By the time they ushered the two inside Lucy was on the verge of breaking down. The air inside was so stale it felt absolutely suffocating. It was no mystery that nearly everyone she knew who had entered this room never returned. There was maybe one or two winners she could even recollect. After being taken to the room where she was to be sent off from she collapsed onto one of the chairs.

"Oh Lucy, I'm so sorry." Her blue haired friend Levy sobbed.

Lucy tried to respond but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. Her throat felt so constricted. She let out a sob, and Levy quickly embraced her. After a short while Lucy finally managed to compose herself and hugged her friend back tightly.

"I'm sorry, I'm okay.." She said, her voice hoarse.

Levy nodded letting her go to wipe the tears from her own eyes.

Lucy hated the fact she had made her best friend cry, she had planned to remain composed if not for her sake but for Levy's. Her best friend had already been through so much and she deserved to smile.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." Lucy said faking a smile, rubbing her eyes. She knew there wasn't a chance she'd make it back, Lucy hadn't a clue on how to kill someone and she didn't plan on learning how to either. She just wanted to see her friend smile once more.

Levy seemed to understand her distress as she quickly wiped her eyes and forced herself to smile, "I'll be waiting; you still have to finish your book you know."

"I know." Lucy replied, hugging her friend again as the peacekeepers entered.

"Times up." They said quickly escorting Levy out.

Out of everyone who came to visit her her own father's presence surprised her the most. He was in a clear state of outrage which at first Lucy had thought was directed towards her, until he began to befoul the Capitol. She had never once heard her father speak ill of the Capitol before, and perhaps this wasn't the place to be doing it in. Before he left Lucy could have sworn he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

Maybe she'd been wrong about her father's feelings towards her all along.

When it was finally time to board the train her whole body grew numb, her chest was aching and she could hardly walk straight. Her head was swirling with thoughts, and she felt as though she was going to be sick. If it had been any other circumstance she would have been amazed by the train. Car after car was lined with foods and delicacies from the capitol. But as of now, it just added to the disgusting feeling in her stomach.

The second she was left alone in her room Lucy immediately ran to the bathroom and emptied out the contents of her stomach. Panting and feeling slightly better that the nauseous feeling had left her she went to lie on the bed. Had she been in any other state of mind she would have told you it was the comfiest thing she had ever laid on. That she felt as though she was lying on a pile of feathers. However, for her it was just another reminder of where she was headed. She drifted off and when she awoke it was dark outside.

She was surprised when she poked her head out there were no peacekeepers to greet her. Curiously she began to wander from car to car. Finally reaching one where a familiar pink haired boy was sprawled out beside a bucket Lucy (much to her surprise) couldn't contain a small laugh.

"He never was good with transpiration" She thought.

"Natsu Natsu you're going to drop me!" Lucy cried out giggling, "Put me down! I'll show you how to do it."

"Oh really? I doubt you can do any better! Luiiiiigi!" Natsu snorted plopping her down.

"Here look, jump up!" Lucy said leaning over, and Natsu hastily jumped up, "Now look, you were supposeta hold my legs like this so I wouldn't fall!" She demonstrated, starting to walk around with Natsu on her back, "SEE!" The moment Lucy started to walk Natsu immediately told her to pull over and promptly emptied his stomach.

"Eww! Natsu!" Lucy scolded looking away, "That's gross!"

"I can't help it!" He said between gags, "I can't handle transportation!"

"You ride on Happy's back all the time!"

"H-Happy isn't transportation! He's my friend!" Natsu said looking appalled at Lucy's accusation.

"Then what am I!" Lucy exclaimed angrily hands on her hips.

Lucy shook her head and plopped down on the couch beside from him, "Idiot." She mumbled. She stared out the window stroking Natsu's hair, trying to make sense of the day. They'd already been on the train for hours and Lucy had no clue how long it would take to reach the capitol.

The two had met their mentor, a man Lucy honestly had no memory of but Natsu seemed to idolize. Even in Natsu's car-sick state he still managed to make a fuss. Lucy had nearly had a heart attack when the man shoved a pill down Natsu's throat.

Finally reaching the capitol Lucy's stomach began to churn once more. She tried to push the thoughts of the games to the back of her mind and gave up with a sigh. Hearing Natsu shuffle up behind her she turned to ask, "Feeling any better?"

"I dunno, I'm getting motion sickness from all this shaking you're doing." Natsu frowned, draping his arm over her shoulder. "Y'know Luce, you'll be fine."

"What makes you so sure?" Lucy questioned frowning.

Natsu shrugged and Lucy left it at that. She sighed as the self-doubt began to ebb away at her mind once more.

The moment the train's doors open Lucy stared at the buildings. They were massive skyscrapers compared to the buildings in her district. She couldn't tell if she was impressed or disgusted. Everything was so different in the capitol. Despite the fact district five was fairly small it had a familiar sense of home, and here much like the city hall even the air seemed to be suffocating.

Lucy had been told the agenda for the capitols plans for them before they arrived but she never thought that waxing your legs could hurt so much. Her legs burned as they pulled strip by strip off. She hadn't met her stylist yet, but the prep team was driving her absolutely insane. Actually, it was just the one man wearing make-up in what seemed to be random splotches he looked much like a cow. Constantly spewing out, "NICE BODY!" kind of left Lucy unnerved.

Finally meeting her stylist Lucy had deemed that all of the capitols people clearly had no fashion sense what so ever. The man had dreadlocks, gigantic sunglasses and was wearing a crab outfit. If that wasn't weird enough he ended every sentence with –ebi.

She had to admit putting that aside, the outfits they had prepared for her were absolutely lovely. They weren't as uncomfortable as they looked and definitely were tasteful.

Finally being able to go to their rooms Lucy couldn't stop herself from laughing as she held Natsu upright in the elevator. They were on it for less than 5 minutes and he was rendered pretty much useless. Their mentor had actually gotten to the point where he threatened to knock him out if he didn't pull himself together.

When they finally started their training Lucy had stuck close to Natsu, trailing after him from unit to unit. The first section they went to (as per Natsu's choice) was the edible plants/food. Lucy hadn't seen most of the plants before in her life and was baffled at the fact Natsu flew through the lesson. Natsu seemed to have most of the survival training down, except for shelter. Luckily for him, Lucy passed that with ease. Lucy who was terrified of this whole idea actually found herself having fun after Natsu had apparently turned it into a competition of who could do what better. By the end of the first day Lucy's sides hurt from laughing at all of Natsu's stupidity.

Lucy had been laughing so hard she was wiping tears from her eyes when a purple haired woman approached.

"My my, I'm glad you two are having so much fun." The violet haired woman giggled haughtily, "I'm going to enjoy slitting your throats, it's a shame they won't let me keep your head as a trophy."

A shiver went down Lucy's spine and she froze, eyes growing wide.

"What? Did you actually forget this is a battle to the death?" The woman spat, only stopping when a fist met her face. All too suddenly Natsu was being pulled off of her. The woman laughed, acting as though his assault didn't faze her and walked off.

The next day they took everything seriously. Natsu refused to leave Lucy's side even for a moment. He could tell how that woman's words had affected her. As they went from weapon station to station they found out that although Lucy couldn't handle a sword without shaking, and her aim with throwing knives was terrible she was good with a whip. Natsu on the other hadn't had more than enough strength to adequately wield a sword, and enough strength to throw the knives, but no accuracy at all.

The days for training quickly passed and soon enough it was time for the private sessions with the game makers. Being from district "5" wasn't the best for them. For them it would have been better to go first and set the standard so unbelievably high, or go last and be the freshest on the judges' minds. It wasn't as though you would necessarily want a high score because that would just make you a bigger target, but you wouldn't want to lose sponsors with a low score either. Sponsors can make all the difference.

The four crowded around the TV waiting impatiently for the results to air.

District 1: Sting 8, Elise 1

District 2: Eve 5, Karen 6

District 3: Sherry 5, Yuka, 5

District 4: Lyra: 4, Loke: 8

District 5: Natsu 8, Lucy 5

District 6: Angel: 6, Midnight: 8

District 7: Flare: 8, Kurohebi: 8

District 8: Lisanna: 5, Daisuke: 4

District 10: Meredy 8, Kyo 4

District 11: Wendy 5, Kaito 6

District 12: Juvia 8, Gajeel 9

"So here we have from District 5, Natsu Dragoneel!" The announcer said excitedly his green hair bouncing with him.

Natsu walked across the stage as he normally would walk anywhere, with a sort of aloof touch. "Yo." Was all he said as he slumped down into the chair.

"So Natsu, you're a volunteer from district five, any reason on what brought that out?" He asked, "I mean its normal for it to happen in higher districts but, you didn't even wait for a name to be called!"

Natsu arched an eyebrow, "Oh I'm sure you'll be able to figure out my reason before the end of the games." He laughed.

"Oh so you're fairly confident you'll win then?"

"No." He said honestly, "I have no intention on winning."

The announcer sat there looking confused but quickly bounced back, "Anyways, moving on. Is there anyone special back home?"

"Happy." Natsu replied with his grinning widely.

"Happy? Is that your girlfriend?"

"No, he's my cat." Natsu laughed, "Would you date a girl named Happy? Gosh."

"Well I suppose not." He laughed, "I suppose I should rephrase that question, is there any lady that's managed to catch your eye?"

"There is one particular girl." Natsu smiled brightly, adding an uncharacteristic wink "But that's a secret."

The interview actually turned out better than Lucy had imagined it and she smiled, she was worried about Natsu. If he had talked like he had earlier, he could have cost himself several sponsors.

It was now Lucy's turn to go on stage. For her however, things didn't go as smoothly. Despite Lucy's natural grace she had managed to trip on her dress, which caused her to get incredibly flustered making her embarrassed and even stutter. Definitely not the way she had planned for it to go.

The next day Lucy groaned as they injected the tracking device into her arm. She glared as the woman walked beside her and did the same to Natsu.

"Well I guess there's no getting out of this now." Natsu joked bitterly rubbing his arm.

That was the last time Lucy saw Natsu until the tournament began. She was on the platform being raised to the surface now, her hair pulled back in two pony tails. Squinting as the sun met her eyes Lucy gaped at the scenery. Although she couldn't see it, she could hear waves crashing behind her, to the right and left were forests, straight ahead looked like mountains, and where they were now? All desert.

Her eyes lay upon the golden cornucopia a few hundred feet in front of them, and she was astonished to see the amount of weapons, some that she didn't even know what they were. Her stomach churned. Her eyes glanced around towards the other competitors and her eyes stopped and stared at Natsu who was already staring at her.

And then the first canon went off.

A/N: HAAAAAAA Finally sorry that took so long oh my god I'm a tard. Anyways the next chapter shouldn't take me this long if it does you have permission to punch me in the face (as long as you do it nicely) anyways I'm sorry this chapter wasn't very eventful, and I know I skipped over the little entrance ceremony thing but I didn't really think it was neccessary (that and I honestly don't remember which district's job are what) Anyways ! I hope you enjoyed and thank you all for the reviews!