{so i'll progress to the second to last fight, does that sound alright, so several days later? or would you rather just go to the nexxt one?}

(As far as I'm concerned we can go to the last fight if you'd like but I'll follow your lead on this one so do whatever you'd like madam and I'll be right behind you :D)

{well I thought maybe the second to the last one so I could leave the option open for them making up... idk haha. but i'm just gonna go to the second to the last one and we'll roll with it =D}

Alita woke in the morning quite early. It had been strange between herself and Jin. They barely spoke in the past few days, and she assumed it was due to her killing him emotionally. She sighed softly as she sat up from the wall. The brunette had gone to sleep every night in the same sitting position, but he never approached her offer. She also had noticed the guard had yet to return from the other day. Alita had yet to see the other one as well. Sighing softly she began her warm up as she always had. Her brown hair flowed softly behind her as she moved. Sadly, she had noticed her performances in the battles had been a bit lackluster. The wound on her cheek healed, but her bruises remained surprisingly from the first fight. They didn't hurt her they just were there. Her body had other wounds as well such as a large gash on her left thigh. She received that in the last fight when she looked to see how Jin was doing. He may be confused about her, but she was sure she still really liked him and wanted to go back with him when it was over...

Waking to that same bright sun in reality and the black one that was his world, Jin opened his eyes slowly only to see the shattered reality that he lived in. He tried to find it in himself to forgive her but he had yet to find that feeling or urge. The past few days had been like reliving his training all over, he killed without mercy and took pleasure in it without revealing that to the outside world. Then he returned to the room to curl up into that ball of his own dream world where things could never harm him or break him as he had been in reality. The only times he had spoken to Alita lately was to tell her she needed to focus which seemed to be doing nothing as she continued to put herself in harms way for some reason. He didn't feel like warning her again today since it had all be a waste of breath up until now. In the past few fights he had sustained few to no injuries except receiving another gash on his chest which didn't bother him since he had plenty as it was. Rising up he did his warm ups as he did every morning trying to keep out of Alita's way. He still cared for her but didn't know what to do since he could not find any forgiveness in his heart, if he had one...

The brunette heard him wake... she wanted him to forgive her. She knew that he might possibly ever forgive her and that broke her heart everyday. Alita continued her warm up until the door was violently flung open. Her brown eyes looked to Saguine then back to the men in the doorway. Looking she was a little upset to notice that the one man was one of them. Alita's eyes looked to Jin as she tried to tell him that the one with the dark hair was one of them... she wanted to make it up to him telling him whatever she could. They both stood there in the doorway. Looking between the two of them Alita didn't move as she looked to Jin...

As he was warming up his attention was snapped when the guards violently swung the door open. This pissed Jin off instantly since he hated being interrupted from his meditation and routines. Looking to Alita he caught the look in her eye and with him already being pissed he didn't mind taking him out but he didn't know if it was out of pure anger or for her sake. Walking over to the door calmly he put his boot in the chest of the blonde haired guard sending him sprawling to the ground. Then grabbed the neck of the dark haired one and slammed his face against the door of the cell, breaking his nose upon contact. After ramming his face he turned the man around and smashed his fist against his broken nose a few more times before he snapped the man's neck and watched him fall to the floor limp. Then looking to the guard on the floor he said, "Shall we leave now," in his usual soft and calm voice.

Alita was surprised when he easily took care of the man. Then again she couldn't be sure if it was for her... or because he was mad. Quietly she watched the blonde get up off the ground and she followed Ariston. Walking that same hall they always did she stopped in front of the gate. The blonde man gently removed her collar and pulled Jin's off as well. After thinking for several days she realized why she was so distraught over losing Saguine. As funny as it sounded to her, she thought she loved him. Standing beside him she stood quietly about to say something when the gate heaved open.

Following the man he was not surprised to see the fear in the man's eyes when he killed his partner. That was three men now that he had killed and he was sure that the higher ups were amused at best by these murders. He had killed them all in cold blood and felt nothing afterwards except to need to take care of business and get out of here. When they got to the gate a usual the guard took off the collars and then disappeared. Left next to Alita, as the gate came flying over he said to her, "Don't die," and then rushed out there surprised to find himself up against a fellow assassin from the Fire Kingdom. His name was Jaffar and he had been one of the few men that Jin could trust and rely on for a team mission when they came up. The surprise on both of their faces was apparent and it was obvious they didn't want to fight each other but still knowing that there was only one way out of this place they drew their blades both having similar fighting styles and began to circle one another...

Jin: It's been a while... so you got captured as well? That's a shock.
Jaffar: Yeah, the storm really ripped through our troops, I know you've realized that the majority of the fighters have been from our Kingdom. How did you get caught?
Jin: I have and I don't want to talk about that...
Jaffar: Fair enough, I guess dying by a friend's hand won't be all that bad. Beats dying by some weakling...
Jin: Agreed... Let's spare no feelings. We were friends once but it seems that time had come to an end.
Jaffar: Indeed. One of us will die so may the best assassin win...
Jin: Best of luck to you brother...
Jaffar: And you as well...

Alita looked softly to the side to see that Jin had known the man he was fitting against. Looking to her opponent she saw it was a female as well. She was much taller than the brunette as she looked across the field. The two elementalist just stared at each other for a few moments before the other launched an attack. Easily dodging Alita began her own counter attack softly firing a volley of ice at the woman. With a flick of her wrist she saw the woman block her herself with water. Nodding the brunette smiled at the woman and sent a lightning bolt down onto the water and was surprised when it had no affect, but Alita shrugged and continued her attack.

After the two had come to terms with one of their demises Jaffar launched the first series of attacks with consisted of a string of fluid sword strikes and kicks followed by a few fireballs. Jin was pushed back a little by the attack before launching a counter offensive of similar structure but he lit his sword and feet aflame to force Jaffar to have to dodge or block his attacks since there was no margin for error without being burned. The two kept at it for a steady pace of time before Jin shot out a forceful burst with his celestial flame in which had yet to reveal all tournament long. The crowd was amazed and immediately grew anxious as to what that was since none of them had never seen anything like it before. Jaffar was knocked back by the blast and it burned a portion of his left arm in the process. Getting up the dark haired assassin stomped on the ground sending a pillar of magma barrelling straight for Jin. Dodging to the side Jin was met when he got up from his roll with a sharp kick to the side which briefly knocked the wind from his lungs and sent him stumbling backwards...

Alita continued fighting the woman who wielded a sickle on a chain. She was easily dodging the attacks, but was having a difficult time making one of her own. The other female swung her blade around easily protecting herself from close attacks. She looked to Saguine and saw him get kicked and stumble backwards the woman took this chance and swung her blade downward for Alita's face. Quickly thrusting her one blade out the chain wrapped around her sword and managed to leave a deep cut over her lip. Gasping she let out a soft growl as she tugged on the woman's chain trying to rip it from the other woman's hands. The woman resisted and pulled Alita to her knees. She unraveled her chain from the brunette's blade and tried to strike her again. Rolling out of the way Alita managed to send a bolt down striking the woman. To the Storm elementalist's surprise she still stood standing. Running around the woman she began calling on a heavy storm to aid them...

Seeing this as a chance to finish the match Jaffar launched straight at Jin and swung his blade downwards at the man looking to impale him swiftly. To his surprise he was on his back before he realized what had happened and he scrambled to his feet attempting to regain his composer but it was too late, Jin was already too close. Trying to protect himself Jaffar took a kick to the face then several punches to the ribs followed by a backflip bicycle kick that sent him onto his back again. Jin had no weapon his in hands realizing that their skills with blades were equal in just about every way and he had now disarmed Jaffar as well. Waiting for him to get to his feet the two looked at each other with nothing but respect in their eyes lined in a deep sorrow for the understanding of what was to come of this match. Each of them taking a modified stance of their martial arts training they readied themselves for the next part of their showdown and likely the ending. Rushing forward first Jin launched a jump kick that was dodged and countered by a flurry of well aimed punches and thrusts. Able to effectively defend himself from all of them the raven haired assassin countered with a roundhouse kick followed by a sweeping kick that was meant to disrupt Jaffars strategy but instead he was hit with an unexpected jump kick. Even so he used the kick to propel his momentum into another roundhouse kick this time actually connecting and sending his senior innitiate stumbling backwards. Seeing the opportunity Jin quickly pointed his palm at Jaffar and launched a white ball of fire that was abnormally large at his former brother. Not having time to react Jaffar crossed his arms in front of himself in the form of an X to try and reduce the amount of damage knowing that this was it. Upon contact there was a massive explosion that sent Saguine flying backwards, he was too close to the explosion radius. The explosion left the fans in a frenzy trying to see what had happened since smoke covered the entire area of the arena field of battle...

Alita danced around the woman as her storm clouds rolled in. Grinning she watched as small bits of rain feel from the sky, mixed with hail, and lightning cracked the ground around the woman. As the woman was a bit stunned from the lightning the brunette rushed forward swinging her blades at the woman's throat. To her surprise the chain of the woman's blade wrapped around her neck. She had to admit that this woman was very as the chain was now tight around her throat. Alita was able to continue moving around the woman, but she was at a much closer rang because she knew if she moved and further back she would surely choke herself. Frowning she ducked and took several swings at the woman. The explosion left the both of them blind. Alita swung again and felt her blade contact with flesh and bone. Swinging violently she felt the chain tighten around her throat. Then heard a thud as the chains remained taught around her throat. Alita attempted to pull at the chains, but they were intricately wound around her neck. Kneeling to the ground she brought her blade up to try and cut the metal to no avail...

Finally when the smoke cleared both Jin and Jaffar were on the ground except Jaffar had been thoroughly burned and was mostly unrecognizable. Jin on the other hand had been shot back clear across the stadium and was so tired he didn't know if he had the strength to make it to his feet. The attack had taken a great deal of energy from him but he knew it needed to be powerful and completely destroy Jaffar to make his death worthwhile. It had not troubled him at all even though he assumed it would eat at him and to his surprise he didn't care. Maybe this meant that he was alright with being all alone again, or maybe his heart had just gone numb from the pain. Either way he felt nothing as the only man who had ever been trustworthy to him from the Fire Kingdom lay dead now by his own hands. Rising his head to see what had become of Alita, Jin struggled to sit himself upright but when he finally did his head was spinning. He was a little dizzy from the explosion and couldn't quite make anything out as of yet...

Alita looked to Jin and smiled when she saw him sitting up and looking alright. When the smoke cleared the crowd could see the woman had been slashed several times across the chest and throat. Many of them stood up to see if Jin and herself were alright. Other pointed and gasped as she fought with the chain choking her. Finally she decide to freeze the chain and pulled it apart. Gasping for air she rubbed the deep indentations on her neck feeling the imprint of the chain. Sitting still for several moments she gained her breath looking over at Jin. Standing up shakily she walked slowly over to him and offered him a hand to help him up.

Finally when his eyes regained their focus he saw a figure walking towards him with long dark hair, it was Alita. He was happy that she was alive but he felt no joy right now, he simply felt nothing. Faking a soft smile he reached up and took her hand and was helped to his feet. The crowd was going wild right now... it seemed that they had earned their support if nothing else. Looking to the figure that was once Jaffar, Saguine walked over there quietly without saying a word and took a knee. He said a short prayer for his long time guild brother and made a cross symbol over both of them before walking back to the cell block area. He didn't look back anymore, that man was now another part of his past...

Alita couldn't help, but smile when Jin took her hand and allowed her to help him up. It was the first contact they had had in quite awhile. She heard the crowd roaring, but all she could really hear was the thumping of her heart in her ears. The brunette watched as he said good bye to his comrade, but she only watched briefly before returning to their lovely cell... Quietly she watched as he came back.

When he reached his cell he went to the middle of the cell and said another prayer but this one was for himself, it was forbidden to kill one of your brothers without extreme situations having arisen and this happened to be one of them. Once he was done he walked over to the spot he had spent his last few nights but instead of curling into his usual ball of pity he sat there thinking about the times and all the people who had come and gone in his life. Was this one little fight worth losing the only person whom had come into his life and actually made him happy? Did he really want to go back to being all alone that bad? He didn't know the answer to those questions right now being that he felt his heart was shut off from the world lately. He could feel any emotion, nor did he know what he was suppose to feel anymore. It put him in the uncomfortable position of having to pretend that he did remember all those things knowing that he didn't. But should he pretend or should he tell her? She had withheld that information from him and it had sent him spiralling into this state but what would happen if he did the same? He sat there with all these thoughts floating through his mind unsure of what to do with himself right now...

(So what do you think now haha :ninja:)

{awh, i like =] haha. and sorry for the lack of response. I had a rough weekend >.< lots of stupid nonsense drama}

Alita quietly watched as he said his prayer. Softly she sat on the wall where she had always sat. Her legs softly stretched out and her head leaning against the wall. The brunette sighed softly and turned her head over to look at him. She picked her head up from against the wall and smiled at the man. "I can tell something is on your mind... we can talk about it." She offered softly as he looked to him. Alita wanted to talk to him she wanted to repair what she had broken.

((Aww... sorry but you're fine last week was like that for me... well rough anyway)

For the first time in a while Jin looked up at Alita and really looked at her but he couldn't smile to give her the reassurance he wanted to give her. So instead he figured holding this in would only make things worse instead of better and he thought that that was what he wanted so he began, "I... I've lost my ability to make expressions or rather I should say I can't remember how to make them. I don't know why or how but that's what has happened... There is so much running through my mind right now I don't know what to say to you or how to start..." He had a great deal running through his head, his life, his family, the people he had connections with and the hatred he carried. Where was he to start?

{it's okay it's all over. It's just a complicated situation... and it's annoying, but thank you for being understanding.}

The brunette listened as he talked and made her way over to sit next to him. "Just talk... I'll listen. To anything, everything. Start with whatever you think of first.... I want to help you Saguine." She answered softly with a smile. Alita had almost slipped that she wanted to help him because she thought she may possibly be in love with him, but kept that in. The girl didn't want to confuse her friend even more. Softly she rubbed his arm with her one hand as she smiled at him.

(I understand and no problem, you did the same for me...)

As Alita spoke he stared at the floor and when she finished, sighed deeply. Not taking his eyes from the ground he continued, "I've never really been close to someone before in my life so I guess I expected something else. I thought we were going to be completely open with each other and something of that caliber would be shared between us so that I could help you... but I suppose I expected more than I should have. We all have parts of our past's we would like to keep secret I suppose. I personally don't have anything to hide since most of my life has been nothing but different sorts of pain and training but I think I allowed my own perceptions to distort my sight of reality and I apologize for that. I can't expect everyone to be the same as me since very few people are so forgive my for my short sightedness. If you choose to withhold something that is your choice and I will honor it from now on..." He paused for a moment to allow his thoughts to sort themselves out before he spilled them out again, "Alita I'm not sure what to feel, what to think or what to do right now. I think for the first time in my life I'm... I'm lost. I appreciate everything you've done for me but I'm not sure about anything anymore... I feel so, weak as if I've lost my grip on who I am and what I stand for, my strengths and weaknesses. It's troubling." Jin looked into his hands and saw the trembling in them then closed them into fists and sat there in silence. He had said what he wanted to say and now he was done talking for the moment...

{mhm =], 'cause we're friends.}

Alita chewed on her lip still softly rubbing his arm. She listened intently as she listened to him talk. The brunette felt awful and blamed herself entirely. It was all her fault that she hadn't told him. She betrayed him and left him all alone. "I-I wanted to tell you the moment it happened. I just wanted to get it off my chest... but I didn't want to bother you with it... I was just so unsure... but you're still Saguine. You are still the man I first met when I came into here... alone and scared."Softly she continued to rub his arm as she felt a single tear trickle down her cheek. "I'll help you anyway you need Jin." She choked softly as another tear ran down her cheek. Alita felt like the worst person on the planet at the moment.

(Yay! We're friends lol)

For the first time since the conversation started Jin looked up with anger filling his voice, "What do you mean bother with it? Maybe I was wrong to assume we were closer than that. If you need to get something off your chest that's what I'm here for and if you need help with anything... I thought that's what I was suppose to do as well... I guess not..." As he finished his anger slowly turned more into sorrow or regret whichever one was not readily apparent. Then he changed his tone to his usual one and calmed himself down, "People don't change, you and I are no different. All we can do is adapt and that's what I wanted to do for you... that's what I want to do for you," he finished.

{mhm! :hug:}

The brunette heard the anger in his voice and quivered slightly. She knew she had made a mistake and it was a very dear mistake indeed. "We are really close, I care about you so much... And it hurt not to tell you... I was just so worried...I'm sorry Jin, I made a mistake." She apologized softly her eyes showing her apology. Alita had never been more sorry in her life. "I thank you... for wanting to that for me... I'm going to change... I'm just used to keeping personal things to myself, but from now on... I'll tell you everything." She answered softly as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Softly her arms wrapped around his holding it tightly. She really did care about him, more than she had ever cared about anyone in her life.