I've decided to bless you with another chapter to make up for the big spaces in between, but take heed. This chapter is the most horrid yet. I cried. My sister cried. Will you cry?

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Chapter 10 - Scarlet

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"Today we're going to try something different. You'll be pitted against one another, randomly paired, with conflicting goals. One of you will have to retrieve the 'flag' and the other will have to protect it. When you do this, I remind you to think that there is nothing else but the mission. Nothing else matters but the mission. If you fail, you will most likely die. Failure is not an option. From this moment, you will not speak. You must not say a word during the exercise, or you will be noticed and your mission will fail. Do I make myself clear? Good, now go to your separate holding chambers. You will be summoned when your time comes."

Rei ran over what the instructor had said in his head as he waited. He had been sitting in his holding chamber for what seemed like hours, the only respite when a sign flashed up on a screen in the wall, telling him that it was his mission to collect the flag at all costs. He wondered who he would be up against, but with all the armour they were wearing, it would be impossible to tell. His whole body was covered in a matt black suit, skin-tight and strangely textured. His hair was bundled into a helmet that included a visor that covered the top half of his face, the glass tinted so that recognition was impossible.

"You may now enter the arena."

Rei looked up at the door as it slid open onto what looked like a film set. It was massive, a huge reconstruction of a ruined city, and he couldn't see his goal, the 'flag', anywhere.

Knowing that somewhere out there was a trainee with his name on it, he wasted no time in entering the arena, scaling a nearby set of traffic lights to try and see any sign of a flag. Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps below him and looked down to investigate the disturbance. It was his opponent, scouting the terrain for either him or the flag. Whilst Rei was tempted to jump down from his perch and give the sloppy trainee a good beating for not looking up, he resisted the urge, knowing that he stood a better chance if he approached his goal stealthily.

He waited until the footsteps faded to move, keeping to the higher places to avoid being seen. Now he knew what had taken the others so long. The flag was nowhere to be found, up high or in basements low, and he was starting to get frustrated. Logic told him that it should be somewhere in the middle of the arena, but there was nothing there except a big, empty square that had no cover, just a statue in the middle.

A statue of a man holding a flag.

Rei cursed himself for being so stupid and started back towards the square, wary for his opponent, whom he hadn't seen since the first encounter. He lingered in the shadows at the side of the great expanse, debating what to do and finally deciding on an all-out run to the finish.

He burst free of cover and sprinted in the direction of his goal, unaware of another entity speeding towards him until it was too late. He tried to change course, but they collided with a crunch and hit the floor, rolling over and over.

His opponent was clearly trying to pin him to the floor, so Rei kept struggling. A swift kick to the stomach with both feet sent his enemy flying backwards and he took the chance to make another flying leap to the flag, but his way was impeded by a body coming up to meet his.

Rei was getting tired. His adversary's strategy was clearly to separate him from his goal by putting their own body in between. Every time he tried to get past, they were there. Time for a change in tactics.

He leapt forward to meet his foe, knowing that if only he could knock them out, then his way would be clear. But that was easier said than done. The helmets were incredibly hard and resistant to cracking, as were the armoured suits. The only bare flesh was the bottom half of the face and the neck…

Frustrated with the whole ordeal, Rei started to fight wildly, desperately. Punch, block, kick, twist, jump, sweep, block, punch, connect! His opponent reeled for one, frantic second, but then countered wih a reflex punch that sent Rei cartwheeling backwards to keep his balance. As he flipped away, he saw a shard of metal, thin and cruelly sharp, lying on the ground. His hand landed on it, gripped and held. He returned to his feet at the end of his cartwheel and blocked the second punch sent his way, the metal shard still in his hand, the edges digging into his flesh. Block, block, punch, kick, step, jump, duck, block. The punches were coming faster now, almost impossible to block. On the verge of giving up, he gave one last desperate swipe, forgetting that his hand still held the knife-like shard.

The slash connected, sliding almost perfectly underneath the jawbone and slicing along the pale skin.

Blood gushed forth and his opponent crumbled. Rei dropped the blood-coated metal and fell to his knees beside them, still not quite believing what he had done. He tore off his mask to rid himself of the horrible, claustrophobic feeling, but it did not lessen as he looked upon the body, spattered with blood.

He knew that no one could survive that, knew that there was nothing he could do, but he still tried, and pulled off the helmet to see his opponent's face.

John's pale, crimson splashed face looked up at him. The beautiful blue eyes were tightly closed in pain, but one slit open, a sliver of sapphire in the darkness.

"Rei?"

"Yes, it's me." Rei grabbed his hand in desperation, willing himself not to cry. "John, I'm sorry…"

"…No…" John's life was ebbing rapidly. "No…Not…you anymore…Don't…Don't let…"

"Don't let what?" Rei cried urgently, giving in to the tears that were already coursing down his cheeks.

But John was already gone, dead by his best friend's hand in a pool of scarlet betrayal.

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I love all my reviewers because they are My Munch Bunch Buddies.