Session 70

## Synopsis

Christine and Cedric deal with their past choices.

## Plot

Amends with Raven Queen, Cedric and Gavros make up, Cedric and Selivan make up, Cedric vs Hector

Cedric approaches Hector with confidence, holding his blade in an aggressive stance. Hector's stance appears casual and relaxed, that of a veteran's. Cedric begins the duel energetically, probing Hector's defenses with a hop-skip windup attack. Hector's blade flashes back and forth as the two clash, his black eyes darting around. Hector is an immovable stone in the path of Cedric's frenetic gale, barely pivoting and moving about. Cedric, on the other hand, is far more dexterous than Hector, flashily twirling his blade in elaborate bladework maneuvers and dancing just out of Hector's reach on more than one occasion.

Cedric, sensing that perhaps he could take him by surprise, quickly reverse-thrusts his blade clanging into Hector's helmet, a move that would have been quite a good one... if Hector had not immediately followed up on it. Angered that Cedric outpaced him, Hector quickly thrusts out his fist and smashes Cedric across the face, surprising him. Hector underestimated Cedric's strength, expecting the blow to knock his opponent to the ground. Cedric, using the momentum carried by the punch, spins about and attempts to strike out at Hector's hand holding his blade. Hector deftly blocks it, and punishes Cedric by bruising his shoulder with an overhead strike.

The two break apart again, circling one another. Poking. Prodding. Testing. They exchange a flurry of blows once again, Cedric managing to work past Hector's blocks more than once due to his superior speed. Unfortunately for Cedric, Hector was an oppressive counter-attacker, always matching one of his blows with a even more crushing one of his own. Cedric finds his defenses tested time and time again, dozens of scrapes and bruises forming over his arms and legs from blocking Hector's brutal strikes. Hector's armor came in handy at several points, perhaps-fatal wounds avoided by the presence of his armor. Not one to waste resources, Hector also uses it as a brutal weapon of battery, blocking several of Cedric's attacks with his left bracer and following it up with a punch or kick (of which quite a few made their mark).

By this point, the two had pretty much figured out their opponents' fighting styles. Now was the time to exploit them. Recognizing that Hector barely moved, Cedric attempted to unbalance him whenever he got by striking randomly, and *hard.* Hector realizes that whenever Cedric opens himself up by attacking, he *must* attack as well. And so the duel continued.

Cedric suddenly struck out hard at Hector's hand again, attempting to free Hector's vise-like grip on his blade. Hector blocks the attack with his left gauntlet, and brutally punishes him by slamming it against Cedric's face- or perhaps not. Cedric had anticipated this maneuver, and kicked down at Hector's weak knee, an audible *crack* filling the air. Hector grunts in pain, exclaiming "BASTARD!" and slams his head into Cedric's. Cedric's vision goes blurry for a moment, dazed by the attack, and he barely brings his blade into place to defend himself from Hector's brutal assault. Hector, enraged by Cedric targeting his weak spot, brutally smashes his blade into Cedric's blocks, punctuating several of these with a swift punch to the face.

Cedric, recognizing that such a relentless assault will spell out a quick end to his life, suddenly ripostes his blade into Hectors' mask, a move that visibly dents it. Hector, of course, responds by slamming his left gauntlet into Cedric's face, cracking his nose and spraying blood everywhere. The two break apart from one another, the both of them breathing heavily, clouds of mist emitting from their mouths. Cedric makes a futile effort to wipe the blood from his broken nose, when suddenly he feels something stinging his eyes. He reaches his hand to his forehead and is surprised to find it covered with blood. Turns out, Hector had suddenly struck out during their duel so quickly that Cedric had not noticed, scoring a thin cut on his forehead.

Seeing the sudden wound, Revan intervenes on behalf of Cedric, calling out for a brief respite from the duel. The two eye each other warily, first Hector agreeing and then begrudgingly Cedric. The both of them limp back over to their corners. Revan gives Cedric a rag to stem the bloodflow from his nose while washing the blood and sweat from his forehead. Gavros remarks helpfully that Cedric's nose is definitely broken, and that he is doing a hell of a job out there. Revan binds up his forehead cut, and miraculously the blood flowing from his nose ceases. Noticing that his shirt is in tatters, Cedric chooses to just remove it, as it might serve as a hindrance. He tugs at the amulet of the Ezra Warriors hanging around his neck, gaining some resolve. Cedric gazes over at Hector, surprised to find him still standing (yet leaning on his blade for support). They bind his weak knee for extra support, and replace his terribly dented left bracer and gauntlet with a leather one. As they go to remove his mask, he wordlessly knocks their hands away, refusing to let them touch it. Taking note of this, Cedric resolves himself to remove said mask With that, the respite came to an end, and the two combatants once again moved to face one another in combat.

Hector begins this round of the fight, raining down overhead strikes at Cedric. Cedric dodges and weaves, blocking when necessary; he is also unable to find a point to counterattack. Hector scores a direct hit on Cedric, slicing him deeply across his pectorals while his guard was down. Hector pauses briefly during his onslaught, breathing heavily, and Cedric takes that moment to strike. The two engage in a blade lock, pushing each other back and forth. First their blades come close to Hector's face, his black eyes widening in exhilaration. He pushes it back towards Cedric, who grits his teeth intensely. Their faces are so close they could kiss each other, both of equal strength and unable to break away.

Cedric decides to break this stalemate by going for Hector's knee. However, Hector quickly sees what he's doing, and reorients himself, Cedric's blade getting stuck in one of his greaves. Cedric loses his balance and topples into Hector, the two going down in a heap. Hector propels his fist into Cedric's face three brutal times, starting his nosebleed up again. Cedric kicks down at Hector's knee, scoring a direct hit. Hector roars this time, picking up Cedric in a surge of adrenaline and tossing him bodily several feet away. Cedric lands with a woosh, the air knocked from his lungs. For his part, he rolls back into a ready stance, though Hector is not so quick in pursuing him, using his sword as a crutch to help him stand. The two match eyes with each other again, black and gold piercing into each other.

Cedric is suddenly filled with a burst of energy, dashing forward in just three paces. In a series of moves that will never be forgotten by any of the onlookers, he feints left. Hector anticipates the feint, moving to where Cedric will place his next blow. Cedric notices this, and quickly changes the path of his blade mid-swing, delivering a deep cut to Hector's leather-bound forearm and slicing straight through the brace. In the split second in which Hector drops his guard, Cedric kicks out at Hector's knee, causing it to buckle. Using Hector's downward momentum, Cedric grips his face with both hands, flipping over him. Using his own gravity as a counterbalance, Cedric flips Hector over, causing him to land with a crash several feet away, effectively using Hector's own move against him. Hector is obviously greatly injured by this maneuver, the extra weight from his armor causing him to fall much *much* harder than Cedric did. His mask lands several feet away from him. He turns his face towards Cedric, and he is surprised to see that it is actually...

Just a man. Hector's skin is pale, obviously not having seen the sun in a very long time. His head is balding, and what hair he has left is long, black, and greasy. His eyebrows and thick and lancing downwards in a perpetual scowl. His lips are thin and chapped, his teeth chipped and stained. Heavy black stubble covers his ovular face. He rises slowly, glaring daggers at Cedric, and taking in great gulps of air. He makes eye contact with Cedric, who is surprised to see another emotion conveyed by his eyes: shame. He quickly looks down, the two standing in silence for a few moments more. Then Hector steels himself, raises his blade, and begins to head back over to Cedric.

His next few hits against Cedric are far weaker than before, as if he had lost a great deal of willpower. Cedric finds it relatively easy to block his attacks, and deduces that Hector is on his final strings. When Hector makes a particularly sluggish and slow sweep directed towards Cedric's chest, Cedric parries and riposte-strikes at the loosened grip at his blade. This move actually serves to break Hector out of his stupor, and he moves wickedly fast to block the strike. Cedric, reacting extremely quickly, strikes out at Hector's arm with his elbow and continues his strike. Both fighters are at the top of their game at this moment. Hector reaches out suddenly and encloses Cedric's wrist in a constricting grip, ending his strike. Cedric attempts to pull away, but Hector suddenly pulls him close, snarling in his face "Don't get cocky!", before headbutting him. Dazed, Cedric retreats a few paces, unable to protect himself from Hector's sudden dash towards him. Hector places his foot behind Cedric, causing him to lose his balance for a moment. He then grabs the back of his head, and chucks him down towards the ground, right into Hector's waiting kneecap.

The air is filled with a sickening *crack* as Cedric has the wind knocked out of him. He gasps for breath, air barely filling into his lungs through the pain. He gives out some wheezes as he struggles to rise. Hector is unable to capitalize upon this golden opportunity as he is busy removing his dented leg greave. Unfortunately for Hector, he had chosen to deliver his crushing blow with his bad knee Cedric manages to stand using his blade as a crutch, spitting out a coagulated bit of blood, and clutching at his ribcage. That last bit of damage really took it out of him, and he is in incredibly rough shape. Hector turns to face him, flicking his blade into position again. Cedric looks to his blade, remembering the personal connection that he was said to have with it. He grits his teeth, resolving to end the fight no matter what the cost. Suddenly his sword glows, and the scent of pine needles fills the air; Cedric is filled with a surge of energy emanating from the blade. He gives it a wordless thanks, and prepares to finish the duel.

Hector, for his part, is in pretty rough shape as well, leaning heavily on his right leg. His left leg shakes uncontrollably, barely able to sustain his weight. Blood drips slowly from his left forearm, and he gives Cedric a wary look. The two circle each other slowly, both wearied and wounded fighters looking for the "killing" stroke. They both know that this is the final stage of the fight, as both are far too tired to continue.

And yet they continue.

They engage in some extremely sloppy swordplay, the both of them missing blows entirely and unable to exploit their opponent's mistakes. Instead of his usual brutal punishment, Hector just pushes him weakly away. Instead of bounding around energetically and dodging Hector's blows, Cedric either has to tank them or hope that Hector misses. They just stand there pounding against each other, all pretenses of strategy and footwork and excellent swordplay gone. This has turned into a brutal slugfest, a match to see who can outlast the other.

And then, Cedric tripped.

Hector had over thirty years of experience of fighting. He had learned to use every possible item at his disposal to defeat his opponent. Slowly, he had pivoted their fight over to where his fallen mask laid, sacrificing some blows upon himself to maneuver Cedric into position. Once in position, he deliberately makes an absolutely terrible strike, one that Cedric would have to be comatose to miss. Cedric takes up the bait like a charm, maneuvering his blade to strike at Hector's exposed shoulder. Summoning his last bit of strength, Hector checks Cedric in the chest with the same exposed shoulder, exacerbating his cracked ribs and causing him to take a step backwards-- right onto the mask.

Cedric collapses into a heap, the extreme pain caused by him landing causing his vision to go black. Through sheer willpower, he forces himself to remain conscious. Hector, so tired that he cannot even force a smile, says in a ragged tone, "Stay down, boy." Cedric does not comply. He rises, gritting his teeth through the pain, and fixes Hector with a dark expression. Hector suddenly lunges at Cedric, and the two lock blades again, held diagonally across their chests. Their eyes meet one another, terrible hateful looks exchanged with one another, and then Hector suddenly jerks out with the hilt of the blade, catching Cedric in the ribs once again. The pommel slams like an avalanche into Cedric's abdomen, and he audibly gasps out in pain, spitting up blood and once again falling to the ground.

Cedric proves to be an extremely hard thing to put down, and summoning every last bit of energy he has, rises. Hector, having turned around and beginning to walk away, notices him stand out of the corner of his eye. He turns around with an expression of disbelief, his hard-won victory snatched away from him at the last moment purely due to this young upstart's inability to stand down when he was beaten. Cedric is unable to sense it, but there is an iota of pride contained in this look. Cedric had withstood blows that would have felled any other man, and he was still ready to continue.

Cedric moves forward, every step an exercise in agony. Hector looks at him as if he were looking at a man returned from the grave. The pain gives Cedric clairvoyance, and he begins his work. Hector raises his blade to defend himself, but Cedric quickly knocks it to the side through two swift strikes. He then sticks his blade out behind Hector's knee, firmly anchoring it in place. He brutally slams his foot down at the knee, snapping it and causing it to bend backwards. Hector is unable to cry out in pain, sharply exhaling his breath. This is immediately cut short as Cedric, with all of the suffering of his childhood, all of the hardships caused by this man and all the others that had caused him such pain at the forefront of his mind, leans back and sucker punches him in the face, roaring out incomprehensibly as he does so, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. Hector is lifted a foot into the air and falls several feet away. He is out cold.

Cedric is the victor of the fight.

He takes a ragged breath, watching his father fall to the ground.

He takes a ragged breath, turning around to look for his friends.

He takes a ragged breath, sharing a look with Revan before he falls, the world around him going black.