안녕하세요! Hey y'all! WE REACHED OVER 1K!!!!!! Thank you guys soooo much for voting, commenting and adding to reading lists, it really means a lot to me!  I'm so sorry y'all had to wait so long for this short chapter.  I had so much school work with all these honors and AP classes and then it was Homecoming week and I was involved in a lot of stuff so I hope y'all understand!  I'll try to update sooner but now I have an orchestra concert coming up so we're practicing like crazy buuuuuut I'm going to try really hard to update for y'all.  Well, thank you for reading and pleaseeee comment!
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고맙습니다!

ALSO I'm obsessed with the picture Hiro Mashima posted on Twitter......hehe! (The picture I put in the media).
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Natsu's P.O.V.

It's confusing enough that Erza is here, but Laxus too?

Lucy and I stand there, waiting for their explanation. The darkness of the room adds to the mysterious aura.

"You must've already realized that this is indeed a training room." Erza starts to explain. "Well, it's almost as simple as that. You will be training in here three days a week from now on and the other two days you can do regular training with your classmates."

The confusion doesn't leave Lucy and I.  I look around the room, noticing the familiar looking equipment in different areas.

We stand there, still, until I finally decide to speak up.

"I don't get it. What makes this any different than the scary shit we do in the training fields?" I question as I keep looking around the room.

Laxus looks away, hesitating to answer. "There's just something you guys don't know about the FMR," He says in a mysterious tone. "You can't just train to compete.....you train to live as well."

I notice Lucy's expression, and how it went from confused to creeped out. She then looks away as if she's thinking real hard.

"Only FMR participants get to know this, but there are no rules on death in the race. You can kill your opponent, and it's been done." Laxus explains.

I start to feel a sudden drop in temperature, chills running up my spine.

"That can't be right though. We've never even heard of a death in the FMR. It's just a competition." Lucy says with confusion.

The tension in the rooms builds up as the conversation gets sketchier.

"Exactly. They cut off the lacrima before it could be seen.  It was the year where they had one of the contestants leave the competition due to 'severe illness', but we know what that really meant." Erza says, her arms crossed.  "Some people just have no mercy during the race."

"If it's so secretive, then how can they just trust us to keep our mouth shuts about this." I say.

"The whole thing is run by the kingdom, so, they could kill you and no one would find out. That's not even their only secret. During the race, the Makers can control everything and everyone. With one move they could kill anyone in the race. Y'know those 'natural obstacles' like poisonous lakes and random death traps? Well they're all programmed by the Makers. There's some things about the Makers that we don't even know." Laxus shakes his head.

I start to get a shaky feeling. Thoughts about the makers start to race through my mind.

"Don't think about it too much. Just stick together the whole time and you'll be fine." Erza says, looking directly at Lucy and I.

I look over at Lucy as she does the same. She then looks down at the floor.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Erza finally speaks up again. "Now that that's settled.....let's get started."

Laxus and Erza start walking towards some training equipment. I follow them along with Lucy.

Laxus starts explaining the equipment and what it's used for. Most of the equipment looks like any normal training equipment but these are a bit different. Everything in the room drains your magic by 85%, making it harder to use, and more of a challenge to gain strength.

After Laxus finishes explaining, we decide to split up to do some training. I stay with Laxus as Erza, and Lucy head towards the archery.

Laxus harshly slaps my back causing me to make an 'oof' sound. "Ya' ready to do some training?" He says.

~•○•~

I walk onto a grey glowing platform, not knowing what this'll lead to.

"Now what?!" I yell back at Laxus as he stands there, watching with his arms crossed.

"Just wait!" He yells back.

I wait there for a couple seconds, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly my body starts slowly feeling limp and weak. I can feel the magic leaving my body as I find it harder and harder just to stand up.

A minute passes by, and I'm a weak, wobbling mess. I look over at Laxus and he just nods. "Okay, now try to attack the target!" He shouts.

I look over at the human shaped target, about 30 feet away from me. I get into a fighting position with my feet spread apart, though the loss of magic causes me to slump down a bit.

I try to muster up a spell but my body is too weak. "How am I supposed to do this when I only have fifteen percent of magic?!" I shout, barely able to speak.

"The trick is to concentrate!" He screams over to me. "Remember. This helps your body produce more magic and gain strength. Feel what little magic you have in your body!"

Picking myself up from slumping down, I start to concentrate.  With a clear mind, magic slowly surrounds me, creating small flames.  I try to continue with a spell, though the lack of magic in my body prevents the spell from occurring.  The flames die out as I slump once again.

"Damn it."  I say to myself while panting heavily.  Too weak to stand, I get down and sit criss-cross while staring at the floor.

"Hey."  Laxus walks over to me with a water bottle.  "That was pretty good for having almost no magic.  Ya' just gotta keep training."  He throws the water bottle at me, hitting me in the head.  "Okay, you get a two minute break before getting back up."

I drink the water, feeling a bit more energized than before.  Hydrated now, I toss the water bottle back at him and get back in stance.  A feeling of confidence flows through me. 

"Forget the two minutes.  Let's keep training."

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Thank you for reading and pleaseeee vote and comment!  Sorry if it was short.  I'll try to update soon!
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