Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games, its characters or its world. Non-canon characters, Allie and Phoenix belong to RandomNerdyKilljoy (here and on Wattpad) and Phoenixsword24 (here on Fanfiction) respectively and Cat and other OCs mentioned are mine. Go check them out! And happy reading.
Author's Note: Hello! Here it is! Chapter Four! Now, I have credit to give! Johanna's story is from the amazing Phoenixsword24's story and he very kindly gave me permission to use it for purposes of this story. All rights to Johanna's story of her arena and experiences go to him. Check out his writing, it's amazing.
WARNING: Due to darkness in this chapter, this is rated M. If you dislike or are triggered by gore and allusions to rape, please feel free to skip this chapter and I will fill you in on the next update.
That being said: Have fun!
Chapter Four: Johanna's Story
"In your own time, Jo," Phoenix whispers gently.
Johanna breathes in deeply and whispers, trying not to alert the others. "In the arena... I remember this one kid, tried to start running too soon. Poor kid got blown to pieces. Another guy called him an idiot. Remember this guy, he plays a bigger part in this later. My District partner, Jonah, grabbed a pack and ran, just how I'd said. There was chaos, blood everywhere... I ran for a backpack and Neptune, the guy I mentioned, got it. He threw it to me and I must have frozen up until told me to run. I ran after Jonah for something like... Twenty feet? About that, then I turned back and saw Neptune looking really satisfied with himself as he killed off this poor little twelve year old. After I reached the forest, I got really cold and I loved my scarf. I removed my gloves, because who knows when I'd need them? I saw One's girl kill another, a fourteen year old. I saw them taking their supplies and knew I had to move. I started looking for Jonah, but I couldn't see him and he wasn't responding to me, which is never good. So I started looking for a sleeping place when I saw Neptune. I was trying to shake the idea of him raping me, you know? So instead of running when I saw his spear, I stayed still and he told me he'd come in peace. He gave me an axe," she starts, fiddling with a twig.
"What about the others?" Phoenix asks, curiously.
"Well, I asked where his teammates were and he said he was scouting. He gave me the axe and told me to run. I did and I knew I needed Jonah now. It was dark when he found me. He might have had hypothermia, he was pretty grateful when I wrapped him up. I decided I couldn't trust Neptune, because there was only one winner. I cuddled up to him-"
"What, like cuddled cuddled?" Phoenix asks quietly, not letting a faint hint of jealousy appear in his voice.
"No, not in that way! I was just sharing body heat. Anyway, we must have fallen asleep. When I woke, there was something huge going through the trees and I couldn't see what. I got my axe and tried to wake Jonah. I thought he'd frozen to death, until I saw him breathing. The thing roared and Jonah woke, then the thing charged at us... Well, we fought it. Turns out it was a bear. I got my axe in its head, its jugular and its blood sprayed in my mouth. Gross, right? Well, it didn't die. It was resilient. Some mutt. It just wouldn't die. It swung at me. I guess it died after I was unconscious. When I came around, it was daylight and Jonah had a deer. He didn't know how it had died," she tells him, finally managing to meet his eyes.
"How did it die?" he asks, genuinely curious as they cut most of the alliance out.
"It was a wolf. We headed back to the Cornucopia. There weren't any Careers there. Typical arrogant boneheads. We figured they were in the forest but while we were getting our gear, they returned. Jonah and I hid in the Cornucopia. They knew some of their stuff was gone and when I killed one of the girls, they nearly killed Jonah. Nearly. We headed for the mountains. I'm happy to say I managed to kick Neptune in his so called manhood. Jonah and I spent hours on our walk to the mountains. It started to get dark, so I gave Jonah twigs and got him to put them in a pile while I got rocks. I used a flare on cave, got attacked by a wolf, made the cave safe. Jonah wanted to lecture me on safety. We were in an arena, wolves weren't our worst enemy. We moved our stuff into the cave. He vomited at the sight of bones," she mutters, a slight chuckle escaping at that.
"Please tell me those were animal bones," Phoenix groans.
"No, people's. They were other Tributes. He and I talked a bit until we fell asleep. I woke up screaming, but I don't remember why. We fought a lizard mutt off. It almost drowned me and I must have fallen unconscious because the next thing I remember Jonah calling my name. He called me out on scaring him. Turns out he'd saved my life. We carried on northwards, toward the mountains," she says, seemingly calm with a hint of impending badness under her tone.
"You got there," he mutters.
"Yeah, we got there. The first thirty or so feet weren't too terrible. Jonah was following me up. Someone screamed and I thought it was him. Some other guy had screamed. He was killed by natural, well, Arena natural, problems. An avalanche. I found us a cave and we had a few minutes of rest before Jonah decided to go scouting. Twenty feet deep cave and he went scouting. I let him and I fell asleep. I woke up to footsteps. I looked up, hoping for Jonah. No such luck. This is where Neptune's problem comes in. He started to undress me..."
She breaks off, shaking and looking a little green. Anger like he's never felt before rises up in Phoenix and he mentally curses Neptune. This wasn't shown at all, which he's grateful for. It was bad enough without the whole country knowing, after all. "He raped you?" he asks softly.
"Yeah. I'll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say I'd never done anything like it and he wasn't gentle. I passed out from the pain after he'd been arrogant enough to say I'd ask next time, as if he'd get a next time, and left. After a while, I went to look for Jonah," she tells him, still a little green.
"Did you find him?" Phoenix asks, nervously, because just how much of this was cut?
"Oh, I found him! I killed three of the Careers trying. That's when I found him... He was on the ground with a mace next to him, covered in blood in the Careers' cabin. I was alone. With Neptune, of all people! I shot an arrow at him. It hit his arm. I started with knives. He dodged two. I threw a third and final knife got him in his eye. He ran for his trident, I chased. I tackled him and started yelling at him, telling him it was avenging Jonah, revenge for him attacking me. I stabbed him literally everywhere, cut his throat, all that. I didn't stop after his cannon. I stabbed him twenty more times before I stopped. I'd won, but all that mattered was Jonah being avenged and Neptune dead. I was lifted out and... Yeah, that's it," Johanna sighs. "He was the one kill I never regretted. Ever. When his face appears in my nightmares, I can smile and spit at him."
Phoenix hugs her close and strokes the soft pixie cut hair that's just growing back. "Good on you, Jo. He deserved all you threw at him," he whispers to her.
She looks up at him and gives him the most real smile she's had on her face since she was seventeen, before she was reaped. "I know," she tells him. "You know, I don't feel comfortable with anyone. At all."
"I'm not surprised," Phoenix sighs. He knows he'd kill anyone who hurt her, dead or alive, all over again just for the intention.
"It's different with you," she admits, her voice quiet, almost silent. "You're different. With you... I don't feel like a Victor with PTSD and God knows what else. I just feel like a real girl. That sounds so cheesy, but it's true."
Phoenix studies her. "You've always been a real girl to me," he tells her. "You've never been just a Victor."
Johanna's smile widens and before either of them register it or who initiated it, their mouths are crushed together. Moments or maybe hours pass before a soft "Oh. Sorry," comes from behind them.
The two break apart to see an awkward-looking Cat poking her head out of the tent. "Every time," Johanna mutters.
"Uh, Allie and I were checking the time. You two wanna catch some sleep?" she asks, looking awkward. "I promise we won't interrupt you again."
"It's okay," Phoenix says. "Yeah, we'll trade off."
Cat nods and wriggles out, two cans in her hands. "Okay. You two go on in there," she says softly. "Allie, with me."
Allie crawls out. "Ugh, thank the gods. Cramp," she sighs, wriggling happily as she stands.
Phoenix and Johanna crawl into the tent and get into their sleeping bags. Johanna wriggles closer to Phoenix and whispers "Can I stay with you?"
He nods. "Whenever you like," he whispers, wrapping his arms around her. "I'll keep you safe."
That's it for this chapter. If you got through this: *Hugs* Thank you and my apologies for feels caused. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please feel free to drop a comment on what you thought of this! Hope you enjoyed! Until next time, hugs! BlackCat46 xoxo
