Day's heavy fist collided with Jacob's face. There was a crack that echoed in the opening, and the clanging of metal on rock resounded soon after. Jacob let out an angry groan of pain and pushed back against Day's grip on his wrist.
Not moments after, their arms were up. Jacob's back was against the wall, making it easier for him to gain leverage, but Day, who was taller and was far from lacking in muscle, even if it wasn't particularly evident, was easily contending.
Jacob was far from short on strength himself though.
"I'll slaughter the both of you when I-"
Day used his forearm and pushed it against Jacob's neck. His head banged into the rocky wall behind, and was slightly tilted up. Blood flowed from his dislocated nose and tainted his lips.
Day yelled in between a pant as he wrestled with Jacob.
"AUDREY!"
Jacob grunted and let out a scream of rage. Pushing against Day with all of his might as Audrey picked up the sword that fell to the ground, he was able to get him off for just a moment long enough to give a powerful kick to Day's leg.
Day stumbled to the ground on one knee, and his arm fell from Jacob's neck. Jacob took this chance to use his one now free arm to wind up a punch. The punch fell upon Day's face and crashed into his chin, making him stumble back and let go of his wrist.
'No!'
A second after Day's back hit the ground, he felt the wind get knocked out of him as Jacob's foot landed dead in the middle of his stomach with full force. He let out a series of guttural coughs and curled up slightly in pain.
'Oww… God damn it, my nose! Wait, Audrey… Audrey!"
Shortly after falling, despite the terrible pain that was clawing at his tace, he forced himself to recover.
His eyes shot over to where the little girl stood.
He heard Audrey scream, Jacob had grabbed onto the sword and was now wrestling with her too. She was trying to fight back, but it didn't take long before Jacob got the upper hand.
Using one of his arms to keep a grip on the sword, he raised his fist and hit the little girl square in the face. She immediately fell back and hit the floor silently with a thud.
Jacob spat on the little girl.
"Fine, if you want to be defiant… I'll just kill you both without a second thought. Works better for me, anyway."
He raised his hand up to his face slowly and placed his fingers on his nose. When he saw his face again, his nose was relocated and he was moving around his jaw with a grimace on his face.
He raised the sword in the air in preparation to lower it onto Audrey, but before he could, Day was already upon him.
He slammed into him from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist. Jacob quickly tossed the sword up slightly, spinning it around for a backhand grip, like he expected such a thing to happen. He twisted his waist slightly to get Day into his sights, and prepared to stab him.
"Die!"
Just as he was about to stab Day, Day kicked his shin with all of the strength he could muster to allow him a chance to move his arms up to lift Jacob's arms up by his pits and stop him from thrusting the sword back.
Day kicked the back of his leg multiple times until his knee started to buckle and then promptly let go for a moment and took a step back.
Day leaped forward and collided with his hunched back. This time, however, because Jacob's knees were giving up on him, Day was able to push him to the floor. Once again, Jacob lost a grip on the sword as he took a gasp for breath.
"Fuck!" Jacob cursed venomously as he hit the ground. He raised his arms to brace himself for the fall.
Day jumped onto Jacob, hoping to pin him down by his back, but Jacob was able to turn himself over just before Day could pounce on him.
Day and Jacob's claws met each other and intertwined in a deadly dance.
Day had one of Jacob's wrists in his grip, while Jacob had one of Day's in his, creating a near perfect balance between the two that was only disrupted by Day's unsuccessful attempts to gain some sort of air and slam his knees into Jacob.
"You idiot… You could have just died quietly, now we are all going to die! It's all your fault! "
Day seethed with rage and doubled his efforts.
"Shut up, scum. You betrayed us without a damned second thought and you expect us to just die quietly? Hell no! I'd rather be torn apart by something none of us can contend than be killed by you!"
"You won't even get the chance to die to a Nightmare Creature!"
Jacob's hand disconnected from Day's wrist for a moment and he reached up. With all of his might, Jacob shoved his thumb nail first into Day's right eye, digging into it with twirling motions. Day screamed in pain and reeled back, but he didn't let go.
His grip on the wrist he already had in his grasp tightened, and he used his other hand to grab Jacob's. He pried it out of his eyes as his vision began to swell and slowly dissipate.
It hurt more than anything he had ever felt before. More than any bang, any bruise, or even any broken bone, but he couldn't let himself falter again.
If he did. It'd be over for not just him, but someone else.
So he fought. He pulled Jacob's hand away from his face, pinning both of them to the ground beneath. In Jacob's eyes there was a prominent flash of primal fear mixed with a sweltering, burning anger that lit up his eyes with raging flames.
Day started to cry out, his voice cracking as he sobbed. Tears dripped from his left eye, blood from the other.
"You scum… You selfish, selfish scum! Why did you do this? Why are you forcing me to fight you?! We could have just gone our separate ways, but you had to do this!"
Jacob tried to lift himself up, and Day let him for a moment, before slamming him back down with full force, prompting a whimper of pain from Jacob.
"The hell do you know? There's still hours upon hours of travel after we climb out of this damned canyon, I need food… Those creatures are too strong! You were my only chance!"
Day pushed his wrists into the ground and lowered his forehead onto his face angrily. Blood dripped from Day's eye onto Jacob's face as he raised his head once more.
" We could have worked together! Figured something out… you lied to us, dragging us over to this little cubby so you could betray our trust the moment we let our guards down. You dug your own grave, you dug all of our graves! Are you happy with yourself?!"
"Trust this… Trust that… The fuck do you know about trust? I can see it in the remaining one of your disgusting eyes, you piece of shit. The way it burns as you speak about such vile topics… You don't know what trust is. You think it's some sort of game played by kids so they have something to hold onto. It's not! How the hell are we supposed to trust each other if we just met? Trust is about more than just intuition. There's a full picture that you need to construct before you can even birth a seedling of trust! This isn't a god damn dream where you can just trot through daisies and tall grass holding onto false ideologies of trust and companionship… Out here, it's life or death!"
"You call me selfish, how the hell are we supposed to survive if we aren't selfish? One life. We have one, short life, WE can't use it, so we need to preserve it."
"You…"
Day went silent for a moment. His heart roared in challenge, the concoction being stirred by the witches whispers finally exploding in a rage deeper than anything the boy had ever felt before, but he didn't yell. Not anymore, he couldn't scream, he felt nothing but a soft, infinitely powerful contempt, so he spoke but three words:
"You are wrong."
Day raised his fist and lowered it onto Jacob's face.
"Only you feel the need to preserve your life. Real humans with real emotions… For them, that isn't their first priority."
He locked his hands and slammed it down onto his face once more.
"Screw YOUR ideologies. Have fun rotting in the shadows of this canyon until something comes and tears you apart. This is where selfishness gets you."
Again, and again, and again, and again, until his hands went numb, he pounded, ceaselessly, like a boat breaking dire waves.
But was the boat chasing a myth? Was the ideology that Jacob preached not without its merit? Was the one that Day uttered as he beat the man to a bloody pulp foolish? Day didn't know… but currently, he didn't care.
Soon, the oxygen fueling Day's fire burned out. His torn up eye was dripping crimson, his hands the same, but with blood that wasn't his own.
He panted, staring down at the broken man. His breathing was short, his nose was bent once more, his jaw was dislocated, there were streaks of tears lining his closed eyes.
Day started to pant, and then let out a whimper.
He stood up and stumbled back onto his bottom.
"What did I do? I just… I just beat a man half to death. I-"
Day froze, and his face hardened completely. He looked over at the man for a moment. His eyes didn't lack empathy, they didn't lack sorrow, but they gained something new.
A new conviction, to bring about a new Day.
"I had no other choice… Did I?"
Day felt a pain in his chest.
"If I let him go, he continues to attack and kills us both. If I don't injure him, we wrestle until something comes and kills all of us…"
Day practically jumped up from his spot on the ground, leaving it behind. He ran over to Audrey and grabbed her and her bag. He dragged her to the entrance and pushed her and her stuff out before crawling out as well and slinging her over his shoulder.
"No choice… I had no choice… I need to push on, I need to move forward, I can't falter. Mistakes, mistakes, I made mistakes. More mistakes than I wish to count, and they led us here, ignorance.. Is a virtue I can't afford to hold onto any longer. If we stay, we die."
Day started to run away, his departure was slowed by the weight of a sword, a human, and a bag, but it was a departure all the same.
One that Day detested.