I quickly whirl around on my heels, taking in the scene.

We're surrounded. Somehow the stupid snakes used their pea sized brains to sneak around us, forming a circle and cutting our escape off.

I hear Ignis curse and turn back to Zhen, my arms crossed to and a scowl on my face.

"What do you want you....rat." I snarl, instantly regretting calling him a rat.

A rat?!? Really? Can't I think of anything better!?

Ugh, apparently not!

Zhen's smirk widens, stretching across his ugly face, but for some reason it doesn't go as far as I thought it would be. I take a closer look at him and see he has some burn marks on his face. My eyes travel down him, taking in his injuries. He has a gash in his knee very much like Kin's and burn marks all along his body, all though not as bad as mine used to be. His, however, appear to not have been treated, so they're just as bad as when he first got them. For some reason his clothes are slightly damp, making my angry scowl be replaced with a frown.

He shifts and fidgets when he notices me staring and I glance at him before looking around at the others. They are just as bad if not worse than Zhen and a couple are missing, all their clothes just barely damp. I don't see the ice or metal elementalists. Maybe they're just hiding in the trees, but I have a strong feeling they're not, the sad look in the wind elementalist's eyes and the tears in the earth girl's supporting it.

A scene of what must have happened plays in my head, all my anger gone, replaced with shock and tinted with.....concern? Worry? I don't know.

They must have run as long if not longer than us, Zhen probably Darting ahead. They must not have found somewhere to stay until they reached a river, maybe the very same one they once occupied, and hid in the water, staying there until the fire went away. The two elementalists missing must not have made it.

I look around at my team and see them coming to the same conclusion, their faces sketched with shock.

"Rat, that's all you can come up with?" Zhen sneers, trying to compose himself.

I just shake my head, not feeling angry anymore, but my pity and concern gone too.

How could the leaders have let this happen? That never really happened before, they could have stopped it. The deaths in the rounds before had come fast and unexpected, not leaving the leaders time to save the kids. They even saved a couple if they had enough time, so why didn't they do it this time? Had something unexpected happened?

But what? They were running from a fire, what could have happened so sudden?

I shake these thoughts away and turn back to Zhen, "No. I can come up with many more names, but there are children present." I indicate Neve, who plays with her hair, a trait I recognize she does when she's nervous.

And cue the furious glare from the angry boy in front of me.

"Yeah." Ignis snaps, "Like-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Anemos interrupts, leaping forward and covering the angry girl's mouth with his hand. She glares at him with such force he backs away, but she doesn't continue

"Why are you here?" Fotia, who is to the left of Zhen, demands.

I glare at her, my anger back, and open my mouth, but Anemos speaks before I have a chance.

"We thought, since, you know, today's the last day and everything-"

"Wait, today's the last day?!" The water elementalist exclaims in shock.

Kin nods, "Yeah, you didn't know?"

The boy shakes his head slowly, looking deep in thought.

"Anyways...." Anemos drawls out, trying to regain everyone's attention, which he does, "we thought maybe we were supposed to find you guys."

Zhen wrinkles his nose at Anemos, "And why would you and your stupid friends think that, Pigeon."

I feel my face get hot with anger and start stalking toward Zhen, my fist raised. No way he just called one of my friends a pigeon! When he calls me Worm, it's slightly okay because it's me, but he must have a death wish if he insults one of my friends!

Surprisingly, it's Ignis who holds me back, even though she looks like she would love to watch me beat the crap out of those idiots.

I thrash in her arms, "Let me go Ignis! I need to teach this little b-"

"Blitz!"

"-moron a lesson!" I finish, stopping myself from swearing. I'm kind of surprised I was about to swear. I usually don't resort to that, but it only happens when I'm extremely angry, and that doesn't happen often either. I think it has only happened twice, once when someone insulted my brother and once when they insulted Dad. I have trust issues, so when someone does manage to gain my friendship, I become fiercely loyal.

"Stop Blitz, it'll only make things worse!" Kin whispers to me nervously, watching the tense Black Serpents around us warily.

I let my muscles relax just for Kin, trying to ignore the smug smile the stupid snakes give us. I hate them so much it's physically painful.

Ouch.

"And so here we are." Anemos says, finishing what he had started earlier.

Zhen glares at him as though he had interrupted something he was not invited to, which takes my hatred for him up another notch.

"Well, clearly you were wrong, so-"

"Oh was he? Or should I say, they?"

I whip around at the new voice interrupting Zhen and find, to my surprise, all of the leaders standing a few feet away.

For a full minute we all just stand there in shock, our mouths open and our eyes wide while the leaders just smile at us.

But something seems off.

I look closer and frown when I see it. Their smiles seem.....fake....forced. Why would they be forced?

I look into Ms. Spitha's face and see hints of sadness and......could it be?......fear?

Why would she be scared? Maybe for us. Our health.

I look at each and every leader and see the same emotions in their faces that are in Ms. Spitha's.

Everyone except Mr. Baja.

I frown at him. Maybe his normal, stoney personality just makes him.....different.

"You......you! HOW COULD YOU! YOU JUST LET HIM DIE!!!"

I turn around in surprise to see the earth girl glaring at the leaders with tear stained eyes, fresh liquid pouring down her face. But her eyes, oh her eyes, full of so much anger, hate, and sadness, I can barely watch.

The leaders look at her with sorrow and pity, and their smiles look more forced, but they keep it up.

The earth girl on the other team screams, her voice spiked with anger and hatred, and charges. I watch in awe as she shoots toward the leaders, who don't even blink, just keep those artificial smiles plastered across their faces. She screams as she runs at a surprisingly fast speed, her hair flying everywhere, her eyes wide and crazy, making her look insane.

The leaders still don't move. I watch them closely, unable to understand why they aren't running away or anything, and as I watch their eyes widen a fraction, so small I barely notice, but I do, and I see the fear in their eyes, the panic.

But they don't move.

Then it clicks and I know what is going to happen a second before it does, making my heart lurch. I leap forward, a cry halfway through my throat, when the earth girl hits the force field with a horrible thunk. I hear bones crack, the force she was going proving to much for her.

After that I look away, feeling nausea build up in my throat, the sound getting to me. I never was good around that kind of stuff. Even when all I had was a decent sized cut I'd look away. I hate blood.

The girl didn't even get to scream. It was over just like that.

At least it was quick, but.....why didn't the leaders warn her?

The panic in their eyes, the fear.

I can't understand it. I can't.

Screams rip through the air. Someone cries. Everyone else stands in horror, watching the earth elementalist's life end. So sudden.

She died with anger in her heart and it was in vain. The worst way to die.

I didn't even know her name.

I look at the two remaining teams. Neve is crying silently, Anemos is staring off into space and the others stare at the dead girl in shock and horror. The Black Serpents are the same.

How could they just let her die?

How could they just let the other Black Serpents die?

They were pointless deaths. Just for games. Why didn't they stop the fire?

They could have. But they didn't.

Or maybe it was.....they couldn't.

"That was.....unfortunate." Mr. Baja says stonily, his voice devoid of emotion.

"UNFORTUNATE?!?! UNFORTUNATE?!?" The wind elementalist screams, her voice drilling into my ears. "LUPA'S DEATH WAS JUST UNFORTUNATE?!?!"

I want to be angry, maybe sad, but all I feel is numb. I never expected someone to die. When I first began, it hadn't even crossed my mind, but now it's all I think about.

And I'm just numb.

The wind girl stands there, trembling with rage. She's being smart, keeping her rage in check and not charging, but she wants them to know her anger. She must have been friends with the earth girl....Lupa.

The leaders still stand there, smiling their infuriating smile.

"You're right, it was tragic." Ms. Banyu corrects, sounding very sincere, probably the first leader to speak besides Mr. Baja.

Why do I have a bad feeling?

The wind girl stays quiet, but continues trembling in anger.

"We have come to decide who will win." Mr. Baja says.

Nobody speaks. We just watch, until the question we're all thinking is voiced.

"How will you decide?" Fotia, who had bruises all over her body, calls.

Mr. Baja turns to her, "You will fight."

Everyone's eyes widen but I frown. We already did fight, how will fighting solve anything?

"To the death."

I am so completely and totally caught by surprise I actually start choking on air. Kin rushes over to me and pounds my back until I can breath properly.

"What?!?" I shout, glaring at the leaders, careful I don't look at Lupa's lifeless body.

Mr. Baja nods, "You heard me."

"We're at a disadvantage! We're missing three people!" The water boy on the Black Serpent's team exclaims in outrage.

Mr. Baja shrugs, "You should have saved them."

"Why you little-" The wind girl mutters, raising a fist and starting to stalk toward Mr. Baja very much like how I did toward Zhen.

The water boy and Fotia grab her arms and hold her back, muttering some things into her ears. She thrashes for a bit, but Fotia says something to her furiously and she goes limp, all the fight taken out of her.

I feel so bad. I've felt her pain. Lupa was probably like a sister to her, and maybe the ice or metal elementalists, and I've felt the pain, the pain of having someone you love with all your heart die. I've felt it, but at least I didn't have to watch it.

I can't even imagine what it would feel like having to watch your loved one die.

And now she has to fight. What are the leaders doing?

"What are you doing?!" Terro voices my question, his voice steady but full of controlled rage.

How can he control rage? It's like a rabid beast inside you, trying to lash out, untamable. Maybe he's just not as angry as his eyes show, which are on fire.

Although not as much as Ignis' eyes, which look like fire that has been set on fire. She is managing to control it too, but her fists clenched at her sides are trembling and her jaw is clenched. Her eyes stare at the leaders, unblinking. I wonder if she noticed the same things I did.

I hope so, I have a feeling we'll need to talk about it later.

If there is a later.

God, I hope there's a later.

I look over my group, Terro and Ignis controlling their anger, Anemos, staring of into space, looking dazed, Neve, trying to be strong but in the verge of tears, Kin, watching the wind girl sob in the ground with a strange look, Nero, who hasn't spoken at all since we saw the Black Serpents, shaking his head, not a hint of anger in his features. I wonder how he does it.

I know I'm probably trembling with rage to, but I'm making sure to keep it in check.

I look over at my friends and mentally promise them something.

I won't let the Black Serpents hurt them. I won't. I'll protect them with my life.

In fact, I won't let anyone hurt them.

"We're just making the games fun." Mr. Baja says, and I feel like he put emphasis on fun, but his voice remains in his signature deep, monotone voice.

Terro shakes his head like Nero, his a jaw clenched, and doesn't speak.

"So!" Mr. Baja shouts happily, clapping his hands as though getting a group of toddlers attention. "Let's get started, shall we?"

If looks could kill, Mr. Baja would be one dead man.

To bad they can't.

"On the count of three you will start fighting, the winner wins the Harmony Games."

I can practically taste the irony. Fighting to the death in the Harmony Games. Who would have thought?

But I get in a stance. There's really nothing I can do, and everyone else does too.

We have no choice.

It's sad, really, when you have no choices. It makes you feel stupid and blind.

"One."

I watch the Black Serpents, injured and weak, getting into a line, defeat drawn on their faces.

This is where it ends, isn't it? They know they can't win. They're low in numbers and more injured than us.

"Two."

I start to feel nervous. I can't do this! I can't kill a human being!

Maybe I won't have to.....

"Three!"

For a second nobody moves, but then Zhen darts forward and slams into me, throwing me backward.

And the fight begins.
**********
Two updates? Wow, I guess I'm in a good mood!

Well, I actually have it as a sort of gift. I'll be going camping for two weeks and a half, and I'm pretty sure I won't have Internet at all, so, you know......

Sorry!

No updates!

Well, at least you have these two, right?

So....

Until next time!
XOXO,
Rascal