A/N: Yeesh, this took a while getting out...
Anyways, thank you for all of that support! Eleven reviews? Holy crap... well, your dedication has been rewarded! Enjoy the very first chapter of... The Enix Games!
Chapter 1
Vincent Valentine narrowed his eyes.
The Arena was surprisingly plain. A usual Cornucopia. A fair amount of supplies at the tributes' disposal. A standard forest surrounding it all.
Sixty seconds.
At first, he had been rather disappointed. But quickly enough he realized that this was good- perhaps a simple arena like this could be used to his advantage.
But yet again, the Gamemakers could pull anything. Who knew what they could do with this Arena?
Thirty seconds.
Vincent scanned the other platforms around the Cornucopia. Right next to him was the twelve year old girl from District 6. Almost halfway across the platforms stood the silver-haired Career from District 2 that he kept reminding himself to look out for. And five platforms away on his left was Namine Shizuko.
Twenty seconds.
He gave an inward smile when he saw Namine, his district partner. Everything about her reminded him of a dove- her melodic facial complexion, rosy skin and hair the color of light.
Vincent had to admit it- he had taken a liking to her.
Fifteen seconds.
He turned his attention to the Cornucopia and devised a route quickly. First, go for the backpacks. Grab one for himself and one for Namine, advance to the swords, then get the heck out of there. It would mean risking being caught up in the Cornucopia bloodbath since the swords were rather far, but he had to do whatever it took.
Ten seconds.
Vincent drew in a deep breath and coiled his muscles, preparing himself for whatever might come.
Let the Games begin.
Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
The shot was startling even though he knew it was coming.
With that, Vincent sprinted off his platform, the packs locked in his field of vision. Fortunately, he was one of the faster runners of the twenty-four.
Vincent was so fast that he nearly skidded right past the packs. He yanked two packs, then stopped for a brief moment to see where Namine was.
He couldn't see her…
But no cannons had been fired, either Vincent rapidly shook his head and snapped out of it before quickly advancing toward the swords.
His hand grasped a hilt at the same time as the District 2 boy.
Vincent had to make this quick- the other Careers would be here to back the boy up any minute now. And the first pulsing cannon did nothing to put him at ease.
The seventeen year old gathered every ounce of strength he had in him and fought the District 2 boy's hand off the hilt.
Vincent scrambled to his feet and made sure to get away from there as fast as he could. Perhaps he would actually escape the bloodbath! He just had to find Namine…
Who had just gotten tackled by the burly District 7 boy.
Alarm flooded Vincent as he practically hurled himself toward the District 7 boy. Namine was small enough to squirm out the boy's grip, but now the boy had revealed a knife.
Vincent wasted no more time. He shoved his sword into the tribute's chest as soon as he was close enough.
He looked up to see Namine's azure eyes threatening to come out of their sockets. She seemed to slowly relax once the boy's cannon had fired and Vincent had yanked his sword out of the body.
"Catch." The simple word was followed by him quickly tossing one of the packs to Namine as he began running toward the forest. Namine fumbled with the pack a bit before slinging it over her shoulder.
"Thank you," Namine said hurriedly, running along with him.
Vincent gave a stark nod. "You might actually want to go back and pick up that kn-"
His sentence was intercepted by a fierce, explosive pain in his chest.
Vincent's eyes widened, then slowly looked down to see a spear protruding from his chest.
He looked over his shoulder to see the District 5 girl grinning smugly from a distance.
Finally he faltered and flopped onto the ground. Almost as if his body had a mind of its own, he weakly tossed his own pack to Namine as she collected the District 7 boy's knife.
Vincent could now barely see. But he was able to make out the blonde girl dashing into the forest.
He hadn't survived even five minutes of the Games. But at least his partner was safe.
Yoshiya 'Joshua' Kiryu was fast. That speed had certainly proved useful.
Joshua had been off the platform the very nanosecond the Games had begun. He had sparrowed to the Cornucopia, snatched a few small things- a small bag of jerky, extra socks, a spool of wire and a pack of knives- then had gotten the heck out of there.
He supposed he regretted not looking back or sticking around to see if Xion was okay. After all, their mentor, Sho Minamimoto, had strongly advised the two to stay close.
"Don't get cocky- that one goes especially for you, hectopascal!" Sho aimed a finger at a smiling Joshua. "If you get too overconfident, than you'll be added to the heap."
Joshua chuckled. "Like I'm going to get involved. It's going to be entertaining to see everyone kill each other off while we simply watch."
Xion spoke up after swallowing a mouthful of juicy steak. "Um, Joshua?" she began. "You do realize we're not gonna be able to hide forever, right? That could work for the first few days, but later on…" she left the sentence unfinished.
Sho gestured a grateful hand at her. "Thank you." Then he turned back to Joshua. "The young lady's right- you'll have to fight sooner or later. So you two stay close, all right?"
Now that he was actually in the Hunger Games, he could see where Minamimoto was coming from. No matter how much Joshua tried to convince himself that he would be all right, regardless of any sarcastic comment he made to himself, he couldn't stop an unidentifiable feeling, as if tarantulas were crawling up and down his arms.
Multiple branches and twigs crinkled.
Joshua held his breath for a moment. Who was there? A Career, or maybe an unfortunate soul that he could pick off?
The snapping and crinkles didn't cease. In fact, the only got louder, faster, nearer. Soon he could tell that there wasn't one pair of footsteps, but two.
Joshua drew one of his knives and prepared to throw it down below.
Soon the tribute from District 8, a boy with windswept blonde hair, broke into the clearing. He kept throwing his head and forth desperately sweat beading on his forehead. He held a basic sword in his hand, tipped with blood.
A second tribute followed him- the girl from District 4, with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes. She held a trident in her hands, braced to ram it through the boy's chest as soon as she got close enough.
He could pick off a Career…
Once she was within range, he threw it. A few seconds later the knife slammed into her head.
Everything was still for a moment. The Career stumbled, the blood gushing out of head. She swayed for a moment before losing her grip on the trident and landing on the ground.
Joshua wasted no more time. He scurried down the tree, then jumped off once he was at a safe height to do so. He then crossed over to the trident. He then crossed over to the trident just as a cannon boomed, picked it up and observed it.
"You never know what can come in handy," he eventually decided, resolving to keep the trident. Plus he couldn't risk the weapon falling into a fellow tribute's hands. Then he noticed that the District 8 boy was still staring at him. "You know, now's the time where you thank me for saving your life."
The District 8 boy raised his eyebrows, surprised by his relative easygoingness, then relaxed and laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted. "My name's Roxas."
"Joshua." He looked from the District 4 girl's body, then back to Roxas. "Why was she chasing you?"
"I accidentally killed one of the Careers." Roxas nudged his head towards his bloodied sword. "She branched off from her allies so she could kill me and avenge him. She thought this would be a relatively easy task, but yet again, she wasn't expecting you."
Joshua nodded, taking this all in and thinking things through. "Well then, Roxas," he started, "how about you repay me by helping me find my elusive partner?"
He turned around and began walking away. Roxas asked, "So does this mean we're allies?"
Joshua stopped and considered this for a moment. "Yeah. I guess it does."
Aerith Gainsborough was a healer, not a fighter.
It had been hours since the Cornucopia. Fortunately, she had made it out alive and was even able to take a green backpack. She was already much further into the Games than she had predicted, and that thought delighted her.
But she couldn't let herself be too delightful.
She'd been on the move for who knew how long. Without a weapon, she felt sorely vulnerable, so she occupied herself be finding any useful plants and memorizing landmarks. All the while she kept an eye out for any sort of water- she'd found a few nuts and berries for food.
Eventually she had to sit down. She swept her head around, her brown locks briefly dancing in her vision, then sat down on the ground when she was sure no one else was there.
Aerith shrugged her backpack off of her shoulders and unzipped it. There she found an empty canteen, some iodine, a sleeping bag and a small knife.
She raised her eyebrows. A sleeping bag and a knife… she was lucky. Now she wouldn't be freezing to death at night and she wasn't entirely defenseless.
For a few minutes Aerith sat there, letting the soreness melt away. She ate a few of her nuts while she was at it. To finally sit down and rest after hours of walking and know that she had very good supplies allowed her to smile.
When about twenty minutes had passed, she assembled her things in her backpack (except her knife- she slid it in her belt) and began trudging onward once more.
After a few minutes of walking, Aerith heard a few grunts ahead of her.
Curious, she tilted her head. She placed her footsteps carefully, knowing she couldn't risk a sound. She soon found herself hiding behind a tree. Then she peered from behind to see just who or what it was.
It was the boy from District 6, slumped against another tree. His coiled, muscular arms and his height would have been imposing to Aerith- that was, had he not been bleeding to death. He clutched an arm soaked in blood as if it were a lifeline, grinding his teeth together. His face twisted and twitched in pain, eyes shut and blonde hair plastered to a sweat-hosting forehead.
She knew that in the Games, you could show no mercy. It would be better to leave the boy to die, maybe search him for whatever supplies he had afterwards. But seeing him in pain tugged at her heart so much that she refused to leave him there.
Aerith showed herself and sprinted to the boy's side. Immediately she began looking over his wound- he had been stabbed. Someone had been aiming for his chest, but for whatever reason, they could only get the arm.
"What… wait a moment…" he opened his eyes, taking her in. "What are you… doing? Go away! I don't… I don't need any-" his efforts to sound angry ultimately failed when he released a half-cry of pain.
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, she soothed, ignoring his anger. "What's your name?"
She could tell that the boy wanted nothing more than for her to leave, but even he was aware that he couldn't do anything about it. "B-Beat."
Aerith smiled. "Beat," she repeated, trying out the name. "I'm going to take care of you."
Beat said nothing to this. His eyes rolled back into his head, eyelids descending shortly, allowing her to do just ash she'd promised.
