The Monstrous Hero-Chapter 46 - 45: District

He picked up a stick and jabbed at the fire like he was trying to make it less awkward. The flames hissed, sparks jumping up before settling again.

Still nothing from Liu.

Z-34 tilted his head, eyes narrowing a little, studying him. "You don’t talk much, do you?" he asked, not mockingly—just curious, like the question had been bothering him. "That’s fine. I used to know a guy like that. Real quiet, real weird, real... freaky looking. Turns out he was a hell of a fighter though."

The silence stretched, heavy but not entirely hostile.

Behind them, B67 had dozed off, his head resting against his arms. 27-C remained awake, back turned to the fire, eyes scanning the dark horizon. She hadn’t said a word since the shift began—probably pretending not to listen.

Z-34 sighed and leaned back on his palms, the firelight painting his face in streaks of orange and shadow. "You’re a strange one, you know that? Don’t even flinch when someone’s screaming in your face. Don’t blink when blood’s flying everywhere. Just... stare."

Liu Xian’s gaze flicked toward him then—just briefly.

Enough to make Z-34’s throat tighten.

"Like that!" He pointed out, laughing quietly, more to himself than to Liu Xian. "You freak me out, man."

Only then did Liu Xian make an expression, his lips twitched—maybe the start of a smirk, maybe not.

Hard to tell with him.

Z-34 glanced back at the fire. "Still. Guess that’s not a bad thing in a place like this." He scratched at the peeling skin of his hand, wincing as it tore slightly. The blood that welled up was thin and dark, almost black in the night light. "We’ll probably need freaks if we wanna make it out alive."

The wind picked up again, scattering ash into the air. A few embers drifted between them before fading into the night.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Liu finally moved. Slowly he shifted his grip on the sword resting across his lap, turning it just enough that the blade caught the light.

Z-34’s brow furrowed slightly.

"You gonna stab me with that or what?" he joked, but the edge in his voice betrayed the nerves creeping in.

Liu Xian didn’t look up when he casually said, "Depends."

"On what?"

He met his gaze. "On whether you’re still thinking about killing the kid."

The words landed heavy, almost too heavy for the space they occupied.

Z-34 froze for half a second, then looked away with a short exhale through his nose. "You don’t forget much, huh."

"No."

A long silence followed.

"I wasn’t gonna do it," Z-34 said eventually, his voice quieter now. "I just—look, it’s not like we had a choice back there. You heard what she said. One of us was supposed to go down."

"And you picked him." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Yeah, well, he’s a liability. You’ve seen him. He freezes up. If things go bad again, that kid’ll get us all killed."

Liu Xian didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The way he stared was enough.

Z-34’s mouth tightened.

"You don’t get it," he muttered. "We’re supposed to do what we have to do to survive."

Still nothing from Liu Xian. Just the sound of the fire popping between them.

"Anyways," Z-34 breathed out, dragging the word out like he was testing the air, "I’m trying to make amends here. So how about this—" he leaned back a little, giving Liu a lopsided grin that didn’t quite erase the fatigue in his eyes "—we put all that behind us, yeah? I’d like us to be friends. Hm?"

Friends.

Liu Xian blinked once at the word. He wasn’t the best at that—friendship. Hell, he could barely make sense of people in general. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to connect, it’s just that he’d never really had the chance to. Growing up, people didn’t talk to him much. And when they did, well... let us just say it involved him being treated like shit.

Still... this wasn’t the kind of place you wanted to have enemies. Not when you had to share food, fire, and air with them.

He nodded—once, stiffly.

Z-34 grinned like that was all the confirmation he needed. "Good. That’s what I like to hear."

Then, without warning, he reached over and clapped Liu on the shoulder, pulling him into a quick, rough side hug.

Liu Xian’s whole body tensed immediately, muscles going rigid under the contact. His breath caught in his throat, and he had to stop himself from jerking away. The warmth of another person’s hand felt strange—foreign. His body didn’t know what to do with it.

Z-34 didn’t notice, or maybe he just didn’t give a fuck. "There," he breathed out with a smirk, patting Liu Xian once more before letting go. "We’re good now."

"Well, I’m glad that’s settled," 27-C said dryly from across the fire, the sarcasm practically dripping.

Z-34 shot her a grin. "Don’t act like you weren’t rooting for us. You were watching the whole time."

"I was making sure you didn’t try to throw another punch."

"Details, details," Z-34 muttered, waving her off.

Even B-67, half-awake and blinking groggily, smiled faintly at the exchange. It was weird how quickly the atmosphere shifted—like the fight from earlier hadn’t happened, like they hadn’t almost torn each other apart. The tension didn’t vanish completely, but it loosened, softening around the edges.

For the first time since the trial began, the group almost looked like... dare I say it? A team.

Z-34 poked at the fire with a stick, breaking the silence again. "Oh... now that I think about it," he said, glancing back at Liu. "What district are you from, anyway?"

Liu Xian blinked, caught off guard. "...District?"

"Yeah," Z-34 let out easily. "You know—district. Where you were grown, trained, all that stuff. I’m from District 12 myself. Shithole of a place, but it made me tough." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "That bossy girl over there’s from District 7."

Her head snapped up. "How the hell do you know that?"