Arena Preparation

Shade Verin.

"You are going to what?!" I asked the surgeon.

He sighed, "Give you working wings. If you hate it I can remove it after the games, but this is what Lyric wanted."

That evil little girl. I knew arguing would get me nowhere so I sighed and gave in, "What color will you attach onto me."

"Black." He stated holding a syringe, "This might hurt just a bit..."

Arya Nightshade

"Wings?" I repeated dumbfounded, "You are going to give me a pair of wings?"

The capitol surgeon nodded, "You should be able use them as if they were just another arm when I'm done."

"For the games?" Oh that little girl was evil. From now on purple eyes will forever be associated with evil for me.

She nodded, "Want to know what color yours will be?"

"Sure why not?" I'm getting surgically engineered on anyway.

"An icy blue." She said holding up a syringe. "Now I'm to knock you out to attach them."

"Great. Hurry up then." I said sarcastically.

She shrugged, "If you say so..."

Then I felt a prick and everything went black.

Shade Verin

I woke up and it was morning. Yes we were all woken up at 4 AM only to get knocked out by sedatives.

I stretched and felt my wings extend along with my arms. I gave them an experimental tap and they fluttered like bird's wings. When I saw myself I screeched a not very manly screech. I had giant wings I could cover myself with. Literally I could tuck into a ball and only be a mass of feathers.

My stylist had left my clothes on the edge of the bed. Black cargo pants and a black undershirt that was low in the back. How the heck do I put these on with wings?

It was kinda funny to mock the angels in church but now this was just plain annoying. Over the undershirt was a black button up then a windbreaker with a leather outside. It seemed water proof as well. The underside of the jacket was a pale blue. To complete the outfit was a pair of sturdy boots. I put them on with no struggle, unlike the rest of my outfit. I slipped my golden pocket-watch, my token, into my pocket and walked out.

My mentor guided me onto the hovercraft and wished me luck. Yes but the odds will never be in my favor, as long as I loved a certain blue eyed angel.

Arya Nightshade.

When I woke up I was on my side. I saw Lavender leering down at me and I screeched. She covered her ears.

"Arya!" Lavender shouted, "Calm down. Your outfit is at the edge of the bed but first I must tell you some things."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"You need to get your hands on a bow. Fly. You can with those wings. Grab a bow and shoot people down from above. The wings are hard though, you will have to practice." She said, "Now lets see you fly."

"How?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes, "How do birds fly? Flap them!"

I found that they obeyed my will just like an extra arm that I can fly with. Soon I was hovering a few inches above the ground. The nerves were getting to me and I giggled.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "Here." She handed me the blue garments.

I put them on as quickly as I could with giant wings. When I checked myself in the mirror I was dressed in blue. A dark blue undershirt and a lighter blue for my jacket and cargo pants. My boots through were knee high laced and black. I wore my token, Jason's necklace.

For practice I flew outside. Forester was dressed like me but instead was in a dark forest green.

I turned to Lavender, "Why are we dressed like the rainbow here?"

She shrugged, "Come on. To the hover craft."

I turned to Forester. "When we are at the Cornucopia you run as soon as the gong goes off. I'll find you. Try to find some water."

"Can I bring Acacia?" He asked hopefully.

I shrugged, "Sure. By the way practice how to use your wings. It may save your life." He practically did a happy dance right there and I rolled my eyes. "I'll get Logan and kill some people off first, while you and Acacia find some water. Alright?"

He interrupted, "Do we need a signal?"

I shook my head, "Just mark the direction you go in with a little X on each availible surface every so far apart."

Lavender wished us luck and we boarded the hovercraft. I didn't fly on and instead pretended to be awkward and cumbersome with my new wings. In reality they gave me a freedom that I always envied.

The woman came around with a giant needle. When she reached me I looked around nervously and caught Shade's reassuring gaze by accident. He held up his arm and gave a goofy grin. He looked like a fallen angel with his black wings. Which reminded me how dangerous he could be to me.

I gave a half smile back and winced as the needle dug into me inserting the tracker in my arm. The woman dabbed at it with the antiseptic before moving onto the next tribute.

All the tributes were in similar clothes but in a variety of colors. For example mine was a darker blue than Shimmer. On the way to the arena I discovered if I fluffed my feathers up a certain way it would change the color from icy blue to a sapphire blue. I listened in on conversation and found that most tributes found the wings annoying and useless. Boy were they in for surprise.

Shade Verin

I was led into my underground room. There was nothing better to do there than nibble on some of the foods that were on the table. I sighed. The fact that they raise our anxiety by making us wait disarms us in the games so I just waited until the announcer told all the tributes to proceed into the clear tube that would bring us up to the arena. This is it. My only hope is that Arya would survive the bloodbath at least. I snorted who was I kidding she could kill every one of us and win the games. And with that the plate rose up to the arena.