It Hurts

Chapter 3

From then on moving forward, the green haired loner and the purple haired diva had become nigh inseparable. There was hardly a student or staff member who didn’t see them together on or off campus. They not only ate lunch together but also studied together, walked to classes together, texted each other; they were the perfect pair…or so it seemed. To them, their time spent together was joyful and wondrous but to the rest of the sharks lurking and leering in the school’s social structure; they were foreign and freakish. No one understood why they were together or if they were even considered together or just extremely close friends who liked to do everything together.

Regardless, their existence was a nuisance; a detriment to their judgmental society and something they refused to tolerate. Day in day out, Spike and Rarity were bombarded with heinous insults and intense scrutiny with little to no reprieve. Even at home, Rarity would find social messenger inboxes loaded with derogatory remarks accusing her of being a slut who “gave it away to anyone who asked” or that Spike was some sort of charity case she should drop since there was no way she would actually willingly socialize with him. Sassy and Upper Crust had given up communicating with their former friend; except to lob a scathing look of disgust or to chuck a half empty water bottle their way.

For Spike this was nothing new. This was pretty much a routine experience for the comic-loving teen. But this time it was different, Rarity wasn’t used to this level of relentless barbarism. She was used to being on the other side of the fence. Spike felt like he was some sort of virus; infecting all who were near him. He hated the fact it was happening but at the same time, he loved spending time with Rarity and he didn’t really want it to stop. The comfort and warmth she stirred inside him was undeniable.

What to do, what to do?

“I’m sorry; did you say something, Spikey Wikey?” Rarity sweetly asked.

Her angelic voice dragged his head down from the clouds back to Earth; along with the rest of him. The green haired junior chuckled sheepishly; offering Rarity an awkwardly apologetic smile. He nearly forgot where he was.

Spike and Rarity were currently walking side by side; strolling down town under the shadowy blackness of the star lit sky. Heavenly bodies and glistening beams of moonlight followed them like celestial eyes. It was Friday night and Spike had asked Rarity to take a late night stroll with him through the park. They were currently crossing a high rustic metallic bridge. The moonlight glimmered across the water far down below them. They had been so engrossed in each other’s company they would sometimes forget how unnervingly high the bridge was. There was hardly a soul aboard the bridge that night aside from the two of them.

“Sorry, just uh kind of got lost in my own thoughts. I was just thinking about everything that’s happened over the past few weeks since we started hanging out more,” he confessed shyly.

Rarity sighed and shook her head. “No darling, how many times do I have to tell you not to dwell on those thoughts?” she playfully poked his forehead. “I told you, I’m genuinely happy spending my time with you rather than caring what a bunch of vapid, bone crunching hyenas thinks about you, me or both of us. It doesn’t matter what they think, they don’t matter in the slightest, the only thing that matters is you and I,” she pointed towards his chest and then to her own.

“I know, you’ve told me that a thousand times and I-I agree but,” he paused; his feet ceased moving. He hung his head and found himself unable to face her. The fair skinned beauty refused to let him distance himself again and gently cupped his chin; forcing him to face her. “I just don’t know if I’m worth all of this. You could have had a much better time at school if it wasn’t for me. No more bullying, gross comments or threats against you at home. You didn’t have to put up with any of this if it wasn’t for me,” he looked at her solemnly. She smiled tenderly at his gloomy face. Even when he was sad, she couldn’t help but find beauty and charm in his adorable face. His long ears and curved canines miraculously somehow added to his irresistible cuteness. “Sometimes I wonder if things would be easier for everyone if…if…I wasn’t around,” he said.

Rarity smiled and gently kissed his cheek, her soft lips causing a delicate smacking sound as quiet as a mouse squeak. “Sweet, darling Spikey Wikey, I would rather spend a few hours with you then spend an entire lifetime being adored by faceless crowds who love me only for my looks and not the inner me,” her eyes glittered luminously in the twinkling star lights. Spike’s sour mood gradually lifted; replaced with a growing, joyful smile. “I don’t want to hear such talk from you ever again, do you understand?” she said firmly yet laced with care and tenderness.

“Yes my lady,” her cheeks flashed bright pink at the familiar sound of Spike’s nickname for her. It was cliché; silly and most likely frowned upon by most feminists because it was probably seen as some archaic term for men demeaning women as dainty, fragile things. Never the less, Rarity never got tired of hearing Spike call her that. “I do love it when you call me my lady! It’s the absolutely, the most WONDERFUL possible thing,” she squealed brightly. Spike chuckled; highly amused by such a childish comment coming from such a graceful young woman. “Speaking of naming things, did we ever settle on whether or not this is a date?” Rarity blinked curiously at Spike’s question. “And if so, does that mean were…you know…boyfriend and-”

CRASH!

The abrupt sound of glass shattering on the ground startled the would-be couple. Their burning questions of love and labels interrupted; distracted by the smell and sight of something wicked approaching them.

“Ugh, just hearing that shit makes me want to puke my guts out. I can’t believe you two sick freaks are doing this out in public,” a gruff; surly male voice said. Out of the shadows of the night lurched forth a familiar face: Buck Withers. Rarity hadn’t seen or heard from that obnoxious jerk of a jock since she blocked his number from her phone weeks ago. He was leading the charge of much of the villainous slander and mob-like crowds circulating around school. “What, you thought I was going to URP take this lying down?” he said in a drunken slur. His feet staggering side to side; breathe reeking of cheap, fowl-smelling alcohol. The crash sound they heard was one of the many beer bottles Buck had consumed before reaching them.

“Buck, how many times do I have to hammer this into your thick skull? There is NOTHING between you and me, there never was and there never will be. Any delusions you had of us becoming this ridiculous power couple were just that; delusions,” Rarity angrily stated.

“Don’t bullshit me! You chose that limp dick pussy because you wanted to make me jealous, nothing more. It’s time to stop being polite and tell the truth,” he popped open another bottle and chugged it down his throat. Warm alcohol dribbled messily down his neck and chin. His varsity jacket was covered in dirt and grass stains; he had stumbled over many times in his attempt to follow Spike and Rarity. "You’re only with him to pity him, all that smiling and laughing with him? You’re just pretending so the little bitch doesn’t wet his pants and kill himself over it,” his feet clumsily stagger forward. Anger and delusions fueled his alcohol soaked mind. His blurry state of mind could not comprehend Rarity would willingly choose Spike over him, not in a million years. This was a horrible mistake that needed to be corrected and quickly.

“All right, I’ve think we’ve stomached enough of your fowl mouth,” Spike pushed in front of Rarity in a defensive pose. He stared emerald daggers at the deranged oaf shuffling closer and closer, his fowl breath causing Spike’s nostrils to cringe in disgust. “You need to turn around and get the Hell out of here, right now!” he bared his fangs as if he were a deadly viper. Spike usually loathed having such sharp teeth, but at this moment, he was glad he had some sort of edge over the beefy quarterback.

“No Spike, don’t! He’s not worth getting hurt over. Let’s just leave right now and find a policeman or something,” Rarity pleaded. She remembered that hate stained look on Buck’s face, she knew how violent he could get. Buck’s violent and explosive temper was one of the many reasons she refused to have anything to do with him. As the old saying goes, sometimes being drunk is like being mad: the real person comes out.

Buck laughed at her words, he gagged and hacked up a nasty glob of spit and ejected it from his sinister smirking lips. “You really are one dumb broad. I’m not here to beat you; I’m here for that string green bean you keep using like a security blanket,” he loudly cracked his knuckles, “your fucking dead freak boy!”

“Hey! You don’t ever call her names like that, okay, you just crossed the line,” Spike barked back. Buck charged violently towards the pair. Rarity desperately tugged on Spike’s arm; trying to get him to leave with her before things got further out of control. One look in Buck’s eyes and Spike knew that Rarity was just as much at risk of being harmed as he was, Buck was too drunk to think or focus clearly. With Buck moving so fast and being stuck on a bridge, Spike had no choice but to push Rarity back and clear her out of harm’s way.

BAM!

Buck’s knuckles crunched thickly into Spike’s right cheekbone. He felt something crack in his mouth; the taste of blood and tooth fragments trickled into his mouth. The green haired teen coughed in pain and spat out drops of blood and busted bits of a cracked tooth. The blond brute wasted no time delivering another devastating punch to Spike’s stomach. Even in his drunken state, Buck was in better shape and had faster reflexes that poor Spike could barely keep up with. Spike barreled over clutching his gut, he gasped for air and tried to stand back up to counter whatever Buck was planning next. The monstrous jock screamed bloody murder and swung his fist down at Spike’s face. Spike managed to grab it and halt Buck’s attack in its tracks. He then pulled Buck’s arm forward, reared back his own fist and decked the drunk attacker right across his face.

Buck grunted and stumbled back but remained on his two feet. Spike grimaced; his face flushing all color until only a deathly pale grey remained. He lacked the muscle and physical power Buck had to deliver any kind of effective damage and Buck knew it. Rarity shrieked for Buck to stop and grabbed one of his forearms; trying to pull him back and off of Spike. The jock growled in annoyance. He smacked his elbow across Rarity’s face striking her down with one painful blow. “Stay the Hell out of this, skank bag!” he snapped harshly. Rage pumped through Spike’s blood as he speared Buck to the ground and proceeded to pummel him ruthlessly with his fists. Buck was unable to fight back and found his face being bashed, bruised and savagely beaten by the skinny boy’s hammering. “Don’t you ever touch or talk to her ever again, you hear me?” Spike barked. Buck ignored Spike’s taunts and spat a disgusting glob of spit right into Spike’s eye. The junior flinched; desperately trying to wipe his eye off with his hoodie sleeves.

“Too slow limp dick!” Buck hissed scathingly. Buck bashed his knuckles across Spike’s face and sent the boy toppling to the ground with an uppercut. Once Spike was down, Buck sat on his chest and wrapped his large, calloused hands around Spike’s neck. “Why do people like you even exist? You should be thrown out with the rest of the garbage! You don’t deserve to live!” he snarled. Spike’s lungs gasped for air, his hands weakly clawing at Buck’s wrists in a desperate attempt to stop him from choking him. Rarity watched in horror as Spike’s limbs started to slow down. Buck was literally going to choke the life out of him!

“Get off him right now Buck or I’ll…or I’ll,” Rarity bent down, removed one of her shoes and decked it across the back of Buck’s head. “I’ll kill you myself” she screamed mercilessly. The shoe shattered like cheap plastic against the brute’s thick head. Buck stopped strangling Spike, but unfortunately, now his murderous drunken rage had been redirected towards Rarity. She stared at the death glare burning in his eyes. Rarity was frozen like a deer in the headlights; paralyzed and powerless by the disturbing possibilities of what Buck may actually do to her.

WHAM!

With all of his might, Buck grabbed her and threw her towards the side of the bridge. His monstrous strength mixed with the fractured weak points of the wooden bridge’s structure created a hole large enough for her to fall through. Rarity screamed a she fell into the inky blackness down below. The darkness of the night mixed with the murky midnight waters made it impossible to see her body as she fell. Faint splashes followed as the fashionista vanished like a shadow into utter nothingness.

“No…pl-please…please no,” Spike faintly stammered.

She was his life, his world, his violet light shining in the abysmal pit of darkness that was his life. Rarity was his everything. She gave him happiness and joy that not even heaven and all of its angels grouped together could create. Now she was gone, dead. Never again would her sapphire blue eyes shine radiantly to warm the cobwebs away from his tarnished soul. Spike couldn’t even feel the cool dampness of his tears dribbling down the sides of his cheeks.

Buck stared lifelessly at the barren black hole that swallowed Rarity up. He looked with gross indifference, a cold, careless face that was devoid of compassion or concern. Good riddance to bad rubbish as far as he was concerned. The silent sobs of Spike drew his attention. Buck turned his head slowly and simply stared in a soulless daze at the weeping green haired boy. “And to think, if you never talked to her none of this would have happened. You’re like cancer,” he said darkly.

That was it! That was the last straw. Something inside Spike snapped. His anger erupted inside his poisoned heart like an explosive volcano. Slowly and wobblingly, Spike stood back onto his feet. His fists clutching so tightly that blood began to drip from his whitening knuckles. Buck stared vacantly at the quaking boy. He felt no fear nor concern over the billowing rage seeping off of him like smoke, he was insignificant.

“Bring her back.”

Those three words slipped from Spike’s lips like a death curse. His feet stomped closer, his eyes downcast and his fists tightening their blood soaked grip harder and harder. “Bring her back, bring her back, bring her back, bring her back,” he repeated those words over and over like some sort of morbid mantra. Spike said them so many times they lost all meaning. But they were not some sort of deranged rant being spouted senseless, they were demands he fully expected Buck to comply with…or else.

“That bitch is dead and gone and so are you,” Buck tossed his jacket to the ground and flexed his exposed forearms under the sleeves of his skin tight white T-shirt. He approached Spike fearlessly. “Now then,” he smiled deviously and licked his lips, “let’s see what your scream sounds like.” He was so drunk beyond comprehension he didn’t care he had committed a murder and was about to commit another. Or perhaps, his rage and jealously had overtaken so much of his mind that this was always going to be his endgame plans for dealing with Rarity and Spike, drunk or not. No matter what happens now, Buck knew there was no going back; it was time to end this.

Before Buck could swing the first punch, Spike leapt at him like a wild animal and sunk his sharp fangs into the bully’s left thigh; biting through his pants. The jock howled in pain. He stumbled back and clutched his thigh. Warm blood trickled down Buck’s thigh and stained his pants. Spike swiped his hands and nails against Buck’s face like claws, the quarterback clutched his face to block the attacks and fell onto his back. Refusing to give him an inch to breath but plenty to bleed, Spike attacked Buck with all the ferocity and fury consuming his shattered heart. Spike’s knuckles crunched into Buck’s face in a blinding blur of bruised flesh and bleeding wounds. His knuckles, nails, fingers; everything Spike had at his disposal was savagely unleashed on Buck’s face until everything that made him beautiful and handsome was hacked away into a splattered mess of blood and tissue. Buck cringed and whimpered; tears soaking his blood stained cheeks as he unintelligibly begged for his life. Spike raised his blood drenched fist high into the air. It would be so easy to finish him off, so easy and so well deserved too.

“SPIKE STOP, I’M ALL RIGHT! I’M ALL RIGHT!” a familiar female voice called out.

Spike’s eyes snapped out their hypnotic trance. His irises softened immediately, sounds of Rarity grunting as she climbed back onto the bridge soothed the blood boiling inside Spike like ice water. He looked away from Buck’s broken face to see his hope and heart restored: Rarity was alive. Her clothes were torn and she had a plethora of bruises and cuts on her once pristine body but otherwise, she was all right. He looked back towards the heaping, blubbering mess that was once the big, bad Buck Withers. The sound of water running drew Spike’s emerald eyes towards Buck’s pants. A large stain had formed. The huge brute had actually pissed himself. “Who’s the pants-wetting bitch now?” Spike asked behind clenched teeth. He raised his fist and brought it inches from Buck’s nose. A simple “Boo” caused Buck to sob like a nightmare crippled little girl. Buck ran off, stumbling and scrambling to get as far away from Spike as he could.

“Spike, oh Spikey Wikey, you’re all right!” Rarity’s voice erupted into a shrill mess of tears and sobs. Spike tried to say her name in response but she quickly tackled him before he could finish speaking the first syllable. He laughed, weakly and in pain but still he laughed all the same. The feeling of Rarity’s arms around him and the sound of her agony stricken voice were worth the pain. Rarity immediately realized she was clutching him too hard and apologized profusely. The young pair stroked each other’s faces; trying to confirm that they were both all right and in one piece. “I’m so terribly sorry Spike. I was just so scared that something had….that he had…well…I’m just glad you’re all right. Well, relatively speaking,” she giggled softly.

Spike winced and laughed right alongside her. “Yeah, he really had it in for me didn’t he? But that doesn’t matter now, he’s gone and you’re not; that’s all that matters,” Spike inched forward and wrapped his arms around Rarity’s head. He clutched her face into his chest and gently stroked her messy violet locks. Feeling her breath on his chest was the greatest sound his pointy ears have ever heard. Rarity sighed just as contently, she heard Spike’s heartbeat and almost felt like she would drift off to sleep the sound was so lovely. “I still can’t believe you’re really here, you’re all right,” he said still in shock.

“Neither can I. I managed to grab a piece of the bridge when I fell and luckily it was strong enough for me to hold onto. I was confident I could pull myself up which is why I didn’t ask for help, that and I was worried Buck might try and attack you when you’d come to rescue me,” Rarity explained. She ran a hand through her frazzled locks. Rarity felt the tangled masses muddled with twigs and splinters, she groaned aloud. “This is going to take several showers to clean out properly,” she pouted adorably.

The green haired boy laughed and cringed, pain surged throughout his body once more. Rarity immediately crawled to his aid. Her hands ran tentatively over his wounds; trying to find how she could best help. “Tell me darling, does it still hurt?” she asked timidly. At that moment, the darkness of the night was briefly illuminated by the glittering moonlight. The light shined on Rarity causing her eyes to glow, it was as if heaven’s light had shined down on her and revealed her true angelic form to Spike for the very first time. He smiled, happily and tearfully. “No, it hurts no more,” he said deeply.

Spike and Rarity moved towards one another, closed their eyes and locked lips. Their kiss melted the woes and worries of the world away in one magic, breathless instance of passion and love. If they were to die right then and there, they would be happy and gladly would ascend on wings of angels to the pearly gates of Heaven. But this was not Heaven and they were not dead. They were alive, they were together and most importantly; they were in love. It did not matter if they came from different worlds and it did not matter what those different worlds thought of their peculiar union. The only thing that mattered was how they felt and how their hearts longed to beat together as one.

“I love you, Rarity.”

“And I love you, Spike.”

“Heh, call me Spikey Wikey.”

“All right…Spikey Wikey…as long as you call me, my lady.”

“As you wish my lady, as you wish.”

THE END