HELLO EVERYONE! Welcome to my story, which will either be called 'City of Infernal Games', or something even I don't know yet, as I'm hoping to change this awful title! Anywhoo, I first penned this story almost exactly 3 years ago (it's 2016 as I write this message) since I penned this, which is surreal! So I'm re-writing everything. Believe me, it was necessary. Plot holes, numerical inaccuracy, and just a lack of apostrophe's in general (funny, I almost missed one out of the word 'apostrophe') Meant I simply had to sink my teeth back into this piece of writing. This story features characters from both the Infernal Devices and the Mortal Instruments, fighting in the Catching Fire arena. There are very little O/C's, as I tended to use THG characters for that, so you're welcome hahaha. Anyway, this story is in my top 3 to have ever written, so I do hope you love it as much as I did, and indeed still do!
Disclaimer: the character's and places mentioned belong to either Cassandra Clare or the wonderful Suzanne Collins. Also SilverCarstairs... no? Hm, well, I'll get working on that copyright issue and keep you all updated! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be EVER in your favourite character's favour! :)
The golden cornucopia, a shimmering cone boasting a bounty of weapons, stood proudly in the distance– mere metres from the podiums where twenty-four children waited in suspenseful agony. Those who said William Herondale was a good fighter were wrong. They hadn't yet seen this boy fight. As his eyes explored the arena, the boy allowed a smirk to creep onto his face. Soon everyone would know the name–
"Jace Wayland!"
Jace was dragged out of his daydream by voice of the young girl standing in front of him, holding a dark, alien-looking crustacean in her hands, which she'd just hauled up from the lobster trap. Well. It had been in her hands. Without warning, she threw the creature forcefully, hitting the golden haired boy squarely in the face.
Jace couldn't help but swear as the armoured tail of the lobster made contact with the skin beneath his browbone. The exclamation, although loud, was unheard by no one but his friend. The ocean has no ears, after all.
She laughed. "You know, you might want to keep that on your face permanently. I've heard that the Capitol are trying to bring statement brows back in style." She choked through her laughter. Clutching her side, she turned around to re-bait and spring the trap, giving Jace his opportunity. As swift as lightning, he grabbed the lobster, dead from the impact of its landing (on either Jace's face or the boat floor), from where it lay.
"Tessa?" The girl turned around, only to be targeted in the chest by the boy's new eyebrow piece.
Her grin reappeared, only to be replaced by a frown. "Shut up." She said, as Jace started spluttering at her disapproving expression– the way an older child would look at its younger sibling when it did something immature. "I only hit you with that fish so you'd snap out of your pretty little daydreams." She crossed the wooden fishing boat the two were standing in and started hauling up a fishing net from the other side, with Jace bending down to help her, stowing the dead lobster in Tessa's bag as he did so. Only alive lobster was adequate to the Capitol. The fish was a luxury for Jace and Tessa, though, despite its current life state.
"It wasn't really that pretty," he told the grey-eyed girl, his strength enabling the fish-filled net to be as weightless as the water they were heaving the it from. "I was thinking about the Games."
Tessa gave a slight shudder. "I really have no idea why you want to enter. How many times is your name in this year?"
"Nine." He grinned. He was eighteen now, so his name was in seven times. Additionally, he'd entered his name for tesserae a couple of times, too. They didn't need tesserae, no one in district four did, but Jace liked having the extra odds. Tessa, who was a year younger than him, would have six pieces of paper that bared her name placed in the bowl . "This year's my last chance. I can't not participate. I've been training, I know I'm ready. I'm going to volunteer if I don't get picked."
"Why do you even want to take part? You have a one-in-twenty four chance of survival. Perhaps less if your training score is low."
Jace snorted. "Odds and fighting ability don't matter. Many tributes win because of their sponsors. What about Finnick Odair? William Herondale?" He asked. "The latter isn't even half as attractive as I am." He added with a wink.
Tessa loved Jace. She really did. What she didn't love was his arrogance. Turning to face him, the next words she spoke were weighted with persuasion. "Jace, the games are barbaric. What about last year's victor, Katniss Everdeen? Peeta Mellark killed himself so she could win. Anyone who takes part in the games isn't the same afterwards, you know that."
Jace's topaz eyes glinted in the sunlight as he turned to face her. "I'm different." Was all he said, before they tossed the net back into the water.
Tessa sighed. "I know. To love is to destroy, I get it." She paused for a moment, as if trying to find a way to phrase her words. The two teens were remarkably intelligent for their district, and Tessa was a passionate reader. That didn't mean she had the power to persuade and captivate people with her words. "It's the reading of the cards tonight. This year isn't like any others– it's a Quarter Quell. The Gamemakers will be making it harder than ever. Before you fantasise about your victory, at least see what the twist is going to be. Please?"
Jace shrugged, which Tessa knew to be a yes. He knew his friend was only worried about her, and she was hardly overreacting given the literal 'life or death' situation. "Fine." He told her, knowing that the four letter word would be enough to satisfy her.
Tessa smiled. "At least it isn't the 25th games. Each district held an election to vote for the children who played."
"I know, I'd have no chance of playing the games then," Jace began with a grin, knowing where Tessa was headed. "Too many people love me."
"Oh, yes, I forgot you were everyone's favourite person. And there was me, planning to use my vote to make you a tribute."
The golden boy's mouth opened in fake-shock. "Tessa! After everything I've done for you!" He scolded.
"Eating all my food has been an honor, Wayland. Oh, I forgot the part where you offer my bed as a place for you and your... friends to stay the night. Their nightmares must be awful, I can hear them moaning and screaming your name as they sleep."
The two of them laughed, the boy throwing a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. "It's okay, Tessa, there's still time for you to add your name to the waiting list of girls desperate to lay in your bed. It's a double, after all, probably better than that sofa you're confined to."
"An honor I'm shore." Tessa told him. "Get it? Sure? Shore? As in the beach?"
Somewhere on land, a bell began to ring, it's loud tone resonating across the waves towards them. Fishing time was over.
Jace shook his head fondly at the his friend. "I'll swim back. You alright taking the boat back alone?" Without waiting for an answer, he disappeared off the boat with a flawless dive. He emerged from the water after a little while, shaking water from his golden hair. "TESSA?" He yelled, the waves bobbing him up and down. "HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!"
"And may the odds be ever in your favour." She shouted after him.
Jace grinned, before he submerged into the water again, and headed off to shore.
Did you know the plural of podium of podia? Me neither, until I was checking where the apostrophe in "podiums" would go. Spoiler alert, it doesn't! #the more you know
Oh, and just to clarify, Jace and Tessa's relationship is strictly platonic, don't worry. There's no... is there even a ship name for that... OH NO IT WOULD BE JESSA. NOPE ABORT.
Actually, it would sort of be incest, wouldn't it? Which is rather inconvenient, for we all know Jace has no issues with incest...
MOVING ON!
Fave, Follow, and Review please, darlings!
This chapter is dedicated to Doc Manager and Google Chrome for working and not being a lil shit like it had been even moments before I attempted to sort these files.
