Chapter Text
Uncertainty wavered through Zanka as he traveled through the blizzard of snow drowning the forest amongst him. The air was sharp and suffocating, his body moved from apprehension. However, the lack of breathability was unbearable. He faltered in his jogging and took cover behind a rugged dark oak tree, it was thick and tall and the snowflakes delicately covered its branches. The purity of the snow ironically contrasting the intense situation at hand.
His irises fade from a glowing crystal blue to his neutral ocean blue color. His vital instrument Lovely Assistaff, his loyal and nurtured staff, was clutched tight in his arms. Zanka’s back hit the bark of the tree as he tried to stabilize his breathing. His heart was pounding through his ears, his nerves were heightened, and his body trembled. As his adrenaline wore down some, the overwhelming pain of his broken ankle had conquered his body. “Shit.” He whimpered, slipping into the snow, the tips of his fingers grazing the swollen area of his leg. He flinched at the sensitivity of the immense straining pain. Tears dared to confront his eyes, however, his body was too deep in panic to do so. “The hell’s that raider’s problem?”
Suddenly, Zanka had perked his head up at the sound of the previous raider’s voice alongside the sound of nearby snow crunching. “Hello?! Mr. Bad attitude! I ain’t done with you yet.” He called out. The sly, mocking tone caused Zanka to clench his teeth in irritation. Despite his body being in absolute agonizing pain, he couldn’t give up. The result of abandonment would not only leave a deadly ramification for him; it would additionally impact the security and safety belonging to the Cleaners. At the beginning on this job, the Cleaners were sent out to tidy up a Trash Beast that was bound to damage the city and hurt the people. Enjin had selected Zanka, Rudo, Riyo alongside a few supporters, and it turns out they had been tricked by the raiders once again.
In a fight to secure Rudo between the Cleaners and Raiders, Zanka was forced to make it his duty to take Jabber, his previous opponent in the last encounter they had. Rudo had slipped somewhere with Riyo and the supporters elsewhere. Zanka couldn’t figure out the reasoning behind Jabber’s decision to repeatedly pick him out of everyone else. It was abnormal; a decision repulsed on devoted and twisted obsession. It left him confused and questioning why was he, safe to say, so special to Jabber? Was it his weakness? His inability to fight him without getting knocked down? He figured that it was because Jabber knew he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t strong enough to take him down and that’s what Jabber liked, his passion and determination yet true incompetence to the stance of reality. Reality being that no matter what, he was an, if not the, easy target.
Suddenly, the same protruding voice had made Zanka come to his senses, “Are you just going to hide forever? I know you can hear me. I want you to give it your all, fight me, make me bleed and fall to the floor. Then I want you to look at me, tell me how beaten up I am. I want myself beaten until I’m black and blue and a bloody mess.” The guy had blabbered, lost in his own fixation. Zanka was confused, he couldn’t tell if the guy was projecting his desires or simply being sarcastic and making a mockery to his fated loss to the battle. Either way, he had to get up, even if he does lose, he spares the others some time from dealing with the raider.
Zanka had worked his way to stand, his leg aching tremendously. He quivered and breathed heavily. He then stumbled from behind the tree to face Jabber’s back. He was a good distance away, enough to calculate his next moves. Jabber had finally turned around, smirking and then laughing. “There you are, man! I was waiting on you to come out from behind there!” He stated, Zanka raised his brows. He had already known where he was, could it be possible he knew due to the footprints in the snow? No, there were multiple series of footprints in the snow due to their recent fight. You‘d get lost in countless predictions. It wasn’t the time to inquire about that now. He had lifted up Lovely and his eyes started to glow that icy light color, the glow casting across his face heavenly. His hair blowing in the steady wind along with being kissed by mother nature’s snowflakes.
Jabber had smiled, but his attention fell to Zanka’s ankle. It was obviously hurt, making it a prominent liability and an easy way out. Though, he wasn’t ever going to pick the easy way out for his opponent, nor was Zanka, both putting up a fiery and heated battle. Jabber’s eyes were lit up in this magenta, purple color, it was neon and bright. “Seem’s like you got your ankle pretty bad there.” Jabber mentioned. Zanka lowered his brows, not interrupting his held gaze with him, it was as if he would look down for even a second, he would get fought down once more. Jabber had dropped his head down and initiated the procedure of Mankira in it’s all out form, “I’m done playin’ around, man! I don’t wanna sit and wait anymore! I want you to go all out on me Zanka! No more holdin’ back!” He shouted maniacally. Zanka stood there confused and slightly concerned.
“Yer one crazy fuckin’ raider.” He muttered under his breath. He then lifted up his staff and got into his fighting stance right when he was faced with the quick pounce, Jabber’s movement’s were quick and sharp. Zanka was able to dodge and block his claws with his staff, avoiding his claws is the main priority as he faced major consequences last time. He pushed Jabber off of him and jumped back as Jabber attempted another attack, he managed to smack Jabber in his abdomen with Lovely. The anemia in his vital instrument causes a large jump in power in his combat, causing him to be given an advanced amount of strength. Thus, resulting in his rapid flight backwards to land flat in a gentle pile of snow, in which, he immediately rose up and shook off the snow. Zanka quickly jumped forward right as Jabber was getting up to land an attack straight to his head, but Jabber managed to side step and turn to land a kick to Zanka’s lower back.
Zanka fell straight on his back, the action causing him to lose the air in his lungs. He had quickly got back up to dodge the other man’s attack and gathered a distance away from him. Zanka quickly realized Lovely was doing nothing to the man and he had to get creative. The trees all around him gave him an idea. As Jabber quickly got up and went straight for him, Zanka made his way to the large oak tree nearby, slamming Assistaff to the very bottom of the trunk. This had caused the tree to detach from its roots and fall, as Jabber went straight for him, he was pinned down by the collapsing tree. Zanka had wiped the snow out of his eye and looked down to see Jabber face first in the snow. “I know yer not dead.” Zanka walked up to him quickly and stomped on the hand that was visible, Jabber groaned pleasurably in pain while smiling. “I should just stomp ya’ head out.” Zanka muttered, discreetly looking for his other hand which could insert poisonous strength into Jabber. He heard the man under his shoe snicker and laugh right before he was sent flying a good dozen of feet away from the Raider and into the snow.
The icy cushioning had pierced the Cleaner through his uniform, he had quickly sat up to see that the Raider had sliced through the tree using Makira on his hidden hand. The sharp blades had glided through the thick logs with ease. It seemed Jabber had injected Makira’s poison into himself to propel this overpowered strength within him; so he can keep fighting. Zanka stared at the man, quickly rising to his feet before his knees buckled. The pain in his ankle was excruciating, this throb and electric ache drove through his nerves and it was like his blood ran on flames. His skin tingled with these weird sensations and it felt prickly, like a false numbing but you can feel every single thing to its truest extent. He had held on to Lovely Assistaff as she was the only thing holding him up. He saw Jabber get back into his stance, his neck craning back before snapping forward. A small line of blood falling down his neck, a result of Mankira. Suddenly, he pounced again.
Zanka quickly pulled himself up, parrying the claws that were heading straight for him. He felt a bead of sweat travel down his temple. His body wanted to just fall over but he couldn’t give up. Not later, and especially not now. Sounds of sharp and heavy swings and hits were heard through the air as Lovely and Mankira continued to make contact with each other. Zanka had then landed a hard blow to Jabber’s ribs, a startling and gruesome crunch was heard as Jabber was smacked, he had then landed hitting his back against a tree. He had slid down and landed on his bottom, spreading out his legs and leaning against the tree. A pile of snow had slipped from the leaves and onto the ground. Jabber had tilted his head back and smirked as blood ran down his nose and through his teeth. “Oh Zanka… the things you do to me…” Jabber had groaned, “You broke my ribs, man… hurts so good…” he continued before he started childishly laughing. The Cleaner had just gazed at him, his vision blurring around the edges. His head pounded, this ankle was killing him, quite literally. If not that, it was definitely hypothermia.
He then dropped to his knees, he fell forward and his vision blurred completely. He had heard his choker crackling to life with Riyo on the other side, buried by the snow. Murmuring something incoherent. His head spun as his body went paralyzed. He had then heard the crunching of snow nearby as the last thing he was able to make out in front of him was the Raider’s shoes. Soon the long and thick locs, decorated with intricate golden accessories, curled around him as he kneeled in front of Zanka. Then the Cleaner settled into a deep unconsciousness.
| —————— |
He looked at peace and relaxed.
Jabber would’ve thought he was even cute. The young man’s soft Japanese features. He had a pointed nose, weird yet unique shaped eyebrows, fair pale skin, long lashes. Jabber had deactivated Mankira as he looked at the unconscious man. He felt a sense of boredom now. The dance had came to an end. He had sat criss-crossed and leaned back on his hands.
He then looked down at the Cleaner’s ankle— the one that was damaged severely. He made his way over to lift the fabric lightly to reveal a deep and dark bruising. He then realized the snow had picked up a little, sending a shiver down his back. “Oh Zanka… I thought you would’ve held out for a little longer than this.” He looked up at the Cleaner’s face once more, brushing a hair behind his ear. Jabber had brought his finger to his pulse point, his heart thumped slowly under his touch. The raider grinned, ecstatic as he would actually be able to have a fight with the young man. He then brought his gaze over to the cleaner’s hands, he noted the details of them. He rubbed his soft skin under his calloused finger tips, feeling out the bony structure and amused by the smaller size. The gentleness only lasted momentarily before he had scooped up Zanka bridal style, the pain in his ribs making his grunt. He took hold of Lovely Assistaff as he wasn’t leaving her behind. He wasn’t that cruel.
“Boss gon’ love this…” he trailed off, looking around as he was confused by his surroundings. He hadn’t known exactly where he went to get here. He was just stalking… no- following his partner around until they were fighting alone. He had remembered before when he was with Cthoni and Momoa until he wasn’t. Every direction looked the same, the same old dark oak trees, the foggy blizzard in complete coverage of the sky above. He would follow the footprints but they were hidden by the new mounted snow. He had stuttered in his stillness as he heard a trembled small whimper from the cleaner he carried. Noting his blood rushing to his cheeks, ears and nose to try and keep his body warm. Finally noticing the lavender bruising surrounding his fingertips, displayed on the hand over his abdomen. Realization struck Jabber as he felt the piercing coldness going through him. He had to find somewhere to keep warm. He then had hoisted up Zanka into a new position in which he would carry him by holding him up by his thighs and carrying Lovely Assistaff. Zanka’s arms fell at his sides as if he were ragdoll and his face found its place in the crook of Jabber’s neck. He brought his other hand to try and find Momoa and Cthoni with his choker and…
…it’s no where to be found.
He clicks his tongue, “Bruh.” He murmured. Now he was bored, irritated, fucking freezing, and completely separated from his team. It seemed when Zanka had smacked him against the tree, his choker had most likely broke off. “Man, what the hell… this shit’s rigged.” He had shivered, tightening his grip around Zanka, even if his body enjoyed the sharp tingling pain as a result of the snow blizzard. He was naturally desperate for warmth. He then started to put one foot in front of the other, moving forward as the strong wind pushed him back. His teeth clattered slightly. At this point it was so cold he was tempted to just use Zanka’s choker and turn himself in because he would figure it out from there. Except he couldn’t, it was also nowhere to be found. It was buried under the snow. As he continued through the snow, he could barely see a lonesome cabin surrounded by trees in the distance. He immediately picked up the pace and saw the cabin lit up with light and a life within. Jabber didn’t have time to deal with this, his patience was already running thin. He walked up the stairs of the porch before hardly kicking the door open. He analyzed the room ahead of him.
To his left, a sitting area was situated. It was cozy, warmth from the nearby fireplace coated his skin in that desired heat. An orange light casting a soft glow around the edges of the objects near. There was a maroon sofa with soft cushioning and sewed, plaid blankets resting on top of the couch in front of the crackling fire. A neat coffee table with a book placed neatly on top ahead of said couch, to his right, a small kitchen was held. Surprisingly, it seemed the water situation was handled along with electricity, nearby the fridge, a dark oak door most likely leading to the bathroom. Jabber noticed the weapons held on the wall beside of him:
An axe, a shotgun, and two empty hooks. Based on the width of those two hooks, another barrel shotgun was most definitely held there.
He then paused as he heard the cocking of a gun.