to get out of the Nest with Andrew at his side in one piece.

It was two hours before first serve and Nathaniel should have been in the locker room or the lounge or anywhere that wasn’t his dorm. Ravens were supposed to travel as a team, he should have been up with them practicing drills or sitting and waiting for something because Tetsuji didn’t do anything anymore. Their coach checked out, and Nathaniel knew it was because Tetsuji knew that he truly, royally fucked up. His end was just as inevitable as Riko’s.

But he couldn’t get himself to move from sitting. Sitting and staring. He stared at the walls and they stared back and Nathaniel wondered what a life without these four walls would be like. Nothing had been set in stone, but it was accepted as common knowledge that there would be no Edgar Allan Exy team for the incoming fall semester. Nathaniel didn’t know where he was going. He knew who he wanted to be with, but he hadn’t considered where the tragic Ravens would be put afterwards. He didn’t think he could be just a regular student at Edgar Allan. He didn’t know how.

He had grown up in an environment where he was conditioned to work in groups. You won with someone at your side, failed with someone at your side, and breathed sharing two lungs. The thought of adapting to the campus that Nathaniel had rarely actually been to caused his throat to close in the sudden panic of that things were finally going to change, and things were going to change now.

For the first time, Nathaniel found himself fearing a life outside of the Ravens. A life inside was doomed to abuse and manipulation. You were never your own person and to try to be was suicidal. Every athlete that had left the Ravens had carried some sort of baggage with them, whether it be the inability to work with others who you have not grown with or detrimental coping hazards that might kill you years sooner than anything else should. Nathaniel thought of Kevin, the only person to change and grow outside of the Ravens, and Nathaniel didn’t think he would have a support network like David Wymack and the Palmetto State Foxes.

But a life outside the Ravens? Nathaniel didn’t even know what to expect. He told Jean they would survive, he told Andrew he wanted a life, but what was a life when he never had the opportunity to have one? He never had so many choices and right now, staring at his wall, two hours before first serve, there seemed to be too many choices.

Everything was happening. Everything was happening now and fast and things were going to be different and Nathaniel didn’t know what different could entail.

There was a knock on the door. “Nathaniel.”

The voice registered in Nathaniel’s mind and, instantly, his chest began to loosen. “Come in.”

Andrew Minyard walked in and Nathaniel turned to him. He breathed easier at the sight of Andrew, and perhaps too many choices could be limited to what Andrew would do.

“Staring,” Andrew noted.

“I know,” Nathaniel said. “This is it.”

“I know,” Andrew said. He then lifted his phone, which Nathaniel hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. Nathaniel saw that he was currently in the middle of a call. “Kevin wants to know why you’re not answering him.”

As Andrew moved to sit by Nathaniel, Nathaniel reached over to check his phone and saw that, yes, he had multiple missed texts and two missed calls from Kevin.

Nathaniel took the phone from Andrew and put it on speaker. “You have a phone so that you can use it,” Kevin said.

“Apologies for the fact that I have a life outside of answering your calls,” Nathaniel quipped. “Where are you guys?”

“We just got in your guest locker room,” Kevin said. “Wymack wanted us here earlier to prepare. We have a long night ahead of us.” Nathaniel nodded even though Kevin wasn’t able to see him. “Are you ready?”

“We have to be,” Nathaniel said. “We all do. We have no other choice.”

“Do you remember our deal, Kevin?” Andrew asked.

“Of course,” Kevin said. “You better be prepared to put up a fight, Minyard. We’re not losing this one. Not now, not again.”

“We all have to be ready to fight,” Nathaniel said. “It’s not just about winning anymore. It’s about everything. It’s about what Riko has done to all of us. He can’t leave this earth knowing that he got the final word after all. This can’t be all for nothing. We have to fight until we have nothing left to give because Riko took everything from us. He can’t die taking one final thing away from us. Everything we put out on the court today, it’s all for the game, all for the people who Riko thought he could take and bend and break and destroy. He can’t take anything else from us. He can’t have this. Not anymore. Not ever.”

Nathaniel expected a quip from Andrew about his obsession with exy, but he nodded in agreement.

“Riko’s not prepared for what we’re about to do to him,” Kevin said.

“Riko’s going to regret everything he has done over the past year,” Nathaniel said. “But his biggest regret is going to be stepping out onto the court tonight.”

“We all know what we have to do,” Andrew said. “What’s left is just meeting on the court.”

“We’re ready,” Kevin said. “See you there.”

They hung up.

Nathaniel was ready to breathe these four walls down and escape.

“I guess it’s time we head upstairs,” Nathaniel said.

“I guess it is,” Andrew agreed.

--

By the time it was ten minutes before first serve, the news had already spread through the Ravens. Kevin Day had covered up the two on his cheek with a chess piece: the queen.

Nathaniel had never seen the Ravens angrier. They had suffered through Kevin leaving them for the Foxes, through Jean becoming a Trojan, through the Foxes getting to Championships. But this, this, was the final straw. This was Kevin Day cutting his ties with Edgar Allan and finally removing himself from their narrative. Finally making it clear that he was no longer a Raven, and he was ready to take down the King and take what was always rightfully his.

At seeing the Ravens’ rage, Nathaniel couldn’t hold back his grin. In fact, he refused to. Let the Ravens see how he was overjoyed with their demise; let them know that he was a part of it. They had no power anymore.

They were waiting in inner court, a huddled mess of black and red. Tetsuji had just left to deliver his starting line up, and he had left his team with no words of encouragement. It didn’t matter to Tetsuji if they won or loss; he knew that he was finished.

Nathaniel, Andrew, and Riko would all be out together during the first and fourth quarter. Then, for second and third, Nathaniel and Riko would be switched off. Andrew would remain on for second, and then be taken off for third to recuperate. Having the three best players of the Ravens be off court for at least one quarter could give the Foxes time to fix any errors they could make, but only if they played their game right. Ravens subs didn’t play significantly worse, and would put up just as vicious of a fight as Riko would.

Kevin and Andrew’s deal only lasted for first half, when Andrew was on for both quarters. He hoped that Kevin and Seth Gordon would score the six points they needed and would use the quarter without Andrew to get it higher.

Nathaniel didn’t know if they would be that lucky. But he still found some small part in him with hope.

Riko then stepped to the middle of the huddle. His eyes stopped on each of his teammates. His look was brimming with hatred, as if he blamed the players in front of him instead of himself for what has happened, for what was about to happen.

His cold eyes stopped at Nathaniel. “Don’t fuck this up,” he said. His words were to the team, but Nathaniel knew that the core of his message was to him. “The Foxes are somewhere that they shouldn’t be, somewhere they were never supposed to be. They are going to try to take this from us, thinking that they have the skills to do so. You all better prove to them that they’re wrong.” He scanned his eyes again. “Make them know that coming here will be their biggest embarrassment yet. They think that they’re suited to play here because they have a traitor on their line. They’re going to leave here knowing that Kevin is just as worthless as them, and that showing up was suicidal.”

“Maybe it actually will be,” someone said from inside the huddle and Nathaniel had to clench his fists to stop from swinging.

“If we lose this,” Riko continued. “You’re just as worthless as them. If they win, none of you deserved to be on this court in the first place. Don’t let that happen. Don’t let them have what was always rightfully ours.”

Nathaniel would laugh if he hadn’t reached his limit for hatred.

The Ravens were called out first. The cheers from their fans were deafening at Riko being announced, and they only got louder from their. The sea of black and red was just as ready to see the Foxes fall as Riko was. They were just as shocked that the previously last-placed Palmetto State Foxes were currently on their court for Championships. They wanted to see the Foxes crumble and break just as much as Riko expected them too.

Nathaniel hoped that the pressure wouldn’t get to the Foxes.

The stadium then filled with cheers of excitement and roars of displeasure as the Foxes were announced. Captain Dan Wilds took every cheer and jeer with pride because she, unlike the other captain on the court, she knew that her and her Foxes deserved to be here. The cries only got louder with Kevin because he was returning to his roots, only this time he was ready to tear them up. The rest of the Foxes’ starting lineup followed out, and Nathaniel actually felt excitement boiling in his gut at the sight of his opponents. Matt Boyd and Aaron Minyard were the starting backliners, and Nicky Hemmick would most likely be switching on for one of them in the second quarter. Nathaniel was glad to see that Aaron was back on court, but it also furthered his desire for Riko’s destruction because he destroyed the Minyards. When Renee Walker took her spot in goal, Nathaniel hoped that she could feel his gratitude for what she had done for them across the court.

The Foxes had first serve and Dan Wilds was currently in possession. There were ten seconds on the clock. Nathaniel’s assigned striker wasn’t Kevin Day, but Seth Gordon. Perhaps Tetsuji didn’t trust Nathaniel to stop Kevin, but he didn’t realize that Nathaniel wasn’t the one giving up his game. That came down to Andrew and Kevin, and the phrase ‘giving up his game’ was used very loosely when applied to Andrew. Andrew was still putting up as much of a fight, but Kevin had to put up just as much of a fight for Andrew to succeed a point.

Nathaniel still thought that Seth was a worthy striker for him to guard. Despite everything he had heard from Kevin about Seth being stubborn at best, offensive at worst, Nathaniel could recognize a good striker when he saw one.

Nathaniel looked back at Andrew in goal and nodded. He gave one in return.

The starting buzzer rang out, Dan served to Kevin, and the game began.

Nathaniel realized that these Foxes were not the Foxes they saw in October. In October, everyone, Fox, Raven, spectator, knew that the Foxes would lose miserably. The season had only just started, they only had eight players on their lineup, and even having Kevin as an assistant coach, they weren’t meeting his high standards and fought him and each other as much as they fought their opponents. They played the Ravens in October because they had to; they were in the same district now, they had no choice. But now, now they played the Ravens after months of training. Kevin joined their team as a player and drilled them with Raven drills and pushed them as hard as they pushed him. The Foxes knew that they deserved to be here, and they were going to fight to the death to make sure that they made everyone know that, that everyone would see them walking out with a trophy declaring them National Champions.

Nathaniel wished them the best, but he still had to play like a Raven. And the Ravens were angry. He could feel their toxicity bubbling up and out of them, seeping onto the court and ensnaring those who touched it. They were angry that the Foxes got back to them, and now they would do anything to keep them from succeeding. Nathaniel and Andrew made a deal, too, and if he wanted Andrew to keep his with Kevin, Nathaniel had to play like he was just as angry.

When Seth Gordon moved to shoot on goal, Nathaniel checked his stick last second and popped the ball out of the net. Seth cursed at him as Nathaniel scooped the ball up and served it to Jenkins.

He was going to piss off Seth, he was going to play like a Raven, but the least he could do was serve the ball to the lesser striker.

The game didn’t take long to turn violent. With the battling of anger and determination, sticks barely missed hitting bodies and helmets, and each check got rougher as the first half went on. The teams narrowly missed yellow cards, and red cards weren’t far along the horizon. Tetsuji always played their red cards, using them as an excuse to bring players with more fuel left onto the court. It wasn’t going to be long before fouls would start being called.

It pained Nathaniel to fight back against his striker mark because Seth hadn’t even been able to score one point yet. Kevin was having more luck, but that didn’t mean that he was having an easier time. Despite having the lesser backliner mark, Nathaniel could hear the things being shouted at Kevin each time he scored. He saw each check his backliner delivered and panicked that the vibrations were going deep into the bones of his hands. The Ravens knew Kevin’s weakness now, and they would do anything to use it against him.

And then Andrew. Nathaniel didn’t know how Andrew decided what goal was worthy and what wasn’t, but he seemed to have a method to it. He and Kevin seemed to have some sort of connection that would tell Andrew to let this one score, but not that one.

Nathaniel could tell that the Foxes were giving everything that had for the first half, but even the drive that had ended up not being enough. Their backliners weren’t able to stop the strikers’ scores, the strikers had difficulties getting past the backliners and Andrew, and Nathaniel couldn’t tune out the goalie wall lighting up red with each score from the Ravens.

Andrew and Kevin were holding up with their deal, but the first half still ended in seven-four, Ravens.

The Ravens filed into the locker room for the fifteen minutes they had before second half. Nathaniel could feel their pride seething off of them because there was no way the Foxes could make a comeback, and it sickened Nathaniel. Of course they would take pride in this, they would take pride in watching the Foxes die if they could see it.

But there was something else to it. Something else that added to the twist in his gut and the anxiety in his mind. Because perhaps his teammates were right, perhaps the Foxes couldn’t bounce back from a three point lead to the Ravens.

Andrew and Nathaniel lingered behind the chattering Ravens. They were still angry that these were the events unfolding for their Championships, but now there was a viciousness tied to it. They had the lead, and they were going to do anything to keep it.

“That wasn’t six points,” Nathaniel whispered.

“It wasn’t,” Andrew replied.

“Andrew-”

“I did what I told Kevin I would,” Andrew’s voice was low. “I told him that he would get six points but he had to fight for them. You might not know what that means, but he did. We’ve spoken about it before. I told him to play his game well. It was between him and I, and he knew that this could be what happened. He knew that you weren’t going to be giving up your game, and neither was I.”

“Andrew,” Nathaniel repeated, pleaded.

Andrew then studied him, ran his hazel eyes over Nathaniel’s face, which must have looked quite pitiful. “We’re both off for the next quarter,” Andrew finally said. “So is Riko. The Foxes can use this as their chance to bring the score back up.”

It was the closest Nathaniel could ever get to reassurance, and he couldn’t have appreciated it more. It was enough to show that Andrew cared, really, truly cared, and that he wanted this for the Foxes as much as Nathaniel and Kevin did. Nathaniel never doubted him, but it was still nice to hear it.

Andrew, Nathaniel, and Riko were sidelined for the third quarter, with Andrew standing in between Nathaniel and Riko. Despite Andrew being the shortest of the three, he would be the one most likely to stop any brawls if Riko (and Nathaniel) couldn’t keep their mouth shut.

But, really, Nathaniel was too caught up in the court to even pay attention to Riko. The second half was just about to begin, and the Foxes were filing into their starting positions. His pulse thumped hard and loud in his body. The Ravens would be going into the second half with an entirely new lineup, but the Foxes were used to playing full games by now.

Nathaniel just hoped that they could close the three point gap, and then some.

When it was Kevin’s turn to enter the court, he hesitated and Nathaniel could see the smirk on his face. He then touched the butt of his racket to the floor and switched it from his right hand to his left.

“Holy fucking shit,” Nathaniel said, unable to hold back as the stands, spectators for both Ravens and Foxes, lost any shred of composure they had left. Kevin Day, broken Kevin Day, left the Nest with a shattered left hand and the daunting exy-less future ahead of him. He eventually returned to the court as a right-handed player who spent more time worrying about reinjuring himself than anything else. And the Ravens called that, that, and let Kevin fester in their minds as a weak, breakable, pitiful, lost thing.

However, they seem to have forgotten that Kevin Day was stubborn before anything else, so of course he would return to his left-handed roots. They forgot that Kevin was just as determined to succeed and come out on top as they were; so, they learned the way he played right-handed. They adjusted the way they played so that they could use it against Kevin’s right handed-style.

And now, Kevin Day was ready to destroy every plan that they had for the rest of the night.

Suddenly, closing the point gap seemed a closer possibility than not.

The second half began, and Nathaniel’s heart hammered in his chest as he watched the game unfold before him. The Ravens were ready to put up a fight, but the Foxes were ready to fight back. The Foxes’ current backliners, Matt and Nicky, were now working on pushing the Raven strikers farther up the court and away from Renee in goal. The Ravens had the tendency to gang up on the goalie; it’s why they could score so many points in such a short time. The Foxes now worked to break that offensive line.

Kevin scored in the first minute and thirty seconds of the game. Then again six minutes later.

Nathaniel smirked. “Didn’t expect this, huh, Riko?” he said over Andrew’s head and Riko shot daggers at him.

Andrew also side eyed him, but Nathaniel pretended that he didn’t see that. He could practically hear Andrew in his head to stop running himself into Riko’s fist, but Nathaniel had a bit of an attitude problem.

The Ravens fought against Kevin like Nathaniel knew they would. They had thrown strategy out the window, since none of it applied to Kevin anymore, and with it came violence. Again and again their strikers tried to score on the Foxes, and again and again Renee fired their shots back and Matt and Nicky pushed them farther away. It was obvious that Kevin had spent time working with the Foxes on adapting to the Ravens’ speed, and it was paying off.

Kevin and Seth, now not having Nathaniel to step around and Andrew to shoot past, were able to get around the Ravens’ backliners and shoot on goal. They didn’t make every shot, but at Nathaniel, Andrew, and Riko’s return to court, the score was eight-seven, Ravens.

There was one quarter left. If Renee continued to shut out their goal, the Foxes just needed two more points and they would win. At the transition from third to fourth quarter and the reappearance of Riko, Coach Wymack switched out Nicky for Aaron and Nathaniel hoped that they were enough to push back Riko.

Nathaniel couldn’t throw him game. Andrew wouldn’t. Riko wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

But the Foxes weren’t giving up their fight either. Battling the Ravens’ anger was the Foxes’ fight, and even from across the court, Nathaniel could tell that their determination added an extra boost of energy.

Right before the fourth quarter started, Nathaniel turned back to Andrew in goal. Andrew instantly caught his eyes, and they gave each other a small nod.

It was the final fifteen minutes. Everything they fought for would come to its conclusion in fifteen minutes. Nathaniel wanted nothing more than to watch the Foxes win and tear down Riko’s reign before his very eyes.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Kevin scored again, tying the game at eight-eight, and Reacher finally broke and swung at him. He knocked Kevin’s helmet off and his fist connected with his jaw. Whistles from all referees were blown furiously and court door echoed as they slammed open, but that didn’t stop Kevin from shoving back at Reacher.

Reacher was given a red card and removed from the court while Kevin was given a yellow one. If a team got enough red cards, they would be eliminated from the game and the other team would win by default, but Nathaniel knew the strategy Tetsuji was playing. When their coach was actually desperate about something, he would welcome red cards. It gave the opportunity to switch out players as he needed, allowing players with more energy to replace the faltering ones.

When the Ravens were given another red card for checking Walker, Nathaniel knew that that was the strategy that Tetsuji was taken. It was risky and uncalled for; the Ravens were once again up ten-nine with ten minutes left of the game. To check the goalie was perhaps the most offensive move a player could do; a goalie’s gear was to protect them from balls being flung at them, not the weight of a person.

When Renee was checked into the wall, the goal lighting up red, Nathaniel panicked that that was it. The Foxes didn’t have another goalie, and if Walker was done, so was the game. But she persisted, and the Ravens were red carded, and the Foxes soon got their revenge.

It was when Seth was coming up the court. Allison had just served to him. Kevin, when he had just joined the Foxes, said that Seth could actually be an amazing player if he wasn’t so antagonistic to everyone. He had heard that Kevin and Seth got into enough fights in the first month of Kevin’s arrival to last the entire season, primarily because two great strikers were put on the same starting line, one who was trying to bounce back from the bottom and one who couldn’t work with someone long enough to make progress.

Perhaps, though, Kevin’s words finally got through to Seth. When Seth shot at the goal, Nathaniel couldn’t stop him.

Nathaniel then heard the goal ring out across the court.

The score was ten-ten, a tie between Ravens and Foxes.

There was a minute and thirty seconds left of the game.

Nathaniel’s heart pounded in his chest so hard it made him feel sick. The game continued and no one scored. Barely legal stick checks threw the ball between both teams but neither pair of strikers could get close to the goals.

They couldn’t go into overtime. The Ravens could handle overtime; they had players on the court whose fourth quarter was their first time playing all night. They had the energy to handle it. The Foxes, though, had their capacity at an hour and a half of playing time. Even Kevin had expressed that the endurance training was tough to last that long. To go an extra five or ten or thirty minutes would mean that the Foxes would decline, and decline fast.

If they finished the fourth quarter out at a tie, Nathaniel didn’t know what he would do with himself. The Ravens would outscore the Foxes in overtime. He didn’t realize how much he needed the Foxes to win until now, when it seemed like they couldn’t. Riko would surely kill him and Andrew for what the two of them had done to Riko. The Ravens would be exposed no matter what, but in the end, Riko would have won. He would have the final word, and Nathaniel didn’t know if he could handle hearing them.

The ball was in the Foxes’ possession. There were twelve seconds left. Allison passed to Kevin. There were ten seconds left. Kevin narrowly missed being tripped by his backliner. There were four seconds left.

Then, time seemed to slow.

Kevin moved to shoot. Throughout the night, he had been shooting over Andrew’s left shoulder, and Andrew anticipated this. At the start of the fourth quarter, he adjusted himself to Kevin’s playing style and used what he could to block Kevin’s goals. Kevin and Andrew no longer had any deals; Andrew wasn’t holding anything back to stop Kevin.

Kevin anticipated this, however, and as he went to shoot for Andrew’s left shoulder, at the last second he twisted his hand.

And sent the ball flying past Andrew’s torso on the right as Andrew lunged for the anticipated left shot.

The goal lit up red.

There were two seconds left.

Nathaniel heard the screams burst out from around and on the court, and then he heard the final buzzer.

Nathaniel, slowly, for if he moved too fast he thought he might break, turned to stare at the scoreboard.

Eleven-ten, Foxes.

He did it. He really did it. Of course he really did it. Kevin Day, Kevin fucking Day, scored in the last two seconds of the game.

The Foxes’ screams could be heard over everyone else’s. Turning to look at his opponents, the new National Champions, he saw that all the Foxes were piled together in one large, obnoxiously orange, elated clump.

All but one Fox, who was currently standing in front of Andrew’s goal with his helmet off, a huge grin on his face, and a queen chess piece on his cheek.

Nathaniel smiled.

His happiness was short lived, however, for he felt a claw grip his shoulder and pull him around. Riko glared down at him and Nathaniel stared back. Riko had threw his helmet somewhere in a fit of rage, and Nathaniel only had his own to separate them. He wore a manic grin on his face and his eyes tore Nathaniel apart piece by piece.

“You know how it is, Nathaniel,” Riko growled, knocking off Nathaniel’s helmet. “I go down, you go down with me.” He then threw Nathaniel to the ground and he felt something pop in his shoulder as he smashed against the ground. The only thing Nathaniel could register as Riko swung his racket above his head was that this was what Kevin must have felt like all those months ago.

Before Riko could swing downwards, a large, black racket smacked into Riko’s left arm and even Nathaniel could feel the crack that ran down it. Riko let out a scream, a painful, ear shattering scream, before collapsing to the ground.

Check.

Andrew stared down at Nathaniel. Nathaniel stared back.

“You’re welcome,” Andrew said, deadpan. “Weren’t you taught manners, Nathaniel?”

“Not really,” Nathaniel breathed and Andrew pulled him up. Nathaniel winced at the pull in his shoulder, but it must have been nothing compared to the pain Riko was feeling.

Good.

The game was over and fans were dismissed, but the teams themselves weren’t allowed to leave. Ambulances and the police were called, since that seemed to be the common trend among the Foxes, and Riko was whisked away in an ambulance that Nathaniel assumed would bring him to a hospital owned by the Moriyamas.

The Ravens and the Foxes were kept separated. If they couldn’t hold back fighting each other on the court, there was no way they were going to be permitted to sit near each other after the Ravens lost their title as Champions for the first time since their creation.

Players from both teams were questioned. Mostly about what happened between Riko, Nathaniel, and Andrew. After hearing enough stories, Andrew’s swing at Riko was deemed as a defending one, since Riko was ready to bash in Nathaniel’s skull.

Tetsuji was not present during any of this.

Finally, at just past two in the morning, the Foxes were permitted to leave and the Ravens were sent into their locker room. There were guards standing outside each door, ready to burst in if they heard a fight break out. But by the time the Ravens entered, they were too tired and shocked to make any moves against each other.

The locker room was so quiet, Nathaniel could hear everyone’s heartbeats.

The Perfect Court had naturally put all their lockers by each other. One year ago, their section of lockers were occupied by five people. Now, only two remained. Things had become so different.

The silence was broken when the locker room phone rang. Almost all the Ravens were fully dressed, and Nathaniel was just finishing towel-drying his hair. Everyone stared at the blaring phone, yet no one moved to answer it. Finally, Nathaniel stepped forward and answered it.

“Nathaniel Wesninski speaking,” he said.

“Wesninski,” a heavily accented voice said. Nathaniel easily connected the dots of the Japanese accent and the call coming from inside Evermore and knew that it was one of Lord Ichirou’s people. “You must report now to the tower. A guard outside will escort you. Do not try to escape.”

“I’ll be right there,” Nathaniel said and, once permitted, hung up.

Andrew stared at him. Nathaniel stared back. “I’ll be right back,” Nathaniel finally said.

“You better be,” Andrew said, and Nathaniel walked out the locker room doors.

--

The ride up to the tower was about as ominous as Nathaniel knew it was going to be. He knew what was about to happen. Everything was pointing in one singular direction than Nathaniel knew what was going to happen, but one, paranoid voice in the back of his mind kept telling him to start counting down the minutes just like he did in Baltimore.

There were actually two guards sent for him. That added to the ominous atmosphere. Ever since Nathan Wesninski was killed, Lord Ichirou had been in a panic, cutting ties and killing those who he thought were traitors. Nathaniel guessed that, even after his vow to Lord Ichirou to remain loyal, Lord Ichirou still was paranoid that he would run. It made sense to send two guards; one to catch him, and one to do the killing.

But Nathaniel didn’t plan on running, so he let the atmosphere choke him as they travelled up to the tower in dead silence.

When the elevator arrived to the top floor, Nathaniel stepped out and was followed by the two guards. The elevator doors closed, and the two of them stood in front of them. Nathaniel then realized that it wasn’t only him that they were keeping from running away.

Lord Ichirou stood at the window that looked out to the court. He stared out of it with as much intensity as if there was still a game going on. Other guards and people of the Moriyamas stood around the borders of his room, so still that they could have been statues. Tetsuji and Riko were sitting on a leather couch in the middle of the room. Tetsuji stared ahead as if there was no one else in the room with him. Riko had never looked more broken and haggard, and Nathaniel saw the cast around his left arm poking out of the sling. No one seemed to notice Nathaniel’s entrance.

Nathaniel didn’t move and everyone remained silent. Nathaniel counted the seconds, and he got to two minutes and three seconds before Lord Ichirou finally moved. He removed a gloved hand from his pocket and held it out to one of his guards. Wordlessly, the guard walked over and gave him a handgun. Lord Ichirou took it and stepped forward until he was an equal distance from both the couch and Nathaniel.

Lord Ichirou then turned his icy stare onto Nathaniel and that paranoid voice in the back of his head suddenly seemed more realistic. He prepared to plea for his life once again, was ready to give Lord Ichirou all his earnings if it meant he could live, when Lord Ichirou turned away from him and stepped towards the couch.

Lord Ichirou first stood in front of Tetsuji. He spoke quietly to him, quiet enough so that Nathaniel could barely hear him. He was only able to pick up a few words in Japanese, but not nearly enough to put together the context of what he was saying to his uncle.

He then figured it out extremely quick when Lord Ichirou put the gun to Tetsuji’s forehead and pulled the trigger.

The shot was deafening, but Nathaniel found himself wincing more at the blood splatter across Riko and the couch more than the noise. Tetsuji slumped back on the couch. With his other gloved hand, Lord Ichirou pulled the body forward and let it fall on the floor.

Lord Ichirou then took one step to the side and crouched in front of Riko. The two brothers looked at each other for the first time, and Nathaniel realized that the coldness he saw in Lord Ichirou’s eyes was the same coldness he used to see in Riko’s.

Now, though, Riko looked at him, crushed and utterly defeated. “Ichirou,” he barely choked out, his voice drowned in emotion. Lord Ichirou just stared at him.

Riko looked at if he was about to say something else, but he didn’t get his words out in time. Lord Ichirou put the gun to Riko’s temple and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered and Riko’s body slumped.

Checkmate.

Lord Ichirou carefully placed the gun in Riko’s limp hand and Nathaniel put together the plan the Moriymas had in mind.

Lord Ichirou then turned to Nathaniel and stepped up to him. “It seems that our common enemies are finished,” he said. “Are you satisfied?”

Nathaniel nodded. “I am,” he said. “Thank you, Lord Ichirou.”

“Remember what I told you, Wesninski,” Lord Ichirou continued. “You cannot go anywhere where your roots won’t lead you back to us.”

“I won’t forget that, my Lord,” Nathaniel assured and Lord Ichirou nodded.

“You are dismissed, then.”

Nathaniel being led out of the tower and back into the elevator was a blur. He didn’t register any of his surroundings, but he could feel the grin on his face. It was over, it was finally over, and Riko got what was coming for him for a long, long time.

When he arrived back in the locker room, it seemed like all the other Ravens had flocked elsewhere, until he turned to his locker and saw Andrew waiting for him. Nathaniel flashed him a smile and Andrew raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you so happy?” Andrew asked, his stare intense on Nathaniel.

Nathaniel cocked his head to the side and felt his grin grow wider. “We won, Andrew.”

--

The Edgar Allan Ravens’ Exy team was not deemed mentally or emotionally fit to join the student body for the last couple weeks of the semester. Having just lost their coach, their captain, and their team, the school board saw that another sudden change might hinder the Ravens more than help.

And yet, things felt lighter, easier, in the dorms. No one spoke to each other, yet no one fought. For the first time in their college careers, some for the first time in their lives, they did not have someone breathing down their necks. They were free to make their own choices. Eventually. For right now, they were to stay in the Nest with near constant supervision. Except this time, the supervision was to make sure they didn’t fall apart, instead of constantly bending and breaking them.

The Ravens were to finish out their spring semester, and come fall, there would be no more Edgar Allan Raven Exy team. The athletes were free to just be students or to transfer, but the school board didn’t believe it to be just to let the Ravens’ Exy team, a force that had grown from powerful to manipulative and abusive, to continue.

Riko’s death was ruled as a suicide. By the time he and Tetsuji were found, Lord Ichirou and his men were long gone. Anyone who saw the staged scene put the pieces together and found their conclusion: Riko Moriyama, captain to the former National Champions Edgar Allan Ravens, in a manic frenzy of not being able to cope with the bad news on the Ravens and losing his title of Champion, shot his uncle and then himself. Anyone who had seen the news and heard of what happened down in the Nest believed it, which was basically everyone.

Except Nathaniel. Nathaniel knew what really happened. But that would have to be his own little secret, unless he wanted Lord Ichirou to do the same to him.

Nathaniel stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His scars had healed and he traced his finger over the one that ran just below the three tattooed on his cheek. Eventually, he would have to make up a story for how he got those scars. Or maybe he could tell the truth. Nathaniel had time, though. The Exy season was over, and Nathaniel didn’t even know if he would have a collegiate Exy season in a couple months.

He still hoped he would play, though. There had been a few pro teams waiting for Nathaniel in the draft, and maybe that could be where he turned.

Still, though, Nathaniel had time. He smiled at himself in the mirror at the thought.

The bathroom light flickered and he turned on his heel to leave. The black hallway was vacant, but Nathaniel knew that his fellow Ravens were in their dorms and in the lounge. They were probably attempting to find peace in not having to move as one collective unit, or at least trying to cope with it.

Nathaniel pushed the door of his dorm open and found Andrew waiting for him in the desk chair.

“I thought you would have learned to not leave your door open,” Andrew said. “Anyone could walk in.”

“Well, I’m glad that it was you,” Nathaniel said, shutting the door behind him and stepping up to Andrew.

Andrew stared up at him. “Watch it, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel smirked. “What percentage am I at now?”

“One-hundred-and-twenty,” Andrew said. “Very high.”

Nathaniel shrugged. “As it happens.”

Andrew then reached up for him. His hands stopped right before the collar of Nathaniel’s shirt. “Yes or no?”

Nathaniel gave Andrew his affirmation and, rather quickly, Andrew pulled Nathaniel down into a kiss. Nathaniel’s hands immediately found their place in Andrew’s hair, and Andrew’s own bunched Nathaniel’s shirt in his fists.

Nathaniel was glad he closed the door, because only a couple seconds later, there was a knock on it.

Nathaniel pulled away and Andrew breathed out what seemed like a sigh of annoyance. “Sorry,” Nathaniel said with a slight laugh before going to open the door.

The Athletics’ Director stood on the other side of it.

“Oh, uh, hi,” Nathaniel said, unable to keep the confusion from his voice.

“Hello.” The Director looked at Nathaniel and then Andrew. “Good, you’re both here-” Nathaniel quickly looked back to Andrew. “There is a David Wymack here to see both of you.”

David Wymack, as in Kevin’s father, as in the coach of the Palmetto State Exy team. Here. For Nathaniel and Andrew.

Nathaniel and Andrew shared a look before wordlessly following the Director up to the court. David Wymack was waiting in the inner court, sitting on one of the benches and reading over two files in his hands. He looked up when the other three entered.

“I will be in your late coach’s office if there are any issues,” the Director said before making his way to Tetsuji’s office. Neither Wymack, Nathaniel, or Andrew spoke until the Director left the court.

“What are you doing here?” Nathaniel asked, his mind running too fast to be able to put together pleasantries.

Wymack sighed, standing up. “I should’ve expected after Kevin showed up that I wouldn’t get any manners here,” he said, approaching them. “But I don’t think we need introductions.”

“No,” Andrew said. “We don’t.”

“So, I’m going to cut to the chase,” Wymack said, presenting the two files in his hands. NATHANIEL WESNINSKI and ANDREW MINYARD were written on them in large, slanted letters and Nathaniel’s mind finally processed what was about to happen. “I believe that we all have something that could benefit each other. You are two skilled Exy players with no team, and I am a coach with openings on my lineup.”

Nathaniel blinked down at his file before finally looking up at Wymack. What Wymack was presenting worked out too well. The Ravens lose their Exy team and all of a sudden Wymack is here offering them a spot on his team. There had to be a flaw in his plan. Things never worked out this easily, and they sure as hell weren’t about to start.

“But you really only need a goalie,” Nathaniel began to ramble. “You only have Renee. Having Andrew would mean a better defense because Renee wouldn’t have to extend her energy over an hour and a half. But you already have three backliners, and Matt isn’t graduating for another two years, and Nicky and Aaron the year after that. Really, you need a striker since Seth is leaving your line. But I’m a backliner. And you… you have three, already.”

Wymack arched an eyebrow at him. “I see you’ve done your research,” he said. “But, frankly, I don’t give a damn about anything you just said. You two meet the two qualifications for my team, and I will admit, I am not the only one who wants you two. Kevin practically begged me to get you two on our lineup for next season. Of course, he mainly saw it as bettering our playing strategies, but I don’t think even he would be against having some familiar faces on the line.”

“I don’t think I can deal with you and Kevin obsessing over Exy again,” Andrew muttered, but when Wymack presented two contracts, he took the one with his name on it with no hesitation.

“But also, my team is about second chances,” Wymack continued. “I’ve heard of what goes on down here from Kevin, and specifically what happened in this ‘perfect court’ that was created. And, personally, I think you two deserve another shot in life to be who and what you want to be without someone telling you what that ‘who’ and ‘what’ is.”

And, personally, I think you two deserve another shot in life to be who and what you want to be without someone telling you what that ‘who’ and ‘what’ is. They were words that Nathaniel had said to himself time and time again to give himself hope that, one day, he would escape the Nest. But he never thought someone else would see that potential, too.

Nathaniel, with a shaking hand, took the contract being presented to him.

All he wanted was a future out of the Nest, following Andrew wherever he went. He never considered a future like this, though. A future having another team and a number; a future doing what he loved without the pressure to be better than everyone else, but to not usurp a king. A future with Andrew at his side, not because he followed him, but because they were both wanted.

“But, with that being said,” Wymack continued. “You two do have a choice, and it’s one that I can’t -and won’t- make for you. I’ll be with your Athletics’ Director, come talk to me when you two are ready.”

Nathaniel and Andrew wordlessly watched him leave.

Nathaniel then turned his stare back to the contract in his hands. A full scholarship to do what he wanted to do, with people who understood. A future of orange and white.

Nathaniel liked those colors much more than black and red.

“I want this,” Nathaniel whispered, crinkling the edges of the paper in between his fingers. “This is what I’ve wanted all along.”

“Then take it,” Andrew said. “Nothing, no one, is here anymore to stop you.”

Nathaniel thought of his old life compared to the one laid out in front of him. The life behind him left him with scars from fights and traumas. The life before him gave him a chance to become a new person. A second chance, as Wymack dubbed it, to leave behind the life that hurt him and beat him and told him that he was never going to amount to anything more than a number.

Ghosts would follow him wherever he went, and they might never really leave him. Kevin and Andrew would stick with him, but Nathaniel didn’t consider them ghosts.

Nathaniel turned to Andrew. “I don’t want to be Nathaniel Wesninski anymore,” he said, his voice barely over a whisper. It felt odd to hear those words leave his mouth. His father had put the Wesninski branding on him the moment he was born, but he found that he was not his father. He was someone better. He wasn’t violent by nature, guided by hate and a cleaver. He just knew when to fight back for what was right, and who to fight for. He was not his father, and now he had the chance to leave the Wesninski name behind him.

He wanted to take Andrew with him and start a new life as a new person with a new team.

“Then leave him behind,” Andrew said. “Let him die with the Ravens, let him die with Riko and your father.”

“I don’t know who I want to be yet.”

“You don’t have to. Just keep moving forward.”

“I want you with me,” Nathaniel admitted.

“I will be.” It was the first time that Andrew didn’t deny their relationship. Nathaniel found himself smiling, and for once Andrew didn’t tell him to not look at him like that.

Andrew’s eyes flicked over Nathaniel’s face, and something that could have been a small smile turned his lips up. “One-hundred-and-twenty-four percent.”

Nathaniel laughed. Everything felt real. Not everything was okay, and maybe things wouldn’t be okay for a while, but things were real. Kevin, Nathaniel, and Andrew came out of this whole situation alive, and they were now going to be teammates again, except this time wearing orange instead of black. They would need time; time to heal, time to get to know each other out of the Nest, time to adjust to a life of not having violence and torture held over their heads.

But things were real, and things were progressing.

For now, though, Nathaniel and Andrew had to find Wymack. They needed to talk about when practices would start, and what new equipment they would need, and when they would be meeting their new teammates as Foxes instead of runaway Ravens.

First, though, they needed to sign those contracts.

Nathaniel went to follow in the direction Wymack went, and Andrew fell into place next to him.

While walking, Nathaniel Wesninski traced the three on his cheek. At a younger age, the marker would have smudged under his touch; however, the ink, scarred into his face, held up. The permanent ink, for so long, was an ever constant reminder to Nathaniel that he was not a person, but just a mere number destined to be a servant to the Ravens and the Moriyama family. For all his life he had been a thing, a machine, a number. He had been a lackey, a punching bag, an ally under circumstance. Now, though, perhaps the mark could be a sign for what he survived. He was finally going to be seen as a human being, and he was alive to see it.

If life had gone different, he would never have had any of this. He would have never suffered through the Ravens. He never would have had to know Tetsuji and Riko Moriyama and endure what they had done to him. He would have lived a life that he hoped would have been semi-normal.

But life had not been different. And he couldn’t change the past. He couldn’t change what he had done, the promises he had made, and the promises he wished he could have kept. He couldn’t change the scars and the bruises and the nightmares that would be an ever constant reminder of the life he had to live.

For the first time in his life, though, he had the chance to change his future. His past couldn’t have been different, but his future could be. He had the opportunity to do what he wanted, finally not governed by a forceful hand. The only thing left indebted for was to do what he loved, and he found that a great way to start the rest of his life.

And he was going to do it. He was going to make a new life for himself with new people and a new identity, and he was going to do it with Andrew at his side.

He continued off in search of Wymack, and Andrew was next to him, and occasionally their hands brushed, and Nathaniel was happy.