Part 2: Wounds

Second part in the series of short stories written by LFNPark!   Enjoy!

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Part 2: Wounds

She watched the blood drip to the grimy cement floor, the single light swinging gently overhead casting dark shadows. Titan could feel the pathetic bench sagging under her size, the occasional troubling creak echoing against the cheap metal lockers surrounding her, but she didn’t care. She felt the blood running down her face slowly, a single drop flowing off her chin now and again as she sat. She could feel similar trails mixed with the sweat and grime over her arms and legs...one in her side for certain. 

Shakily she tried to unwrap the sports tape around her hands, but her fingers seemed unable to translate her wishes through their swollen and aching state. She was aware of the pain in her right eye, and in the back of her mind she was worried that she couldn’t open it. Then again, there were many parts of her swelling with bruising and broken bones. Every breath the Titan drew reminded her of the pain in her ribs, but this pain...all of it was familiar and expected. 

The confusion and anger were not. 

Four….there was only supposed to be two… 

​ She spat a gob of blood to the floor, narrowly missing her taped up foot. Her master had told her tonight was a two on one; not an uncommon fight for her. Few fighters she’d encountered had ever been able to pose a challenge one-on-one, but two would usually give a good show. 

But two men and two women had stepped into that cheap arena, the shoddy fence strung around in a circle intertwined with barbed wire….Titan was good, she knew she was, but numbers wore you down. You could only do so much with four separate targets gunning for you… 

Especially when she saw her Master slide a knife to one of her opponents. Weapons weren’t allowed, but once a fight started nobody cared. It danced in her thoughts, seeing the man pick up the knife and attacking her. She remembered seeing it flash towards her face as the women grappled her, and an agonizing splash of red in her vision...  Four opponents, a knife….Her master nowhere to be found afterwards...He always met her after…. 

Where is he...why did he give him the knife…. 

She held her head against her palms, the rage rising back into her chest. She tried to maintain her breathing as she’d been trained but Titan couldn’t quench the rage, her breath quickening as her sore muscles tightened. It churned and roiled until she felt it rising in her throat with a low growl. 

Calm….Calm… 

Titan tried. She tried so hard to force the rage away, to shove it back down so she could try to think rationally...There must be a logic, a reason. Desperately she searched her mind, trying to 

find anything she might have done... 

He betrayed you.

​ ​He didn’t want you. He was scared of you. Ever since Gregory died.... 

​ It hit her like lightning, electrifying her mind and traveling down her spine to that roiling mass deep in her breast. She felt her rage explode from her chest through her throat in a torturous howl. The Titan wrapped her arms around her waist, the fire inside overwhelming the pain from her ribs as she pitched forward to her knees. She howled until her throat was raw, but the rage didn’t cease...it fueled her, pushed her. She grabbed the creaking bench in her massive hands, splintering it against the lockers in a cacophony of cheap metal and rotting wood. 

Titan looked down at the dented locker, its door hanging loosely on its rusted hinges. She tore it off with ease, sending it clattering to the cold concrete. Bloody hands wrenched what remained from its mooring on the wall, taking chunks of drywall with it.  She lost count of how many times she smashed that locker into the wall. By the time the fire within started to smolder, it had been reduced to a twisted pile of cheap metal and screws and she could see the cheap fiberglass through what remained of the dry wall. She tossed the wreckage against the far wall, her strength ebbing away to mere embers. The Titan dropped to her knees as the room began to spin. 

She pressed her forehead against the cold cement, dimly aware of the throbbing in her right eye...all over her body really. A wave of nausea came over her and she clenched her eye shut, trying to fight it back down. Titan didn’t know when she started crying, but she felt the tears running down her cheek mingling with the slick blood.  

She heard the door open, its hinges squeaking in protest. 

“Leave.” She growled, her baritone echoing in the small locker. 

“No.” The voice was stern and feminine, unfamiliar to Titan. She sat up reluctantly, turning her terrifying visage to the voice. It was a woman, tiny and olive skinned with straight black hair that hung to her shoulders over a grey hoodie. She held a duffel bag against her leg, blue jeans and black boots finished her ensemble. Her face was set, and Titan was annoyed to see no fear in her hazel eyes. 

“Leave!” Titan roared, baring her teeth at the smaller girl. She expected fear, for the girl to cower and scramble from the room as so many had before. She knew she looked horrid; covered in blood (some hers, some not) and her face a literal crimson mask from the wound on her face. 

The woman simply strode forward, her face turning into a soft smile. 

“No.” She knelt next to the giantess, setting the duffel bag down. Titan grasped the women's 

clothes with one hand, attempting to pull her closer. Her grip refused to tighten on the hoodie, instead merely pressing her knuckles against the smaller woman with the force of a limp noodle. 

“Leave.” Titan snarled. 

The woman chuckled, placing her hand onto Titan’s. The giantess’ snarl disappeared, replaced with a perplexed stare. 

“No. You would die if I left. Your wounds need tending.” The woman’s voice was calm and forceful, piercing through Titan’s mind like a mothers command. She pulled Titan’s hand from her coat and set it on her knee. 

“I am Maki. You are Titan.” Maki opens the bag, beginning to remove things and place them on the floor. 

“Not anymore.” Titan rumbled, her head sagging.  

“Yes, that is what he named you, isn’t it? Perhaps something new is in order.” Maki began undoing the sports tape around Titan’s hands. The giantess remained silent, eyes cast down to the floor. 

“You know why he isn’t here.” Maki murmured, tossing the bloodied sports tape aside. She took a bottle and began soaking a white rag in its contents. 

“I was betrayed.” Titan’s words are small, barely a whisper in the locker room. 

“Yes.” Maki began to wipe away the grime and blood from Titan’s arm. She winced as the cuts on her arm and hand begin to burn with each movement. 

“He’s scared.”  

“Of you? Darling, many would be. Especially after your brothers death. He had no way to ensure your loyalty besides your word. I need your shirt off. Can you remove it, or do I need to cut it off?”  Titan tilted her head down at Maki, but slowly removed the remains of the shirt she wore, followed by the black sports bra. She curled one arm across her breast, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. Maki sighed, pulling another bottle from her bag. 

“I have seen more men and women naked than a midwife, darling. Despite your title of Titan, you can’t hide anything I’ve not seen before. Let me see your arm.” Maki grasped Titans wrist, tugging gently. 

“Why?” 

“Because I need to see if I need to staple any of these cuts.” Titan reluctantly let Maki pull her arm away from her breasts, switching with her other arm. 

“But why?” Maki raises an eyebrow at Titan as she holds her massive arm in her tiny hands. 

“Ah. Why am I helping you. Well….before I tell you that, I must know that you will believe me.” Titan winced as she felt stinging liquid cover the cuts on her arm before Maki began stapling the deeper wounds. 

“What?” 

“You’ve been betrayed by the last person you’d ever thought would. Why would you believe anything I, a complete stranger, might say to you? Move your other arm.” Maki shrugged, then shifted closer to Titan, examining her midsection. “I believe you were stabbed?” 

Titan’s blush deepened as she slowly lowered her other arm, exposing her bare chest to the strange girl. 

“There it is.” Maki murmured, looking at the wound on the side of Titan’s chest slowly trickle blood. “Were you a smaller cup size, this may have been worse.” 

Titan watched as Maki began tending her wounds with deft efficiency. Antiseptic was applied, staples stuck into flesh, and bandages wrapped around her caramel skin. 

Maki paused and put the stapler away, retrieving a thermos from the bag. 

“I’ve stopped most of the bleeding. Drink this.” Maki unscrewed the top and grasped Titan’s cold hand, frowning at its clammy nature. She clenched her and Titan’s hand around it, bringing it to Titan’s swollen lips. 

She hesitated for a moment before sipping from the thermos. Its contents were sickly sweet, a variety of fruit flavors hitting Titan’s tongue and mingling. She swallowed greedily as Maki slowly tipped it until it was empty. 

“This should help replenish you. Now, let’s look at that eye.” Maki set the thermos aside. She picked up a new rag, two others soaked and stained crimson, and began cleaning Titans face. Maki’s hand firmly gripped her chin, turning Titans face as she pleased. 

“We will need an actual doctor to look at this. I won't lie to you; it does not look good for your eye.”  Titan winced as more antiseptic burned her cuts. 

“You have questions. I can try to answer them. Your Masters actions you seem to know. What you don't know is he incurred a substantial debt with me, and I have called it in for him not to come here and kill you. I can prove that to you.” Titan hung her head, her eye tearing up again.  

“I'm not wanted.” She murmured. 

“By him, no. He had made several bargains to others he is indebted to, the owners of those fighters, in the hopes of wiping those debts clean. Your life was the key; the fighters who defeated the Titan would become valuable, and pricey, in the market. Instead you destroyed those fighters, killed at least two. He is furious and terrified of you.” Maki chuckled humorlessly. “I made a wager with him that you would win despite those odds for double what he owed. Those fighters’ Masters also are indebted to me now as well. Quite the coup, really.” 

“Why?” Titan tilted her head down at Maki. 

“Because I knew what he was planning, and I knew doubling his debt was the only way I could save your life. I knew you wouldn't lose.” Her tone was full of confidence and a hint of smugness. 

Titan grasped Maki’s wrist firmly, easily encompassing it in her massive grip. “But why?” Titan pleaded, looking into Maki's eyes with confusion. 

The smaller woman sighed, tossing the rag with the others. “I don't know that you’ll believe me, but here it is: you are too beautiful to throw away so readily.” Maki’s hand on Titans chin shifted, touching her neck with a gentle caress. 

I’ve been called many things, but never that

​ …. 

“So sex.” Titan rumbled, pulling away from Maki. She gripped the larger girls chin firmly, turning her gaze back with surprising strength. 

“I knew you wouldn't believe me. I said you are beautiful. You are a beauty akin to the view from atop a mighty mountain: natural magnificence. That your Master would toss such away like garbage outraged me, and I knew I must act.” Maki pulled a pad of gauze and tape from the bag. 

“You want me.” For the first time, the smaller woman paused at Titans words. She released her wrist as her eyes went low, disappointment apparent. 

“I do. I’ll not lie; I have recruited many boys and girls in similar fashion. I won't apologize for saving them from a horrible situation and giving them another chance. Most times, there isn't another choice.” Maki unrolled the tape. 

“Is there now?” Titan chuckled mirthlessly. Maki sighed, taping the gauze in place over her right eye. 

“I could leave you here if you wish. I’ve tended what wounds I can. You would die. Not today, maybe not even tomorrow, but soon with that eye. Infection, blood loss….these are real things. I sincerely hope you walk out of here with me, where I will take you to a doctor and let you recover.” Maki Began tucking the bottles back into the bag. 

Another master to betray me

​ …. 

“Why should I?” Titan narrowed her eye at Maki. The smaller girl stared undaunted back, her eyes just as fierce as the giantess as she stood. 

“Because you are a fighter. You want to live. I saw you in that hellhole. You saw the knife, where it came from. You saw it, and you knew. You hesitated a moment and it cost you, but you came back and won.” Maki put her hands on her slim waist, smiling down at Titan. “We fall much in life, darling, but if we do not rise after? Then we die. You don’t look dead to me. Am I wrong?” 

Titan turned away, her mind churning. Her entire world had crumbled in one evening to a pile of ashes; betrayed by her Master, almost killed by four fighters, and no place to go back to. Was there really any choice? 

Death was not an option.  

Maki watched as Titan rose from the ground like a mythical beast from a deep slumber, looming over her like a half naked caramel cyclops. She smiled, reaching into her bag once more. 

“A shirt for you.” She tossed it to Titan, who caught it in one deft movement. “Let us go see about that eye, dear Titan.” 

“Don’t call me that.” Titan growled, slipping the black shirt over her shoulders. 

Four words. That’s a step in the right direction

​ ….Maki mused to herself.