Audrey felt a strange feeling as she stood watching the band come up to the stage and set up. It was as if people were talking about her.

 

She turned around and darted her eyes around the bar. While there were a few new faces she didn’t recognize, she was drawn to two people that stood out.

 

A scene/emo girl and what appeared to be a tall, old-looking cowboy; the way they sat and were positioned gave Audrey the vibes they were father and daughter.

 

As they spoke to each other, the emo girl kept making glances at Audrey and then Audrey noticed that the cowboy was also looking her way.

 

This was pissing her off. “Why are they staring at me!” Audrey thought. Was this emo chick a girl whose boyfriend Audrey beat up, and now she was there with her daddy for revenge?

 

“Typical,” Audrey said, as she cracked her knuckles loudly. Audrey turned back and started to move through the crowd of people, heading in the direction of the two weirdos that were watching her.

 

///

 

“Alright! I wonder what songs the—” Damaris’ excitement quickly turned to fear as she saw Audrey slowly but powerfully breaking through the crowd of patrons.

 

“WARDEN ZHONG KUI, SHES COMING THIS WAY!” Damaris yelped and jumped behind Zhong kui to hide. “ABORT MISSION,” she yelled in Zhong kui’s ear.

 

“Hmm she has good senses, I'll give her that.” Zhong kui hadn’t moved a muscle at all and still sat with his arms crossed.

 

“THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO BE COMPLIMENTING HER!” Damaris was panicking and she started to speak rapidly. “She looks mean, like Ra does! She's going to cause trouble for us and then it's going to be a big scene. I’m going to get in trouble from Papa, Michael, and Achilles after I promised them nothing was going to happen.”

 

Zhong kui stood up, still having his hands crossed. He turned back lightly so Damaris could see some of his face. “Do not worry, Damaris, I won't let anything get out of hand.”

 

Damaris felt a small shard of relief in her heart. She was fearful that something would have happened, that her or Zhong kui would have to use their powers in front of everyone.

 

Just as Audrey was about to finally be released from the crowd, the sound of someone tapping a microphone echoed throughout the bar.

 

“Cool, it’s finally working. Hey Audrey, where are you going?”

 

///

 

Gerry was the main singer of the Sumner band. People wouldn’t say he was the best, but he got the job done and the music they played was more on the emotional side, which his voice fit.

 

It was one of the reasons Allie loved him. As he finished speaking into the mic, Audrey stopped in her place and shifted her body back to the stage.

 

“Haah?” she said Loudly and obnoxiously.

 

As Gerry and the other musicians finally settled in, Gerry spoke in the mic another time.

 

“We waited for you the last couple of days, everyone here… knows how much Allie meant to you and the whole bar.” Gerry was looking away and stared at one spot, trying his damn best to not cry.

 

“So we just wanted you to know we all loved her, and we all miss her.” The crowd erupted all together in agreement. This chant surprised Audrey, Zhong Kui, and Damaris.

 

“For Allie! Who always helped me with my taxes!” one women said in a deep Spanish accent.

 

“For Allie and that fucking good bread she used to donate to our events,” a motorcycle biker with a handlebar mustache said. “It was so good,” he muttered out as tears slowly fell.

 

“Let’s not forget Audrey. She carried me to the hospital when I started to feel the effects of a miscarriage, while Allie drove towards us,” another woman, who was also pregnant again, yelled. “When I lost her… it was Allie that stayed with me holding my hand until Mike got there.”

 

Mike, who was next to the woman, held her tighter as she told her story. “I’ll never forget what you two did for Nancy on that day.”

 

Audrey was speechless. She had cried so much the last few days and was doing everything in her power to not cry in front of so many people.

 

But the people in the bar, the delinquents, the outcasts, and the one’s society felt were scum of the earth. All were here and all missed a woman who impacted them love and appreciation.

 

A woman that was the very rock and inspiration that Audrey only every day dreamed she could be. She cleared her voice.

 

“Thanks guys… it means a lot.” Her voice crackled a bit, but she held firm. Not in front of so many people, she needed to be strong like Allie would have been. She needed to make sure she didn’t make these people worry anymore about her.

 

Beth, Gerry, and the band saw it, saw how hard she was trying to hold everything in. As Gerry spoke once more on the mic, he had a smile on his face.

 

“This was Allie's favorite song, she told me she would sing it every time something wrong was happening in her life or to Audrey. It was a song that gave her strength.”

 

Audrey widened her eyes. “No, don't do that.” She thought she knew exactly what song it was. Exactly how important it was not just to Allie but to her. She didn’t want to be a mess in front of everyone.

 

Growing up everything she was interested in or loved was what Allie introduced her to. She was the one that loved music so much and would do odd jobs around the neighborhood to buy CDs and vinyls.

 

Then her mother would take them and destroy them in front of her or throw them out. It was a cycle that was repeated every single day of their childhood.

 

Audrey remembered sleeping one night with Allie as she held her, after a beating they both had from their mother. Audrey was crying, not loudly of course or else her mother would have come in to silence her.

 

As she cried, Allie held her tightly and would caress her hair. She didn’t have any music to play because her mother disposed of their things but she had her memory and her voice.

 

“All I have left is the strength to hold you.

Still stuck on the same page of my story,

I’m broken down, a never ending hurt, a never ending hurt that I’ll take from you.”

 

Her voice was so soft and soothing to Audrey, something that later on in life she would feel immense jealousy and a feeling of inadequacy for not being able to do the same.

 

“God knows it has to be this time.

Looking at us, the times you cried

Never endingly watching you grow.

With strength you didn’t know you had.”

 

Audrey always thought that when Allie sang this song to her, it was to calm her and make her feel better. It wasn’t until she got older and understood the world and Allie better that Allie wasn’t singing to her.

 

Allie was singing that song for herself, to push through. She was the eldest, she needed to be there for Audrey. But where was Allie’s Allie? Who would be the rock that she was in Audrey's life?

 

Audrey couldn’t do anything for Allie at the time, so instead, she decided to be an Allie for everyone else that didn’t have one. The beat down queen's true purpose was to be the Allie in people’s lives.

 

Of course, she did it her way and that’s how she became the legendary delinquent. All because of Allie and this one song. And as she got older, she was about to finally do something right for her sister.

 

Yet just like life took Allie away from her, life took that lifelong fulfillment Audrey craved away. It still stung to think about how close she was to helping Allie’s dream come true.

 

That’s why it sucked. That’s why she felt the way she did, that she should have been the one to die. As she snapped back into reality, she watched as the bassist positioned his fingers all the way down the neck of his bass.

 

Getting ready to play the two iconic high notes that were ingrained in Audrey’s ears.

 

“She loved this song, it’s from Joy Disorder. It’s called—”

 

Audrey smiled and whispered the name alongside Gerry.

 

“Ceremony.”

 

As the bass played the opening riff, the drummer tapped the hi-hat cymbal to give the beat to the crowd. He then bursted in movement, playing the hi-hat faster to give the song a sense of speed. Yet, it felt so calming and smooth.

 

The guitarist entered next playing a version of what the bass was playing but in a different octave and adding in different notes.

 

As Gerry opened his mouth to start the opening line of the song, she nearly couldn’t hear him at all… that’s because the crowd screamed it from the top of their lungs. Everyone knew it and loved it just like Allie and Audrey did.

 

“This is how my life unfolded, had no choice yet every consequence!”

 

Audrey stood still, her hands clenched with anger in the pockets of her jacket.

 

“ Yet I see your smile, and it’s all I needed… to keep on living.

But even still, I want to lose hope.”

 

Gerry at this point walked away from the mic and just sang as if he was singing at home by himself. You could hear him shouting along with the crowd. No lyric was wrong, no lyric was ever misinterpreted.

 

“All I have left is the strength to hold you.

Still stuck on the same page of my story,

I’m broken down, a never ending hurt, a never ending hurt that I’ll take from you.”

 

Zhong kui watched Audrey as she stood. She hadn’t moved at all since the start of the song yet he could see small shivers of her body trembling.

 

He was expecting her to either lash out and scream or cry in anger. Instead, Audrey lifted her face up, she had her eyes closed and a peaceful smile on her face.

 

Here in this bar she was surrounded by the warmth and acceptance of fellow delinquents and outsiders. All touched by Allie’s kindness, there was no need to hold back, there was no need to feel self-conscious.

 

They weren’t going to judge her, so she let go and in her moment of bliss she felt the music. She didn’t scream, she quietly sang along, moving from side to side. Remembering Allie.

 

“God knows it has to be this time.

Looking at us, the times you cried

Never endingly watching you grow.

With strength you didn’t know you had.”

 

Zhong kui turned to Damaris, who stood in awe. The band itself was good but they were just playing a cover of another band's song. Yet the song was played with such raw intense emotion that shook her core, shook her angelic soul. As tears slowly fell from her face, she turned to Zhong kui.

 

“Warden, I want Audrey to have the chance to save Allie.”

 

It was just a random night at a random bar, it wasn’t supposed to be an event like this. But here they were, a bunch of humans of different races and sizes, all communicating their souls to each other for the memory of one person that affected them in some shape or form.

 

Zhong Kui smiled as he saw the souls of every human in this bar burn brightly at the same time, at the same moment of every chord being strummed and every lyric being sung.

 

At Allie’s ceremony of remembrance.

 

“I want to save Allie as well, Damaris,” Zhong kui declared.

 

///

 

Elysium

 

Lugh's war room

 

Lugh laid on the floor of his war room, lost in a daze with tear streaks across his face. He had his arms and legs stretched out but relaxed. The arm of the vinyl player automatically stopped once the song finished and repositioned itself in the standby position. No one said anything, only the sound of the vinyl stopping was heard.

 

“It gets us.”

 

Lugh got up and looked at the other tricksters who had the same look on their faces. As Ariel put the vinyl away, he saw Loki who was staring at the wall doing his best to ignore everyone.

 

Or rather, he was trying to make sure no one looked at him; his eyes were red and just like Lugh, he had tear streaks on his blue skin.

 

He turned his eye to see the others looking at him. “What?” He was annoyed at the stares he was getting.

 

“Loki, it gets us,” Wu kong said with the others nodding in agreement.

 

“It's just dumb human music, it … it…” Loki couldn’t finish his sentence. He remembered the song and throughout the whole experience he was thinking about the rebellion, about his mistakes and screws up, about his older brother, Thor.

 

The humans of Joy Disorder understood what he felt even if they were of a different species. As he covered his eyes and bit his lips to shield the others from watching him cry, Loki felt understood for the first time in a millennia.

 

Ariel moved towards the sitting Norse trickster and placed the vinyl in his lap. “Here, sometimes in life you can’t explain yourself or how you feel. So listen to Ceremony, cuz it will explain everything to you when you need it the most.”

 

Loki, who was still covering his face, saw the white and blue regal-looking art on the cover. The coat of arms drawing of a knight, looked as if it was holding a hammer like Mjölnir.

 

He grabbed the vinyl and held it tightly in his arm. Slowly and stubbornly he whispered two words to the bancho of San Juan. Two words that changed the atmosphere of the room.

 

“Th…ank you.”

 

Ariel responded with a “you’re welcome,” and then looked at Lugh. He gave him a thumbs up of victory.

 

Lugh, in this moment, was vindicated on his decision of choosing Ariel as his retainer and gave him a thumbs up of victory in return. There was no doubt in Lugh’s mind; together, he and Ariel were going to win the third Tryfing and resurrect Thor.

 

3rd Tryfing

 

Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.

 

Support judge: Angel, Damaris.

 

Chosen deities:

Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson

Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales

Zhong Kui: Exorcist

Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke

Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson

Nuada: Conqueror: João Machado

Minerva: Tactician ???

Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly

 

Fantasia world: The world known as Helioan

 

Starting year: not yet decided.

 

25:28:77