Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of its characters. The OC's, of which there are many, are of my own creation.
Summary: The Mockingjay has been seen. The song has been sung. The Revolution has begun. Now it is up to Mikhail to fight for what he knows and believes is right. Freedom.
WARNINGS: HET! (M/F) SLASH! (M/M) VIOLENCE! ANGST! CHARACTER DEATH!
Stars Look Down
Chapter Eight
Despite the fact that her hands were soft and gentle Mikhail couldn't help but wince when his fiancé began massaging the scar tissue now covering his back through the thin shirt he wore, trying to help ease some of the stiffness which was becoming a common occurrence.
"Sorry…" she mumbled, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck just as Felyx got the holo-projector working and the first image of this year's Arena appeared on the wall with half of the screen dedicated to the emerging Tributes. "Is that…are they surrounded by water?"
"I suppose they had to do something special as its a Quarter Quell…" Ella mumbled from where she was snuggled up with Leroy. "It's a bit unfair though. What if they can't swim?"
Leroy snorted loudly.
"Then they'll be eliminated quickly, won't they?"
Felyx and Bella hurried out of the curtained off kitchenette, passing out little glasses of black market whiskey to everyone just as the countdown began on the screen.
"5…4…3…2…1…"
Slamming back their drinks the group of friends watching, the alcohol burning its way down to their stomachs, as several of the Tributes dived into the water.
"Of course she can fucking swim…" Mikhail found himself growling as the camera focused on Katniss Everdeen for a long moment, showing her moving through the water with practised ease until she reached one of the spokes made up of uneven rocks, pulling herself up just a fraction of a second before Brutus. "Is it wrong to hope he guts her?"
"Yes," Juno informed him tensely. "I know why you hate her but we need her."
"For now."
The camera seemed determined to stay with her for the moment, showing her sprinting along the spoke closely followed by Brutus while on the next spoke over, shown in the background of her shot, Gloss caught his foot on something and took a tumble.
As she reached the weapons cache in the Cornucopia the screen split into four sections, one staying with her whilst the other showed the other focal points of the bloodbath.
Oswin, the District Six male was shown having the misfortune of climbing into the spoke between Katniss and Brutus, causing the Career to turn his attention on him.
"Woof!" Willard cried out suddenly in distress, drawing all of their attention to the third section of the screen where their male Tribute, was shown falling into the water, his weathered face twisted in panic as he struggled to stay afloat. "Help him!"
Leroy leaned across to hug his brother while on the screen Woof lost his fight with the water and sunk below the surface, the cameras somehow following him in order to show them his last moments, bubbles pouting out of his mouth as his body stilled.
The first canon of the 75th Hunger Games sounded.
Woofs lifeless face dominated the section for a long moment before the feed changed to show Amethyst, the female Tribute of District 5, scrambling up the beech.
"Woof…" Willard moaned tearfully, eagerly pressing himself to his brother's side to accept the comfort offered by his main caregiver. "Why didn't anybody help him?"
A second canon prevented Leroy from answering, drawing their attention to the second screen where Brutus had just dropped Oswin's lifeless body into the water, his neck obviously broken and in the background of the shot they could just make out Klara, the female morphling addict from District Six sprinting into the surrounding jungle.
"First death of the Games…" Misha sighed softly. "That poor old man…"
For a moment it looked as though Katniss was about to get her first kill of the Games when she swung her newly acquired bow around towards where Gloss had been sprinting towards her, prompting the huge Career to stumble at the end of his chosen spoke.
She fired.
Mikhail doubted their group was the only ones to react with confusion when instead of taking out the obvious threat to her survival all she did was wound him, shooting her arrow deliberately through his calf muscle and sending the handsome Career tumbling into the water clutching at the shaft of the arrow where it stuck out of his muscular leg.
"Um…what's going on with Seven and Three?" Felyx wondered, pointing towards the fourth section of the screen with the glass still in his hand. "Is she…is she helping them?"
Mikhail frowned.
The she in question was Johanna Mason, the sly, cunning Victor from District Seven who was renowned for having a volatile temper which had been very evident during her interview.
"Well, hell yes, I'm angry. You know, I'm getting totally screwed over here. The deal was that if I win the Hunger Games, I get to live the rest of my life in peace. But now, you want to kill me again. Well, you know what? F**k that! And f**k everybody that had anything to do with it!"
Mikhail had been both surprised and impressed by her achingly human response.
And now there she was, armed with a deadly looking axe helping an obviously unsteady Wiress out of the water on the opposite side of the Cornucopia to Katniss whilst Blight, the male Tribute from District Seven, helped Beetee gather weapons and other supplies.
"Why would they…?"
Juno gasped loudly.
"Finnick!"
Across both of the sections at the top of the screen the footage was dedicated to where Katniss and Finnick were now facing off against each other, both armed with their signature weapons and both assessing each other for any sign of weakness of injury.
"Good thing we're allies, right?"
Finnick's voice was as calm and confident as it ever was, the words sounding infinitely sultrier than they really should have done as he held up one hand to show off…
"…what's with the bracelet?"
"Where did you get that?"
"Well it obviously means something to her," Mikhail responded to his fiancés confused question, noticing the way Katniss's panicked gaze flickered back and forth between Finnick's remarkably calm features to the golden bracelet twinkling brightly on his wrist.
"Where do you think?"
Whilst one of the sections had remained dedicated to the odd alliance between Seven and Three, following them as they rushed into the jungle, the third section showed Jayson, the male Tribute from District Five sneaking up behind Katniss with a sword aimed at her neck.
"Duck!"
Katniss had barely obeyed the sudden command when Finnick's trident sailed through where her torso had previously been, striking Jayson in his own chest and knocking him backwards as a canon fired, signalling the instantaneous death he had been given.
"He just…" Belle murmured in obvious confusion. "He just saved her life!"
"What the heck is going on?" Felyx murmured beside her, running his hand across the top of his head as he watched the screen closely. "First Seven and Three, now Four and Twelve?"
"Don't trust One and Two," Finnick advised his new ally whilst arming himself with a fresh trident from the rack of them inside the horn. "I'll take this side, you hold them off."
He paused suddenly, frowning out across the water towards the pedestals.
"On second thoughts I'll go find Peeta," he announced suddenly, spinning his trident so that the blade was pointing downwards at his side. "Try not to get yourself killed."
Both Finnick and Katniss had a section of the screen dedicated to them, following their movements as they separated but the group of friends were only vaguely aware of Katniss firing an arrow towards Enobaria and missing as their attention was drawn to the third screen, the one that wasn't still following Johanna, Blight, Beetee and Wiress.
"Willard. Don't look."
Accompanying his firm command with a tug on the back of his brothers neck Leroy forced the younger boy who was entirely too innocent for his own good to hide his face against Leroy's shoulder as the image of Cecelia appeared on the screen.
Their female Tribute had obviously just struggled to get to the spoke, gasping desperately for air following what had obviously been a difficult swim for her and had just begun to pull herself up onto the rocky spoke when Cashmere had appeared out of nowhere.
"I'm sorry, Cecy…"
Despite her seemingly genuine apology and the distress showing on her stunningly beautiful face the female Careers hand were steady and strong as she reached down and pulled Cecelia's head sharply to the left, effortlessly snapping her neck and ending her life.
Her canon sounded whilst Cashmere was gently lowering her lifeless body back into the water, an uncharacteristic tear falling down her usually expressionless face.
"I'm sorry."
Mikhail wasn't the only one stunned into silence by the Careers unusual display of sympathy, the Gamemakers themselves taking a moment too long to switch to the next interesting feed meaning that everyone saw the three fingered salute Cashmere offered the body now floating peacefully on her back in the rippling water before the image of Brutus killing Maybelle, the female Tribute of District Nine, by smashing her head onto the rocks.
"…this Games isn't making any sense…" Juno eventually broke the silence in the small room, tears dripping slowly down her face as she refused to look away from the screen. "Seven and Three. Four and Twelve. And now an apologetic kill from District One? I don't…"
"They're friends…" Mikhail murmured softly. "It is different this year because they all know each other. They all…they all know about Cecelia's family. That's why…why…"
"That's why she made it as quick and painless as possible," Donovan murmured, holding Misha close as his boyfriend wept silently beside him. "I never thought the day would come when I would be thankful for something that a Career did but that…that was the only sort of kindness Cecelia could have been given once she was in that Arena. A quick death."
"Yeah…"
"Katniss!"
Finnick's sharper than usual voice drew their gazes simultaneously up from the image of Brutus coldly kicking Maybelle's body into the water to where the infamous playboy of District a Four was stumbling back towards the equally infamous Girl on Fire.
"Mags found him. He's over here."
Almost as though the Gamemakers had been waiting for Finnick to finish speaking the image of Brutus sprinting towards the Cornucopia was replaced with their first glimpse of Peeta for the entire Games so far and it wasn't good, the young Tribute obviously struggling to cling onto his pedestal whilst fighting off a desperate attack from Roman of District Nine.
The older man had apparently pulled Peeta down into the water and was now trying to force the blondes head under the water, taking advantage of the fact that Peeta, like so many of his fellow Tributes from the outer Districts, obviously couldn't swim.
Peeta was determined not to go down easily, however, and managed to land several powerful blows to the side of the other man's head just as the other sections became one once more in order to show Finnick and Katniss coming to a sharp half beside Mags.
Landing a punch of his own to Peeta's temple Roman grabbed the younger Tribute by the neck and pushed him under the surface, the two of them struggling together until Peeta managed to get away from his attacker, clinging desperately to the side of his pedestal.
Roman, gasping for air, grabbed Peeta by his hair and pulled him backwards into the water once more, both of them disappearing under the surface too quickly for Katniss to be able to get a good enough shot that she wouldn't accidentally hit the boy she apparently loved.
Handing his trident over to Mags without hesitation Finnick dived gracefully into the water, propelling himself towards the struggle but he was unable to reach them in time.
Unlike with Woof the cameras stayed above the surface, focusing on Katniss's horrified face and Finnick's desperate attempt to get to his supposed ally before it was too late.
Much to his surprise Mikhail found himself silent rooting for the boy from District Twelve, acknowledging if only to himself that Peeta was probably the only one he could stand to see win as the Tribute had a gentle soul and had only ever killed with mercy before now.
A canon sounded.
"No…"
As one the group of friends leaned forwards, eyes locked on the top half of the screen where a body slowly floated to the surface on its front, the head still completely submerged.
"Peeta…"
Just as Finnick was about to turn the body over to check the person's identity a second body surfaced a couple of feet away from his current position, gasping painfully and thrashing in the water as they tried desperately to keep their head above the water.
"Peeta!"
With Finnick supporting him the obviously shaken young man made his way over to join Katniss and Mags on the spoke, throwing himself into his supposed girlfriend's arms.
Movement in the third screen drew their attention for a moment and they watched as Gloss, armed with the bloody arrow he had obviously just removed from his calf, took down Lorna, the female Tribute from District Ten, who had been attempting to sneak away from the Cornucopia with a back of knives by jamming the arrow deep into her vulnerable neck.
A canon sounded a moment later, drawing Katniss's attention back to where the Careers had now gathered together in front of the Cornucopia, all of them armed and deadly.
"We should probably get out of here…" Finnick murmured, accepting his trident from Mags before turning and offering the frail woman his back, helping her climb onto him like a child would be carried by their parents. "We'll be safest in the jungle…I think…"
The section which had been following Johanna and her group switched suddenly to show Seeder pulling herself up out of the water on the other side of the Cornucopia as quickly and as quietly as she could, hurrying forwards to grab an elegant looking sickle from the top of a pile of weapons before turning and heading towards the nearest spoke.
She had almost made it a third of the way along when she tripped on one of the uneven sections of rock and, with an involuntary cry of shock, fell noisily into the water.
Brutus led the Careers as they hurried around to the other side of the Cornucopia, not even hesitating when he caught sight of the woman now struggling to climb back onto the spoke.
He drew his arm holding the spear back and launched the deadly projectile into the air with enough force that when it punched its way into Seeder's side it slid all the way through, emerging with a brightly coloured spray of blood on her other side.
A canon sounded before she'd even begun falling back towards the water.
Seconds later the images of inside the Arena were replaced with a single image of Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith in their usual seats behind a desk in the studio.
"Well, there you have it folks," Caesar announced with a deep sigh and a bright smile. "Quite possibly the most exciting opening to a Games that we have ever seen."
"Ok, time for another round of drinks," Felyx announced, smacking his hands down on his thighs before jumping up from his seat and disappearing into the kitchenette just as Claudius began his annual assessment of the bloodbath. "Someone mute that thing."
Belle obediently moved forwards to turned the volume down as far as it go, silencing the in depth analysis of the various deaths and rating them in order of impressiveness.
Unsurprisingly Woof's slow death had been rated as the least impressive of the lot.
"Felyx! Where the bleeding hell did you get those?" Donovan demanded sharply, his eyes going wide with shock when Felyx finally returned with a bottle in each hand but not bottles of the black market whiskey they'd been expecting, bottles of very expensive looking Capitol whiskey complete with the official Capitol Seal on the labels. "Are you insane?"
Felyx smirked, beginning to fill up everyone's glasses from the half empty bottle in his right hand after placing the still full and still tightly sealed bottle in front of the holo-projector.
"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.
"You stole it didn't you?"
"How could you think such a thing?" Felyx responded with a bright laugh, filling up his own glass last before returning to his seat beside Belle on the small armchair they'd found a few weeks ago. "No, I just happened to see it fall off the back of a cart heading towards the Justice Building, that's all. Why waste such good stuff on Peacekeeper scum?"
"You're going to get yourself shot one of these days," Mikhail snorted before holding his glass up high once more as he cleared his throat. "To Woof and Cecelia. Our Victors who didn't deserve the way the Capitol treated them. May they rest in peace."
His friends eagerly echoed his toast, all of them knocking back the strong liquid in their glasses in one hit once more, making all bar Felyx and Mikhail gasp in shock.
"I don't think we should open that second bottle," Juno mumbled, wiping her hand across her mouth. "I don't know about the rest of you but that stuff is significantly stronger than anything I've ever had before now and my parents will kill me if I come home drunk."
The others agreed and the second bottle stayed sealed for now, although one good thing about the unusual strength of the alcohol was that Willard fell asleep pretty soon after that and was spared the remainder of the mandatory viewing for the day.
Mikhail had been talking softly with Juno about their dream wedding, their heads tilted close together, when Ella suddenly gasped and literally threw herself across the room in order to turn the volume up on the holo-projector once more.
"Peeta!" Katniss's terrified voice filled the room suddenly. "No!"
Mikhail turned his attention back to the screen just in time to see Peeta Mellark trigger an explosion seemingly in the middle of nowhere, sparks flying everywhere as his body was thrown backwards through the air, crashing into Katniss who was knocked down with a cry.
"What was that?!"
"I have no idea…"
"Peeta?" Katniss gasped fearfully, crawling across the ground until she was all but plastered across his ominously still chest. "He's not breathing. He's not breathing."
Finnick looked up from where he was helping Mags back to her feet, both of them also having been knocked down by the unexpected explosion, his own expression fearful.
"He's not breathing!"
They watched, none of them speaking, as Finnick all but threw himself into Katniss, pushing her away from Peeta with a surprising amount of force before pressing his lips to Peeta's.
Katniss, now aiming an arrow at Finnick's chest, was as confused they were.
"What's he doing?"
Finnick had stopped kissing Peeta now and was pushing repeatedly on the boy's chest.
"Cardiopulmonary resuscitation."
For a brief moment all of them looked away from the screen to stare at Ella who flushed prettily under their attention, her hands fluttering nervously in her lap.
"…what?"
"He's trying to get him breathing again before his heart stops beating," she explained softly, tucking her hair behind her ears. "It's a medical technique. I read about it at school."
"Oh…"
"Peeta?"
"Come on," Finnick grunted almost desperately between compressions. "Come on."
They watched as he paused, lowering his head to listen quickly to Peeta's heart before starting his compressions again, never once looking at Katniss who finally dropped her bow.
"Please wake up," she begged pathetically, leaning down until her face was all but pressed against Peeta's completely unresponsive one. "Please wake up."
"Come on," Finnick continued to beg, sounding more exhausted than ever. "Come on."
"Huh…"Juno sighed thoughtfully.
"What?" Mikhail asked, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her tit against him.
"I thought their relationship was completely fake, just something they concocted to help them in the Arena, but does that look faked to you?"
Mikhail looked back towards the screen just as they zoomed in on Katniss's tearful eyes.
"She really loves him…" Misha breathed softly from his own spot in Donovan's arms.
"Come on," Finnick begged, pausing his compressions to press his lips to Peeta's once more, forcing air from his own lungs into the younger boys. "Come on Peeta."
"Please, Peeta…"
Mikhail could practically hear the canon sounding in his head when Finnick returned to giving the powerful chest compressions, putting his whole body into them for a long moment before suddenly Peeta's mouth opened wide and he sucked in a lungful of air.
"Peeta!" Katniss all but screamed, clutching at Peeta's shoulders. "Oh my God!"
Her hands moved up to cradle his head, her thumbs stroking his skin while his fingers smoothed his damp hair back from his unnaturally pale face as his eyes fluttered open.
"Be careful, there's force field out there…"
His voice sounded awful, weak and frightened, but his soft words succeeded in dragging a tearful laugh from Katniss before she leaned down and pressed her lips to his.
"Oh, yes…" Juno sighed deeply as the kiss dragged on for a long moment, neither of them making a move to pull away. "That's definitely real…"
"You were dead," Katniss sobbed when they finally parted, his hands fluttering around his head nervously as she stayed close to him. "You were dead. Your heart stopped."
"It's ok," Peeta reassured her softly. "It's working now."
"That was close…"
Mikhail hummed thoughtfully, leaning back as Caesar appeared on the screen once more in order to explain what had just happened to the people who didn't have their own walking-talking-textbook to hand, Ella already explaining the technique in more detail to Leroy.
He couldn't make sense of Katniss Everdeen.
She was a cold killer who gave mercy to some but none to others who deserved it more.
She was an emotionless statue who sobbed like a child when someone she loved was hurt.
She was a nobody from District Twelve who was the face of the rebellion.
No, Katniss Everdeen didn't make any sense at all.
Taking the bundle of damp fabric from the frail young woman Mikhail had just dropped it into the violet coloured dye simmering away in his tub when the holo-projector whirred to life, the familiar beeps announcing that the day's mandatory viewing was about to begin.
He and everyone else had been at work for a couple of hours already by that point, arriving before thesis had properly risen into the sky, but the Capitol were renowned for the fact that they slept in late with their days beginning no earlier than nine o'clock.
"Good Morning Panem!" Caesars silky smooth voice called out as his ridiculous image appeared on the far wall of the room, the workers all glancing towards in briefly before retuning most of their attention to their work. "And Happy Hunger Games!"
"And what an exciting morning it is, Caesar!"
Claudius sounded like a giddy child, actually clapping and bouncing in obvious excitement.
"Well that's never a good sign," one of the older workers in the room muttered. "Something big must have happened during the night for them to detour from their usual script." P
"Very exciting indeed, Claudius," Caesar agreed gleefully, leaning forwards in his seat as he smirked out at the people being forced to watch him. "Now for those unfortunate souls who were unable to continue watching the Games through the night here is the recap."
Mikhail rolled his eyes at the predictable wording, carefully massaging the fabric under the surface of the dye mixture whilst raining his eyes to watch the aforementioned recap.
A loud booming sound echoed around the room when lightning suddenly covered the screen, followed by several more booms and flashes of light intermingled with images of the various Tributes faces as they stared towards the light show from wherever they were.
A digital clock in the corner of the screen showed that the lightning had struck at midnight.
"Odd…"
"I thought this next surprise was a truly inspirational move by the Gamemakers," Claudius's gleeful voice announced as the image changed to one of the Seven/Three campsite with Wiress sitting up on watch. "So unlike anything they've ever done before…"
In the corner of the screen the clock showed the numbers rolling over to 0100.
At first it simply looked like it had begun raining inside the Arena which, contrary to what Claudius had just said, was nothing unusual but when Wiress tilting her head back in order to swallow some of the much needed liquid they were able to see the red stains on her skin.
"Is that…?"
If the rain, or rather the blood rain, hadn't woken he companions then Wiress's scream certainly did, all three of them jumping to their feet with their weapons in hand.
"What the…?!"
"Blood! It's fucking blood!"
Wiress let out a fresh scream of fear and took off running, blinded by the horrific downpour.
"Wiress!"
"I'll get her!"
Blight took off after the panicking Tribute, weaving through the trees with practised ease while Johanna helped a seemingly injured Beetee to follow at a much slower pace.
"Who the hell comes up with blood rain?!"
"Wiress!" Blight called out on the screen, catching a glimpse of the still screaming woman and making a sharp turn in order to cut her off and catch up with her quicker. "Wiress!"
Mikhail wasn't the only one to flinch away from the screen as Blight seemed to run headlong into something that simply wasn't there, his body being thrown through the air by the same sort of explosion that Peeta had survived only this was so much worse.
On the screen Wiress stumbled to a halt, her impossibly wide eyes looking down at the smoking body which had been thrown towards her and landed only a few feet away.
A canon boomed.
Johanna and Beetee stumbled, a look of panic covering their faces in the same instant.
"Wiress!"
"Blight!"
Mikhail grimaced, knowing the fear and horror the two were feeling would be something close to what he'd been put through when he realised that their building had been hit.
His hands continued to move automatically, twisting the stirring the fabric in the familiar pattern he favoured, while his gaze remained fixed on the screen like everyone else's.
Johanna's face went blank when they found Blights body.
She didn't scream or cry or rant or rave.
She stood and stared down at him, the blood rain continuing to pour down on her body until she looked like something out of a person's nightmares, like an image of death itself.
Wiress was still screaming, clutching at Beetee's shoulders as the male Tribute attempted to lead her away from the body slowly disappearing into a pool of blood caused by the rain.
"We need to find some sort of shelter!" Beetee called out as the rain seemed to increase, all three of them flinching as they were struck by the fat droplets. "Johanna!"
Johanna finally looked away from her friend's body.
"Did you see anything we could shelter under?"
"Can't see a bloody thing in this rain," she responded before chuckling darkly to herself, spreading her fingers wide and watching the blood splashing against her palms. "Bloody…"
Now there was a twisted sense of humour if he'd ever seen one…
"Can you believe that this isn't the most exciting thing to happen last night, Caesar?" Claudius gasped dramatically as they reappeared in the screen, prompting Mikhail and most of the others to focus their attention back on their work for a moment.
He still had ten minutes to go before this piece needed to be removed from the dye.
"I know!" Caesar exclaimed, practically squealing like an overexcited child as he bounced on his seat. "Let's take a look at what happened to our favourite Star Crossed Lovers…"
Mikhail dreaded to think what they considered to be "more exciting" than blood rain…
He wasn't the only one to nearly ruin the fabric he was working on as he watched in horror as Katniss, Peeta, Finnick and frail old Mags tried to escape what appeared to be a killer fog, his hands clutching at the rim of the tub heedless of the way they were being burnt.
In fact it was the horrific on screen death of poor Mags, sacrificing herself so that Finnick could help Katniss get Peeta to safety, that finally jolted him back to life.
"Shit!" he hissed, snatching his hands away from the tub, flinching briefly from the sting of the burns before reaching into the dye mixture to extract the fabric. "Shit…"
He began wringing out the fabric, hoping that it wouldn't be ruined by the extra time it had spent in the dye mixture, whilst on the screen the fog was stopped by an invisible barrier.
"That is so messed up…"
In the corner of the screen the little clock showed that this had all happened at 0200.
"What excellent work the Gamemakers have done this year!" Caesar announced proudly as the screen left the surviving three washing their wounds in a little pond of dirty water, returning to the brightly coloured Capitol Studio. "I can't imagine how difficult it was to come up with all these different obstacles for our brave Tributes to face."
"I know, Caesar, they've really pulled out the stops for this special year and I cannot wait to see what happens next!" Claudius agreed cheerfully. "Speaking of which…"
Mikhail had just handed over the dyed fabric and pulled the plug to let the tub drain when the screen switched back to recorded feed from inside the Arena, once again showing Katniss, Peeta and Finnick although the clock showed that an hour had passed.
"I'm sorry about Mags…"
"She was never going to make it so…"
Going through the motions of getting the supplies he needed to scrub his tub clean of the violet coloured dye he was about to get to work when someone gasped loudly.
"What is that?"
"Mutts."
Finnick's soft voice unknowingly answered the shocked question from inside the Arena just as the screen split into four sections, each one showing a different angle of the same scene.
Katniss and Finnick had armed themselves and were staring around at the odd looking creatures appearing in the trees around them but Peeta, leaning against a tree which seemed to be leaking water, had absolutely no idea that anything was wrong.
"What sort of animal is that?"
"No idea."
"Peeta?"
"Yeah?"
A close-up was shown of his face as he looked over his shoulder towards Katniss, a confused frown replacing his previously calm expression as he noticed their defensive stance.
"Walk over here slowly."
Mikhail wasn't the only one to flinch when Peeta turned back towards the tree and found himself face to face with one of the creatures which let out a loud roar, a roar which was taken up by all of the other creatures as the young man stumbled backwards slowly.
"I hate when they use mutts," Felyx muttered, punching the side of his tub. "Makes it even more unfair, doesn't it, to add deadly creatures for them to fight as well as each other."
Mikhail grunted in response.
It had seemed to him, over the years, that the deaths caused by mutts were even more difficult to watch than the ones caused by other Tributes.
They were usually messier, if nothing else, and often more prolonged.
As they watched the creatures began circling the three Tributes, getting closer and closer as they continued to snarl and growl towards the obviously frightened trio.
"Get to the beach."
It was all well and good for Katniss to say that but they were completely cut off, only an idiot wouldn't be able to see that, and it only took a couple of seconds for one of the creatures to launch itself towards her back with a loud growl, it's monstrous teeth aiming for her neck.
Mikhail's hands clenched into fists as Finnick's quick reflexes saved her life.
After the first one had attacked and been killed it devolved into complete and utter chaos, creatures attacking them from every angle, forcing them to become very creative with their weapons of choice given how close together they were – a trident, a bow and a machete.
It looked as though Peeta was in trouble but he managed to stab the creature through its heart despite being pinned to the ground and then, suddenly, Katniss was knocked off her feet by another one of the creatures, falling back into the pond and disappearing under the surface with her bow the only thing holding the creature and its sharp teeth away from her.
This could be it…
Adya's death could be avenged...
And then Peeta was there, risking his own life in order to save hers yet again by plunging his knife into the creatures back, pressing it deep until the thing stopped moving at which point he pulled the thing off of Katniss and hauled her up and out of the water.
"We've got to get to the beech!"
The cameras followed them as they made a mad dash in the direction of the beech, stumbling down the mud covered hill with even more of the creatures following them.
Katniss was knocked down once more, followed by Peeta who unfortunately lost his grip on his machete as he fell and was left completely unarmed and pressed up against a tree.
"Shit…"
And then, just as the creature threw itself towards him, another figure appeared seemingly from nowhere to throw themselves between Peeta and the creature.
The mutts sharp teeth sunk deep into the mud covered Tributes neck, forcing a feminine scream of pain to sound in the air even as Peeta scrabbled to grab his machete and plunge the blade into the creatures own neck, pushing it off of the twitching body of his saviour.
"Who is that?" Katniss asked during a brief respite, the creatures circling out of the range of their weapons for a moment during which all three of them looked down at the figure now struggling to breathe, blooding pouring out of what was left of her neck.
"The morphling," Peeta answered even as the creatures attacked once more, Finnick fending them off with his trident. "Help me get her."
Between the two of them Peeta and Katniss were able to drag the morphling away from the creatures and down onto the beach, Finnick following close behind whilst keeping the creatures at bay with his admittedly impressive skills with his trident.
"See, this is why I prefer Peeta to that bitch," Mikhail muttered as they watched them stumble into the water, the creatures skidding to a halt at the edge of the jungle. "He actually cares about people, not just the people he knows. He cares about everyone."
Indeed Peeta had gathered the injured woman into his arms, supporting her head and shoulders even as her frail body floated on the surface of the clear blue water.
"What's her name?"
"Klara," Donovan answered softly, his hands hidden beneath the dye mixture in his own tub even as he gazed across at the screen. "Winner of the 49th Hunger Games."
"How do you even know that?"
"Caesar announced their previous wins at the beginning of the interviews, remember?" Donovan pointed out, his arms moving below the surface. "And I have a good memory."
"Hey. Hey. It's ok…" Peeta's soothing voice echoed through the unusually silent room, each and every person turning to watch as the cameras zoomed in on where he was comforting the woman in his arms. "It's ok. Shh. Shh. Shh. Hey, do you want to see something?"
Her frightened eyes met his and she nodded minutely.
"Look up. Look," Peeta instructed her, tilting his own head up to look at the sky above them which was a stunning wash of colour thanks to the approaching dawn. "Look at that. It's incredible, isn't it? All those colours. Don't worry about anything else."
She was still struggling to breathe, the morphling, but her body was slowly beginning to relax in his arms as she gazed up at the sky, mesmerised by the pinks and blue and oranges.
"We're here with you. It's ok…" Peeta reassured her softly, smoothing back her matted hair as he gazed down at her face, watching as she slowly relaxed until eventually she was completely still, her eyes still looking towards the sky even as the life fled from within them.
A canon sounded.
"What a touching scene from Peeta Mellark, comforting a woman who should have been his enemy in her last moments," Caesar murmured as the screen returned to the studio just in time to show him wiping a completely fake tear away. "Eleven Tributes eliminated. Thirteen remain. And I'm told that there has been another exciting development which we should just be able to catch now that we return you to the live broadcast."
A terrified scream filled the air as the image switched to the live feed just in time to show Amethyst, the female Tribute from District Five, desperately trying to outrun a huge tidal wave only to be brutally swept away by it, the cameras following her body as it was spun around under the water and smashed into trees with a succession of sickening thuds.
Someone somewhere in the room let out a horrified whimper.
A canon sounded.
"Did someone declare a public holiday that I wasn't aware of?!" a sharp voice broke through the heavy silence which had followed the shocking death and as one every single person in the room switched their attention from the screen to the man standing in the open doorway, leaning heavily on his dread cane as he glared around at the workers. "Well?!"
For the next couple of hours the Games were ignored as they struggled to meet Jedidiah's impossible standards, all the while trying not to do anything to warrant a punishment whilst ignoring the way he pressed himself up against the female workers, his hands wandering across their bodies unpleasantly whilst his cane kept them trapped in place.
One day, Mikhail vowed, when he was no longer dependent on this job he would giving Jedediah the thrashing he deserved and he'd use his own blasted cane to do it!
It was only once he'd returned to his usual haunting ground that they were finally able to return some of their attention to what was happening inside the Arena, glancing at the screen out of the corners of their eyes as they continued to work at their normal pace.
"Um…" one of the runners suddenly piped up from where she'd paused in the centre of the room, arms weighed down with a load of damp fabric as she stared up at the screen with a confused frown on her face. "Since when did Three and Seven join with Four and Twelve?"
It was true.
When Mikhail was finally at a point where he could look away from his work having been given a difficult colour to work with he found that the screen was split into two sections; on the left were the Careers who were crouched down just inside the tree line watching the Cornucopia and on the right were Katniss, Johanna and Wiress, the former helping the latter to wash the bright red blood off of her body as she seemed incapable to do it herself.
"Tick Tock."
"Seriously, what is with the alliances this year?" Felyx muttered, striding over to grab the damp fabric from the stationary runner so that he could dump it into his tub. "It didn't make sense when they were in two different groups but now? Now it's borderline ridiculous!"
"I cannot…have fun with Nuts…"
Something told him that whilst they hadn't been able to pay attention to the Games the already disturbed Tribute from District Three had broken even further, her eyes fluttering around wildly as she repeated the same two words over and over again.
He really couldn't blame Johanna for reaching her wits end.
"Tick Tock."
"Ok, that was different…" he muttered to himself as a much more insistent tone entered Wiress's voice, her hands clutching at Katniss's arms until the younger Tribute gasped, her eyes going slightly wide as she looked around her at the jungle surrounding them.
"…it's a clock…" she gasped, only just loud enough to be picked up. "It's a clock!"
Several voices called out almost as one in response to her declaration,
"It is?!"
"How the heck did she figure that out?"
"I guess you look at things a little differently from the inside."
"Oh my God, it's a clock!" Katniss sounded positively ecstatic now, clutching at the older woman in turn with a beaming smile on her face. "Wiress, you're a genius!"
"I guess that explains the little clock they out in the corner of the screen for the recaps this morning," Mikhail muttered, thinking back to previous years when there had been no such clock at any point throughout the Games. "Seriously, who even comes up with these ideas?"
"Some sick bastard, that's for sure."
Their fifteen minute break for lunch was announced, only half of them actually producing food from the pockets of their jackets whilst the others made do with just a drink of water.
Mikhail was one of the latter, food being so tight that he had voluntarily gone without lunch alongside his father and uncle so that the boys would have something to eat at school.
"This entire Arena seems to be laid out like a clock, with a new threat every hour but they stay only within their wedge," Katniss announced from the screen where she was shown leading the rest of her group along one of the spokes. "It all starts with the lightning. Then the blood rain, fog and monkeys. That's the first four hours."
On the left side of the screen the Careers nodded to one another before breaking out from their hiding places, splitting up in four separate directions so that they could all make their way towards the Cornucopia without their targets spotting their approach.
This was not going to be good.
"At ten that big wave hits from over there."
"Wiress, you're a genius…" Finnick breathed as he overtook Wiress, smiling down at her.
"The tail points towards twelve," Peeta figured out, pointing to how the monstrosity was lined up within the Arena, prompting Katniss to follow him and look out over his shoulder.
"That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight."
"Where?" Beetee demanded softly.
"That big tree."
The genius of District Three hummed thoughtfully, lifting his glasses up so that he could squint out in the direction that the much younger Tribute was pointing.
"Good."
None of them paid much attention to Wiress who had paused upon reaching the main section of the Cornucopia, barely stepping off of the spoke before she began turning on the spot, looking out at the jungle surrounding them without really seeing it.
"Hickory dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock," she sang to herself, smiling like a child would. "The clock struck one. The mouse ran down. Hickory dickory dock."
Even though the others had disappeared inside the horn of the Cornucopia the camera stayed with Wiress, showing her crouching down by the waters edge with her hands clasped to her chest, warning everyone watching that something was about to happen to her.
"Hickory dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock," she continued happily, completely unaware that she was now the focus of so many people attention as she swayed from side to side. "The clock struck two. Down he flew. Hickory dickory dock."
On the other side of the screen the image suddenly showed Gloss swimming under the water, a knife clutched tightly in his right hand while his left patted along the underside of one of the spokes, the rocky path acting as a guide for the deadly Career.
"This isn't going to be good…"
Wiress leaned forwards to pat at the water with her hands and for a moment she appeared on both sides of the screen at once, her hands appearing just ahead of Gloss.
"Hickory Dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock," she continued to sing as she removed her hands from the water and turned to face the others, sitting down on the rocks with her back to the water. "The clock struck three. He did flee. Hickory Dickory dock."
With the camera following Gloss's approach they all knew the exact moment he was about to strike, surging up from under the surface and grabbing hold of poor Wiress from behind, plunging his knife down into her chest without a moment's hesitation.
Her canon sounded even before she'd finished gasping in shock.
The screen which had been dedicated to Wiress and her demise shifted within the blink of an eye to show Katniss and the others reacting to her death, her arms moving automatically to fire an arrow into Gloss's bare chest before he'd even let go of Wiress's limp body.
His eyes went wide.
A canon sounded seconds after both he and Wiress had fallen back into the water.
Cashmere appeared on the left side of the screen, her beautiful face twisted in agony as she watched her brother die before she snapped out of it and let out a scream of agony.
Throwing herself forwards, armed with a knife which appeared to be identical to the one her brother had wielded, she was unprepared for the fact that Johanna would take it upon herself to defend Katniss, pushing the younger woman out of the way with enough force to send Katniss sprawling onto the ground before launching her axe towards Cashmere.
It struck her in the centre of her chest, the blade cutting deep between her breasts and sending her spinning off to the side, striking the ground just as her canon sounded.
District One, some of the obvious favourites to win, were out of the Games.
"Never thought I'd see the day when I'd feel sad over the death of a Career…"
Several people, Mikhail included, murmured softly in agreement.
Yes, Cashmere had killed Cecelia but she'd done it quickly and cleanly, she'd shown mercy to the older woman and spared her family the pain of watching something even more horrific.
"Here," Misha muttered, pressing a small piece of bread into Mikhail hand. "Eat."
Offering his friend a grateful smile, his stomach having begun to cramp painfully as he watched the others eating what little they had, he accepted the piece of bread and popped it into his mouth whilst returning his attention to what was happening on the screen.
Finnick and Peeta were locked in a deadly battle with Brutus who was genuinely one of the most terrifying people to watch in these Games, his muscles bulging underneath his skin.
And yet as terrifying as he was the Career was obviously struggling to gain the upper hand.
Over in the other section of the screen Enobaria was shown rising up out of the water, her fang like teeth bared in a growl as her eyes focused on the fight taking place on the other side of the Cornucopia, not even hesitating to fling one of her deadly knives towards Finnick.
One of the younger women gasped loudly as the blade slice across his left bicep sending a burst of blood into the air, the fabric of his long sleeve offering no protection at all.
"Thought her aim would have been better than that…" Donovan muttered, frowning at the screen as the blade continued along its path without causing any more damage. "What with how they said she was the one who taught that girl from last year how to throw knives…"
It seemed to be a moment for missing easy shots, however, as when Katniss fired back at the sharp-toothed Career she too missed, allowing Enobaria to dive back into the water.
"I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"No!"
Finnick's voice echoed throughout the room as he grabbed hold of Peeta when the younger man attempted to follow Brutus when the Career turned and hurried away from the Cornucopia, heading towards the nearest spoke so as to make his escape from the group.
No one could stop Katniss hurrying after him, however, closely followed by Johanna.
They had barely made it around the edge of the Cornucopia's horn when the ground beneath them shook, sending all of them tumbling to the ground even as Brutus and Enobaria were shown still making their escape completely unaffected by the tremor.
Within the blink of an eye the camera's focus shifted, one section of the screen now dedicated to Finnick and Peeta whilst the other focused on Katniss and Johanna.
And then the Cornucopia began to spin.
"What the…?"
In the corner of the screen they saw Cashmere's body roll off of the spinning ground, disappearing into the churning water even as the other Tribute's struggled to hold on.
"That's insane…"
Katniss lost her grip, sparking a gasp from several people in the room as her body slid down the jagged rocks towards the tempestuous water, but Johanna managed to grab hold of her before she could hit the water, using her axe to lock them in place.
"How are they even doing that?"
Almost at exactly the same time that Katniss lost her grip Beetee too began to tumble towards the water, appearing at the top of the screen moments before Finnick grabbed hold of him, pulling him out of the way just as one of the weapons caches tumbled over sending the deadly blades flying towards Peeta who was obviously struggling to hold on.
In a move worthy of some of the most exiting Career moments of past Games the young boy from District Twelve managed to roll out of the way at the last second whilst holding onto the rocks with only one hand, holding himself in place even as the ground continued to spin.
"No!"
Johanna's desperate scream drew all of their attention back to the other section of the screen and Mikhail found himself sucking in a sharp breath as they all watched Katniss strike the water, immediately vanishing under the surface of the chaotic water.
The order came for them to get back to work just as the Cornucopia began to slow down, eventually coming to a halt just as Mikhail set about stoking the fire beneath his tub.
"She's alive!"
Damn.
Glancing across at the screen he saw that Katniss had indeed survived, given that she was now pulling herself up onto one of the spoke as she coughed and spluttered weakly.
Johanna was the first to reach her, helping her up, but it was Peeta who spoke.
"You ok?"
On the screen Katniss offered him a weak thumbs up while Finnick began raiding what was left of the supplies for things that would be useful to them, stocking up on anything and everything before helping Beetee limp towards the others on the long spoke.
"Let's just get what we need and get off this bloody island."
His afternoon was dominated with a series of complicated orders, difficult colours, difficult fabrics and in one particular case significantly more fabric than they were usually required to dye in one go but thankfully that particular order was for pink silk, an easy combination.
Because of this he only became aware of the psychological torture that Katniss and Finnick were being put through when his friends and co-workers began a serious discussion about how disgusting all of the tricks being used by the Gamemakers were this year.
"I don't think I could stand to listen to voice of people I loved screaming like that for an hour," Felyx admitted softly, shuddering as he began to wring out his latest project.
Mikhail couldn't help but agree although he knew that if they really wanted to torment him they'd be best off using his mother and sisters voices rather than anyone living, well aware that he would succumb to guilt over their deaths far quicker than anything else.
"They're playing dirty this year, that's for sure," Misha agreed, his arms submerged in the dye mixture he was currently working with. "Makes me wonder if they haven't already decided who they want to win and are just drawing out the planned deaths of the others."
It wouldn't surprise Mikhail if what his friend suspected was true.
Katniss and Peeta had embarrassed the Capitol last year, tricking them into allowing two Victors instead of one, so he doubted that they would be the ones they were hoping to win.
It was probably Finnick or Enobaria, charismatic and popular Victors that they were.
Mikhail was one of the last people to achieve his quote that day and so the room was almost completely empty as he gave his tub a final scrub, all the while watching the screen which had just cut away from an interview with Kol and Nerilla, District Two's mentors that year, in order to show one of the remaining Tributes sprinting through the jungle.
"Fuck…" the Tribute, who Mikhail eventually identified as Hugh from District Ten, gasped fearfully as he nearly ran headlong into a tree whilst glancing over his shoulder. "Fuck…"
It was pretty obvious that he was running from something but for a long moment Mikhail couldn't see what he was so afraid and even when he did finally spot the creatures that were perusing the Tribute it still took a long moment for him to accept what he was seeing.
Rabbits.
Not your ordinary brown rabbits which had appeared in some previous Games either.
No, there were fluffy white bundles of…well…fluff and Hugh seemed absolutely terrified.
"What the…?"
It was then that Hugh made what turned out to be a fatal error in not spotting the thick tree root before it was too late, his foot fetching in it with a loud thud, the momentum of his body sending him crashing down onto the ground with an inhuman scream of pain.
Seconds later the rabbits proved just what was so terrifying about them.
They pounced on him, their jaws opening wide to display the disproportionate teeth which had been hidden from view until them which sliced through the young man's flesh as though it were butter, each creature attacking a different part of his body.
His screams increased when the rabbits began to dismember him, chewing their way through his flesh and bones until his arms and legs were no longer connected to his torso.
Eventually, though, the screams stopped and by then it was almost merciful when the canon sounded signalling that Hugh was dead, the rabbits continuing to feast upon his remains.
It was one of the most gruesome deaths he'd ever seen and that was saying something.
As the image on the screen changed to show Katniss and her merry band of misfits watching the remains being collected by the hovercraft, the metal claw descending a grand total of five times, he set about finishing off his end of day routine so that he could head home.
Annoyingly it was too late for him to try and meet up with Juno, the streets already emptying as the curfew approached, and so he made his way home, hurrying along with his head down and his hands in his pockets so as to not draw any unwanted attention.
He did not need another run in with Peacekeepers.
There was a bowl of stew waiting for him when he got, along with a crust of black bread, which unfortunately didn't do much to assuage his hunger but was better than nothing.
Checking that the apartment was locked down properly for the night he quickly turned off the lights, stripped out of his clothes and made his way to the bungle of blankets on the floor by the radiator that served as his bed, his father already snoring away on the sofa.
He'd only been asleep for less than an hour when the house was filled with the unmistakable sounds of a child having a terrifying nightmare, no doubt about the images they had been forced to watch during the mandatory viewing sessions at school.
Unsurprisingly this wasn't the last time that his sleep was disturbed by night terrors that evening, some his own as his mind relived the footage but mostly his poor cousins.
As such it was even more of a struggled than usual for him to emerge from his cocoon of blankets the following morning, joining his father and uncle at the table for a meagre breakfast of stale bread, lightly toasted, and tasteless dripping washed down with water.
Mikhail was the first to leave the little apartment that morning, kissing each of his cousins on the top of their head as they settled down for their own breakfast already dressed for school, hoping to catch a few moments with Juno before heading over to the factory.
He took up his usual spot, leaning against the wall of the building opposite her apartment block and waited as long as he could but unfortunately she hadn't made an appearance by the time he was forced to abandon his spot and make his way across the District.
As with the previous day they'd all been hard at work for a good couple of hours, the sweat literally dripping off of their bodies as the heat outside rose almost enough to rival the heat inside making it doubly unbearable, by the time the morning "catch up" was aired.
"Good Morning, Panem!" Caesar greeted too brightly, dressed in his usual "stylish" suit in what was undoubtedly a suitably air-conditioned studio. "What an exciting day we had yesterday, ladies and gentlemen. Let's have a quick look back at some of the highlights."
Mikhail snorted.
Highlights.
They might as well have just come out and said "let's watch the deaths in order so we can pick out which was our favourite" or "let's have a good laugh at the boring deaths" as that was what they really meant, each gruesome demise being replayed on the screen.
"Bet they wouldn't find it fascinating if they'd grown up being eligible for a Reaping," Donovan muttered, putting a little more force than was necessary behind his next twist of the fabric he had just finished working on. "I'd like to see them giggle over a death then."
"And now let's have a look at what happened this morning before we started broadcasting," Caesar instructed his audience once the image of Hugh's dismembered body had finally been replaced with one of the two hosts. "First let's check on our Careers…"
Mikhail looked up from the painfully yellow liquid in his tub just in time to see an artistic image of the sunrise shift into an image of the two careers who had apparently managed to make it back to the Cornucopia without the others noticing and had set up a temporary camp inside the large horn, sharing each other's body heat rather than lighting a fire.
They'd also apparently decided to make some alterations to their outfits which the Capitol greatly approved of if Caesar and Claudius's audio responses were anything to go by.
Brutus was now clad in nothing but his skin tight trousers, his utterly terrifying chest, back and shoulders being displayed for everyone to see as he shared the point of his spear.
Enobaria, meanwhile, had taken a knife to her clothes so as the cut off the bottom parts of the skin tight trousers before turning the top she wore into a tank top, removing the sleeves completely and exposing her ridiculously chiselled midriff until only her breast were hidden.
"And shall we see how the only Tribute to go it alone this year is faring?" Claudius suggested cheerfully, moments before the image shifted to show Chaff already up and moving, using a machete to cut himself a path through the dense jungle. "Oh dear. Poor old Chaff isn't looking a little worse for wear, don't you think? Caesar?"
"Indeed," Caesar agreed as Chaff was shown to stumble, his gaunt face searching the sky, obviously hoping for a parachute. "Do you think its lack of food or lack of alcohol which is proving to be his biggest struggle? We all know how much he likes to drink…"
"And who can blame him?" someone demanded angrily from across the room. "I know I'd have turned to drink if I'd been put through the shit he has gone through in his lifetime."
Mikhail couldn't help but grunt in agreement.
He honestly didn't know what was worse; being killed inside the Arena or making it out, surviving when so many didn't only to be paraded around the Capitol like some sort of pet.
"And finally let's see what the largest alliance in these Games got up to this morning," Caesar announced, flashing a smile at the camera as the studio was shown briefly before the screen was dominated with an image of Katniss and the others gathered on the beach. "Did you know that this particular alliance has set a new record? Never before have District Twelve worked with Districts Three or Districts Seven and it was only last year that they were linked with District Two when Peeta joined the Career pack for a short time."
It was obvious by the way they were all gathered in a little circle that they were preparing for a discussion of some sorts but no one was prepared for it to be Beetee who spoke up.
"I have a plan," he announced clearly and calmly, looking around at the faces of his fellow Victors as he fiddled with a spool of wire. "Where are the Careers the safest? The jungle?"
Johanna scoffed loudly, shaking her head as she countered firmly,
"Jungles a nightmare."
"Probably here on the beach," Peeta murmured softly, looking down at the sand beneath him before glancing around the group, obviously feeling the need to check that they agreed.
"Then why are they not here?" Beetee asked simply, an odd smile gracing his lips.
"Because we are," Johanna answered proudly. "We claimed it."
"What is he going on about?" Misha grunted, looking up briefly from where he was scrubbing his tub clean between dye jobs. "Why does it matter where they feel safe?"
"And if we left they would come?"
"Or stay hidden in the tree line," Finnick pointed out softly, gesturing around them to the trees which were currently giving them shelter from the artificial sun burning above them.
"Which in just over four hours will be soaked from the ten o'clock wave," Beetee concluded, his smile growing as he turned to face Katniss. "What happens at midnight?"
"Lightning strikes that tree."
It was pretty obvious from her tone of voice that she was just as confused as they were.
"Here's what I propose," Beetee announced, obviously content with the level of understanding his allies had shown despite their obvious confusion. "We leave the beach at dusk. We head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach."
"What's so important about the Careers being on the beech?" Donovan muttered, wiping the sweat from his forehead on his shoulder as he passed his finished work over to a runner.
Mikhail wasn't the only one to shrug in response.
He had absolutely no idea what the Victor from District Three was going on about.
"Prior to midnight we then run this wire from the tree to the water," Beetee explained, holding up the spool. "Anyone in the water or on the damp sand will be electrocuted."
"Is he serious?" Felyx snorted. "Crash! Bang! Zap! No more Careers? That's brilliant!"
"Yes," Mikhail murmured in agreement. "As long as the plan works, that is."
Apparently he wasn't the only one with doubts.
"How do we know that the wires not going to burn up?" Johanna demanded gruffly.
"Because I invented it," Beetee responded proudly. "I assure you it won't burn up."
Stepping back from his now clean tub so that the latest dye mixture could be sorted out by his supervisor, the liquid splashing all over the place as it was poured in, Mikhail was able to study the facial expressions of the group of Victors contemplating the proposed plan.
Johanna, the angriest member of the alliance, remained remarkably impassive as she shared a look with Finnick, both of them looking rather sceptical although Finnick also seemed slightly hopeful, his mouth quirking up ever so slightly even as his shoulders relaxed.
Unsurprisingly Peeta's expression was one of sadness and regret, the gentle young man regretting every life that had been lost in both of the Games he had been forced to compete in unlike his "wife" who stared at each of them in turn, her eyes bright and calculating.
"Well, it's better than hunting them down," Johanna eventually muttered, breaking the silence that had fallen on the group just as Mikhail was beckoned back over to his tub, accepting the bundle of damp fabric from the rubber who hurried across to him.
"Standard length of time for this one," his supervisor informed him. "Might need to give the dye a couple more minutes to heat up properly, however, as there's a lot of colours mixed together in a new combination and it's proving to be rather stubborn in regards to heat."
Mikhail nodded to show he understood.
"Yeah, why not?" Katniss enquired from the screen just as he placed his hand under the surface of the dye to check its temperature. "If it fails no harm done anyway. Right?"
"I say we try it."
Despite his words stating that he agreed with her his eyes told a different story and Mikhail found himself, just like last year, hoping that if anyone made it out alive it was the gentle boy from District Twelve who wore his emotions like a second skin for all to see.
By the time his latest dye mixture was simmering at the right temperature and he carefully began massaging the dye into the large quantity of fabric he had carefully submerged in it the screen had returned to an image of the two idiotic hosts who were now busy comparing Beetee's "genius" plan with the plan which had secured his victory during his own Games.
Mikhail had never seen footage from the 53rd Hunger Games before now, mostly due to the fact that it wasn't one of the Capitol favourites due it's less than bloody conclusion.
Now, as the two hosts described how electricity seemed to be a favourite weapon of Beetee's, there was a small box in the corner of the screen showing a younger version of the Victor from District Three, his dark skin covered with countless painful red blisters as he struggled to survive in what was obviously a desert terrain with limited survival skills.
"Of course at the time we had no idea what a clever brain young Beetee was hiding from us," Claudius murmured, referring to the fact that Beetee had been all but forgotten about during his Games by everyone, both inside and outside of the Arena, until eventually it was just him and the six members of the Career pack left alive. "I loved this moment…"
Mikhail watched as the teenaged Beetee snuck out of his hiding place once the Careers had left their camp in front of the Cornucopia to go hunt for him, his feet slipping in the sand as he hurried to help himself to some of their food and water before he began searching through the supplies for something that would be useful to him, eventually coming across a spool of what appeared to be garrotting wire and a battery powered heating unit.
"I remember watching this as a kid," one of his fellow workers murmured as the small screen displayed Beetee working the wire into a large net which he then spread out across the ground inside the Careers camp, hiding the wires with a thin layer of sand before attacking the heating unit, cutting his fingers on the sharp parts inside the things as he connected the net he'd made to its power source. "I was so confused. We didn't have access to electricity then like we do now, it was all candles and wood-burning stoves."
Remaining hidden within the piles of supplies, his hands resting on the power switch of the heating unit, Beetee was shown waiting all day for the Careers to return to the camp.
He even waited until they were all standing within the "target zone" as the two hosts referred to it before flipping the switch, sending jolts of electricity zooming along the wire and up through their bare feet, all of the Careers having stripped off their heavy shoes.
They were dead, their bodies smouldering ever so slightly, in a matter of seconds.
A commotion over on the other side of the room drew everyone's attention away from the screen just as it was switched to the live feed from the Arena, their eyes instead finding the new runner who had only started a couple of weeks earlier struggling to put out the flames making their way up his trouser leg having pressed too close to one of the tubs fires.
His frightened whimpers turned to panicked screams, tears flooding down his cheeks just moments before someone poured a bowl of water over his leg in order to extinguish the flames, revealing the badly burned flesh beneath the ruined fabric of the boys trousers.
"He was told about leaning too close to the base of the tubs," Solomon, one of the oldest runners who had been working at the factory since he was a young man, muttered once the boy had left the room, sobbing pathetically as he headed home with strict instructions to return to work the following day. "Still at least he won't make the same mistake again."
As far as live feeds went that particular days turned out to be rather unspectacular, the only interesting thing they noticed was that time seemed to be passing quicker for those inside the Arena than for those outside it, the supposedly hour long "active sectors" of the Arena actually taking anywhere between thirty and forty-five minutes but never lasting an hour.
It wasn't unusual for them to do this, however, as they often wanted the "action" to take place at a "convenient time" and so, as Beetee's plan was set to begin at midnight when most of them would either be sleeping or partying, time had been adjusted accordingly.
As it was the live feed didn't "pick up" until after they'd had their fifteen minute lunch break, making it mid-afternoon inside the Arena, when Brutus and Enobaria finally managed to track down Chaff in one of the sectors that had recently been active but was now safe.
"Brutus," Chaff greeted the two Careers in a remarkably calm manner after the two of them had successfully trapped him against the base of a large tree. "Enobaria."
"Chaff," Enobaria returned the greeting softly. "You're not looking so good, old man."
"Less of the old, thank you," Chaff responded with a chuckle, making a show of patting his protruding belly so that it wobbled. "I'm in the prime of my life, I'll have you know."
Brutus snorted loudly, shaking his head almost ruefully as he brought his arm back and took aim with his spear, pausing at the last moment to share a look with Enobaria who nodded.
"Have a drink for me if either of you manage to get out of here alive…"
Chaff's final words were cut off by the sound of the spear sliding deep into his chest, his eyes glazing over almost immediately and blood began to drip from his open mouth.
A cannon sounded.
Mikhail found himself dealing with a particularly stubborn length of fabric which seemed to be particularly opposed to accepting the dye as he needed it to for the next hour or so, his fingers aching as he was forced to massage the fabric for a significantly longer length of time than usual before it finally gave up the fight and turned green like it was supposed to.
Unfortunately this also put him behind on his daily quota.
"Minimal charring. Impressive conductor," Beetee's voice echoed throughout the room as Mikhail passed over the stubborn piece of fabric to a runner, glaring at it the whole time, before getting work scrubbing his tub out. "Let's get started. Typically a lightning strike contains 5 million joules of energy. We don't want to be in the vicinity when this hits."
"How does he even know that?!"
"He's from Three," Misha pointed out in response to his boyfriend's loud exclamation, taking a brief moment to gulp down some water. "They're all clever twats in Three."
"You two girls take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water, understand? Then head to the tree in the two o'clock sector. We'll meet you there."
"I'm going to go with them as a guard."
Peeta was obviously trying to sound firm but he failed spectacularly.
"No," Beetee counted the younger man instantly, shaking his head as he turned to face the two from District Twelve who had moved to stand beside each other as soon as the group had come to a halt. "No, no, no, you're staying here to protect me and the tree."
"No, I need to go with her."
Mikhail frowned.
Was there something going on beneath the surface between Katniss and Peeta?
The looks being passed between the two…
The way they were determined to stay together…
Could it be that they were planning to double cross their friends?
"There are two Careers out there, therefore I need to two guards."
"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own."
Yup, Mikhail decided, there was definitely something going on.
Nodding to his supervisor that his tub was ready he took a brief moment to strip off his shirt as some of the others already had in an attempt to cool themselves down, revealing the horrifically scarred skin of his back to the room as he hung his damp shirt with his jacket.
It was weird, the fact that inside the Arena was already getting dark thanks to the time difference whilst in District Eight the sun was still pouring mercilessly through the windows.
"Yeah, why can't Finnick and Johanna stay with you?" Katniss suggested from the screen, nodding to the other two Victors in turn. "Peeta and I will take the coil."
Beetee did not seem impressed by the way his instructions were being argued with.
"You all agreed to keep me alive until midnight, correct?"
"It's his plan," Johanna pointed out simply. "We all agreed to it."
"Is there a problem here?"
It was Finnick who finally picked up on the weird level of tension growing between their small group, fingering the deadly blades of his trident as he looked back and forth between Katniss, Peeta, Johanna and Beetee with a frown marring his handsome features.
"Uh oh!" Donovan snorted loudly. "Looks there's trouble in paradise…"
Misha turned to frown across at his boyfriend,
"I'm concerned that you consider the Arena to be paradise…"
"Excellent question…"
Beetee's voice was heavy with suspicion as he turned his bespectacled gaze on Katniss.
"No," the girl in question hurried to answer them. "There's no problem."
Mikhail had a feeling that he wasn't the only one who didn't believe her.
He couldn't stop himself from pulling a rather disgusted face the cameras closed in suddenly to capture the kiss she proceeded to press against Peeta's lips far too intimately.
Seriously, talk about being a big bunch of perverts.
By the time they pulled apart Mikhail could have counted her eyelashes if he'd wanted to.
"I'll see you at midnight," she promised him softly before taking the spool of wire from Beetee, her hands shifting on the handle until she found a position that was comfortable.
"Alright," Johanna announced, bringing her axe up to rest on her shoulder. "Let's go."
Mikhail gave the screen half of his attention as he started work on his next piece of cloth, relieved to find that this was an easy fabric to work with as well as a nice simple colour.
As it had been countless of time oven the past couple of days the screen was split into three columns; the left showing Katniss and Johanna as they made their way back along the path they had just taken to reach the tree, the right showing Brutus and Enobaria moving stealthily through the jungle, weapons in hand, while the centre column showed Finnick and Peeta standing guard silently, barely glancing at each other, whilst Beetee worked.
"Come on. I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible," Johanna muttered, glancing back at where Katniss was carefully making sure that the wire unspooled smoothly like it was supposed to. "Frying is not how I want to go."
Over in the right column Brutus was suddenly shown standing on what was obviously the wire they'd already laid, trapping it against a rock as he prepared to slice through it with the machete he'd obviously taken from Chaff's body after killing him earlier on.
"There's something…" Katniss muttered, tugging at the wire for a long moment whilst glancing back the way they had come, her confusion and fear shoeing on her pretty face.
Brutus leaned out of the shadows and into the light cast down upon them by the artificial moon, revealing himself to Katniss and Johanna as he sliced through the wire with ease.
He expected Enobaria to attack next.
Heck, he was pretty sure everyone expected Enobaria to attack next.
Instead Johanna moved like a thing possessed, using the flat side of her axe like a club so as to knock Katniss off of her feet with a powerful blow to her vulnerable temple.
"Shit!"
Katniss was down but not out, mumbling in shock and pain, when Johanna suddenly drops down on top of her and uses the blade of her axe to dig into her vulnerable forearm.
Her scream, which was quickly muffled by Johanna's hand was one of pure pain.
In their section of the screen Brutus and Enobaria are gown sharing a brief look of surprised confusion in response to the surprising betrayed before they both head towards Johanna.
"Stay down."
Everyone had stopped what they were doing, countless piece of fabric would no doubt be ruined but no one cared in that moment as they watch Johanna smear Katniss blood all over her neck before turning to face her oncoming attackers, blood dripping from her hands.
Bringing up her bloodstained axe she throws it towards Brutus but he dodged it easily.
Giving the body at her feet one last glance Johanna turned and took off into the jungle, prompting both Enobaria and Brutus, who had obviously fallen for her trick with the blood and believed Katniss to be a cannon waiting to happen, to follow her.
"Come on!"
"…what the…?"
Mikhail found that he couldn't even form words properly as he watched the cameras shifting so that the left section showed Johanna fleeing through the jungle, glancing back over her shoulder whilst the right section continuing to follow her blood thirsty pursuers.
Katniss was forgotten for the moment.
"Johanna!" Finnick called out from the centre section of the screen, abandoning his position guarding Beetee in favour of running into the jungle. "Johanna! Where are you?!"
It seemed that the cameras were content to ignore those least likely to fight at that particular moment as the camera abandoned Peeta and Beetee in favour of following him.
He stumbled up to the area where the attack had happened but there was no one there.
Katniss was gone.
"Johanna?"
It was difficult to know where to look after that.
Enobaria and Brutus caught up with Johanna just as Peeta was suddenly shown abandoning Beetee who was obviously preparing to do something including a wooden spear and the wire, hurrying into the jungle with his machete held high as he screamed for Katniss.
The fight was brutal, blood being drawn on all three participants by the time Finnick was shown literally stumbling into them having been following the sounds of metal clashing.
As he faced off against Enobaria the section which had been dedicated to him suddenly split into two and showed Peeta and Katniss passing within metres of each other but going opposite directions, Peeta heading towards the fight, Katniss heading for the lightning tree.
"I don't know where to look…"
Mikhail sympathised with the young woman who's pathetic whimper was barely heard over the scream Johanna let out as Brutus landed another hit with his spear drawing more blood.
"Peeta…" Katniss mumbled as she stumbled into the clearing which surrounded the tree, her worryingly vacant expression desperately searching for sign of her husband. "Peeta?"
Something, or more importantly someone, triggered an explosion.
Finnick managed to stab the three prongs of his trident into Enobaria's thigh, causing the deadly Career to cry out in pain whilst flinging one of her knives towards his face, the blade slicing along his jawline before severing a chunk of his hair as it continued on past him.
A camera briefly showed Beetee's ominously still body on the ground as Katniss rushed over to grab the makeshift spear from where it had been flung away from the invisible forcefield, obviously the cause of the explosion, and study the blackened wire wrapped around it.
A quick tug on the wire confirmed that the other end was connected to the lightning tree.
"I didn't think their plan had anything to do with the forcefield…"
"It didn't…"
It also didn't escape Mikhail's notice that she hadn't checked on Beetee, her ally, once.
"Peeta!"
It's not Katniss crying out for him this time but Johanna, pinned under Brutus's substantial form, and it is not a hopeful cry or a worried cry, more an angry, somewhat annoyed one.
"Peeta! Get out of here!"
Peeta ignored her, stumbling into the fight almost blindly as he ignored Finnick and Enobaria who were all but locked in a deadly dance of blades and blood, focusing instead on swinging his deadly machete towards Brutus's thick neck as though it were a tree trunk in his way.
It was the first time that the gentle boy from District Twelve had killed someone by choice, Brutus moving too slowly to stop the blade from sinking deep into the side of his neck.
There was blood everywhere.
It erupted from the wound like a fountain, covering both Peeta and Johanna in the few seconds it took for the cannon to sound loudly as Brutus's body slumped to the ground.
"Brutus!" "Peeta!"
The two very different screams came from both sides of the screen, Katniss looking around her in fear while Enobaria abandoned her fight with Finnick in an incredibly reckless manner as she chose, instead, to attack poor Peeta who was now completely defenceless.
Johanna began to struggle out from underneath Brutus's body, desperately trying to get hold of the axe lying on the ground between her and Peeta but it was too late and all Peeta could do was twist out of the way and slam his hip into Enobaria's stomach.
They tumbled to the ground, a tangle of limbs and Peeta grabbed hold of her wrists in order to keep the blades she held away from his body but there was only so much he could do to a voice her razor sharp teeth as she snapped precariously close to his vulnerable neck.
"Finnick!" Johanna screamed as she finally got free of Brutus's dead body and tackled Enobaria, grabbing her axe on the way and began fighting the older woman. "Go! Find Katniss! Help Beetee finish the plan! Peeta and I can take care of old sharp tooth here!"
Finnick was obviously torn between wanting to help his friend and wanting to obey her.
In the end Peeta, now armed with his machete having finally managed to pull it free of Brutus's neck, made his decision for him by turning and screaming at the top of his voice.
"Go!"
Mikhail wasn't the only one edging towards the screen, abandoning his tub and the fabric slowly dying inside it in favour of tracking the action as closely as possible.
It seemed as though Enobaria was determined to go down fighting if she had to go out at all and pretty soon both Peeta and Johanna were struggling to keep up with her deadly blades.
"Katniss, where are you?"
Finnick had absolutely no idea that as he was slowly edging into the clearing, trident held carefully in his hands, Katniss was lining up a shot to take him out from her hidden position.
She hesitated at the last second.
"Kill him," someone muttered darkly. "Capitol slut deserves it."
It was then, of course, that Finnick finally spotted Katniss and froze in place, altering the grip on his trident to make it seem significantly less intimidating than it had moments before.
"Katniss…" he murmured softly, meeting her eyes. "Remember who the real enemy is."
"What is going on?"
On the screen Katniss slowly lowered her bow, almost perfectly in time with Enobaria slashing a long line across Peeta's back as he failed to move out of her way fast enough.
High above all of their heads the clouds started gathering rapidly, dark grey clouds that were already flashing with the powerful lightning which was obviously about to hit the tree.
"Wait. Didn't they say that hits at midnight?" one of the youngest runners gasped loudly, turning to old Solomon who was stood next to her. "It's not midnight is it?"
"They mess with the time inside the Arena, lass, you know that."
"Oh…yeah…"
On the screen Katniss makes no attempt to hide the moment she figures out what Beetee was trying to do, her wide eyes glancing back and forth between the wire and the storm.
"Katniss, get away from that tree!"
It came as no surprise to anyone that she ignored Finnick's shout, hurrying across to where Beetee still lay unconscious on the ground and began wrapping the end of the blackened wire, pulled quickly from the wooden spear, around the deadly tip of her arrow.
"Katniss! Get away from that tree!"
Again she ignored him, rising to her feet and taking aim seemingly at nothing.
"What is she…?"
With a simply twitch of her fingers she let the arrow fly high up into the air just as the first bolt of lightning struck the tree to her left with enough force to send both Katniss and Finnick flying through the air with identical cries of pain as their bodies hitting the ground.
The wire glowed brighter and brighter until suddenly the entire screen went black.
"What the…?"
Silence descended upon the room as they waited for the screen to flicker back to life…
Nothing happened.
The silence stretched on and was only broken by the sound of footsteps pounding their way up the external stairs, closer and closer, until finally a man literally tumbled into the room.
"They've brought down the Arena!" he announced, gesturing towards the blank screen. "The rebels have brought down the Arena! Fighting's broken out all over the District!"
"What?!"
"The Peacekeepers are being overwhelmed already!" the unfamiliar young man continued with a deep laugh. "This is it, for real this time! We're at war with the Capitol!"
"Fuck…"
A/N Phew! That was a long and challenging chapter to write but I wanted to get the Quarter Quell over and done with in one chapter rather than dragging it out for too long. Hope you all enjoyed it. Comments & Suggestions are very much appreciated. X
