Look at me, getting this out right on time! Lexie gets a gold star! yay!
Once again, this chapter is split into two parts because, you know, thirty pages is a little ridiculous to expect people to read all at once, or for me to edit and revise all at once XD But! Because of this, expect the next chapter within a week instead of two weeks, because it's mostly finished anyway. And oh, how I've been waiting and dreading this chapter. Maybe you'll love it and hate it by the end of next week? I don't know, maybe you'll love it. I'll just have to see.
And we got almost to 100 reviews. One short which is so incredibly frustrating but so awesome at the same time I got 9 reviews. Almost there! That first lucky person will get all the kudos and cookies for being my 100th reviewer.
Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to review, even after that long hiatus. You all are the reason the sun goes around the world: thaliatheawesome, lawwig, DamBluePancakes, White Story, Hopeful Star, thaumaturge1618, and xxDeadInsidexx.
lawwig: Thanks :) I wouldn't say every character left is terribly important, but you will for sure see them all, at least in their death scene. More than that, we're whittling down our group more and more and soon everyone will be pushed into on area, so they might have more than just their little obligatory death scene, but not everyone will have a ton to do. At this point, if you haven't see, that much of them, you probably won't see a ton more.
Hopeful Star: Theoretically it didn't have to be done, I just like killing people! Lol no, it does change Ron's character drastically, which is always sort of a good thing, even if they move in a bad way. Also, interesting thought...I wont' say for sure wether she was or not, there's more important things to think about right now, but you'll find out by the end.
Ron shook himself awake after falling; and there was only silence. It only confirmed his worst fears, and for a long moment…he didn't want to get up.
No, he wanted to stay supine, staring up at the ginger and umber leaves twirling down around him, and pretend the world was at a pause; nothing had changed, nothing was the same, everything was perfect.
He couldn't believe how cowardly he was being, nor how suddenly it became all too difficult for him to breathe altogether, and he took every ounce of whatever he had left to stand.
Luna's beautiful star-lit hair was sprawled on the ground, her once so inquisitive and glowing eyes looking upwards, blind and hazy. He stumbled forward as he took his first step, droplets of blood catching on his eyelashes as it trickled down the side of his face. His whole head swam with confusion in that moment, and he feared the damage that hit had done in the farthest back of his mind.
In the front of it, there was only his beautiful, broken Luna.
His fingers shook in front of him as they hovered above her form, too afraid to touch, too anguished to move.
"Luna…?"
Why was he whispering? Why was it a question? Did he expect her to answer? That was such a stupid thing to say; he felt angry at it.
And yet, when she said nothing, moved nothing, Ron felt it all bubble over his lips, and he cried. Of course his soul mate would die from being too damn selfless.
His eyes looked at her stomach, and it was ever as flat as it was this morning. Deep grief for a child he didn't know existed or not settled over him like a damp blanket, masking his whole emotional spectrum and causing his shoulders to balk.
There was a whimpering sound, and at first he feared the polar bear was back. Swinging his head around, he saw the body of it slumped on the field. It seemed to be moving, but it's eyes, just as blank as Luna's stared back at him, causing his body to quiver with panic. Was it being re-animated? Was this some sick trick from the game makers?
"Ron…help!" The cry of Elizabeth echoed from underneath the bear, and Ron realized he'd forgotten about her.
Elizabeth; the whole reason Luna wouldn't run in the first place. Before he could stop it, her name planted a tiny seed of darkness in his chest, one that clenched his heart and made his blood start to burn.
"Please-," She began to cough, and it was just then he really looked at the bear. It was obviously large, and it must be crushing her under there.
"Shit, Elizabeth." He cussed underneath his breath; half with anger of Luna, half with embarrassment he'd forgotten she was even there, his vision so eclipsed with Luna; it made him unperceptive and therefore vulnerable. Anyone could have come at him with an axe and done away with him, although he wasn't sure if he'd thank them or fight them. Looking back at Luna, he frowned. He might actually thank them.
With a hint of begrudging, he grabbed a meaty claw and attempted to push the bear off, but found the weight much more than he expected. Grunting with effort, he and Elizabeth managed to shove the great beast away, and soon Elizabeth's tiny body squirmed away from it. Her whole face was drenched in sweat and blood, and when she neared, the stench of death clung to her like some sort of beacon. She had killed the bear; he realized, and the darker part of him also snidely reminded him she'd killed his Luna.
When she literally fell into his arms, she dissolved into hiccuped sobs, leaving Ron stiff and pained.
She seemed so broken too; apologizing over and over, blaming herself. The mantra just kept coming out, and Ron felt his form relax, breathing into her small, shaking figure.
He pressed his nose against her head, blinking back, and trying to cry again.
"No, it's not. I don't blame you. I blame the beast." He consoled, and it must have been the right thing, for she stopped. Strangely, the words sounded empty and hollow when he said them, and they echoed around his mind now, as he wondered what was off with it?
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Ron…" She sniffled, her words melting away into just shaking.
He patted her head, staring out into the forest, his breath catching in his throat. Where was he going to go from here? How was he going to find the strength to survive without his Luna? How was he going to look at each day and not have the urge to throw himself off the nearest cliff?
He knew what Luna would say, what she would do if he'd been the one who died. She'd throw herself into keeping Elizabeth safe, and she'd giggle and chastised him forever thinking of leaving the small girl. She was just a child, yet Luna had so many wonderful things on her housemate, and Ron knew she cared for the girl deeply. He would have protected Malfoy if that's what he knew Luna would have wanted him to do, the best way to remember her best, even if the very thought of it sent immediate red-flags to his mind and curled his lip in distaste.
So he would protect Elizabeth with his life, but looking down at her?
He suppressed a noise of disgust.
"I know." He replied emotionlessly to her apologizes, shoving down the worst truth in the world as the seed blossomed into an ugly, poisonous flower that spit out what he was once again too scared to say out loud.
He did blame Elizabeth.
In some ways, Hermione had forgotten about being in the Green Games until she heard the cannon. It wasn't an obvious sound, not like being above ground when the game makers made sure everyone could hear it for miles around, but it shook the ground and a dusting of dirt sprinkled down on top of them.
The conversation lapsed into silence after that.
"Who do you think it was?" Seamus was far braver than she.
"I hope its Pansy." Hermione said with a monotone voice she didn't know she had previously, "I hope she drops dead."
"That would be too good of luck." Seamus winced, frowning. Hermione agreed.
"I hope it's not…" Seamus began softly, licking his lips, "Ron…or Luna." He added after a moment, "Both would be awful."
"I don't know what I'd do if I lost Ron."
Hermione drew her legs up in front of her, and for the first time, considered what it would be like if she was suddenly the only one left from the trio they'd made first year. Sure, they didn't talk like they used to, but Ron was still…Ron. And whenever she looked at him, she remembered the polyjuice potion, Fluffy, his fear of spiders, her fear when they didn't arrive on the Hogwarts train that second year. It would still be odd to have him gone; leave something in her chest empty and strangely poignant. She prayed to Merlin she wasn't there yet.
"There has to be at least half of us left." Seamus overrode her musings, and Hermione agreed after a slow nod.
"I can't recall all the deaths, some I didn't see, but we have to at least be almost there."
"I say we are." Seamus said, rolling his eyes upward in thought of counting the cannons, "Congrats," He added when he looked back at her, "Top twelve?"
"I don't know if we should celebrate or mourn." Hermione said honestly.
"Usually, we'd have time for either. But here? All the time in the world." He said, waving his arm around as if showing Hermione a five-star hotel. She couldn't help it; she giggled. But then they vanished. Seamus sighed, linking his fingers in her own. She stared silent at the interlocked digits, running her mind through a million different things.
"What is the first thing you're going to do?" She asked, her voice quivering, "When you get out?"
"Of here?" Seamus waved around to the cave, "Or here." He made a bigger motion with his remaining hand.
"The games."
"You're so sure I'll survive, huh?" He said, not quite answering, more surprised than anything.
"I am." Hermione turned toward him, giving a pained smile, "Or maybe I want to believe it more than anything else?"
"Well, either way, when I make it out…" He thought for a moment, "I'm going to take a really warm shower and scrub until my skin hurts." He paused, a devilish grin across his face, "You are welcome to join."
"Seamus!" Hermione hit him playfully, rolling her eyes, "I'm sure the game makers clean us up. We have to go on stage right after, you know?"
"Ew. Game makers. For sure need a shower." He said, then paused, and then swore, "I'm an adult."
"Huh?"
"When I was a first year, I didn't shower for two months, until McGonagall forced me to. She got an older male prefect to stand by the shower and everything. And now, I'm so boring, I say I'm going to shower. It's like askin for socks for Christmas."
"You didn't shower for two months? I can't believe I never noticed that." She said, trying to recall if Seamus was any smellier than any other boy, but alas her memory failed her.
"You were too busy being Hermione to notice. Not that I was tryin to get yer attention, mind ya. I was just being a rebellious little snot. And Dean dared me five galleons I couldn't go until Christmas without taking one."
"Did you win?"
Seamus clicked his tongue, "Missed it by two weeks."
"What a shame." Hermione chuckled.
"What are you gunna do?"
"Me? I haven't really thought bout it." She admitted, "Go back to London for awhile, I think. Muggle London. With them. I mean, it seems silly, after I competed and all to be able to keep my magic to go without it for a while? I think I just need time not to be reminded."
"That sounds mighty pleasin'." Seamus said, nodding in agreement, "As turned around as it may be."
"I could have left this world any time I wanted." Hermione mused out loud, "My parents begged me. But no, magic was too precious to lose. But after being here, doing this? I do wonder…if it's really all worth it in the end. Is it truly worth my life?" She gave a helpless shrug, "I haven't figured that one out."
"I envy yeh." Seamus said, "Even if I wanted to run way and give it up voluntarily, I wouldn't know how to survive without magic. I may be a half-blood, but that don't make me no more a survivalist in muggle parts than a dragon is."
"It's…well, it would be difficult. I've lived half my life as magical, and the parts I didn't I hardly recall. It's really within our blood, our lives, and us. I think about it, and then other times, I wonder how I could be so dense to even think that. I wouldn't survive."
"Hush now!" Seamus shook his head, "If anyone can manage to make life okay out there, it would be yeh. You'd find something to make life worthwhile. It's what Hermione does." He tugged on a strand of curly hair.
Hermione's stomach growled.
"Merlin, we haven't eaten yet today, have we?" Seamus asked, "Or tonight. Whenever. It's some time right now."
"We haven't eaten in a long time." Hermione amended, and reached for the sack, "Let's see what's left…"
"My feet hurt." Caligula plopped himself down on a log, tenderly rubbing her calloused palms along the rough edges of his feet. He'd lost his shoes awhile back, but luckily the soles of his feet had always had a leathery skin.
"Cal; we're getting nowhere." Mandy said, tapping her foot impatiently and running her fingers through her pink hair. Well, now it was turning back blond, her original color, and the roots showing through. It bothered her that none of her magic she could do was strong enough for a transformation spell on her head. She abhorred her platinum blonde hair, it reminded her all too much of the Malfoy family. Though, lately, she'd heard he was a healer. She would believe that when House Elves rebelled; anyone who believed that was obviously falling right into a trap.
She was a Ravenclaw, much smarter than that!
"I can't help it my shoes got disintegrated by the spider venom." He snapped. Sure, throwing his shoes at the big freaking spiders might not have been the best choice of weapons, and they'd been destroyed to a pile of mush, but it had confused the beasts long enough for he and Mandy to escape.
"Yep, really took one for the team." She said dryly.
"I don't get why we moved." Cal said, stretching his back until there was an audible crack, and he sighed in relief, "Our old camp was perfectly fine."
"Because there's still Ravenclaws out there. Two good, one that needs taken care of." Mandy said, referring to Luna, Elizabeth, and Michael. Cal scowled.
"Someone else will off Corner. He's had it coming for years." He argued sourly.
Mandy pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing in deep frustration. "Look. I get it. You've only really been a Ravenclaw for like what, three years? It's different for you. But for me, a true Ravenclaw…what he did was unacceptable. Someone needs to make sure he's held accountable." She said firmly.
"You're sounding quite like a Gryffindor." Cal said distastefully.
"You're sounding like a scared little squib!" Mandy said, stomping off away from him. Most of the time, they were fighting. It was more convince than actual kinship that brought this alliance together, and many times, Mandy wondered if it was worth it.
When there was more of her kind in one place, she told herself, it would get better. Luna always had a way to pacify grouchy Cal, a pain in the ass from the moment he was sorted. He was brilliant, unfortunately. Much smarter than she was, and had a real thirst for knowledge. Had he not, he would have fit rightly well with the Slytherins.
And his natural magic was nothing to scoff at. Caligula had been born in the United States to a Native American couple before they moved to England for work. Caligula wasn't his birth name, as expected, but one he'd picked up after years at Durmstrang. She often wondered what his real name was, but never felt it important to ask. He was a pureblood, so it wouldn't be too outlandish to imagine it was some stuffy ancestor of his, from years and years back.
But because of his heritage, he had a closer relationship with nature than she'd ever seen anyone else had. It was the whole Disney Princess thing; talking to animals and hugging trees. It had kept them safe on more than one occasion so far, meaning he wasn't totally useless, and therefore was worthwhile to keep around for a bit longer.
She came back to him, calmer than before.
"You done?" Cal asked, languid as he crossed his legs on the tree-truck.
"You done?" She asked hotly, and he gave a shrug and a noncommittal grunt. Then he sighed, watching Mandy's stern look and her hands on his hips, "Fine, fine. Onward." He waved a dirt-encrusted hand.
"You love nature, don't you?" She asked, as he complained about the mud between his toes and the branches in his once silky, long black hair a bit later. Cal pulled a face.
"Sure, but I don't always need to get up close and personal. She's like an over-attached girlfriend. I like the way she moves, but only in small amounts." He said, swatting away a bee buzzing around his head.
"I thought you were gay."
"Not the point." Caligula dismissed her with raised eyebrows.
They made good time, in Mandy's humble opinion, even if they did stop five more times without any good reason. Two to nurse his sore feet, and maybe one of those times he did have a thorn the size of Scotland wedged in there, once to examine the moss on a rock to see what his ancestors were telling him (something about which American baseball team or something had won something; in short, completely useless information), once to basically throw himself in a small creek to drink water and wash the debris from his hair the best he could, and lastly to commune with his ancestors once again, and this time they came to him in the form of a weird mouse thing.
It wasn't that she didn't believe it, she did live in a weirdly magical world where nothing made sense for Merlin's sake, but she did think his ancestors coming and squeaking in his ear was a little far-fetched. She didn't even think he spoke mouse-hybrid until now.
"There's something coming up that way." He said when he finished with the mouse, gently setting it back into the bracken, "I couldn't tell if it was good or bad. He might have said 'warning' or he might have said 'algae'."
"Hmm." Mandy hummed, half-listening to Cal, "Well, keep our eyes peeled, I suppose?" What else could she say, with so little information? Yet, she did make her footsteps lighter and felt her body go on full alert, turning in to things of the forest that weren't common sounds, but thus so far, there was nothing.
At a line of trees that seemed to lead to a clearing, Cal stopped dead in his tracks.
"No." He hissed under his breath, "I can feel the dark energy. I've stayed alive by running the other way from that so far!" He said, backing up about ten feet.
"You're being ridiculous! I can't even hear anything!" Mandy snapped back at him, irritated of his seemingly skittish attitude. Normally, Ravenclaws would appreciate a well-reasoned logical approach to things, but this was the Green Games, and they were long past being cautious about everything. At least, she was.
She passed the trees, and heard Cal give a sharp intake of breath, and pushed aside the bushes just enough to peer through.
"Jackpot." She breathed, trying not to twitch or crack a leaf. Michael Corner was sleeping out in the open, far into daylight. How fortuitous of her. She slipped her makeshift knife from her sheath. While it wasn't the sharpest, she was sure that if she could get the first cut in, he'd wake up but be too weak to fight her, and she could sever his neck by the third cut, at least.
But when she stood up, rising above the bushes, her knife fell to the floor. Pansy and Pike were sleeping just past him, too close for comfort.
Her fingers quivered as she picked back up her knife.
On one hand, she was tempted to try to go at Pansy right off the bat. Why not take out the most dangerous girl in the game, a girl who had done more damage than anyone else?
It would have to be a choice. She knew she'd wake them all with the first slice, and she might manage to kill someone before the other two rushed at her. She was outnumbered, and it was likely a suicide mission.
She weighed the knife in her hands. Was this worth it? Pansy was powerful, no doubt. Who was to say she'd even be able to kill her to begin with? That Pansy wouldn't turn the tables and kill Mandy herself?
Mandy, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming in aggravation turned and walked away.
She hated she was a Ravenclaw and knew better than to pick that fight.
Hours later, hard facts had to be admitted.
They had no food left that wasn't waterlogged beyond compare, her foot might have been infected, and worst…they had no water.
It was one of those situations that really made Hermione want to punch something. A crashing river was right below them, and Seamus could make a fire, to purify it, but they had nothing to put the water in. No tins or canteens left, nothing Hermione or Seamus could make due, just…nothing.
It was awful.
Who would have really thought that hours of just mindless talk, sleeping, and maybe a couple kisses could exhaust them so much?
The first hour she was thirsty, she said nothing. The second hour, she almost did, but stayed quiet. It was finally into the third hour of thirst she admitted her fears of survival.
"We can't stay down here." Seamus pouted, shaking his head, "We need to go back up." There was an unknown emotion to his voice, something hard and pained, and a nuanced emotion Hermione almost missed- longing.
In the weirdest way, she understood. Down here was like a magical damp and moist cave of ignorance. They could stay down here, worry about whose cannon had gone off, but they didn't have to really know, and apart from their own demons and now hunger; there wasn't anything dangerous to face. Had they sufficient enough sustenance, and her foot wasn't so awful, Hermione could have been convinced into staying down here as long as they could manage. To have their time cut off so abruptly felt rude and unfair to Hermione.
She really wanted more time with Seamus.
They would go up there, and she could only hope nothing would happen. No poisonous spiders would crawl and bite him in his sleep, no maladies would enter through a weird fruit the game-makers devised, and no griffins would swoop from the sky and snatch him up. Down here they were in a perfect shield.
And they had to leave it.
"You can't even stand." Seamus realized when she began to put weight on her hurt ankle, and her whole body buckled.
"I just…it's sore." She lied through her teeth.
"Hermione let me see it." He'd wrapped it, trying to make a splint out of sticks and pieces of his shirt that were already falling away. Hermione unraveled it to see the colors around the break had evolved in such a short time to ugly, stormy colors that looked swollen and soft. Seamus' finger poked it, away from the main break, and it was agony all over again. Hermione stumbled back, falling on her butt, watching as Seamus gently picked her foot up by the tips of her toes and up her calf.
"Shit."
"What?" Hermione asked, her head still swimming in a daze of pain. Seamus' face was deadly serious and grim as he turned her foot just slightly to see a disgusting cut on the bottom of her foot, oozing pus and secreting dark, unhealthy looking blood.
"Who knows what I picked up from the river!" Hermione felt her mind jump into overdrive, seeing her wound. It was so horrendous to look at, and she felt as though she would barf if she looked a second longer. Then again, that might just have been her unquenched thirst. Either way, she turned her head, and felt her throat convulse and heave up bitter bile from the depths of her stomach.
"I guess you should leave me, then." Hermione bit her lip, proud of herself for even having such courage to say that. Seamus gave her a horrified look.
"No!" He said firmly, "I…I'll die down here with you if that is your plan!"
"You don't deserve to die because of me." Hermione mumbled, the logical side of her mind taking over once again, "I would slow you down. And who knows how long I have left, even so?" She motioned to her foot; "The game makers could have contacted all sorts of diseases that might leave me dead within hour-,"
"Shut up, will ya?" Seamus was more upset with her than she'd ever seen him, "It's crazy talk, ken? You're certifiably crazy."
"What can we do?" Hermione's voice had reached a strained, thin point. It wasn't even rhetorical. She wanted to know, because deep down, she wasn't ready to die.
"We got to…medicine. Someone up there will give it to yeh, if you can just hold on a little while longer, okay?" He said, "So many people love you up there." Even so, the doubt showed through his layer of confidence. It was hard to get items through, even in dire situations. Would it even come in time?
"Fred." Hermione gasped out as he set her foot down. It hadn't been a violent setting down, but even just touching a tiny part of her flesh anywhere sent her whole body stiff, "Somehow get his attention, he'll be watching, and he can get things right away." She said.
"How…wouldn't he do that for Ron?" His implied statement was 'and not you', which Hermione was a little miffed about.
"He will. I'm betting my life on it, sort of." She gave a small smile, and Seamus looked horribly conflicted, "Go find him. Find water and food, I'm really thirsty." She added.
Seamus stayed silent for a couple moments.
"I don't want to just leave you."
"You have to. We don't have much of another choice, do we?" She asked, leaning back against the rock and wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.
"How are you so…calm?" He said, and it was just now she noticed his whole body quivering.
"It's not you that's hurt." She answered honestly, "I care about my self, don't get me wrong, but it's always harder to watch those you care about in pain, knowing there's little you can do, or wondering if your choices were right." She thought about Lavender, "With my body, I can be confident in any choice I make, and if it doesn't work, it was only my own fault."
Seamus thought about it for a long moment, "How do we even get out of here?" He asked.
Ever since Hermione had begun to realize they'd have to leave, she'd been carefully watching the cave. She had focused on where the tiny rays of light were coming through, and what ways the particles in the air drifted upward. She watched for any signs of life, like flies, and which way they flew. She watched everything.
"See that corner over there? It's sort of crumbling? I think if we dig that way-,"
"We? Me. You shouldn't upset your leg any more than you already have." Seamus corrected her. Hermione groaned in frustration.
"We!" She said, "I'm not going to sit here like…like and invalid!"
Seamus shook his head at her, and went over to the patch she'd pointed to. Arranging his feet carefully on some rocks, he began to claw out. When Hermione attempted to get up, Seamus stood firmly in front of it, refusing to move away and continue again until she was sitting.
All his time preparing had build Seamus like a firm rock, impossible to move, even if she had proper balance of her feet. She begrudgingly sat down, packing up everything useful for Seamus. He'd need it out there more than she would. She did glare at him periodically, to properly show her discontent with this work situation. Seamus seemed not to care.
A couple hours later, he had created a hole that if he worked just right, he could wiggle through. The sun spilt into the cave, and they both blinked, shielding their eyes. It had been more than a day since seeing anything so bright, and it did burn.
"Be safe." Hermione said, forcing herself to stand so she could hand him the package. Something else was lingering on her tongue, but she just nodded, biting her lip.
"I'll be back." He said, rolling his shoulders, "Don't worry about that." He didn't seem nervous at all. He slung the bag over his shoulder, adjusting the straps, "You stay here. Don't die, okay?" He said, chuckling and Hermione looked at her ankle.
"Medicine as soon as you can would help." She admitted, and Seamus' face grew stony, as he began to focus in on the mission. Medicine first, then water, then food. In that order. Nothing else.
He looked at Hermione, his heart swelling with fear and pride. She was so stubborn, wasn't she? Lordy, if he was a weaker man, a girl like Hermione Granger would eat him, leaving him a corpse. That's what he sort of loved about her, it wasn't just her will, and everything about Hermione was done to the 110% percent- every emotion, every whisper of her being.
He looked back once again as he began to ascend up, and gave her a thumbs up. She gave one back, and he felt more confident as he climbed.
It was hard work, and he more than once had to stop to dislodge some more rocks in his way. His hands were cut and dirty from the trek, but not too badly. It wasn't more than a wipe of it on his clothing. Finally, he breached the surface of the ground, and pushing himself up.
He felt like a fish coming up and out of the water, and he slumped next to the hole on his back, breathing in the fresher air out here. He hoped that this hole would ventilate Hermione down there. They hadn't had a problem yet with the breathing air, but who knew?
He also knew that all cameras would be on him. They'd know where they were; they'd know he was here. He made the very obvious motion of standing, trying to seem strong or confident. He feared his façade wasn't working.
He took a couple steps, and thought about to what Hermione had said about Fred. Did he really trust Ron's brother so much? Sure, Fred had never been mean to him, nor give him any reason to distrust him, but putting Hermione's life in someone else's hands?
He was tempted to ignore her advice and seek Draco out. The main problem was, he had no clue where the blond Slytherin was, and he could spend more time than Hermione had looking for him. Putting aside his own gut reaction to helping Hermione, looked directly up.
"Yo, Fred?" He snapped his fingers a bit, unsure on if this would even get his attention, or if he was even watching, "Uh? Hermione said that I should ask you for help." His skin burned to admit it. He wanted to help Hermione on his own, but her broken and infected ankle was far beyond anything he could do.
He described the best he could the looks of Hermione's infected skin, and after he ended, he stood for a couple seconds. He rocked on the balls of his feet. Was he supposed to wait? Go? Would Fred send it to him soon?
After five minutes of silence, he began to hear the forest come into focus around him. It was dangerous to stay in one place. People like Pansy and Corner were still out there, last he knew. He would be tempting fate to hope it had been one of them to die.
He began to walk; maybe he'd be lucky enough to run into Malfoy?
He found a little trickling creek, just enough water to collect it to burn it so it would be safe for drinking. It looked innocuous enough, but who knew if there was a carcass up the way or what had been through this water?
He had never been so grateful for his fire ability.
He first constructed a place to boil it, but stacking river rocks together and slapping wet mud between the cracks, and then using his fire as hot as he could to cement it. He was quite confused for a bit on how to transport the water, but then he noticed the water-resistibility of his jacket. The hood was already tearing apart, so he unclasped it, and burned the plastic bits together carefully. He hoped the horrid smell would dissuade animals and others instead of leading it to him.
Water was much easier to transport to the heater after, and while it seemed to take forever, soon he had the whole brim bubbling with water. It filled to the top of the 'canteen' by the time it had settled, and he burned the sides together once again, making a bubble. They could cut it open with a knife and drink straight from the pouch when he returned to Hermione.
He selfishly drank the remaining water at the bottom, reveling on the absolute best feeling of the warm water sloshing in his very empty stomach. He was just sitting, letting the water seep through all his veins, when a little parcel floated with a tingling bell near his nose.
He leapt up, anxious and excited, and only found a note from Fred.
I got you covered. Sent it directly to Hermione. If she's as bad as you describe, she needs it ASAP-Fred
He crunched it up in his palm, worry gnawing at stomach. What if it never made it to Hermione? What if she didn't get it in time? Shouldn't he just bring it to her, to make sure she got it?
He was properly distracted as he attempted to hunt.
A squirrel basically ran over his trap, and he was so caught up in his own thought, he didn't even get it! He was caught between worrying for Hermione even more and being upset at himself for letting this get in the way of their survival. They needed to eat, Hermione especially to get her strength up. For that, she needed protein, which was apparently a whole lot harder to find in a forest than one would imagine.
He decided to focus only on the hunt, so he could get enough food, so he could go back to Hermione quicker. If he let both ideas infiltrate his mind, he'd never get to either.
He was pretty sure he was in the zone; or apparently not, when he nearly beheaded the Native American kid in the games, and Mandy came at him with a machete.
They stared at each other a couple seconds, the feeling as though they were both eyeing each other, trying to figure out if they would attack. It was a feeling he never thought he'd be so acquainted with, but yet here he was, eyeing her posture and knife, and finally her eyes.
"I'm not going to kill you." Seamus said, perhaps making what could be qualified as the dumbest move of the games yet, but dropped his knife, stepping away from it.
It was a gamble that was for sure.
But Mandy also relaxed herself, kicking his knife back toward him.
"I'm not either." She said, sheathing her knife, "I'm not looking for a fight today."
Obviously, if she had, Seamus knew he could only run. Two against one? It was unlikely he'd win.
"Well…" He nodded to them, not wanting to make her regret her choice, and turned.
"Finnegan, wait!" The Native American kid who Seamus still did know the name of, called to him. Seamus turned, and Mandy looked at her partner curiously.
"Don't go that way. Pansy, Pike, and Corner are all sleeping in a clearing. We didn't wake 'em, but if they're awake now…" He trailed off. Seamus at first was floored with relief for the kid's tip, but then his eyes narrowed to slits. He hated how this game had made him a cynic.
"Why would you tell me that? How do I know you're telling the truth?" He asked in a low tone.
"Consider it even." The kid ran his fingers through his messy hair, "You saved me from Blaise in the beginning of the games, now I'm saving your arse. We're even." He said, and Seamus did faintly recall shoving a contender he didn't know out of the way of a knife, and then grabbing him up and forcing him to run. It had just been the adrenaline, and he hadn't done it intentionally, but he was so glad now he'd done it.
"Come on, Cal." Mandy said, "You can trust him. I saw them." She added with a hiss to Seamus' direction, "Hopefully we don't meet again." She said, throwing a wolfish smile his way. They were both half bloods; the indication was clear. A shiver ran down Seamus' spine, and he nodded in understanding.
Pansy was angrily close to the camp; and he had a feeling he knew exactly what clearing she was in; the one he'd found Hermione. They hadn't gotten very far when the ground had collapsed beneath them, and the river had carried them a shorter distance than he thought. Then again, when he couldn't tell up from down, it seemed like he was splashing for eons.
He skirted a wide berth around the clearing, and managed to bag a couple birds from the trees, enough so that maybe Hermione could have three and he could have two. He wasn't upset that she'd get more; she clearly needed them.
His eyes always watched the direction the clearing was. It was unlike Pansy to sleep during the day, and this unnerved him. She was planning something, he was sure of it. Or, worse, she was already stalking this forest, just waiting for-
He suppressed a sound of fear. That girl terrified him, and whenever he had looked at her during training, the most awful feeling had made his bones turn to lead. There was something more about her that he didn't want to find out.
She was easily avoidable, though. With any luck, they'd stick around under the cave for another day, cover back up the hole, and wait for her to pass. Pansy wasn't a girl to stay in one place long; that much was sure. If he gave her a good 24 hours, he was sure they could avoid her at least for now.
He walked a little faster back to the cave.
The game makers had filled this arena with as much magic as they could. As it was, they were already building the perfect arena for this year when the students that were participating this year had only just celebrated Halloween. In short, focusing magic even into such a large space took much time, and they filled it to the brim.
Therefore, it wasn't totally unexpected to imagine that the magic during this time could grow by itself, twisting and contorting to things even the game makers didn't expect. If it had been a forest with goodness in it, the magic would have been pure. But as it were, this forest was made to be the final resting place of more than twenty children, all too young to be doing this as it were, and therefore, the magic that stemmed on it's own was not good.
The particular area Pansy and her minions had fallen asleep in was one such place. The trees had watched Justin been killed, they had grown the berries around, and watched as Hermione had killed Blaise. They'd seen and felt every footstep that vibrated through the dirt around the area.
When the magic around the circle spiked, and the game makers scrambled to know why, something very odd was happening there. The three sleeping were put under a trance, a sort of spell that kept them unconscious all day long, their bodies in a frozen state of slumber. It also dissuaded anyone from entering it. Had Mandy encounter them by herself, she might have been foolhardy enough to take Pansy on right then and there. But as it was, she wasn't, and that was mostly thanks to the magic surrounding the area, just like the way Muggles couldn't see Hogwarts.
The lead game maker was in frenzy, yelling and screaming at the workers to figure out what was going on when the sky only around that area of the forest darkened, as though it was night, and the heavy clouds moved in. But no one really heard; they all watched the screens in front of them with half-horror, jaws hanging open.
A heavy mist slithered across the ground, and it spiraled up into two forms. A worker, who was monitoring it heat sensors and other indicators, sucked in sharply through his teeth.
"Shit…"
Yes; this accurately summed up much of everyone's reactions. Then again, they should have known better than to play around with such dangerous and dark magic so freely.
Pansy herself blinked awake, confused about the time. She felt as though she'd been sleeping all day, but the sky around her was still dark. She was one of those people very in-tune with the light, and never slept past sunrise. Therefore, she surmised it must have only have been a couple hours after she'd lain down to sleep. She got up, stumbling over her own feet to Pike.
"Yo, Webber." She said, and nudged his shoulder roughly to wake him. She was thirsty, and she needed someone to watch her back. But he was unresponsive, and apart from his low breathing, Pansy would have wondered if he'd died during the night.
She checked on Corner, and found him just as stony.
The hair on the back of her spine rose, and Pansy felt a cold chill run through her body. The dark magic grabbed her wrist like fire, and her whole body began to quake. She wasn't dumb to think that dark magic wasn't dangerous, and such magic as strong as this wasn't foretelling something worse.
She turned around slowly, and screamed a brief second before slapping her hand hard over her lips, biting on her palm to keep from making noise. Tears sprung to her eyes, and she quivered.
It took a lot to make Pansy scared; she laughed at horror movies, scoffed at haunted houses, and enjoyed the whole deal behind scaring, so most attempts were amateur to her. But this?
The mist around her ankles and frozen the ice over in a thin layer of frost, and it had spiraled upwards into two figures. Her eyes darted over their misty appearances, and realized whatever this was; it was more than merely ghosts. Their faces were sunken in, eyes blackened and emotionless. Blood dripped from their lips and other places, and their skin was pulled taught across their bones to the point it ripped in some places. The stench of death and decay clogged her nose, and Pansy held her breath. The hair was ratted and maggots inched around the faces. A bony finger reached toward her, and she realized her tears had somehow turned to half-fear, half-sadness.
"Blaise, Daphne…" She tried to stifle her fear, "What…happened to you?" Her voice was deathly quiet.
"People like us, Pansy…me, you, her…we don't get to move on." Blaise gave a toothy grin, but blood just dribbled over his bruised chin, and she flinched.
"So you're ghosts?" She tried to understand, although they looked like no ghosts she'd ever seen.
"I wish…" Daphne's voice was the same wistful tone she knew, even though it only faintly looked like the friend she once had, "This place is evil, this arena, Pansy. Those that were not good, we are eaten alive by the everlasting hunger." She said, looking sadly at her body.
"You both look like shit."
Pansy wasn't sure what possessed her to say that; not when she was standing in front of the almost reanimated corpses of what used to be her friends, and she wasn't sure if they would be like they were the whole time. Was it a person's soul that got left behind first, or their physical shape?
But Blaise and Daphne looked at each other, a stifle of a laugh, and nodded in agreement. Their amusement slid off their faces rapidly, and as their expressions did, so did a part of Daphne's face, leaving the whiteness of her skull at her cheekbone exposed.
"Can I do anything?" Pansy whispered, very unlike her. But seeing them in such agony beside her, it flared something inside of her she hadn't felt in years; friendship.
"We don't know. We don't even know if we'll be released when this ends; everyone will leave this arena, but will the ugly magic leave too? Sometimes I think I'll be trapped forever;" She gave a choked sob, and blood dripping from her eye-sockets, but it was old looking, as though it had been curing for days.
"We have a theory though." Blaise said, placing a hand near her. He couldn't quite touch her; no doubt another curse of this forest, but the motion seemed to calm her all the same. Pansy was sure that without each other, they wouldn't have survived so long. Love; that saved things, as sappy as it was to imagine, "One you'll like."
"Tell me." Pansy pleaded.
"Revenge." Blaise's already black eyes seemed to darken at the words, but in a way that sent an excited shiver up her back, "Hermione killed me."
"And Draco me," Daphne added, but seeing Pansy's expression, hurried to continue to speak, "But he wouldn't have killed me if he wasn't protecting that little Ravenclaw bitch Elizabeth."
"Yes, yes. I will kill both of them for you." Pansy said. She would have either way, but not she wanted to make both those women suffer so much more. She wanted to rip their hearts from their chests while it was still beating, and watch it stop its palpitations in her hand. She wanted to gorge out their eyes, make where they say as black and empty as Blaise' and Daphne's own eyes.
"Elizabeth and Hermione are close. Elizabeth is just a couple miles to the west; and she's emotionally drained. She should be easy. Hermione is closer, but cowardly hiding in a cave. Soon it will be dark for real; don't let this dissuade you. Go now…Pike and Corner will slow you down." Daphne told her. Pansy hopped between her feet, nodding excitedly.
"Yes, yes! Of course. You will be released by tonight. If not, I will win and force them to strip the forest of the magic." She said. She also knew she needed to win because she would not become like they did.
Blaise and Daphne shared another look, one of those couple-like looks she didn't understand, "Even that might be enough." Blaise' voice cracked, "We might already be gone by that time."
"Gone?"
"Nothing left." Daphne whimpered, "Not even a wisp of our magical signature. Just wiped away from existence."
The idea of someone's magical signature just vanishing made Pansy shudder. You could still feel Salazar's if you were adept in magic enough, and it was never going to fade. Everyone left a magic signature somewhere, no matter how weak it was. One skilled at wandless magic and magic theory could feel what wizard at a location that had ever been there, pick up on their signatures like individual scents. The very idea that Daphne and Blaise's couldn't ever be felt again was perhaps one of the most terrifying things she had ever had the displeasure to imagine.
It would be as though they'd never existed in the first place.
"I'll hurry. I'll end this game. Hold on." She said, reaching out. Her hand touched the whips that made them, and the most disgusting and cold feeling spread through her body. She kept her hand there as long as she could manage, and when she retracted it, it felt as if it had been shot and was now hanging limply.
"We have to go back." Blaise said, looking at the ground, "More sins to account for." He said, shaking his head, "More dark magic borrowed to give back."
Pansy watched in horror and agony as they were pulled back into the ground, their skin melting off their bodies, and bones melting into the mist. As Daphne vanished, Pansy heard a final desperate cry; "Save me, Pansy. Plea-,".
Then….silence.
It was the worst silence Pansy had ever heard.
"I will kill everyone for you two." Pansy said, grabbing her knife from her pack as softly as she could, although she was pretty sure the boys were still within whatever spell had been put on the grounds, "I owe it to you. I owe it to myself."
I know this might have seemed like a lot of setting up, and I do apologize for that. I can assure you that more action and things you've been waiting for happen next chapter!
So do you think we can beat our review high? Can we get ten? Or 11? I DO! I HAVE FAITH!
If you have any predictions I would love to hear them! I always love to see if people get things right, or not! Sometimes you guys make an off handed comment and I'm sitting here like 'oh, if only you knew...' lol
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