~*~

I can't believe it. I can't believe this is happening.

People around me, including who I didn't even know, were staring at me. Then I started to hear clear whispers.

"Do you think she would make it?"
"Signing up on your first year? That's suicide."
"Ten? What a lucky !"
"Gods is it that new Dummy who is always with the 127? And she got Ten!?"
"Is she a firebender? I— well—"
"Who the hell is Juli?"

I didn't realize I stopped breathing until Jennie squeezed my hand.

"You got this, now go girl." Jennie smiled.

Next to Jennie I saw the entire Black Velvet were giving me reassuring smiles.
 

Even though my entire body and soul were dead, I made my way to the backstage.

Why do the Fates hate me so much? What did I do to deserve this? Out of hundreds of students... 

And why Ten? Out of hundreds of students...

I found Ten, who was looking out at the empty arena.

Before I could've greeted him, he turned around. Then flinched and held his right shoulder in pain.

Don't tell me he has an injury.

", are you—"

"Keep it down!" Ten hissed and regained his perfect posture back. "It was from our last mission, I can fight now."

"Can you? I mean there's always another year, you're in 127 and everyone knows your worth. What do you have to prove?"

"I've heard so much about you, Juli." Ten said. "But you don't know about me. Besides, we are already a disadvantage, our elements don't really go along."

Then it hit me, he is a waterbender.

"Even if we want to attempt a combo hit, which is impossible, considering it took months for Jaehyun, Hendery and me to practice our combos. Our opponent tag team on the other hand,"

They are both waterbenders, like him.

"—Have the same elements, like me."

"So what do you think we should do?"

"This could be an advantage for me to focus on defense because I know how they will move, and I am at a higher level than them both, so their technique wouldn't be much of a threat."

My eyes landed on his injured shoulder. I really don't think this is a good idea.

Ten held his shoulder. "Don't worry about me, just do your best."

"If anything goes wrong, just know that I won't hesitate to forfeit."

Ten frowned at me, like I was crazy. "The match will immediately end and the judges won't be able evaluate you thoroughly. You're willing to sacrifice that?" Ten raised his eyebrow at me.

"I'd rather risk that than risking a life."

Ten kept his silence and stared at me, like he couldn't believe what I have just said. "Very well," he turned around to the arena. "Let's give them a show."

We got to the arena through the narrow bridge made by the earthbender volunteers. Once we reached the arena, the bridge was gone.

The crowd went wild. Cheers, whistles, even screaming. 

We all know who they are for.

It's for him.

Ten was already eyeing our opponents, Jin and Suho, who were stepping into the arena from the earth bridge. They both returned the stare.

Why do I feel like I'm in a Pro-bending match,

But this time we all have to kill each other?

I made my way to stand next to Ten. He got water from the hole that were at the edges of the arena, the sources of water. The water slid around his right arm like a snake slithering its way up to his shoulder.

Dareia stepped back into the arena and stood in the middle.

"Benders huh," she said to herself as she made eye contacts with us 4. "Are you ready??" She screamed.

The crowd cheered and screamed once again.

She lifted her arm up in the air. "Fight!" She said as she threw her arm down and immediately exited the arena.

My heart skipped a beat.

Jin wasted no time and threw a large amount of water in high speed at my direction.

Ten instantly stepped in front of me and stop the giant water bullet with a slap. The bullet exploded back to their direction.

The crowd gasped at how fast Ten moved,

While I was more amazed because unlike them, I knew that he has an injury.

I threw fireballs at them both continuously and advanced closer to them.

Ten followed me and he did water streams to try to knock one of them out of the arena, but Jin and Suho worked so well together. They blocked every attack from us.

When I was close enough I started to challenge Suho into a hand-to-hand combat. I threw some punches and kicks, but he dodged my every move.

Once Suho got an opening, his fist came from under and made its way to my chin. It sent me flying backwards and I landed on my .

I spit out a bit blood out of my mouth.

They excel in both long range attack and close range. How are Ten and I going to figure this out?

Ten realized that they both were better than he thought, so he retreated and stood next to me. He bend a large amount of water and made it circling around us both on the ground, and there were tentacles spreading out. 

Jin and Suho were throwing water bull