Reversal

The days passed quickly. Sara comes one day a week to see him and give him updates on what is happening outside, but the news he receives is always the same. His appeal has not been answered or even mentioned.

The only thing that keeps him sane in prison, is the time he spends talking or playing with the old man, who on the 5th day since their meeting, started playing chess with Christian, relaxing Christian's mind, even if it's only for an hour a day.

But today in particular, Christian was looking dazedly at a box Sara brought him, as she looked at him with a soft smile.

"Your mother wishes you happy birthday, I baked a cake for you"

Looking at the cake inside the box, Christian felt his eyes burning slightly, but he still closed his eyes for a moment and smiled reassuringly "Thank you for bringing this to me"

Turning his gaze to Strawberry who was staring at him, Christian asked "Can I bring the cake in?"

"We'd have to check it-"

"No problem. Let it in" But as Strawberry was answering, a voice came from his earpiece, causing her to nod and change her words.

"You can bring it in"

Raising his eyebrows due to also hearing the old man's voice. Christian nodded and turned to Sara with a smile "We can bring it in~"

"..." Looking at Strawberry for a few seconds, Sara simply nodded, but her suspicious look towards Christian remained.

"Then that's all for today, Aunt Sara. Let me know if you have any more news"

Nodding, Sara got up from her seat and passed the box of cake to the guard who came for him, then turned to Christian and asked again "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry, tell mom I love her" Smiling slightly, Christian stood up and spoke.

"Okay... see ya" Nodding, Sara leaves the place with confusion, knowing that the cake should not have been accepted as easily as it has just been.

Staring at Sara until she was out of his sight, Christian sighed and turned as he stretched out his hands, only to be handcuffed and dragged towards his cell, but upon arrival, he saw his cake on his desk.

Reaching over in a daze, Christian opened the box and looked at his cake which had a smiley face drawn on it with cream.

Sitting down, Christian took a plastic knife he had next to his desk and carefully cut the cake, then took a spoon and popped a piece of cake into his mouth.

Closing his eyes for a few moments, Christian chewed slowly as tears began to well up in his eyes. All the dark and depressive feelings he was building up seemed to fade quickly.

"Mom... you put twice as much sugar in the cake again... you silly... silly" With tears streaming down his face, Christian mumbled, but without stopping eating the cake that would cause most to have diabetes.

[A/N: I just realized I made a mistake, Christian just turned 12, but chapters back I said he was already 12, I'm just leaving this note to give notice that he just turned 12, sorry for the mistake, but I missed the date]

...

Monday, July 02, 2012.

The days continued to pass quickly. Christian has been locked up for two months now and his routine never varied, exercising, trying to connect with his ability, exercising in the sun, and finally playing with the old man.

By this time the appeal was accepted and the first trial of many is still going on. The protests have practically stopped and Christian's name is being mentioned less and less.

Other than that, Christian doesn't know much more. Sara only tells him about the investments and that his siblings were somewhat depressed, but apparently everything is still going on as normal, something that relieves him a little.

"You're lousy old man" Moving his pawn, Christian leaned back and smiled "Checkmate"

"Clearly it was a draw" Quickly taking away the pawn, the old man didn't even flinch as he spoke seriously.

"How are you so shameless?" rolling his eyes, Christian asked.

"I don't understand what you're saying, it was clearly a draw" Blinking innocently, the old man started putting away the chess pieces, then closing the board and looking at the boy "Christian, I've seen you training and hitting your mattress, what are you doing it for?"

"To distract myself, besides since they tried to kidnap me, I feel the need to learn skills so I can defend myself" With a yawn, Christian answered truthfully.

"..." Staring at the boy silently for a few seconds, the old man smiles and says "Would you like to learn from me?"

Raising his eyebrows, Christian looks at the old man suspiciously "And what would I learn from you?"

"You would learn how to kill" With the same smile the kindly, John replied.

Squinting his eyes, Christian was silent for a few seconds, then asked "Are you an assassin or something similar? Also, why would you want to teach me?"

"I'm just a retired old man with some skills, and as for why I'll teach you..." Waving his hand lazily, John continued "I find you likable. Besides I see you have potential, and it would be entertaining"

"..." Looking at the old man silently, Christian thought seriously about his words 'You're not lying... teaching me how to kill... I really want to learn?'

Recalling everything he experienced so far because of the actions of others, Christian's gaze became dull and he looked at the old man "I would love to learn"

"Haha~" The old man chuckled lightly, then stood up and smiled "Come, give it your best and attack me"

Letting go of his cane, the old man moves away from the couch and stands in a more open area while looking at Christian.

With hesitation, Christian stood up and positioned himself with his fists up "Elder... are you sure?"

"..." Wagging his finger provocatively, the old man simply waited with a gentle smile.

"Well..." Still hesitant, Christian approaches the old man cautiously and takes a gentle swipe, fearful of harming him, only to end up punching the air.

*Pa*

Opening his eyes a little wider, Christian brings his hand to his face and looks at his blood seeping from his lips, then turns to the old man beside him and looks at him in disbelief "You...slapped me?"

"..." Only smiling, the older man waited patiently.

Frowning, Christian licked his blood and moved swiftly towards the old man, attempted punches or kicks, but failing miserably each one, while the old man only moved slightly dodging everything with abnormal agility.

After about three minutes of failure, the old man moves a little faster and says "See you tomorrow~"

With his words, he moved his hands and hit Christian's throat, causing him to bring his hands to his neck and cough loudly.

*cough* *cough* *cough* *cough*

Without giving him time, the old man lifted his leg and hit the boy's stomach hard, knocking him to the ground without air and almost making him bring back his lunch, then gave him one last smile and kicked him in the face, causing the boy's vision to go black and he fainted.

Staring at the boy on the ground, the old man looks at him with a twinkle in his eye and whispers "His eyes were following my movements...how funny"

Turning, the old man returns to his seat and speaks a little louder "Take him away!"

...

Staring at the ceiling, Christian grimaces as he feels the pain on his face.

"That old man knocked me out..."

Touching his face carefully, Christian instantly felt that his lip was swollen and he already senses that half of his face is purple, bringing out a bitter smile on him.

Getting up, Christian stretches and grimaces due to the pain in his abdomen, quickly pulling up his t-shirt.

After these months, Christian's musculature was already showing. On his stomach he already had some signs of an 8-pack, but right now everything was a dark purple color mixed with a dark green "If mom sees this, she'll be scared to death"

Looking at the little natural light coming through the window, Christian nods and looks at the door.

"Food!"

Smiling slightly, Christian opens the door and receives his food, then quickly eats.

Stretching, Christian takes the empty tray and sets it down in the space by the door, then yawns and rests his body for a few minutes.

After about half an hour of rest, Christian gets up and starts stretching, repeating his whole routine again. Exercise, stretch, eat, exercise, talk to the old man, shower, eat.

But as he gets to the part about talking to the old man, Christian doesn't even make it through the door and sees a slow-motion punch coming towards his face, luckily dodging the fist with a few inches to spare.

Frowning and having his hands cuffed, Christian looked at the old man and spoke "What are you doing!?"

"..." Smiling slightly, John looked at Strawberry and said "Go, he'll be handcuffed today"

"Understood" Nodding, Strawberry looked at Christian for a few seconds and left the place.

"Old man, this isn't fair!" Raising his cuffed hands, Christian exclaimed.

"Life isn't fair" Smiling, the old man walked towards Christian and started throwing punches with his fists, causing Christian to go on alert and start running or dodging.

"Old man, I'll hit you, stay away!" with threat, Christian continued to run past the smiling old man.

"I dare you to do it!" Without stopping the old man would kick or punch as he followed Christian, causing the boy's frustration to rise.

"How the fuck can you move so fast!? You're older than my whole family put together!" Dodging a kick, Christian shouted in frustration, feeling that at any moment he would fall back down knocked out by the sack of bones.

"That's rude" Landing a kick to the boy's rib, the old man responded calmly.

"Ugh!" Gritting his teeth, Christian grabs John's foot and entangles it with his handcuffs, then yanks it towards him and punches towards the old man's face.

"Slow" Grinning, John slips his arm through the side of Christian's fist and holds his face tightly "See you tomorrow"

With those words, the old man uses his other hand and strikes Christian's neck, knocking him out instantly.

Stabilizing his body, John untangles his leg and looks down at the boy on the ground with a smile "He's a quick learner... what a fun kid"

"Get him out!"

...

Another week passed, and Christian was on his way to the room looking around cautiously.

In this week he endured torture from the crazy old man. Sometimes he would be on his way to his sun cell and be ambushed by a kick. Sometimes he would go to get his food and the door would be opened quickly as a punch came at him. Even when he was sleeping sometimes, he would be beaten by the crazy old man, causing him to not be able to rest properly because of the constant fear of being attacked.

In this week he never got any real rest, Christian had his eyes black, not sure if it is from lack of sleep or the constant beatings.

If someone saw his chest, they would be surprised to see that he had almost all bruises and wounds from being thrown against the floor or wall, practically everything is a horrible dark green or dark purple color.

The hardest part was when Sara saw Christian's purple face, almost making a fuss because she thought he was hit by the guards, so Christian had to convince her that he fell while training and that nothing happened, something Sara ended up accepting, but with a lot of doubts in her mind.

"..." Looking at the boy with half a black face, Strawberry couldn't help but find it amusing and pitiful at the same time, but still went on with her work and dragged him towards John's room.

Being a few feet away, Christian stopped and looked at Strawberry seriously "Uncuff me"

"I can't-"

"That old man will kill me if you don't take them off" With desperation in his voice, Christian pleaded.

"..." Staring at him silently for a few seconds, Strawberry sighed and nodded.

Pulling the handcuffs off the boy, Strawberry grabbed him by the shoulder again and led him towards the door, then opened it and waited to the side.

"..." Cautiously, Christian looks in from outside, noticing the old man sitting on his couch, looking at him with a smile he learned to hate.

Squinting his eyes, Christian slowly enters towards the room, cautiously looking all around him expecting some trap from the crafty old man, but upon reaching his side and not having fallen under any attack, Christian looks at him suspiciously and asks "What are you planning?"

"Me? Why would I plan anything?" Looking at the boy with amusement, John replied as he stood up, instantly alarming Christian who, without waiting, raised his fists and backed away from the man.

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Edited By: Joy_a