He lost.

Gabriel skulked in the tunnels underneath the arena, the wounds on his body and his pride still raw with ache and anguish. The methodical thump of his leg and the shooting pain that buzzed with each step on the cold floor grating at the calm facade he was attempting to maintain.

He kept going over the situation in his head. He was chosen for this. His expertise in the Annals had gone unappreciated for years now and Isabella knew that. She stretched out her hand to him and gave him a goal, recognizing his talents.

And he’d failed her.

“I’m so stupid!” Gabriel yelled out, his voice travelling down either end of the hallways. It wasn’t fair. He turned a corner to an alcove in the hallway system and pulled down on a lever. The maintenance wall opened up to reveal a thinner stretch of piping heading in another direction. He squeezed his heavy frame through the narrow passage and walked towards his destination.

It amazed him the first time he was shown this location how labyrinthine these maintenance tunnels were in mobile fortresses. Even a colony as small as Ileah had stretches of piping and wiring that spanned out like an incoherent spider's web. The maintenance workers that practically lived down there… he shuddered thinking about the level of work they’d have to go through in repairing sections of pipe for plumbing or mobility purposes. And the rumors that this didn’t even scratch the surface compared to tunnels in Barnacle Bay…

Reaching the dead end, he pushed at the false wall and was greeted by a number of other faces in the Pipe room.

“Good afternoon, Gabriel.” His eyes adjusted to the brighter lights in the room to see Victoria greeting him while adjusting the strings of her lyre.

“Good afternoon, Victoria.” Gabriel replied, eyes lingering on the instrument and the bare white hands that held it.

He heard a yawn from the corner, “Why are we here?” Asked one of the Pacheco twins. It had been hard identifying one from the other. Gabriel was grateful momentarily that Jose left one more bruised than the other for him to pick them apart.

“I’m not sure, Darro. Maybe Isabella is holding a losers club.” Gabriel snipped venomously. It didn’t escape him that the only people in the Pipe room were the losers that failed to make it into the 3rd event. Twenty were entered and a whopping twelve had succeeded past the 2nd event. With the games tilted so far in their favor, he was surprised so many had failed to make it into the next round.

Then again, here he was, a sack of fresh croc shit like the rest of the failures around him.

“No need to be snippy, Gabe. How were we supposed to know that he’d pull out a spell like that.” Berro chimed in with their own languid response. His head was about to burst.

“What do you mean we couldn’t have known! We had a goddamn report on his capabilities. Did either of you two fuckers even read it?” The twins gave each other a look and shrugged.

“It didn’t really feel necessary to read past the first page… this Jose guy was projected to score way below the average on the first exam so why did it matter to read the rest of it?” Darro responded.

Gabriel gritted his teeth as he hissed, “If you two had read past the first page, you’d have found out that him being Hollow and his capacity to cast spells are different because he’s been casting spells since he could read!” His knuckles were white and he could feel the sharp ends of his fingernails digging into his skin.

Done in by incompetence, the story of his life.

“You should control your temper, Gabriel. Audiences are more likely to take your side if you use that contempt in a positive manner.” Victoria chimed in with her airy succulent voice. The frustration in his body melted away upon looking at her, staring directly into her eyes.

“I’m sorry Victoria. You’re right, I shouldn’t get so easily frustrated.” Gabriel started. His thoughts about the frustration stemming from incompetent idiots like the Pacheco twins being unable to perform even the simple task of reading were kept to himself.

The Pacheco’s clicked their tongues but said nothing else, sinking back into their seats. Looking around the rest of the room, Gabriel noted most of the less talented of the chosen were in the room, including the old and smelly fisherman with the barbed net that reeked of rotted fish carcasses and swamp water and the grotesquely muscular woman with the sharp jawline and the cropped hair. The fisherman shifted around uncomfortably in his smock and mudding boots. The woman was still, burning with a silent intensity. He was very disappointed to see himself and Victoria among the dregs like this.

“What are you staring at?” The gruff woman growled. Gabriel jumped and turned his eyes away from the beast.

“Ey, what are we waiting for?” The fisherman's voice was gravel incarnate.

“Y’all are waiting for me to arrive.” The familiar drawl had everyone's attention directed at the other entrance into the Pipe room. Walking in with all of her radiance was Elder Isabella, complete with well fitting suit and smile in tow. She held herself with the same rustic charm that she had when first providing Gabriel an opportunity of a lifetime a whole month ago.

“It’d be a pleasure in better circumstances, Miss Donnelly.” Victoria said, performing an unnecessary but cute curtsy.

“Elder Isabella, I’d like to be the first in the group to apologize for the failure of my comrades… and myself.” Gabriel added the last bit under his breath. He was just being honest to himself and the others but didn’t want to hurt their feelings by suggesting it was entirely their fault.

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Even though it was.

“Hey, if it isn’t my old pals Vicky and Gabe. And the Pacheco twins! How can I forget my beautiful blond boys.” Isabella began to rattle off their names one by one, providing them a personal greeting and a long, wonderful handshake and hug. “I know you all are a bunch of sharp tacks and can figure I’ve called you all here because you lost.” It still hurt to hear but Gabriel swallowed the grimace. “I am here to confirm your suspicions. Guilty as charged.” Isabella punctuated the ending of her statement with a loud and dry ha.

“Mija, that can’t be the only reason you called us here?” The fisherman asked, fidgeting with his net and staring at the exits of the room. She turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, his muscles tensing for a moment before relaxing again.

“N’ombre, que? Of course not. We have to go through some final points of order before I let you go from my supervision. I hope that by the end of all this, we can still remain trusting business partners.” Isabella bared her teeth at them in that playful way merchants gawked at gullible marks. They’d be lucky to continue garnering her private attention with their talents.

“What are your points of order then, Miss Donnelly. Even if my role in this story is over, my show must go on elsewhere.” Victoria twirled with her free hand in a dramatic fashion.

“I’m glad you can bring us on topic, Vicks. First things first, I just have to confirm none of you blabbed about this to any of your friends or family.” Everyone looked around the room and after a moment of silence agreed none of them had broken the first tenet of their contract. The Elder would have known they were lying either way, from the rumors he’d heard about the talents of each Elder. “Alright! Gotta say, runnin’ an operation like this is taxin’ on the mind so having some trustworthy folk to depend on is always great.”

The beast in womens clothes raised her hand.

“Yes, Guerrera?” Isabella waited for a response.

“Are we going to get paid the same as those that get on the boat?” Guerrera asked in her gruff baritone voice. She crossed her arms to demonstrate what kind of opposition Isabella would receive if she provided an answer unsatisfactory to the beast's demands.

Isabella was immediate with a response, “Como no? I know you were a tough one to rope in but you’ve gotta trust me, love. You’ll be paid the same just like anyone else. I might throw the winners a larger bone for other things, but I’m payin’ ya for risking your reputations and time on this little operation of ours.” Guerrera backed down after deeming the response adequate. “Speaking of payment, I hate to be that kind of merchant but our transaction won’t be finalized til the end of these festivities. I hope there’s no hard feelings between any of us on that front.”

Gabriel slouched a bit at the news. Coming into a windfall of coin at this point in his life would have given him the means to leave his hut near the walls and find some land closer to town. Aside from Isabella needing his expertise, he was looking forward to being rewarded for his services in an expedient manner.

The fisherman snorted, “No lo creo,” he leaned on a wall, “When you talked to me alone, you promised I’d be given a cut after our match, win or lose.”

“I know what I promised you, Santiago. You won’t need to worry about receiving that payment though.” The playful affectations in Isabella’s voice were snipped. “You see, those old geezers know a play’s going on. And I intend to make sure they’re in the dark up until that boat comes back with my prize.”

Everyone in the room became rigid. The blood in Santiago’s face drained away. Isabella smiled at their reactions.

“It’s a shame I’m only ever taken seriously when the threats start comin’ out. I’m outright disappointed with you though, Santi, thinking you could double dip on your profits. You must need the coin real bad if you’re willing to push this far.” Isabella clicked her tongue and slowly sauntered over to Santiago. He made his way towards one of the exits and attempted to open the door.

The click of the lever was heard but nothing else happened. Santiago turned around to face his assailant, brandishing the net over his head.

“Pero viejo, aren’t you too old to be squaring up against someone like me?” Gabriel struggled to catch Isabella spring forward with her arm outstretched towards the fisherman.

He didn’t have a chance to drop the net on her before the palm of her hand stretched and cradled the front of his face. Following the contact, his body began to convulse uncontrollably and faintly rise above the ground. “B-bruja!” Santiago cried out before the viscous guttural screams erased all manner of words he was attempting to wheeze out.

Gabriel shifted to his Sight and watched as Isabella’s soul pierced its blackened tendrils into the fisherman and siphon energy like a soul sucker. Each tentacle squirmed and writhed as it suckled on every last drop of the fisherman.

The man stopped moving soon afterwards, his body crumbling to the floor like a puppet losing its strings.

“Oh don’t act all panicked. Lucky for you all, you weren’t so dumb as to play both sides here. This one here was the only one who could do something about what I plan to do right now so he just… needed to go.”

The next set of actions were a blur to him. They were all terrified to move even an inch lest they’d suffer the same fate as the emaciated husk of Santiago. One by one, she pressed her palm to the foreheads of each loser, whispering something into their ears before they walked away, eyes vacant. He was disgusted to be suckered in by this honey pot.

She walked up to him, “I was hoping you’d make it to the next event since you shouted up and down about how competent you are, but impotent men like you have all this bluster and confidence…” Her comment trailed off.

“I am competent! It was unfair that you send me up against a fucking Arcanist with two id-” Gabriel’s rant was silenced by Isabella’s hand, her fingers squeezing his rotund cheeks.

“You mean the man that doesn’t even have an aspect? I almost pity how insignificant of a person you are. Almost.” Gabriel began to feel her soul wrap around his threshold, slithering its way into his nose and ears and mouth. “Such a waste to have spent my time on you, but merchants and their risks”

“What are you going to do to me?” His voice was muffled under her sweaty palm.

“I plan to do what I always do; nip potential thorns in my sides the only way I know how.” At that moment, his mind was invaded with thoughts, commands. The next moment, he was halfway down the hallway, head in a daze with no recollection of how he’d got there. Gabriel could feel something like a mark on his soul and a strange compulsion present in the back of his mind.

It didn’t matter. He recalled enough to know two things.

He wanted revenge for what Isabella had done to him and he wanted her to suffer when he achieved it.