He couldn't sleep. Something in his gut told him that they were close – oh so close. Five times that afternoon after getting off the train he had gotten a whiff of her wonderful scent – and all five times he had lost it. There had to be a connection to the places he smelt it, there just had to be. But his mind was blank; he couldn't see any link at all between the sparse hints of that intoxicating mint fragrance.
"Damn…" He cursed under his breath, raising an arm and languidly laying it over his eyes, his jaw clenched.
"Natsu…?" Natsu removed his arm and looked to the side, seeing a half awake Gray staring at him from his own bed on the other side of the room, concern glittering in his grey eyes. "Are you alright?"
It was so weird to hear his rival sporting worry for him, but Natsu smiled weakly at his semi-friend, trying to look as reassuring as possible, but Gray's eyebrows just furrowed and his forehead creased softly.
"Natsu…" He started but said pink haired boy just removed his gaze from the ice mage and looked up at the inn ceiling instead, half-heartedly counting the cracks and stains evident on the once pure white surface.
"Don't, Gray…" The dragon slayer whispered into the silent room. "I'm fine… honestly…"
Gray wanted to retort – to correct the dragon slayer – he really did, but just as soon as he opened his mouth, he closed it again. His heart clenched, but he knew that it was better to leave his comrade alone right now.
He just only wished that they could return things to normal soon…
It was a fight – she should've been happy, she loved a good brawl after all. But she wasn't the least bit excited about this. In fact, she was scared. She was very, very scared. She looked over to her partner, watching as he read the instructions before he placed the crisp white sheet on the concrete floor and smiled at the white haired girl, the action forced and holding little to no happiness in it.
"It's ok, Alithra…" His voice quivered, betraying his anxiety. "We'll make it through… I'm sure we will…"
Alithra scoffed, her back pressed against the cell wall as she slid to the floor, one leg bent while the other was outstretched flat.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's what the other teams who died said too…" She murmured, her faith having dwindled upon hearing the screams and shouts of someone falling due to the last game.
Hiro didn't have a reply to that – it wasn't helping their situation that he was doubtful too. He had never seen Alithra like this – not once in all the months (was it months? Maybe more…) that they had been trapped there. In fact, at first, she had been excited at the thought of an illegal, blood-thirsty fight. Now…
Now the horror of the situation really sunk in.
The violet haired boy timidly looked down, his eyes scanning the words on the sheet once again. This was going to be hard alright – extremely hard.
She fiddled timidly with the stray ends of the black piece of material, listening to the tap, tap, tapping of her partner's foot on the floor. Fallon sighed and ceased her tapping foot, deciding to run one hand through her long auburn hair instead.
"The prize better be good for this…" The amethyst eyed girl muttered, looking off towards the door of their cell.
Setsuko just continued to play with the loose ends of the material, her fingers moving slow, her hands trembling lightly.
"The prize of winning is life," She whispered, almost too low for anyone to hear. "That seems pretty good to me."
The room then fell into silence – but it was comfortable, and sometimes what people need after receiving bad news. And in this case, the news was extremely bad. But, like any room with Fallon in, the silence didn't last long.
"Don't separate from me, you hear?" Fallon suddenly said, her voice uncharacteristically serious. She averted her gaze from the door and stared at Setsuko with her cat like eyes, the purple orbs glinting in the dim light.
Setsuko looked up from her wrist and her fingers stopped twirling the black fabric. Red clashed with purple as the two locked eyes before Setsuko broke into a small, uncertain smile.
"Are you worried about me, Fallon?" The white haired girl asked, her voice still soft, but slightly louder than before.
Fallon scoffed and shifted her weight from her right foot to her left, her arms coming up and roughly crossing themselves over her chest. Once again, her line of sight faltered from her younger, fourteen year old, teammate.
"Don't flatter yourself, Brat." She huffed, her lips set in a loose pout. "I just don't want to die."
Setsuko resumed playing with the black band around her wrist, the curve on her lips widening.
"Thanks…"
From the corner of her crimson eyes, she could just see Fallon smile – it was small, but it was definitely there.
"Don't sweat it, Brat…"
In the corner of both cells – cells that were on completely different sides of the underground base – two identical sheets of paper lay forgotten in the shadows of the corner, their ink stained surface almost glowing through the darkness.
But the contents of the page never left any of the four contestants minds as they tried to find ways to occupy themselves, those dreaded words imprinted in their brains.
'Mirror Dance:
Sometimes the past comes back to haunt…'
And in another part of the lair, row upon row of reflective glass lay spread out through underground tunnels, magic swirling beneath their surfaces, just waiting for their precious victims to arrive…
The number of contestants is dwindling…
The Game is heating up…
And team Natsu is getting closer…
Such a long wait, I'm so so so so so (Just imagine this repeated 1000 times over...) sorry! I promise I will begin to update sooner, especially considering this story is reaching its climax! Wow, I'm actually happy with this chapter...
Oh, and people have been saying in reviews that they want Lucy and Carter to get together... I was just wondering how many people actually want that. Tell me in a review whether you want Lucy to end up with Carter or Natsu, because honestly, I'm even a fan of both sides XD
Depending on how many people want it, I may end up getting Lucy and Carter together... Or, if no-one really cares, I'll just stick with NaLu!
Hmm, Lucy and Carter... CarLu! XD