A/N: Here comes the home stretch and its a doozy!
Nate was noisily awakened the very next morning. Screams were coming from every which way. Sophie was already awake, her eyes wide with fright and her growing form curled tightly into his side. The young man looked for the cause of this unusual fear and screeching noise. He turned his head up and groaned. The monkeys moved.
Eliot was already swinging his trident, wildly daring one of the creatures to come towards him. He grabbed onto the pregnant champion and forced her to her feet, shoving her towards Archie's open arms. Parker already had her bow and arrows ready, looking for an attack from behind. Beetee was twirling his precious wire and doing an interesting job of waking Johanna up.
Nate looked to his left and shouted in triumph. His bow and arrows were right there beside him. He rolled over, placing them upon his back as he did. He strung up an arrow and waited for the monkeys' surprise.
And continued to wait.
"Why aren't they attacking?" Parker asked.
"I'm not quite sure," Archie replied, staring at the monkeys with avid fascination.
It was bizarre to say the least. Each and every one of the small creatures were screaming and hollering. Yet they made no move to attack. They just stood there, slowly growing more manic as time progressed. They were foaming at the mouth and their eyes were rolling every which way. But nobody fired upon them for fear of provoking the creatures into combat.
"Do you think the Gamemakers are making them do that to distract us from a bigger threat?" Sophie demanded, somehow escaping the District Eleven Champion's strong grip to peer at the creatures. She was swirling her knives in case they attacked but she was still far too close for Nate's liking.
"Sophie, get away from there," Nate ordered, pulling back his quiver in preparation of the kill.
"Oh just shoot one already," Johanna purred.
She was right beside the District Twelve Champion, swinging her axe as if it were a tiny play toy. Her eyes were glued to the monkeys with amusement. Beetee was glaringly standing by her side, trying to figure out the odd phenomenon as well.
"If we shoot one the others might think it is a cause of attack," Beetee sighed.
"It's almost as if they're waiting for something," Sophie observed, moving closer to the woods.
The District One Champion turned around in search of an unseen foe. And that was the moment the monkeys decided to attack.
They sprang from the tree like ravenous dogs. Nate loosed an arrow and managed to kill two in one go. Another arrow fell into three, signaling Parker's handy work as well. But it was already too late. Sophie was too far away from the group and all of the monkeys were aiming for her. The moment they had been waiting for had been when her back was turned.
"No!" Nate screamed, futility making itself known in his heart.
The pregnant woman barely even had time to react. Her brown eyes connected with blue, wide with terrified fear at her fatal end. The monkeys swished their pathetic tails, their jaws opened wide showing off their large teeth. Their claws were primed and ready to cut through even the biggest trees. Dozens of them fell to the ground while hundreds more aimed for the woman of District One, their blood thirsty eyes waiting for their thirst to be quenched.
A ruffle of feathers was the only warning they got. A blur flew through the air, catching the monkeys full on. Then another blur appeared out of nowhere and pushed the brunette to the ground. It was the Morphling twins of District Six, each one bearing the brunt of the attack with no qualms or pleas of mercy. They each grappled with the hairy critters, fighting and biting at the animals just as they were assaulted back. A canon fired. Blood was swirling around in a chaotic mess. Fur was flying. So was skin. Everyone was moving towards the cluster, hoping for some sign of when it would end.
Then the monkeys, what few remained, just suddenly stopped and disappeared. They left nothing behind and acted as though nothing had happened, as if they had been hypnotized right from the start. Still, there was no doubt they had been there.
Sophie was lying exactly where she was pushed, breathing heavily with eyes bulging. Archie was at her side coaxing her to calm down. She was putting up a brilliant fight considering. Patches of fur and blood decorated her whole body.
"Sophie!" Nate screamed when the observation finally hit him.
He started scanning her body, fingers trailing searching for anything that would point to the source of blood. But no opening came. Her injuries were nonexistent. Her splatterings were only a result of being too close to the fray. No trail of blood footprints could be seen coming towards or away from her shaking form, but the Morphling Twins were another story.
They each had trails of blood spouting up and down their arms. The first one, the male, was staring at the sky, his eyes blank. His hands were curled in a permanent fist. His hair, few as it was, stood on end splattered in blood. His skinny chest lay open, exposing many openings and even bone in some spots. His face was clawed through, severed at the left ear. His body lay in wait for the hovercraft to take him home.
A gasp of a groan snapped Sophie out of her funk. She twisted her brown curls towards her right and hurriedly scrambled over to the lying mass of the female Morphling. The pregnant woman took the bloody hand into hers and kissed it tenderly. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she looked down upon her protector.
"Rest now," she said her voice low and soothing for the dying woman's last moments, "You saved me and my baby. I am forever in your debt."
The Morphling woman smiled towards her. She lifted her shaking right hand and pressed it against Sophie's bump. A gurgling sound escaped her mouth, blood joining the mess. Instead of being disgusted though, Sophie smiled back. She grabbed ahold of the hand on her bump and pulled the dying woman into her arms. Then she began rocking back and forth, humming a mournful tune. It was the same one she sang when she was repairing his injuries during their first games, a lullaby of long ago. There she sat, cradling the Morphling woman in her eyes as if she were a baby. The woman closed her eyes, her head in the crook of Sophie's neck feeling the vibrations of her song. Her chest slowed its movements and her canon fired off.
"Come on," Eliot cried, tugging the tiny Morphling out of Sophie's hands, "The hovercraft will be here soon. Let's go."
"There aren't any flowers," Sophie replied softly, "I can't give them a proper send off."
"We will tonight, Soph," Nate said, immediately pulling her to his side, "we'll light them a fire and say something nice about them."
"Like how much they enjoyed painting," Johanna joked with a giggle.
Everybody turned to glare at her but she just shrugged in reply. But her eyes no longer shone with brilliance. They were dull and dark, so very unlike how they were before. She looked older too. Her wrinkles, the few she had developed, were more apparent now. Her back even had a slight bend to it and her axe dragged on the ground. Her normal, happy glow was nowhere in sight.
"Lucky for us they decided to follow Sophie around like little lost puppies," Johanna muttered softly, "Can you imagine the bloodbath if those monkeys actually got their real target?"
"Stop it," Eliot ordered, his voice a low hiss of warning.
Johanna stared at him in complete surprise. Shock quickly registered on her face, making her appear paler than before. She blinked and the image was gone. She was her usual happy self again.
"I suggest we move on," she said, "those monkeys could come back and eventually we will run out of people to sacrifice instead."
Sophie watched the District Seven Champion go in confusion. Her eyebrows creased as she tried to comprehend what just happened. The Morphling Twins couldn't have been that attached to her. All she did was talk to them during training. She helped them with their painting and even put in the extra effort of getting them to learn about the plant life. They weren't very interested but they would always leap for joy whenever she gave them some sweet fruit to eat. In fact, she did seem to gain them as a posse during training. She just thought that was because nobody else actually talked to them though.
"Why did they do that?" Sophie asked, staring at her secret husband in confusion.
"I don't know," Nate shrugged, "but I'm glad they did."
"Me too," Sophie agreed, smiling sadly.
"Let's go," Parker called, "before they decide to send out a search party or Moreau's gang comes to pick us off."
Nobody argued with the blonde's thoughts. Nate grabbed his wife's hand and tugged her along. Their group headed further down the beach, closer to the Cornucopia and further away from the unusual monkeys and their awful behavior. He had to struggle to ignore the incoming hovercraft. Its whirling sounds did nothing for his nerves, forcing images of Maggie's death before his eyes. He had to blink several times in order to get rid of the blood. Sophie squeezed his hand tighter, seeming to sense his thoughts.
They arrived at their brand new campsite within moments. The ringing of bells filled their ears as a silver parachute made an appearance. It was another basket of biscuits. This time, there were twelve from District Three.
"Twelve biscuits and seven of us," Eliot sighed, "That's not exactly enough."
"Well the less tributes available the more costly food items tend to be," Archie said, nodding in agreement, "Unfortunately we must have missed another canon during the night."
"We didn't miss it," Johanna hummed, "Somebody else went for a swim when the Morphling Twins decided to jump in the way of the monkeys. That's why we didn't hear their canon. Apparently they died around the same time."
"We'll worry about that later," Archie growled, gaining everybody's attention while Beetee handed out the biscuits as evenly as possible, "Right now we have bigger animals to fry."
"He means we have a plan to take out Moreau and his team," Beetee translated.
"We're going to use the wire we received yesterday," Archie said, "And we're going to electrocute the water."
"How do we do that?" Eliot asked, sounding thoroughly confused.
Nate chuckled at that. When everybody turned towards him he stopped. He took a deep breath and explained why he laughed.
"Isn't it obvious?" He asked, "The lightning tree."
"Right you are, Nate," Archie nodded, "We're going to attach the wire to the lightning tree and run it all the way to the ocean water."
"Because the wire is metal and metal filters electricity," Parker giggled, enjoying this plan a little too much, "It's how they keep the fence and houses connected in District Twelve."
"You sure are smart, Kiddo," Archie said, winking at the girl with pride all over his features.
"When do we attack?" Nate demanded softly.
He was more than ready for this to be over. The Gamemakers and President Snow declared war. Those monkeys had intended to attack Sophie. Snow wanted her and the baby dead and gone forever. He was trying to squash whatever spark he felt they started the day Sophie jumped in front of that knife. They didn't have very long before somebody was bound to succeed. The sooner they could get out the better. With any luck, Archie's plan would eliminate more than just Moreau and his band of crooks.
"Tomorrow," Beetee said.
Nate furrowed his brow in confusion. He felt fury build within his chest when the word finally penetrated. Tomorrow! They wanted to do this elaborate plan tomorrow! They wanted to put Sophie in danger for another day. That was unacceptable.
"We can't do it tomorrow," Nate said, "We have to do it today. President Snow will have Sophie and the baby dead by then!"
"Yeah," Johanna agreed, "and we don't have the Morphling tagalongs to jump in the way this time. Of course, they were higher than kites to begin with so I don't really see why it was so important to jump in front of Sophie to begin with. Maybe they thought she was a giant vile of the stuff and that was why they did it."
"Hey!" Eliot shouted, "Remember who your enemy is! Those guys protected Sophie with their lives. They didn't have to do that. They could have just let those stupid monkeys kill her and her child. They didn't do that, Mason! They deserve respect."
"And they have my eternal gratitude," Nate finished the pair's argument immediately, "So don't say anything bad about them."
"They're heroes," Parker huffed.
Nate smiled at the girl's statement. He couldn't help but feel pride at his ally's actions. The blonde Seam girl did nothing but impress him throughout the entirety of the games. Everything she did was above and beyond the call of duty. She was making the ultimate sacrifice, dying all for the sake of his and Sophie's unborn child. She had become quite the young woman since the day she was a half-starved critter barely surviving all those years ago.
"So why do we have to wait until tomorrow?" Nate demanded of the group at large, happy the blonde was on his side.
"Because frying the water means all of the food in it is gone for good," Eliot explained.
"And it's going to take at least a day to make certain our plan is rock solid," Johanna agreed, exchanging a significant look with the District Four Champion, "We also want to make sure preggers over there is well enough for combat. She did almost die today."
"We have to give the Champions of District Six a proper send-off, Nate," Sophie growled, glaring at the young man of District Twelve, "I don't need to be protected from every bloody thing, you know."
"Of course, Soph," Nate replied, smiling towards her innocently, "You are more than perfectly capable of taking care of yourself."
"I'm going fishing," Eliot announced.
Parker and Johanna seemed to agree with his idea. Beetee and Archie raised their eyebrows and exchanged amused looks. Nate just stared at the woman carrying his child, swallowing back the fear he felt at the impending argument of doom.
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Nate had his arrow drawn and ready to go. They were implementing Archie and Beetee's plan. Sophie and Parker were protecting them while they tied the wire to the tree. Johanna was helping Eliot roll the wire to the water. It was his job to make certain Moreau, Brutus, Enobaria and the others didn't come anywhere near them. It put him in the perfect position to end the alliance.
Snap!
Nate spun around, an arrow ready to kill the perpetrator if possible. He barely managed to identify the streaming cord on its way to his head. He dived out of the way, fear gripping his heart like never before.
"Was that supposed to happen?" He shouted, catching a moment of Eliot's spinning head in his view.
"No," the man replied, nodding somewhere above him.
A body suddenly collided with the District Twelve Champion. It rolled them both further down the hill onto the beach they were supposed to avoid. Nate pushed out his right fist, fighting off his attacker with every ounce of his strength. He saw a glint and grabbed the plunging knife when it was only millimeters from cutting into his heart.
"Hold still!"
Nate's eyes blew wide in shock. It was Johanna. She was betraying them. Of course, he was going to do the same thing so he wasn't exactly one to talk. Still, he hadn't expected her to turn on the others so quickly. She and Eliot must have come up with this plan the same time he, Parker and Sophie tried to discuss ending the alignment as well. Naturally, Sophie was the one who declared that they would continue until Archie's plan succeeded.
"I said hold still!" Johanna shouted, effectively capturing his struggling limbs.
Before Nate could even think of answering, a piercing pain erupted into his arm. Nate howled in pain and pushed the woman off of him. He turned towards his arm and stared at the blood pouring from his arm. He tried to stem the bleeding but nothing seemed to work. He struggled to get to his feet, watching his blood glow as it slipped to the earth below.
And a canon fired.
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Sophie was out of breath and begging for the world to stop spinning. Her heart had nearly stopped when she heard Nate howl in pain. Parker disappeared moments later. Then a canon sounded off. She had no idea who was alive and who was dead. The blonde was nowhere in sight and Beetee was doing a wonderful job of chasing her. He was inches away from catching her, ruining any hope of knowing who had died.
He caught her moments later.
"We need to get out of here," Beetee said, wrapping his arms around her and nearly lifting her off the ground, "The lightning is about to strike. You need to think about the baby."
"I'm thinking about my baby's father," Sophie explained, struggling with all of her might.
"He's dead," a voice called from the dark, "Just like you too soon will be."
"Brutus!" Beetee gasped, pulling Sophie behind him.
Brutus chuckled as he stepped out of the shadows. His smile grew as two more canons fired off. Parker, Eliot, Nate and Johanna were nowhere in sight and three canons had now fired. The odds were not in their favor right now.
"Did you kill him?" Sophie demanded, her voice sounding waspish to her own ears.
"Of course not little girl," Brutus laughed, "Moreau had special plans for him. I'm going to enjoy killing you."
"She's from your district," Beetee pointed out softly, "They'll kill you if you hurt her."
"They didn't kill her when they killed my boy James," Brutus replied, his smile growing dark and sinister, "I think they'll understand this time around too."
Beetee suddenly launched himself onto the man. He threw a few punches and howled as a knife found its way into his leg. He and Brutus scrappled and wrestled over logs and branches.
"Sophie," Beetee hollered, "Run!"
The young woman didn't need to be told twice. She raced as far away from the pair as she could. Then an ax thrown by Enobaria changed her direction. She turned back towards Archie and the tree, hoping for an ally there. Instead all she found was an unconscious man and an abandoned bow and arrows.
Another canon sounded and her heart stopped. One of her family was no longer with her. Parker or Nate no longer had their protection. They were gone and she didn't know who. A knife skid past her right cheek and embedded itself in a tree. The pregnant woman rolled towards the bow and arrows and prepared herself for battle.
She let loose an arrow, barely missing Enobaria by inches. Johanna came out of nowhere and tackled the woman to the ground. The two women pushed and scuffled in and out of range. Johanna was doing her best to get rid of the older woman but she was struggling, blood falling from her head from some unknown injury.
Another canon fired, symbolizing another fallen champion. For a moment it seemed as though Archie finally met an end. Then he groaned and showed some sign of life. He moved towards the tree a little bit, his hand groping for something. Then he collapsed against the tree again, out cold.
A scream erupted from the two women. Johanna kicked Enobaria in the face, sending her backwards into the woods. Then she grabbed her ax and followed after her. Sophie drew another arrow and began to follow her.
"Remember who your enemy is."
Sophie blinked at the sudden thought. Those words had been Haymitch's last order to Nate. He told her that, but why? Why would it be so important to remember those words now? When Nate and Parker's lives were in danger?
Sophie stared at the detached wire in Archie's hands. She looked at the knife it was attached to and tilted her head to the left. Why would Archie attach a blade to a metal wire? Why was the blade stuck in the tree instead of lying on the ground?
That was when the shimmering spot caught her eye. Way up high, there was a square of weakness in the arena's force field. It was dancing high for anybody who was looking to see. The knife was caught in the tree branch just below it. Why was Archie aiming for the weak-point?
"Remember who your enemy is."
Chaos, Brutus, Moreau, they weren't the enemy. No, the Capitol was. The Capitol and President Snow had forced her into the arena twice. They were the ones who were trying to separate her from Nate. They were the ones trying to destroy her family.
Sophie quickly grabbed onto the end of the wire not attached to the tree-embedded knife. She fastened it to her arrow and aimed. She took a deep breath and loosed the arrow. It pierced the weak-point perfectly.
There was a sudden flash of white and then nothing but black.