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Inevitability

Ryuu's heart shattered. Max had been bad. It had been inevitable, but nothing could have prepared him for it. He had walked into the arena, and had done the single hardest thing since he arrived. He had murdered one of his two best friends. Max's Kekkei Genkai had been a strong one. The ability to turn energy, be it kinetic force, chakra, potential energy, even pure light, into a weapon. Ryuu had actually thought he might lose that fight more than a dozen times. Max had pinned him down several dozen, and Ryuu had been so exhausted by the end that he couldn't even heal himself. Then, Max had taken to the sky, using pure electricity, rather than Lightning Style Chakra, to fly. So Ryuu had followed him, finally managing to perfect his own method of flying, one that Max himself had been helping him try to learn for the entirety of the year and a half they had been there. They had fought in the air for what felt like days, but probably was no longer than six hours. At the end, Max had broken every bone in Ryuu's arms and legs, to include his hands and feet.

Ryuu had lain there for several minutes as Max used a blade formed out of light to shred his torso. He had healed his limbs, then thrown Max off, leaving his torso as it was as he attacked Max again. But what he realized while he was fighting Max again, was that his torso had seemingly mended itself, his chakra instinctively mending the damage while Ryuu focused on the fight. Then, finally, as Ryuu was out of chakra, he used what little he had left to charge at Max and attack him with a Wind Rapier. Rather than avoiding it, Max had allowed it to cut through his own light sword. Ryuu knew he did. Because that same type of sword had been cutting through his jutsus the entire fight. But, that blow had decided their fight. Ryuu sat on his knees beside Max as Max bled out for several minutes. And Max had spoken.

"I'm so proud to have been your friend," Max had said. "Take care of Lena. And don't blame yourself. It was my choice."

And then he had died. Ryuu had been crushed. No, that wasn't right. He had been broken. He had been broken into so many pieces, that he had had to be dragged to Kabuto, hadn't even felt the surgery, and then had been dragged back to the holding cell. He hadn't even realized he was there until he had found Lena sobbing into his chest.

Lena. Ryuu couldn't do it. He couldn't. He had already killed Max. He had done it only yesterday. So as he stared across the arena at her, his only remaining friend, he knew. He couldn't do it. Come what may, be it one eye or both, be it his life, her life, or the lives of every prisoner, he couldn't bring himself to kill her. And then he understood. This had been how Max felt, staring at him from across the arena. He couldn't kill his best friend. His family. The only family he had had left after Orochimaru had forced him to kill the rest of them in the arena. So he had allowed Ryuu to kill him instead.

"Fight!" the newest warden ordered, but both merely stood there.

Ryuu couldn't do it. And looking into Lena's eyes, neither could she. He knew. He had always known, he supposed. Known, and ignored. It was why Max had been willing to leave Lena with him, even though he had been in love with Lena himself, and when he himself was stronger. It was why Ryuu would be able to kill Lena long before she could kill him. It was why Lena had always understood Ryuu's feelings when she would comfort him about missing Fu, or about being afraid of Fu moving on. Because she was watching as the man she loved fought tooth and nail to try and survive, in the slim, unreasonable hope of seeing the woman he loved, a woman that wasn't Lena, again. Because she, Lena, his dearest friend, was in love with him.

Ryuu fell to his knees, staring at the sand. He couldn't. She couldn't. They'd both be killed. No. He'd be killed. She would be raped to death. Fury flooded his veins and he stood, Sharingan glowing with his rage. It was time. he couldn't stay any longer. He wouldn't watch his last friend die. He would get her out. Come what may. Then, he would use every ounce of chakra, every last bit of his speed, to find Fu and save her from Orochimaru's spy. It didn't matter if she was no longer his. It didn't matter if he died. It didn't matter if it was the last time he'd ever see her. He would not allow his last friend, or the love of his life to be harmed.

"Lena," Ryuu snarled. "You needed a powerful corpse, right?"

Lena stared at him before staring at the floor of the arena. any corpses they left on the arena floor were swallowed up by the arena floor. They were trapped beneath it. He was trapped beneath it. She knelt, slamming her palms into the ground, a ripple of chakra shooting out from them. Then, the ground exploded as Max rose up from below it, landing lightly on his feet, expression blank, wound exposed to the world. Then, Max raised a hand, a blast of condensed light shooting out of his palm into the Warden's window. The Warden was new today. He didn't know of Max's abilities. But when the smoke cleared to reveal the bloody remains of the shinobi in that room splattered over the walls, it revealed the warden, completely unscathed. He dropped to the ground, lunging forward and drilling a punch into Max's gut, sending him blasting into the wall. As soon as Max hit, he was moving again, attacking the Warden with all the ferocity with which he had attacked Ryuu. For a moment, Ryuu could have believed he was alive again. Then, he and Lena were sprinting away from the arena, Ryuu having taken the time to free the rest of the prisoners, starting a full-scale riot. Shinobi flooded toward the arena from every hallway, Ryuu protecting Lena from them as they took the less populated routes.

He knew how to get out. He had mapped the base out five times over. However, as the riot began to be quelled by the overwhelming number of shinobi, that overwhelming number began to find them again, blocking every route to the exit. Still they forged on, Ryuu cutting, hacking, burning, crushing, electrocuting, and otherwise slaughtering anything that dared try to do harm to his friend. Then, finally, as they reached a massive open chamber where the exit was the only other way to go, a laugh echoed through the room. Orochimaru.

"My my, Ryuu, you truly are an impressive one," Orochimaru said, voice coming from everywhere. "I think you actually killed more of my troops than the entire riot did. However, I'm afraid you can't leave. I can't afford to lose your abilities. It's a shame what I'll have to do to your friend, but don't worry. I promise I'll allow Fu to live. For now, at least."

Ryuu spun to Lena, who smiled sadly. Ryuu began to back away, tears running down his face.

"I'm sorry Ryuu," Lena said. "I guess we failed."

Then, she fell to her knees, snakes bursting out of her mouth as she tipped over backward. Ryuu screamed in rage and pain, slamming his hands into the ground and sending flames exploding outward from them, incinerating the snakes and numerous of the shinobi that had surrounded him and Lena. He lifted her into his lap, staring at her. She was gone. Several of the snakes had burst out through her throat since her mouth was blocked, and one had come from each eye. Shinobi charged at him, but Ryuu remained motionless. he didn't fight back. He couldn't. All the fight he had was taken away with his only remaining friend.

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