Fire is catching

Chapter 28

Authors Note: Hey guys, I know that there's no excuse for not uploading for so so long…just know that I'm really really sorry. It's just that I was really busy and didn't have enough time to sit down and write anything good enough to upload.

After such a long time I can understand if you lost interest in this story, yet I hope you didn't and you're willing to give me another chance. I'll try to upload on a more regular basis now.

So here's another (extra long) chapter of my story in which Lucy is a tribute in the hunger games and is currently looking for food together with her ally Wendy.

And always keep in mind: This is a hunger games story so there's going to be some violence.

I hope you enjoy this chapter and see you soon!

I take off and try to remember how those damn traps were made again. Every time I try to catch an animal like that I think about Levy, I wonder how she's doing right now? I hope that she isn't in immediate danger.

As I'm fiddling with some branches and my piece of rope, a desperate scream makes me bolt upright.

"LUUUUUUUCY!"

The sound is filled with so much fear and desperation that it sends chills as cold as ice down my spine.

"LUUUUCYYYY! PLEASE COME HERE! HELP MEEE!"

Although everything inside of me wants to run in the direction from which Wendy's screams are coming, I hesitate for a moment. There's something else hidden inside her screams, something seems off, as if the words she's screaming were learned by heart and don't originally belong to her. Why didn't she use our signal if she knew that something was wrong?

Even though that doesn't make it better I think that she's being forced to scream for me. Whoever is attacking us seems to want to kill two birds with one stone. What a matching idiom.

So instead of running towards her like an idiot I creep towards the source of the screams. I need to stay calm, keep my head clear, observe the situation and think about my actions instead of just blindly jumping into it, that would only make it worse.

Stay cool, Lucy. You can fix this.

I kneel down in the undergrowth surrounding the clearing where I met Levy at the very beginning of the games. I had no idea that we were in this part of the arena, my sense of orientation really is nonexistent.

Wendy's screams are very close now, she has to be on that clearing. Every part of my body wants to jump out of the bushes and hurry to her help, but I know better. In order to be able to help her, I firstly need to get an overview over this whole screwed up situation.

Bracing myself for the worst, I slightly push away the branches with my sweaty hands, forming a small peak hole.

My blood freezes cold in my veins.

And I know that it is

Over.

Wendy has been captured by the careers. At the sight of Gajeel my stomach starts clenching, I can still feel his iron punch, although it feels like it happened ages ago. He and the boy from district 1, Saphir, found my ally while she was looking for plants for her and me to eat. Because I told her we needed new supplies. It was me. If it wasn't for me, she'd still be sitting in our safe cave. I only wanted to protect her and now this happened.

Gajeel is holding her by her throat, lifting her of the ground as if she's nothing more than a doll. Wendy's feet are dangling in the air, trying to kick him, but he's holding her far enough from his body. The wicked grin on his face sends chills down my spine. Saphir stands a little apart from him, eating an apple and looking slightly bored, as if he was watching one of those bad Reality Capitol TV shows instead of being about to kill a young girl.

"Call for your friend or I'll rip your tiny throat apart as if it was a toothpick, okay?" says Gajeel, his voice an angry growl.

"Come on dude, she ain't gonna help her man. That district 8 chick probably ran for it, smart thing to do if ya ask me. I mean c'mon who'd be stupid enough to team up with this wimp in the first place? Let's just kill her and leave 'kay?" said Saphir in the tone of talking about taking the next bus. His attitude made my blood boil and it took all of my self-control to not claw his eyes out for what he just said.

Call me stupid? Okay, I'm fine with that. Call me weak? I couldn't care less. But insult my friends and I won't forgive you.

But how can I help Wendy? Saphir and Gajeel are both experienced killers that are armed to the teeth and I'm just, I'm just me. Dumb, clumsy Lucy from district 8 that only survived the first days because others were kind enough to help her.

That's when Gajeel suddenly halts, sniffs around and then looks me directly in the eyes, he spotted me, he knows I'm there. An evil grin spreads on his face, turning it into a scary grimace.

"Okay, you celestial whatever mage, you have exactly 10 seconds to come out of your little hiding place or I'll break your friend's neck, right before your eyes. I'm not joking."

I know he isn't.

A million thoughts race through my mind, making my head spin. What should I do? What in the world should I do? If I stay, Wendy will die and if I try to rescue her, we'll both be killed. There's no way that I can save her and myself, not with those two careers around.

"10….9…." his voice is filled with the excitement of a little boy on Christmas day. He really enjoys this.

A person with no morals but a strong will to survive, the perfect tribute, would turn around without looking back, it is what the darkness within me wants to do, the monster that is only waiting to hijack my fragile mind and take over this body. But I can't, I can't leave her behind. I owe it to her. This girl saved my life and wanted nothing in exchange. She made those last days bearable, she made me smile, she made me feel as if the whole hunger games are nothing but a horribly realistic nightmare. Wendy saved me although I should've died, she gave me a few more days and now it's my turn to do something for her.

"8….7…."

I try to come up with some sort of plan that will give her the slightest chance to survive…what can I do…come on Lucy think!

"Lucy! Don't do it! Run away! You can't save me, please run away and live, win the games for both of us! You have to…", but her clear soft voice is immediately cut off by Gajeel tightening the grip around her throat. "Shut up you pathetic little brat. You think you're brave? Well I'm going to show you…"

How can she say those words, how can she be that selfless? That's it. All my rationality, my fear, my potential plans, my doubts vanish and I storm out of the bushes heading straight towards the iron boy, tears blurring my vision.

I just don't get that girl, why is she so incredibly kind? In this screwed up world full of horror and pain she's like a burning light trying to fight off the dark, pure and bright. Her heart's so big and her smile so bright, her kindness knows no boundaries. Even facing the end she does not bow and wants to sacrifice herself for an almost stranger. She's better than all of us pathetic people in this twisted game, but it doesn't do her any good, she's still suffering, why? Why?

I throw myself at Gajeel with all my strength, slashing at him with my knife, looking for a weak spot and careful not to hurt Wendy. He looks at me with a startled expression for a split second, as if he's genuinely surprised that I actually stood up to fight before his sickening smile returns and a strong punch on my head makes me see stars. I'm hauled back by a strong grip, unable to move.

Oh shit, in my outburst of blind rage I completely forgot about Saphir. Before I coud even land a single strike on Gajeel, he already holds me back, I'm trapped and so is Wendy.

It was all for nothing.

"Well, well…district 8 girl I wouldn't have thought that you'd actually fall for this. You've got guts, at least I have to give you credit for that, although of course your actions were incredibly stupid, or did you really think you stood a chance against the two of us, I mean, look at you", an ugly snorting sound escapes his mouth. "Anyway, I'm glad you did, now I can have fun killing both of you" at that he kicks Wendy in the back making her small face twitch in pain.

I turn pale and try to get out of Saphire's hands, knowing it is impossible.

"Oh you don't like when I hurt your little friend? Yeah, I saw that determined face of yours when you…tried to attack me. I've got to admit, you scared me for a second" both of the boys start laughing at that.

I grid my teeth and try to hold back the tears of pure despair, I don't want to give them the pleasure of making me cry, especially while Wendy is strong enough to fight her tears.

"So what do you think about this?"

Gajeel holds up Wendy's thin arm, which looks so small and fragile compared to him. Even though she tries to hide it, I can clearly see the fear written all over her face.

"No…no…" panic rushes through my body making me shiver "No don't hurt her! Please no…"

With an effortless movement of his hand he breaks her arm, it makes a terrifying cracking noise, like splintering wood and suddenly her lower arm stands of in a sick angle.

Wendy screams in pain, her body arched back, but she doesn't cry.

"No…no..no…" I can't stop saying it. The world starts turning, I see everything double, triple, five times, a million pictures of Wendy in pain, her broken arm looking as if it doesn't really belong to her body.

"You don't like this? Why? I'm not doing anything to you, you're not in any kind of pain right, isn't that right?"

I want to spit him in the face so badly, but risking Wendy getting hurt even more isn't worth it after all.

"It's okay Lucy" her voice is nothing more than a whisper and despite the incredible pain she must be in, Wendy tries to flash a smile at me.

I can't stand it anymore.

"Hey c'mon Gajeel, this isn't necessary. Let's just kill them and get back to the Cornucopia, I'm starting to get hungry", a small note of annoyance in his otherwise bored tone.

"Saphir, let me have some fun man! I can handle those two on my own, you can get back if you want to, but don't complain that you missed the party later on okay?"

"You're sick dude."

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing", with those words Saphir lets me loose and leaves the clearing without turning back.

"What a jerk" grunts the iron dragon slayer, "If he wasn't that god damn strong I would've killed him a long time ago…"

Shaking off whatever sick thing he's thinking about, he flashes a dangerous smile at me: "So…let's get this party started" Carefully choosing a knife from his big collection he puts his arm around Wendy's throat and holds the metal blade against her skin.

"Just to make this clear district 8, if you make one move I'll cut through your friend's throat, so just lean back and enjoy the show, it'll be your turn eventually."

With those words he focuses his attention on my blue haired friend, although he keeps an eye on me and has an incredibly sharp looking knife ready to throw at me if I make anything stupid. Wendy's body is shaking all over and her skin turned sickly pale. She tries so hard not to give in, not to break apart, but I can see the panic in her eyes as the boy from district 2 brings his knife against her cheek, piercing her skin. Little droplets of rich red liquid trickle down her face, making it look as if she's crying bloody tears.

She closes her eyes, holding back the scream that's dying to escape her mouth, the pain is written all over her.

Why is he doing this? I mean I get why the careers would want to kill us, we're in the hunger games after all. But why does he find pleasure in torturing a little girl like that? How can somebody even be that twisted, so utterly insane? I can't watch this, I can't stand seeing my ally, my friend like that.

Yet I don't look away although every part of me wants to. I can't abandon Wendy now, leave her with this psychopath. I try to build up eye contact with her, to distract her in any kind of way and she responds with a weak smile. It looks as if her teary eyes want to tell me something, send me a message, but I don't get it. As Gajeel is about to bring down his knife on the other side of her beautiful face, her tensed body loosens up and her expression turns to a calm and peaceful one, she's given up. She realized that she's going to die, that this insane career is going to kill her sooner or later. I want to tell her that it's not over yet, that I'll find a way for her to escape. Maybe you won't believe me but I don't even care about my own life at this point anymore, I just want her to survive. I want Wendy to win those games so badly, just to send a symbol, just to show that there's still hope. I want this kind hearted girl to survive the most cruel and horrific event ever to make a statement, to show the capitol that we won't let us be turned into monsters. And I had planned to protect her until the very end but it seems that this won't be possible, we won't both get out of this so I at least want to save her, she deserves it so much more than I do.

I want to tell her those words, I want to convince her to stay strong, to keep on fighting, but I'm afraid that Gajeel is going to kill her on the spot if I do as much as open my mouth, so I keep it shut instead.

Then I see the small bluenette mouth the words "Thank you" and I realize too late what she's about to do. With horror I see her kick the career in the stomach, scream: "RUN LUCY,RUN!" and bite down hard on his hand that's holding the knife pointed at me. Startled, he drops the blade, focuses his attention on Wendy and immediately stabs her right in the heart with one quick movement. It happens so fast and yet it stretches out forever, her dress turns ruby red around the spot where the knife sticks out of her chest. Her eyes shut down, looking so empty now, the usual energetic spark gone. Wendy's mouth is set in a determined line, frozen in time, it doesn't suit her at all. She always smiles, why isn't she smiling, why isn't she running around, why isn't she saying anything? Her lifeless body crumples to the ground as Gajeel pulls his knife out of her chest. And there she lies, completely still, like a thrown away toy. Small streams of blood running down her cheeks, her pretty face distorted by the same knife that stole her life.

Authors Note: Omg you can't believe how difficult this was to write. I feel so bad…I'm a horrible person…why did I do this?

Anyway, hope to see you next time guys and please forgive me for not uploading for so long and for killing Wendy, I'm sorry for both of those things. I wish you a (late) Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Natsu: What the hell Author where have you been?

Auhtor: Well I was busy with school and stuff…

Natsu: That's no excuse…you should be ashamed of yourself. I mean, you can't let your readers down like that?!

Author: Yes I know, I said I'm sorry….

Natsu: And you know what's even worse…?

Author: Even worse than being irresponsible…uhm..what? *terrified*

Natsu: I didn't get paid for months! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BUY FOOD?!

Author: Seriously? I forgot how conversations with you usually go…certainly didn't miss those…

Natsu: Ah shut up and buy me food instead. You owe me 365.000 burgers…with double cheese of course…

Author: *faints*