"Shattered and Paralyzed"
A/N: So, I decided to trim down my pre-games stuff just a little bit. Or more like just condense it into less chapters. So because of that, we're jumping into our first training chapter here, as we visit the Shattered alliance.
PS: There's a heavy-handed reference in this chapter.
Warning: Vulgar language, but that's a bit of a gimme at this point lol
~It feels like I'm paralyzed, and I can't
Escape from the prison I'm living in
I'm naming the voices in my head
They keep on telling me to give in~
Levi Ezra, 17, District Five
Morning, May 27th, Year 101
Floor Zero, Training Center
Sigma doesn't seem to be much of an early riser. The poor girl refused to get out of bed this morning, leaving Aleksey, Audra, and I all confused about what to do. Aleksey just suggested that we eat breakfast and that she'll probably get herself up, but by the time that training was supposed to start in just five minutes, Audra gave up and went in there, carrying her out and plopping her onto the elevator with me. We didn't really talk about the Games at all during breakfast, or the whole train ride for that matter, but the message her eyes gave me is plenty clear enough. Keep her safe.
She didn't exactly have to tell me that, either. I already know I'll be lucky if I even make it alive into the Games, much less out of them, so I'm not in this to win it for myself. From the moment I volunteered, I knew that I would be doing my best to get Sigma back home in tact. I just never realized how hard that would be. How am I supposed to send her back in one piece when she's already shattered?
I tried to make friends with her on the train, I really did, but it seemed like every time I tried to say something nice to her, it would just scare her more than anything else. The only one she doesn't immediately tense up next to is Audra, and even then it's an uneasy trust. Even with her, she still hasn't said a single word.
But that doesn't stop me from taking her hand and leading her out of the elevator and out into the ginormous training room, squeezing her softly shaking hand for support as she timidly darts her eyes around the room. She leans in extra close to me as we pass by a few other kids my age, and I feel a little bit of warmth in knowing that even if it isn't much, I'm helping her feel just a little bit safer.
Because of how late we are, by the time we step into the room, the head trainer is already getting ready to start her speech, smiling warmly at us all. "Greetings tributes, please circle around me, don't be afraid to get too close, I've read everyone's files, and as far as I know, nobody bites."
I laugh at that, earning a mixture of confused and angry looks from the rest of the room, that remains dead silent. I swear that I see the tiniest hint of a smile from Sigma though, and that just makes my smile widen even more as I beam up at the head trainer, who looks happy that someone found her joke funny.
"Thanks, I'll be here all week," she laughs, quickly cutting herself off and turning towards the rest of the crowd. "My name is Trainer Harper, and aside from being the main trainer for this year's Games, I am also in charge of the new station: in-combat maneuverability. In case the awesomeness of that station isn't enough to already have you hooked, I would keep in mind that while one-fourth of the stations here will be completely useless to you in the arena, and are only here to throw you off about the nature of the arena, the head trainer for any given year is the trainer of the station deemed most useful for the arena by the Gamemakers."
She stops for a moment to take a breath of air, her voice firing off even faster than mine usually does, a smile spreading across my face. I'm bouncing off my toes, feeding off her energy. There's no more question anymore about what station I'll be headed to first.
"We have all of the normal survival and athletic stations, with the new inclusions of navigation and (obviously) my station. Weapons stations are a bit crazy this year, though. We still have the basic sword, knives, bow, spear, and hand to hand, but we also have sabers, warhammers, riot shields, gauntlets, pistols, and rifles. Again, while it's highly likely a fourth of these are just to throw you off, I'd check a few of them out to be safe. Physics is also a new station this year, apparently, which again, you might want to investigate. Aside from that we have physicians and psychologists you can check into at your own discretion.
"Please remember to abide by the simple rules of the training center. There will be no fighting under any circumstances whatsoever, you may not spar with other tributes, and no taking any training center resources (particularly weapons) outside of this room. Stations that require a trainer will open and close at eight every morning and night, while electronic stations, as well as some weapon stations, will be open twenty-four seven. Are there any questions?"
The answer comes in resounding silence from our spread out group, and she flashes a smile at us all. "Well, if you come up with any questions, feel free to ask me, or any of the other trainers here at your disposable. Have fun, use your time wisely, and may the odds be ever in your favor. You're all dismissed."
The moment she finishes speaking, the Careers all begin loudly chatting, not minding that everyone else can here them discuss which stations they're going to go to, and which tributes they think are going to be easy pickings to scare. Aside from them, only the girls from One and Six move, the little girl giggling and running off to a station while her dad attempts to keep up, while the soccer player from One (I can't remember names to save my life) keeps her head down as she hastens over to the athletic center, a large grouping of stations that takes up half of the massive room.
"So," I say in my softest, quietest voice I can muster. "What do you want to do Sigma?"
She doesn't respond, jumping up and letting go of my hand at the sound of a large bark of laughter from the massive Career boy.
"Damn," the boy's district partner laughs. "I knew it would be easy to scare these little brats, but I didn't realize that even laughing apparently triggers PTSD in these losers."
"Aww, what's wrong, girl?" He taunts, taking a few steps towards us, Sigma immediately hiding behind me as I instinctively cover her up. "Don't worry, your death will be painful, but you won't be feeling much of anything for too long."
"Edgy," I snort, taking a confident step forward and meeting the man in the middle of our two groups, having to look up a solid foot at the giant.
"Very funny," he replies in kind.
"Thanks," I smile widely, holding my hand up for a high-five. "I have a bit of a reputation."
He just stares at me dumbfounded, and I frown for a moment. "What? Not a high-five person, how about a fist pound. . ."
He swats away my hand as I put it up again, and I swear I hear a snort of laughter from one of the girls in his group, though he seems too focused in on me to notice. "Keep laughing it up, funny boy, cause the moment we get in that arena: my hands are around your neck."
"Kinky," I laugh, giving him a shoulder nudge that he quickly recoils from. This time, nearly his entire alliance breaks out in suppressed laughter, and my smile widens a little bit, even with a man capable of literally snapping me in half seething in front of me.
"You know what," he whispers, leaning in so close to me that I can feel his breath on me. "Never mind about the choking, I'll be sure to make sure it's much more painful than that."
"Hey man," I back up, holding up my hands. "I'm not into that BDSM stuff, but you do you, alright? Be proud."
This time he just snorts, cracking his neck as he stares me down. "Keep on laughing," he mutters, turning around and stomping back to his group.
"Thanks!" I shout after him, waving and flashing a beaming smile. "It was nice meeting you!"
I'm a bit sad that I don't get any response this time, but I shrug it off and turn to Sigma, only to lurch back in surprise as I realize that she's been directly behind me the entire time. I guess for some reason I didn't imagine that she would move at all on her own.
She is now though, and as I crouch down to try to talk to her, she wraps me up in a hug before I get the chance, and as hard as it is for me to do, I clamp my mouth shut. Sometimes, silence can say so much more than words can.
Hailey Hills, 13, District One
Morning, May 27th, Year 101
Floor Zero, Training Center
Horatio is still pissed. I gotta thank that Five boy, he's making things a hell of a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. Bullying little kids isn't exactly my jam, but egging on a hulking psychopath with some massive insecurities? Good times. It's almost like I'm back in the academy again, with a bunch of overly confident pricks all either vying for control, or not so subtly trying to get each other to fight.
Merrium and Unity would almost be tolerable if they weren't total assholes, and McKenna wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't such a power-hungry freak. Horatio. . . well, there's not really anything good to say there. He's fun to piss off though, so that's one bonus. More than I can say about a lot of academy kids. But then again, with academy kids I also knew that they probably wouldn't try to kill me once training was over. And even then, it wasn't like any of those assholes were dangerous, but Horatio. . . he may be dumb, but he's deadly as they get. Six and a half feet and two-hundred fifty pounds is nothing to laugh at.
"You seem like you've been having a great time, One," Unity mentions in that off-hand, snooty voice of hers.
"Yeah," I grunt as I throw a knife at the target, striking the outer circle. "Having a fucking fantastic time training your prodigal ass."
"Try hitting a circle closer to the center before you talk, honey," she says, throwing a knife with all her might, only to have it hit the target handle-first and bounce to the ground. She holds up a hand to me. "Don't even say it."
"I don't need to," I mutter, flicking the other knife towards the target, hitting the outer circle again.
"Throwing knives are for circus clowns anyways, why don't you show me a weapon that I'll actually use, like a gun."
"Be my guest, I'm sure Horatio would love to give you some pointers on proper shooting technique. Heck, I bet everyone else in this alliance is just thrilled at the idea of teaching you to use a weapon, and any of them would gladly be willing to slow themselves down to teach you."
"Oh, shut up as if you want to teach me. You're just being bitchy cause Horatio put you in your sorry ass place and basically told you that you're as worthless as an untrained girl."
"Fuck off," I spit at her, shoving her out of my way. I know that Galavant wants me in the Career alliance, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to make it through training with them without stabbing one of these assholes.
"Where you going, baby girl?" She taunts. "Running off to beg your little puppy crush for forgiveness?"
The world around me freezes, my feet scraping to a stop against the floor as I clench my fists, fingernails digging into my palms as I slowly turn to face her, everything else surrounding her just a muted blur. "What?"
"Oh, you don't know," she says in that stupid-ass condescending voice of hers. "Turns out the Capitol is recording us all twenty-four seven now, they broadcasted some of the early highlights this morning before training. You're heartbreaking love story was the talk of the town. I bet you're already in all the hottest gossip tabloids. I can see the headlines now, District One girl professes undying love for-"
She doesn't finish her sentence, my body colliding with hers as I tackle her to the ground, her body thudding against the hard floor as I grab her by the shirt, holding up a fist as I hoist her head up off of the floor, her eyes dizzily blinking as she attempts to catch her breath. As much as every bone in my body wants to bring down my fist on her pretty little face and break that stupid-ass nose of hers, something stops me from doing it, my fist clenching and unclenching. I'm aware of my breathing now, a ragged, feral sound as I desperately pant, my hair a wild mess that covers over my right eye.
I can hear footsteps running towards us, and I roughly set her down on the floor, climbing up to my feet just as trainers come to pry me off. "I'm fucking fine," I tell them. "Stop fucking feeling me up."
The hands drop pretty quickly after that, a medical trainer coming to check on Unity, even though she's clearly fine, immediately being able to climb to her feet with no injuries but a bruised ego that she hides through a snide glare.
"What the fuck was that about?" Horatio roars, approaching me with his ear protection hanging by his neck and-admittedly scarily- his gun from the station still clutched tightly in his hand. Thankfully one of the nearby trainers rips it away from him quickly, and he doesn't even seem to notice, his rage fully honed in on me. "You better check your place, One. You step out of line and your nothing but a corpse."
"I'd like to see you fucking try," the words come out before I can stop them, and as dumb as I honestly know it is to say it, I don't really give a fuck anymore. I'm tired of letting assholes like him just walk over me. I don't need him and his stupid Career alliance to win. He's just like the rest of the jackasses back home, and it's not like I ever needed any of them.
"Excuse me?" He asks, more in disbelief than anger.
"Why don't you clean the wax out of your ears so you can hear me clearly," I taunt him, feeling a rush of confidence overtaking me, the training center around me disappearing, morphing into one of the academies back in One. I'm not some pet for some psychotic asshole to boss around, one way or another I'm doing this by myself.
"Do you want to die, kid?" He spits at me. He won't even call me by my name, that's how little he thinks of me. I'm just a number to him.
"Sounds better than spending another minute listening to you, jackass."
Horatio pauses at that, a smile appearing after a long moment. He leans in close to me, just inches from my face, staring me down in the eyes, slightly unnerving me, as much as I try to shake off the feeling. "Well then, since I feel bad about having to kill little girls, I'll tell you what, once I'm victor and giving your eulogy, you have anything you want me to tell them?"
I feel the confidence welling back up in me, fused with a burning hatred of the man in front of me. I know that the rest of the room is watching us, waiting for me to back down, get told off, back down from this psychotic fucking brute. Nobody else in this room believes that I'm anything more than a dumb little kid writing her own death wish. And this asshole. . . that creepily long stare that he's giving, trying to get into my head, make me feel like just an ant under his boot ready to be squashed.
Every single day you get a thousand animalistic impulses, irrational decisions that you shake off after a seconds thought. But the pounding in my head, the dead silence in this room, the rage coursing through my veins, that smug smile plastered on this assholes face. . . .
Before I can even process what I'm doing, my body is stepping forward, grasping at one of his fingers before either of us have any idea what's happening, my hands working on autopilot as they harshly jerk and twist his finger, a short scream accompanying the snapping sound of his finger as I harshly kick him in the groin, shoving him back for good measure as I'm immediately wrapped up and held back by a cluster of trainers. I'm seeing the world in red, and the wall of trainers leaves Horatio barely visible, but I find enough of a gap to lock eyes with him, the fucker writhing on the ground and clutching his contorted finger.
"Hailey Hills," I shout out at him, jerking away from the trainers as they attempt to hold me back. Everything is a blur, but through it I can still see his eyes, staring up at me, meeting mine for just a moment. "Tell them Hailey Hills is the little girl that broke your fucking finger!"
Sigma Krell, 9, District Five
Lunch, May 27th, Year 101
Floor Zero Cafeteria, Training Center
Levi reminds me of Theta. He has ever since I heard him laugh on the train. Before this morning I hated that so much. I couldn't even look at him, it hurt too much to just even think of it. But before he only reminded me of Theta because he had that same dorky laugh, but after this morning. . . it almost feels like he really is Theta, just in a new body, coming to the Games with me to keep me safe. But right now, while I wait at the table for him to get us some lunch, he isn't the one that my eyes are glued to.
No, I'm paying attention to the girl, I think it was Hailey that she shouted out, it was a bit hard to hear with Levi trying to block my ears the moment that the man started screaming. She got dragged away by a bunch of trainers, while a few other ones tried to fix the man's finger. She was gone for a while, but now she's finally being let back in, a few trainers sternly talking to her before she yanks away from them and walks to the lunch line. Most of the kids around her shrink back, and even the ones who don't look scared of her are staying away from her, and it doesn't take long to figure out why.
The man, who's finger is fully wrapped up, is staring daggers at the girl, ignoring all of his friends. But while everyone else looks terrified of him, I'm not scared of him anymore. As long as I have Levi with me, he can't do anything.
"Whatchya looking at?" Levi asks, a smile in place as he sets down a bowl of sugary cereal in front of me, already beginning to dig into his own bowl. I just keep on looking, and in between bites of cereal he follows my gaze, his smile widening when he sees who I'm looking at. "What are ya thinking?"
I shrug, switching my gaze down to my cereal, munching down on a spoonful of the colorful balls of sugar. My eyes peek up at him, and I smile a little bit at the knowing expression on his face, raising an eyebrow as he glances back at Hailey before turning to me. "That was pretty cool, wasn't it?"
Gulping down the cereal, I nod my head, trying to keep my smile from spreading too far, that goofy grin of his making it hard not to.
"We'd make a killer combo, eh? The Career humiliating crew, I can see the headlines now."
Rolling my eyes, I go back to focusing on my lunch, while Levi leans back in his chair, looking around the room. His foot is tapping loudly against the floor, and he looks like he's in pain to even be sitting still for a minute, another thing that makes it so I can't help but be reminded of my brother. Luckily, he isn't making too much noise, now that people are talking a lot more. The Careers are all being really loud, aside from the man with the broken finger, and the other girl my age is crazily giggling, poking her dad in the shoulder every time he glances away for a moment. But aside from them and one other duo of girls that I don't recognize, everyone is sitting by themselves.
Levi looks upset about this, frowning about as widely as I've ever seen him before, and bringing a hand up to his chin thoughtfully. I squint at him, trying to figure out what in the world he's thinking about, but I never get the chance to even guess.
Hailey is walking by, head bowed and her face a weird mixture of anger and embarrassment, and Levi hops up in front of her so suddenly that she just about crashes into him, barely managing to stop her plate from falling to the ground.
She lets out a deep sigh, stepping back and looking up at Levi in frustration. "What the-" she pauses for a moment once her eyes land on him, and after she quickly glances over at me for a second, she lets out another, softer sigh, turning back to face Levi. "What?"
"Sorry 'bout that," Levi chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck and shrugging. "Didn't mean to get in your way."
"Well, what did you mean to do?" She asks sharply.
Levi holds his hands up defensively, not put off by her anger as he puts up a friendly smile. "Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to sit with us."
Hailey softens up at that, the sharp expression dropping from her face as she glances behind her back, rolling her shoulders and glancing back at Levi with an uneasy look. "Why?"
He shrugs. "I dunno, I turned around and you were the first person I saw."
She snorts. "Well, at least your honest about it." She pauses for a moment, nervously glancing behind her again.
"We got cereal," Levi says with a grin, meekly holding up a bowl to her.
She smiles for a moment, and almost looks ready to reach out and take it, but she seems to pause at the last second. Darting her eyes over to the man again, she shakes her head. "No thanks," she mutters softly, turning and quickly walking away without another word.
Levi frowns, and for the first time he seems to be actually upset. Something about it all just feels wrong, seeing him so sad only makes me feel even crummier, any tiny bit of happiness I had disappearing. He props his elbow up on the table, giving an expression that's almost. . . worried? I can't figure out what he's thinking, but all that I do know is that isn't anything good, and that just gives me a pit in my stomach.
As I glumly go in for a bite of food, the plastic spoon Levi got for me bends as it digs against the bowl, and an idea hatches in my head. A slight smile spreads over my lips as I load a ball of cereal into my spoon, flicking it back and watching the ball thump against Levi's forehead.
The startled look on his face sends me into a fit of laughter, as he jumps backwards, arms flailing as he nearly falls out of his chair. He seems confused for a second before his eyes lock on me, jokingly giving me a harsh glare. While I'm giggling too hard to pay any attention, he sneakily throws a ball of cereal back at me, hitting me in the cheek as I flinch back, shrieking in-between giggles. He doesn't get much time to laugh back though, as I quickly reach for a handful and throw it his way.
The two of us are both in an all out war, ducking under the table, using chairs for cover, and giggling too hard to actually hit each other the entire time. Even when our ammo is depleted, we both stay on the floor, using the pieces from the ground to pelt each other. For a fraction of a second I'm aware that the entire room of people can see us, but before anything can come of it, a bit of cereal drills me right in the nose, causing a booming laugh and fist pump from Levi.
And just like that those thoughts are erased, sugary crumbs in my hand as I run up to Levi, dumping it into his hair. He yelps and crab walks backwards, trying to push me away by throwing a barrage of cereal at me, but nothing stops me until I eventually collapse onto the ground. I'm giggling too hard to even walk anymore, laughing so hard that it hurts, left clutching onto my stomach, until the entire world around me disappears, and every little worry, fear, and sadness is invisible. A picture perfect image of the world.
One just waiting to be shattered.
A/N: And let the drama commence. I'm using the Tracey format for training, where every tribute gets one POV during training, and each chapter is dedicated to one alliance. On top of that, there will be other POVs sprinkled in before and after training, so just because you see a tribute doesn't mean you're done seeing them until the interviews.
As always, hope y'all like the chapter, and I'll see you guys next week, as we visit the Career alliance(who I'm still trying to come up with a name for, because I like my alliance names to mean something, and Careers is just a bit dull) during the afternoon of Day One.
Trivia(1 point): Thoughts on the shattered alliance?
Trivia(1 point): Favorite POV?
Alliances(only updated with confirmed, on-screen alliances)
Careers: Horatio, Unity, Merrium, McKenna
Ghosts: Clyde, Rain
Shattered: Levi, Sigma