Day 1

Part 2

"W-what do you mean 'If you lose you die'?" Lucy's mind was whizzing and a sickening feeling was rising in her gut. Just what the hell had she gotten herself in to?

Carter sighed and leaned back, pulling his face out of hers. Again, he ran his fingers through his hair, only this time he gently tussled his black locks afterwards, leaving them to fall languidly in his face.

"That's all I know really." He said, letting his line of sight wander over to the door to the right. "It started 2 years ago. Mages would go missing on missions. Most would never return, but those few that did – the few that won – would only tell the rest one thing." He paused. "If you lose. You die"

Lucy drew her knees up to her chest again and gripped her shins tightly, her nails digging into the soft flesh. She ignored the pain though. Slowly, she rocked back and forth, trying to digest the situation.

"So… basically, it's a fight to the death?"

Carter hesitated, and then nodded curtly.

"In theory, yes." His tone was low and devoid of all and any emotion.

Lucy buried her face in her lap and felt tears soak into the dry fabric of her clothes. Her whole body was trembling, that much she was fully aware of. Her mind, however, was a jumbled mess; each corner trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Anyway." Carters voice, now back to the soft, sweet sound she had heard when he was comforting her, broke her out of her reverie and made her look up at the tall boy who was now standing. "We should probably get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrows going to be one hell of a day."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again…" Lucy murmured.

Suddenly, a hand was thrust in front of her face. Lucy studied it carefully before looking back at Carter. His head was turned to the side.

"Come, you can sleep in my bed with me."

All the blood instantly rushed to Lucy's cheeks but she ignored the firing blush and took his steady hand in her shaky one. She barely knew this boy, but she didn't want to sleep alone in this place – not ever.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

He smiled a big goofy grin and the celestial wizard was suddenly reminded of Natsu – her pink haired best friend. The strings of her heart tugged painfully.

Carter walked over to a ripped mattress that lay on the floor and lay down, Lucy soon following his actions. At first, they just lay next to each other, but Lucy began to sob causing Carter to wrap his arms comfortingly around her fragile frame.

"Don't worry Lucy." He soothed. "Just sleep."

Lucy sniffled and buried her face in Carters chest. Soon, the two had fallen into a black haze, their dreams filled with horrid guesses of the road ahead.

3 hours earlier…

"Poor girl…" the strawberry blonde girl sighed, twisting one of her blue highlights between her fingers.

The man in the room raised his head and picked up a pebble from the floor, toying with it as he stared at his partner. His reptilian eyes flickered in the soft glow of the candle.

"So, they found another one?"

The girl just nodded and watched the men outside her room carry the unconscious blonde through the hallways. She felt tears prick her eyes as she remembered her first time waking up here, all alone, no-one to comfort her.

"She's the last one right? Apophis?" She turned her head from the small letter box like slot in the door and looked at the bald man.

Dropping the pebble to the floor, he reached his hand up and scratched his scalp, his fingers absentmindedly beginning to trace the shape of his snake tattoos.

"Yeah, I think so…" Apophis murmured.

"So the games start tomorrow then?"

Apophis just nodded and closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. Then, he let his eyelids flutter open again and fixed his red gaze on the girl by the door. He had been with the 16 year old for a long time now, but, he couldn't be sure exactly how long – time sort of blurred down here.

"Don't worry, Autumn. We won't lose. I won't let us lose."

Autumn just nodded and then cast her gaze back out of the letter box, watching carefully as the masked man and his unconscious victim turned a corner and vanished out of sight.

"I hope you're right…"

Yeah, I know short, but I work better in quick bursts, I struggle to write long stuff and when I do, the quality seriously dips :(

Anyway, two Oc's enter here!

Apophis Serpentenes by Snakeboy33

Autumn Gabriela Locania by CupcakesandCats17

Thank you all for your OC's, I'm still accepting by the way, so I looke forward to seeing you ideas!