Disclaimer: If someone else owns it, then I do not.

Chapter 26

White Parachutes

"They stole our food!" Hermione said. "Those-"

"Poor tributes who probably didn't have any other choice," Miri cut in. "Besides, they didn't steal all of our food."

"Miri's right," Harry agreed. "We'll be fine with what we have."

Hermione deflated a little. "Still, they stooped pretty low, stealing from us."

"Well, we pushed one of them through a wall, so it's probably even," Miri rationalized. "And I don't know how it is in five, but we in twelve are used to small rations."

"I am too," Harry added. "My aunt and uncle raised me, and they haven't been overly generous with food."

"I guess you're right," Hermione relented. "But we should try out some traps."

"Thankfully, I practiced traps during training," Miri said. "We'll have a defense system in no time."

"Oh, look at that poisonous-looking smoke over there," Flynn observed. "And how it's nice and far from us."

Jason followed Flynn's eyes to a nasty-looking cloud of smoke coming from what must have been the castle.

"Haven't heard any cannons," Wanda muttered.

Flynn made a face. "Yeah. Can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Means we still have farther to go," Jason stated. "But I guess it also means less deaths."

Wanda shook her head. "The same amount of people are going to die as always. Nothing we can do can stop that."

Jason sighed. "I guess you're right. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

It was weird, knowing that if Jason survived, his two new allies would be dead. They had been more than welcoming - helping him clean and bandage his shoulder, and finding him water to drink - and Jason found more and more that he was dreading their deaths.

If only there was something he could do about it.

Isi took a bite from her breakfast -a cooked goat leg.

"Still no cannons," Arthur muttered, pacing the entrance of the cave. "It must be driving the game makers insane."

Isi swallowed her food. "Which, in turn, is driving you insane."

Arthur nodded. "It's not like I wish something would happen I just-"

"Want something to happen," Isi finished. "I'll admit, I'm a little worried too."

Finn shrugged. "I'm not. What will happen will happen."

Isi sighed. "You're a hard man to worry, Finn. But I guess worrying is pointless."

"And we can't do anything without giving up our water source," Arthur added. "So as long as staying here is our best course of action, we'll just have to wait for the action to find us."

Moana's and Sadie's sticks collided.

"You'll do better if you keep your hands further apart," Moana suggested, stepping back. "Like I'm doing."

Sadie adjusted her grip and tried again. "I think I'm getting the hang of it."

"Does look like that," Carter commented from the sideline, inspected his staff.

That morning, the tributes had woken to find three wooden staffs by their campsite, white parachutes over them, despite the fact that they hadn't done anything to get sponsors, and that the weapons had to be expensive. And now they were trying to learn how to use them.

Muffin meowed in agreement, and Moana had to wonder if the cat was part of the reason that the sponsors took notice.

"Chicago, I think," David said. "No - Newcago. And it was all steel."

"All steel?" Megan asked, whacking away a tree branch as she walked. "Are you sure you're remembering that correctly?"

David nodded. "Yes. Even the grass was made of steel."

Megan frowned. "That seems... strange."

David shrugged. "It's all I can remember. That and a name: Firefight."

Sadie's arms burned from the workout, but she had to admit she liked the staffs.

And three of them? Sadie couldn't believe their luck. Moana taught Sadie how to catch fish with the staff, despite the fact that she herself struggled too, and they had seafood for breakfast.

Something that Muffin seemed to enjoy.

Cassandra was just about to fall asleep when something fell next to her.

The three allies were hidden between the concrete building and the wall, having collapsed there after their heist. Without a ceiling, things had a habit of falling around them - but this time, Cassandra couldn't complain.

"White parachute," she said, tapping Ezekiel on the shoulder with her foot. Peter was already up and untangling their gift.

"Pliers," he said, frowning in confusion. And then his eyes widened.

"Pliers," Cassandra repeated, remembering the beat-up buildings on the other side of the castle. They, unlike the building they originally took shelter in, had electric lines, hadn't they?

Ezekiel grinned. "Pliers."

The three of them grabbed what supplies they had left and moved to the ballroom.

"The concrete building might be best," Miri suggested.

Harry shook his head. "I would go for the forest."

"No, we can set up traps in the building better," Hermione stayed. "And theres no telling how many other tributes are in the forest."

"And if there's tributes in that building?" Harry questioned.

"They won't sneak up on us like the forest."

"You do realize you still drool in your sleep, right?" Annabeth teased Percy when she saw his eyes flicker open.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Good morning to you, Wise Girl."

Annabeth smiled. "There seemed to be action last night - we saw smoke when we woke up - so hopefully it will be a quiet day."

Percy propped himself up. "That's good. I was thinking we could try to find the ocean. See how far these... abilities of mine go."

"That's one course of action," Annabeth agreed. "We could leave Tris on guard for the day."

"Have a little hike - just you and me," Percy added.

Annabeth smiled. "Sounds like a good way to spend a day in the middle of a fight to the death."

Peter, Cassandra, and Ezekiel gathered around the pile of dirt Cassandra had brought into the building.

"I was thinking a design like this," Peter said, drawing in the dirt.

"That's good," Cassandra replied. "But what about something like this?" She drew her own design.

Peter nodded. "That's good, but it might be better if you did this instead of that."

He added a few corrections to the design.

"Also, we could do something like this," Ezekiel suggested, drawing a third design. "I made something like that when I broke into the train last year."

"There's plenty of wire," Peter added. "We could probably do all three."

"Then let's get plying!" Cassandra said.

Arthur watched the sky, wondering how the other tributes were keeping the attention away from him and trying to decide if the quiet was actually better than the action.

"You're just going to leave me here?" Tris asked.

"We'll be back before you know it," Annabeth replied. "Don't worry, you can handle yourself."

And with that, Tris's two allies left her to be the sole defender of the cornucopia.

Also, I'm pretty sure Percy doesn't drool in his sleep anymore, and I'm not even sure where that dialogue came from, but it fits the story, so...