Trigger warnings- Blackmail.

"It's not fair!" Finley complained to Reina as they ran off down the streets of the Citadel.

"What's not fair?" Reina asked.

"Kaiden telling me we can pair up together, then changing his mind," Finley explained.

"Well he did have a point. What Raven did was pretty stupid."

"Yeah but I played a part in it too and he's not angry at me."

"Raven's his brother. He wants Raven to protect you like he does. Raven didn't do that, so he's not exactly popular with Kaiden at the moment."

"I wish I could be with him though. I thought we could spend some time together, just the two of us."

"Hey, I get it," Reina replied, "you're in love. Of course you want to be with him all the time. Sometimes though, we have to stand on our own. Kaiden trusted you to hold up in a fight, that's a pretty big compliment."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head for Phia and get those rebels on our side."

—-----

The two of them ended up sneaking into the back of a guard's car. Hiding in a tight space for hours on end was not fun.

They heard the guard pull over and start talking to someone on the phone.

He got out of the car and the two of them listened to his conversation.

"Yes sir. I'm heading for Phia now. Laurens is heading for Ronera, Jiope for Astra, Maley for Halei, Brewers for Lavea and Roberts for Kyrah." The guard explained.

"Roberts can't be heading for Kyrah," Finley whispered, "Kaiden said he knocked him out."

"Unless he woke up?" Reina suggested.

"Let's hope that he didn't."

Just then, the guard opened the back of the car.

"Hold on sir, I've got a couple of stowaways," the guard said down the phone. "No sir, I don't know who they are. I'll call back in a moment to report."

The guard pulled them out. Reina first. Finley second. He grabbed Finley and pushed him against the car.

"Who are you?!" The guard shouted.

He ripped off Finley's mask and gave a terrifying smile.

"Finley Castel, the nation's sweetheart. And which one of them is this you've got with you?"

"Go!" Finley shouted to Reina. "I'll be fine, just go!"

Reina ran as fast as she could. The guard didn't even try to chase after her.

"You are going to be very useful indeed," the guard muttered.

"What for?" Finley replied, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"Persuading the others to give up this hopeless act."

Using one hand to hold Finley against the car, the guard pulled out his phone and called the person he'd been speaking to earlier.

"Yes sir, it's Freddy again. I've got one of them."

Finley couldn't hear who was on the other end of the phone, but it had to be the dictator.

"Yes sir, one of the Champions," Freddy explained. "Which one? Well, which one are you hoping it is?"

Freddy waited and then replied, "Kaiden? No, no such luck. Second best choice?"

Another pause. "His boyfriend you say? Well you're in luck after all. I've just caught Finley Castel hitching a ride to Phia in the back of my car. The other one? I don't know sir. Castel told them to run off and I thought one was better than none sir."

Again he waited. "Yes sir, I'll turn back now. I don't think it was Kaiden with him. He wouldn't keep that big mouth shut when I'm interrogating his boyfriend in front of his face. That leaves it to be one of the other four. Alright sir, I'll see you soon."

He ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. Then he grabbed Finley with his other hand and forced him into the backseat of the car.

"Be grateful that I've got no rope or handcuffs on me," the guard hissed.

When he got into the driver's seat, Finley decided to ask the question that was burning in his mind. "What does the dictator want with me?"

Freddy laughed. "Well I assume he's going to try and use you to persuade the others to force the rebels to stand down. Maybe by throwing you in prison or by torturing you, I don't know. I know that he wants to kill all of you now, but it'd be pointless for him to do that to you now."

"I'm not going to give up any information," Finley snapped.

"I never said you had to. I just want to know one thing. I like to think that I'm a nice guy, so I'll make you an offer. Tell me who that other Champion was with you and I'll convince the dictator to keep one of the others alive. If not, I'll get him to torture every one of them until they're literally begging for death."

"Ok," Finley replied, "but only if I get to choose who's saved."

"Of course. You'll want it to be yourself I assume?"

"No. I want it to be Kaiden."

"No way," Freddy said quickly. "There's no way the dictator will let him live."

"You said any one of the others. I want it to be Kaiden or I'm not telling you."

"Fine, fine. I'll make sure he stays alive, now which one of them was it?"

"Reina."

—-----

While Finley was being carted off to the Citadel, Reina was running onwards towards Phia.

As she arrived, she noticed hundreds of people all over the place, protesting and throwing bricks at all the windows in sight.

Reina and Finley had originally planned to make a speech, but on her own, Reina wasn't sure if that was a good idea.

Instead, she walked over to a man who she'd just spotted throwing a brick through a car window.

"That wasn't me!" He shouted as she approached.

She whispered something in his ear. He looked at her for a moment then he realised what she said.

"Oh, I get it!" He exclaimed. He went off and whispered it to someone else.

Soon the whispers echoed from everywhere. The Champions were storming the dictator's mansion in three days.

Reina watched as her plan fell into place. The only thing for her to do now, was repeat the process in Ronera.

—-----

Freddy knocked on a door that must be the door to the dictator's office.

"Enter!" The voice from within called.

Freddy opened it. "Finley Castel, sir."

The dictator turned around. He glanced at him for a second, then raised his eyebrows in shock.

"That is a guard's uniform!" He exclaimed, "one of my private guards! Where did you get that?"

"I'm not telling you anything," Finley snapped.

To his surprise, the dictator laughed, "oh you'll tell me soon enough."

Just then, the door to the dictator's office was thrown open. It was another guard.

"Sir!" The guard said, breathlessly, "we've found Roberts!"

"That is of no interest to me Johnson," the dictator replied. "He is heading for Kyrah."

"No sir," Johnson explained, "he isn't. We've just found him knocked out in an alley. According to the doctor, he's been out for at least two days."

"But that makes no sense. Roberts was in here talking to me this morning. Frederick even told me that Roberts was heading for Kyrah. I can't be expected to believe that I've been lied to."

"Sir, Roberts has only just been found. I don't know who was in your office this morning, but I don't think it was Roberts." Johnson paused for a moment, "oh and another strange thing, Roberts wasn't wearing his uniform. He was...undressed shall we say."

The dictator was quiet for a moment, obviously deep in thought. "If Roberts has been unconscious for the past two days, then whoever I spoke to this morning was simply pretending to be Roberts. He mentioned that Kaiden had run off, and told me that Kaiden is rather athletic."

"Sir, that can't be true," Freddy said. "Whoever was pretending to be Roberts told me and the rest of the team that Kaiden had whacked him over the head. We thought he might have a bit of amnesia so I told him to go home and we covered for him. Sorry sir."

"No matter Frederick," the dictator replied. "You managed to bring me one of the Champions so I shall overlook it just this once. What I want to know is who was in my office pretending to be Roberts?"

"Well," Johnson muttered, "Roberts has woken up, but he doesn't remember who knocked him out. He said that the last thing he remembers is driving back towards the Citadel with Kaiden Lynch."

"Kaiden," the dictator hissed. He turned around and placed his hands on the desk. He was gripping it, hard. "I'll kill him!" He shouted. "Who does he think he is?! Frederick, I want you back out there and I want you to find him. I don't care if it's all five of them or just him. I want a public example made of him. Put out a message to all the national newspapers and the TV channels. When he is found, he will be tortured on live TV until he is literally begging for death."

"No!" Finley tried to shout. He hadn't spoken for so long however that it came out as a squeaky mess.

"Yes!" The dictator snapped. "If we catch all of the Champions, we will torture and kill each one of you in front of him."

Finley couldn't even imagine that. He didn't think he could watch any of the others be tortured and killed in front of him, let alone be forced to watch it five times over.

"Kaiden will never let you touch any of us," he replied.

All the others laughed. It was the dictator however who spoke, "I am the dictator. I run this country so I can do whatever I like to any of you. I heard about a wonderful idea for a Ceremony which all of you would go into. That would've given each of you a chance of surviving. You could've stood down and let that happen, then one of you may have made it out alive. Now that chance is gone."

Finley thought for a few moments about what to say.

The dictator didn't wait to hear his response. He smiled a wicked smile and spoke, "I do however have an offer for you. I will allow the five of you, excluding Kaiden, to stay alive. I will torture all of you and I will kill Kaiden, but the rest of you can live. You can have the rewards which come from winning the Ceremony and I will give Mr Lynch his company back. In return, I want one thing from you."

"What's that?" Finley asked.

"I want you to lead my guards into the rebellion. You will lead the charge against the rebels and you will lead my guards to victory."

"You want me to fight against them?"

"Yes Finley, I want you to fight against them. I want you to lead my guards into the fight and I want you to win. If you agree, all the things I promised will come true. If you refuse, or don't keep up your side of the agreement, I will torture each one of you in front of Kaiden, and all of you will be killed. All I need is one signature on this contract."

He pulled a piece of paper from seemingly nowhere. "I had a plan for every possible scenario. This was the plan if only one of you was captured. So Finley, what's it going to be?"

Finley thought long and hard. He didn't want Kaiden to go through that punishment. He also didn't want the others to suffer because of him, but going along with the dictator's orders and fighting against his friends, his family, it was against everything he believed in.

Finally, he made his decision. He stepped forward and grabbed the pen from the dictator's outstretched hand. "Alright," he said, "I'll do it," and he signed the contract.

—-----

It was the day the Champions were due to meet up in the Citadel. 10am.

Reina watched as two figures in guard uniforms came towards her. They had their masks on so she couldn't recognise them just yet.

As they approached, she looked for any signs of who they were, but there was nothing.

Reina slipped into an alley and waited for the pair to join her.

When they did, she pulled her mask off. The duo followed suit. It was Cadence and Adrielle. The latter of which hugged her like they hadn't seen each other in months.

"Are you ok?" Adri asked. "Did anything happen to you?"

Reina shook her head, "no, I'm fine."

"Where's Finley?" Cadence asked. "Did he go after Kaiden and Raven?"

Reina tried to hide her disappointment. "No, but I'll explain what happened when the boys get here."

They waited, and waited. It was nearly ten thirty before three figures appeared in the street.

"There's someone else with them!" Cadence exclaimed, a little too loudly.

"It looks like a child from here," Adri muttered. "What have those two done now?"

As the Lynch brothers arrived, they pulled their masks off.

"Who's this?" Adri asked, nodding towards the young girl alongside them.

"Eloise," Kaiden replied as if this explained anything.

"Who is she?" Reina questioned.

"She's currently known as the nation's sweetheart. Her mother was killed last week and her dad's missing. She's not in a great place at the moment."

"Who's her dad?" Cadence asked. They were all clearly beginning to get fed up with all the secrecy about who this girl was.

"Roberts," Kaiden replied.

"Oh Kaiden, you attacked her dad," Adri scolded.

"I didn't know that he had a daughter," Kaiden snapped.

"So you felt bad about knocking out her dad, so you kidnapped her?" Adri snapped back.

"No. And we didn't kidnap her. We had every right to take her."

It was Cadence who asked, "why?"

"Her mother was Emmeline Parrish," Raven explained.

The others stood in shock for a few moments. Kaiden didn't stay quiet however. He shoved Raven, hard.

"I told you not to tell them!" He shouted.

"They have a right to know!" Raven argued.

"I told you that I didn't want anyone to know! She could've just been someone that we borrowed to use as leverage. You didn't have to tell them that we're related!"

"They deserve to know the truth, Kaiden. She's our sister."

"Half sister," Kaiden snapped. "You can never keep your big mouth shut, can you?"

"If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't be here!"

"Well what are we supposed to do with her? We can't take her into the fight?"

"I don't know," Raven replied.

"You never think ahead do you? You didn't think about what we were going to do with her once we had her!"

"Enough!" Adri shouted. "Neither of you have even noticed that Finley isn't here!"

"Where is he?" Kaiden asked.

"Now he cares," Adri said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't think that I won't shove you against a wall just 'cause you're a girl!"

"He's gone," Reina said, trying to stop them from arguing. "We were in the back of a guard's car, heading for Phia and he opened the back door and found us. He pulled off Finley's mask, and Finley told me to run so I did. He didn't want both of us to be captured."

"So you just left?" Kaiden said, questioningly.

"Yeah, I didn't want to get caught as well," Reina explained.

"So you just let him get caught on his own? Who knows what the dictator's doing to him!"

"He's strong, Kaiden, he can handle it," Cadence muttered.

Kaiden turned to Raven and shoved him again. "This is all your fault!"

"Why is it my fault?"

"If you'd been more sensible, I could've gone with Finley myself. Then we wouldn't have this problem!"

"Then it could've been me in the dictator's clutches. Would that be better?"

"Maybe it would be! All you've done is 'cause trouble for me and everyone else! I don't even want to look at you right now."

"Then I'll leave," Raven mumbled.

"What?"

"I'll leave. I'll go off and look after Eloise. The rest of you can go and fight the dictator. We're going to lose anyway."

"What makes you say that?" Reina questioned.

"As soon as the dictator threatens to kill Finley, the four of you will step down."

The four of them didn't argue.

"We're not giving up, Bird. If you want to give up, fine." Kaiden snapped.

"I'll stay with Eloise," Reina said. "I hate fighting anyway. I'll look after her." She turned to Raven, "I know that Kaiden won't admit it, but they need you. You have good ideas, you just need to think them through a bit more. Promise me you won't give up?"

"Alright, I promise," Raven replied. "Thanks Reina."

"Anytime," Reina said, giving him a hug. "Now Eloise, I'm Reina. I'm a friend of your brothers. I won't let anything bad happen to you, so will you come with me?"

She held out a hand. Eloise looked at Kaiden who nodded. This was all the verification Eloise needed as she took Reina's hand as soon as she had the nod from Kaiden.

Reina picked Eloise up and the two said their goodbyes.

"Ok, let's show the dictator how much he should regret messing with us," Kaiden said.

"And rescue Finley," Raven added.

"We'll lead the rebels," Reina put in.

"We'll show him who's in charge," Adri stated.

"And we won't give up until we're victorious!" Cadence finished.

Well, Finley's now fighting against his friends. I hope you all like the characters now. These are my favourite characters I've ever written. Who's your favourite? Let me know in the comments. Do you think the rebels will win? How will they react to Finley abandoning them? And who is going to survive this rebellion?

Find out in Chapter 33!