Chapter Thirty Six: Wrath of the Elements

When the sun rose the next morning Astra was a little surprised that she was still alive. Though at this thought she internally scolded herself thinking such a thing. Lyra wasn't a monster, she knew that. But all the same their alliance was over, and to push it would mean certain death. Something in Lyra had snapped, and Astra had a feeling it had been broken for longer then she realised. It was probably best for both of them if they went their separate ways for however long either of them had left to live.

Sticking her head out of the small burrow cautiously she glanced around the forest at the snow banks, the icicles hanging from the trees and the bare, ice covered rocks. It was cold, and getting colder, as it always did in-between kills. Inside her burrow it wasn't too bad, the thick earth and rocks seemed to trap heat quite nicely. Sliding back inside she sat back on her sleeping mat and pulled her pack over to her.

Now she was on her own she had to plan out her strategy. While she knew that her chances of surviving to the end were slim, all the same she wasn't about to run up to the careers and ask that they kill her just to get it out of the way. In fact, she was more determined than she had ever been to find some way to maybe, just maybe, survive and get home.

If she could find a decent hiding place, like the one she had now then maybe she could wait it out and hope that the others would kill each other. That was unlikely though; the Game makers always liked a dramatic face off at the end between the final two. And then there was the problem of food and hunting. Yes, she could hunt, if she needed to, but that in itself was dangerous. She would be out in the open, by herself, when she was now the weakest player left in the games.

Sitting back against the wall of the burrow Astra carefully counted off on her fingers who was left, 'Orion, Lyra, Seir, Kali…the Guy from Eight what's his name... Greg and…' she trailed off, unable to think of the final person.

Shrugging she rested her chin in her hand to think. She could maybe survive, maybe, if she planned this out well. It was all so hard, to do all this by herself. Yes, she had stuck out by herself at the very start, but it had not been easy, and then there had been a much bigger pool of tributes for the careers to hunt. Now she was probably the centre of their attention, no doubt they would be coming after her because she was the weakest link in these games now.

The wisest thing for her to do would be to find an alliance. And there was only one person left in this arena that she could go to now. She needed to find Orion.

…

As night had set in Greg had at last ceased his merciless torture of Orion in favour of sleep. Of course Orion had been bound tightly to a nearby tree, the ropes pulled so tight he could hardly breathe and any movement made them rip a little more into his skin. None the less, exhausted and weakened severely Orion had almost at once fallen into a deep yet troubled sleep, only to woken the next morning by a sharp slap to the face. Stiffly he raised his head to see Greg standing over him, looming large against the grey clouds overhead.

'How was your sleep little one?' Greg asked, smiling cruelly as he uncapped Orion's flask.

Gratefully Orion swallowed the water which was offered to him, but when Greg offered him what appeared to be left over rabbit from the night before he turned his head away, knowing he couldn't stomach food. Still smiling Greg stood and moved around the tree, pulling his knife from his belt. Orion felt the circulation flow back into his limbs as the ropes loosened, though he was far from thankful for it, he didn't want to think about what would come next.

As the ropes fell away he was tempted to bolt, but before he could do more than process the single hopeful thought, Greg seized his arm and dragged him away from the tree, toward the low burning fire. Glancing at it properly for the first time Orion noticed it was mainly just glowing coals. The psychotic grin on Greg's face confirmed one thing; whatever was coming next, he wasn't going to like it.

Dumping him down next to the fire, Greg set about unlacing Orion's mud covered boots. Quickly guessing what was about to happen, Orion lashed out and tried to scramble away. Unstartled Greg reacted faster, pinning Orion back down, and jamming his fist against one of the raw, open wounds on Orion's leg. Gritting his teeth, determined not to cry out, he was distracted long enough for Greg to pull off one of his boots and jam his now bare foot into the coals of the fire.

Blistering pain radiated from where his skin made contact with the glowing coals, blasting up his leg. He stiffened and on instinct tried to pull his leg away. Greg seemed quite content to relax his hold on his ankle, allowing Orion to pull away from him. As Orion attempted to regulate his breathing and recover his breath, Greg deftly unlaced his other boot.

'Not again,' Orion tried to scoot away but Greg simply dragged him back and without ceremony pressed his other foot into the coals.

He couldn't contain the yelp which passed his lips. When at last Greg released him, he crawled away from the fire like a wounded dog, desperately wishing that there would be some snow close enough to the fire for him to reach. Greg never allowed him to make it that far, wrenching him up onto his knees.

'If you want to get to the snow, you're going to have to walk,' he hissed.

Orion's eyes widened slightly and he shook his head desperately, 'I can't,' he wavered.

Smiling cruelly, Greg pulled him up, 'you don't have a choice.'

The second he set Orion on his feet, the intense agony which blazed from his burned soles was too much and he collapsed back to the wet floor, breath coming in sobbing heaves. Not about to take no for an answer Greg wrenched him back to his feet.

'Walk or I start removing toes.'

Seeing the knife in Greg's hand was enough to tell Orion that he wasn't joking. Gingerly he took a step, his teeth clenched so tight his jaw ached. His legs wobbled but he remained standing. He made it a few more steps before he collapsed again, but this time he managed to force himself up on his accord knowing that complaints were exactly what Greg wanted to hear.

After what seemed like an eternity of limping steps and collapsing, Orion eventually felt the blissful freezing snow under his feet. He slumped, exhausted but at last free of the burning agony. Greg stood over him, nodding as if he was impressed by the strength of Orion's will.

This didn't last long before Greg seemed to tire of waiting and without warning knocked Orion around the head hard enough to send him thudding to the ground.

...

Lyra hadn't slept all night; she was sitting there against a tree, immobile. Her eyes were glazed over like she wasn't entirely conscious of anything around her. She stared blankly at the landscape before her as the rising sun cast shadows through the tree. She was so still that frost had formed in a thin layer over her face, making her skin slightly blue. Despite her complete lack of motion which had lasted since she turned on Astra, she suddenly moved her head.

She was looking towards the west, blinking slowly making ice drip off her eyelashes. She stared intently at something in the distance, completely invisible to all but her. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it, it's what she'd been following all day yesterday. She needed to understand what it was, why she was seeing what she was seeing. She slowly rose from her seating position into a crouch and began slinking forward, animalistic in her movements, staying low. Bit by bit she inched forward, getting closer and closer to what she was seeing. Once she was near however she stopped suddenly.

She stared forward, looking at the head and shoulders she could see through the trees. A boy was standing not ten feet away from her. He was tall and somewhat muscled; he wasn't facing her so she couldn't see his face. Though she could catch glimpses of his golden skin and bristly black hair through the branches. Usually whenever she drew near to the figure, it would only get further and further away. This time it stayed exactly where it was, and she moved hesitantly towards it.

When the figure turned it nearly gave her a heart attack, because she found herself looking into a familiar pair of dark eyes, 'I-I-Ike?...' she whispered in a heart breaking, pained tone.

He just gazed at her, not saying a word, completely motionless, 'Ike? Is that you? It can't be you...' Lyra choked out.

She stepped slightly closer, reaching out for his hand, trying to convince herself of whether or not it was real, but he pulled his hand away and took a step back, 'You're really enjoying yourself aren't you?

'You're dead,' Lyra whispered

'How can you be so heartless?' he asked cruelly.

'...How are you here? How can you be…? No, no, this isn't possible… this isn't… no. I won't believe this. I can't believe this...' Lyra said shaking her head wildly, his face in the sky that horrible night had confirmed it, he was dead.

She'd fallen so far, yet the most twisted part of her brain was reminding her of something that made her feel truly selfish. If Ike hadn't been dead, if it was all a big misunderstanding she had killed two people, she'd descended into insanity, she had become the monster they'd wanted, for nothing. Everything she'd done, every struggled breath, was all for Ike. Every time she'd attacked Orion, it all had been to avenge the only person that she'd never doubted the friendship between them. If he was alive, if he had somehow survived, it was all for nothing.

That selfishness in her was being quickly overwhelmed by relief that she was trying to maintain. The sanity that was left in her system was desperate to remind her that this was all in her head. However the rest of her was so desperate for Ike to be alive, that she couldn't handle it.

'I thought you were dead...' she whispered.

'Well the universe seems to enjoy proving you wrong,' he replied flatly before muttering, 'Still can't believe...'

'Still can't believe what? What Ike?' Lyra asked desperately.

'What the hell did you do? Astra, Orion, I don't understand,' he said.

Lyra stared at him, 'But… but… now that I have you, everything's going to be okay right? You're okay, I can be okay. You'll come with me right?'

'No, I'm fine here,' he replied shortly.

'What?'

'There is no point now; you're always up to something. Botis, dead. Shimmer, dead. Sure you can manage it? Can you just let it go? You are never going to be separate from them, even with death,' he said disjointedly and Lyra felt a sheer cold sweep through her system, Ike would never talk to her like that, and yet he was.

'But Ike… it… it was all for you. I was trying to win for you…' she stuttered out, all logic and reasoning that she'd try to maintain falling apart.

'You really expect me to believe that?'

'Ike please, you have to believe me. I need you to know that, please,' she begged, tears gathering in her eyes.

Ike moved away from her, pulling away as she reached for his hand, 'Don't, just don't.'

…

Seneca Crane watched as the game makers surrounding him desperately tried to figure out how to regain control. Their holographic version of Ike was slowly backfiring, what had meant to be a tactic to spur Lyra back into her homicidal state and out of withdrawal seemed to be failing. Because as she broke down further and further, she no longer needed the voice clips to prompt a response. She was responding to things that weren't being said, they hadn't even started to assemble a response before she spoke again, clearly having heard something they weren't.

'Take the holograph away,' Seneca said hastily, trying to find a way to regain control, she was getting upset, not angry, and that was not the reaction he wanted.

When they removed the vision of Ike, Lyra continued to stare at the spot where he'd been, and then seemed to move her head, as if he was pacing away from her. She was hallucinating now; they'd poked the sleeping bear. And none of them knew what was going to happen next.

…

Lyra watched as Ike started to move away from her, and she desperately moved forward and grabbed at him, this time her hand finding his as he turned back to face her. His hand was in hers now and as he wrenched it free, she knew this was real. She had felt the familiar grip of his hand, and that was enough to convince herself that it was one hundred percent real. However that only seemed to make her feel more and more helpless, because if he was really here, he was really mad at her.

'Ike, please, you have to understand, I thought you were gone. I thought that you'd died, and I was so desperate to make things right. To tell the people you loved what you'd wanted me to tell them. I wanted to do right by you. Because I thought you'd died, and it was all my fault. Please, just say something; stop looking at me like that, I was trying so hard, for you, please.'

'If it really was for me then that's nice, but I'm having trouble believing that. Because quite frankly that just sounds like some delusion you've come up with to justify your actions. You're not going to use me as something to blame for how many attempted murders? What is it by now? Five maybe? Orion three times, Seir once and then there was Astra less than twenty four hours ago. Let's not forget your two successful ones either. Pin that all on me Lyra? I don't think so. When I was drawn from that reaping bowl and I stood across the stage from you, I knew then and there how dangerous you'd get. You had ever capability a career would have and it was all instinct. The moment you said you weren't sure if you'd ever be able to kill someone, I knew it was a lie. And so did you.'

Lyra stared at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly apart; hearing him lecture her was something she hadn't expected. He was reflecting every fear that had been raging in her mind back on her; he knew everything she'd ever doubted about herself. He knew all the pinpoints of her destruction, every element of her downfall. She'd been terrified since the day she first acted out that she was fooling herself into thinking this was all for Ike. And now he didn't even believe her, so why should she believe herself?

'Ike…' she whispered.

He just shook his head looking angry and ran off into the trees, and this time Lyra didn't chase after him. She stared after him, shaking not from cold but from shock and fear, the absolute certainty that she was turning into the monster they'd always wanted her to be. The monster the Capitol wanted to see. She collapsed into a heap against a tree, striking her head against it hard enough to shake the branches. Trying to rid herself of these images, trying to force herself to cling to the part of her brain trying to tell her she was hallucinating. Because she couldn't let it be true. She couldn't let her insanity be real.

…

Watching Orion thrash and feeling as he strained to pull up from where his head was submerged in water was a wonderful feeling. Greg smiled, adjusting his grip on Orion's head slightly, levering his head out of the water for a moment, watching as he gasped for air for a moment before he was plunged back under. The struggles intensified and Greg had to hand it to the District One boy. He wasn't giving up easily.

Eventually he pulled Orion's head out of the water fully and held him up on his knees. Water was streaming down Orion's face as he spat it out and coughed.

'Enjoying yourself?'

'Thoroughly,' Orion gasped, 'I enjoy being punished by all the elements in a short period of time.'

Greg was once again confused by yet another nonsensical comment which came out of the District one boy's mouth, 'huh?'

'Well, there was the avalanche, so snow, there was Lyra, which I think is the element of surprise, there was your knife, so metal slash earth, then you just had to go and use fire. Now I've had water all I need is for the Gamemakers to send in a tornado. Hey, Mr Crane sir, could you do that? You know, get rid of him with a tornado and let me live? Please?'

Saying nothing, Greg snorted and dunked Orion's head back under. For a time Orion was still, attempting to conserve oxygen, but as the seconds ticked by he started to strain against Greg's hand in an attempt to pull up. Gradually the struggles diminished, becoming minor convulsions before Greg felt him go limp.

With a satisfied smirk he dragged Orion away from the water and dumped him into the recovery position, thumping him roughly on the back a few times. After a minute or so Orion gagged, his eyes springing open as he vomited up the water in his lungs. He looked up at Greg slowly, terror reflected all across his face, which only made Greg laugh.

'So, are you up for round two?'

…

Surrounded by the most superior technology in Panem, the leader of the game makers paced uncomfortably back into the room. He'd just received another rather furious set of pleas from the District One Mentors, insisting that he do something to rid their tribute of his captor. Public opinion was vastly against the tortuous efforts of the boy from District Eight, but unless there was a direct order from President Snow his hands were tied.

'This is ridiculous Crane,' Plutarch insisted, who'd been monitoring the life signals for hours by this point, 'No one is enjoying this, the ratings are plummeting, we need to get rid of this Greg boy.'

'You know the rules Heavensbee,' he retorted angrily, 'I can't set a trap with the direct intention of killing a specific tribute unless the President orders it.'

'We have mentors from multiple districts, we have the people of the Capitol all of which are telling us to stop him,' Saffrah said hesitantly.

'I don't have my orders, and until we have them-'

'We could guide another tribute towards them,' Vayda spoke up suddenly, 'that wouldn't be a violation of the rules.'

Crane hesitated for a moment before briskly walking over to a nearby game maker's computer, 'Show me where the nearest tributes are to that clearing.'

'There are three within a similar distance to one another, the girls from districts four, seven and ten,' they replied, zooming out to show the signals being let off by the trackers were being shown.

'The only one who'll do anything to stop it is ten,' Plutarch commented darkly, 'the girl from seven might just watch it happen.'

Seneca paused for a long moment, considering the repercussions of what this action could accumulate to, before slowly nodding and announcing, 'Guide Astra in, she thinks she's the weakest link in the games, give her a chance to prove that she's not. This is going to be an interesting fight.'

Wassup everybody, long time no see!

Four and a half months, must be a record even for us… we're really, honest to god sorry everyone!

But unfortunately, as we've stated half a million times by now, we're in our final year of school, and I had a very large round of exams recently, so I just sort of holed myself up like a hermit crab and didn't come out.

I had the same exam block, plus this annoying thing called a major work… *jitters uncomfortably* it haunts my memories even now...

Ah, the joy of major works … taking up every waking moment and turning procrastination into a blessing from some heavenly being.

*Begins sobbing uncontrollably* I want to not work for a split second! Ally, do you think the reviewers are going to be mad at us for not updating?

Do you want my honest answer or the sugar coated one?

AHHH! QUICK BEG FOR THEIR FORGIVENESS!

By torturing Orion some more?

Dauntless Duck: Well Milly, sorry it's taken so incredibly long, but well, it's here now... we're so sorry for the wait! We're glad you're enjoying yourself and we hope you continue enjoying it. We hope we can continue updating as soon as possible, and we hope to maintain your support!

Orion Ehra: Ah yes, you and your logicality. You can be incredibly interesting to have a conversation with. I must thank you for your fan- ficseption, it was quite helpful in coming up with a few of the earlier scenes. May the light or whatever shine upon you to (where is that reference from by the way?)

Still Addicted: Keep calling yourself by a name, we become buddies with are regular reviewers! We're grateful that you're enjoying it and all the suspenseful moments that come with it, we've updated now, so sorry about the wait!

Guest: Here is the long awaited new chapter my dear!

Ciaraawrrr: Greg certainly is, he gives us supreme nightmares! Kali and Seir are incredibly fun to write together, but as Lyra always said they couldn't last long without the other. Hmm.. A hint... let us see... well... We're not good at hints, we'll try to think of one for the next chapter. Hope to see you next chapter and that you don't explode in the meantime!

LyzeeAnne: It certainly doesn't look like any of our pretties will make it out the way they're going right now does it? Well, we can always hope can't we. Ah yes, the wonderful Greg, you just gotta love to hate him.

GreenPokeGuy: ...We all hoped it wouldn't be for another couple of months to, but there's an HSC to be taken... Ugh! Orion's certainly in trouble now, and poor little Astra indeed! Seems you've figured out who the last tribute is but the question is, what will it mean when they finally emerge from hiding? We swear that it won't be four and a half months this time! Thanks as always for your review!

Earthling44: Indeed the Capital will find some way to possibly kill Greg off … possibly … who knows if their daring plan will succeed. Yes, the Careers and their knee injuries, they do deserve a bit of sympathy it seems at the moment. Good luck with your own inundation of course work my friend and hopefully you enjoyed the chapter.

Ugh… did we work hard enough? Have they forgiven us yet?

I don't know, perhaps we should ask them? Reviewers, have we been forgiven?

I don't hear anything… wait a second I have it! I know the cure… We should probably tell them that we had to write two chapters at the same time!

We did indeed. Which means that the second part to this is already written and ready to go!

Dear lovely readers if you soothe our fears of your hatred and disappointment by getting ten reviews in, we shall post the next chapter immediately!

That is a solemn promise to you! So read, enjoy and please let us know what you think.

Please do, we'll see you soon we promise!

~Selina

Ally :)

Additional Note from the Authors: In times that only one of us can find the time to write, we have been going through and updating older chapters of this story, the first two chapters have already received this treatment, go check it out!