Blaze was sweating. He stood in front of the arena doors wondering if he was ready to do it. To finally die. And for a second he thought he was.

But then he remembered Nova’s reaction. She had been scared.

Blaze looked at the doors as they started opening and all the prisoners got ready for the battle to begin. Blaze scanned their faces trying to convince himself that letting himself be killed was the best option.

The doors opened and Blaze looked up to the Warden’s Tower and he saw Nova gazing down looking for him. He saw her pained look and the fear in her eyes. He remembered Lily saying the prisoners would have rotted away in depression if not for him.

And Blaze knew what he had to do. He had to stay alive. For Nova and the other prisoners. He walked through the doors confident and no longer sweating. He saw three overseers on the other side of the battlefield doing the same.

Blaze set his feet on the ground to let vines shoot out of his body. He watched as the overseers reached the prisoners and the battle began.

Vines cut loose all around the prisoners and they all moved away from them. But Blaze stood his ground. He caught a vine with his hand and twisted it making the Overseer yell in pain.

Blaze shot one of his vines at the Overseer forcing him to jump out of the way, and fall to the ground. Blaze’s fellow prisoners ran from the two other Overseers like mad. Blaze wished he could help them but he could barely fight against one overseer, much less three.

The Overseer recovered from his surprise and stood up shakily. Without hesitation, Blaze shot out three more vines at the man who this time no longer surprised, countered them with his own.

Growling Blaze kicked the overseer into a wall. He slammed into it with the force of a hammer on a nail.

The Overseer groaned but immediately got back up not wanting to die by the hands of one of the prisoners. He shot out his vines which flew at Blaze with shocking speed. Blaze barely had time to move out of the way of a vine that was sure to have killed him.

Blaze rolled on the ground yelling out in pain as he felt the floor cut his skin. He jumped back up in time to see another vine swooping in. Blaze blocked the vine with his and he shot another of his vines straight at the one the overseer had shot at him.

The Overseer’s vine was split into two and half of the vine fell on the floor, black blood shooting out. The man yelled in pain. He cursed but didn’t take his eyes off Blaze.

They were both tired, but neither one could give up. For a few seconds they just stared into each other's eyes, breathing heavily. Blaze made the first move and kicked the air sending vines shooting out of his foot.

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The Overseer created a shield of his own vines, making Blaze’s vines crash into his.

The Man smiled at Blaze and jumped in the air using his vines to shoot himself up in the air. He flew back down swinging a kick at Blaze, which hit him right in the jawbone.

Blaze was sent flying into the ground. He groaned in pain, but nonetheless stood up. He readied his hands for another attack but it was already too late.

A vine sliced into Blaze’s shoulder making him yell out in pain. He looked at the injury and saw a hole that had completely cut through his shoulder. He could smell the blood and see his meat and bones and a jumbled mess.

The Overseer advanced on Blaze ready to strike the killing blow when the buzzer went off, signifying that someone had already died. Blaze glanced around and saw Greg on the floor a pool of blood encircling him. His eyes were gone and in their place were two vines.

Blaze sighed in relief and in sadness. He felt an arm pull him up and helped him stand. Axel stared at him worried.

“You okay?” He asked.

Blaze nodded slowly. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

Axel helped him walk out of the arena. He made sure not to touch the injured arm. As they left the arena, Blaze heard a voice calling his name.

Nova ran at him squeezing him in a very tight hug. “You’re alive! You’re alive.” Blaze nodded trying not to flinch at the pain.

“Yeah, can’t say the same thing for Greg, though. Poor guy.” Blaze shot a look back at the arena just to see his friend one last time. “Bye, Greg.”

Blaze waited for Nova on his bed. He’d told her to get to his bunk, because he needed to be healed. And he needed someone to stitch his wound.

“Hey,” Nova whispered. “I’m here.”

Blaze smiled at her. “Good, here’s the silk.”

Nova grabbed it. “Why can’t the others know about the silk?”

“Because the best way to keep a secret from your enemy is by telling the least amount of people possible. Even if it means keeping the truth away from people you trust and love.”

Nova nodded understanding and started stitching the hole. “I’m glad you’re not dead.” Nova whispered.

“I’m glad I’m not dead, too.”

“Why didn’t you give up, like you told me you would?” Nova asked. “Were you trying to scare me, because that worked.”

“I really thought I would, but I remembered last night. These prisoners have hope, because of me. Imagine what would happen if I just gave up.”

“Good thing we talked about that last night, huh?” Nova smiled. She continued stitching in silence for some time before she spoke up again. “I’m still scared, Blaze.” She looked into his eyes and stared at them for a long time. “I’m scared I’ll die, too. Just like my brother. I’m scared I'll leave someone behind, depressed and wanting to see me again.” She finished stitching and just like the night before, they sat together, Nova leaning her head on Blaze’s shoulder.

“I’m scared, too. Everyday I enter that arena, I’m scared. But I’m scared because I know that I won’t be the one to die. I’ve been here for eight years seeing so many people I love dying. Nova, death is part of life and it’s something we have to learn to deal with.”

Nova smiled at him and left his bunk to go to hers. And once more there were six prisoners in the cell.