Of Love and Death.

The Future Chapter 11: The Newest Snake Pt. 1

Stage fright, the talking about possession and implications that at least one or two people are possessed to some degree. Hints that one character might not have the best life, but you have to dig for that, and a little bit of I'm not fully sure how to describe feeling like you're looking at more than one person while it's only one person. It sounds bad, but, except for the stage fright and possession, it's a pretty tame chapter.

     Den gulped, looking down at her shaking hands. Everything around her was shaking and she felt like a star had gone supernova in her stomach, and the contents wanted to go upwards with all of that force. It wasn't too fun, and definitely not something she would recommend for anyone else. With all of the fervor of a shining star she wanted it to not be happening to her.

     Calm down Den, it's not like it's the end of the world, Den reminded herself, trying to take a deep breath. Inside of her head, she felt a nod of encouragement from Dragon. The bey, although clearly not sharing her nervousness, was trying to reassure her. It made sense, she knew that Dragon had had a lot of partners before, he was no stranger to battle.

     I am awesome like that, Dragon boasted. Den almost chuckled at the image that came to her mind, of the glowing beast sticking out his chest in pride. It was a ridiculous image, and definitely would have sent her into a fit of laughter if she was not overwhelmed with nerves. Well, at least it's a home game, her partner said, trying to be nice again.

      Yes, the crowd was on Den's side, which should be nice, but it was actually worse. Now they were all counting on her to do them proud. She was their representative, chosen by Gabe to fight for them. To prove that they were strong. She knew that she was strong, she really did, but was she strong enough for that? Surely Gabe or Bel would have been a better choice for the first round. They would definitely have been able to make the crowd roar with joy.

      "I can't do this," Den whispered. All of her teammates turned to look at her, and she hung her head. She'd been able to make it out here, into the glow of lights, but she doubted she could go farther. Last time, when they battled the Stars, she didn't have to go out. It had glazed her eyes to how hard that would be. Now that she was facing it she knew.

     There was a soft thud as Bel sat down next to Den on the bench. He smiled calmingly, and it almost worked too. But the fear in Den's heart didn't want to let go of her that easily. "Of course you can do it," Bel reassured her, in an unusually soft and kind tone. Not that Bel wasn't kind, but he came off kind of...loud. So Den was very surprised at this more gentle side of him. "You just need a little help!" He said.

     No, not said, shouted.

     Well it was good while it lasted.

     Swallowing hard, Den wondered what that could mean. She had a feeling that it was not something that she might enjoy. "Um, Bel, should I be concerned?" She asked hesitantly, even though she already knew the answer. Bel smiled a big cheshire-cat smile, and Den shied away, highly cautious.

       The stadium got dark, and Den turned her head up to the jumbotron, where she knew the images of her and her opponent would be. Seeing his picture didn't help matters. His name was Jonathan Samson and he was the captain of the Sparking Wishes. Not that his team name matched up with his attire. He was wearing a suit made out of pure black, and had a spiked choker, bracelet, shoes, and basically a whole lot of spikes.

     Den whimpered a bit.

      "Would both bladers please come up to the stage?" Hanami Jr, wait - hadn't he just been in Denver? What was he doing here? Well it probably didn't matter - requested. Den furrowed her brow, and steeled her nerves. She could do this. She could do this. All she had to do was stand up and walk up there, that was the first step. Everything else should be easy after that.

     I can do this, Den told herself. And she did. She stood up off the bench, shaking slightly, but standing. She stared forward with determination in her eyes, her glare locked on her opponent, who had already reached the stage. She could do this, no problem. This was her time to shine. She was going to go up there and beat the Wish's captain. They'd be wishing that they'd never joined the Roar Tournament.

     Den was fairly certain that a whole minute passed without her taking a step. Her feet were still rooted where they were. She heard a sigh from behind her, and turned to look at Gabe, Bel, and Bashara, all with various expressions on their faces. Gabe was bored, Bashara was sympathetic, and Bel seemed utterly unperturbed. As a matter of fact, the last of those stood up and took a step to be next to Den.

      "You can definitely do this," Bel began honestly. Den could see it in his eyes that he believed in her. He knew that once she was up on that stage she'd be able to push through her fear and battle. That warmed her heart, that her friend had faith in her. "But do you want some help getting up to the stadium?" He asked. Den sighed, and nodded. Although she might not of if she'd realized that Bel had a different definition of "help getting up there" than she had imagined. She'd thought he was just going to drag up there by the hand.

     No. Apparently, to Bel, helping getting up there meant picking someone up bridal style and carrying them out to the center in front of everyone. Not really helping Den's previous stage fright. Then again as she hid her red face in her hands, too embarrassed to even protest Bel's mode of encouragement, she was also too embarrassed to be afraid. Maybe that would be helpful.

     "I forget, do I know him?" Jamie asked, burying her hands in her face, almost as embarrassed as Den had to be. Lilac patted her on the back, while everyone else in the stands laughed their heads off. As a matter of fact, Jamie was fairly certain that up in the box where her parents were, they were laughing as well. Or dying of embarrassment. One of the two.

     "Let's just all pretend we don't," Lilac decided, causing Jamie to nod vigorously with embarrassment.

      Den felt her feet touch the ground again, and knew that Bel had put her down. Not that she was ready, by any means, to face how much the crowd was laughing. Perhaps this was a part of Bel's plan. Embarrass her as much as humanly possible to get all of her fears over and done with. Whether or not that was the case, it was slightly working. Not that Den had any intention of admitting that. All of her fear had been replaced by how much she was blushing.

      Why on Earth was Bel Den's friend? Sure he was a great friend, but she was beginning to think the shapeshifting blader was more trouble than he was worth. "Well, um," Den vaguely heard Hanami Jr. say on the intercom. "Both bladers are here now, if they would please get ready to launch, that'd be great. Uh. Yeah, nothing else to say. Hanami Jr. out!"

       It all came crashing down on Den in that instant. She dropped her hands to her sides, and took in the scene around her, all too aware of how she was slightly shaking. Across the stadium, she saw her opponent. He was smirking, he wasn't going to let up just because he saw she was nervous. Rude, but at the same time, Den could understand why he was doing it. The Wishes' captain wanted to take any opportunity to beat the team led by two of the best bladers in history.

       And Den had to beat him. She had to beat this ruthless opponent. She didn't have to beat the crowd staring at her, she just had to beat her own nerves, and beat him. Well that wasn't any more difficult than any other battle, was it? Sure, the stakes were higher, but it was still just a battle. She still simply had to beat someone, she'd done that hundreds of times. And that was a beautiful breakthrough. As she realized all that she had to do, something twitched and stirred in her heart. She could do this, and would do this, and should do this and this battle wasn't even going to be the hardest part.