As usual, thank you very much for reading and to everyone who left reviews – I don't always have the time to reply immediately, but they often make my day :)
To those of you who are reading Caisha's stuff – please, please, please go and nag at her to keep writing once she's done Freedom. This is my calling in the cavalry – I'm relying on you guys, for the sake of having something decent to read in the fandom. That and because she's my friend and I think she has far too much a talent to let go to waste.
And Briarpaw: I'm very much aware that it's kind of a rubbish argument. It is very much the point. All will be revealed… In the sequel, but all will be revealed ;)
And that's when everything dissolves into chaos. The lights go out and we're left to stumble our way off the stage. Once backstage there's visibility but no less mayhem, as Peacekeepers pour in to keep order and Victors head every which way looking for people. I find Finnick in the chaos and we go to get into the nearest lift, already occupied by the Firekids, but a Peacekeeper blocks our way and we're forced to wait until the lift returns before we can get into it.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow," Finnick says.
"Yeah. If one of us doesn't get offed first."
The lift makes a sound to show us we've arrived on level four and the doors slide open. Finnick and I exchange a slightly awkward hug before he steps out and I'm left alone for the short ride up to my own floor.
Blight is already up there, but not Blue or any of the Capitolians. It's quite a long wait till someone else does turn up. Once Blue's arrived, though he explains that everyone who doesn't live out in the Districts has been sent home, and that the chaos we saw was nothing compared to what the mentors had to go through to get here.
"You guys have really psyched them up," he grins. "Now eat something and get off to bed the two of you. You have a big day tomorrow."
"Snow, Blue, you sound like a really psychotic version of my mother," mutters Blight, who's still sober and still hating it.
"I can't believe I'm agreeing with the second-rate drunkard," I say. "But I am. Stop it, Blue. You actually sound like you've lost your roots."
Nevertheless, Blue's suggestion has some merit so after dinner I head straight back to my room, where I take another very long shower. The Capitol showers aren't quite the same novelty they were six years ago but it's the last one I'll be having for quite a while, if ever. And I've always liked thinking in the shower. There's something quite soothing about the constant flow of warm water and knowing that you don't have to worry about it going cold or running out.
I sleep fitfully. We might have a plan, but it's not a particularly solid one. There's no guarantee that District Twelve will even agree to an alliance with us, let alone that we can get them past the crucial state of the bloodbath. Or Nuts or Volts, come to think of it, and we need at least one of them alive as well. And even if we can do all of that and somehow interpret the very dodgy signal, there's no guarantee that we'll be able to bust out of the Arena. This plan might be a bit more productive than blowing up par of the Capitol, but really not by much.
Eventually morning comes and I'm bundled out of bed and onto the roof by my stylist who's somehow managed to make it back across the city. It's still dark enough that the massive body of the hovercraft is barely visible, and the passenger area below it only visible due to light pouring out of it's many windows.
I'm raised up through the immobilising ladder and injected with the tracker – the tracker,how could we have forgotten that? Crap. Oh well, that should be dealable. Once the pain from the injection subsides I try to see if I can feel the chip through my skin, and I can. It'll be painful as Snow to cut it out, but now we know where it is it should be doable, if not pleasant at all.
I doze a bit on the hovercraft, somehow a bit more sleepy now that we're underway and I've already dealt with the first unexpected hurdle without much of a problem. Eventually we arrive at our destination and my stylist leads the way to my launch room.
I get given some food and my clothes for the Arena – a thin blue jumpsuit, a large thick shiny purple belt, and these weird rubbery shoes. Finally I get handed my token back, only this isn't the same ash J I used last time and brought along this time. This is a thin golden chain with a replica of the design from the famous mockingjay pin hanging from it.
Now how did someone manage to switch my token? We must have friends in high places. I don't say anything though. With a bit of luck it'll be recognised and give me insta ally rights. Pity I don't seem to be very good on the luck front, then. Still, better to have it than not. I'm sorry about losing that other token, though. It and me have been through a lot together.
I step onto the plate when ordered to but it takes a lot longer than I remember to rise up. Weird. I must just have a screwed up memory. Oh well. I put it out of my mind and focus on the next few minutes ahead of me.
When the darkness stops, I'm standing in the bright sunlight with an oddly reflective ground. The second my eyes clear up I realise why.
The Arena is filled with water.
Part of me grins at the symbolism – so they're trying to drown the Girl On Fire, are they? – while the rest scans my surroundings. My metal plate is completely surrounded with water, which is going to be bad for anyone who can't swim. Also known as most of us. But that also means there probably won't be mines.
Not like anyone's going to test that, of course. We've all been through one Hunger Games apiece, which means that we're all survivors and not particularly willing to risk our lives that stupidly. Bet that's what the people who designed this Arena were counting on.
The water area is divided into wedges by sandbars linking between the Cornucopia and a beach that seems to circle around all of us. In each wedge there're two tributes seemingly distributed randomly – on my left is Chaff, and on my right on the other side of a sandbar sits Wiress.
Well that makes my job easy.
The second the canon fires I dive into the water. I'm nowhere near Finnick-level at swimming, but the network of rivers and canals that flow through Seven means that anyone who works in the forests learns how to swim, if only because no one wants to try and clean body parts off the processors at the end of the Lower Dam. Maybe Rowan or Aaron with their mechanic upbringing wouldn't be able to cope at this, but I can, and Blight's forester features reassure me that he should be able too if he's thinking straight enough.
The swimming is actually a bit easier than it should be. I swallow enough of the water on my way to the sandbar to realise it's salt rather than the freshwater in the rivers back home. Maybe that's it, though I doubt it.
As I climb onto the sandbar I notice that the majority of tributes are still standing on their metal plates, although I spot Gloss de Montfort already climbing onto a sandbar a few spokes from me. I jump off into the other wedge but am only a few strokes into my swim to rescue Nuts when she jumps off her own plate and into the water.
I groan inwardly. What is she doing now? I doubt there's anywhere you can learn to swim in the factories of Three. That idiot is going to drown, and that'll be one ally down.
But miraculously, she doesn't. Somehow she's floating and slowly flailing her way towards me. I swim forward and grab her to speed her up, and between the two of us we manage to make it back to the sandbar.
"Are you actually crazy, Nuts?" I ask her, climbing on first and giving her a hand up. "You could have drowned."
She shakes her head absently and looks around. "I figured it out. The belts help you…"
Suddenly she tenses and points. "There."
I follow her hand and find her District Partner pulling himself onto a sandbar about three spokes over. He's coughing up water but obviously figured out the same thing Nuts did, whatever that was. The belts help you… Does that mean they're some type of floatation device?
He spots us and tries to signal something. Great. So now I get to lug along both of them, though I must admit it might be handy having Volts along to translate. Only instead of running down the spoke onto the beach, he turns around and heads towards the bloodbath at the Cornucopia. He's going to get himself killed. I though District Three were supposed to be smart.
"Stay on the beach," I snap at Wiress and sprint up my own sandbar. It's slow progress running on sand but I manage to get there a few seconds after Volts does, right in time to pull him out from under Gloss's sword.
"What do you think you're playing at," I hiss at him as I dodge Gloss' next sword stroke and scramble back towards the pile of weapons at the Cornucopia.
"I need wire," he says hurriedly and dives towards the pile as a knife flies narrowly over his head to embed itself in the golden metal of the Cornucopia.
Oh. That must be the 'equipment' Johan had mentioned. No wonder Volts, of all people, was so eager to run up here; he doesn't know if we'll ever get to visit again.
"Well hurry up and get it," I say, grabbing at the first weapon I reach – a knife – and using it to parry de Montfort. The impact of it jars through my wrist down my arm but I ignore the pain. I've had worse.
"I'm trying, I'm trying," he says from behind me. His voice is tense, as it rightly should be. Gloss is still mostly preoccupied with me and most of the others with their own fights but daggers are still flying towards us thanks to Enobaria, who seems to be multitasking battles.
"Well try faster," I snap. Another knife flies through the air and I pull him down for it to collide into the pile exactly where his head was a second ago.
"Got it!" The knife has started a small avalanche, releasing a spool of wire from the depths of the pile. Beetee grabs at it and runs back down the nearest unoccupied sandbar as I parry I final stroke.
"See you around, District One," I yell over my shoulder as the two of us sprint to the beach. Good thing I'm gloating, too, because turning around lets me see the knife that's heading straight for us. A parting shot. Crap.
I half roll half dive into the water, dragging Volts along with me. For a second I think we've made it, but then I see the water slowly turning red. Beetee's been hit.
I swim for the beach, pulling him along with me and trying not to swallow any of the bloody water. After what seems like an age we make it. I gently pull him to his feet, noticing that he still hasn't let go of that wire. Glad to see the guy has his priorities straight.
"You okay, Volts?"
His face is drawn and pale. Obviously he's in a lot of pain. Even so, he still manages to nod, grimacing as he does so.
"I should live. Probably."
"Can you walk by yourself?"
He tries it and immediately grabs at me for balance.
I sigh. "Obviously not."
The two of us stumble down the beach towards where I left Wiress. No more weapons are aimed our way; obviously everyone's too preoccupied with the bloodbath to bother us. A good thing, too. One more hit would probably finish Volts off and I dropped my knife when we splashed into the water.
Wiress isn't where I left her. What has she decided to do now?
"Johanna!"
I turn at the yell, instinctively reaching for a weapon before realising that I don't have one. Beetee slumps against me and hisses in pain. Maybe spinning that fast while still trying to support someone wasn't such a good idea.
Luckily for both of us, the voice was Blight. He's standing on the edge of the forest and beckoning us to go there too. Slowly we walk towards him – Volts' condition seems to have gone from bad to worse as a result of my spin.
"Little help, here?" I holler back.
Blight runs up and between the two of us we manage to haul Beetee to the treeline and start the climb up through the jungle.
"You seen Nuts?" I ask him.
"Yeah. Left her back a little ways into the woods. Think she figured it was safer there."
This is probably the most I've heard Blight talk. Looks like Blue's little anti-alcohol trick worked wonders. Which is good, because now I only have two and a half morons to babysit.
Nuts is sitting where Blight said she would be and jumps to her feet when she sees us approach. Slowly the four of us make our way a little further into the forest, with Wiress in the lead and Blight and I each supporting a side of Beetee. After maybe fifteen minutes we reach a place where the incline is slightly less steep and the jungle slightly less thick and Nuts suddenly stops.
"Put him…"
Blight and I exchange confused glances. Wiress sighs and points to the ground.
"I think she wants us to put him down," I say, so gently the two of us lay the barely-conscious Volts on the ground.
Wiress nods in satisfaction and gestures to his back where the knife is still sticking out of the wound. She thinks we're far enough to start looking after his health, I guess. Blight uses the knife to cut the arms and then further strips off his jumpsuit and the two of us bind the wound as best we can, which isn't very good considering neither of us have much of a clue as to what we're doing. The cut's deep but seems to have missed anything vital. By the time we're done it seems to be a passable effort if not brilliant first aid.
Afterwards we leave Beetee to recuperate for a few minutes while I scale a tree to try and find out what the Arena's like. The bloodbath is mostly over but a few crazy people still try to fight the four Careers spread out defensively around the Cornucopia. It's too far away to recognise anyone, but I doubt I'd be able to find the Firekids there anyway. Time for plan B.
"Did any of you happen to see Katniss or Peeta?" I say once I get down.
Blight shakes his head but Wiress nods.
"They went…" she manages before giving up on talking and pointing to our right.
"Okay," I say, as the only person capable of taking charge. "So that's where we go. Upwards and to the right. Everyone ready to go?"
Even Beetee manages a weak nod. The second the two of us raise him to his feet, though, he starts protesting for his wire, which we'd set aside to make dressing the wound easier.
"What's that?" Blight asks.
"The reason this moron got the knife in his back. Speaking of that knife, give it here. Someone who can actually use it without impaling themselves should carry it."
He pulls a face but gives me the knife without further argument. I shove it in my belt and we continue. Five minutes later the constant whipping of branches into my face makes me regret my decision.
"Nuts," I snap.
She turns around. "Yes?"
"Can you clear the branches out of the way? Use this, but be careful with it."
I hand the knife over and she nods. With Wiress clearing our way the going is slightly quicker, but not by much. Blight might be thinking clearer than he has in years, but that doesn't mean his body isn't experiencing the results of years of abuse and soon he can barely keep going by himself. This leaves me carrying Volts by myself, which slows us down significantly. Ironically Nuts is the quickest of us all, but even she feels the exertion of climbing such a steep slope in the never ending heat.
Soon we're all desperately thirsty. Nevertheless we all soldier on, because there's no obvious source of water yet. When Blight throws himself onto the ground and announces he can't go on anymore we still haven't found a source of water, so I order them to scream if anyone finds them and head off on my own to search.
I've left the three of them helpless and unarmed, though, so can't go far. Not when having at least Volts or possible Nuts alive is vital for my own safety. The search is futile and I return empty handed and desperately thirsty to find Blight slightly recovered and helping Nuts clear out a little patch of forest for the four of us.
It's as good a place to camp out as any and the sun looks quite close to setting. I don't protest, instead sitting down and leaning against a tree to await darkness and the death recap.
"Some water would be nice, Blue," I mutter.
No parachute.
"No, seriously, Blue-y, I'm sure we have enough sponsors to afford a measly bottle of water."
Still no parachute. I get the hint. Blue's telling me that we're not close enough to dying of dehydration for him to use up our precious sponsor money. Alright for him; he's not in this stupid Arena. Instead I try another tactic.
"Johan? Marchessa? Nuts and Volts – sorry, Beetee and Wiress – are here with us. They need water too. Why don't you send them any?"
Water is conspicuous only in its continued absence. I give up on that and search for food, very glad I bothered with the edible plants station. Unfortunately, the only nuts that seem to be in near constant supply are only edible when cooked, and there's no way I'm risking a fire with this lot to look after. Guess we'll be going hungry tonight.
Soon it goes dark, and then the sky is illuminated once more with the Capitol seal. The first face after the anthem is Blight's drinking buddy. I quickly glance over at him; his grief is plain on his face. Next is the male from Six – at least he was probably too out of it to feel it. Then old Woof and poor Cecelia with her children. Both from Nine. Morgan followed by Seeder for Ten and Eleven respectively.
More people I know dying. Not much of a big deal by now, but obviously it is for the others. Both Nuts and Volts have mournful looks on their faces though neither are actually crying. Then again, they've known many of these people for most of their lives.
Blight volunteers for first watch and I gratefully let him do so. Odds are I'll be awake for most of the night so a few hours sleep is welcomed. As I drift off I do the calculations for who remains besides us four. The de Montforts, Brutus, Enobaria. Finnick and Mags. Varia. The female morphling addict. Ando Torentsky. Chaff. Both Firekids. With the four of us added as well that's quite a lot alive for a first day.
I'm woken up by twelve tolls of a bell, as is everyone else. Blight and I take the opportunity to shift watches and then lightning starts quite close to us. It looks brutal, repeatedly slamming into trees. Wouldn't like to be caught in that, I think, but it doesn't come any closer. The lightning keeps going for an hour before it abruptly stops and heavy rain starts up over us.
Finally, some water! I close my eyes so not to fill them with water and tilt my head upwards. An awful metallic taste immediately fills my mouth and I spit it out and open my eyes. I'm presented with a forest already turning a uniform shade of red.
This rain isn't water. It's blood.