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Blood in the Water	By : AeoAthura Category: +1 through F > Ed, Edd, and Eddy Views: 10400 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd and Eddy - I make no money from this work.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Chapter Seventeen:
It all came rushing back to Eddward at once. The night three years ago he had been attacked, all of the pain he had suppressed to keep from going completely insane. It flooded his mind in vivid, agonizing detail.
Eddy and Ed had fled leaving Edd to fend for himself. There were eight boys of varying ages and all of them looked far too happy about their odds. Edd’s first attempt to flee, before the initial assault, had him tripping over an ankle. He landed in a heap on the ground and as he scrambled to his hands and knees a boot pressed to his back and slammed him back down with enough force to wind him.
“Now tell me brat, what exactly were you doing here tonight?” The question was asked by one of the boys but Edd couldn’t tell which. It was obviously a rhetorical question given the fact that the man’s full weight was on the back of Edd’s chest, making it impossible to take in more than a teaspoon’s breath. “Fucking with our stuff? Why would you wanna do that huh? We didn’t do nothing to you did we? Well see, now you done something to us.”
There was a laugh and Edd watched as another pair of boots walked up to stand before his face though he couldn’t crane his neck up enough to get a look at the man’s face. “I believe it was Hammurabi who created the eye-for-an-eye principle.” Said this new man, his voice was low, “You wrecked our shit, now we’ll wreck yours.” He punctuated his threat with a swift and hard kick to Edd’s jaw.
The pain didn’t register right away but he did see stars burst across his vision and heard a low thumping sound that soon had his right ear ringing. Only then did the pain begin to blossom and create a dull ache in his head.
The figure before him knelt down and Edd could barely see his face in the low light, all he could make out were amber eyes and wavy blond hair. “Isn’t that fair?” Edd whimpered weakly and was still unable to respond. The man reached down and grabbed his hair through his beanie and wrenched his head up painfully, “I said: Isn’t that fair?”
None of this was fair. Not one bit of it. Edd tried to answer anyway but couldn’t find the breath to do so.
The man scowled and got up, pushing the man on Edd’s back aside before sparks of pain lanced up and down the boy’s side. The first three kicks happened in such rapid succession that he was unable to respond, and finally he tried to flinch away but the other was on top of him quickly, ramming a heel onto Edd’s sternum and once more winding him. He began to see darkness at the corners of his vision from the lack of oxygen.
“Yes!” Edd gasped in the desperate hopes that his agreeing would somehow stop the pain.
The man seemed unsatisfied with this as he stared down at the broken boy beneath his feet. He reached down and grabbed Edd by the neck, pulling him up before shoving him roughly against the wall until he once more saw stars flash in his vision. He stumbled and collapsed to the ground, pressing his bruised body to the wall.
“Look at the little bitch,” one of the men said with a laugh, “Alright, let’s get out of here Vincent.”
The man with the blond hair turned his heated gaze on his companion swiftly, “Leave?” He asked with a snort, “This little brat and his friends tried to ruin our stuff. Since his friends left, he gets all of their punishment as well. We have to teach him not to fuck with us.”
“Harsh man, he’s just a kid.”
Vincent let out a scoff, “Well his parents did a bad job teaching him common courtesy.” The words were a verbal punch without even meaning to be, “Go ahead then.” He waved his hand and turned to walk away.
The remaining men suddenly advanced, some of them looking rather unsure. But the pain soon came. Kicks and hits, hands grabbing him from every angle. By the time he was dropped to the ground he spat a mouthful of blood and curled in on himself.
Eventually the pain just became a numb throbbing that reminded him that he was still alive. At that moment he really didn’t want to be. In those moments he truly felt bitter about life, about Eddy and Ed and all that he was being subjected to because of them.
Another kick he hardly felt before his hair was grabbed again. Edd had dealt with bullies before but this one seemed entirely intent on taking out all of his frustrations on the boy, and there seemed to be a lot of it to spare.
At some point one of Edd’s eyes had gotten blackened. He didn’t even remember how it happened. A hit to the face sparked a flash of renewed pain that fizzled out after a second before he slumped to the ground once more, settled on his hands and legs as he tried to stay up. The world pitched violently to the left and breath was hard to catch.
He must have passed out for a moment because he was suddenly limp on the ground. He heard someone talking, it was distant and foggy but he could discern arguing. One of the boys was telling Vincent to leave Edd alone, why he took pity on him now was beyond his current level of comprehension.
Finally he listened to them all leaving. He looked up hesitantly and saw that he was finally alone and slowly collapsed into a heap on the ground to gather himself. He was certain that he went unconscious again, though for how long he was unsure. When he came to he found a little more strength in his aching body than before and tried to pull himself up.
Slowly he pulled on his hat which had fallen off during the assault and began to limp tiredly across the concrete. Every breath of air was like liquid fire and he knew at least one or two of his ribs had to be broken.
He was unaware of the footsteps approaching behind him but the voice got his attention, “That’s a nice hat you got there kid.” He knew that voice and he stilled as he leaned his body wearily against the fence and listened to the man approaching from behind.
Edd felt himself whining, “Please leave me alone…” He reached up, trembling hands grabbing at his beanie, pulling it down, “You’ve done enough.” The words were ground out painfully as moving his jaw proved to be an agonizing experience and he feared that too was broken.
“Are you really in a position to tell me anything?” The hat was grabbed and pulled away which ripped some strands of hair from Edd’s head. He whimpered and flinched as he was grabbed by the arm and shoved. As soon as Edd hit the ground he was attempting to crawl away, desperate fight or flight reflexes pumping through his brain.
Vincent was faster though. He was beside Edd and suddenly the heel of his boot crashed down onto the boy’s wrist. In Edd’s mind the sound of cracking bone drowned out the sound of his scream before another wave of pain sparked up from his leg. He sobbed and simply lay there knowing he was unable to escape this hell.
He tried to descend back into the realms of unconsciousness when firm hands grabbed the back of his hair, lifting his hair and part of his body as Vincent knelt down, “I gotta ask, why do you wear that stupid ass hat huh?” Eddward didn’t answer, somewhere between being unable to and hoping that the man would just get bored and leave.
Hope was all but dead by that point.
Edd jolted at the sudden sound of a snick, his good eye searching for the source. His assailant was holding up a knife in front of Edd’s face for him to admire.
A moment later all he could focus on were his own pained shrieks.
#
The world had descended into a numb silence. The darkness of the night sky had seemingly consumed all of the light from the moon and stars and pressed down on Eddward like a thick fog as he sobbed openly, hunched over the unmoving body beneath his own. Hands had stopped their incessant pressing several minutes before as it had become a futile effort, they were now fisted in the wet fabric of Kevin’s coat with his face pressed into the man’s unmoving chest.
Marie had left moments ago to get help. There was no help anymore though. Edd was beyond help.
Sadness gave into depression…
Depression caved into guilt…
Guilt crumbled into hopelessness…
As the weight of hopelessness sank into him deeper than the insurmountable cold in his marrow he realized that there really was no hope. Nothing he could do would bring Kevin back to him. Nothing would return the man to his friends and family.
Hopelessness boiled…festered into agony.
Suddenly Edd felt the same as he had long ago; a scared, beaten child laying bloody and begging on the cold cement. He remembered the pain and the fear, it had clung to him every day of his life since it had happened. He had spent his life afraid of the world and even when he tried to fight back he was still pushed, shoved and beaten.
Agony erupted into rage.
Slowly he pulled himself up to a sitting position and rubbed the tears from his face with the heel of his palm. The world around him was blurry and dark but his gaze focused suddenly on something. A shift in the shadows beneath the bleachers.
Someone was there watching him. The figure stilled but slowly Edd got up, focused on the very faint outline. Then it moved, it ran for the back fence. Edd grabbed for his shoes and shoved them on as quickly as he could manage and paused for a brief second.
Laying beside Kevin’s body was the knife Marie had used to cut his ropes free from the cement block still lying at the bottom of the pool. Eddward had never been a particularly violent person unless it came to Kevin. He used his mind and his words to bring down his opponents as there was no need to waste his energy.
Suddenly Edd remembered a phrase… I believe it was Hammurabi who created the eye-for-an-eye principle.
Eddward had never been fond of Hammurabi’s principles however this was in the name of divine irony. He grabbed for the knife and ran after the figure who had disappeared over the gate.
He cleared it with shocking grace, all of his pain and anger and loathing focusing on one single point. The figure was far ahead of him running into the halls of the school in the vain hopes of escaping Edd but the swimmer had the scent of blood in his nose and there was no possible way he was going to relent in his hunt.
Edd had heard the term ‘seeing red’ more than once in his life, though never equated it to being a real sensation. However at that moment he knew it was a real thing. The only thing he longed to see was spilled blood, it was all his mind could process as he bolted through the school at a full sprint. Exhaustion didn’t register, the burn in his muscles was distant, because until he got his hands on those bastards then his body wasn’t allowed to give out.
With his unending rage to fuel him he followed the fleeing man through the winding, empty halls, gaining speed at a frightening rate. The man was whimpering with fright, he was sputtering something but Edd was fully uninterested until he was finally close enough. With a snarl he reached out and grabbed the man’s collar, dug in his heels and used their combined inertia to change his path until he ran full speed into the concrete wall.
Edd pounced, spinning the man around and grabbing his throat ramming him into the wall with a roar of rage. The look in the other’s eyes was that of utter horror, “Where’s the rest of them!?” Edd demanded in a voice that he swore wasn’t human. It was warped and unrestrained, raw with his mounting despair.
When the man didn’t respond right away the swimmer crushed his grip down on his throat, pulled him closer and slammed him back once more into the wall, watching his face light up with pain and fear anew. “I SAID WHERE ARE THEY!?”
“C-Calm down man!” His voice was strained and he whined again when the fingers around his throat flexed, “The park! Th-they went t-to the park…”
Edd released his throat and stepped back, the man whimpering as he tried to get away. But he wasn’t going to allow that… Just as he got half a step from the wall Edd twisted and threw his fist in a wild swing that sent the man’s head snapping back into the wall. There was a thud before he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
He turned and ran hard and fast. Once he was out of the school building he ran for the half-fence surrounding the grounds. Though normally not coordinated out of water he had new inspiration tonight, he felt like he could do anything. He swung himself over the fence without missing a beat, bolted across the street and ignored the honking cars.
He cleared the two blocks to the park in record time, his throat dry and screaming but his blood thundering in his ears. Concrete changed to dirt beneath his shoes, he ran a path he had not been in some time, but he knew exactly where he was going…
The skate park was the same as he remembered it. The lights from the posts were dim and cast macabre shadows on the concrete below. He could see figures, men, standing near one of the posts and could hear them talking but he didn’t care what they were saying.
One of them looked up when he heard Edd rushing up, they all turned but Edd took advantage of their momentary surprise and landed a first strike on the closest one. The man staggered back with a yelp and the surprise was lost as the remaining three jumped into action.
Fists and feet were thrown wildly. Edd was struck several times but his rage always had him hitting back, but his upper hand was soon lost as the four man finally managed to take hold of his arms, holding him firmly down on his knees. Edd struggled and snarled, not wanting to admit his defeat.
Silence fell over them before he heard more footsteps, “He showed up faster than I expected.” Vincent’s voice preceded the man who stepped into the light of the lamp, “Did you miss me, Eddward?” His voice was mocking. The man was dressed similar to Edd, a nice tuxedo with his hair pulled back in a tie and his hands in his pockets, “I sure as hell missed you. But I’ve been keeping tabs on you so that I could properly visit once I got out of that hell hole. Oh, and I made new friends, aren’t they wonderful?” He gestured to the men holding Edd down.
Edd growled and clenched his fists, then spat at the man’s feet.
The kick to his stomach was fast and rough and had Edd doubling over as much as the men holding his arms would allow, “You’ve got a lot more fight than I remember.” Vincent chided before grinning, “Hurts doesn’t it?”
“Not as much as you’re going to!” Edd snarled.
The man was pulling something out of his jacket pocket, a rather imposing looking handgun. The barrel cocked with a resonating click and Edd remained still for the moment. “Don’t worry Kiddo, I won’t kill you.” He laughed, “No, see this time I want to make sure you live. See that you live with the knowledge that a man is dead because of you. Live with the knowledge that you weren’t good enough to save him. Oh you can turn me in again and send me to prison, that’s fine, my life is ruined anyway thanks to you.” He laughed, it was the kind of laugh someone might use after telling a bad joke but wanting to be polite, “But I just want to make sure to return the favor. I want you to go to bed every single night alone, with the nightmares of pulling Kevin’s body out of the water. But your dreams, your nightmares, your reality…all the same. Your precious little boyfriend dead in your arms.”
The pain in his abdomen was fading away, his words boiling a whole new level of rage, malice and adrenaline through his system. His eyes must have reflected this because the man went on to laugh again, “Good! Let me see that hatred. No matter what happens now, dear Eddward, I’ve won!”
This man was a lunatic, that much was clear.
Edd chuckled at that though as he realized that he wasn’t far behind at all. Vincent frowned, “Why’re you laughing?”
Edd just grinned and felt himself laughing more. It was hysterical really and he wasn’t sure why. Vincent was absolutely right, he was going to be forever plagued with Kevin’s death and there was nothing he could do about it and that was funny to him.
“What’s so funny!” Vincent re-aimed the gun.
The laughter died down just enough that he could speak somewhat, “You know, they say it’s dangerous to fight someone who has nothing to lose.” Then suddenly Edd twisted violently, left foot on the ground he shoved as hard as he could to the right, knocking the two men who held him off balance.
The bang of the gun was startling but expected. He wrenched free of their hold and lunged for Vincent at full force. They toppled to the ground in a heap. Edd grabbed the wrist holding the gun as they struggled in a mass of violent limbs. When Edd felt himself being overpowered he pulled forward and grabbed the man’s neck between his teeth.
Vincent’s shriek was music to Edd’s ears, “You bit me you FREAK!” He was trying to pull away and Edd came up with a mouthful of blood and a sadistic grin. He was only sad that he didn’t catch a jugular. It was then that he remembered something.
The snick of the knife and the glint of reflection from the low light was in beautiful dramatic irony as Edd shoved the man down and pinned his shoulders beneath his knees. He held Vincent by the throat as he pressed the knife to his skin.
“You wouldn’t do it,” Vincent’s voice was a strangled growl mixed with a laugh, “You don’t have the guts, you’re still that scared little piece of shit I beat down three years ago.”
A bead of blood gathered at the tip of the knife and Edd just grinned, “You want me to kill you. But I won’t. Not because I can’t but because by your reactions you loathed prison, because you were the little bitch there weren’t you?” He laughed callously, “Remember what you told me about Hammurabi’s laws? Well guess what. You wrecked my life, I’m going to wreck yours.”
Hands grabbed his jacket from behind and wrenched him off. He was wrenched into an arm bar and his hand was forced to release the knife. Vincent was up in seconds and Edd took the full force of his fist driving into his stomach once, twice, five times before he was dropped onto the floor curled in on himself resisting every need to vomit.
The barrel pressed to Edd’s temple and shoved hard, “I killed your boy toy you little shit! Don’t you go spitting my words back in my face!”
Edd was grinning still, “You did. You’re gonna burn for that. Slow, agonizing. Life in prison. I’ll see to it.”
A kick to the ribs derailed his rambling with a grunt, but he didn’t care. “Weakling,” Vincent snarled as he aimed another kick. It landed but Edd grabbed on and twisted the man’s ankle before he lunged forward once more. Vincent toppled to the ground again and Edd was back atop him.
Edd literally saw red now. His fist came up and then down in a brutal swing, connecting with the man’s jaw, splitting his lip. Another punch broke his nose, another punch would blacken his eye. Again and again he hit the man who laid there and took every punch while laughing, laughing at Eddward’s pain because he was right…
He had won…
Edd could kill him a thousand times, he could scream and tear and watch him rot in prison but Kevin was never coming back. Kevin would never come home again. He was gone and Edd was alone again, alone with his thoughts and his pain and his past.
Someone was screaming, he realized that it came from himself. Another feral cry, everything he was doomed to coming out in the most painful sound.
And still the man laughed. Except he wasn’t laughing. Edd had long since knocked him out, the laughter was in his head.
Suddenly he was grabbed again, overpowered by the four men who finally seemed to gather their wits. They struggled to hold onto the swimmer who squirmed and flailed. Then there was pain. It was cold and hot at the same time, present and yet distant through his adrenaline haze. He was only vaguely aware of the knife, his own knife, rammed into his stomach.
Then there was screaming, the bang of a gun and Edd was dropped to the ground in a heap. More screaming and yelling and he heard ‘Police’ being yelled over and over. He closed his eyes and reached down to grab the item lodged into his abdomen when he felt a hand over his, stopping him.
He was tired then. The adrenaline was failing, his exhaustion was catching up with the pain and overwhelming his system. It hurt to breathe. Between the sharp pain in his chest and the tearing agony in his stomach and the knowledge of what wasn’t waiting for him if he woke up he just didn’t want to.
The hand on his was tight and he heard more yelling but none of it mattered. He was almost in the dark abyss of unconsciousness when he heard it, the most wonderful voice.
“You’re gonna be ok babe…”
Then the darkness claimed him. Nothing was going to be ok…
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Blood in the Water