"Left."
Major Jerk said and I groaned.

Shifting all my weight on my left hand's knuckles, I moved my right hand back. I really hoped that Norman would let me stop now but he looked in no mood to finish anytime soon.

Well there was no reason for him to go easy on me. He warned me to stay away from his babygirl and what did I do?
Went along with her to pick him up and have dinner that she cooked specially for him.

Damn I must have had a death wish.
Why did I listen to her again?

"Permission to puke, sir."
I said as the delicious food did summersaults in my stomach with each knuckle jump.

"Up. Go."
Oh thank god.

I got up and ran to the washroom to empty my guts. Once I was sure that my balls will come out if I try more, I stopped and came back.

"Right."
He said heartlessly and I was back to knuckle jumps.

Doing thirty more, he called 'left' and I switched sides again.
Ten changes and he had not yet calmed down.

"Sir he has firing camp tomorrow. He needs fingers that are not fractured."
Neil came for my rescue.

"You should have told this to him before he dared to lay his eyes on my sister. Don't bullshit me now."
Norman said without a change in his tone.

"Sir I-"
I started speaking but was stopped by a hard hit on my back. His cane was waiting for me to fuck up and I gladly invited it.

"I think I told you to shut up."
He said hitting me again harder.

Had I not spent enough days under him during my trial, I would have got offended by this act of his. But I knew that he was really angry and was still trying to hold himself back. Both of us were aware that he was capable of much more than just hitting my back with a cane.

I sealed my lips and continued banging on my Knuckles. It pained like a sting but what choice did I have?

"I told you to stay away from her. Instead you stuck with her like a bubblegum to her shoe. What were you expecting? I'll shake hands with you? Offer you to stay overnight?"
His tone was low but with clenched jaw, it was fucking scary.

"Sir I-"
I started speaking only to get three back to back hits, each accompanied by 'Shut up'.

I clasped my mouth again tighly.

"Sir give him one chance to-"
"He got one chance to appear for test and he went straight for my sister. He doesn't deserve any chance."
Norman was still angry and Neil was playing with fire.

"I love her."
I said in one breath.

"I don't give a Fuck about that!" He shouted loudly.
"What matters is that she means the world to me but she loves the asshole you. That's the only reason you're not hanging upside down in IR with blood dripping from remnants of your chopped off fingers."
He said coldly, getting into my face.

Told you he was capable of much more than just hitting me with a cane. Thanks for saving me Merlen.

I was keeping my mouth shut to keep my end of the promise I made with her. But then he spoke something that broke my patience.

"She's too naive to differentiate the loyal men from skirt-chasers."
He said with clenched jaw.

That's it.
He had crossed his limits and I won't hear a single more word from him.
I got up straight without his permission.

"I may not love her as much as you do. But I'm very serious for her. Do not be mistaken for a single moment that I'm playing with her feelings or trying to get into her skirt. I had plenty of chances if I wanted to, but she's as pure as she always has been. We love each other faithfully. I'll appreciate if you stop insulting both of us this moment onwards."
I said looking into his eyes with utter seriousness.

Senior, my ass.
She's my girl and nobody gets to talk about us that way. Not even her brother.

He looked at me with flaring nostrils without a word or movement.
I looked back harder. I was ready for a fight and the first thing that I was going to break would be his uncontrolled mouth!

"If I ever hear that she's not happy with you, I'll get her back without asking anyone and you'll have no feet to walk on, that day onwards. Understood?"
He said straight.

I let his words sink in.
If she's not happy with me - that means he accepted?
Fucking yes!

"That won't happen ever, Sir. I swear my life on that."
I said getting a little loose and being the junior I was.

He looked at me with ice cold eyes for a few moments.
Then he nodded and offered me his hand.

I knew what's coming but what option I had. As soon as I held his hand, my knees were on ground. He crushed my stinging and bleeding knuckles so mo**erfucking tight I couldn't bear it!

"Don't try to be that smartass again. Got it?"
He asked me nicely tightening his hold.

Fuck if I won't say yes to anything he says right now!
"Yes sir. Never again!"
I said and pulled my hand back just as he loosened a little.

"Fuck off."
He said and I walked out of the gym blowing on my knuckles.

My whole team was standing outside with teasing eyes.
Neil went and joined them with a mischievous smile on his face. Fucker saw what happened inside.

"Tell them how it went."
He said loudly.
Fuck you, Neil!

"Not as bad as I had expected."
I said walking towards them with a tiny smile of victory on my face.

I heard a few snickers.
"I'm surprised you're still alive."
Marks teased me.

"Yeah. Luckily he was in a mood to crush just my hand today. Thanks for caring, though."
I said with pressed lips as we turned to the med care.

"I'll have a beer."
Neil announced and turned towards the bar.
Everyone laughed at that and followed him.

*******

"So now what?"
Neil asked me the same question third time.

"Get married and make lot of babies. Happy?"
I rolled my eyes.
He sniggered.

"Happy."
He grinned like a child.

"If you don't mind, can I ask you one question about your personal life too?"
I said getting sober.

He looked at me for few tense seconds.
"There should be a lot of questions popping in your mind. You have just one?"
He asked amused.
I laughed at that. I hate to admit but I like this Neil - all drunk and mentally free.

"Yeah. Just one. For now."
I played safe.

"Fine. Ask."
He said settling down casually.

"Ansel didn't treat you as a human when you were just a kid committing normal mistakes. His name makes you go weak in the knees. Didn't you ever wish that you punch him or get back at him to kick that fear out of your mind once and for all? Don't you want to remove him from your life like a bad memory?"
He went stiff right after I spoke the first word.

He took a few breaths and few gulps in between those breaths to gather enough courage.

"He... he is my Valazire, James. I can not hate him. He made me who I am today."
He said puzzledly as if I should not be saying what I said.

"You mean to say what he did was right?"
I asked offended.

"He didn't do the right thing. But he wasn't completely wrong either."
Neil sighed.

"Are you crazy? Giving a teenager burns just because he did what every teenager does - how come it's not wrong in your dictionary?"
"Not if the teenager is the next King, James. Valazires don't have time to correct one mistake more than once. He is expected to teach the Prince a lesson for his lifetime. I agree mine was.. not humane... but it worked just fine. I never repeated those mistakes ever again."

I stood with my mouth open.
"You know you are defending a criminal!"
"Mind your words, James!"
His tone was warning.

This guy was unbelievable!
"He can do. But I can't even speak? That's bullshit!"

He took a few breaths and then spoke calmly.
"James, valazires are supposed to be strict. But they are not selfish. They use their powers and rights for a greater cause. If they are soft hearted, the princes would take them for granted. And king is afterall a father - he can resist his son only till a limit. If Valazires don't behave the way they do, you'll have angry and high headed bulls taking over the throne. Imagine a prince who knows that he'll be the next king - if nobody brings him down to zero, he'll start with seventh sky. It's equivalent to appointing the strictest trainer in the army for a spoiled soldier to turn him into the most disciplined one. And you know very well how that is done."

I took a few moments going over the pleasant justification he just gave.
"Okay. He did it selflessly. So if you are given the same job, would you do exactly what he did? For the greater cause?"

This time he was quiet.
"Come on. Answer me?"

"I won't."
He whispered still looking down.

"So you accept that he was wrong. Otherwise your morals wouldn't stop you from repeating what he did. Are you ever going to say this to him?"
I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't. I won't."
He said firmly.

"You need to get over him, Neil. You need to stop letting him own you. You've left everyone, gave up all your comforts. You need to leave him too. Just look at yourself - whenever his name comes up, you're not the Neil we all know - you're someone else, a kid who's haunted!"

"Say what you want. He was and will always be my Valazire. He can hate me, hit me or kill me - I'm not confronting anything to him. And I'm definitely not kicking him out of my life."
Neil said and chugged his beer down.

"You are unbelievable, Neil!"
I sat down next to him feeling defeated.
He stayed silent for a few tense seconds.

"He.. apologized."
Neil said after I had given up.
Now that was something I wasn't expecting.

"He what?"
"He apologized to me - for being a monster. He knows he did wrong, knew it all along. Valazires have no obligation to justify whatever they do. But he apologized to me. That's a huge deal. I used to hate him but only till that moment. I don't, anymore."
He said looking into my eyes.

I could see that he had gotten over that mental trauma. And no matter how much I argue, he won't remove Ansel from his life.
If he forgave him, who am I to keep a grudge?

"Fine. But isn't he the person you're not living your life like you should?"
I asked him.

"I'm living the life like I wanted, because of him."
He said smirking.

"And what does that mean?"
"He helped me meet Charles and get trained for CCTC."
My eyebrows were up in surprise.

"What are you, Neil Fermin? A Pandora box? Everytime you open up, a new devil comes out! Why the hell did he want you to join CCTC?"
"He didn't. I wanted to."
He spoke and I looked at him baffled.

Before I could ask him why, he got up and started leaving.
"My story is a buried ghost, James. Don't try to dig deep."
He said and wobbled off.

************************************

Now who's clapping for James for facing Norman head on?

************************************

Also, I noticed a lot of hate for Ansel the last time he was talked about. This was just Neil's say in the matter that I wanted to show you guys.

Vote and COMMENT your views.