The crowded locker room had slowly and surely become nearly empty. Only a few people remained. In the fourth stage of the contests, a lot of contestants had lost their fights, forcing them to drop out. When a person lost, their journey ended there. Drake clenched and unclenched his fist. Despite his advanced healing, he was starting to hurt all over. He was sure the same applied to the rest of his peers that remained. A boy with heavy tattoos was slumped in the corner, panting. Even Gaine was crouched in a corner, the white of his eyes flecked with red. His fight, like Drake's, had taken a toll on him. The Trost boy sat in a corner, deadly silent. The fifth stage was to begin in a few minutes and they waited for the announcements, the screen above blinking with light. The screen came back to life suddenly and the first names were drawn up - Drake Khan versus Samantha Dennin. Loud cheering could be heard from the stands. The locker room buzzed with life again. Dr
That sadistic jerk, Drake, had lost. His match against Samantha was televised and it played in the locker room. Eren watched his nemesis' humiliation with quiet joy. While he had hoped Drake would lose, just out of spite, he did not foresee it. Violence and shows of brute strength were, after all, Drake's forte, and the contests were both things. It was not long after that Drake stormed into the room like a whirlwind. No one cheered him this time. There was mostly silence. Those who were brave enough clapped him on the back. He headed straight for his locker and began to shove his personal effects into his bag. When he had finished, he turned to leave. A bench was in his way and he sent it flying with a powerful kick. Even more people shied away from him. Drake stomped forward as if to exit the room, then he stopped to glare at Eren. Eren met his eyes. "One beating is not enough for you? Here you are looking for another one." Eren heard himself say to Drake. I
Trevor Denning was one for pleasantries, it turned out. He was waiting in the arena by the time they announced Tiana's name and she stepped out and into the light. Day was turning quickly into twilight and the sun guttered slowly from the sky. Tiana took up her position opposite her would-be opponent. He raked a hand through his hair, his motions very feminine. "Hey there." He said. Tiana nodded at him, taking a fighting stance. "So, are you ready to bring some serious heat to this arena or what?" He asked, smirking. He was making fire jokes now? Tiana sighed inwardly. The announcer was yet to signal that the match had begun in earnest, so she was forced to indulge him. "Perhaps, we should both focus on getting out of here alive?" She suggested. He shrugged. "Baby, I only get to pummel my classmates to nothing once. I intend to enjoy it. Don't you?" Tiana huffed. Everything was a joke to Trevor. Everything. He was the exact opposite of his sister. Where she was wi
Hours passed before his father found him in the stands where he had gone to watch the rest of the contests.If Drake had remained in that locker room with the rest of them, he would have broken something. More specifically, he would have broken the Trost boy. Sneering in his face as he did. Drake had Eren's sneer stamped in his memory. He seethed at the image.Suddenly, the crowd cheered, redirecting his attention to the contests. Drake welcomed the distraction with ease. With the hood of his shirt up, he managed to stay hidden in the crowd. Sid Nivron stepped into the arena, swords drawn and held ready at both his sides.The view of the fights so high above was a thing to behold.A red-faced man next to Drake screamed his approval. "Tear him apart! Hell yeah!" He yelled, his weak chin wobbling with the effort.Tear him apart?There was no one in the field but Sid, and yet the cro
By the time Eren got to him, Sid was a bloody mess. He reached the doors just as they heaved his new friend's body into the room. Eren reached out, slipping a strong arm beneath Sid's underarm and held him up out of instinct. He let Sid rest all of his weight against him. Unlike what he expected from Sid's lithe frame, the young man was heavy. "I am a fucking mess, friend." He grinned at Eren. Eren led him back towards the locker room, albeit clumsily, their motions awkward. "That has to be the understatement of the year." "I will get blood all over you." Sid was delirious with the blood loss. Eren tried to shrug which ended up being a strange twitch of his shoulder, seeing as he was basically carrying Sid. "There are worse things than that, I guess." He said, to which Sid grinned tiredly. "Eren Trost, the epitome of positivity." said Sid, causing Eren to chuckle despite the grim situation. He helped his friend to a low chair next to Tiana. Sid gasped with pain as he
When Eren emerged from the darkness behind the doorway, night had taken over. He had to wait a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the unnatural glare of the lights in the arena. Across from him, standing as tall as a god, Gaine Winchester waited. Eren sensed the MANNA crackling just beneath his skin. It was going to be a tough one, even if he had to say so himself. "Are you ready?" Gaine called, flexing his arms. He was amused, Eren could tell. Eren held his chin high, the way he was sure his mother must have turned her nose up at the Winchesters. "The real question is, are you?" Gaine began to say something but was cut off by the loud voice of the moderator, informing them of the rules of the fight. They were the last contestants in what was potentially the most vicious bout of the day. It was known now that Gaine was one of the strongest of the young ones, if not the strongest of them all. A prodigy. Meanwhile, Eren was walking, seething rage. Anyone with eyes
"To those who shall spill blood in our honor today, and those whose blood shall be spilled, we salute you." The announcer had said at the start of the contests. Gaine Winchester was in the locker room savoring a mouthful of river grapes when he heard the statement, and he had nearly spat his grapes with mirth. It was not that Gaine did not think this statement to be in praise of himself and his peers. It was how it sounded coming for one who had never been involved in the act of the spilling, literal or otherwise. The man had made it seem almost comedic, almost literature worthy, these acts of sheer violence that were soon to follow his speech. "Violence is always, always, a misdeed, my son. But sometimes, it is a necessity," Gaine's father had told him when he was younger, long before he felt the first quickening of MANNA inside him. "Sometimes," The man said, his voice calm and persuading, "it is the only way by which to show strength." If the Winchester clan had a motto,
‘What was strength if not a series of scarifications?’ Gaine asked himself for the hundredth time.He looked at his trembling hands and they were dark with the answer. Blood, a rich red like nothing else. Also, there was a dull ringing at the back of his head. To say he was unwell was an understatement."You seem troubled," Eren Trost called to him. It was a sly jest as his own words were being thrown back at him.His eyes met Eren's. His opponent was not in a better place than he was. He too was leaking out his lifeblood.‘I could say the same for you.’ He wanted to yell back at Eren, but he was not sure he had the strength. ‘What was strength if not a series of scarifications?’ The question plagued him again. It is time to finish this, Gaine advised himself. It was way past time in fact.He knew exactly what to do.The night he woke from the Dream state, his father was a presence hovering over him."Do you feel it?" He had asked Gaine after the house servant who had been tend