Reaping Day
Everyone was ready and waiting for the two tributes to be chosen. Marvel was waiting in the section for the eighteen years old. This was his last year and he would be sure to volunteer, even though he knew Carmilla didn't want him too. In fact his little sister had begged for him not to volunteer, but Marvel knew he didn't have a choice. It was this or the whole family would be starving.
The escort came on stage and the video played. Marvel knew it by heart and didn't listen to it anymore. When it was finished, the escort went up to the girls bowl and picked a name. Glimmer. It wasn't anyone he knew and for that, Marvel was thankful, at least he wouldn't have to kill one of his friends to come back to his little sister. When the time came to volunteer to take the boy's place, Marvel's hand shot up in the air and he shouted that he would become the boy tribute for district one. He went on stage, gave his name to the escort and barely listened as the Mayor read the speech he always gave.
Not long after he entered the room in the Justice Building, the door slammed open and Carmilla came rushing in. Marvel quickly stood up and opened his arms for his sister to jump into. They just held each other for a moment before Carmilla pulled away, eyes glazed with tears.
"Why? Why did you do it?" she cried, not understanding why her big brother wanted to go into the Hunger Games. "I don't want you to go, Marv!"
"We need the money, Carmy, you know that. If I don't do this, how are we going to survive?" Marvel said, trying to reason with the seven year old girl in front of him.
"But,…. What if you don't come home? What if you die in the Arena? You're going to leave me alone!" Carmilla burst into tears at the thought of losing her brother, he was everything to her. Seeing her sister's tears broke Marvel's heart, but he knew he needed to do this.
"I will come home, Carmy, I promise!" he swore to Carmilla just before a peacekeeper came to take his sister out of the room.
His mother and father came in and congratulated him on volunteering and a couple of his friends from training came in to give him some advice. Marvel laughed with them and pretended he was happy about going into the Games and that he was sure enough about his abilities that he would, without a doubt, be coming home as the Victor.
All through the train ride to the Capitol, Marvel thought about the Games and how good it would feel to come home and be a Victor, to come home and be rich. However, in the back of his mind there was always a nagging thought. What would happen to his sister if he didn't make it out?
When Marvel met with the district two tributes, he knew that almost evry chance he had of winning had gone out the window. The boy tribute, Cato was huge and he had not one ounce of fat, it was all muscles. His only hope was that someone else would take him out. His best option was to stay in the alliance with the other Careers and take out all the weak tributes, and hope for a miracle to happen. Thresh, the district eleven boy, was almost as big as Cato and would be a threat in the Arena, especially since he refused to be in the career alliance.
When the training scores went up, Marvel was happy with his nine; however, he was livid when he found out that a tribute from a poorer district had beaten his score. The worst part was that he couldn't even bring himself to hate Katniss Everdeen because she had volunteered to save her sister.
He prayed that his interview went well and that he had gathered some sponsors, because they were probably what would keep him alive in the end.
With every day that passed in the Arena, more tributes fell. Still the Careers hadn't killed the Girl on Fire or Thresh. Glimmer had died from being stung too many times by the Tracker Jackers, as had the girl tribute from district four. Every day, the tension got higher and higher, the three remaining Careers all desperately wanted to go home.
With every passing day and every new kill to add to his list, Marvel found that his humanity was folding away, only leaving a blood thirsty animal behind. How could he go back to his innocent sister when so much blood was now on his hands, either directly or indirectly?
Marvel was out hunting for a tribute to kill. The supplies the Careers had taken from the Cornucopia had just been blown up while the Careers had been chasing fires. He suspected that Katniss had something to do with the plan.
Marvel went back to look if a tribute had fallen into the trap he had set. When he saw that it had been triggered, he couldn't help but feel excited at the idea of a kill. It meant there was one less person between him and victory, between him and going home to see his sister.
Marvel felt a pang of sadness when he saw that he had caught Rue, a little girl, just like his sister. Raising his eyes to the sky, he asked for forgiveness from his sister and from the little girl's family before he turned back to look at the terrified tribute. He knew he wasn't going to make the kill longer than necessary, he would give Rue a clean death with almost no pain. The spear was leaving his hand when he saw Katniss appear. He saw her release an arrow and it pieced him in the neck.
His last thoughts were an apology to his sister for breaking his promise, but also because she had had to see him becoming a monster. He just hoped she would understand that dying was better for him at this point.
Goodbye, Carmilla was the last thing on his mind when he felt life leave his body.
A/N: So this is the one-shot I promised about Marvel. I hope you like it.