Day II: Part Two

~Diseased~

The cold river located halfway across the arena was cold and chilled Nan to the bone. She didn't have the nearby luxuries that Safin and Aurelia had. Aurelia being nearby the ocean, and Safin being able to drink all the water he could ever want by himself. Thanks to Safin's iodine droplets from his pack, she gladly takes the water after its purified. The water drips past Nan's neck as she pours it into her mouth. Her grateful angle seemed to be following her throughout these past few days.

She watches Aurelia swim in the freezing river with the average flowing currents and partly shallow waters. She would expect nothing less from her district four allies.

Safin's head jerks in a sudden moment and Nan questions it instantly. Another noise that has caught Safin's attention makes it way into the clearing. "Get into the water, quickly." He says as he wades into the river.

Nan follows him, her body moving more clumsily than Safin's. She's not used to the ways of the water like them. Aurelia looks at the two of them confused before the pieces come together in her mind and she dunks her head under the water. As soon as they are both located in the deepest part of the river, Safin says almost inaudibly, "Hold your breath", then pushes himself under the somewhat clear waters dragging young Nan with him.

Back in district four, there were pools with handles at the bottom to help the younger kids learn how to stay in place under the water, without floating the top like a dead fish. Nan had never had that, her body threatened to surface from under the water. Safin has to hover his body over hers to keep the incident from happening.

Nan can barely make out Nirvana's blurry figure manifesting above the stream. The girl from district twelve has her hands on a silver knife, the deadly metal reflecting beams of light from the sun. Her district partners are close behind her. She sees Lucas and another boy who looks strangely familiar.

After a minute of holding her breath she can't take it any more; the tiniest of air slips from her mouth creating a bubble that rises to the surface. Nan waits for a knife to come flying into the water with her, or the scythe in Luke's hand to greet her with a sheer pain. But nothing comes for her. The triangle of tributes walks off after they've gotten their water and re-gathered their items.

Safin looks Nan in the face. Her puffed cheeks and green eyes waiting for the relief that waits above the stream. Nan can tell that Safin wants to wait it out to see if Nirvana and the others are playing a trick, but the look on her face makes him sorrowful. The two swim up to the surface with Aurelia at their back.

Nan gasps for the oxygen around her as she crawls onto the rocky flooring, stones digging into her hands and knees. Safin gives her a gratifying smile. He's somewhat proud of her. Safin's own sister wouldn't be able to hold her breath that long.

Aurelia who has just emerged from the water wipes the grin off Safin's face. Her eyes red as cherry and her mouth releasing loud, conspicuous coughs. Safin didn't know that the gamemakers play this hard to win.

XxXxXxXxXx

Daisy's wounded leg with the covering of the bloodstained cloth has been slowing her down for the past day. Her mission to follow Ren and Shay throughout the start of the games hasn't exactly been working out. All the years of abuse from her parents and she's never felt this bad.

All the horrors of her childhood slap Daisy in the face. "Why do I bother trying?" She whispers to the wind. Her parents have cursed her,diseased her.The fame and fortune she earns will only be a substitute for the money that is lost in the drugs her parents want so badly.

Daisy's back, sore and raw from the overthrowing heat, slumps against the tree. Ren and Shay haven't been back for over an hour. She is not worried though; Daisy has already heard what Ren and Shay are looking for.

It's a second bloodbath, another bloody reminiscence that will burn into the tribute's brain afterwards.How many will be killed this time? Even worse- What if one of them is Daisy herself?

Daisy looks at the two backpacks she was able to grab during the first bloodbath. She has all the water she'll need for the rest of the games. And the food is okay. It is better than the stuff she gets at home.

"So in the end, when it comes to you and me; I don't care who you are. You're dead,"The statement runs through Daisy's mind over and over, like someone pressed the repeat button on her thoughts and forgot to reset her afterwards. She has to laugh at her silly remark made during the interviews.What a perfect way to get yourself killed Daisy.

XxXxXxXxXx

"You know that if we stay there's a sure chance we're going to be dead by morning." Riley usually never bothered to talk to the girl. He thought all she would do in response is roll her eyes and walk away.

"Just because the rest of them couldn't find a way to kill the district five girl, doesn't mean we'll be dead by tomorrow," Lexi stands up straight. "It just means that we'll be in the games with these idiots longer."

"That's just another reason to leave them."

"That's just another person for them to try to hunt down," Her voice is cold. "Why can't we just kill them instead?" The low hum of Lexi's voice disperses through the humid forest. The only ears to hear it is Riley now by her side. The words are music to his ears.

After a quick thought to it, the words triumphantly spill out of Riley's voice: "Tomorrow I'll take Julian and Apollo to go hunting for tributes. It'd be smarter to kill them separately than in a large group."

Lexi stifles a laugh, "You really think that just because you were able to fight Julian off in the training center, you'll be able to kill him now, in the games? Yeah right. I'll take him." She looks at the earthly flooring, biting her tongue to say anything more about her stuck-up district partner. "Asshole thinks he can kill me. I knew the minute I looked into his eyes at the reapings he'd be my kill."

"What about the girl? If she's smart enough to fool Julian, she'll be smart enough to interfere with your plan or at least run from the scene before you can catch her," Riley says before sipping water from his silver canteen.

"Amelia?" another laugh, "She's the least of my troubles. Something in these games will get her. Whether it's me or you, I doubt it will be a struggle. So, do we have a deal?"

Riley runs his fingers through his hair with a smug smile, "Deal."

XxXxXxXxXx

Light's hands grip the thick rope for what feels like the thousandth time. His hands are worn down and raw.This is what it must feel like to work in district four,he keeps telling himself. Gracefully, Light swings over to the other side of the cliff- the side that he had slept on all night- now with furry animal pelts draping over his filled backpack.

A silver gleam catches the district twelve tribute's eye and Light's heart stops cold. At first, his mind wanders off to thinking the shine must have come from another tribute below the drop-off, but nothing, not even weaponry they could have been holding, could be that small, Arabella?

The loss of focus causes Light to stumble onto the other side of the miniature cliff, his feet jumbling out in front of him in panic. After gaining steadiness, Light slowly walks toward the edge of the cliff and looks straight down at the silver circle,her ring.A wide smile spreads across Light's face, and the storminess in his frigid blue eyes, calm.

Slowly, and extremely carefully, Light repels down the cliff, hoping the sharp rocks at the bottom don't drill into Light's body in return. Using the small, more levitated ledge at the bottom to stand on, Light bends down and picks up the ring. The diamonds seem to be in place, not cracked or corrupted. And the pale gold stone in the middle is still as round and delicate as Arabella's eyes.

The smile on Light's face diminishes fast.Where's Arabella?Even if the rocks did get her, there seems to be no sign of death in any way.Did the stream that runs through the drop-off wipe away any remains of her? Her name wasn't in the sky last night was it? Surely it wasn't, he would have remembered. But he can't remember anyone else who was in the skies, what if he somehow missed her golden eyes looking down on him? If she was, could it have been too hurtful to think of?No.

Light climbs up the rope- his hands aching, heart braking- he will find Arabella, whether she's still in the arena or not.

XxXxXxXxXx

"So are we just going to sit in this tree for the rest of the games? Or are we actually going to do something?" Shay asks hanging upside-down on a branch. Her pigtails swing back and forth helplessly.

Ren smiles and yawns at the sun fading away with the pink sky. "I don't see why not. We're surrounded by animals. There are plenty of trees to hide in."

Shay pulls herself up on the branch and sits next to her district partner; her ally; her friend; her true love. "Except for the fact that it rains every day, then turns into a hot savannah and if we're unlucky enough, it hails or snows on us the rest of the day."

"Personally, the way you described it, it sounds kind of fun. It's like we're going through all the seasons at full speed," He shrugs with a tiny smirk, "And we even get our own romantic movie moment every night with the pink and purple skies when the sun goes down. Look- it even has those small, fluffy clouds like marshmallows."

Shay can't hide her smile that seems to come into view whenever she's with Ren. All this time she had never thought of Ren being so lovable. "You're the only person I know who enjoys being in the Hunger Games."

He scoffs, "I don't enjoy the Hunger Games. I just think that staying in this one spot might do some good things… I enjoy being with you though." Usually Ren's kisses are like trivial bursts of joy, but now, now Shay's lips tingle with excitement and want. The world could end right now and she would be okay with it. She doesn't need weapons or food; she has everything she needs to survive just by sitting in this tree with Ren.

XxXxXxXxXx

Descending through the purpled sky was a small box with a silver parachute.A sponsor gift!Zane grabbed it quickly. Nirvana and Luke were helping prepare the fish they had caught earlier behind him. They had still not noticed the gift in Zane's hand. Flipping the small flap of cardboard, he opens the box to reveal a white pill canister.

Zane observes the purple pills carefully. He places one on his tongue gradually. With a quick reflex he spit the pill out and drinks large gulps of water to wash out the taste.Nightlock.

He never thought of Nightlock being put into a Euthanasia pill. Luke bumps into Zane's left arm causing him to spill a few pills.Luke.Naturally, Zane was a pretty happy person, but just the sound of Luke's name, gave the urge to get rid of the boy.

"I'm going to start a small fire for the night. It's just going to be too cold tonight to go without one. I haven't seen any careers either, we should be safe." Nirvana says picking up a piece of flint. Luke goes to help her and Zane is left to prepare the fish.

Most preparations have already been finished, Zane slips a few purple pills into a certain fish that will go to Luke before the two have finished making a fire and comes to grab the fish to fry. Nirvana grabs Zanes fish for him while he puts his sponsor gift back in his backpack and the knife they used to cut the fish.

When he gets back, his stomach turns. The fish looks smaller. Did the fish get mixed up? Surely if it did, it would have been between Zanes and Nirvana's fish. Luke seems to have the same fish. He calm himself down for the fire so he can fry the fish. Everything will be just fine. Luke will be gone and then Zane will have Nirvana all to himself.

XxXxXxXxXx

The capitol anthem is as loud and obnoxious as it was the day before, as demanding as the interviews and the Opening Ceremonies. Few are in the sky tonight. Safin recognizes the little girl from eleven. He isn't surprised about her, it seemed she was a bigger target in the games than her herself. The boy from eight is in the skies too. Safin remembers him from training, he had a seven.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Nan says sitting next to Safin.

"You should be asleep." Safin smiles.

"Don't say you don't need another hand taking watch tonight, you could use all that you could get." Nan usually had a strong, courageous voice that defied the small person the sound came from, but now all she had left was whispers. Safin doesn't reply to little Nan, he just stares at the blank skies with the occasional sprinkle of glitter overlaying the azure atmosphere. "What's it like? In district four I mean."

He takes in a breath, "Well, if you're lucky, you can buy a house near the piers, or on the beach. Most like it because of the easy access they can get to work when they need to get to the boats; I like it for the waves crashing against the rocks at night. I don't know why; or if the whole district is the same, but no one seems to stop and see how lucky we are to have such a beautiful home."

"Do you have a home on the beach?"

"Yes, my dad bought it when I was young so that the minute he got home from fishing season, my sisters and I would be able to see him the minute he stepped off the boat."

Nan lets out along breath, one that sounds like the chime of Elisabeth's name to her ears. She just misses her so much. "Do you work on the boats with him now that you're older?"

"No, I work, but not with him. He died from a disease in our district when I was five or so. It comes from a capitol mutation that was released into the district's waters. It creates a nasty disease. Few catch it, but the ones who do are supposed to have a long and painful death." The district four boy looks at his sleeping district partner behind him. "It's going to be a long week, Nan."

Her heart gives a curious andnot-so-comfortable-anymorethump, and then she asks: "What do you mean?"

"The waters we were hiding in earlier this day was filled with a capitol fish mutation. It is the same one that was released into the district's waters and the same one that killed my father with the disease. Nan…Aurelia has that disease."


A/N: Well that sucks… I feel like I should say something better than "that sucks" since I'm responsible for this fiction… Thatreallysucks. But on the Brightside, I haven't mentioned if the disease was curable or not. ;)

Next time I upload I'm hopefully not going to have Nan, Aurelia, or Safin start or end the chapter. Because I've noticed a familiar pattern with the arena chapters so far. (Even though for some reason Nan happens to make the best cliffies, haha…)

Don't forget to sponsor you're tributes, time may be running out. Ways to earn sponsor points this chapter:(You can earn up to $2200 in this chapter!Get working!)

-Comment on the chapter ($50)

-Do you think Aurelia will ever be cured? ($50) And if she does, how do you think it will happen? ($100)

-How do you think the 2ndBloodbath will work-out? ($100) What tributes do you think will participate? (Consider the fact that a lot of the tributes don't even know what will be happening during this time) [$50]

-Will Lexi and Riley's plan to kill off the other careers go as planned? ($50) Depending on your last answer, how do you think it will all happen? ($100-$200 depending on details)

-Will Light find Arabella? ($50)

-Do you think Zane had it coming for him when he tried to put the purple nightlock pills in Luke's food? ($50)

-If you can get another friend, to read a chapter and review the story- $1500 is all yours. *Note: I'mNOTdoing this for more reviews, or for more people to read my story; I just want to see how committed you are. You don't have to do this, and I won't blame you if you don't, because most likely I wouldn't do it either. ;P

Just a reminder: Don't waste all your money now on big things. I assure you we still have a lot more coming up in these games. *Spoiler Alert Ahead* Some tributes will be spending up to 2 weeks in these games. :0

I'm glad you're all still alive and that I'm not uploading all to myself. I loved hearing from you guys so keep it up!

Love you, Fifi

P.S. If you love me you'll review, favorite, and/or subscribe ;)