Chapter 9: 41 Hours Remain: Fractured Light
"…Should be okay…"
"Since the…lost influence…."
"Why didn't it…you?"
"….too broken to…."
…..
Where….huh….my head….
"Nasty looking…"
"….sorry…"
….what…happened…? My eyelids are…really heavy…
"Dumb guesses…through, huh?"
"Suppose so…."
Finally I could garner the effort to open my eyes. Surprisingly there was no light of day to blind me or anything. In fact, we were in a cave. A very familiar cave, with fractured light dancing across the walls.
"Unghh.." I groaned, trying to sit up. My head hurts…like someone used a nail gun…on my head…a bunch of times…
"Ah, you're awake, young miss."
Standing next to Faorin was someone I had never met before. His hair had been slicked off to one side fairly neatly, and when he turned to face me I noticed something was very wrong with him: his eyes. They were nearly colorless blue, but it wasn't the color that was so off, it was what reflected in his gaze in pieces of fractured light. The sensation was like staring at a broken mirror. The distorted images were so grotesque and abstract; it's as if you must look away. It didn't help that there seemed to be something else to the way he looked at me. The best way to describe it is almost…predatory. Like staring into the eyes of a hawk or coyote or something, yet more cooled and tempered. "I was almost starting to worry about you. Luckily we got you out of that terrible fog out there before anything else could happen."
"Wha…What happened? Who are you?" I slurred slightly, trying to gain an idea of what was going on. He stalked over to me in an easy stride. Faorin followed right behind.
"My name is Maximillion Noire. And as to what happened, that fog you had prior stood on the brink of caused quite the mess," he explained, with a voice cleanly enunciated and polite to the utmost degree. His eyes never left me; calculating and intent on their target. Faorin knelt down to see how I was doing. Her eyes seemed unfocused, but then again it might be because her left eye had prior been patched up and is branded with strange insignias instead of just an iris and pupil. She must not have any vision out of it unless she sees the future….
"Caeda, the fog slowly shuts down rationality and reason in the brain," Faorin tried to explain in as vague of terms as possible. "So Syrenne succumbed to rage after a comment Maxi made that shouldn't have sparked anything, and went on a rampage. That's when she knocked you out and ambushed us. Indigo managed to incapacitate her and Maxi told us to seek higher ground."
"So that's why we're back in the waterfall cave…" I trailed off. "So who's Syrenne now?" At that time while we were talking, Indigo had told Finny that I had woken up and nudged the person next to him to follow him. Indigo also called Maximillion over to him, who left the group of people forming around me without a word.
"Oh, 'm so sorry," the girl with him apologized in a strange accent. "I w's bein' stupid and c'ld've killed ya…are ye alright?" She had concerned, most definitely bright blue eyes and fair, blonde hair. Yet you couldn't see most of her hair since it was tied up under an indigo blue bandana on her head. Only a few bangles had slipped loose. She appeared very tomboyish, and quite outlandish, honestly. Like… she didn't come from any District at all. She didn't have the look or mark of the bitterly poor or the posture for the confident richer folks. "Augh, Where 're my mann'rs?" She held out a hand to me. "Syrenne Marichorde. District 4." District 4? That meant she knew Finny-
"Hi Caeda, how are you feeling?" Finny interrupted awkwardly. I didn't know if I should take her hand and talk to her and ignore Finny, or talk to Finny and avoid her peace offering… His eyebrows shot up as he realized he stepped right into the middle of something. "Err…Just…finish what you were doing first, I'll be back…" And away he scurried, obviously in a hurry to get out of an awkward situation. Syrenne smiled apologetically. At some point her hand had returned to hang at her side.
" 'e's such 'n idiot." Syrenne rolled her eyes. " I've known 'im since I w's little; so 'e's like my little brother," she laughed for a minute, then turned to face me. If I had ever seen truly clear water, it would be the color of her eyes. In that instant I knew, on an instinct but nonetheless, whatever she told me was true. Nothing could hide in such crystal waters. The only thing muffling her words was her thick, unfamiliar accent. Although…in all of the broadcasted Games, I've never heard a tribute from any District sound like her.
"Syrenne…is that accent common in District 4?" I couldn't stem my curiosity enough to refrain from asking. "Finny doesn't have it and I've never heard it before…" She had been zoning out, staring into the darkness when I asked. Immediately, her eyes darkened, as if a cloud had suddenly flickered over the sun for a brief moment.
"Eh…it's a long story," she tried to play it off as unimportant, or too longwinded of an ordeal to explain. Yet it still seemed to bother her greatly...the cloud passed and she bounced back to her presumably always boisterous self in only moments to change the topic. "B't Caeda, I… I want to make 'is up to you somehow…"
"It's alright," I reassured her with a smile. "It's not like I'll come out of this ordeal alive anyways, just don't worry about it. Although we should get going. It's not a good idea to stay stationary for too long…" she took a shocked, wordless breath in, almost like a gasp.
"Y…H've s'me faith, will ye'?" She responded slowly, like what I said truly bothered her. "If you go into 'is with a bad attitude, you're settin' yourself up for failure. No matter what the odds." I took a second to absorb her words. A positive attitude? I don't believe I could keep one to save my life, and quite literally.
"I guess the odds are 'ever in our favor', so we've got nothing to worry about, right?" I laughed. It came out rather hoarse, like a goose trying to sing, but it was something. The air's been tense the moment we all stepped into the arena and blind mutant dragons were about to eat our faces. If I was going to make a lame joke to try to lighten the atmosphere, might as well pretend it's funny.
"Right," she smiled once she finished snickering. "Hey…c'ld you do me a favor?" Her mood had sobered tremendously. Syrenne's voice lowered far below the usual belting that I had come to realize was her 'indoors voice' all the time. Her eyes darted across the room. Maximillion was still talking to Indigo, nodding and speaking in hushed tones. Faorin had joined him when I was focused on Syrenne on some point, and her posture was oddly…defensive. I hope Maximillion doesn't change his mind about leaving us alive…
"Yes, as long as it's within reason," I conspiratorially answered with uncertainty. Syrenne bit her lip, making sure Finnian was out of range. He had gotten dragged into the conversation with Maximillion as well it seems.
"J'st…if you can, keep Finny safe, alright?" she whispered. "I can't come with you all. It's just better I fight on my own. But…c'ld you?" The notion struck me as odd. If she wanted to protect him, why couldn't she come with us? I suppose our alliance was sort of large…
"Yes, of course." I would have continued had Faorin not storm off over to us grumbling.
"Caeda, we're leaving." Her voice left no room for argument and her face was set with a determination like she heard something she thought she could defy. She grabbed her pack and walked quickly towards the cave's mouth. I wonder what happened to put her in such a hurry to leave….The other two kept talking to Maxi, exchanging quiet words. Their faces seemed equally determined. Faorin immediately climbed over to the rock shelf, retracing our path we took to get here. Syrenne came up behind me.
" 't's a good thing you're getting out of 'ere," she mentioned quietly. "I don' trust 'is one much either. Be careful, Caeda." Finny left next, then Indigo. I feel like we're missing someo-
"Artelind!" I yelped as Indigo left. "Where is she?" Panic dropped in my stomach faster than the water surged over our heads. She had so little presence I failed to even figure out where she was!
"You mean the young lady who left earlier to keep watch up above?" Maxi-as I was getting tired of always using his full name- inquired curiously. He had come back over seeing as he had no one else to talk to…or antagonize. I couldn't be sure what this guy was up to until I could privately confide with the main group. "She left before you woke up and hadn't returned. I would suspect she is fine; she seems to be a most capable individual." He studied me for a moment, eyes narrowing, and glanced over at Syrenne before his eyes came to rest on me again.
"Good…" I lamely responded. What else was I supposed to say? Although enough time had passed that I could probably begin the trek back up the falls. Maxi waved when I looked back one last time.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Caeda Diapason. Safe travels, and may we meet again someday," he coolly called out as I jumped over to the wall. Wait did I ever tell him my last name and- wait, it was amazing I heard him over the rushing water at all.
Yet in the moment I jumped over to the rock ledge, I noticed something that made my heart skip a beat and sink, as if it alone had missed the jump and was still tumbling towards the ground.
Not only was everyone else already up top to my left-
Not only was water with enough power to flatten a mountain rushing an arm's length behind me towards the ground-
Not only did a flicker of guilt play over Syrenne's eyes, clear as day-
But in the back of the cave, the dark recesses where it was hard to see anything at all-
Only noticeable because I jumped on the rock ledge differently from what the others did so I could see Syrenne and Maximillion as I left-
Only noticeable because of the angle of the sun and the fractured light playing off the deadly waters behind me-
It's a miracle I didn't fall off the cliff out a sheer shock when I saw-
Artelind, gagged and bound, at the very rear of the cave before it spiraled into a tunnel.
It all made sense in a brief instant-
Knowing she had a loner-vibe, sending the others to the top. They probably figured she was out hunting for lunch or patrolling about. There hadn't been any cannon shots to alert them anyways. They're probably just waiting for her and I to return.
Subtly underlying that she was a capable person. She is one, but to reinstate it eliminated doubt.
Cordial acting, like he wanted to avoid dirtying his hands with murder.
But could Syrenne have lied to me? There's no way-between her eyes and my instincts, I couldn't believe that. No.
Maximillion must have tried to team up with her and hoped to kill her in Miasma Ravine where no one would be around to hear her scream or anything, and in the fog it would be easy to hide her body. But as a smaller person she fell to the irrational nature of the fog.
Still, why wasn't he affected?!
Her running off saved her life. Ironic how a deadly device the Gamemakers created became Syrenne's saving grace.
And when we all appeared, he knew he couldn't take out all of us.
Still, what had happened? How had he gotten away with it without anyone else noticing?! Why did Syrenne look guilty of all things? Does it have to do with Finny's promise?
No.
He must have forced her to cooperate, noticing her attachment to Finny. Maybe she noticed-
When I asked about her accent. She must have seen or heard Artelind fighting or something.
He must have threatened to kill Finny if she spilt anything about Artelind. And forced her to stay to help with something…like what I wonde-
Oh God no.
There's a reason he gagged and bound her.
Once he's confident we've all left, he's going to throw her out into the raging falls, and if she doesn't drown, she'll die on impact with the ground. Bound, she can't swim well, and the water crashing down would make it hard for her to float anyways. And then he'll kill Syrenne too.
The worst part-
God, the worst part is that I can't save them.
It'll take too long to get the others.
If I grapple the edge again to climb back up, he'll just stomp on my fingers and I'll go toppling towards the Earth as well.
Bubbles saved my life. I can't throw it away.
Hysteria swarmed me; I could no longer keep it at bay.
OhgodJasonwasmurderedandBubblestooandnowSyrenneandArtelindwillbedeadIshouldhavenoticedsoonerthisisn'tlikemehowdidthishappenwhywhywhyohmygod-
It's.
Entirely.
My.
Fault.
A/N: ...I'm really sorry this is this late. But...this chapter was worth it right?
...Right?
As a sidenote, Syrenne's name is pronounced Sih-rehn :D Sih-rehn Mair-ih-kord. (No one ever said I was the best at expressing how I pronounce stuff .)
Thank you all for sticking with me and this story. Really. I'll try to be better about updating, its my New Years Resolution! :D But...tell me what you think, kay? Your feedback DOES mean something, yknow. ;)
-Legend
