Ages.
 
It felt like ages since Matt last saw his parents, saw Katie. And what felt like the millionth time of fighting for his life was only the fifth time over the course of a year when he heard Zarkon call for him with the waves and the quiet whispers that the water carried. He couldn't go back to his family when such a dangerous aura surrounded him, he wanted them to forget about him in case he lost his grip on reality in the arena. He wanted to either survive or win in silence, and now felt like the right time to get his head in the damn game. 

He found himself standing in front of the platform in front of a line of quivering mermen and mermaids who - without a doubt - were thinking of friends. Of family. If they didn't have any of that, they remembered the way the sun shone against the water in the mornings, the way the crabs would quickly dig under the sand whenever the sun set. The way seashells felt against fingertips; cold yet warm and familiar. Such simple moments that somehow made life worth living if someone had enough patience to watch. 

But sadly, the arena had nothing like this. Nothing like his sister's excited tone whenever she discovers a new trinket, his father's laugh or his mother's hugs. It was pain after pain after pain. Endless cycles of 'survival of the fittest'. Here there was a lucky win or a gruesome death. And seeing Shiro, the one person who spared him a no doubt painful injury, only made him fear more. Shiro was considered the strongest out of the bunch obviously by the way his muscles looked, but Matt knew that they both needed to leave. Needed to escape. And he wanted to help him, just as much as he helped him that fated day. 

He watched as he flicked his tail across the back of the other thing's head and sent him flying down, mindlessly hitting rock bottom. He wanted to quietly cheer, spur him on to win, but he tried before and it got him with a scar across his back. He watched, endlessly careful with how he looked and acted, but he still watched. 

[i]You can do it, Shiro. You can make it.[/i] 
He sent - with difficulty - through telepathy. He hoped it wouldn't break his focus, that it would just make him feel stronger.