First new chapter of the new year! So excited! :D

Laxus was getting sick of games. This whole thing was just one big game after all.

A game filled with even more games. Like mini games stuck in one giant arcade game. Laxus never really like arcades.

And by the looks of everyone beside him, they were starting to hate arcades too.

"You're comrades? You mean there are more of you Masami?" Hibiki inquired, deciding to ask what everyone else was thinking. Smiling brightly to him, Masami giggled.

"Of course there are more of us. We've always been here, watching." She answered sweetly.

"Okay… creepy." Ace grumbled, narrowing his eyes. "Then were are these so called 'Comrades' of yours? What do you want from us?" he spoke up.

"Your deaths."

The air grew thick at Masami's answer.

"Why?" Juvia asked softly, not understanding.

"It is our job."

"A job Teivel gave you, no doubt." Hikari narrowed her eyes. "However you have not truly answered our main question. Why are you doing this? What have you to gain from it?"
Looking to her, Masami slowly frowned. "Gain? Oh, I have nothing to gain from it." A wicked smile pulled at her lips. "I just find it fun." As if on cue, another figure leapt out from the bushes, landing next to Masami. Glancing at the new arrival, she smiled. "Oh, speak of the devil. One of my many comrades."

Rising to their feet, the new comer slowly lifted their head.

"Trying to take all the fun Masami?" the new enemy, a women, inquired.

"Of course not Nox." Masami smiled sweetly at her companion known as Nox. "I was just giving our little gamers a sneak peak of what was to come. You know, foreshadowing."

"Foreshadowing." Nox's eyes' beamed. "Foreshadowing is always wonderful in stories. Were you telling them a story? Can I hear it?"

Masami chuckled. "I wasn't telling them a story. I was just saying the inevitable."

Ahead of these two talking girls, the members of the 20 Man Game narrowed their eyes, each of them growing rather annoyed to be talked about in third person.

"Hey!" War Cry growled. "Stop ignoring us."
Pausing, Nox and Masami looked towards him with similar looking expression. They smirked in unison, their sharpened teeth grinning wickedly.

"I apologize." Masami faked a smile. "Shall we start?" When no one replied, she nodded. "Very well." Her eyes widened and she began to scream. "LETS BEGIN!"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, tossing the mages from side to side. Not expecting the sudden movement, Lucy screamed when the ground began to crack and shot upwards, the rock cut in half by a large and powerful force.

"Lucy!" Laxus called, tackling her out of the way and towards the trees. Clinging to him, she screamed as the debris of the ground shot large amounts of dust into the air.

Closing her eyes defensively, Lucy felt themselves roll a bit into some bushes and away from the clearing. When the dust began to clear, the two blond mages jumped to their feet. Looking around, they frowned to find they had rolled quiet some distance/ slightly down a hill, away from their friends.

"What in the world was that?" Lucy gawked, looking back up the large hill they had tumble down, hoping their friends hadn't been caught in that large, and every sudden, earth quake.

"I'm not sure." Laxus narrowed his eyes. "Lets move."
"Right." Lucy took only a few steps forward, following Laxus' lead before a gust of wind hit them hard. Pausing from the sudden pressure, Lucy was surprised when someone landed in front of them, blocking their path.

"I found some blondes." The person cooed.

It was Masami again. She must have seen them fall down the hill and followed.

"Oh how lucky am I? I get the gorgeously handsome one." Masami cooed in delight, staring Laxus up and down.

Lucy frowned at her words, not overly thrilled this girl kept trying to flirt with Laxus.

Not really affected by her words either, Laxus narrowed his eyes. "Step aside." He commanded, seeing that Masami was blocking their path up the hill

"I can't do that handsome." Masami chuckled. "Regardless of how dashing you look, or how ugly your comrade is-" she paused to motion to Lucy, who was thoroughly insulted, "I can't let you pass."
Stepping forward, Laxus narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll just have to make you move."
"Ooh, how daring, I like that." Masami smirked, ready for his attack.

-0000-ELLE AND CECILE-0000-

"I hate earthquakes." Cecile growled as she forced herself to her feet. Coughing a bit at the dust that covered the air, she looked around her surroundings. Feeling panic rising in her chest when she could not see any of her companions, she was relived when someone grumbled to her right.

Snapping her attention to them, she was glad to see Elle pulling herself up from under a few bits of debris. Shacking the dust out of her hair, she looked to Cecile in confusion.
"What just happened?" she questioned.

"I'm not sure." Cecile answered honestly, helping her friend to their feet. "I think it was an earthquake. Probably Teivel's doing." Looking left to right, she frowned when she could not see her comrades through the thick fog like dust. It was like the dust was trying to separate them from their friends.

"We should find the others." Elle suggested.

"Good plan." Cecile agreed, sticking her hand out to swat away the closest dust. As soon as her hand passed through and cleared the area though, more came rushing in, making it impossible to navigate through the cloud.

"They wish to separate us." Elle narrowed her eyes at the sight. "Which means it wont be long before Teivel strikes." Suddenly Elle paused, her body going rigid.

Concerned at the sudden silence, Cecile looked to her friend. "Elle?" she inquired. When she didn't reply, Cecile started to reach out, but screamed when Elle suddenly dived towards her.

"Watch out!' Elle warned, tackling Cecile out of the way just as some sort of bird like creature flew over head, attempting to slash at Cecile's face and most likely blind her.

Hitting the ground hard, Cecile gawked at the bird. "What in the world-?!" she pushed Elle and her off of the ground to get in defensive stances. "Who is there?!" Cecile demanded as the bird disappeared into the dust. A few seconds passed before soft foots steps could be heard. It was approaching them, and getting closer.

Turning to the sounds, the two young mages narrowed their eyes when a young man dressed in phoenix-feathered clothing. On his shoulder, a large phoenix was perched on his shoulder. That was most likely the bird that had attacked them just now.

"Not many notice Phontix." The man said, reaching up to pet the bird. "I suppose if you hadn't though, this game would have been quite boring."

"Well, I've never been known to be boring." Cecile grumbled, sending Elle a thankful look. "Who are you?"
"I suppose you can call me Death Wing. Though most here call me Death." The man answered, he expression cold and blank.

"Death…" Cecile repeated. "It's simple, how nice."
"What do you want from us Death?" Elle inquired darkly.

"The same as all my comrades do." Death turned his head away to pet his phoenix again. "Your demise."

-0000Hinagiku, Sasha and Juvia0000-

"Juvia does not like these games." Juvia whispered softly. "Juvia does not like them at all."
"Agreed." Hinagiku nodded, pressing her back to Sasha and Juvia's as they stared around the dust that encircled them. The dust completely surrounded them like a dome, trapping them inside.

After the Earthquake, Hinagiku had almost plummeted down one of the cracks in the ground that had opened up, but was thankfully saved me Sasha and Juvia both took a hold of one of her arms and yanked her away.

Now though, they were stuck, unsure of which was to go or how to find their friends.

"Should we just pick a direction and try to escape the area of the dust?" Sasha suggested.

"What if we get lost and end up going in circles though?" Hinagiku asked softly, not really wishing to leave the open safety of the dome they were in. Granted it was odd how the dust seemed to touch every area around them yet the circle they were standing on, but Hinagiku was too freaked out to really notice.

"We can't just stay here either though." Juvia pointed out.

"The water mage is right. Staying here would surely mean your demise." A sudden voice cut through the silence. Jumping, the group turned around to watch Nox, one of Teivel's loyal servants, step out from the dust.

"Nox." Sasha narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here? Where are the others?" he demanded.

"Oh I'm sure they are doing the same thing you are doing young mage." Nox shrugged, circling the three. "Struggling to survive and quickly approaching death. Oh but don't worry-" She suddenly smiled. "When I'm done with you I'm sure a great story will come out of it."

"…Story?" Hinagiku asked softly.

"Why of course. I love stories." Nox nodded with a happy smile. "You all wouldn't happen to know a good tale or two, would you? If you do I would love to hear them before I end your lives."

-0000Ace, Mamoru, and Lyon0000-

"Are you serious? We got lost from the group and now I'm stuck with you… AGAIN!?" Ace groaned, glancing at Mamoru as he swatted angrily at the dust that surrounded them. "And what is with this dust?!"

"Hey." Mamoru pouted at him. "Lyon is here too."

"Great, I got the moron and the dead weight." Ace rolled his eyes.

"Shut up… play boy…" Lyon grumbled from his spot on the ground.

"Lyon!" Mamoru smiled, approaching him. "You're alive." She patted it forehead.

"…Barely…" he mumbled in reply.

Mamoru beamed. "Don't worry Lyon. I don't think you are dead weight." She assured him.
"…Thanks?" his closed his eyes, narrowing his eyebrows in pain.

Suddenly worried, Mamoru looked over the wound in Lyon's stomach. Though they were able to patch it up, with a few pieces of cloth, the look of it still gave Mamoru a bad feeling.

What if it got infected? They had to find Rain, and quickly.

"Stupid Dust." Ace grumbled behind her. Looking over her shoulder, Mamoru watched in silence as Ace swung wildly at the dust, trying to clear a path for him to see.

"It looks more like fog to me." Mamoru commented.

"Fog is like mist. This is dust." Ace corrected with an irritated sigh.

Frowning, hating how Ace had such a nasty attitude at the moment, Mamoru puffed out her cheeks. "Don't take your frustration out on me, ya big jerk." She mumbled, looking left and right to see if there was any sign of another being close to them. Seeing the small outline of tress not too far away, Mamoru rose to her feet when she thought she saw movement.

Squinting a bit, Mamoru reached out aimlessly for Ace.

"Ace." she grabbed his sleeve, making him pause.

"What?" he scowled.

Slowly pointing forward, Ace followed Mamoru's finger as she pointed to a tall tree. The tree looked relatively normal, except there was a young girl sitting on one of the branches.

Stepping in front of Mamoru and Lyon protectively, Ace called out.

"Who are you?" Ace hissed, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
The 14-year-old girl smiled at him. She had waste length raven-black hair, with dark black eyes. Her eyes were similar to every other follower of Teivel they had seen.

"Creepy eye lady, state thy name!" Mamoru cupped her hands around her mouth to call out. Ace nudged her a bit, making her pout at him.

The girl chuckled, making them both shiver at the dark undertone it held. "Me?' she titled her head.

"Yeah. You." Ace frowned at the sound of her voice. It was just like the others.

Her smile never faltering, the women answered, "Rilliane. Rilliane Kagurazaka."

"What do you want from us?" Ace growled,

"To drink your blood and steal your faces, what else?" Rilliane

"But I love my face!" Mamoru gasped, cupping her cheeks.

'Mamoru… shut up." Ace sighed, pushing her back. "Adults are talking."
"Hey." She pouted at him.

-0000 Miyu, Totomaru, and War Cry0000-

"Why, out of everyone in our team, am I stuck with Dog Boy here?" Totomaru groaned as he jabbed a finger at War Cry.

Bearing his teeth at Totomaru, War cry folded his arms. "I'm not overly thrilled with this either."

"Both of you, knock it off." Miyu commanded, standing in front of them with her hands on her hips. Looking towards the youngest member of the Game, the two fell quiet.

"We have to concentrate so that we can find everyone as soon as possible." Miyu continued, pacing back and forth. "We need a plan."
The two older mages glanced at each other as Miyu talked. Was it strange that Miyu, the youngest of both of them, was taking charge?

"Any suggestions?" Miyu inquired.

"…We should probably get out of this dust." Totomaru began.

"All this dust is affecting my sense of smell. I can't locate where the others are, so I'm not sure if they are even in this dust like we are." War Cry added, sniffing the air, only to sneeze from the large amounts of dust.

Frowning, Miyu folded her arms. "So then-" she paused, her ears slightly twitching, as if she heard movement. Seeing her hesitation, Totomaru and War Cry narrowed their eyes, knowing that she most likely sensed another person near by.

Turning around, Miyu's eyes widened when a small figure dropped down in front of them.

It… was a young boy?

As the boy rose to his feet, he looked at them with blank and expressionless eyes.

A follower of Teivel.

They knew he was a follower of Teivel due to his black eyes but… this kid didn't look much older than 9.

Smirking at each other, Totomaru and War Cry shoved Miyu forward.

"Well hey, you got this covered, right Miyu?" Totomaru patted Miyu on the back encouragingly.

"Eh?" the younger mage gawked at him.

"Well I mean, it wouldn't be right with us older adults attacking a child. You are both close to the same age though, so it should be fine if you fight him." Totomaru explained.
"Agreed." War Cry nodded.

Miyu stared at the two in shock. "You… You're both just lazy bums!" she accused

"What? We are not!' they gasped.

"Yes you are!" she jabbed a finger at them.

"Miyu, inside voices please. It is very rude." Totomaru smirked wickedly, nudging her forward.

Stunned, Miyu stumbled forward, sending a dark look over her shoulder at her friends. With a huff, she turned back around to look at the boy, who stood unmoving where he first landed.

Slowly stepping forward, Miyu narrowed her eyes at the child. Why would they have sent a child? Or, a better question is, why is a child a follower of Teivel?

Perhaps she should have said it before, but looks can be deceiving. Take Teivel for instance. This boy is most likely much more than he appears to be.

"…Hello." Miyu stopped walking to hold her hand up to the boy in greetings. "I'm uh… I'm Miyu. Who are you?"

The boy slowly lifted his head to look at her, his voice soft. "Hiro."

Forcing herself to smile, feeling her stomach tightening for some reason, she continued on. "…Why are you here, Hiro?" she asked sweetly.

Titling his head at her, Hiro suddenly smiles. "Onee-chan, you have pretty eyes."

"Oh." Miyu blinked in surprise, not expecting the compliment. "…Thank you."

Giggling, Hiro covered his mouth. He continued to laugh, his sweet voice changing the longer his laugh went on until it was a loud and horrible cackling. "Onee-Chan! I love your eyes!"

"….Uh…T-Thank you." Miyu stammered, feeling rather disturbed at the child's maniacal laughter.

"I want Nee-Chan's eyes! I want them!" The boy insisted, his smile curling upward. "I think I'll take them. And place them in a jar just for me!"

"Whoa-" Totomaru stepped forward, placing a hand on Miyu's shoulder and gently pulling her back. "You are not having her eyes, kid."
"Yeah, it is creepy.' War Cry agreed, stepping protectively in front of the very disturbed Miyu.

"Then, can I take Onii-Chan's eyes? They are nice too." Hiro bent his legs, tilting his head at them.

"No." War Cry said simply. "Now get lost."

"Oh, Okay. I guess I will just have to take them then." With that, Hiro lunged forward.

-0000Rufus, Body, Hibiki, Ruin, and Hikari0000-

"I'm really starting to get a lot of Déjà vu feelings here." Boyd sighed as he stared at his friends. Once again, he had been separated from the rest of his comrades into small groups.

"Join the club." Hikari grumbled, resting most of her weight on a near by boulder.

"Oh hey-" Boyd saw the small traces of pain in her eyes and recalled her broken foot. "Here, let me help you." Moving to her, Boyd helped Hikari sit on top of the medium sized boulder so that she could rest her leg/foot.

Nodding in gratitude, Hikari looked to Ruin.

"What is the plan Ruin?" Rufus inquired. Folding her arms, Ruin began considered the many options shooting through her brain.

"Finding the others is a top priority." Hibiki nodded. "We must be quick though if we wish to find Rain and Yuuki soon."
"We can't forget those… followers of Teivel though." Boyd reminded everyone. "Though there were only two of them just then, Masami did say that more were on the way."
"She also said there would be a Play Mate for each of use." Rufus nodded, rubbing his chin.

"That is not at all unnerving." Hikari grumbled, reaching up to rub her temple.

Knowing how she felt, the group once again turned to their leader, Ruin, who had yet to say a word. A few seconds passed before Ruin acted.

Closing her eyes, the young Shadow mage lowered her head towards the ground, as if she were meditating.

A dark, and disturbing feeling began to fill the air as they waited anxiously for Ruin's decision. When she did not speak, the group frowned with worry.

"Ruin what are you-?" Boyd began to question.
"Wait." Hikari held up her hand to stop him from saying any more. "Don't disturb her."

"What ever for?" Hibiki blinked at her.

"…She knows they are coming." Hikari narrowed her eyes.

"Who?" Boyd frowned.

"The people who are attacking us… another one is approaching." Hikari turned her head slightly, as if she heard something.

"Approaching?" Hibiki gawked at her, getting into a defensive position.

An eerie silence fell on them. No one moved, and Hibiki hadn't even realized he had started to hold his breath. That is until something moved to their right.

The group jumped when a man suddenly appeared in front of Ruin, when he had not been there only seconds before.

Opening her eyes, Ruin lifted her head calmly to meet the man's gaze.

"Salutations." He greeted in that dark voice all the followers of Teivel seemed to have. "My name is Yuudai Negi, a pleasure to met you." The man announced. He had red hair with black streaks shooting down his skull that matched the fairness of his skin. His ears were pointed up war, and twitched slightly when he smiled.

"Ruin." Ruin greeted back, her voice low.

"I must say… I am very surprised you sensed my presence." He suddenly licked his lips, revealing a long tongue that seemed to slither back into his mouth. "Not many can do that."

"Maybe you were just noisy." Ruin countered, watching him closely as he began to circle her. Behind her, Ruin's friends wanted to rush forward to get Ruin away from the new, and unwanted guest, but froze, not knowing what this man wanted.

"Oh? I was noisy, was I? How strange." He licked his lips again. "Oh what fun this shall be. I must admit, I am very pleased to have found this little group." He paused to stand in front of Ruin, looking her over. "I've heard of you. The leader to the Game. I hear you are quite strong."
"Oh, and who told you that?" Ruin lifted and eye brow.

"A little birdie told me." Yuudai smirked. "Oh but, that doesn't matter." He paused. "Shall we begin?"
"If we must." When the last word left her lips, Ruin ducked down, barely missing Yuudai's fist when he struck at her.

"Ruin!" her friends gasped, rushing to help.

-0000Rain and Ferris0000-

"30 years ago?!" Rain gasped. "That is impossible! You don't look much older than 20!"

"Oh what a smart little mage you are." Ferris mused as she circled Rain, who remained still. "But it is true. I have been on this island for over 30 years. About to reach my 31st year."

"How is that possible?" Rain asked softly.

"Simple. When I began a follower of Teivel he granted me eternal life." Ferris suddenly stepped behind one of the columns, disappearing.

Shocked, Rain stepped back, looking around wildly for wherever Ferris had vanished too. "You must think you're so clever, don't you?"

Ferris' voice echoed in the room, almost making it shake.

"N-No." Rain stammered softly. "I just… don't understand. How can you follow someone like Teivel?! Weren't you forced to compete in these games as well?!" she called out into the room.

"Yes, I was." Ferris answered, her voice suddenly going soft. "I competed in this game with 18 other mages and my fellow guild member."

"Then… Why?!" Rain screamed, feeling frustrated. "If you know the pain of losing all your friends, then why are you doing this?!"

"Because I wish too." Ferris suddenly cackled. "I never cared for those 19 losers! They only held me back from my true potential. Teivel though, he gave me the opportunity to see things the right way. To live forever and better my magic for all eternity."

"…To live forever?" Rain frowned, turning around, circling the room in search of Ferris. "That-"
"Sounds pleasing, doesn't it? Wouldn't you like to like forever Rain? To have endless power and never feel weak ever again."

Rain paused, her eyes growing wide. "No… I've never-"
"You're a liar Rain. We've been watching you. Admit it. You never really cared about your friends. They have only ever held you back."
"No!" Rain snapped. "…You're wrong."

"Am I though Rain? Am I really?"
Feeling her body shiver, Rain covered her ears, no longer wishing to ear Ferris' speak.

She was scared. She wanted to find her friends. Were they even looking for her?

…She hoped so.

Poor Rain. Sorry there wasn't any mention of Yuuki in this chapter. Don't worry, she is fine right now. And she will definitely re-appear in teh next chapter, as well as kicking some butt and taking names.

Though, since it is Yuuki, I doubt she would be taking some names XD she is too sweet for that.

I want to thank everyone who sent in their OC characters!
To start of, NOX belongs to the Author Wanderingidealism

Yuudai Negi belongs to Otakubukai

Hiro belongs to EmeraldStar642

Rilliane belongs to ChocoChipzCookie

YUP! That is all so far! And there are still many more to come so thank you all so much for you support! You all helped me and supported me through a really tough point in my life not to long ago, and I am still really grateful for that!

THANK YOU!