FABIAN

Watching the fighters down there take their opponent's attack, dodge, counterattack, all of these made Noah feel alive once again. It thrilled him and at the moment, it was getting harder for him to stop himself from going down there for a fight.

"Champ!!" An all-too-familiar, annoying voice, snapped Noah out of his urge to fight.

Noah bit his lips hard. 'This is why I haven't been here in a while, the overbearing urge to fight… and this fucker's voice.' Noah's lips began to bleed. He sighed and shook his head, swallowing the blood in his mouth.

"Hey, champ!! Don't tell me that you have forgotten the voice of your friend." The person added and approached Noah.

"Funny, I don't have any friends," Noah uttered coldly.

"Ouch, you have gotten colder, and harsher. Just because we haven't met in 3 months doesn't mean that we've broken up."

"Shut the fuck up, Fabian. Your voice makes me feel like giving you a reason to visit the dentist." Noah threatened.

"Eeiishh!! Feisty as ever. How is that sister of yours, Isabella?" Fabian asked and placed a hand on Noah's shoulders.

"Arrghh!!" Fabian cried out in pain as he stumbled backward, holding his nose in his hands. He raised his head and looked at Noah with tears dripping out of his eyes. "I was just asking sincerely. Why did you have to hit me, in the face for that matter?!" Fabian complained.

"That wasn't for my sister, it was for me. I told you that your voice annoys me." Noah massaged his knuckle as he spoke. He could feel a bit of that overwhelming urge to fight, subside a little bit after he punched Fabian.

"Arrghh!!! Fuck!!! I heard that you were here to see me, was it so that you could punch me in the face?" Fabian began cursing out in Italian. "Oh, I'm bleeding. Fuck you, Noah!!" He cursed.

Following that, Noah walked closer to Fabian. "Wait, wait, I just did it at the spur of the moment, I didn't really mean it." Fabian panicked, he thought that Noah took offense to what he said.

Noah ignored his plea and went closer to Fabian, when he was beside him, he put his hand in his pocket and removed cash from it.

"This is €2,000." The cash was rolled and held in place with a rubber band.

Fabian was stunned at first, then he regained his composure. "What is this for?" He questioned. "Are you going down to the pit to fight?" He asked in excitement.

"No, you fool. I'm not here to fight, I want weed and coke worth 2-grand." Noah pushed the money to his chest.

"You serious? I thought you only did on a small dose, what fucked you up so bad that you need that much?"

"I don't do drugs." Noah pointed out.

"Yeah, but as your supplier, I beg to differ. If you tell me what you plan on doing with that much drugs then I'll get them for you, with a discount too. I mean I can't treat money-making VIPs the same way I treat others."

"As I told you, I don't do drugs. Every drug that I bought from you, I sold them out. For a higher price, and lesser quantity than market value." Noah repeated.

Fabian frowned with his bloody nose and looked at Noah. 'You can't fool me with such lies.' He thought.

"Alright then, let's head to my uncle's office upstairs and talk about this some more." Fabian offered.

"Is your uncle in the building?" Noah asked.

"No."

Noah arched a brow at him, not believing what he said.

"Stronza!!! I swear he's not in. The regional boss called every district leader in for a meeting. I don't know what it's all about, but my uncle left like 20 minutes ago. I estimate that he's going to be back in 3 hours at least. So relax champ, you can beat several men up at the same time and yet you avoid my uncle like the plague." Fabian was about to place his hand over Noah's shoulders, but a glare from Noah stopped his attempt…

"Let's go, and also, the next time you call me a bitch…" He ended his sentence like that, making Fabian laugh nervously.

Fabian, if there was anyone that could come close to the definition of a friend in Noah's life, it would be him. Noah met Fabian when was just 10 years old, at that time, Fabian was 12 years old.

They met in a rough neighborhood and got chased by a dog that Fabian had been annoying. Noah was just a passer-by, but he got caught up in Fabian's mess.

Even with the age gap between the two of them, Noah was faster than Fabian. After losing the dog, Fabian wanted to take his anger out on Noah, unfortunately for him, the 10-year-old Noah was no pushover.

Fabian got beat up by Noah and claimed that Noah was his rival from that day on. To Noah, Fabian was a disturbed kid, someone that definitely lacked common sense.

After their first fight, Noah earned himself an annoying stalker that kept on asking for a rematch but got beat up every single time. He transferred to the same high school that Noah was in, just so he could be around him.

Following that event, Noah involuntarily found out about Fabian's life. He too was an orphan, his father abandoned his mother when he was still in her womb and after giving birth to him, his mother passed away.

His uncle from his mother's side picked him up and raised him as his own. The only problem was that his uncle was part of the mafia. That was why Fabian couldn't accept his defeat easily.

Accepting that he couldn't beat Noah, at the age of 19, Fabian decided to have Noah join him. He tried pleasing Noah with money, about €500, but Noah wasn't the type to accept unrequited charity, nor was he the type to say no to money.

He brought up a suggestion; Noah asked Fabian to think of something that he could do for him in exchange for the money.

Fabian's first request, was that they become friends. Unfortunately for him, Noah refused without a second of hesitation. Out of anger, he asked Noah to come and participate in a match in the pit.

Although he said it out of anger, Noah asked him questions about what the pit was and after receiving answers, he agreed.

This intrigued Fabian, he wondered why Noah wanted to go into the pit even after hearing what it was. Even though he had never stepped foot in the pit, he feared all the fighters there.

On a Saturday night, Noah followed Fabian to the abandoned warehouse. It was the first time that he visited a place as such. He didn't feel much like an outcast nor did he feel welcome too. When it was time for him to fight, he stepped into the ring without fear and faced his opponent.

Noah at that point was naïve, thinking that he could fight and win a hardened street fighter. His opponent was amongst the top 50 street fighters in the pit. Sure enough, this was not his first fight, but this was the first time that he was fighting an experienced fighter.

Noah's opponent wasn't as tall as him. He was wearing a dirty brown singlet and blue shorts. This opponent had bandages tied around his joints; ankles and wrists. And he wasn't much of a talker too.

Noah saw his opponent stretching and acting like he wasn't there. Ignoring this, Noah took the initiative to attack first, he hurled a quick jab with his right fist, at his opponent.

His fist traveled towards his opponent, but before he could land a hit, he felt a suffocating pain assault his brain, from his stomach. Noah's opponent had kicked his stomach, hard. Before he could catch his breath, his opponent attack again.

Two fast blows to the face and Noah was out cold. He didn't even last a full minute in the pit and he was out.

When Noah woke up, it was already morning. Fabian had taken him over to his house. The first thing that reached his mind was the worry that he must have put his mother through by not returning home last night.

After that, his defeat dawned upon him, the right side of his face was hurting bad and it had swollen a bit. By the time he returned home, Sonny was already on the verge of tears. She had been worried sick for Noah.

When she saw him step into the house, relief washed over her, right until she saw the swollen part of his face. Sonny couldn't control her tears and she began crying.

"Who beat you up?" She asked as she sobbed. "Are you being bullied? Isabella, call the cops for me. Tell them that we have a case to report." Sonny ordered.

"Mom, no don't. Isabella, don't do anything like that." Noah panicked.

"Why not? You don't have to be scared of bullies." Sonny said with teary eyes.

"I wasn't bullied. I voluntarily got in a fight, but only because I thought I could win. But before I knew what was going on, I was knocked out cold." He pointed at the swollen part on his face. I spent the whole night in an alley not far from here." He lied. If he didn't do this, his mother was going to be more worried about this matter than she already was.

…

"What are you thinking of? Sit down and tell me what you want to do with 2k worth of drugs. Now normally I wouldn't care about the person buying, so as long as they pay me the money and they are not affiliated with the cops. But you, I've known you for about 9 years. I don't want you going junkie on me." Fabian sat down on a couch.

"I already told you what I need it for. Are going to keep on asking me questions or do I have to go and get them from somewhere else?" Noah asked in annoyance.

"Okay, okay. Chill!!! Want a drink? Who am I kidding, you don't drink." Fabian poured himself a glass of whiskey.

"I will sell it to you, just tell me where and who you are going to sell the drugs to."

"I don't have anyone, in particular, to sell it to yet, but the location is La Scala."

The cup that was in Fabian's hand slipped and crashed on the floor…