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Thump, thump, thump. Thump thump thump THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMPTHUMPTHUMP-
Miguel let out a shaky breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. His head was hazy with smoke, even if there was no fire. He looked around the empty dojo and out the large windows. They streamed in midday sunlight, and the blue skies were all too clear. Miguel hated it.
That was enough training for one day, the bruises on his knuckles were screaming for rest anyway. He tentatively stuck his head out of the dojo to see the other combatants of the tournament, all brought to this ‘hidden retreat’ to prepare for the next round. Well, something like that. But it had been two weeks and nothing had happened, not even a word about the tournament since they’d arrived. It felt like el puente, and Miguel was starting to get antsy up here in the Swiss Alps. Complete isolation was never really his strong suit.
Miguel made his way through the sea of combatants, and- ah, yes. The man in the pink overcoat, Kazuya Mishima if Miguel remembered correctly, was staring off into space. Well, not staring as much as glowering. It sent a shiver down his back, even if the other man wasn’t looking at him.
Suddenly, the phone in Miguel’s pocket started ringing. He disappeared from the crowd and picked up, “ Sí ?”
The anonymous number on the other end came through, “ Miguel, it has been almost twelve days without any kind of contact. What is keeping you so busy you can’t call us back? ”
“Well, it’s difficult to call you back when I don’t even know your real number.”
“... fair point. Nonetheless, have you made any more progress with infiltrating the tournament?”
“Yes, didn’t you see I’ve made it to the third round?”
“We need more than you just rising through the ranks. I need you to get to know your competition, come close to them and possibly use that to our advantage. Don’t you want your revenge?”
Miguel’s heart weighed heavily in his chest. “No need to remind me. I’ll get the job done.”
He hung up, and rejoined the rest of the thinning crowd in the retreat’s lobby. But as he stepped back out, he felt the chilling notion of being watched. He looked to see Kazuma on the other side of the lobby, staring at Miguel with the same focused coldness he had only seen that night on the subway.
Kazuma turned to Miguel and started walking towards him. Miguel couldn’t move, those cold eyes were boring into him and froze him where he stood. It was almost like Kazuma knew who was on the phone. He was almost on top of Miguel, coming at him like a speeding train. Dios mio, he couldn’t even muster up the strength to raise his fists!-
“Miguel, hey! I was wondering where you were! C’mon, there’s almost no lunch left!”
Miguel was pulled out of his stupor by a thick, strong hand that pulled him into a tight side hug. He looked down to see a blonde man in a lederhosen- Bob? The fat man looked down at him and winked before looking over at Kazuma, “Sorry if I’m interrupting. Were you two talking or something?”
Kazuma’s face scrunched up, but he rolled his eyes and growled, “No,” before walking off with a wave of his overcoat. Miguel finally let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, and looked back at Bob. “What’s with the outfit?”
“Believe it or not, I’m actually half German!”
“Really?”
“No. I just thought it’d be fun, to be honest. Anyway, you wanna get out of here for a little bit? I’m getting a little stir-crazy here, heh.”
Miguel prayed Bob couldn’t feel how hot his cheeks were. “I… I suppose I have been going a little hard on training lately. But it’s not exactly like there’s much else to do around here.”
Bob grinned, “I can think of a few things…”
He grabbed Miguel by the arm and pulled him deeper into the retreat, until they came to an outdoor pavilion that overlooked the mountain range. The snow up here was almost blinding under the midday sun, and the woods wrapping around the base led out to a sprawling field. The cold up here sent a chill through Miguel, and Bob wrapped an arm around him again.
Bob leaned over to Miguel’s face and pointed to a small collection of dots between the woods and the field, “See that over there? There’s a town down there, I say we ditch for a couple of hours and actually enjoy ourselves for a bit. Whaddaya say?”
Miguel looked down at the distant settlement. They were supposed to stay at the retreat, not to mention how far the place even was. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. How are we even going to get down there before nightfall? And don’t we risk disqualification if you’re caught?”
Bob chuckled, and Miguel could feel the other man’s cheek against his. “Since when have you been a stickler for the rules?”
Since this whole operation was a plan for justice. Since he was technically here to sabotage the entire tournament. Since Jin Kazama was revealed to be behind her death. But Miguel couldn’t say any of that. So he stayed silent, and Bob shrugged.
He walked over to the balcony and turned back to Miguel, leaning against it. “It’s fine if you don’t wanna. I just wanted to spend some time with my bestest bud here.”
“I’m not your bud”, Miguel lied.
Bob raised his hands with a smile, “Whatever you say. Well, see ya.”
He leaned over the balcony, and fell out of Miguel’s sight! What the hell?!
Miguel sprinted to the balcony and almost jumped over himself to see-
Oh.
Bob had a snowmobile. Where did he even get one? Bob revved up the snowmobile and waved at him, “See you in a couple hours!”
Miguel looked back at the empty doorway and back down at Bob. This was muy cañero. Then again, what about his entire situation wasn’t absolutely insane?
“Wait!”
Miguel glanced back at the doorway one more time before leaping off the balcony, and landing in the snow. Great.
Bob laughed and pulled him onto the snowmobile behind him. Well, no turning back now. “Have you ever driven one of these things before?”
“Once, now let’s drive!”
Bob revved the motor, and the two of them raced down the mountainside! Miguel watched as the trees around him blew by in a blur and the cold air brought tears to his eyes, but it was mainly blocked out by Bob’s immense frame.
Miguel held onto him a little tighter, and watched as the mountain slowly shrank in size until it was covered by clouds.
Soon enough, the ride came to a stop and Miguel opened his eyes to see the snowmobile on a precipice overlooking the small town. The snow fell softly here, and the place almost looked like a scene out of a postcard. Miguel felt himself smiling as Bob nodded, “pretty nice, eh?”
“Vale, vale . It’s nice, I’ll give you that.”
Bob gave him a wide grin, “We’d better hide this thing then, don’t wanna attract any more attention than necessary.”
As Miguel leaned off the snowmobile though, he got a prickling feeling on the back of his neck. He swerved to look into the dark treeline they just left, and… something had disappeared in the woods, something white against the tree’s shadows. Goosebumps covered Miguel’s arms, and not just from the cold.
Bob stopped and looked back at him, “Miguel, are you okay?”
Miguel shook his head and waved back at Bob, “Yes, I’m fine. I just thought I saw something.”
He was still paranoid from running off, that was probably it. Miguel and Bob soon found a snowbank to hide the snowmobile, and made their way into the village. It was sparsely populated, with graying heads wherever Miguel looked. The two stuck out like a sore thumb, not to mention how much these townspeople seemed to enjoy staring at them. He cringed to himself, “I feel like a guiri.”
“A what now?”
“A tourist. ”
“I mean, we are. Why not just embrace it for a couple hours? We’re here to enjoy ourselves, remember? You’ve gotta let loose a little bit!”
The smoke at the back of Miguel’s mind seemed to say otherwise. But he followed Bob through the cobblestone streets of the town, looking around the storefront windows at the various displays. Christmas trees, multicolor lights, fresh bread and pastries, and more that caught Miguel’s eye in many ways. It was like he was a child in Deià again. Minus the snow of course. It was still floating down from the clouds, and was starting to settle on Miguel’s shoulders. He really should’ve brought a jacket.
He almost jumped out of his skin as something warm was thrown on his shoulders, but turned to see Bob’s own shirt on him now. He looked down at Bob, who turned away and smiled, “I’ve always enjoyed the cold, it’s nothing.”
Bob talked in great lengths after that, about everything and nothing at the same time it almost felt like. Miguel had little things to say here and there as well, usually things about the tournament and what little gossip he heard from the other contenders. As they entered a bar though, Miguel let his tongue slip too loose. “Heh, yeah. That Julia girl reminds me a lot of my sister-”
“You have a sister?” Bob whipped himself around to face Miguel head-on, “Scratch that, you have a family ?”
Miguel took a stool and ordered a beer, “I mean, yes? Why wouldn’t I?”
“You never talk about them! Well, you never talk about anything with your whole ‘dark and brooding’ thing you’ve got going on.”
“I’m not!- I am not ‘ dark and brooding’.”
Bob sipped some of Miguel’s beer, “If you say so. Mmm, this is good stuff!”
“It isn’t exactly like I should be getting chummy with the competition”, Miguel snatched his beer back. “I’m in this to win, not to make friends.”
Miguel sipped his beer as Bob nodded, “Then what exactly are you doing here? With me, I mean.”
Miguel choked on his drink, “I- I mean! You know, I just don’t want you getting into too much trouble while you’re gone. That’s all.”
Bob smirked with that smarmy look of his, “Admit it, you like me!”
“I wouldn’t exactly say it like that…”
Bob pointed at Miguel, “There! You admit it! I knew you couldn’t resist this for long!”
Miguel took a long swig of his drink as Bob posed on his stool suggestively. Dios mio, he was kind of cute when he did that. “What else is there to do around here, exactly?”
Bob smirked, “Well…”
He pulled Miguel in front of the bakery, and Miguel smiled. The place nearly overwhelmed him with delicious smells by just opening the door, and they walked out shortly after with a bag of biscuits called… called…
“What did they call these again?”
Bob leaned his head to the side as he reached into the back, “I think they were… basler läckerli? Yeah, I think that’s right! Oh man, these are good. Here, try one!”
Bob pulled out another and held it up to Miguel’s face, and he had to take it before Bob noticed his burning cheeks. He took a bite, and- ¡Qué barbaridad! Esos bollos son la leche! He could taste honey, hazelnuts, and a bit of citrus peel inside of them before sighing. Bob elbowed him and grinned, “Man, these remind me of the treats I used to fill up on back home after training sessions.”
“What were those called?”
“Dunno, all I knew was that they were good. I think they were from around here? I’ve never actually been outside the states.”
Miguel smiled, “Well I’ve lived in Europe all my life. I could help you look less like a tourist by showing you around some time.”
“Hey!” Bob laughed, “I’m not that bad!”
Miguel couldn’t help but laugh, but nearly jumped as Bob whipped around to face another store, “You know what? We should get some coats!”
He took Miguel by the hand, and he prayed to whatever god there was that he couldn't feel the Spaniard's sweaty palms. They soon stopped in front of the store with coats in the windows. Jackpot.
They walked inside, and Miguel looked at the numerous racks of coats lining the walls. These looked expensive, and he didn’t even see the price tags yet. Once again, Miguel should’ve thought this through before jumping.
“Don’t worry”, Bob pulled out some euros, “I’ve got this.”
Miguel smirked, “Alright, what kind of coats were you thinking?”
The smile he didn’t even realize Bob was sporting grew wider, and he started rifling through the rack. “Well, I figured since we don’t have much money left with us we should try cheap, but not so cheap we’re gonna just be exposed to the elements since you don’t enjoy the cold…”
The two walked out not even five minutes later with a pair of duffle coats, and Miguel started chastising, “¡Vaya! Bob, you don’t know how to haggle to save your life! You just threw half your money away in there!”
Bob waved a hand, “Relax, it’s all getting charged to the tourney anyway.”
“Still, that was careless! Ay, you’re just like my sister…”
Bob bumped into him, “You know, it feels like I’d get along with this sister of yours. Ya think I could meet her after the tournament ends?”
Miguel’s lungs suddenly filled with smoke, and he felt a lump form in his throat. “I…”
He suddenly noticed the eyes of the town all on him at that moment. Not just Bob, but other people walking by, on window sills, on porches, all seeming to watch for his next move. This wasn’t like before either, the townspeople almost felt avid now. Miguel gulped, “Do you want to get out of here?”
Bob blinked, “I- I mean, yeah! Sure, sure. Where were you thinking?”
“Just… anywhere but here.”
Bob nodded vigorously, and the two walked onto a giant field outside of town. It was an endless sheet of snow, only broken by the forests on the edge and the trees dotted randomly across the landscape. The smoke became bearable again, and he sighed as he sat down in the snow. Just sure silence, only broken by the occasional footstep from Bob-
WHAP!
Ay! Miguel spun around to see Bob running away and laughing. He wiped the snowball from his hair and started packing a tight snowball. “¡Cuidado!”
Bob spun to face Miguel, and immediately got POMMELED with a snowball right to the face! Miguel sprinted in the opposite direction as Bob raced after him, launching snowball after snowball at him!
“You can’t run forever!” Bob was already gaining on Miguel, “Aaaaaand… HA!”
Miguel felt Bob wrap his arms around him, and the two of them went flying to the ground at the treeline! Miguel fought from under the larger man’s grasp, but found his hands pinned and Bob smiling on top of him. “Got ya!”
Miguel just stared up at Bob for what felt like an eternity. Those blue eyes were striking in their closeness, and he could see a thin circle around his iris- ¡Vaya!
“Bob! Are you wearing contacts?”
Bob stared at him, and laughed like sunlight. “Huh, I don’t think anyone’s ever caught that one!”
This was loco, he didn’t have blue eyes? It was partially a relief, but what else was he lying about? “Are you even a natural blonde?”
Bob let go of Miguel’s hands and placed his chin on the man’s chest, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Caballero Rojo.”
He flashed a sharp grin, and Miguel could feel his heart bleeding. Something in him screamed to let this moment last forever, just the two of them lying there in the snow. No more tournaments, no more revenge. Just this.
“I think we should head back now.”
Bob stared at him after he uttered the words, and tripped over his own as he scrambled off of Miguel. “Yeah, yeah. We should head back now. It’s been a little while now, they’re gonna start getting suspicious…”
Miguel walked wordlessly behind Bob, whose head was noticeably less high and proud than usual. He said the wrong thing, what was he going to do now? He acted like a coward, the one time in his life that he acted like one and he messed it all up between them. ¿Por dios qué iba a hacer Miguel?
He could barely focus as they walked back to the treeline, but was able to notice something like a white deer darting between the trees the closer they came. By the time they reached the woods though, the deer was nowhere to be found. Strange.
When they reached the snowbank, Bob froze. “Uh, Miguel. This is the right snowbank, right?”
¿Que? Miguel walked to Bob’s side and looked behind the snowbank. There was no trace of the snowmobile anywhere. “Por dios.”
Bob shook his head as shaky confidence returned to his voice, “It-it’s okay. We just need to find another way to the top. But what…”
Miguel looked around, there had to be another way up there. The sun was already setting, and the little town behind them was clearly already closing up for the day. Think Miguel, think!
Suddenly, a wire in the distance caught Miguel’s eye. Didn’t that retreat used to be a ski resort? Meaning there had to be another way to the top. He ran across the forest line for what felt to be an eternity as the sky turned bright orange, and- ¡Ajá!
There was a ski lift platform just waiting to be used, and looked to be in perfect condition! “I think I have found our ticket back up the mountain!”
Bob’s arms were suddenly wrapped around Miguel as he squeezed him in a giant bear hug, “Miguel you genius! I’m so happy I could kiss you!”
Miguel laughed weakly, “Yes, well we need to make sure it will actually work first.”
“Right, right! Let’s get to it then!”
Miguel looked it over. There were no keys, so it looked like he was gonna have to hardwire this thing. He opened up the control panel and started fiddling with wires, just as Bob ducked down to flash his phone light onto what he was doing. “Where’d you even learn to do this?”
“What can I say? Years of hotwiring cars can come in handy.”
Bob chuckled, and it dripped over Miguel like honey yet again-
And then he froze. That overwhelming sense of being watched had come back again, the same one from the village. Only this time, something about it felt malicious. Even hungry. Miguel glanced at the trees and could see something moving again. The sound of a distorted wolf howl pierced the night. He started working faster.
Bob wasn’t ignorant, either. “Uh, Miguel? Think you can hurry up a bit there?”
“I’m going as fast as I can…”
A sudden crunch of branches caught both men’s attention as they looked and saw- that wasn’t a deer.
Something slowly rose from over the trees, antlers first, and Miguel could feel its eyes on the two of them. It wore a deerskin white as snow, with no discernable facial features underneath the hood, while the rest of the person’s body was covered by the forest. From the trees, the elderly townspeople slowly stood vigilant. Miguel’s stomach lurched as he realized that the feelings he recognized from being on the run for years came back full-force. No, they weren’t just being watched.
They were being hunted.
“Any time now…!” Bob nearly squeaked, and Miguel wiped his sweaty hands before finishing the last of the wiring, and felt adrenaline run through his veins as the lift wire started moving!
“¡Venga, venga!” Miguel whispered as the townspeople slowly started lurching towards the lift platform under the last piercing rays of daylight. There was no avoiding it, Miguel raised his fists.
Bob raised his own beside him, “You’re really okay with just beating the shit outta senior citizens?”
“Al mal tiempo, buena cara.”
“Don’t know what that means, but I’ll take it!”
The townspeople were running at Miguel by the time he met them, and by that time they had been… changed. Their mouths opened up to reveal maws of sharp teeth, muscles flexed under their tweed and cotton clothing, and pointed ears glided under the darkening night against glowing slit pupils.
Miguel started swinging, and didn’t stop. Teeth flashed against bruised knuckles as blood covered the newly fallen snow, and he didn’t care enough to figure out whose it was. This was truly a dog-eat-dog battle now, and it was either them or him going down. And if he went down, then on Julietta’s grave he’d go down bloody and fighting .
The ski lift compartment finally arrived, and Miguel spun around to make a run for it!-
He was grabbed by the foot, and his chin crashed into the ground. Hard. He could feel sharp, red hot pain in his calf as those things probably tore his leg to bits, and shouted, “OYE, BOB! THE LIFT!!!”
Bob, knee-deep in a mess of his own, turned and ran to the lift. Miguel kicked off the monsters on him and limped to catch up close behind. Bob clambered into the lift as it left the platform, and shot his hand out to Miguel. “Give me your hand!”
Miguel jumped, and flew into the air! The lift was going too fast, he was gonna miss-
With both hands, Bob managed to grab onto Miguel’s arm! He swung in the air for what felt like an eternity, and he was finally being dragged inside-
“AY!!!”
One of the monsters had grabbed hold of Miguel’s other leg! He tried to shake it off, but it clambered up on him and tackled Bob inside of the lift! Miguel pulled himself inside, just in time to see the beast locked in a wrestling match with Bob! And judging from the blood dripping from Bob’s hands, he wasn’t winning. Miguel looked around the compartment, and- there! An emergency axe on the wall! He pulled it out of its container and slowly limped over to the wrestling match. He had to time it precisely, if he swung wrong he could kill Bob. He watched as the two spun and squirmed and raised the axe. Steady, steady…
Ahora mismo!!! Miguel brought the axe down, and the beast screamed in that distorted howl as it flailed around in agony. Miguel couldn’t help but smile as he finally kicked the thing from the compartment, and he watched it fall below the trees.
Miguel glanced back at the deerskin creature. It almost felt like the thing had locked eyes with him before slowly retreating back into the forest where it belonged. He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, it was over. This nightmare had finally come to an end. He turned to Bob. “Are you hurt too badly? Let me see your hands.”
Miguel flipped Bob’s hands over and examined them. His palms were bloody, but the wounds didn’t look to be very deep. “You’ll be okay, you’ll just need to leave those alone for a couple days.”
“What about your leg?”
“Excuse me?”
Bob motioned for him to turn around, and Miguel did so. He could hear the man suck in a sharp breath at the sight of the wound. “That looks lacerated. Here, let me just…”
Bob pulled his undershirt off and wrapped it around Miguel’s wound. He sucked in a breath, but managed to steady his breathing. By this point, both men had stripped down, Miguel in his undershirt and Bob with his bare chest out. After all of that , they definitely didn’t need the layers. Miguel leaned against the wall and looked out the open door. The stars were out, and the cool wind was doing wonders for him. However, he could see something else in the distance of the mountaintops. Something over the sheet of clouds that he couldn’t quite make out but in a faint glow from here.
The higher they went, the more Miguel could make out what he was seeing. Something glowing green, blue, and various other colors. As they finally broke over the clouds though, Miguel and Bob could see what it was in its full splendor; an aurora borealis, bending and folding like paper, and lighting up the sky with vibrant colors that Miguel had only seen in storybooks. He felt Bob rest his head against him. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Miguel could feel tears welling up, “Yes. It really is.”
Bob wrapped an arm around Miguel, and the tears started falling. They were too much to hold back anymore, and tried to wipe them away with his undershirt. Bob whispered in an unfamiliarly tentative tone, “What happened to your sister?”
Miguel chuckled through his sobs, “Ay, I haven’t done a good job of hiding it, have I?”
“Talk to me, dude. I’m here for ya.”
Miguel focused on the aurora outside, and took a deep breath. “My sister, Julietta. She was the most precious thing to me, after my parents kicked me out of the house for… well, you can imagine what I was kicked out for.”
“What, are you gay?”
“… Bi, actually. And my parents were quick to throw me out for it. Julietta was the only one who actually supported me, and I loved her more than anything else in the world. But something happened at her wedding, something horrible… ”
Smoke filled Miguel’s lungs again as he relived the memory of the burning chapel. Her wedding ring weighed heavily around his neck, even now. He pulled it out, and it glinted like fire against the aurora’s light. “This was the only thing of hers I could find.”
Bob leaned more onto Miguel, “Wow, that… that sucks man. I don’t know what to say, but I’m here for you if you need to talk about that kind of stuff. Okay?”
Miguel leaned into Bob’s side. “Yes. I think I’d like that.”
The two leaned into each other, Miguel on Bob’s stomach and Bob running his fingers through Miguel’s hair, as they went higher and higher up the mountain. The aurora lit up the sky like sunlight, and almost seemed to faintly crackle above them. Miguel could feel himself drifting away as his mind wandered, but was abruptly brought back as Bob mentioned, “Did you know I’m actually a brunette?”
Miguel raised an eyebrow, “Go on.”
“Yeah, it was actually before I got a better body. When I was new to the whole martial arts thing, I found that I got a lot more fans with the whole ‘blonde hair blue eye’ stchick. It was an accident at first, I was actually trying to get an acting gig earlier that day. I guess I just stuck with it after a while to be honest.”
“Do you ever think you’d go back to brown?”
“I dunno. I’ve thought about it, but I’ve dug myself way too deep into this one to just go back to brown.”
Miguel turned to smile at Bob, “I think you’d look very nice with brown hair.”
Bob’s face was visibly red, even against the aurora. “Aw, now you’re just flattering me.”
“I really mean it.”
A soft smile crossed Bob’s face, and the two stared outside as the end finally came into view up ahead.
The two clambered out of the ski lift, and could see the hidden retreat not far ahead of them. Bob wrapped Miguel’s arm over his shoulder, and the two of them started walking up to the resort. Menos mal, there was a side door, otherwise the two of them were gonna have to walk through the front and risk getting caught for sure. As they came up to it and glanced through the window to make sure there was no one in sight, Bob turned to Miguel. “You know, besides the obvious horrors, I think today was pretty nice.”
Miguel nodded, “Yeah, maybe next time we don’t go into the belly of come kind of bestia sobrenatural.”
“Next time?” Bob’s eyes sparkled again, and Miguel chuckled, “Yes, but I get to call the next spot, sí?”
“Yeah, sí.”
Bob opened the door, and Miguel could feel the smoke clearing.