Joe stared down at Gyro lying motionless on the ground, his chest slowly rising and falling. For a moment, he expected, almost feared, that Gyro would suddenly push himself back up. The man had been taking hit after hit and just kept coming, refusing to stay down. Joe had struck him until his knuckles ached, until his bones felt like they were rattling inside his fists.
This fight had been hard for him, but not physically.
Not really.
The real battle had been in his mind.
Even before the match started, when they ambushed him in the bathroom… he'd wondered why he was going through all of this. Why he had to endure the pain.
Why he didn't just walk away…
And then, in the fight, when Gyro seemed unstoppable and Joe's fists had grown raw, when it felt like Gyro would never fall, something inside Joe had whispered, Just stop.
Just give up.
But then the Vow he made clawed its way back into his mind.
