Nelly Solace, 16, District 7 Female
It's dawn when we're loaded onto the hovercraft and injected with a tracker device for the Death Games. I never thought it would really come, but here I am, being flown to my death.
Soon, we land in the Launch Rooms, or as my mentors like to call it, our vigorously fixed destination. I don't know why they call it that, it's weird.
I find that my stylist, Jessalinnnia, is down here to, presumably to make me look like a supermodel when I die. If I die, If I die, I remind myself. There's still hope for me. Isn't there? If I die, I won't have time to execute my sponsors-on-a-massive-scale-brilliant-scheme that I've been planning. The name's not final.
Unless….
"Okay, Nelly, honey," says Jessalinnnia in her ever-annoying voice, "Do good out there, okay? Here's your clothes."
She hands me a bright green polo shirt, some black leggings, and green high-top sneakers. I quickly put them on, and look in the mirror provided. I'm different. My appearance looks happy, and bright, but I look sad and scared, but at the same time there's a fire in my eyes that tells me I at least have a chance of making it out of these Games.
Katerina William, 17, District 12 Female
We got lucky with our arena uniform this year.
I have an orange polo shirt, matching shoes, and black leggings. I'm comfortable in these, and I can fight.
My stylist, Amadea, raises an eyebrow when she sees the tattoo on my back. I got it when I was in the Capitol a few years back with my father.
"Really, Katerina?", she says, "A snake? I thought you disliked them."
"I do have a phobia of snakes," I reply, "and when I got this tattoo, I thought it would help me conquer my fear, but it didn't really work. It still looks nice, though."
"Fair enough."
I change into my clothes, and I hear the same robotic voice from the private sessions telling us that it's time for the games. Amadea hugs me, and I step into the tube which will take me into the arena, and it slowly ascends, until I can see the golden Cornucopia, and the dazzling arena.
The Cornucopia sits atop a pedestal surrounded by a moat of green liquid, which I don't want to dive into, with a bridge to it in between each starting plate. There are some antique game machines dotted around the room, and eight exits. Four go into some sort of corridor, I think, and the other four go out into the open. It's colourful outside.
10.
Okay, I really need to get ready.
9.
The Games are going to start soon.
8.
I can hear incoherent murmuring, and I don't want to find out what it is. I look around to see who's next to me.
7.
It's the Six girl and the Eight boy.
6.
BOOM!
5.
One tribute has been blown to bits.
4.
It was Hugo, the one who scored an eleven.
3.
I don't think he moved.
2.
But there's no time to dwell on it because…..
1.
I hear the gong ring, and I race off my pedestal into the Cornucopia. I dodge the other tributes as I run into the middle on the bridge. It was the one between me and the Six girl, I think I'm on it alone.
I think I'm doing well. One foot, other foot, one foot, other foot. I have a rhythm, and I'm doing well, until I feel hands pushing be down, into the green liquid, which doesn't seem to be acidic. I look up and see my attacker's face. Eridan Medea. Then I'm plunged into the liquid, and soon, I see red.
Gemma LeBrilliant, 18, District 1 Female
I was worried that I'd hate the sight of blood and corpses in the arena.
But I don't. That'll help me out a bit. I grab a bow and a full quiver from the Cornucopia and scrabble up to the top of the horn to see the tributes. I shoot an arrow in the direction of the Three boy, but it misses. Then I shoot one at the Eight boy, and it hits him in the neck, and he falls to the ground in a spray of red.
I'm not going to waste any more arrows. I sling my quiver over my shoulder, and climb down. I go into the centre of the Horn, throwing away clothes and loaves of bread as I hear screams in the background. I find a spear, it'll do.
I run into the fray, and I see Jett stab a red-head in the chest with a spear, as Serena, Velvet, Ryder and Dylan guard our supplies and Mindy, Jett, Natalie, Eridan and I go into combat. Mindy is taking her time murdering a blonde girl, with two boys watching in horror. Eventually, one leads the other away as the girl bleeds out.
I can see a boy who has somehow found a knife, and he runs in to try and grab supplies. He gets in a fight with Ryder and Velvet, but he has a little bit of time because Velvet runs to get a better distance out of her chakram. Then a body collapses, with a knife in its chest. It's not the boy who ran in. He's running for his life now, with his ally.
Ryder is dead. He was a weak link, and we won't miss him that much, but I guess it'll be harder without someone else to kill for us.
Soon, the bloodbath has sort of stopped, and I count the loud cannons that we can hear. One, two, three, four, five, six. The optimum amount of death, so the Capitol will be satisfied with our bloodshed, but we can still get lots of death for them in the coming days.
Atlas Krothon, 12, District 5 Male
As soon as the gong rings, Decimal runs over to me, then we run to Persephone, and we hide, away from the Cornucopia. One of her hands covers my eyes, while I think the other might be covering Persephone's.
I can hear screams, and the sound of heavy things hitting the ground. Corpses, I guess. No wonder Decimal doesn't want us to see.
I actually sort of like the arena. The room we were just in looks like an awesome place called an arcade that I heard about. They're whole places filled with video games! I saw before Decimal closed my eyes a red structure outside the room, so it might be something else cool. I also noticed that there was a hole in the roof above the Cornucopia, which showed a moon in the sky, even though it was daytime. Weird.
Soon, I can feel someone turning us around, and Decimal lets us see again. We're facing outwards, and Zeus is here with two backpacks, one of which she gives to Decimal.
"Great job, Zeus!", says Decimal, "but where's Robin?" I can see her eyes widening, then tears falling.
"She….," said Zeus softly, "she…..didn't make it out. I'm so sorry."
Persephone starts crying softly, and I don't know what to do. Robin's dead, and she's probably why I'm alive at this point too. She went in there for us. I'm rooted to the ground, shocked.
"It wasn't your fault, Zeus," murmurs Decimal quietly, "Come on, we need to get out of here."
I don't move, even when the others are. Robin can't be dead, she was nice, her soup wasn't even that bad. I was being dumb in training to treat her like I did. I didn't know I would miss her so much.
So that's why, when I leave, I throw my TravelGame, the thing I used to cherish so much, into the dust. It's time to grow up.
Cyan Crosser, 18, District 11 Male
When we rose into the arena, I couldn't believe my luck.
I was in the middle of my allies, Taylor to the left, Nelly to the right. We could run in together, and it would be easy.
Then I hear Nelly's voice. She's reciting rhymes in a confident voice.
The sunny skies look over me
I'm ready for the fight
The moon skies will look over me
Deep into the night
When I taste victory
I will wear a smile
For I would have won this
For Mum, and Dad, and Kyle
The sunny skies look over me
In here while I fly high
The moon skies will look over me
When I know that I won't die
She keeps repeating that poem again and again, even when the Six boy blows up, she's getting louder and louder every stanza, so she's practically screaming when the gong rings.
We run into the centre, and I see a medical symbol on a white box. I run for it and grab it, it's the only tool I need. Taylor's got a machete, and Nelly's got a… no, no, no! The murderess from 11, Mindy, is standing over Nelly, and she uses three knives to pin her to the ground while my ally screams. Taylor's as shocked as I am, but soon, we run out of the bloodbath, leaving Nelly behind.
She was so confident that she would get home and see her family, but she was one of the first to die. She was just a child, deep inside the scared tribute, using humour like medicine. She didn't deserve to be here, but none of us did.
May you fly in the sunny skies, Nelly, I whisper, and I leave Nelly behind forever. Now, I have to protect Taylor.
Eridan Medea, 17, District 2 Male
After the bloodbath and the cannons, my alliance sits down in front of me, and I address our current situation.
"That was a good run, everybody," I start, "though you leave a lot to be desired in terms of bloodshed. Does everyone have their weapon?"
Jett holds up a spear, Gemma a bow, Natalie a flail, Dylan a trident, Serena another spear, Velvet her chakrams, and Mindy her knives. I hold up my katana, not spoiled by blood. I killed the Twelve girl by drowning her.
"Interesting. How many kills?"
"One," says Gemma.
"One," adds Jett.
"Zero," says Natalie.
"Good grief, Gamemakers will give tens to anyone nowadays," I say, unimpressed with the poor showing of Natalie.
"I was finding a flail," she says, irritated, "They put it in the most hidden place in the Horn."
"Well, I had one kill," I say, "A very impressive kill, if I do say so myself. Feferi will be very proud of me by now, and Sollux will be peeing his pants because he's so inferior."
"Who?", asks Serena.
"None of your business," I say. She should learn to keep to herself, she can be very annoying.
"Whatever," says Dylan, "Serena and I got no kills, we were busy guarding the supplies."
"Passable," I reply. I didn't expect any better from Fours.
"I didn't get any either," said Velvet, "That stupid Nine boy dodged my chakrams!"
"Pathetic," I say, "Why are you all so incompetent! How many kills did Ryder get, oh wait, he didn't get kills, he GOT KILLED! CAPITOL, FEATURE RYDER LAPIERRE AS THE WORST CAREER IN THE WORLD!"
"I got a kill," said Mindy, "and it was glorious."
"Good to see SOME of us have some sense," I say, "That baby Sollux back at home would probably do better than you! And do you know how untalented he is? I'm going hunting, I expect all of you to organise our supplies by the time I get back, or one of you will be dying a lot earlier than necessary. Got it?"
My allies nod, and I know Feferi would be proud of how I handled those losers. Heck, if I got out of the Games now, she'd probably marry me on the spot! I'd love to see her again, and I'd die happy if we could become husband and wife.
Surprise! A quick update! Did you like this chapter? Did I write everything okay? How do you feel about the alliances and the death? I would have made this chapter longer, but I think it just says what it needs to say without being long.
Eulogies: 24TH PLACE: Hugo Vantruger, D6M, Blown up by the Capitol for suspected rebellion
Hugo was a good character with an interesting backstory, but I just can't see him being happy as a Victor, or the Capitol sparing him. You provided a great contrast to Persephone, and everyone seemed to like that. But alas, your time is up. At least you'll be able to see Julius again in the afterlife! Thank you GalacticCoach for this wonderfully complex character!
23RD PLACE: Katerina William, D12F, Drowned by Eridan Medea
Katerina, I'm sorry, but no one really seemed to like you as much as the other tributes. You were fun with the basketball and all that, but you just seemed like a bit of a Katniss clone. I am infinitely sorry for portraying you as a bit of a Sue when you could have been so much better. Thank you calebbeers21 for Katerina, you still have Taylor to cheer for!
22ND PLACE: Vester Mortana, D8M, Shot by Gemma LeBrilliant
Raise your hand everyone who didn't see this coming. (no hands)…Vester, Vester, Vester. Everyone knew you were going to be a bloodbath. I was going to surprise them and have you survive, but it was either you or Jason Hendrix who had to go, and no, offense, I liked Jason a lot better than you. My condolences to BirkaranDaReader, at least he scored higher than you expected!
21ST PLACE: Robin Wood, D5F, Speared by Jett LeBrilliant
First, I want to clear things up. It was a mistake that Robin was re-submitted, the submitter submitted a different tribute with the same name to the story, forgetting that another Robin Wood exists, so it is not because of that that Robin died. Robin was an amazing tribute, she led the second-biggest alliance in this year's Games, and I just loved her. Alas, she had to die, because I wanted the other tributes in that alliance to have another goal: to avenge their leader. I am very sorry, I believe in nargles too, and thank you so much for Robin!
20TH PLACE: Nelly Solace, D7F, Knifed (or something) by Mindy Desperationis
NELLY! Oh my goodness, I made you to be just another bloodbath that nobody really liked that much but NO. Everyone loved you, and I was so surprised! You were great to write with your poetry (even though I'm an awful poet) and your jokes, and you were just too young to die! Rest in peace Nelly.
19TH PLACE: Ryder Lapierre, D10M, Stabbed by Leonard Wallace
Oh, Ryder, where did it go wrong? You were even withdrawn from the story you were submitted to, and everything! Alas, there needed to be at least one Career death, and you were the weakest one. I know your death was REALLY unrealistic, but it needed to happen. Sorry, Ryder. Thanks to TehTempler for Ryder, at least you still have Thorn!
By the way, the arena is the two most popular suggestions combined: An arcade, with a dance floor (somewhere), in the middle of an amusement park.
Thank you for your support, without it, this would be another barren wasteland of a story with only two chapters, but look at us now! We're at twenty-one! Thank you all infinitely for following Moon Skies!