Hide and Go Kill

Final

It was weird – she had never been bound by rock before. It seemed that her kidnapper possessed magic that liquidises and hardens materials, making it possible for him to bend brick of the surrounding walls into binds for her. She reckoned the sick dark mages watching them must be having a whale of a time, peering at them through stupid lacrima screens. She had half the mind to flip them off, but thought better of it. Plus, she couldn't even if she had the guts to. Chained, remember?

She felt so pathetic, waiting for Carter to come and save her. She felt as if she couldn't do anything for herself. She looked over to the man leaning against the wall and felt herself heat with anger.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" She didn't even notice the words leaving her mouth, and paused briefly before continuing. "I mean, now's your chance. Carter's not here."

Her kidnapper just chuckled and shifted his position lightly.

"I want him to be here. I want him to watch me kill you; I want to see his reaction." His voice was muffled by his beige piece of material that he had chosen to tie around his mouth.

Lucy glowed at the man and felt the hands behind her back clench.

"That's sick!" And it was. Yes, this was a fight to the death, but that was just too cruel. Carter's caring face as he soothed and talked to her flashed through her mind – along with his emotionless mask and cheeky grin.

The man chuckled again, clearly amused by Lucy's outburst, and pulled himself away from the wall. He strode through the short distance separating them and leant down, his face inching closer and closer to hers.

"Well? That's life in this game for you darling." His breath was rancid. But, she imagined hers was going to be none too sweet either after not brushing for god knows how long.

All of a sudden, on impulse, she gathered saliva in her mouth and spat right at the other mages face. He flinched, startled, before frowning and slowly – menacingly, almost – wiping the gooey substance from his cheek. He briefly looked at his hand, then back to Lucy, his arm rising in the air as his gaze switched. She saw it coming before she even felt the sting on her flesh. He slapped her.

Carter stopped, listening as a sickening slapping sound – skin against skin, he guessed – echoed throughout the sewer.

Lucy.

Without taking a second more to think, he was off, darting through the grimy water at full speed. Hopefully she was still alive by the time he reached her.

Hopefully.

Her sight blurred slightly on the impact, and a burning sensation quickly flooded her senses, causing her to gasp. In retrospect, spitting in the face of the person who held your life probably wasn't the best thing. Held her life? She hated that fact. Her hands clenched into tight fists behind her back, and, ignoring the firing pain in her cheek, she turned to face her enemy, a fierce look glinting in the usually sweet chocolate orbs.

The man smiled and narrowed his eyes at Lucy, leaning in close like he had before, when Lucy had spat at him. She didn't flinch, and her gaze never wavered. She hoped those idiots watching this game were going to enjoy this.

"What are you going to do, sweetheart?"

He gasped and fell backwards as Lucy's unbound foot – rookie mistake on his part – connected with his crutch. Lucy smirked and her hands fumbled around behind her back, searching for something cold and metal. She gripped the golden key tight, trying to twist it around to use, but her fingers were sweaty and the metal object fell to the ground with a slosh.

The man looked up, hearing the noise. He narrowed his eyes at Lucy, and slowly climbed to his feet, one hand placed protectively over his… private parts. Lucy flinched, her burst of braveness vanishing in an instant. She really needed to think about her actions. The man limped closer and closer and she could literally feel the hatred radiating from his body.

Rapidly, he whipped his head to the side, and Lucy done the same, trying to figure see what was there. Carter. Her breath hitched in relief. Carter was standing at the doorway to one of the tunnels, teeth bared, ready to fight.

"Doggy has come to play." The man's voice was hoarse, causing Lucy to smile – it must be because of her horrifying kick to his sensitive area. She had to bite back a chuckle. "I've already seen what you got mate, nothing but teeth and claws."

Carter smirked – if that's possible, he is in a wolf form after all. A mist surrounded all four of his paws and when it vanished, there were huge chunky metal cloves covering his paws. They had holes for his claws to poke through though.

"Yeah, but unfortunately for you," Carter darted forward his weapon like claws at the ready. "This doggy doesn't play too nice!"

Carter scratched at the man's face and cringed, feeling his muscles twinge. He didn't have too long left, he had to finish this quickly or both he and Lucy would end up dying. With a sickening tear, his front right claw collided with the man's cheek, sending blood splattering to the floor. The metal of Carter's gloves clinked and purple liquid seemed from tiny, unnoticeable holes and into the raw wound, causing the man to roar in pain.

Excellent, stage one complete.

Carter's very sneaky power. Front right glove; contains paralysis poison. Front left glove; contains poison that causes sight to deteriorate. Back right glove; contains sleeping gas. Back left glove; contains strong acid. With stage one complete, it was only a matter of minutes before the man wouldn't be able to move. Perfect.

On to stage two. Free Lucy and run before Carter collapses from exhaustion. Turning away from the now jittering man, Carter ran to Lucy and assessed the situation. Bound by rock – great. With a swift kick, he sloshed specks of green liquid over the solid ropes. They soon sizzled and crumbled away.

Lucy, now free from her constraints, jumped to her feet and followed the rapidly retreating Carter out from the tunnel. She struggled to keep up with him as he rounded corner after corner.

"Carter!" She panted. "Where are we going?"

Carter whirled round another corner, not stopping or slowing as he answered the blonde's question.

"Somewhere."

Lucy furrowed her brows in confusion, watching the silky fur of Carters back swish in the trickle of light from her torch.

"Somewhere where?"

"Just somewhere. I have something I need to do."

Lucy stopped briefly, causing the wolf before her to do the same. Ripples were sent scattering across the water's surface as Carter skidded to a halt and looked round at his partner.

"Something you need to do? What?" Lucy asked.

Carter smirked, his canines gleaming.

"Just, trust me, alright?" He looked turned his head forward again, and his breath came out as hushed whisper. "Lucy, I need to borrow one of your spirits."

"Spirits? What for?"

Carter whipped his head round again, his green eyes alight with determination.

"For operation 'Let's- get- the- hell- out- of- here- and- I- don't- mean- back- to- our- cell', that's what"

Lucy was shocked. He was planning to escape? But how? Just as she was about to voice her thoughts, the two were suddenly surrounded in a bright light and a voice boomed around them, the noise reverberating off the walls making it seem like it was coming from every which way.

"Lucy Heartfilia! Carter Hound!" Ironic name, huh? "Congratulations! You are granted entry to the next round!"

Lucy heard Carter swear. Probably pissed that his plan had fallen apart. Guess it's a goodbye to operation 'Let's-get-the-hell-out-of-here-and-I-don't-mean-back-to-our-cell'. The voice continued as two packages fell from the ceiling, where Lucy notice there was a hole.

"Please swallow the pills in these containers and fall into a blissful sleep while we carry you back to your cells. Don't worry, it's not a trick." He paused and then added, his voice significantly lower. "Oh, and if you refuse to do so, we'll kill you."

Lucy shivered. Carter gulped. Slowly, the older boy began to smoke and his wolf form seemingly burned away, leaving a tired looking teen. Lucy noticed two heavy bags weighing down on Carters eyes and watched as his hands twitched in what looked like… pain.

Carefully, he bent down and picked up one of the parcels, unwrapping it slowly and examine the orange pill that lay in the box. He scoffed as he read the words engraved on the grainy surface.

'Sleep'. Real funny.

Raising the pill to his lips, Carter hesitated before popping it in his mouth. Lucy could almost hear the crunching as he ground it between his teeth before swallowing. She looked at him expectantly. He nodded. The blonde celestial mage then cautiously bent down and picked up her own parcel. Her pill was also orange, but instead of sleep, her pill read 'Sweet Dreams'. She grimaced.

The pill had no taste; it was just… plain, boring. Normal pill taste, really. She swallowed with a loud gulp and immediately felt lightheaded. She looked over to Carter and saw him stumble on his feet. She really hoped they hadn't been tricked.

The world soon went black.

She was on something warm and firm. Was she being carried? Probably. Her mind flashed back to the sewers. She was sure one of their opponents hadn't been dead, so why had they stopped the game? Did they know about Carter's plan?

Muffled footsteps flooded her hearing and she was aware of the soft breathing of her carrier. One of the guards, she presumed. Carter was probably being carried too. She inwardly smiled at the thought of Carter being carried. Like a princess. She giggled – but obviously, not out loud. Her body wasn't awake enough to do that yet.

Then, suddenly, she was being moved. She felt herself slide off the person's back and felt him lay her down next to another body. Carter. Instinctively, she snuggled up against the unconscious boy's warm torso. She then felt her body relax. She was drifting off again.

"Nightie-night" Her speech was slurred. "Carter"

Longest chapter I've wrote out of my recent updates :) So, this is the end of the game, a bit naff, I know, but it sets things up nicely for my future plans. And yes, they have something to do with the people who run The Game knowing about Carters escape plan :)

Almost reached the 20 chapter mark, and next time, we meet the two new Oc's who will be participating! Yay!

Until then, everyone.