I looked back over to Natsu; he'd collapsed onto his knees as two tribe members were dragging him away. He sent me a worried glance, which scared the hell outta me.

So I ran after him.

|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|•|

(A/N): Shaking it up a bit with the new separating thingy^^. YESS back with another chapter! I'm sorry that there's no schedule or anything for my updates, my Wattpad is more like an 'update when I want to' kinda thing...

And since I've been pretty much hardcore revising for these exams I have coming up, it's hard to find times to actually write. I tend to do it in the car on the way to school and just when I have the chance, which is why it's taking so long for me to update ;-;

Okay, enjoy the chapter!

|•|•| (Lucy's POV) |•|•|

I made my way through the crowd and into a space under the seats in the arena, sectioned off for an emergency hospital area, or whatever. Frantically looking round, I spotted Natsu being tended to by someone I'd never seen before, and made my way over.

"You shouldn't be in here." A familiar-looking guy stopped me in my tracks, and I nearly ran into his chest. Feeling intimidated, I looked up at the tall man, who glared back at me with his piercing eyes. A scar the shape of a lightning bolt was etched on the right side of his face, and blonde, spiky hair adorned his head.

"Let her come over Laxus." Natsu grunted, trying not to wince in pain as the lady rubbed some liquid into his wound. As Laxus stepped aside with a scowl on his face, I made my way over to Natsu, holding his hand for emotional support. However, I noticed that the lady cleanings his wounds wasn't exactly being gentle. Natsu clenched my hand to try and deal with the pain, which I didn't mind, but damn it hurt.

"Nurse! We need help over here!" Someone yelled, and the lady left Natsu there and went to help someone else. What the hell!?
"Hey!" I yelled, but was ignored.

Right, time to take matters into my own hands.

"Thanks Luce." Natsu sighed in relief after I'd finished bandaging him up. I made sure to be as gentle as possible, because it looked like he was in a lot of pain before.
"No problem." I smiled in reply, dusting myself off. Natsu took a deep breath as I helped him onto his feet.
"You know," he began, his eyes downcast. "I feel as if everyone hates me."
"What! Why?" I asked him, not letting go of him just in case he falls over.

"You know, first it was the whole 'make a baby' thing, and now because of the fact that I surrendered during the match," he took a deep breath. "I just feel like I'm the most hated person in the village."
"Hey, that's not true." I told him. "These snakes are just a little salty because you didn't win; don't take it to heart."

He chucked at my comment, then lifted his eyes up to stare into my own.

"Thanks Luce," he thanked me, the corner of his mouth lifting to form a small smirk. "I'm glad I have someone like you I can always count on."

"And I'm glad I have someone like yo-" Piercing screams interrupted me mid-sentence, so - as quickly as we could - me and Natsu made our way towards the direction of the loud eruption. The arena.

I gasped in sheer horror. The sight in front of me was unbelievable. It happened again? Why would they let this happen!? It was a fight between Kaneki from the Ghoul Tribe, and Akise from the Future Tribe. And when I say was, I mean was. As in no longer happening.

Because Kaneki had killed Akise. He'd tortured him  to death mercilessly.

"Luce," Natsu began. "Don't look." He shielded my eyes from the disturbing scene, but it was too late. I'd already seen the devastation that was Akise's body. The whole arena was in anarchy; people screaming in terror, fighting each other, yelling in anger, disgust, hatred. I could tell that the intense rivalry between those two tribes was insane, but every other tribe was getting involved, making everything worse.

"I've never seen the games this bad." A familiar voice could be heard behind us. I turned around to see Natsu's father Igneel talking to a few of his friends; they looked as if they were getting ready to go out there to try and calm things down. "I mean, I knew those tribes hated each other and all, but this is terrifying."
"Tell me about it." His friend added. "I heard that training in the Ghoul Tribe was so messed up and torturous. Like, that Kaneki kid was locked up in a room and tortured everyday to build up his pain resistance, all the while having to count down from 1000 by 7."

"That's disgusting." Another replied.
"Right then, let's go!" Igneel yelled, and the group of them set off out. Igneel completely ignored Natsu's presence, and I swear I could've heard Natsu's heart shattering into miniature fragments as he did so.

"Do you want to leave?" Natsu asked me in a monotone voice. I nodded, and I helped him out of the arena as we made our way back to our small hut in the middle of the forest.
"You remembered the way." Natsu joked, causing us both to laugh as we stumbled inside. Gently setting Natsu down on our soft bed, I took an apple out of our fruit bowl, handing it to him.
"Eat this." I told him, handing him the  shiny, red apple. he took it, nodding his head in thanks, and took a large bite out of it.

"Sorry to barge in with loads of questions," I began. "But how come the games are held here every year? Why can't they be held in a different tribe's territory?"
"Because we're the biggest tribe." Natsu replied after finishing his bite. "No other tribe has an arena big enough to hold all the tribes, so they just decide to hold it here."
"You'd think they'd hold it at the place of the previous winner." I sighed, looking out the window, only to be faced with the wild forest of the male tribe.
"According to our ancestors, that's what used to happen."  He told me. "A very long time ago when the rules were different."

"Different how?" I pursued.
"Only the males of each tribe were allowed to fight." He began. "And they had to be aged between 15 and 16."
"Isn't that the current rules of this tribe?" I questioned, and Natsu confirmed it with a curt nod.

"We used to win all the time; every single year." He took a deep breath. "So the rules were changed to give the other tribes a chance: You were allowed to enter any aged male as long as they were above the age of 15. Stupidly, our tribe decided that rule was a bunch of crap and thought we'd still win regardless."

"And did we?"
"Not as often. Once every 5 years or so." He replied.
"And then what?"
"They changed the rules again, but only very recently: Females we're allowed to fight in the arena." He explained. "At first hardly anyone did it, but as times moved on more people began to accept it..."

"Except our tribe." I finished his sentence, and he nodded again. Natsu sat up, staring into space for a little while, which got me worried. is he trying to think!?
"You okay?" I asked him.
"Luce," He began. "You know before when I asked if you wanted to leave, and you said yes?" I nodded, recalling the moment.

"I meant leave the tribe."

Word Count: 1309