Final Words

by Jason Spade Sat Mar 11, 2023 10:39 pm

Fortune has long since ended. Tailcoat Val is sitting alone in the trainer's room, nursing her neck with an ice pack and sporting a bandage on her forehead. Val had anticipated a competitive match and the bruises and bumps that it would entail, but losing- especially in the way that she did- had never even crossed her mind. How could anyone willingly take a hit for someone like him... It didn't make sense. It wasn't possible... And yet, it had happened.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and closing. Val glances over, expecting to see a trainer, but sees Jason Spade instead. Spade's face has been mostly cleaned of black paint, but remnants of it remain. He too sports a bandage on the forehead, and Val notices that his left eye has started to swell. Spade grabs a chair and pulls it over, sitting down in front of Val as if to interrogate her. Spade folds his hands, looking down at them, before looking back up at Val.

"It's done now. This thing between us... Not because I say so, but because I think we both understand each other a little better now."

Spade pauses. Val glares at him in silence.

"You understand that you can't beat me. Not physically, not mentally... All of your efforts to break me, to tear me down to your level, they've just made me stronger. Even I'm shocked, to be honest... For a while there, I was ready to give up. But people believed in me. Madison believed in me. And eventually, I believed in me too. You can't beat Jason Spade because Jason Spade is more than me. You could break my body, but my spirit will live on in the hearts of everyone who has ever believed in me. And you understand that now... That belief, that love... I may not deserve it, but I have it... And it's something you'll never have yourself."

Val's lip quivers, as though holding back a biting response, but she instead averts her gaze and her eyes fall to the floor. Is this shame? Regret? Only she could tell you for sure. Spade is quiet for a long time.

"I don't hate you, Val. I see, in you, a woman who will do absolutely everything and anything to fight for what she believes in. We're not so different, in that way, I guess. I have a feeling, in my gut, that... This might be the last time we see each other. I don't know where either of us can possibly go after this, but wherever we go... I will always respect you. As a fighter, a warrior. Because of you, I've become a better version of myself. I know that's not what you wanted... But thank you. And... good luck."

Spade stands and turns his back, heading towards the door. He pauses with his hand on the knob, as if expecting Val to say something, but when she doesn't... He leaves. Val does not look up from the floor.

For once, all of her words are spent.