Broken

An Armbar.

The only problem was that Zayd was exhausted, and Kai did not seem like he would stop.

If Zayd had ever encountered such a thing in the past, it would be different. Considering he'd never come across Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Zayd was unlucky.

Not knowing how to defend anything, that first submission holds Kai got on Zayd should've been enough to knock him out.

Now Kai held the advantage.

Kai wrenched Zayd's arm until it felt like it was about to break, but he continued until finally-

*CRICK*

Zayd roared in pain as his arm felt like it was burning. The adrenaline had already worn off, the pain inhibition stopped.

Whatever had occurred within Zayd's arm was unknown.

All that he knew was that something was not right.

Kai moved backwards as he slowly gained increasing consciousness. When he fought, Kai remained so focused that he was unable to recognise what he was doing.

Seeing Zayd writhing in pain did not give him the satisfaction he wanted.

Sudden guilt poured in hearing Zayd's muffled grunts of pain. Along with his conflicting thoughts, Kai felt emotionally distraught.

Unwilling to face the consequences of his actions, he ran away.

---

Zayd did not feel any hateful feelings towards Kai. However, he did not feel any gleeful emotions either.

Sitting in a hospital bed, Zayd mulled over his thoughts briefly before Aunt Naomi appeared in his vision.

"Zayd, are you okay? How are you feeling? Does it hurt?" Assaulting Zayd with a plethora of questions, Aunt Naomi came to his side. She gave him a small hug before she sat on the side of the bed.

"I feel alright. I had some painkillers when I got here, so the pain died down. I've done an X-ray and some other stuff as well. I should get the results soon."

Coincidentally, a Doctor walked in at that moment.

"Hi there, are you Zayd's parent or guardian?" The man had a baritone voice. His build was rather slim, and he was tall with long limbs.

"Yes, I am. Can you tell us the results of the X-ray?" Aunt Naomi responded as she saw the sheets held in the Doctor's hands.

"I can. Along the humerus, the upper arm bone, we see a subtle hairline fracture. A dislocation occurred also. It will take approximately six to eight weeks for the healing to finish. In that time, Zayd will need to wear a cast." The Doctor said.

(To any actual Doctors, I believe that X-rays do not show hairline fractures immediately after an injury.)

"Eight weeks? I'm assuming that later he can return to using his arm like usual after three weeks or so, right?" Aunt Naomi asked with concern.

"It depends on the patient. In some cases, they recovered rather rapidly. On the other hand, some people had underlying health issues which lengthened the recovery period. Overall, with Zayd's age, recovery should be a swift process. Now that I have informed you, may I please perform a closed reduction on Zayd to fix the dislocation?"

"Yeah, that's fine with me."

"Okay, Zayd, can you relax for me. I believe the painkillers will make everything okay."

As the Doctor said that, he grabbed Zayd's right wrist before lifting it carefully. Doing some weird manoeuvre, the Doctor caused Zayd's pain to die down immensely.

"A Nurse will come and bring a cast for you. Zayd, you got lucky. Your arm could have been much worse had the dislocation not occurred. Whatever trauma caused the breakage, it had a great chance of rendering your arm unusable. I won't ask what happened. I recommend you don't do it again." The Doctor spoke as he gave some information.

After that, the Doctor had to give the obligatory talk about not doing any sport and other such things.

---

Kai felt horrible. His mother saw him acting unusual when he returned from the challenge after breaking Zayd's arm in the armbar.

As Kai thought about what he had done, the words he said to Zayd earlier that day bounced around his mind. It was almost like he was being forced not to forget.

'I was angry at him for treating me that way for so long I wanted to hurt him so badly. Why does it feel so terrible now? Why am I like this?'

Kai felt the phantom breakage of Zayd's arm. Once again, like a stereo track played repeatedly, the scene reenacted itself multiple times.

It was like a mental torture for Kai.

Amid his thoughts, his fierce tigress of a mother did her best job at understanding her son.

"Kai? What's going on? Why're you like this?" As she spoke, her heart ached at the pain her son displayed. She could see his feelings in his eyes, but the boy did not want to respond. He coldly ignored her as he went towards the stairs to go to his room.

"Hey! Don't ignore me." His mother called towards him as she grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving.

"Mom, leave me alone, please." His usual loudness, replaced by a hollow quietness.

"I won't force you to talk- at least eat something if you're going up."

Kai shook his mother's hand off of him as he walked up the stairs.

His mother frowned seeing him like this.

---

In the three years where Zayd and Kai were not in contact, Kai had begun to learn all sorts of things to do with wrestling.

Whether it was his inherent talent in the field or his overwhelming eagerness to learn, both was enough for him to dominate over everyone that he faced. Quickly rising through the ranks, he earned himself a Purple Belt in Brazillian Jiu-jitsu not so long ago.

Kai's obsession with wrestling was most likely due to his and Zayd's challenge with one another. Perhaps it was down to the fact that he had never won that frustrated him. Thus, he took his frustration out in all the competitions he entered.

From his time since his beginning as a White Belt, Kai never lost. The techniques flowed one after the other when necessary.

Today, he used what he learned on Zayd.

His effort for all those years, mixed with his frustration, created a furious concoction of a grappler. Breaking Zayd's arm did not vent that frustration.

Kai thought that was what he wanted to do, to harm Zayd. After doing so, the relief he thought he would feel never replaced the frustration. The relief never came. Kai felt himself breaking down.