Authors Note: This is my first fan fic, i plan on doing more and hopefully you'll enjoy and review :)
Disclaimer: Suzanne Collins owns all her own characters, i made up flovine, una, phillar, thorna and i named a few unnamed characters.
Finnick
As Finnick rose on the platform, he looked about him as for the second time the games began. The smell hit him first.
"Seawater" he said to himself, a curious expression crossing his face.
Then as he continued to ascend, the glare of the sun struck him in the face causing him to shield his eyes. His eyes adjusted as his journey stilled. The arena was a huge circle it seemed, the tributes on platforms above the water halfway between a jungle and the cornucopia.
Looking around he recognised his fellow tribute, Rymarie, the district 6 female tribute. Even for her 60 years she seemed old. Her addiction had made a parody of her former body. He noted her yellow skin and sallow eyes, the sight tainting his reunion with the sea.
As the countdown began he looked about him. At first he thought to swim for the shore, but then the thought occurred to him. "Only me and Mags can swim". Glancing at the cornucopia he gauged his chances against his fellow tributes. He knew for certain he would beat Rymarie but would the others learn when the time called.
He noted the booming voice declare "10" in the distance as he braced himself for a swan dive.
"3, 2, 1". He disappeared beneath the waves, subtly cherishing the sensation of gliding through the deep blue. He free-style swam straight for the cornucopia, breathing in precious oxygen between strokes. As he reached the island a moment of loneliness swept over him, as he looked about for other tributes of which there were none.
He rushed forward `to claim his rightful trident, and turned on his heel to power it through Rymarie. Apparently she can swim he thought to himself as he tore the trident from her still convulsing body.
He sensed movement behind him as he turned to find Una clenching a twin pair of odd daggers, her flaming locks flowing in the stiff breeze. They looked each other up and down, Finnick judging how fast he could throw. They turned backs and pressed against each other as they twirled, scoping the field.
As they both sank their weapons into other tributes, Finnick turned in a sickening lurch to find Mags clutching the wound in her chest as he pulled his trident from the already still Woof. Too late to care, he would cry later, now was not the time, not the place and Una, not the person he wanted to take his rage out on.
As he turned back to Rymarie he found Kyprar mourning his fellow district tribute, his rage momentarily lifting the haze of his addiction as he charged Finnick. Side-stepping him easily, Finnick drove his trident deep into his torso, twisting as he did so.
Taking his weapon back from the dead tribute, Finnick analysed the battlefield. More tributes were making it to land. Looking to the shore he seen Seeder dragging Peeta's soaked body into the tree line.
Picking up two backpacks at random and hinting at Una to do the same he sprinted straight for Seeder and Peeta. He heard the light jogging behind him that confirmed Unna's following.
Slowing his pace to match heir's he said "We're going after Peeta and Seeder".
"Good" she replied in her soft tone. "I never liked Seeder, always so proud".
"We are not killing them, we're joining them" he replied carefully.
"You used to be more fun Mr Odair"
"So did we all Una, so did we all"
Johanna
Johanna was the first on her side of the cornucopia to reach the centre, her youth carrying through the water aided by the buoyancy belt. She knew what she was to do. Taking in the full extent of the scene she saw both Wiress and Beetee making their way slowly inland, however she could only protect one.
She ran for Beetee, him being closer to the shore. Helping him from the water she turned thinking to help Wiress now. This time Enobaria had beat her to it, sinking a gruesome knife into her side as the light left Wiress' eyes. Brutus stood behind Enobaria, his sledge encased in Woof's skull. Pushing him into the water Brutus turned back to Enobaria. It seemed their loyalties were made. They grabbed some food and more weapons and headed for the jungle.
Beetee had already recovered from his swim, his old age sapping his energy. Johanna ran to the mouth of the cornucopia and found "the girl on fire" as she was so playfully named. She was grabbing her bow, no doubt planning some of her trademark sharpshooting.
Katniss looked at her some of her fire in her eyes, until she seen Beetee around her shoulders, her eyes softening at the thought.
"Allies" Johanna asked of her. To which Katniss responded with a sharp nod. Johanna picked up a pair of deadly looking axes and Beetee a coil of wire and some food.
They jogged to the jungle line and Johanna was surprised to find they were not alone in this section of the forest. Thorna was there. Johanna was not familiar with him, but she knew his district partner Flovine well enough to trust him.
Nodding to him as she passed, she meant merely to acknowledge her lack of bloodlust, however he must have taken it as some kind of approval. Thorna began jogging behind them.
"The more the merrier" she said, and more mouths to feed she thought to herself.
Blight
Being from district 7 Blight Riann was not ignorant of swimming; however it wasn't his favourite past-time.
He made it to the shore well before most tributes. He took no time to look; he went straight for the cornucopia and grabbed a bag before sprinting straight for the shore.
He noted the overturned body of Woof floating in the water, wary of the killer he ran all the faster.
As he reached the shelter of the foliage he turned to look back on the scene of destruction. As he watched on five tributes remained at the cornucopia. Myra and Roxall, the district 10 tributes, had chosen a fight with Cashmere and Gloss. As he watched the careers simultaneously took down their dancing partner. As Cashmere's arrow penetrated Myra's neck, while Gloss' sword cut Roxall a few inches shorter.
The strange thing was the fifth person on the platform. Flovine from district 9 was standing to one side of the quarrel almost impatiently. Thinking it strange Blight took a few more dangerous seconds to watch the events unfold. As the Spark siblings turned from their kills the walked directly for Flovine. He wanted to scream to her to run but Flovine walked towards them as well.
It seemed an unbalanced alliance had been formed. They turned straight towards his hiding place with provisions on their shoulders. At first he thought to run the other way but then the thought occurred that perhaps he would gain by following these three. At least to find out what Flovine stood to gain from the Sparks.
Flovine
As Flovine watched the district 10 tributes eyes plead with her all she could think was "You should have taken the deal".
The Sparks had been very reasonable and fair she thought. Offering her protection for the simple task of watching as they slept and distinguishing between poisonous and edible foods seemed a fair trade in her eyes.
When Gloss suggested to Cashmere that they expand their knowledge with even more tributes, Flovine agreed with Cashmere when she said that the district 10's would be suitable.
However as they swam on shore Myra and Roxall suddenly became wary as they were confronted by careers and Flovine. They wouldn't listen to their proposition and so they were forced to kill them.
Flovine had not enjoyed that part, standing to one side to avoid the conflict. She had killed before but only when necessary, this seemed to her like slaughter, although those in district 10 would be more accustomed to it.
They turned towards her and for a moment they had that look in their eyes that only feral animals gave. They soon changed that and walked to her.
She met them midway not liking to keep them waiting and also to leave as soon as possible.
"So what now" she questioned looking at both their faces for any hint of a response.
"We can't stay here" Gloss replied "We need to get going"
She lifted the two backpacks that remained while Gloss collected weapons and Cashmere apples and arrows. They headed for the jungle edge that was nearest. Flovine, always wary, instantly noticed the movement of Blight through the bushes. She thought him of little threat and was beginning to sicken of murder so she neglected to mention it.
It was obvious to her at that moment; pride had dulled the Sparks senses not unlike the tributes of district 6. She was going to have to be their eyes and ears if she wanted to survive. They may have offered her protection; it didn't mean it was going to be good.
Cecelia
Cecelia was no idiot, she wanted to see her children again, and she was not going near the cornucopia.
The most of the other tributes had headed straight for the centre, but she was smarter than that. She had won one game with caution she would win another the same way.
She headed for the forest tasting the water on her clothes to confirm her suspicions of salt. She walked slowly in to the jungle always careful of the gamemakers hidden traps, cataloguing all of the plant life as she walked. Nothing was familiar, some yes from other games, but nothing edible stood out.
Right there she made the daring decision to stay near the jungles fringe. It was instantly apparent to her that there was no food here and unlikely any anywhere else, except for the water. At least she could boil the foliage and the bark in the salt water to make a broth.
She went about collecting wood for fire or shelter, whichever was more necessary. She cringed as she heard a fellow tribute scream in agony, the sound turning to bubbling as he fell in the water.
She heard crunching beside her. Someone was approaching through the jungle. She hid behind a tree, her thin frame easily fitting behind it. Phillar, the district 5 tribute walked right past her. He had a strange walk, perhaps he'd been injured in his hunger games.
As she watched he curled up in a ball and lay on the ground sobbing to himself. She pitied him; he must have thought his fighting days over him. It had been him who'd gotten sick during training one day and she thought him sad.
Subtly, so as not to scare him, she scratched a piece of wood off her tree. A soft deep sound came from it. Phillar looked up and spotted her, he instinctively looked to her hand to see what weapon would blow out his light. Seeing the wood bundled in her hands he rose taking a fighting stance. Knowing she would lose against him, and annoyed at his lack of empathy she broke down into tears.
"I just wanted to have my children and grow old with my husband, why do you have to ruin that" she yelled looking up at the sky. Phillar broke down again and ran to her. She thought this the end so she closed her eyes, only it wasn't the fury of a punch she felt but the caress of hard fingers on her face.
"I wanted that too dearest Cecelia" his soft voice surprised her.
She opened her eyes and looked upon his harsh face, its hardness at odds with his voice and nature.
They finished collecting wood together, and seeing that the cornucopia was unoccupied and the sky darkening they went off to see if any stray supplies might be lying around.
They reached the shore and found Woof floating upside-down in the salt water, his body already stiff and cold. Turning him over they found him clutching at his hammer and sword. Two weapons had done him no good against his foe.
They removed them and found two daggers at his waist and a sack of apples and pears and a canteen of water. This expedition had been more rewarding than she could've hoped. They each had one piece of fruit and a mouthful of water. Phillar took the hammer, while Cecelia took the sword and each of them a dagger.
As they headed back to their camp, Phillar stopped suddenly, his eyes dead ahead.
"Chaff" he whispered. He then indicated they should go around separate sides.
Phillar must have been slowed by his limp because Cecelia reached him first. She ran at him wagging the sword in the air. She brought it down hard were Chaff's leg used to be. She turned and he gripped her arm tossing the sword out of it, he then clenched her body tight ion his handless arm, using the other to pick up the sword and place it at her neck.
Phillar came just as he was about to slit her throat. His presence distracted Chaff enough for her to reach down and grab the dagger driving it hard into his thigh. He yelped as he released her from his bear hug. She ran to Phillar and grabbed his dagger as well to better arm herself.
Chaff looked them both up and down; he lowered his sword and scratched his head with his stump of an arm.
"Allies" he asked with a tilt of his head.
Brutus
Brutus had known he would ally with Enobaria. They hadn't discussed it before but when they met on the cornucopia he knew in that instant that they were paired.
He now lay in their camp, Eno, as he liked to call her, had gone off to see if there was any prey or food to be had. As he sat looking at the sky he could hear a distant buzzing that sent a chill through his bones.
It was lucky they had had so much water as the arena had heated up a lot while he and Eno were setting up camp. It was almost unnatural. Eno had driven her knife into a nearby tree in frustration and before long water had begun trickling down the blade, beading before it fell on the ground.
Eno had not noticed but before long a thin stream was dripping off the knife's hilt. Brutus had put his canteen underneath as soon as he realised what was happening. The tree held the water.
It was lucky he had discovered this or that deadly heat would have turned him to a crisp.
As he looked at the sky it lit up and the anthem played as thunder boomed in the distance before the pictures appeared and the cannon boomed. The scrawny old Wiress was first to appear with a boom, confirming that the Sparks had survived. Mags was next then Rymarie her picture invisible for a second as a flash of thunder lit the sky. He wondered if only women had died when Kyprar's face lit the sky. Woof came next, then Myra and Roxall.
"Seven" said Enobaria her hands empty of any food, "That's a lot of competition"
"Yes but so are we" he replied a smile playing about his lips. She smiled back that terribly beautiful mouthful of talons.
Caesar
"Well Claudius I think this may be our best games yet" he said, smiling his beaming grin.
"It's definitely a contender Caesar, and it's only begun" Claudius replied
"What do you make of all these groups?" he asked genuinely puzzled, "We've never seen so many groups before, at most the careers and the one other group, but five groups"
"Well Caesar, all of our tributes are successful tributes, so perhaps they see themselves as to much at risk by themselves. I mean would you like to be on your own against Enobaria and Brutus, or the Sparks and Flovine." Caesar answered clearly satisfied with his psychoanalysis.
"Yes clearly poor Blight didn't get the message, and we haven't seen so many survivors after one day since the first Hunger Games" he said looking down the camera, "And that's because they didn't know which side of a sword to hold" he said happy with his jibe.
"Well that's it from us for now" he said and then together they said "Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favour".
"And we're off air" the director shouted.
Caesar dismounted his uncomfortable chair and made for the door.
"Caesar can I have a minute?" Claudius called in his wheezy voice. Already assuming his response, Claudius waddled over to talk. Caesar had worked with him for over 25 years but was beginning to tire of his incessant ways.
"What is it Claudius?" he asked putting on his sweetest interview voice.
"Well I was wondering if you would tell President Snow, or even Plutarch about my theory" he asked breathless from the short walk.
"Which theory would that be, that mockingjays are spreading disease or that your wife is cheating on you" he answered clearly not impressed.
"About the tributes possible plan to escape" he answered shortly.
"They haven't broken out before why would they now" he said with a roll of his eyes.
"Experience and information can be a cunning mix, Caesar" he replied
"I will pass it on as soon as I get the chance" he said and thinking of doing nothing of the sort. "Oh and Claudius" he said as he walked out the door, a smile on his face. "Happy Hunger Games".