Labelled by Blood

      No one mentioned the school day. Why would we? We had bigger and better things to worry about. The walk to the edge was going slower than usual, and we passed the usual landmarks: the gym, the arcade, the parlor. At some point we passed through the fountain and I realized we were taking a different route. Jesse spun on his heels and sat on one of the stone benches in a single motion. Parker sat on the lip of the fountain and opened his bag to pull out a few sodas.       "Here," he said, tossing one to Jesse then extending another out to me.       Jesse caught the can and cracked it open. He guzzled it down and did that hard exhale when you drink something refreshing. I took the soda from Parker with a tentative hand and sat down next to Jesse. The fountain was still on. Still rushing water down in a poetic cascade of noise. Parker looked steady, easygoing. Somehow things never bothered him. Jesse looked a little tense, but not like our date last night. Parker's can cracked open.       "What'd you think?" He asked Jesse.       Jesse tilted his head slightly, "about?"       "The flavor, man. It's new and I got curious. It's supposed to be "dreamy reality," and taste like what a dream tastes like."       "That's," Jesse blinked hard, "the stupidest thing I've heard."       Parker burst into cackling laughter, nearly dropping his soda into the racing waters. "I know," he shrugged, "but I wanted to see what it's about."       "I didn't notice," Jesse said. "But I have a nasty aftertaste."       I looked down at the purple and orange can and into the dark bubbling liquid within. A few seconds later, Parker was spitting something into the fountain.       "That's gross," he cringed. "Waste of money is what it is."       Jesse bellowed a laugh, his chest bouncing with his shoulders and he ended with a palm to his face.       The can made it seem like it would live up to the hype and I took the plunge with a long, deep sip. The world disappeared from underneath me and I was floating. It was serene and impossible. The city around me felt as though it oozed a Miami sunset in the spring. I was in bliss. Then it came crashing down with a bitter and almost coppery taste. I spat it out, too.       Jesse and Parker both erupted into more laughter and I heard a knee get slapped. At first disappointment hit, but in the end, I was laughing right with them.       "Wow," I said, looking at the can that perfectly portrayed my experience. "It starts off exactly like you'd think."       We talked about the experience and the conversation died out into a lazy hang out. Parker laid down on the fountain's lip. Jesse and I snuggled close to keep warm. A breeze picked up and my hair got pushed into my eyes. I pinned it up. Sometimes it was hard to remember to take it slow and easy. I almost felt dread for the training session, now. I wanted to spend some time with my friends. The ones who have carried me so hard this entire time. When no one else would. They were like family to me. Jesse my partner to love and hold. The one who actually accepted me for me. Parker the brother my parents wished I had. The brother I needed either way. By all measures a delinquent, but no less a man who stuck by you through the thickest of thins.       "We should get going," Parker sighed.       Jesse nodded. No one moved. I wanted to pause time here, forever. Let it sit and let me revel. Somehow, it seemed like I could will it into happening if I just wished hard enough. But whenever I looked, the sun had moved a millimeter across the ocean up above.       "Let's go," Jesse stated. This time, he moved. It wasn't because he wanted to.       "Right," I said, joining him.       "Mmhmm," Parker hummed, rolling off the fountain and onto his feet.       We walked on to the edge of town. Jesse fidgeted with his watch. Parker rubbed his soft flame pendant between his thumb and forefinger. I patted my stapler as if it was going to run away. Shocker, it didn't. We made it to the city gate and looked out into the wilderness ahead. A minute passed with no one stepping out into it. Then another. After a third, I stepped forward. I led the way along the dirt road, over the bridge, and into the forest. We got to our clearing and set down our stuff. We discussed the plan for today and got to it.       We started with gesture and call out practice and drills. It was pretty boring, but it helped to get it into our muscle memory as much as humanly possible. In a real fight, that's the best and fastest thing we could rely on. By the end of all our practice, it was clear we were all really comfortable with it. The next step was to put it into practice on a dummy target with fake stakes. Like how I practiced with the trees, we numbered off random trees and took turns picking one, where we would spring into action and pretend we were ambushing it with call outs, gestures, the whole thing.       This went on for a couple of hours total, and we had to take a breather. We sat and leaned against a familiar tree, each of us completing a triangle along its trunk.       "Say, Parks," Jesse started, "where'd you get your necklace, anyway? And how'd you learn to use it?"       Parker was silent for a minute before answering. "I won it in a bet, actually. It was Lucas', but I beat him at some stupid parkour challenge. He used to let Sophia borrow it all the time and loved the thing, so I don't know why he suddenly bet it on some little challenge."       I took in his words carefully. He never shared this much with us. He didn't stop, either.       "I didn't realize what it could do until I got bored one night and decided it'd be fun to yank the little pendant off."       Jesse made grunts to let Parker know he was listening. I fiddled with a piece of tree bark that was shaper than it needed to be.       "After I told them about it, they got really defensive and basically ghosted me. Afterwards, my parents wanted to leave town because we had some family here. I told them. We were friends for years before that, it only felt right. I thought I left it all behind me."       He sighed and I heard the sound of a knife click open and dig into the soft, mulchy ground.       "I guess Lucas' parents followed mine because he moved here less than a year later. God. That was, what, five years ago or something?"       The sound of his knife cutting into the damp dirt and twigs was the only thing I could hear. His story was so simple, but it felt like he was still not telling us a lot. Something heavy clung to the air.       I broke the silence. "I'm proud of you." My voice barely denied getting carried away by the wind.       He didn't answer after that, but he started sobbing. I reached a hand out and he clutched it. Jesse stood up. He stepped out into the middle of the clearing and shook his head.       "Parks, wanna get started on strim practice for the day?" He asked.       Parker's composure came back like a light switch. He jumped to his feet, occasionally wiping away mucus and tears. "Yeah, c'mon, Lex," he helped me to my feet.       The plan was for them to go first, again, and then I'd be up against Jesse before ending against Parker. They got up to starting points and asked me to count them off. I dug the journal we used for notes the last time and set up the page.       "Right. Ready?"       They nodded.       "Three. Two."       One.