Prologue 2:
Thetis Oneiroi, District One, Victor of the 102nd Hunger Games
They were wrong. All of them were wrong. 'Thetis won't be able to win.' 'Thetis is just volunteering to get herself killed!'
But she wasn't going to lose and die in this arena.
Thetis holds her hands out to the crackling fire in front of her in an attempt to stay warm with the temperature rapidly dropping. She shakes her head at the thoughts from the disbelievers back in One. She loved the District but damn, some of them were idiots. Just because their training academy wasn't organized and still struggling to keep volunteers doesn't mean her skills are nonexistent. It doesn't mean she's going to die in this arena.
She pats the bow on her lap, a confirmation that she has her weapon easily accessible as she stares out into the night. Oh she knows how to use it. And once she's back in One, she's going to use her skills to train the others. Then she'll start bringing home victors and show them all that her training method is what they need to do to get One back to its former glory and not let Two or Four pass them in number of victors.
Thetis almost shakes her head in disappointment at the thought of the two Districts who are her main competitors. Four wasn't really an issue yet but give it a few more years and they will be. But Two… well, they were a different story. Ever since Kat volunteered and won, her tributes have successfully wiped out all of the One tributes. But not this year. There is no way that Kodi is going to beat her.
So maybe it was a bad idea for her to leave Kodi alive for her final opponent. But he was the only real competition that was left now that they're down to five and her and Kodi are the only trained volunteers left. And what better opponent for the finale? If she can beat him – and she most definitely will – no one will doubt her then. And then, she'll make the training academy the way she wants it to be.
A rustle in the woods has her drawing an arrow out of her quiver in an instant and notching it in her bow. She keeps her bow on her lap and undrawn as her eyes search through the trees behind her fire, waiting to see what tribute thinks they can actually take her on in a fight. She hopes for a brief moment that it won't be Kodi as they parted on good terms and both aware that fighting each other in the finale will be a great show.
A movement to her left catches her eye and she draws her bow, taking only a second to aim in the direction she saw them. Only a few seconds pass between the movement and her releasing the arrow before a scream sounds and there's a thud as the tribute falls to the ground. Thetis jumps to her feet, casually making her way around the fire without notching another arrow.
Sure enough, a few feet into the woods a small girl lies on the ground, clutching her neck as it gushes blood around the arrow lodged in it. She stares up with wide eyes at Thetis and the older girl leans against one of the trees. What a great shot she made for not even seeing the tribute. The girl on the ground makes a gurgling noise before falling still, blood still seeping out of her wound.
Boom.
Thetis nods her head at the sound of the cannon before turning around and walking back to her fire. It's a surprise that the girl even made it this far with how young she is. But it's not like she would have ever won. The title of victor will fall to Thetis.
A smile creeps onto her face at the thought of being victor as she sits back down at her fire. Three more to go and then she'll be victor.
Bronn Vangler, District Two, Victor of the 91st Hunger Games
The dry ground of the savannah was quickly turning crimson. It was impossible to tell anymore who the blood belonged to anymore and even though the sight of it and what he just did was making his stomach turn, Bronn just couldn't turn his gaze away from the blood stained ground. The blood that he contributed to.
Boom.
Bronn finally tears his attention away from the blood at the sound of the cannon firing and stares at the now dead body of Elma. His first kill. Her face is still twisted in the shock from Bronn retaliating at her, splattered with her own and Fai's blood. His knife still rests in her neck and he yanks it out, causing blood to gush out over his hand. At the warmth, he stumbles back before turning to a bush next to him and hurling up the small breakfast of nuts he had shared with Fai.
Once the contents of his stomach are cleared, he stands up and wipes his shaky hands on his shirt. He hesitantly looks back over at the two bodies near him, not wanting to throw up once more. His stomach stays steady as he looks at the older girl from Seven and her twisted face. But his ally and friend… That's a different story.
"I'm sorry, Fai," Bronn lets out a sigh as he sits down on the ground next to his friend. His face still has the hint of the laughter they had been sharing just before an axe was buried into his back by Elma. Bronn hadn't even thought twice about jumping up and burying the knife in her neck as she tried to yank her axe out of his back. But now, they're both dead.
And there's only one other person left in the arena.
The thought hadn't reached him yet until he stared at the two dead tributes in front of him. It had happened so quickly, but now, only the boy from Eight is left. Bronn is in the final two. Sure, the other boy is older and a lot larger than him, but Bronn now has a kill and he didn't hesitate to fight to save himself.
He might just be able to win and get home.
Who would have thought that the untrained fourteen-year-old from Two would be in the final two? Certainly not the Capitol crowds. They had all been rooting for Garni since he had trained. But the boy from One had died in the bloodbath because he rushed in and made a stupid mistake. Bronn hadn't done that and look at where he is now.
He grabs the knife tucked in Fai's belt and places it in his own before standing up, swinging his bag up onto his back. He doesn't look back at the bodies as he starts walking east, back in the direction of the cornucopia, with a new determination in his step. Bronn can do this. He's not afraid anymore that he is incapable of killing. He just might be able to become victor.
Bronn just might get home to his family.
The thought of seeing his parents again brings a smile to his face and adds to his determination to fight and win. "Hey Sylvia," he shouts up at the pink sky, knowing there will be cameras on him right now. The Capitol is surely watching him now and some must be rooting for him. And the most important person rooting for him in the Capitol is his mentor who has gone through so much on her own. But not for much longer. "Get ready to have your first victor!"
Isidore Tecne, District Three, Victor of the 92nd Hunger Games
Isidore never imagined herself going into the games and she most definitely didn't imagine herself becoming a victor. There wasn't any future for herself in District Three that didn't involve her being miserable and forced to work in the factories making stupid technology for the Capitol. Anything to keep her family alive and food on the table.
And yet, here she is, one of the final two in the games. So close to escaping a future she never wanted, yet being forced into a new, harsh one. She knows already that she's never going to escape the memories of what she did in this arena. What she still has to do. But isn't being alive and haunted by memories of dead kids better than being dead at fifteen?
Maybe. Maybe not. But she was going to do her best to figure out what that life is going to be like. And then, she'll never have to worry about her family starving again or being unhappy because they're constantly working double shifts. And Markos will be able to stay in school as long as he wants to and get a better life for himself.
The thought of her younger brother being happy brings a small smile on her face as she enters the tall grass field that surrounds the cornucopia in a ring. She had fought for her own future up until now, but her final motivation to win will be helping her family.
Isidore pauses as the grass she's pushing aside brushes against itself, creating a beautiful chiming sound. How had she not noticed this before? Well, the only time she had been here was when she ran from the cornucopia and all she could hear was her heart pounding and people screaming as they were killed. Everything in this arena made some sort of noise when touched – she learned that the hard way when she stepped on a flower and it made a horrible screeching sound and brought a tribute towards her. But this? This was beautiful.
She sweeps out her left arm, hoping it wasn't some fluke. But she enough, it also makes a sound. Isidore's smile grows as she keeps walking, creating a beautiful melody as she makes her way to her final battle. She starts humming along to the sound, memorizing it for after she makes it out of the arena. For when she has the opportunity to finally compose music.
All too soon, she reaches the edge of the grass and can see the golden cornucopia glittering in the rising sun. Isidore takes a moment to appreciate the beauty of the sun rising, knowing she won't see it set tonight in the arena, or possibly ever see it again.
Before she steps out of the grass, she scans the open area, searching for any sign that her final opponent is here and just waiting for her to appear. But Rheana is nowhere to be seen, allowing Isidore to search the remains of the supplies for a better weapon to use in the final fight against the girl from Eleven. The large broken branch that she's used as a club has served her well up to this point, but Isidore would rather not take her chances in the final fight. She might not be smart like most of her District, but she certainly isn't dumb.
The supplies are thoroughly picked through but as she walks into the cornucopia, she can see a mace tucked away in the back of it. Of course it's still there. No one wants to risk messing up with clubbing someone to death when they can use a sharp sword instead. Well, no one besides herself. She grabs the handle, the grip almost feeling like it was meant for her, making her pause as she stares down at the mace, studded with sharp spikes.
Did they place this here just for her?
Maybe. Or maybe not. It doesn't matter, as long as it keeps her alive. As she exits the cornucopia, she tucks her makeshift club into her belt, keeping it just in case her new weapon sucks. And then, she stares around for a moment, wondering how long she has until she faces her final opponent and possibly her own death. But immediately she feels uneasy about her blindspots and walks to the side of the cornucopia, searching for a way to climb up it for a better vantage point. A few empty crates surround her and she quickly pushes them into a makeshift staircase, and then she waits.
Isidore waits and waits, muscles tense as she continuously circles around on top of the cornucopia, waiting for her opponent. Waiting for her chance to get out of this misery and home to her family. She's kept waiting until the sun is directly above her – damn Capitol and their need to sleep in. Can't they see that she's ready to get out of here? Finally, she sees some rustling in the grass, approaching her from the south. She hefts her mace up into a better striking position, bracing herself for this fight.
One more fight and then she's home.
Okeanas Var, District Four, Victor of the 106th Hunger Games
Everyone in the arena with her was a bunch of fucking idiots. Even Okeanas's District partner was an idiot, even though he went through the same training that she did. It wasn't going to even be a challenge for her to win these things.
As she braces herself to run towards the weapons at the start of the games, her eyes search the circle of tributes for her idiotic allies. God, they were all so stupid. Honestly, she was tempted to just kill them now and claim the supplies for herself. And the rest of the games will be a breeze because if the trained tributes can't handle her, no one can.
The gong rings and Okeanas takes off for the cornucopia, eyes focused on a greatsword she sees hidden in the opening. Her greatsword. She reaches the weapons before anyone else, having a direct path to the opening of it, and when her hands grip the hilt of the sword, a grin starts to form on her face as the adrenaline starts coursing through her. This is exactly what she's trained for.
She hears footsteps approaching her and with the adrenaline setting her nerves on fire, she doesn't care anymore about having allies and swings out her sword as she turns, knowing the movement will increase the force she strikes with. A head goes flying as the body crumples to the ground, blood spraying from the gaping neck all over the weapons. She has just enough time to register that it was Jade, her 'ally' from One, before more footsteps loudly approach the cornucopia and she walks out to meet them, grinning and covered in blood as she prepares to take out more tributes.
Okeanas walks slowly out of the cornucopia, seeming out of place in the chaos of tributes scattering around. She hefts her blade so the flat side rests on her shoulder as she looks around, daring any tributes to run towards her. Sure enough, the idiotic girl from Three is going to run right past her. Okeanas swings out her blade, the length allowing her to strike the girl's stomach. She crumples to the ground, desperately trying to hold in her intestines as she screams out.
She turns around to see her District partner fall to the ground, a knife embedded in his neck. What an idiot.
"What the fuck, Okeanas?"
The tip of her sword rests on the ground as she turns back towards the opening of the cornucopia, spotting Quoise standing at the opening and staring down at the head of his District partner. There's no way for him to have seen Okeanas make the kill since he was on the opposite side of the cornucopia. But then again, there's no one here who can decapitate tributes like she can with her greatsword.
Okeanas shrugs at this, not bothered by his attitude or her killing. "She was weak. Not like she would have ever won, anyways."
The chaos surrounding them is starting to die down as Quoise charges at her. She doesn't have enough time or space to swing her sword up to his neck or stomach, but she does have just enough room to strike the side of his left leg, cutting through it easily like that fancy honey butter she had tried in the Capitol. He cries out at his now severed leg and falls to the ground, trying to hit Okeanas with his sword but only managing to snag her jacket. Okeanas kicks the sword away before moving over to him, staring down at his writhing form as he glares up at her. For a brief moment, she contemplates how to kill him, before striking down with her foot, feeling bones crush as he skull bursts open.
Wow, that was a lot easier than she thought it would be to crush someone's skull.
Okeanas turns around, wiping her boot on the grass to see the District Two tributes staring at her from a safe distance, out of the reach of her greatsword. "Go," she casually says to them, waving her hand at them. "This alliance is over because you're all fucking idiots. So you can go and attempt to win – which you won't – or you can stick around and I'll just kill you now."
For once they make a smart move and both run away from her, leaving her as the sole owner of the supplies at the cornucopia. She scans the blood covered field, picking up an apple as she starts walking around to see how many died. She takes a large bite of the fruit as she nods her head approvingly.
Nine down already. What a piece of cake this is.
Letha Calder, District Five, Victor of the 112th Hunger Games
As the platform pushes her out into the arena, the sun blinds her at the same time her fear freezes her in place. She can hear her blood pounding in her ears as she stares around at the tributes surrounding her, further freezing her in fear. The careers are fully prepared for this, way more than she ever could be, and they have a look in her eyes that sends a chill down her spine.
The clock is ticking down to the start of the games yet Letha can't even bring herself to look around to find Elia. She can't look away from Parrith, the boy from Two, who looks as if he's ready to murder every single person here.
This is it. This is how she's going to die.
The countdown ends and the gong sounds, starting chaos in front of her and all she can do is stand there in fear and watch as the careers charge forward. A few seconds fly by as the careers reach the weapons yet time seems to slow as other tributes try to get supplies and blood starts flying into the air. Their screams make her crouch down in fear and she can feel her cheeks wetting with tears. She can't do this. She doesn't want to die but she doesn't know how to fight through her fear and just move.
Someone starts to run towards her and Letha starts breathing quickly as she fears her death. "Letha, move already!" She tries to search for the person shouting at her before seeing the boy running towards her fall to the ground. Landing on top of him and pinning him to the ground is her District partner. Iri glances back up at her as he wrestles to keep the other boy on the ground. "Damn it, Letha! Fucking run already!"
At his shouting, Letha stumbles to her feet before immediately falling off of the platform. Her face slams into the ground, stunning her for a moment as she reaches up to her nose. When she pulls her hand away, she's confused by the blood on her fingers. A hand grabs her and drags her up and she lets out a scream as she starts thrashing at them, not ready to die.
"Calm down, it's Banni," a voice shouts at her, struggling to keep Letha moving. It takes her a few seconds to recognize her ally and she tries to stumble to her feet so they can keep moving. "We need to get out of here."
"We can't – we can't leave," Letha struggles on her feet, wanting to move forward while also wanting to turn back to search for Iri. "We can't leave Iri behind!"
Letha pulls on Banni's arm as she looks back over her shoulder, searching for her District partner. But when she sees his bloody body with a spear protruding from his chest, she stumbles to the ground, blood draining from her face. "No, no, no, no."
Banni stumbles as Letha pulls him down, "Fuck Letha, we can't stop!" But Letha can't move. Not when she knows that Iri is now dead because he tried to get her to move. Banni grabs Letha and tries to keep her moving. "Letha, come on!"
Letha keeps tripping over her feet as they run into the tropical forest, her mind just replaying the image of Iri with the spear in him over and over again. He died trying to save her. She didn't even know him before the games. And now, he's dead. District Five's only chance of a victor is her and she has no idea how to even do that.
But her attention finally falls to Banni as he leads her away from the cornucopia, away from the careers, away from Iri's dead body. Banni could have left her behind yet he did everything to keep her moving. Why? Why are these people helping her so much when it's her life or theirs?
Either way, she has to try now. She has to try so Iri didn't die for her when he could have won.
Dampero Ramin, District Six, Victor of the 108th Hunger Games
Entering the arena was almost a relief to Dampero because for the first time in days, he could finally be away from other people. He was so goddamn tired of being forced to parade around in front of the shrill screams of the crowd. It was so overwhelming and gave him such anxiety to be in front of the crowds.
So yeah, he probably could have done better at his interview and he probably lost a few sponsors from acting so cold. 'The unexpected strong and attractive guy from District Six', that's what they called him. If he didn't hate people so much, he would have been a bit flattered by the compliments. But it doesn't matter anymore if he lost some sponsors. He's proved himself in the games and why he earned that 7 in training. He hadn't hesitated in the bloodbath to run in and get himself some supplies and a weapon. He hadn't hesitated when the girl from Four charged at him. Well, now she's dead and Dampero?
He's the only tribute so far in the 108th Hunger Games who has taken out a career.
Fuck yeah, he is totally going to win this and get back home to his dogs.
But not before being paraded some more in front of the Capitol once he becomes victor. At least in the arena he could easily forget about the cameras watching their every move. And he didn't have to have a single person following him around, talking his ear off, and probably drawing other tributes to him with their noise. Really, the arena is almost an introvert's dream place, aside from the whole kill-or-be-killed thing. It's been nearly two days and he hasn't seen another tribute since then and it's been so damn peaceful. He had taken full advantage of the mountainous range that they'll never get the chance to see again, having hiked all day. The only thing that could make this better was having his dogs with him to hike around.
Someone starts yelling and Dampero can hear them running towards him. He lets out a loud sigh before throwing his backpack onto the ground. "Is it too much to ask for some goddamn peace and quiet?" He asks no one as he pulls out the machete he grabbed from the cornucopia as he turns to face the person running down the path towards him. He's not surprised when he sees it isn't one of the careers because they might be dumb but they're not dumb enough to yell and ruin the surprise of their attack.
The boy from Ten races towards him and Dampero watches his movements carefully and he braces himself. The boy dramatically holds his sword with both hands above his head as he runs and Dampero shakes his head at this. What a brilliant way to kill yourself on accident. Dampero twirls his machete once in his hand as the boy gets closer, waiting to see when he brings the sword down.
In a quick movement, Dampero steps to the left of the boy's large swing before striking out once with his machete. The boy's screams stop immediately and Dampero tries to pull his machete out, feeling it getting stuck in his neck. He puts a foot on the boy and yanks with both hands, pulling out the machete with a gush of blood that strikes his chest and accidentally pushing the boy, making him roll down the hill as he holds his hands to his neck.
Boom.
Dampero glances down at his shirt, letting out a small sigh at how it's now ruined before wiping his blade on it. Once his machete is tucked back into his belt, he glances down the steep side of the hill and can see the boy's body at the very bottom of it. Well I guess he's not getting any of his supplies. With a small shrug, he keeps walking on his path as if the boy attacking him never even happened.
"Hey Embla, a new shirt would be really nice," Dampero says quietly out loud, not really expecting to get any response from his mentor. "Oh and if you could add in a hot bath and send me one of my dogs, that would also be great."
He walks for a few more feet before coming to a stop, genuinely surprised to see a small silver parachute floating down to him. He reaches out and grabs it, opening the package right away to find three new shirts for him to wear, various colors that blend in with the mountainous surroundings. Dampero sees a note with the gift and actually laughs out loud when he sees Embla's message.
'I'll get you a hot tub when you're victor.'
"I'm going to hold you to that!"
Here we go, our first look at the mentors! I have to give credit for Mik for the format of this chapter! So you guys are awesome and the tribute spots are already almost completely filled! There are just two tributes open as of posting this chapter, but there are plenty of escort spots! I would really appreciate if you considered sending in an escort for the story :)
So since I have all of the featured tributes, I'll be able to start writing the intros as soon as I'm done with the second mentor introduction! I'm going to switch up the order and go 1, 11, 2, 10, 3, 9, 4, 8, 5, 7, 6, like I saw Celtic do because I feel bad for the D11 submitters having to wait forever to see their tributes.
So what did you think about this group of mentors? Any stand out favorites?
Be sure to check out the blog for this story, the link is up on my profile! And once again, thank you for submitting and almost filling up the spots completely before the second prologue was even posted! You've all been sending in amazing tributes and I really can't wait to start writing them!