Time seemed to slow as the teams were given a brief moment to situate themselves into their positions. The air was so thick with the tension that it was almost too difficult to breath. The teams moved slowly, examining each other up and down. This was their last game with each other. One would walk away with their freedom, the other would be sent back into the darkness. None of them seemed to know how to react, whether to be hostile, or to cling to one another in a desperate effort to stop the world from spinning and time to flow. As Relena passed by Heero, her eyes lost their sad sheen of tears and were suddenly hard and impenetrable. Heero noticed the sudden change just as he was about to pass her. Without any hesitation, Relena hacked up a huge ball of spit and let it fly, landing on the ground in front of Heero. He stopped, staring at her over his shoulder as she continued towards her place. He determined from this sudden exchange that she intended to take this game to its very limits. This revelation hardened Heero's resolve. He swore that his team would be the victors, pushing away the sudden aching in his chest at the thought of what his team had to do.

The other members of Heero's team had seen Relena's actions and saw that they had been given a path to follow and they would take it. It was laid out now and there was to be no turning back. Quatre looked across the court, studying his opponents. They stood stiffly in their fighting stances, waiting for the ball to be introduced into the arena. Not one weakness was found, that is, until his eyes fell on Relena. She stood casually, almost limply before Heero. Her eyes were hard as stone, like the others, but she looked as if she was standing on the side of a street. Quatre frowned, finding this odd.

The roar of the crowd within the arena had dulled to a muted murmur. The rumors of these teams had spread so fast and so wide that everyone was anticipating this game. Everyone already knew that these two teams would come out as the championship players. Bets were evenly distributed between the two teams. By now the unconscious or lifeless bodies had been removed from the arena and pulled to the side, leaving only the bloodied ground, two aching teams, and a smudged dream of hope. The owners in the crowd leaned forward in their seats, their eyes concentrating indefinitely upon the 10 figures down below. It was common knowledge that this fight was to be the most spectacular game played ever in the Lost Children market of the Southern Hemisphere.

Relena had set it up perfectly. Now was the time that she dreaded the most. Not the fight against Heero and his team. They would have their trophy and freedom by the end of the day. She dreaded the disappointment, shock, betrayal, and anger written on her teammate's faces when she carried through with this mission of hope for the other Lost Children. A tear escaped through the carefully set barrier, but it was lost in the intensity of the moment. Relena looked around to her other players. Everyone was prepared for this, but her. Her eyes met with Dorothy's, portraying her deep sadness, displaying the actions that were about to be emitted from her. Dorothy's hardened eyes threw a questioning look.

No words were said as the ball was finally tossed up into the air. Heero and Relena were to both jump for the ball, but only one reached it. Relena stood stoically watching as the ball was taken down court without anyone to guard Heero's mad dash. Dorothy clashed knives with Duo, clenching her jaw as she took on the full onslaught of his attack. As she struggled in a stalemate with her opponent, she turned to glance at her captain, who still stood in the exact place that she had started. Her head was bowed, her back stiff. Dorothy's eyes widened when she saw the tear slide down her captain's jaw. Dorothy unexpectedly dropped out from under Duo's pressure and rolled out towards Relena. She stumbled to her feet as she sped forward, standing in front of Relena, gripping the other woman's shoulders. Dorothy's eyes searched hers, trying to find anything that would give an answer. Then it all came in a flash, she knew exactly why Relena was not willing to fight this game. It was a decision she had made long ago. Dorothy's eyes softened in understanding and nodded her agreement. Relena's eyes were filled with a hope that maybe someone else understood why she had to do this; why she didn't fight back.

Neither had a chance to say anything before Duo redirected his attack and ran over to them, knocking them both down in a single blow. They fell without resistance, sprawled out on the unrelenting ground. Tears spilled from Relena's eyes as the pain and exhaustion were setting in, her adrenaline exhausted from the last three tournaments. It was time for it all to end.

Natria let out a low growl as she tried to grab a hold Quatre's leg, attempting to make him lose his footing. Instead he reached around her bag and flipped her back in an awkward position, causing her face to land in a harsh angle. She let out some air between her teeth as a tear dripped down the corner of her face from the sudden onslaught of pain. Gathering her strength, she flipped away from the attacks, but he followed her every step, slashing as he went. Natria saw she had no way out but to reverse her attack and go at him straight on. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself to jump back at him, but her eye caught sight of Dorothy and Relena, lying prone on the ground, staring up at Duo with blank eyes. They looked as if they had no will left to play. The moment of hesitance cost her, for Quatre pulled back his fist, holding his knife and let it drive into her stomach. The blunt side made a cracking sound against one of her ribs. She knew it wasn't broken, but badly bruised. She let out a gasp, hunching over, losing all her air at once. Her mouth dropped open, trying to gasp for air, but not able to suck any in. Quatre stood back, staring coldly down at her hunched figure. It would only take one move to end it all for her. That's all it would take.

At that point, Wufei saw Natria collapse into a fit of suffocation. Her name rose to his lips, but it was immediately cut off by a fresh attack of blows from Hilde. She was pulling out hidden weapons left and right and letting them disappear just as quickly. He almost didn't even know where they appeared and where they vanished. He grit his teeth as he prepared to take a stand against her. When out of the corner of his eye, he saw the first point being played out. Hilde paused as well to watch.

Heero had gotten all the way down the court to the hoop and there was only Cathy there to stop him. Using all the strength she could gather she rushed out in front of his charge and took in the full force of his body. At the same moment, she whipped out her dull knife, intending on hindering Heero's flight for the hoop. Trowa reached her just in time to grab hold of both of her legs, pulling them together. Cathy quickly lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, her knife skittering across the ground to the side of the arena. Letting out a feral growl, she swung around and caught Trowa's face with her nails. A small trail of blood made its way down his jaw. Cathy's eyes widened at what she had done and she was momentarily stunned by the look on Trowa's face. At first it was one of bewilderment and then one of understanding. Cathy shook herself from that gaze and turned just in time to see Heero leaping for the hoop. Heero saw her coming and turned so that his foot landed on the side of her head. Her head snapped back with a dizzying force. For several instances, she flew threw the air, landing hard, next to her dagger. She could barely lift herself from the ground as she watched helplessly. The ball went smoothly through the net. For the second that followed it seemed almost silent. Cathy stared around her and took in Natria's crumbled form, still gasping for air, Quatre, pulling back a step, realizing what had just happened Hilde and Wufei's startled looks and the immobile Dorothy and Relena. That was what stunned her the most.

The one second passed and the crowd came to life with violent outbursts and vehement curses. It wasn't fair! The other team hardly fought back! The whole thing must have been rigged; there was no other way that this was possible.

Gathering her strength, Cathy rose from her place on the ground, ignoring Trowa's worried glances. He remained indifferent to the naked eye, but she knew he was still concerned. Relena and Dorothy stood together, still facing the opposite direction, knowing already that the other team had scored the first point. Natria limped over, with a slight hunch to her back as she was followed by Hilde and Cathy. They gathered closely. Hilde's eyes were flaming.

"What in hell were you doing out there? You didn't move any further than where Duo shoved you both! What the hell is going on?" she screamed at the top of her lungs. It was drowned out by the clamor that was going on in the stands. Relena looked at each of her teammates sadly and shook her head, looking down, biting her lip. Cathy's eyes narrowed. Hilde's face grew deadly. Her hands clenched as she took a step forward towards Relena.

"What are you trying to pull, Relena?" she hissed quietly. Relena's blue depths met her friends and Hilde immediately knew what had happened or what had been happening for a long time. "No, you can't be serious!" She shot a finger pointing to the other team who was looking rather bewilderedly at them. "We knew from the beginning that we had to beat them in order to gain our freedom. You knew that along with the rest of us!" she cried. Her voice could barely be heard.

Relena's gaze turned from sad to an icy glare. She had to now harden herself against the accusing glares. Dorothy stepped forward then and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and faced their team.

"Relena decided to do this long ago. It was nothing that other team did that made her do this." Natria spat on the ground and gave a harsh glare at Relena and Dorothy.

"Well, this is a team, and this team member is not going to lose." With that final sentence, she turned around and faced the other direction. At that moment, lightening ran across the sky, lighting up the outside. There, standing unnoticed was Geneva. A huge grin was spread across her face. Evidently, she had snuck out of the Cage and come to watch Natria play this final and decisive game. "Hope for the slaves." Relena spoke the words quietly. They would have been drowned out, but to Natria, it was as if it was louder than anything else in that arena. All of her fury and anger dissipated in an instant as she made eye contact with that little girl standing in the rain, waving with a huge grin. Geneva knew that Natria was capable of winning. She had seen the games now and knew that people, no matter what they feel, had to fight ruthlessly for that freedom. She had snuck out to cheer Natria on in this game. Natria turned to glance over at Hilde, who stood stiffly beside Cathy. If slaves thought that this bleak life was only for the games and to win, then what else was there for the many that wouldn't make it if they knew they were not going to win? Through one's actions, people's worlds can be rearranged. Sacrifices had to be made so that those who deserved it more can go out and do more with their own lives. Perhaps the ones that are left behind will grow so restless and so filled with the hope given by others, that they may even become rebellious, fighting their owners for freedom. Natria smiled at the thought of the girls rising up against Owner. They had been in servitude and punishment for so many years that they never once thought of raising a hand against the one who owned them. Natria realized that she was playing along with exactly what the announcers and the people in the stands wanted. They wanted to see her desperate, so desperate that they wanted to see her crawl on all fours to get her freedom. Natria felt her back stiffen. She would not give them what they wanted. She would die before she would crawl in front of Geneva… and Wufei. This was the end of the road for her fighting, no matter the consequences.

Hilde felt her heart sink further as she saw Natria straighten, staring at Relena and finally nodding her agreement. She didn't know what had gone through Natria's head in those brief moments, but it was enough to make her change her mind and therefore, lose the tournament. Now, with only two players willing to fight for their freedom, they had no chance at all in succeeding in that goal.

"No!" she wanted to cry it at the top of her lungs. "Not when we've come so far! Not now!" The words were frozen within her throat, refusing to come out. Then her eyes drifted to Duo. His face hard and she remembered back to her thoughts of sharing her dream of freedom. A quiet moment when Duo held her gently in his arms after sharing their love, sharing his dreams of what he wanted to do if he was no longer bound to slavery. He had plans; he wanted to be a mechanic and maybe even join the air force. He held such a boy like grin on his face. It almost broke Hilde's heart at the time. Then she realized, she had no dreams. The only thing she ever strove for was winning the championships. Then what? She felt the slight moment of panic wash over and then came her realization. Duo had something planned already. Hilde had nothing, only the faint dream of winning the money and her freedom. What was she going to do after that? She had no skills outside of the arena. She wasn't particularly a genius and she had no special knowledge of how to do anything. With the games taken away, it would leave her empty. An empty shell would walk through the streets without direction. This is what the market had planned. It had wiped everything out of the minds of its slaves to the point where the game consumed them. After they would win, there was nothing left. Hilde chilled at the thought of so many others going through the terrible things she had seen and endured. She felt her insides turn at some of the memories. On the outside, one could physically see Hilde breaking down slowly from the idea of winning her freedom.