Titanium
A/N ~ Rated T for later chapters, and language. Though really, from what I already have written up on my laptop, that might be cutting it close. Because, you know, violence – naturally – prostitution(ish), blackmail, deaths, gore, torture… All that lovely stuff that happens in our lovely fandom. Anyways, this starts with her Games; follows through the Victory Tour; the death of her family when she refused, well, what they did to Finnick; the Quell; torture; rebellion – all of it. I just love this chick so freakin' much.
Also, what did y'all think of Jena Malone as Jo? Personally, I think she was PERFECT. She totally nailed it.
Johanna Mason was shaking as she clung to the tree. The bark, familiar under her fingers, comforted her. At any moment, she knew, she could be dead. Just… Dead. Maybe within the hour. Maybe within the minute. There could be some tribute watching her right now, blowdarts or throwing dagger or arrow or something ready, waiting for her, waiting to stop her heart. And that, she thought, was what made the fucking celebrations.
She should never have left her godforsaken cave, and yet the aching pit and nausea of hunger had started to overpower her. And anyway, the motherfucking Gamemakers would have just set up another torture to drive me from it.
The District 7 tribute was simply itching to get her hands around an axe – the axes they supplied here! Sturdy and gleaming, sharp enough to shave a spider. But oh no. Play it weak, they said. That'll work, they said. "Is working now?" She spat at the ground. "Now I'm fucking starving to death!" And then she remembered herself, prayed they didn't show that on TV, and went back to snivelling against the tree trunk. But either way, she knew she had to find food. And fast.
Johanna had made off from the Cornucopia with a little plastic box, a few feet in, that could contain anything. What she found it did contain, was a fucking roll of bandage. Which, you know, would be quite helpful should she be bleeding to death; which she wasn't. She was avoiding the other morons. What she needed was food. Water – water was no problem. She'd stumbled across a healthily bubbling freshwater spring on the first day.
There were a few goats (at least, she thought they were goats. A weird type of goat.) wandering around, waiting to be eaten by some lucky bastard, but even if she had anything to hunt them with, there'd be repercussions. Say, if anyone saw and decided she was worth their time. Worth killing. No, she needed to stay inconspicuous, forgotten.
There were a few chestnuts, or what looked like chestnuts. From all the Games she had studied in the Capitol, she couldn't be sure. They could be some trick. Most likely they were a trick.
The deafening bang of the canon split through the air without warning, and Johanna nearly jumped out of her skin. When she came to her senses, she had to really try to contain her happiness. One heart no longer beating, one mourning family who would never recover, one step closer to life.
She shivered violently, wrapping the thick, insulated coat tighter around herself. This arena was a cold one, alright. Pine forests, glazed with frost, a jagged, grey mountain shrouded in snow. Alpine, almost. Johanna knew a swollen, icy stream twisted its way through the arena, and she knew they'd be some sort of fish there; she also knew the stealthy, steadily-stocked Career pack of six had claimed the land along the banks, and she knew the girl from four had set up some sort of fishing pole contraption there. So fish was out of the question.
As evening struggled to reclaim the sky, Johanna Mason knew she wouldn't last much longer without food. It was then, that she saw the rabbit. Fuck it, she thought, I'm hunting. Nobody's going to see. Nobody's going to care – it's just one rabbit. And I swore to myself, I'm going to walk out of this hellhole alive.
Breath held, Johanna crept forth, soft, fur-lined boots soundless against the carpet of torn, wet, clinging leaf mulch and pine needles, as light, shapeless snowflakes drifted dreamily down, too uniform to be natural – these were Gamemaker-made snowflakes. So, Johanna deduced, eyes still glued to the thick, white fur of the rabbit, it would probably progress to a blizzard within the hour. A deathly blizzard. Only half her mind snagged on that, of course. The beady-eyed ball of fluff in front of her made her stomach growl under all the Capitol-manufactured layers.
She crouched down, stretched out her arms, fingers splayed. "Here, little rabbit," She breathed, "Come on, come to Johanna," The creature sniffed the air and stayed firmly still. Stupid rabbit.
She drew her stake from the loop of her belt – she'd taken to fashioning a weapon, even as pathetic a weapon as she'd managed, as soon as she was sure she was safe. Well. As safe as she could be. So, she'd taken a flint and sharpened a stick, like she'd watched people do back home in seven, until she had something that wouldn't run a tribute through, but would poke him full of holes if she was fast enough. Fast, however, was never Johanna Mason's strong point. She preferred brute strength, to be honest, but with her angle… Fast was all she had.
Johanna saw a flash of reproachfulness in the animal's eyes. Fuck.
"Dumb bunny," She muttered, flashing out and grasping the frantic thing. If she weren't wearing so many layers, her wrists and arms would be scratched right up. It took gritted teeth and several, laborious attempts before the rabbit ceased it's wriggling and she felt its heart stop. This, of course, presented her with the problem of preparing it – she had no knife. She had a fucking bandage.
Johanna hastily scrambled back to her cave with the carcass, breathing a sigh of relief. She had assembled a small collection of sharp stones, flint mostly, and had a heap of twigs drying out in the corner. The entrance to her little private hiding place was nearly completely concealed. If she had an axe, she could have cut up some wood and properly disguised the entrance. Oh well. She'd had to make do with some leaves and stuff.
The smouldering remains of the fire she'd built earlier still smoked a little. She'd made sure to spend a copious amount of time at the fire-building station in the Training Centre. All the smoke made her cough, a little, but it kept the stone pocket a little warmer. Johanna spent the best part of half an hour attempting to kindle another tiny fire, and when a spark finally caught, set about skinning and boning the rabbit. It was a messy business.
By the time she was done, the flies would have started to move in, had she not – reluctantly – ventured out to catch some water from the icy little spring, in the box her bandage came in, and wash away the sticky residue of blood and guts, leaving the bones and all other inedible parts in a hollow pine. She noted the snow still assaulted the arena.
She tried to fashion a spit over her meagre fire, and succeeded in heating up the meat by – well, not much. She ate only what she could survive on – the rest was clumsily cut with a sharp rock and kept in the plastic box. As night drew in, Johanna could tell it'd be the coldest by far. After cleaning up the rabbit fur as best she could, Johanna Mason wrapped it around one of the fire-warmed rocks and held it close. Eventually, she had to fall back on the bandage, and wrap that around her, tight.
Still, she shivered violently, non stop. Fuck the hunger. I'll probably freeze to death.
Johanna had no idea what time it was when she heard the Career tributes outside.
"So who's that left?"
"Nine, Three, Five, Eleven, and Seven."
"We should try and get onto Three's trail as soon as we can. That Xander, he's smart. He did get and eight for a training score."
"Right. And he got that – whatever that was – from the Cornucopia."
Johanna held her breath, clenched her teeth to stop them chattering, felt her heart throwing itself wildly against her ribcage, like a bird in a cage. She'd be on television now. She could just imagine the fun that Caesar Flickerman would be having with this. She pictured Head Gamemaker, Erus Tuner, readying a canon. Her father and sister at home, watching.
"Ky, remind me again why we had to leave the riverside? It's freezing here. We need to find shelter."
"We're in a forest, Sage!"
"Yeah, in a snow storm. Come on, let's just go back."
"I'm with Sage."
"Me too."
"But –"
Johanna listening, straining her numb ears with baited breath, alive with terror. Crunching. Boots on snow. Undoubtedly. So the snow did set then. For the first time. She doubted it'd be the last time. Heavy breathing. Clinking of weapons.
"Wait."
"Ugh, Ky, what now?"
Knocking. Fist on wood. Johanna winced, stretching out a hand, trembling half in fear, half in coldness, for her stake, for a flint. Her fingers protested, unwilling to comply. Too numb, too clumsy.
"This tree! It's hollow!"
"Big freaking whoop. Come on. Let's go get some more fish, and we can set up the tent pack by –"
"Huh… That's weird…"
"Ky, what are you doing?" Exasperated.
Johanna shuffled up further into the corner of her cave, numb, stiff, pink fingers scrabbling along the icy-cold stone wall, searching for a back exit, breath steaming.
"Holy shit!" The voice she'd labelled as Ky – if she remembered correctly, he was the boy from District 1 - exclaimed. The Careers were so arrogant, so self-assured, they made as much noise as they wanted, more. Nobody would dare approach or challenge them. "Someone's been here before us. Entrails."
"What?"
"Entrails. Some kind of small animal entrails. Terribly cleaned though. Someone dumb."
"Yeah, so? They're obviously not here anymore. Let's just get moving, I'm freezing my ass off over here."
"No they're… Not."
Johanna Mason froze as she saw the boy's eye, right through one of the wounds in her feeble attempts at disguising her cave. Her heart was sinking. Her blood turned to ice in her veins, weighing her down. Fuck.
"There's a gap there, in the foliage. A hideaway or something." Johanna saw a wide, shark like grin spread across the Career brute's face, too many teeth, too much malice. "And I'll bet… some poor little rat of a tribute is in there… trapped."
A roar of approval erupted from the Careers, jeering taunts and excited whoops. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
'Ky' knelt down to look through.
Fuck.
"Well look what I found…"
A/N ~ Is this good? Do ya like it? Reviews make my day and inspire my muse.