"You watch" It was good that the locker room was empty. Had anyone come in, been there and heard him start talking to no one they'd have thought he was going crazy. Maybe he was" Anything was possible.

I watch... The voice had changed, but Kruger understood without needing to be told that it was the same one.

"You need me." It was a simple statement, one that many would call arrogance. He was that from time to time. He would be again. This wasn't intended to be so, despite how it might sound coming from him. Kruger worked the tape free from his hands, and spent several minutes trying to free his skin of the gluey residue left behind.

Hardly, there are hundreds like you. That brought a scoff from him. He shook his head as he untied his boots and shoved them into locker number forty two.

"There's only one Anvil." Had there been someone around, his words would have come out differently. They would have been loud, boisterous and filled with everything that the fight night mask gave him. Alone there was not enough energy to be that, but that didn't stop him from believing it was true.

Others have watched. Silently he nodded at the voice's words. Another small truth, and one that left him wondering if maybe this voice was all in his head. Who else would know that so well as he did"

"Many have. They all needed me too, or something I could provide them. There have been exceptions, but I don't think you are one of them. The only real questions are what is it, and what will it cost me in the end?" In his experience, in his heart and his mind Kruger knew that this was true. Knowledge always came with a price, and sometimes it was a terrible one to pay. The team spandex were peeled from his hips and legs and tossed haphazardly into the locker.

You won again. The towel was pulled from the locker and hung around his neck. Kruger nodded again at the voice.

"Yes, but you've changed the subject. Be upfront with me now, and maybe we can stop any mistakes before they happen." His hand lingered on the locker's door, halfway between the motion to push it shut. He was waiting for an answer, one that he knew would never really come. A slight flex of his arm and the locker door snapped home. He reached to the bench for the shower gel and shampoo. "Maybe we have nothing to talk about then, you and I."

It's not time yet. You will know me soon enough. You will know what I have to offer, and you will try to appease me with this thing that you believe I need. Subject changes and evasions. If he wasn't going crazy, then he might just believe that he was right on the money about this voice...whomever she was.

"Maybe, or I might just walk away and scrub the essence of you from me with scalding water and elbow grease. Times up, I don't need you to scrub my back for me. You've said everything, and nothing. You're still here talking instead of moving on to one of those others." Kruger turned and headed towards the showers. His bare feet slapping the tiles. "There's still only one Anvil."

Thursday 11 August 3:16 A.M.

"How can you provide for us, if you cannot provide even this small thing for yourself?" The bitter words stung like a wound from too keen a blade. That they came from Annabeth only made the cut deeper. She held no fire, no emotion at all, it was a simple assessment of the man that lay next to her cowering as he tried sleep beneath lights that burned bright. He rose from the bed hastily donning the nearest clothes, a pair of those painted on spandex pants so dark that they made the shadows jealous.

"Where do these words come from' It never mattered to you before." Kruger stood looking back at her, but she was already gone, movement of the door to the bedroom giving evidence of her passing. He followed her from the room, but she was moving more quickly than he was prepared for. He heard the front door as he descended the stairs and quickened his pace. Annabeth was far ahead, yet he followed, the shadow of her passage carrying him to a place he'd hardly expected.

Kruger stepped into The Annex, yet could catch no sight of Annabeth anywhere. At his side though was Jenny Chae encouraging him and calling for someone to fight him. The crowds pointed at his appearance, but there were no cheers this night. Laughter rang from the ceiling rebounding on him. He didn't care, he'd been laughed at before by all of them. A chill touched his back, its form that of a small hand. A soft cry accompanied the touch, and had Kruger turning to face Jenny. It was then he noticed that the crowd did not point towards him at all. They cast their fingers at her, and the laughter that went along with it.

"How could you fail me, why?" More burning words from the unexpected source of Jenny. Kruger grabbed hold of her hand, but its flesh had turned completely to ice. This was the source of her cry he realized, but far too late to do anything about it. The change had moved to consume all of her, leaving her to question him, her lips formed in that last word.

"I'm sorry!" Kruger raced from the annex and his shame, but where could he go' What place would see all harm undone" The forge perhaps" It wasn't far from here, and he ran the entire way along dark streets that were filled unusually for the time of night. Mirth, and laughter followed him, eyes looking at him as a circus clown. The doors of the forge were in front of him, and then behind him and closed. The space smelled of sulfur, the fires were lit and ahead he could hear a hammer working. He could see the sparks flying at each ring as the tool hit heated metal. His forge, but he was not the one doing the hammering.

Andrea Anderson stood with her back to him. She never turned from her work, but she spoke as though she knew he was there. "Kruger. It's okay, everything will be okay. I'm here now. The duels no longer need you. I am more than ready to stand in the minor hole you will leave." With a sob he broke from the shop back into streets filled with the faces of former fans, laughter still on their faces but the voices had gone silent. All save one or two.

Wynn Whitaker spoke, though Kruger couldn't seem to determine where the man stood. "And what of Kruger, The Anvil, Allen?" There was a decidedly feminine laugh coming from behind him, and of all things above. Kruger turned and looked upwards to see Wynn and the source of the laughter.

Claire Farron hovered there in the sky, her face blocking all of the moon from sight except the halo of its light. It hit her hair and set it to a pink blaze. "Kruger" The man is beneath me, beneath us all." Her eyes narrowed at him cruelly, the laughs she gave coming from lips that formed a sneer of contempt. "I don't know why any of us bother to acknowledge him. He will be easily forgotten moments after he's gone." With burning eyes Kruger set off again running blindly as he tried to escape that hollow feeling inside of him. He ran until he came to an intersection where the other three roads were blocked off, made impassible by broken buildings and debris.

A form stepped through the barrier directly in front of him, though Kruger couldn't see how she'd managed to achieve passage. Mel looked at him with distaste, at least that had the feel of normalcy to him. He looked at Mel and was about to speak, but the woman shook her head at him. "The paths ahead are barred to you for being weak. There is no further you can travel ever do on these roads. The way back is all that is left to you. You've come far enough, you are no longer needed."

Anger filled him, he pushed his way past Mel and stalked towards the closest of the barriers ready to push it aside with every ounce of his strength. Before he could reach it, the debris disappeared. For a moment he thought he might have won, until he looked a little closer and knew that was the path he had come down to get to this cursed place. He spun on his heel, letting the hate flow through him.

From the shadows a woman stepped forward, no that was the illusion the shadows became the woman right before his eyes. Koy looked at him coldly. "You are a joke, never brutal enough bub. Never able to grasp the things you want in life" worthless" pathetic?" Kruger could see she was saying more, pointing at him accusingly, but his hands were over his ears to block those words out. He turned from her content to move down the open road and find a new path forward to those places that were barred from him.

He walked down the center of the road, unable to force himself to the sidewalk on either side of the street. Everyone he knew and held dear was there. Rachael shook her head as he passed. "D"cevant mon capitaine"

Next to her stood Mataya nodding at the sentiment. "Yes, such a disappointing performance."

Further down the road stood Eden, Jewell and Noah. "He used to be fun!" Eden's voice echoed against the buildings.

"Used to, now he's just nothing." The Empress" words continued to bite him causing pain when he'd believed he could feel it no more. A stone struck him in the side, presumably thrown by one of the three.

Beyond them Rayvinn stood with Lirssa of all people. "I used to love Krugey, but honestly who could ever love that?" Lirssa was nodding her agreement with Raye. "I know what you mean, I'd rather spend time with Bob Ewell."

Kruger endured the same all the way home from every person he'd ever known. They tossed jibes at him or pelted him with something picked up from the road. It was strange to see them all, stranger still to see them all on the same night. Some of them were dead and still came back to hurt him. He walked into the house, and up to the bedroom. Annabeth lay there, sleeping peacefully. He'd finally managed to catch up to her. When he neared he noticed a note pinned to his pillow. He tore it from it's catch and read it.

Leave Kruger, and please, don't ever come back.

Kruger sat bolt upright in his bed, heart pounding and a sheen of cold sweat slicking his skin. Annabeth lay beside him, her red hair catching the lights he'd begged her to let burn for the night. From the shadow of the long hallway outside the bedroom there was a laugh. It was one he'd heard before. Kruger pulled on his jeans and headed into the darkness of the rest of the house following that laughter as it flitted from shadow to shadow. He followed it on the same path as he had Annabeth in the dream, down the stairs and out the door. The darkness was nearly total out there with the sky mired in dense clouds.

What do you call that tonight' You had your hands on it and just gave up. What good are you if you can't come to purpose"

"GET OUTTA MY HEAD!" He hadn't meant to shout, not that loudly at least. Above he could hear Annabeth stirring, woken from whatever sweet dreams she was partaking in. Kruger sat heavily on the steps, the front pocket of his jeans straining against the rectangle of his phone. He slid it from his pocket and looked at the screen. He must have forgotten to lock it, because it now stood open on a text message that was months old. His thumbs moved before he could come to his senses and change his mind.

Text to Claire: Remember that favor I said I'd ask for? Meet me somewhere, the annex I guess.

Text to Claire: and Hi! It's Kruger, I probably should have sent that first.