The Axe And The Fawn

I lift myself over the concrete ledge of debris and perch above my city. I deeply inhale the cold air. The fresh air always puts me at ease. I can hear everything up here in my concrete jungle and see far beyond into the overgrowth snaking around the never-ending fallen buildings.

I slowly rise when I gain my footing on the high perch. I clench my fists and broaden my shoulders towards the world that can’t help but destroy everything in it’s wake. I look down for a moment to the far away Earth before crashing down towards it.

I scream and twist my way down to the level I climbed from. My heart skips a beat when my face hits the floor and my feet dip over the edge. I take many slow breaths to calm my beating chest. I didn’t fall to my death today and I probably shouldn’t do that any other day either. I touch my forehead and my fingers come back glistening with red blood. I curse at myself for being so clumsy but make sure to be grateful that nobody saw it.

I struggle back to my feet and look up to see a myself face to face with another. They take only a moment to flay backwards behind a large piece of concrete with metal bars. Dammit.

“Who are you?” I yell at the person.

“Uh… um…” They stutter back to me.

“I said who are you!” I yell louder this time, placing my hand to my belt to retrieve a large, shining knife I keep on me at all times.

“Someone who is as clumsy as you are,” I can hear them breathing as they whimper, “Please don’t kill me.”

A long few moments pass before the person stands in all their height. I look them over carefully, searching for possible weapons. All I see is a tall blonde boy covered in cuts and bruises, waving with an awkward smile.

“I said,” I pause for emphasis, “Who are you?” I stand in my full height to gain something on his well-built figure.

His smile fades as he rubs the back of his neck, “I could ask you the same thing.”

“My name is Fawn,” I breathe through gritted teeth, “Now, who are you?”

He smirks, “I’m Axe,” He extends a hand towards me.

I turn towards my supplies on my right side, never breaking eye contact with Axe. I haven’t seen a single soul since the before. I can’t quite grasp the idea of sharing my space with another anymore.

“You seem kind of dead inside,” Axe sighs as he tilts his head.

I stop abruptly and look him up and down, “And why do you think that is?”

Axe’s eyes widen in understanding, “When was the last time you saw someone?”

I look down quickly, remembering what world I woke up to after my coma. I jump when I realise I took my eyes off of Axe for too long and he’s out of my sight. I look around frantically before spotting him in my supplies bag.

I run up to him and snatch my supplies away, “How did you get there so fast?”

He shrugs in reply and lays down on my sleeping bag, “Are you going to answer my question?”

I scowl at him and turn away while retrieving my medical supplies, “I haven’t seen anyone since the before.”

Axe snickers, “Is that what you’re calling it? ‘The before?’ That’s so cliché.”

“Well I am so sorry for annoying you. Maybe you should just leave.”

“Nah.”

I pause and look him dead in the eyes which makes him squirm. Axe smiles up at me as he sits up, eyes beginning to water. I grin, dropping my knife in return, which makes Axe yelp in fear.

Axe raises his hands up in defence, “I – I’m not going… going to hurt you,” I tilt my head in question, “I just – I don’t hurt people.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I promise I don’t. I’m the chosen one.”

I stare at him in disbelief and almost laugh.

“…But I still caused the apocalypse,” My jaw drops as he explains further, “I was supposed to prevent a fire releasing a disease into the air. The disease would target certain antibodies that not everyone has. The ones who didn’t, like you and I, would be saved from this impending doom.”

I stare directly into Axe’s eyes and imagine ripping his soul from his body. Some disease ripping a part the world I knew? The fact he could even come up with such a thing seems impossible.

“Do you like staring contests or something?” Axe tries to smirk but looks down at the piece of metal at my feet with a worried glance.

I smirk in return and plunge to my feet for the sharp object at the same time he does. I make it there first and put all my weight into tackling him back to the floor. I can hear both of us breathing as I edge the knife closer to his bobbing Adam’s apple.

“I don’t believe a word you just said. Two years ago I woke up from a coma, not knowing where I was or barely anything about who I was before. I looked around me and the world was in chaos. I didn’t just think it was the end, I knew it was the end. I was all alone in the world without anyone to tell me what was going on. I had so few memories from before, and now I’m stuck with you! The person who supposedly cursed me with this misery. Give me one reason why this knife shouldn’t go straight through your throat.” I can feel the hot tears streaming down my cheeks but I wipe them away before he can see too much of me.

“I – I don’t have one.”

All I hear is ringing as I release the knife. I hear the metal clutter and I let go of his collar.

He smirks at me and suddenly all I see if red.

I attack him with my fist before reaching for the metal again. He grabs me from behind and twists me around. He grabs my chin and leans on my limbs to immobilise me.

“I can fix it,” His eyes tell me he’s desperate but he’s still got murder in his actions.

“So trying to murder me will fix it?”

“Oh!” He laughs nervously and backs off, “I didn’t mean to do that.”

I scramble to my feet, “So you’re an awkward murderer?”

“No?”

I plant my feet more firmly into the ground, “Why is that a question?”

“I’m just awkward. I never exactly learnt in hero school how to react when someone is actually going to murder me.”

“Then what do they teach you?”

“How to monologue.”

I take a step back and actually laugh this time, “You cannot monologue.”

Axe scoffs, “Yeah I can, watch this.” He clears his throat and I’m still laughing, “I can fix what I have done.”

I raise my eyebrows and nod just to make him feel validated, “Good hero talk.”

“No, I’m serious.”

I’m taken aback by his statement, “Oh?”

I spray water onto the collar of my shirt and use the wet cloth to cover my mouth and nose. Axe crouches below where I stand on the hill in front of a large, abandoned building engulfed in flames.

“This is it,” Axe grins up at my scowling face.

“This is it? We’re standing in front of a wildfire!”

“You could say that.”

I shake my head in frustration. I shouldn’t have followed Axe to this hill, and now I’m going to die upon it. Axe gestures for me to look down so I squint into the distance.

My heart almost stops, “There are actual people down there…”

Axe genuinely smiles at me and whispers, “Yeah… But they’re the bad guys.”

My eyes widen in realisation, “You really are dead serious about this whole hero thing aren’t you? So tell me Axe, were these your old masters that turned out to be conspiring against you?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

I stare into the distance in disbelief. This is actually my life. I have met the most cliché person with a hero complex.

How did my life come to this?

Before I can stare down Axe again, he begins telling me his entire hero life story, “I was always different from the other kids, I just didn’t know why until my sixteenth birthday.”

I roll my eyes and mentally prepare myself for Axe’s hero complex to fully shine.

“I was approached after school one day by the top people at their company. I tried to make a run for it because not knowing these people, it was stranger danger until proven otherwise. They captured me anyway and took me here, where I would be trained. They called themselves ‘The World Savers.’ Their name was so unique I just knew I could trust them. They trained me for an entire month before the apocalypse began. I was supposed to end the fire within another. It was the foreseen prophecy but I was not able to accomplish it,” Axe looks up at me, “Meeting you felt like a sign to go back and try again,” He looks back to the burning building with a distraught look, “My love interest is trapped in there with fire engulfing her. Her genetics were altered to trap her in the core of the apocalypse and release the disease among innocent civilians.”

I raise my eyebrows at him, “For two years? I think she’s dead.”

He furrows his eyebrows and scoffs, “What? No she isn’t. She’s right in front of me.” Before I can react Axe gets up and runs towards the two people blocking our entry at the gate, “Run towards the heart of the fire and get her out!”

I sigh and start running while Axe distracts the guards. It almost seems too easy to slip past them. It doesn’t hit me until I get closer to the fire that it has engulfed me. My heart rate begins to increase as I step further into the fiery pathway.

To my amazement, the fire lifts in front of me to reveal a person laying perfectly flat on the concrete floor.

“She’s in a coma to keep herself safe. It’s self-defence,” Axe comes up behind me unexpectedly and makes me jump, “Come on Fawn, let’s get her out.”

Right as Axe tugs at my arm the person stands up and begins approaching me. My heart drops to my feet when I notice the features are mine. Flames begin bursting like fireworks around me. Axe sprints and drags me behind him, back outside. I hear a crackling behind me before being thrown onto the grass just outside the building.

Axe saved me.

I have to blink a few times just to see Axe smiling above me, “The world is fixed, we did it. Everything is going to go back to the before.” The world spins until my vision melts into darkness.

The next thing I see are white walls. I grasp the white bedding, I take in a slow, deep breath and laugh to myself. I made it out of the fire alive.

A warm hand covers mine and I look up to see Axe. He has unevenly grown skin across his face but smiles nonetheless, “We made it out alive,” His smile fades a little but reassures me with a squeeze of his hand, “You’ve been gone for two years.”

I still smile despite the memories rushing back to me, “Thank you.”