Hi, guys!

This week has been a nice break from all the craziness of university, though that's going to be starting up again next week with exams closing in on me. I've been so thrilled by the response from you guys on the last chapter. I know that it's been a long while of the Dark Tournament and I'd happy to say we're coming to a close soon. Just as a warning, I may miss next weeks update due to studying, but I will be doing my best to post. Studying, regrettably, has to come first.

I would like to thank hyourin-kusabana and DarkMajix for both favouriting and following the story, and Aelthya for reviewing. Also, I realized in the last chapter I didn't thank Silvire808 for reviewing, so thank you so much and I'm sorry I missed you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. I only own Finley, Damon, any characters you don't recognize and the plot.

A dark and heavy air hung over the hotel the next morning. As the orange sun came up over the horizon I watched from the balcony, surrounded by bits and pieces of magical ingredients, the main product of the nights work hidden away. The still dark sky and heavy clouds coming towards the island made the entire place seem like there was a giant storm coming. One that would change things forever. The grey waters tossed against the shores, leaving little bits of white foam in their wake.

Everything looked… serene. If you had no sense of the environment and energy, it would feel that way, too. Those who could sense it would know the truth.

The energy on the island was on edge, chaotic and uneasy. It felt like the world was ready to swallow me whole. Like one wrong move and I'd be gone forever, swallowed by the waves. It wasn't too far from the truth, unfortunately.

Damon came out onto the balcony, looking out over the horizon. We sat in silence for a few moments, neither of us looking at the other.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked. We both had a lot to apologize for from the past few days. I had to apologize for the way I had acted, for the anger and creating the spell that he was so against. He had to apologize for being an ass, ignoring me and losing it on me about the spell. We had a lot of problems, but if anything, it made us a little closer. Damon and I had been close since the day we met, almost like the older brother I had never wanted. I was ok with it, though. I kind of had to be. It wasn't like he was going anywhere.

"For freaking out on you. For bringing Jin into this without telling you. For judging you so hard for doing what's in your nature. You're trying so hard to do this and I know that, but I haven't really been helping," he confessed. "I don't know what it's like to have all this respect for life and deep emotional crap, you know that. Growing up like I did, you don't get the whole compassion thing. But you have it for the people that are trying to kill you. It's natural for you to do the right thing, and to you somehow see the good in everyone. And I'm sorry that this is taking that away from you."

I looked up at him, tears welling in my eyes. "I'm sorry, too." He smiled down at me, confusion in his eyes. "For the spell. For being so sad and bitchy all the time. For not being able to do what I have to do here without breaking down."

"You're allowed to feel shit, Fin," Damon said.

"You ever think that maybe it would be better if you didn't?" I asked.

He gave me a look. "No. Never. It would be worse. Imagine never feeling lust, or sadness, or happiness. It would be hell." There was a brief pause. "Do you ever think about it?" I hadn't much, though the thoughts had been coming more and more over the past few days. If only I had a way to shut it out, to stop feeling so deeply about this.

"Sometimes."

"Well, don't. If you didn't feel as much as you do, you wouldn't be you," Damon snapped. "Seriously, Fin, you're an empathetic person. I love that about you. You're doing this for all the right reasons, even if you don't think you are. So just… don't stop feeling." I smiled at him, leaning into his legs. A warm hand rested on my head.

We watched the sunrise in silence, just absorbing what we knew was coming. I felt the doubt for myself and guilt of what I had tucked away in my bag. Damon would find out about it when I used it, assuming I had to. Team Urameshi was extremely strong, and while my spell wouldn't kill them, it was good enough to suck the energy from them and bind them. I was the one it would kill.

My iPod alarm went off. It was 8 am. We all got up and got dressed. The hotel room was silent, the only sounds the rustling of clothes and the deep sighs of anticipation and dread. We all went to fight clothes, knowing that in only a few short hours we would have to go and face the finals.

To face death.

Takuma, Damon and I went down to breakfast. The human waitstaff looked at us with pitying eyes. The demons looked at us with excitement and hatred. They all knew what we were up against. Our table was silent. None of us talked. We had lost one of the key members of our team. The other had ghosted on us. We had no idea if Kuro was even going to show up for the finals. If he didn't we could get disqualified. Though at that point Damon and Takuma would just hunt him down and kill him so we could proceed. They never did have much patience.

We didn't see anyone familiar that morning. No one from Jin's team, none of the Urameshi squad. Just a lot of strangers jeering at us from the sidelines. We were doing our best to ignore them but they were loud and we were angry and scared. I'll be the first to admit that it got to me. Demons on the island confirmed what I already knew about myself.

"You're a monster." "You don't deserve to live." "I hope someone kills that bitch, she's just like all the others. Murders us in cold blood and tries to say she's different." I liked to think that I had a better motive, that doing this for Shoku's family, for the lives of my teammates would be enough. Part of me knew that it wasn't. That it was just a way for me to make myself feel better about what I was doing. It didn't excuse my actions.

The finals started at noon, and we were in the locker room long before then. Kuro showed up about 30 minutes before we had to go to our deaths. Jin showed up 15 minutes before. Kuro wasn't spoken too. Neither was Jin. Though one was due to disgust, the other from stress.

My hand kept nervously going to my hip bag, where the wand I'd created for the spell was tucked away, and my daggers. I hoped it wasn't going to come to that. I desperately hoped that it wouldn't. It didn't change that I was more than prepared to use it if it meant that we would win. I would never tell Damon that, but there was a note that I'd left on the nightstand in our room, assuming I did die.

It was my worst-case backup plan.

We were called to the arena. Damon and I looked at each other, eyes scared. I'd never seen him look that scared. Sure, I had that expression all the time. I recognized it as the one I'd seen in the mirror every day since we'd gotten to the island, but Damon never had it. My heart jumped to my throat, pounding a mile a minute. If Damon was scared, I had a reason to be petrified.

The Urameshi team was across from us. There weren't any terms to decide with the finals. It was just a set of one on one matches, with whoever had the most wins taking it. They at least looked friendly from across the arena. I knew they weren't out to kill us, but that didn't make me feel any better. Looking at Yusuke terrified me, knowing that I would be fighting him, as the leader of the team.

They had never told us who they were trying to get out. It could have been me. It could have been Damon. It probably wasn't Takuma or Kuro. I didn't want either of them to die, regardless of how much we had all grown to hate Kuro. I wanted the remainder of our team to make it out of this. As long as we won this fight, everything would be ok. Win the tournament, everything would be fine.

Koto opened the fight with a huge grin. "Hello, everyone and welcome to the finals of the Dark Tournament! We have the returning champs, Team Urameshi fighting off against the guest team, Team Conneigan!" She was illuminated by a single spotlight. I knew this was par for the course, but it still seemed grossly inappropriate. "As always, the finals are a series of one on one matches, with the winner taking the most wins. All five matches have to be completed! Let's get our first fighters in the ring!" The crowd screamed, cheering and jeering at us all. Many of them seem split on who they preferred. It was just clear that they wanted me dead.

Takuma moved into the ring without any hesitation. I was surprised that he volunteered to go first without a word to us. Normally we discussed what we would do, if only for a second. Previous matches had been decided after we saw the first fighter, at leas that's how I saw it. We hadn't talked about order for the finals. I think we were all just hoping and praying that somehow, they would drop out. It was a longshot, but the hope was still there. It had to be there.

Kuwabara was the one who went up against Takuma. He went into the ring with a hard expression, glaring at Takuma. I was scared for my teammate. The look on Kuwabara's face was one of disgust. Takuma was an ass, but he didn't deserve that. He had been more supportive than Damon had been at some points for me, though at the beginning he was a douchebag. I didn't want Kuwabara to hurt Takuma because he was a demon with a bad attitude, a criminal in the eyes of the Makai. He was still my friend, new as the friendship was.

There was a stare down in the ring. Takuma and Kuwabara held eye contact as Koto began the match. "Ok! First match of the finals, Kuwabara vs Takuma! Begin!" They turned into a blur. I'd known Takuma was fast, but I didn't think he was that fast. I could track their movement, though poorly. Damon still had my glasses hidden, so they were just blurrier.

The first hit was marked with a loud crack. Takuma's head snapped to the side, nose bending. My hands shot to my mouth. Takuma had to do this. He had to make it out. While I knew the blood pouring from his nose wasn't a huge deal, it still scared me. Blood was not a thing I loved.

Damon's hand slipped down to mine, squeezing tight. I glanced at his face. His jaw was clenched, eyes hard watching the match. I bit my lip, accepting the attempt at comfort from my best friend. He was just as scared as I was.

Takuma wasn't getting a single hit in on Kuwabara. The bat demon was black and blue, legs wobbling and shaking as he tried to stay standing. He wiped blood away from his mouth and his tongue lapped up what was left over, glossing over his fangs. In a last ditch effort, Takuma launched at Kuwabara. Three long scratches were clawed into Kuwabara's chest, and Takuma was shoved back on to the ground. He scrambled, dodging as many hits as he could. It was like was he trying to buy time. And then I saw what he'd done.

Kuwabara's movements started to slow, his hits getting sloppier. It was minutes of beating Takuma around until he finally stopped, losing balance in a final attempt to hit my teammate. Takuma stayed on his feet, though barely. "Venom is a pain in the ass, eh?" he said, a small smirk crossing his face. Koto did the ten count, and declared Takuma the victor. The second she did, he collapsed.

Damon and I leaped into the ring, picking him up. "You barely hanging on is becoming a trend here, Takuma," Damon joked. "Let's keep it from being a habit."

"It's the last fight," the bat demon gasped. "We have to win. Sure, it was sneaky, but it had to be done. I'm not gonna be the reason we lose." He and I made brief eye contact. I nodded, trying my best to smile, though it came out grim. He knew how much it meant to me. He knew that I had prepared the last-ditch effort. Hell, I knew he was hoping that I wasn't going to have to use it as much as I was, but we weren't stupid. There was a strong chance that I was going to have to. Kuwabara had kicked Takuma's ass, and we'd only won by a trick. It was lucky, but it didn't bode well for us. If they were all measured by Kuwabara's standards, we were fucked. If Jin won his fight, the spell might have to be our only hope. I didn't know who Damon and Kuro would fight, but they didn't have venom like Takuma.

Damon's weird sexual appeal wasn't going to help him against Yusuke, Hiei or Kurama. Kuro… well, he didn't have a hope in hell. If he made it out alive he wouldn't make it much longer if Takuma and Damon had anything to say about it.

Touya was the next to step up. Jin put a hand on my shoulder, giving me a light squeeze. "I'll be taking him. I'll win so we have a fighting chance," he said. "I'm taking this seriously." I hadn't apologized for screaming at him, but he looked at me like he understood. Crying girls apparently got through to male demons well.

I nodded, shooting a weak smile at him. "Thanks. Be careful," I said. He grinned and hopped into the ring, swinging his arms around. I admired that about Jin. He seemed to be so confident, so excited about life. I wasn't. I was scared and insecure and guilty.

Jin and Touya smiled at each other as Koto started the match. "Touya vs Jin! Begin!" This fight made me realize just how much they'd been holding back on us. I couldn't even follow their movement. I felt the cold and the roaring winds, but they were nothing more than brief flashes of their bodies and blurs. It was stunning and I was sure that even with my glasses I wouldn't be able to follow them. The two of them went at it, and all you could hear were the collisions. I watched in horror.

We were so out of our league.

Jin had said they were friends with Urameshi, but there was no way in hell that he was as strong as they were. Yusuke had beaten Jin before, from what Damon said. I wasn't sure why anyone thought that we could beat Urameshi. Takuma had gotten lucky and he hadn't exactly been honourable. Kuro wouldn't be, but Damon had some pride. I could barely get through a fight without memories and guilt flooding me.

A gust of powerful wind shoved all of us to the side. Damon and Kuro kept their balance, and Takuma was sitting. I almost pulled a Piglett. Damon grabbed my arm as I started to fall over, my legs starting to lift off the ground. If we tied a string around my waist I could've been a kite.

Touya crashed into the arena wall, landing in the stands. The winds died down and my feet returned to the ground. I must've looked ridiculous clinging to Damon's side and thanking god that my feet were on the ground. Koto started the count. Touya wasn't getting back up.

The two of them were insane. To think I had fought both of them was wild to me. There was no way in hell they had been trying. This… this was what they were actually capable of.

"The winner of the match is Jin!" Koto declared. "This is looking like a promising start for Team Conneigan!" Damon and I looked at each other. We were both having the same thought. Koto had just jinxed us. There was no way in hell we were going to win.

The next one up was Kurama. Kuro walked up, long neck hanging down. The few times I had seen Kurama, he had been with his wife and son. He had looked warm, inviting. Like a father ought to. Now he was cold and hard, like he was more than ready to kill and feel nothing about it. Even though I didn't want Kuro to die, I understood the desire to kill him.

"Kuro vs Kurama!" Koto announced. "Begin!"

Kurama looked at Kuro, standing still and watching him with a measured stare. "Why are you a part of this?" the redhead demanded. "Everyone has seen how you disregard your team. Why even show up for the finals?"

Kuro gave a him a disgusting, slimy grin. "I want my wish. It's not like I'm going to let that little bitch walk away from this alive. She's an abomination!" Damon grabbed my hand and tugged me behind him. Kuro's lanky neck twisted to us, eyes cruel and shining. "Hiding her won't help, Damon. Hell, if we don't win someone else will do what I will."

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Kurama asked, forcing his attention back to the fox.

Kuro looked at me. "Well, she didn't die when she let Shoku take the hit. So I figured I'd have some fun with her before I ate her. She's not bad to look at, but who would mate a witch? Fuck and kill, that's more than she deserves." Acid rose in my throat. I thought we could trust him. He was a slimy bastard, but I didn't think he was that bad... I thought he was decent. He had been in my home. He'd shared a hotel room with me. The crowd kept cheering through that. The jeers were nothign compared to what I was hearing from the ring.

A low growl came from Damon. "We knew there was something off about you, you bastard, but this? Fuck if he doesn't kill you, I will! You're not leaving this island alive!" I coughed, shaking. My face was buried in Damon's back. I couldn't even look at the ring. I was scared I'd actually vomit, and then I'd look worse.

"What are you gonna do? Kill me before I make the wish?" Kuro taunted. "Bullshit. I'm going to have my way. Surely, Kurama, you understand. You know what they've done to our kind. They don't deserve to live, let alone as long as she has."

"It's our job to protect humans. She is human," Kurama stated, voice low and controlled. The anger was there, but it was careful and measured. I glanced back at teh ring, where Kurama was glowering at Kuro. He was no longer a fighter. That was the face of an angry father. I'd seen it before on my own, and in the face of my grandfather whenever anyone in our family was in danger, or any woman for that matter. "From what we've seen, she means no harm to anyone. Not even demons, who have apparently tried to kill her more than once and one who she thought to be her teammate that plans to rape and eat her. So, no. I do not understand." Kuro began to look truly terrified.

Kurama took out a small seed, glaring at Kuro. Our… I could hardly call him a teammate, but Kuro launched at him. He was going on a suicide mission. Kurama flicked the seed at him and it lodged securely in Kuro's chest. The fox demon's energy flew through the roof, and a plant began to grow out of Kuro, bursting into flowers. Screaming rang in my ears.

"I'm sure you've heard of this plant," Kurama said to a struggling Kuro. "It's a variation on the Burner, only it takes far longer to liquefy you internal organs. I feel for your crimes, past and intended, this is less than you deserve. Feel lucky that I have more important things to worry about than you."

Koto looked between the two of them nervously, like she had no idea how to call the match. "Um… I guess since Kuro can't physically move and is in agonizing pain, the match goes to Kurama!"

Damon squeezed my hand tight as the flowering remains of Kuro were dragged out of the arena by some attendants. My stomach was turning. The idea of what he wanted to do to me… I swallowed hard, trying not to vomit. What a monster. Had that been his goal the entire time? He'd lived in my house, for fuck's sake. His words just kept bouncing around my brain.

I forced them out, shaking my head violently. There was no time. I could feel violated and scared when this was over. Dump myself in a cleansing bath and sage the entire house. We just had to get through this match.

Yusuke was the next to hop up. Damon and I shared a confused glance. He was the team leader. I'd been expecting to fight him. Damon had prepped me for what his abilities were. The Spirit Gun was not something I wanted to be on the receiving end of, but I knew how to dodge it. That only left Hiei on their team. I knew nothing about what he could do, I just knew he was a fire demon and that was only based off energy. Damon hadn't said much about him; I assumed because he didn't know a lot.

A grim look came over his face. "I'm going. If I win, you might not have to fight Hiei." He smiled down at me. "Just… keep your fingers crossed, ok?" His hand left mine, walking to the ring. Jin looked down at me, then back to him.

"Are you two dating?" He asked. I gagged. "Sorry, you two always act really close."

"No…" My arms tightened around my stomach. "He's like my brother. He's all the family I have left." Jin looked at me with an unreadable expression.

It was a weird thing to think of, but it was true. Damon and I argued like siblings. Neither of us had any other family, so we went to each other. We had become family the day he showed up on my doorstep and moved in. He had his own place and yet he preferred it at my house. It hadn't felt like a home until I'd had someone else there with me. With all of us moved in, it became more than just my grandparent's house. Damon had become, for all intents and purposes, my brother. Even if we'd never actually said it.

"Ok! Yusuke vs Damon!" Koto exclaimed. "Begin!"

Damon gave Yusuke a grin. "Wanna tell me why I'm fighting you and not Hiei? Last I checked it was common place for the teamleaders to fight each other in the finals. That's you and Fin."

"I know," Yusuke said, waving his hand. "That's not my thing though, I'm just respecting someone's wishes for once." Damon looked past Yusuke for a second, the back to the boy. I saw Damon's lips move but I couldn't hear what he said. Guilt covered Yusuke's face as his next words came. "Sorry, man. I'm sure she'll be fine."

A growl came from Damon and he launched at Yusuke, fist raised. It was almost like Yusuke let Damon's fist land square on his jaw. The leader of the other team grinned, a slight scratch on his face. Yusuke plowed his fist into Damon's face, sending him flying across the ring. Damon skidded on his back, stopping just before the edge of the ring. He pushed to his feet, wiping blood away from his mouth.

It was almost like they had made a silent pact to only beat the shit out of each other with their fists. Their energy attacks were similar anyways, both explosive balls of energy that destroyed a lot. Yusuke was clearly stronger, but Damon wasn't backing down. Every blow Yusuke dealt was met with two from Damon. But I could tell that Damon wasn't going to win. He was fighting so hard, but he was running out of energy and he was nothing compared to Yusuke, as much as I hated to admit it.

I just wanted Damon to come out of this alive.

A small shrieking gasp escaped me as Damon was slammed into the ring. The concrete splintered and cracked around his body, chunks flying towards us. I bit into my lip, waiting for him to move. I didn't care if he got up. I just wanted him to move. I wanted any movement I could get. Koto started the count.

"One." Nothing.

"Two." Nothing.

"Three." My eyes started to water.

"Four." Please not Damon.

"Five." I couldn't lose someone else.

"Six." He was my best friend. I couldn't lose him, too.

"Seven." Did a finger twitch?

"Eight." The mess of brown hair moved and a smile lit up my face in relief.

"Nine." He tried to push himself up.

"Ten." His arms shook before he collapsed in the small crater.

"The winner is Yusuke Urameshi!" Koto exclaimed. I rushed forward the second she finished, leaping into the ring and to Damon's side. He was beaten and bruised. Blood trickled from his forehead and his nose was twisted at an almost obscene angle.

A weak smile pulled some purpling bruises tight. "I tried, Fin. I didn't want you to fight him." If he didn't want me to fight Hiei, I could only begin to imagine what he was capable of. Hiei was strong, but we hadn't even entertained the idea of me fighting him.

"I know…" I helped him out of the ring. "I'm just glad you're ok." Alive. But we both knew what I meant.

I stayed in the ring, handing Damon off to Jin. He grabbed my arm, staring me down. "Don't use it, Fin. Please." There was no nod from me. No reassuring smile. Just a tight-lipped resolve. I couldn't lose against Hiei. I couldn't. Damon's eyes were pleading and I just turned away, unable to meet his gaze any longer with the fear shaking through me.

Hiei was already on the platform, waiting for me. I didn't want to think that this was goodbye, but the possibility wasn't leaving my mind. Our eyes met. We waited for Koto to start the match. I wanted to know why I was fighting him. I wanted to know why I kept running into him. I wanted to make it out of this alive.

I wasn't counting on anything.

"This is it, guys! The deciding match of the Dark Tournament finals!" Koto announced. "Hiei vs Finley! Begin!" Hiei drew his sword, darting towards me. I barely dodged, biting through my lip as pain shot through my arm as I tried not to scream. Blood streamed from my arm and bottom lip. I had to come up with something. Anything.

Fire was useless against him, but I knew his could kill me. I was terrified of water, so I wasn't sure that was a valid option. Wind? Might work, but there was no guarantee. I needed to give something else a shot before I tried the spell. I didn't want to use it if I didn't have to. I didn't want to die.

Hiei kept coming at me, barely missing me every time. It was like he was trying to miss me.

I tripped over a piece of concrete, landing in the crater that Yusuke had made with Damon's body. Concrete was rock. Rock was earth. Maybe? As Hiei drew back his fist, ready to copy Yusuke's move, I poured energy into the stone below me. A few chunks flew up, blasting Hiei backwards. Scrambling out of the crater, I felt the energy loss. It was way worse than I thought. I had never done something like that. If only I had actually used my magic for the years leading up to this. Maybe I'd know my limits.

Grabbing a witch ball from my bag and looking around for Hiei, I tried to get a small amount of my energy back. There was a pile of rubble across the ring. That had to be where Hiei was. A wave of heat pulsed through the arena and the concrete chunks flew at me. I hit the floor, ducking.

Hiei emerged, a dark, burning aura surrounding him. I was terrified. He was pissed. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. I struggled to keep my face straight as I shook.

In a flash, he was right in my face. "You want to win? Commit." A fist hit my chest. With a loud crack I landed in the stands, surrounded by jeering demons. I pushed up, glaring at him. He thought I wasn't committed to this? He had no fucking idea how much I wanted it. How fucking dare he?

I jumped into the ring. If looks could kill, he and I would both be on the ground. "You think I'm not committed?" I demanded, drawing one of my daggers. "You have no fucking idea how committed I am." My voice had become a hiss as I slashed at him. He was dodging me effortlessly, like this was babysitting and I was the annoying five-year-old that wanted to roughhouse.

"I know you're not," he snapped, retaliating with a bitch slap. There was no other word for it. I fell to the ground, face stinging. "If you were committed, you'd be trying to kill me. You wouldn't be trapped by your senseless guilt. You're not even worth a fight." The words stung more than my face. His opinion shouldn't have mattered, but he was right.

I pushed myself onto my knees, gripping my dagger tight. I knew what I was going to have to do. That fucker wanted to say I wasn't dedicated to this? I knew I wasn't going to win. So I had to pull out all the stops. He towered over me and the ultimate disrespect of his tone and the slap was fueling both shame and anger in me.

"You don't know what I'm fighting for," I whispered, drawing my dagger across my palm. "This is more important than I am." Blood started to drip from my palm.

Hiei scoffed. "The wife and daughter of your teammate? You never shut up about them. You have nightmares about them. Don't act like this is altruism. This is saving you from guilt." I didn't say anything. Hiei started backing me up, and I scrambled backwards. Once I was by the edge, I quickly drew a pentacle in my blood.

I bolted across the arena on a slight diagonal. Hiei followed me, and tried to hit me, but not before I could recreate the pentacle. We went around the arena, darting in a septagram. I took the hits, scrambling to the middle. I wasn't sure if Hiei knew what I was doing, but he didn't destroy any of the marks. I was beaten and bloody and that was probably all he saw.

"Get out of the ring," I muttered to Koto as I scribbled a mark of Solomon the centre. It wasn't for a particular demon, but it would do. Koto ran as I walked back to the edge of the ring. I pulled the wand I'd made before for the curse from my bag.

Damon looked at me, and to the wand and back. "Finley, no! Don't fucking do this!"

I ignored him, looking Hiei dead in the eyes. He was standing two steps from the center of the seal in the ring. I tossed the wand at him, the bundle landing in the center of the circle. I just needed him to pick it up.

Two steps forward and he kicked it into his hand in one smooth motion, examining it. Thank god.

"I don't know if this is a thing in Japan, but back home there's this popular saying," I started. "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I made eye contact with him, letting the blood from me hand to the first pentacle I'd drawn. Tears stung my eyes, one escaping and pouring down my cheek. "I don't want to see myself become the villain." He narrowed his eyes and I started the spell.

"I bind your body, I bind your soul. Demons that haunt you now become whole." It didn't rhyme in Scottish, but it didn't matter. I'd written it in English and translated it for my work. "I offer my energy, I offer my life. To leave you in dark, to leave you in strife. I bring you the demons with whom you won't cope, I take your life and I take your hope." I repeated the words over and over, energy draining from me. Hiei struggled in the center of the ring. He couldn't move. Tears poured down my face as I chanted and my voice cracked.

Wind started to whip up, the arena plunging into darkness. Then the light came.

Towering figures of light came from each pentacle, glowing bright blue. Shadows of the huge paper people figures sprawled across the panicking audience. I just kept chanting. My mouth was moving independent of itself. I couldn't stop it, though my heart was fluttering like mad.

The figures joined hands, moving and dancing around the ring. A loud ringing filled my ears, screaming. Demons in the crowd started bolting, and those who didn't go fast enough gripped their heads in pain. Their mouths were open in screams, but I couldn't hear them.

I knew where the images came from. You base a spell of Seven Devils and Howl's Moving Castle, and it was unsurprising. But I didn't think that I was capable of doing something like this. Something so intense. So real. The figures drew closer and closer to Hiei, shrinking to close over him.

To his credit, he didn't scream. If I was him, I would've. He might not have been able to. The energy was rapidly fading from me. I hadn't felt it until the figures closed over Hiei, masking him in a bright dome of light. The screaming in the crowd stopped, and so had the ringing. The light had returned to the arena. The only remainders of my spell were the dome of light and my rapidly diminishing energy. Koto climbed back into the ring, and looked around.

"I guess Hiei is down," she stated. "I'll start the count. One! Two! Three!"

I had won. I just had to stay up for another 7 seconds. It wasn't much longer. My head was swimming, blood rushing away from it. I just had to hold on.

There was a flare of familiar, warm energy and the dome started to pulse wildly. Something was moving under the surface. Koto stopped counting and both of us stared at it. My legs were shaking. Something was trying to escape from it. It didn't feel like Hiei. It felt powerful and dark, almost evil.

The dome exploded, waves of the dark energy and wind forced me down on my knees. The ringing was back, though it had become closer to screaming. The light people were dying, for lack of better term. I flew back a few feet, barely staying in the ring. And then I looked up.

A massive dragon had erupted from the dome, my energy leaving me in a rush. The burning dragon was coming from Hiei. I could barely hear him yelling, "Dragon of the Darkness Flame!" No fucking way. That was what I had felt crawling just underneath the surface of his energy. A fucking dragon. Of darkness. I had never stood a chance against him. A small sad smile crossed my face through the tears.

My vision started to go black, wavering and shaking. Everything was cloudy. My limbs were heavy. The weak beating of my heart filled my ears, getting weaker and weaker. The last thing I saw was Hiei emerging from the clearing smoke.

Then everything went dark.

At least I got to try to be a hero.

Well that's it for the Dark Tournament! And yes, this is how I'm ending it.

A side question that I would like your guys' opinions on, however. I have been thinking of doing separate POVs for some characters in the future, just as little third person insights to everything else that's going on. If you guys would be interested in that being included as we go, or if you only want to see things from Fin's POV, please let me know. I kept it with Fin for the Tournament, but it may be time for the occasional branch out. I'll still be writing them for myself either way.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave any comments and reviews, they are really appreciated. :)

Have a great day!