[Industrial Breathing] Chapter Three

Industrial Breathing

"Enduring my last breath, I will never back down."

In this world, humans are rare specimens. Only a few are said to be alive. However, in this town, the town known as 'Dream', there's a master that creates robots as a living. Now, there are machines to fill in the gaps of humanity that was once there. But a war broke out between the world, and it was then divided in twos. Two worlds, different from each other fight till the death, and only one master shall rule both kingdoms. There shall only be one master, and two kingdoms. Who will survive? And who will die in pure solitary?

Chapter Three

Beginning of Our Bond

Knock-knock…

I gently knocked on Skylar’s open bedroom door to gather his attention. When he faced my way, I replied, “I hope you’re okay with me using your shirt. Found it in the bathroom.” I raised my thumb back, pointing towards the bathroom with it.

“Idiot,” Skylar got up from his office chair and stomped his way to his wardrobe on the other end of the bed. “How would you know if that’s even clean yet?”

“It seemed clean,” I shrugged my shoulders, “would it really matter anyway?”

Skylar pulled out a white dress shirt off from his clothes hanger and handed me the clean shirt while turning his head away from my direction. “Use this. It’s cleaner. Besides, that’s one of my favourite shirts you’re wearing. Don’t you dare stretch it,” he warned while his head faced the other course.

Giggle escaped my breath as I pinched the baggy white, scoop necked shirt with a pocket on the left chest. “This is your favourite shirt? I would’ve thought you’d have more fashion sense in you, but I guess not,” I grabbed the dress shirt he was holding.

“That shirt’s really thin; you can see everything,” Skylar pointed out as he turned his head around to prove his point. “Wear what I gave you, and you’ll be safe from rapists tonight.”

“Yeah right,” my eyes rolled, giving him a slight attitude check. “Besides, I’d wish you told me earlier about the shirt stretching. I already tugged on it while I was in the bathroom. I think I might’ve caused a tear in the material,” I teased, cooing at him for ruining his favourite plain shirt. 

Skylar cocked an eyebrow, shooting a death glare my way, as if I was asking for a death wish. “You didn’t,” he growled as I stuck out my tongue at him.

“I don’t know; maybe you should see for yourself. That’s if you’re daring enough to come at me.” I was well aware that what I’d said sounded sexual, and I was pretty much asking to be attacked. Oh yes, I was fully well-aware of all of that.

My feet pivoted in the direction of the hallway, ready to push down on the rusty bronze door handle with my hand. There was a swift movement that froze me on the spot. A grip held tightly on my right wrist, preventing me to leave a single step. My head flipped at his direction, eyeing down at my caught wrist. “What?”

“I want my shirt back,” he flared an attitude, quickly lifting up my caught wrist up high and forcefully spun me anticlockwise on the spot. He pushed me onto the door, my left elbow wedged in a lock, and arm pressed against my back. My cheek was planted onto the cold surface of the door. “And you’re not leaving until I get it back as it is.”

His surprise had caught me off-guard. “I see you aren’t hesitant to pick a fight with a chick.” Smirk approached my lips.

Skylar’s haste movement wasted no second. It was smooth, rapid, yet deadly. “What can I say? The dominant alpha male likes a good strip tease.”

I could sense the mockery in the midst of his tone. “Keep dreaming,” I snorted, kicking my foot behind. Skylar scooted back, dodging my raised rear kick. His grip on my back loosened up a bit. Using my left hand, I pushed off, rotating myself so that my arm was no longer locked behind my back. I smirked as I positioned my back against his chest, ready to throw him off my shoulder.

“Wrong move,” he whispered against my ear, wrapping his right arm against my throat. He barred my wrists with his strength on my left shoulder, while my hands halted at his other wrist.

His biceps chocked around my neck. “Touché,” I gritted my teeth, clenching them as I released my right arm away from my left shoulder and placed it under Skylar’s elbow. Thoughts rushed my mind, imagining risky scenarios that meant losing my pride in a fight for the rightful superior role. I first pulled his left wrist down and pushed his right forearm above, while I bent down and turned at a rational distant, where my left foot was brought back. I twisted his arm behind his back. “But I guess now there’s been a turn of events.”

Chuckle escaped Skylar’s breath. “You’ve been out in the wild for too long.”

I stretched his elbow up higher. Pain etched across his face. “Far too long,” I admitted with a cold lonely tone.   

“Then,” Skylar rotated his head, “shall we change that?” He faced towards the closest wall, charged up and flipped himself over, freeing from the back arm lock grip I once hand. His bicep barricaded my neck from the back, once again. This time, I didn’t freeze and let the fear of being chocked get the best of me. My fingers gripped around his bicep, allowing myself to give a bit of feet distance before doing a shoulder throw. “Not today,” I replied, as I bent my knees, held my torso upright, bent my body forward, and tugged his arm over my shoulder with full force. Skylar rolled to evade his fall. He rolled up into a handstand position with one hand. With a slight twist in hand adjustment, he landed back on his feet and faced forward.

“Not bad,” Skylar commented, “but it could use a bit more work.” He had his arms crossed on his chest, holding a composed facial appearance as I shot fierce looks his way.

“I could say the same to you,” I charged forth, remarking on his actions as he did to mine.  “They’re Impressive,” I leaped over his shoulders as he drew himself in a self-defence position, “but a massive show off at the same time.” My foot kicked his spine in between his shoulder blades where he fell faced forward first, then rolled onto his back. Quickly, I gathered the energy reaching for his neck and planted myself on top of his chest knowing how swift his reaction timings were. “What will Skylar do next?”

Skylar’s green eyes went small, taking into surprise of the unexpected risky move I’d made. “That’s a good question,” he answered, clasping his hands in between my grip on his neck, “What will I do next, I wonder,” Skylar finished teasing. “This—“ He raised my hands high up, turned to one side and slid me off a position that once showed my true strength and independence as a survivor up until now. His force led me to the floor, being the weaker individual in position of the bottom, whilst he was the stronger alpha male on the top.

“I may have underestimated your abilities, Lilith,” he sneered, throwing gleaming joy of showing off his masculine trait with my hands pinned to the ground. I gagged inside, confirming how much of a show off he really was.

His gripped tightened on my wrists held above my head, preventing me from swaying out of the mess. I wasn’t going to squeal my way out, just because I was a female underling. I wasn’t going to act worthless because I couldn’t stand up for myself either. Instead, I did the opposite. – I fought back, attempting to gather the urge to shake off the clutch.

“Though, you really need to stop struggling,” he growled, leaning in his head close to my neck. His hot breaths brushed against my skin as I felt his hair tickling at the surface of my cheek to the bareness of my neck.

I couldn’t be freed from his compelled strength no matter how much I fought back or struggled against his will. The way he acted was ruthless an undeniably beastly to react by force than I thought. I smothered the courage to fire back a thought before he’d slip his teeth down onto my collarbone. “Don’t touch me or I’ll rip your shirt.”

A rush of his breath exhaled onto my neck, while hearing the chuckles of his laughter entering through my ears. “It’s too late for that now. You’re already wearing my shirt,” he whispered in, “now I have to strip it off you with my teeth.”

Shudder spread throughout my body with a single tease given off by a complete sociopathic male. “You won’t be able to take it off like that, genius.”

“I know what I’m doing, now shush and enjoy the punishment.” Skylar nibbled the helix of my ear before continuing to tug the hem of the scoop-necked shirt.

“Get off me,” there was a sneer in the depths of my voice. “You’re going to pay for this.”

“The only thing I will be paying for is your medical insurance,” Skylar paused, lifting his head centimetres above mine. “And I’m not going to do that,” he smirked, pressing his forehead against mine.

Beneath my breath was a vulgar mutter, “Selfish bastard.” I could feel the snicker and the mocking of his expression behind his solid cruel mask.

His ego got the best of him, a tone that had the trace of sarcasm. “Ouch—”

“—I didn’t even throw a punch yet.”

“But I heard that,” Skylar commented. “You will medicate me, right Nurse Lilith?” His touch of his frontal temple departed, where he allowed himself to plant a quick peck to my forehead.

“How about we compromise?” I didn’t say it out of a change of heart. His small kiss on the forehead meant nothing. Although his last trace of his lips had left a permanent marking engraved inside of my head, the hot rushes of my blood spread throughout my body. Butterflies rushed around and I could feel my limbs blast with an unstable vibe.

“Will Lilith my own personal nurse?”

“No, but if you don’t get off me, I will head butt you, wrap my hands around your neck in the most non-kinky way whilst your grip is loose, push you to one side, and somewhat, run for my life.” My head turned, eyeing for the door for escape. “Would you really risk your precious face to be damaged by the beautiful Lilith?”

He stopped, as if thinking through his actions was really the greatest idea to begin his alter motives. I was winning at this rate if he was thinking of giving in, even if he was the dominant alpha male on top and I was the one on the bottom.

“You’re right, I can’t risk it…” Skylar murmured in a defeated matter. “I’m not doing it for my sake, by the way. It’s for yours,” he released the control between my wrist. “But as a return, you have to do something for me,” Skylar pushed himself off and stood up, raising a hand down at my track.

I gripped on his hand as he pulled me up from great force. He was strong, even though he had a very slim build for an eighteen year old. I hadn’t realized how tan his skin was up until now, and how bottle green his eyes really were. “Thanks.”

“Get changed and I’ll tell you the favour. It’s hard to look at you wearing less layering. It’s going to get colder tonight; trust me, I know.”

“Alright then,” I replied obediently. I might’ve been lost in his gaze and reassurance of the night falling cold, but that was mainly because I was always the one being chased as the moonlit rose above the darkened night sky.  “I’ll trust you on it,” my voice seemed sincere at that point of time. Since when have I ever put my trust in anything before other than my own self-esteem to get through wild nights of chasings and free instincts to stay alive? Never—but to know that this was the first feeling I’d gotten in so long, since the time I’d started running away as an orphan counting down the nights where I’ve survived, this was definitely the first and foremost, the oddest thing I’d said to anyone.

Just what was running through my mind at that time? Even then, I wasn’t sure. The words, ‘I’ll trust you on it’ just keep replaying inside my mind. Just what the hell is going on with me, I thought to myself.

I think I might need help.

“I’ll be outside, waiting. Hurry up until then,” Skylar wrapped his hand around his bedroom doorknob and shut the door behind him on his way out. I heard him stride away down the hall in his slightly baggy black pants, and a pair of black lace up combat boots, covered by two belt buckles latched at the front where the laces were. His strides were heavy until they dispersed into the lion chamber room with the enormous lion chandelier glued above the whole area.

Hastily, I hurried along and stripped off the thin white shirt, being careful that I hadn’t ripped his favourite shirt. Despite the fact that I said I might’ve pulled on the material and teased him for that, deep down, I wasn’t that mean enough to do something as childish as that to ruin a perfectly good piece of clothing, even if it was an item of clothing that wasn’t owned by me either. The truth was: I’d feel extra bad if I ever did something as mean as that. Of course, it was something I was willing to keep to myself for quite a long time. It was like a weak point of I, who believed everything I’ve done was meant to be done alone.

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick—

My ears perked around, listening to a continuous ticking noise as if a robotic insect had filed its way into the room. I tossed Skylar’s white dress shirt onto his king sized bed, and listened in on the clinking noise, hiding around the obstacles.

…tick-tick-tick—

The noise shifted from one area to another. Without a second to lose, I gripped my hand onto the handle of my dagger where I had released it from its sheath tied around my thigh, and grounded myself into a battling stance position, despite being half-dressed for the situation. The ticking noise circled around me, knowing my full existence being present in Skylar’s room.

“It’s just you and me,” I whispered vilely after hearing the clinking noise of a metal insect halt to a stop. I shifted the corner of my eyes from left to right, despite the solitary air filling the room. I waited for my target to appear itself, even if time had drifted us apart slowly. We were of two different worlds, I believed.

Breath escaped my mouth when two copper metallic pincers flung towards my neck. My arm reached out, pushing the scorpion away from my neck, whilst the dagger in my other hand drilled into the centre of the arachnid’s body. I changed position, switching my feet position to where I faced the side of the scorpion. My legs quickly engaged towards the metallic insect where I forcefully swung it against the wall. I was careful that I didn’t graze a single mark on Skylar’s fragile bedroom wall, knowing full well that I could attract unwanted predators into the base.

Air trailed into my lungs as I walked over to the last remains of the scorpion on the other end of the room. Small geared parts fell to the ground as I recovered my dagger from in between the arachnid’s body. It was small, about the palm of my hands, yet, its pincers were blunter than a razor. I sheathed my weaponry back into its original place then advanced may way over to Skylar’s bed.

Buttoning up the plain white dress shirt Skylar gave me, I rolled both sleeves up at elbow length. I picked up the single piece of clothing then folded it neatly and placed it on his bed. “I didn’t stretch it, okay?” I wasn’t talking to anyone in general, but myself. I patted the clothing down, removing any wrinkles that presented itself on the folded shirt. There was no meaning towards my doings anyway. It was just out of courtesy and respect, I reminded myself. Nothing more, I repeated in my mind before leaving Skylar’s room, satisfied of my own self-reflection done in such a short amount of time.