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“I’m done with you. Just— what is your ISSUE?!”
Hyperlaser slammed the empty case (that housed his rifle, which was now broken in his hands from the previous phight) on the floor.
Katana had pulled him in with his lasso again, as he usually would to show some competitively flavored affection, but recently, it had turned into a more aggressive habit, resulting in his gear breaking multiple times a month.
“I didn’t mean to, I—”
“Shut up, Katana.
Do you know just how many restless nights you’ve caused me? There’s been days I thought I wouldn’t be able to afford food for myself. It just keeps happening over and over and you’ve only ever given me half-assed excuses.”
“Well, maybe you should be better at dodging, if you prefer to not get hit. You’re quite predictable, much more than you think you are.”
Katana raised his voice, towering over Hyperlaser to try to gain some respect back for himself.
“You should stop being so reckless, then. Every shot of my Eviscerating Ray that I’ve hit you with recently, has been quite easy.”
“Oh, we’re bringing up how easy things are now? Have you ever thought about how HARD it is to care for three kids with a partner that only ever comes around to drink and eat?!
You’ve been draining my income with every mask I’ve had to replace, since you seem to ALWAYS be shooting for my head!”
“I’m not the one WITHOUT A JOB.”
Hyperlaser’s words echoed through the room. It stung Katana. Perhaps he was right. Barely anyone considered phights an actual job.
“At least I don’t kill people for mine.”
“Do you really think I do my job for fun?! I have bills to pay, Katana. You probably can’t even tell now, but if I were gone—”
“Then leave.”
Hyperlaser didn’t expect to hear Katana be that straightforward.
“Wh—”
“LEAVE. I’m tired of you RUINING everything in my life.
My sanity, my property, damaged because of YOU.”
Katana had now gotten dangerously close to Hyperlaser, bearing his teeth at him in a rage.
“FINE.”
Hyperlaser backed off towards the door of Katana’s house. As he scrambled to put his gear back in its casing, he heard Katana mumble something.
“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a Blackrockian. Those rumors about liars really have revealed themselves to be true.”
“Oh, we’re insulting my background now?! You don’t know just how many of my people I’ve seen DIE BECAUSE OF MY OWN GOVERNMENT! DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THEM?!”
Hyperlaser had turned back around, his hands now free as his gear had been strapped to his back. Katana has seemingly hit a nerve, as Hyperlaser had now clenched his fist, just oh so close to driving it into Katana’s face.
“I’m sure you know that you will not win if you initiate a fight, Hyperlaser.” Katana said, through gritted teeth.
“Go to hell.”
The impact made Katana’s head fling backward, Hyperlaser’s fist hitting him directly on the side of his face that still had an eye. He hunched over, long hair covering his face as he held back the drops of blood coming from his nose and mouth.
“Ghk— I see how it is.”
Hyperlaser’s heavy breathing could be heard throughout the room, even through his helmet. The rush of adrenaline was starting to dissipate as it sunk into him what he’d just done.
“Fuck.” His voice was breathy, gasping for air. Why had he done that? What happened to the two of them to turn this way?
No, he’d done the right thing. That man was a leech. A detriment to his own survival. If he didn’t want to listen by word, the next best answer was action.
“I’ll be getting papers tomorrow. We’re done here.”
As Katana still recovered, Hyperlaser slammed the door shut, the sound reverberating through the entire house.
Katana picked himself up, still clenching his face as he walked towards the bathroom.
Hyperlaser had probably broken his nose again, though he couldn’t be bothered as much about it at the moment, the sink turning bloodied and red. His worn-down eye looked at himself in the mirror. Such a pitiful sight. He had three kids to house, no job to pay for the bills, and he’d just lost his partner.
He felt enraged, yet pathetic. How could he allow his negative emotions to overcome him, even in such meaningless battles like phights?
Hyperlaser had entered Blackrock again. It felt strange, knowing that his trips outside of it would be much more infrequent now, with no real reason to return outside other than to hunt down his targets.
A bar. That’s all he needed. He needed to wash his pain away as soon as possible, the bitter taste of that exchange still stuck in his throat like a lump of food that hadn’t been chewed up and processed properly. Just like that relationship. It was hard to fully grasp, still. They’d been together for years, with this current moment marking the end.
He hadn’t visited this specific bar in a while, being a regular in it for a while before meeting Katana. His early adult life had him visit this place countless times, though only this night did he intend to drink himself to sleep, or maybe even death, if the night desired it.
He sat down at the counter, immediately ordering three full glasses of various beverages mixed together. If he was going to go down drunk without any recollection of this, he’d at least salvage the moment to try something new.
The taste of sake hitting his mouth soured his mind. He knew who it reminded him of. He gulped it down. It would help him forget soon enough.
Three glasses down, he ordered even more, chatting away with the bartender in his drunken daze.
The next morning, he’d found himself sleeping outside in the cold Blackrockian air with an immense headache.
“Worth it…” he thought to himself, standing up and quickly stretching.
What was he supposed to do again?
Right. A divorce.
It was about time, truth be told. He hadn’t been happy for the past few months, barely even wanting to see Katana. Despite being married, he still had to legally live in Blackrock for his job, which in turn also made communication with the red demon harder, as he barely even knew anything about modern technology.
It was quite a hassle to work with in his opinion, coming from such an advanced region. It was yet another thing that had made him more frustrated in daily life.
Not like he had to worry much about it anymore.
He drove by the gear repair shop with his motorcycle, dropping off his rifle again.
“You think it’ll get fixed by tomorrow?”
“Should be.”
“Hey, well at least it might be one of the last times that I have to fix it.”
“Eh? What happened?”
“I finally found a way to get rid of my “problem”, so there’s less to worry about now.”
“Got it. Well, just come by tomorrow then, eh?”
“See you then.”
Hyperlaser drove around the snowy city. It was oddly quiet, with light snow covering the rooftops, as usual. People went on with their usual day, quiet, never talking with each other as each person even trying to interact with them could be seen as a potential thief or even a threat to their life.
It had been a while since he’d visited any kind of government building. Blackrock’s especially, had a certain air of misery around it that dissuaded anyone from wanting to visit it. Corruption, as he would call it. Just a different kind.
“I want to file for a divorce.”
The paperwork somehow went smoothly, with it somehow not even requiring Katana to be present or sign anywhere. He’d be free soon.
Back to his old life.
Katana paced around in his house, much to the confusion of the other three demons.
Thankfully, it seemed like his nose wasn’t broken, but he was still greatly shaken up.
”Do you think we should ask what happened..?”
“It might stress him out more, maybe we should just make him some tea.”
“He looks pretty angry— I’m not sure if I want to bother him…”
Katana grumbled, sitting down on the couch.
“Where did I go wrong…” he mumbled under his breath.
The ring on his finger meant nothing now. He knew Hyperlaser had probably already signed some kind of papers, he expected that he’d get word about it through a letter within a day or two.
He took the ring off his finger with shaking hands, briefly inspecting it before putting it on the small table in front of him. It was slightly worn down from the daily activities he’d always carried it through. He couldn’t bear to look at it anymore, though.
“H-Hey! We made you some tea..!”
Katana looked up just a bit at the demon stretching out his hands which indeed, did hold a cup of tea. He simply nodded in silence, taking the cup.
“So um… We noticed you were feeling pretty down…”
Vine Staff carefully peeked out from behind Shuriken, trying not to anger the tall demon.
“Any way we can help?”
Slingshot had also come out from behind Shuriken, however he stood up more confidently.
“No.”
Yeesh, such a cold answer from Katana. It seemed like he was in an awful mood, the unusual answer shocking the three.
“Alright… Well, just call us if you need anything..!”
The three demons slowly backed off before swiftly running upstairs. Katana had stayed silent, despite the offer. He couldn’t bring himself to dump his emotions out on the three. It’d make things worse for them.
“Ugh… He didn’t even tell us what happened…”
“I don’t think we should pry… I don’t think he’s in a good mood to tell us right now.”
Months had passed since they had last talked or even seen each other.
Both still yearned for those times they had spent before everything fell apart, holding the other’s face in their worn-down hands.
Hyperlaser had started going outside less and less, sometimes spending days in his bed without eating anything to the point where even Princess had started getting concerned. At that point, she was his only real concern in his life. He couldn’t leave her to go down with him, caring for her still despite everything.
Katana had started performing worse in phights, sometimes hoping that he could see Hyperlaser again, but to no avail. He knew that the other party hated him anyway, there was no reason for him to even try reaching out.
The three demons, whom he’d considered his children, had always been concerned for him. Katana hadn’t fully explained why Hyperlaser wasn’t coming around anymore, or why he felt so down, but they could tell something had happened between the two.
It was a shame, too. They all remembered how much the blue-helmed demon brightened Katana’s mood before. Sharing nights together over at their respective houses (though mostly Katana’s) had become such a normal thing for them that it felt like there was something missing as soon as those visits ceased to be.
But it was over now. Things would not go back to normal anymore.