Nicoleta fell into a habit of restless training, the round of twenty five was harsher, and she only made it by luck.
So now she needed to focus, she needed to become much stronger, and with programs suspended she had only herself to train her.
The dummy was back in the center of her living room, being abused.
At some point she burned it, and had to order for a new one, which her father called her to ask her why she was using his card to purchase dummies.
She said training, and returned to her non-stop attacking.
By the end of the week the dummy had tares and burn scars all around it, and Nicoleta had won four out of four matches in the round of twenty-five.
The matches had gotten more difficult though, and with each win Nicoleta grew closer to the edge, her anxiety was there, though small, it was there, and whenever she watched the people she could potentially fight with later, annihilate their opponents, the hairs on the back of her neck rose.
The Competitions began to become the hot topic everywhere, the canteen mentioned Nicoleta's name more than she liked, and along side her name was Leilani, and Laura Glass. She had heard that last name anywhere, she just didn't remember.
When she joined her friends for breakfast, she asked them. "Who is Laura Glass?" May gasped, and Charlotte stared at her like she was crazy. May had become very theatrical lately, did she join the drama club or something?
"Ignore her- she's a four time champion" Nicoleta's brows knitted together, four time champion? How come she didn't know about her until now?
Her anxiety settled into a comfortable place where her flame should have been.
"You might meet in this round- the round of twenty five is notorious for pairing up people randomly" Nicoleta deflated, she was going to lose, and what would be the point of qualifying, of begging Evan to make her join?
After breakfast she ran to the training hall with a strong hope of finding Evan there, hoping that he still went there despite classes being suspended.
When she reached the glass doors, inside she saw Levi and Evan drinking tea, and speaking about something.
She opened the doors, as loudly as possible to gain their attention.
Levi looked up first, "Nicoleta?"
"Ms. Ariti?" She walked up to them, her fingers tips aching because of how many times she had scratched them, she was close to scratching off skin.
"Tell me about Laura Glass, you fought against her right?" Levi seemed to snap out of some trance, when Nicoleta spoke, he glanced at his brother, then back at her.
"Well?" Nicoleta asked, "why do you want to know now?" Evan questioned, setting his tea down.
"We are in the round of twenty-five" Evan shook his head, "that is very unlikely" Levi butted in, "I don't see why we can't give her some advice"
She agreed with him, "he would know more than I do. Ask him" she turned to Levi, he froze, then relaxed.
"Glass is very predictable the more you watch her, she tends to use the same techniques, and moves." She nodded.
"When I fought with her she followed the same patterns as with her first match, down to the last- if I had watched her matches I would have been able to beat her"
Nicoleta was shocked, "so you admit it?" He furrowed his brows, "admit what?"
"That you lost" Evan laughed, "I was going easy on her" Nicoleta laughed, she didn't believe a word. "She looked hopeless"
"Really? A three time champion helpless?" He shrugged, "yeah, maybe she needed the win badly" Evan chuckled with Nicoleta. Though she laughed, she still felt uneasy. Laura Glass was able to put Levi on his back, and win against him, Nicoleta could hardly get a hit on him.
If Laura and her met, and they would definitely meet, if not in the round of twenty five then the finals, or even the quarters, or the semi's.
Nicoleta's anxiety returned like a wildfire, she could hardly focus on her next match. She won regardless of the fear, but when she sat down after being healed, to watch Laura combat, she left more fearful than she had ever been, and regretting ever stepping foot into the stands.
The round of twenty-four disappeared, and came the quarter finals, gladly she didn't meet Laura.
But Laura was in the quarter finals, which meant she would be in the semi finals, which meant she would be in the finals, which meant even if Nicoleta made it to the finals, she would be disgustingly defeated by Laura.
"I really don't want to be Laura's Fifth win" she confessed to her friends one night. May was scribbling on her paper like her life depended on it, homework. And Charlotte was practicing a speech for some class event.
"Guys?" She turned to look at them, busy, with their own lives, she realised just how selfish she had been since she met them. May and Charlotte must have known every problem she had, every thing about her, and her father, she knew only a little about May, and hardly anything about Charlotte.
She was treating them like comforters, not friends.
She sank into her chair, a frown drawing on her face.
"May- you need help with your homework?" She asked, May lit up with excitement, "really? Oh my gosh that would be so great come come" she sat next to her friend, and helped her with her homework.
When May understood that letters were indeed part of maths, she moved on to Charlotte.
"Speech?" Charlotte nodded, "you need help?" Charlotte nodded, "what can i do?" Charlotte looked up at her, then glanced at her open computer, "weren't you going to call your dad?" Nicoleta shook her head. Lie.
Charlotte shrugged, "well um… can you be an audience of very judgemental classmates?" Nicoleta dragged her chair over to where Charlotte stood, and sat down.
"I'm all ears" Charlotte looked at her, brows raised, hand on her hip. "You are supposed to be judgemental"
Nicoleta caught herself, and stopped smiling, "yeah sorry." She frowned and knitted her brows.
"When will this 'president' get speaking?" Charlotte accepted it.
On the day of Nicoleta's quarter final match, more than Charlotte and May were cheering for her.
She was overwhelmed by how many supporters she had suddenly, but she did enjoy the people cheering for her.
Nicoleta stepped on the platform, across from her was Leilani, shivers ran down Nicoleta's spine.
How come she looked so scary? And was that fire in her eyes?
Nicoleta stretched out her neck, arms, and legs. Leilani cracked her wrists, and her neck, then grinned at her.
The tiger claw flashed through Nicoleta's eyes, she froze.
"Round one. Begin" the buzzer rang out, the red on Nicoleta's face became green, and just as it did, she was thrown back.
She hit the edge harshly, but when she saw Leilani rushing towards her she threw her flame at her, and propelled herself upward.
She connected her foot diagonally into Leilani's back, adding pressure on her spine right in the middle.
Leilani fell down with a grunt, Nicoleta flew over to where Leilani once stood.
The robot spoke. "Set point to Nicoleta Ariti" Leilani hadn't gotten up.
There was no way her quarter final match would last five minutes only, she had to stand up.
"Round two. Begin" she stood up and threw a gust of blue flame at Nicoleta, she scolded herself for ever thinking like that, so what if the match lasted one second? As long as she won.
She threw her flame at Leilani, and knowing that she would lift herself up to attack, Nicoleta did the same and met her half way.
She knocked her down to the metal, and didn't stop there. Making a point to keep her down, Nicoleta slammed her foot on Leilani's chest, twice.
Leilani's flame burned through Nicoleta's veins, freezing, and piping hot.
She stepped off of her, and was struck in the chest immediately after.
Nicoleta, despite the pain, caught her foot, and threw her across the platform.
Leilani's already hit back smashed into the edge.
She screamed in pain, but stood up before eight seconds was up.
Nicoleta stepped back when she got low.
How was she operating with an injured spine?
Nicoleta fell into her fighting stance.
Leilani leaped at her, her hand twisted into a familiar move, Nicoleta slapped her clawed arm back and nailed her in the gut, she hit her shoulder, then rushed a quick flame toward her.
Unable to see her, Nicoleta used that advantage to jump up and bash her chest.
Once, twice, thrice. Leilani caught Nicoleta's ankle and spun her around. Nicoleta caught herself with her flame and shot out toward her.
Leilani engulfed Nicoleta around with her blue flame, inside surrounded by nothing but ice and heat, Nicoleta could not see a single attack Leilani threw at her.
Her ribs were hit, an audible crack sounding, her gut seemed to be a favorite, her knee was broken back in.
She screamed in pain and sank to her good knee falling down to the metallic floors.
Nicoleta bit the side of her palmer, and screamed in unimaginable agony.
She could feel the bone, she felt it, she knew it had been displaced, gone back, behind where it should actually be.
"Set point to Leilani Haddox" Nicoleta drew blood on her bitten hand.
She glared up at Leilani, her flame bubbled, blood boiled.
Scarlet flame climbed up her arms, Leilani's eyes lit up with surprise.
Nicoleta pushed herself to stand, bouncing on one leg, she angled her arms into a semi fighting stance.
"Round three. Begin" the red in her eyes did not disappear when she pounced on Leilani.
She locked her neck between her thighs, and brought her down. Nicoleta flipped her over, and elbowed her in the chest.
She nailed her again in her sternum, then once more in the chest again, and then her ribs more than three times.
All she could see was red as she hit Leilani, blow after blow. The red only increased.
Nicoleta only stopped when the red became Leilani's blood.
She jumped off her, trembling with anger, and regret.
"Winner Is Nicoleta Ariti"
The crowd could have broken her ear drums with how loudly they cheered for her.
Nicoleta couldn't quite enjoy her win, as Finnick carried Leilani's bloodied figure away from her.
"Is the girl okay?" Nicoleta nodded. The healers were great at their job, but her being okay didn't erase all the memories that Nicoleta was being reminded of during these matches.
It was sector twelve all over again, except this time she didn't have to bear the consequences her powers lashing out brought.
Her father had grown more concerned the more she updated him. Nicoleta realized too late that telling him every detail of her matches probably wasn't the brightest idea.
He had a small frown on his face, "what's wrong?" Nicoleta looked up at him from the shield of her arms, she really tried not to think anything about it, about how much she hurt her, about the blood on her hands.
Couldn't she stop after the first two hits like she usually did? Why didn't she stop when Leilani, a great fighter like herself, didn't fight back?
"I'm scared" now it wasn't only Laura Glass but herself also.
Who knew what extent she would go to just to win? How could she trust herself not to have an outburst like that again?
Her father leaned in, for a moment she imagined they were close together in real life, actually next to each other.
She sighed.
"There's this girl- she's the fourth time champion, she's competing and I'm scared- " he nodded.
"You've been doing well so far" Nicoleta shrugged, "not as good as her" Ambrose sunk back into his chair. It was only then that she noticed bags under his eyes.
She hoped it wasn't because of her as she asked, "have you been losing sleep?" Ambrose chuckled, but it didn't sound real.
"I'm fine sweetheart" She shook her head, "no tell me- what's wrong?"
He sighed, rubbing his face in a pathetic attempt to wipe away the weariness in his eyes.
"I'm not in a flare," Nicoleta nodded. He was struggling with a project, but she had seen her father struggle before. That wasn't the only reason why.
It was definitely a horrible idea, giving him every detail.
"I'm gonna be fine Dad- please stop worrying about me" he shook his head, Brows knitting together.
"No. No. Nicoleta I'm not worried. I know you are strong," he smiled, "you are going to win okay? Believe it"
The semi finalists received a week off to rest, and truly prepare for what might just decide whether or not some of them would be transferred.
That was what the competition was for Nicoleta anyway.
She had forgotten there was a cash price until she heard word about it in the halls when she was making her way to the canteen.
Her father's words added some confidence. She felt good about the semi's, especially now that they had a week off, she could train more, meditate more, become stronger.
Along the way she learned that Laura had made it to the semi finals as well, by beating Kannika.
She wasn't surprised about it, but it still didn't fail to make her a little nervous- little nervous is an understatement, she was distraught.
Her friends displayed two emotions at the table when she made it to lunch.
May was anxious, Nicoleta's hidden secret, and Charlotte was beyond confident, Nicoleta's outward emotion.
Charlotte never wavered in confidence for Nicoleta, not since the knockout rounds, but May was a nervous wreck.
She sat down with her tray, and dug into her food.
They had begun to serve more chicken than usual lately and Nicoleta was taking advantage of it every chance she got.
"Excited for the semis?" Charlotte asked, optimism reeking off of her. Nicoleta almost couldn't tolerate it.
May was the beautiful opposite. "Aren't you nervous?" She asked, biting her lip over and over.
Nicoleta shrugged, "I feel a lot of things. But I'm gonna win" Charlotte clapped her hand.
"That's the spirit!" She shook May's shoulders to cheer her up, "come on smile, you aren't even the one competing."
May glared at her, "my mother once told me. Tu dolor es mi dolor y tu pérdida es mi pérdida." Nicoleta placed her spoon down, and gulped down orange juice.
"What's that mean?" She asked, after she swallowed her food. "when you lose Nicoleta I lose too-" Charlotte grabbed her face, "you mean If right?" May nodded rapidly. "Of course"
She turned to Nicoleta, "why what did I say?"
Nicoleta chuckled, May's confidence in her was nonexistent. "Nothing."
The day of Nicoleta's semi final match was quiet, she was a mix of confident, and nervous.
Her hands shook when she stood in the box, but then it all came to a still halt when she stepped on the platform.
The crowd had gone quiet, across from her was someone she struggled to beat once.
Yalis Samuel.
Nicoleta shook away the nerves, telling herself to focus. She had fought him before, and if she learned anything like Evan told her, then she would be able to beat him now.
"Round one. Begin"
Yalis was one of those fighters that waited. He stood in place, scanning Nicoleta, waiting, waiting for her to grow tired of him. Waiting for an attack, waiting for her to make the first move, and take advantage of any weak points.
Nicoleta never enjoyed having to wait. But now she stalked him, eyes darting all around, marking any place that was free, every area that was unprotected.
When the buzzer rang out, the two still didn't move.
Nicoleta stayed in place, bouncing lightly, waiting for him to tire himself out with his own game plan.
The crowd slowly began to make noise, some cheering for Yalis, and plenty cheering for Nicoleta.
Still May and Charlotte managed to be the loudest. She could hear them screaming. "Go for it!" For a moment it felt as if the entire crowd had fallen into her ears.
She shook her head, blinked away any second thoughts, and focused on him.
The robotic voice echoed once more.
"Both players must make a move in the next five seconds" the countdown began shortly after.
Yalis glanced at Nicoleta, his eyes a mix of anger and awe.
He moved toward her.
By the end of five seconds, he had hit her twice in the chest, but Nicoleta knocked him down.
She pushed him down further with her fire, close enough to keep him down, and far enough to not hurt him too much.
Nicoleta learned one very important thing after she lost against him
He was very durable, as were all of them, but it seemed his skin was made with titanium.
He slammed into the metallic platform and stood up like nothing happened, he would be seared back with fire and walk through it, Nicoleta was briefly reminded of her fight with Levi.
But he had an excuse, he was a phoenix, they were practically made by fire. Whenever he would transform he looked like a ball of flame, then a bird.
Yalis hadn't displayed any other abilities other than his unbelievable amount of durability.
Was that it? Could he take a lot of hits?
That put her in such a disadvantage Nicoleta wondered if the game operators purposely put her in that situation to get her to lash out like she did with Leilani, for her to not hold back anymore.
After putting Yalis down the sixth time in the same round, Nicoleta realised he wasn't a good fighter, what he had going for him was his durability, it was his sustainability in the match.
She just needed to find a way to keep him down for eight seconds, just twice, and she would win.
Letting her scarlet flame blink through to intimidate him, Nicoleta threw a ball of flame toward him and kicked through it, knocking him down.
The crowd cheered for her.
She stomped down on his chest, and glanced at the eight second counter.
As she did, Nicoleta was flung across the platform, she fell hard on the metal, and nearly broke her arm by the edge.
She picked herself up, glaring at Yalis, he was strong too, but he didn't have the skills to use them properly, Nicoleta should have lost an hour ago.
The match with Yalis had to be the longest she had fought. She was becoming weary by the passing second.
Yalis just wouldn't be put down.
Angry, and tired, Nicoleta lit her hands up as she rolled them into a fist.
She propelled herself toward him, and struck him down. Locked him down with her knees and nailed his shoulder, then his sternum.
He coughed out blood on her face.
Nicoleta jumped off of him, wiping it away rapidly.
She wanted to scream, she wanted to run, she had to leave, she wanted to burn the images flashing through her head.
"Set point to Nicoleta Ariti" she stumbled back, still wiping away the blood.
"Round two- " her ears shut down every sound. Her eyes blurred.
In front of her was no longer Yalis, but him, Dr. Campbell, needle in hand, eyes glistening with a sort of twisted joy in seeing her pain.
Nicoleta struggled to get out of her shaggles. She turned her gaze to the left, there laid the charred corpse of another one of her victims.
She didn't scream as he inserted the needle into her skin.
"Set point Yalis Samuel" Nicoleta clutched her broken arm, and stood up on her feet.
She won the next set. The fight lasted about two hours.
The crowd, and both the contests were so tired, the noise died out quickly, however talk about her in the finals was all the rage in the canteen later that week.
In the healers center Zylith healed her broken arm, and voiced her support.
"I really want you to win," she said, as she wrote something down on her computer.
A boy a foot taller than her, lean, thin, with the same coloured eyes as her, and the same snow white hair walked inside the room.
He beckoned for her to leave the computer.
"How are you feeling Ms. Ariti?" he asked, Nicoleta nodded, "great" he smiled lightly at her.
"Are you two related?" Zylith nodded happily, "he's my older brother Zelen"
He glanced over at Nicoleta one more time, "nice to meet you- you will be discharged by Finnick Claire."
He took his sister's arm and led her outside, Zyluth looked over her shoulder at Nicoleta, and mouthed, "go and win for me"
Nicoleta chuckled.
Laura's semi final match was a week away. Sector 1 believed she had already won, and sector 2 was scared for their new favourite.
Nicoleta was just as anxious but tried not to show it too much as she passed by worried faces.
May was convinced Nicoleta was dead, and Charlotte otherwise.
On the day of her match Nicoleta locked herself in her room, dedicating the whole day to meditation.
Charlotte knocked on her door, she didn't answer. May did likewise. She didn't answer.
Her mind was in a different world.
She communicated with her flame, feeling it in her veins, letting it tell her things she didn't understand, and things she did.
She burned ever so furiously.
One word remained clear all day during meditation, "I am you, and you are me."
She tried to reach for the distant flame again. But it seemed to have gone further away since she last meditated.
At last when she opened her eyes, most of her furniture had been turned to ash.
Nicoleta retired to her bed.
The halls were crowded yet quiet. Every eye was on Nicoleta, some with concern, some with a smirk.
The canteen ought to be the loudest in sector 2, but even there it was quiet.
People gave her way when she walked inside.
She took her food, and tried to ignore every eye on her as she made her way upstairs to her friends.
When she sat down, May launched at her, grabbing her arm with trembling hands, and looked at her with desperate eyes.
"Forfeit" she panted out, Nicoleta shook her off of her, "what's wrong with you?" Nicoleta asked, concern laced in her tone, she was really beginning to worry for May. Charlotte mused. "Yeah get a grip"
She sunk her head between her arms. "I'm sorry guys, I'm just nervous" Nicoleta and Charlotte chuckled.
Nicoleta could almost hear the canteen crack to watch her.
Laughing? At this time? Was probably what was going through their minds.
"Yeah you aren't hiding that" they both said in unison.
"I'm the one who should be nervous May- calm down" May let out a heavy breath, she rubbed her face, and leaned back, looking around the canteen.
Nicoleta focused on her food.
"Everyone's looking at you," said May, Nicoleta nodded. "I know"
The crowd made a shrewd noise. The three of them looked down.
Nicoleta's anxiety looked like May, though she didn't show it.
Her heart was drumming, her head whirling, arms weak, body aching though she hadn't even fought in a week.
After breakfast, all three of them walked outside.
The crowd made way for Nicoleta as she moved towards the bulletin board.
She knew what was on it, she knew who she was fighting, she knew that it was a twenty- eighty- situation.
Still she walked to the board, still she traced her fingers down how she had with all the previous rounds.
When she saw her name, she scanned her eyes very slowly over vs then right across from it was….
Laura Glass
Below it was the date, a week from then.
August 31st.