I knew they were mad at us!
Either that or we just posted when they're all busy. Which is a much nicer option.
I guess so… I still miss our reviewers, hopefully this'll make a few more come back.
This is the fastest we've updated in years!
Yeah that's probably true, so let's quickly thank our reviewers and get into it!
Indeed, indeed!
DauntlessDuckling: Definitely glad that you thought so, but we've waited a couple of days, and the next chapter is here, so please weigh in and let us know what you think of our newest chapter.
Orion Ehra: Yes, you were helpful last time! Odd, I know. A slightly creepy teddy bear, but a teddy bear none the less. Actually, we do have a diagnosis for this type of insanity, but it would be very odd to just suddenly start naming it in the middle of the chapter. But, beating someone to death with a brick is dull … you can't write a 37+ chapter fanfiction on that. As for Greg, he will stay right the way he is. You may be able to stomach a fair amount of blood and guts in descriptions but there are people who can't. Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter Thirty Seven: Subversion
In the living room of the Ehra family's house, Astoria was seated on the floor only a few feet from the television, her eyes glued to the screen. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched in horrified silence as the monster from District eight continued his relentless torture of her son. Not far away Alcor stood by the door, his fists bruised from where he had struck the wall several times. Caelum Ehra watched furiously the actions taking place in the Capitol, angry and disbelieving that anyone would have the nerve to do this to his grandchild. His hands were tightly grasping at his coat, veins popping out along his knuckles before he turned and yelled at his son:
'Are you happy now Alcor? He obeyed you and volunteered and now look at him. This is all your fault!'
In response to her son's cries of pain Astoria buried her head in her knees, covering her ears, unable to watch anymore. Alcor said nothing; he was simply staring down at the floor, the walls, anywhere but at the screen. Behind the glass of the television, Orion shrieked again and Caelum heard the distinctive thud of Alcor slamming his fist once again into the now slightly dented wall.
'I didn't want this,' Alcor muttered.
'Well what did you want?' Caelum rounded on him.
It seemed Alcor was unable to, or unwilling to respond. Instead he slowly sat beside Astoria and gathered her into his arms where she latched onto him, sobbing against his chest, refusing to look at the images of her tortured child.
…
The faint smell of wildflowers spurred Lyra to raise her head as the delicate stems of nectar tickled her nose. She smiled lightly picking a flower and twirling it between her fingertips, stretching as she felt the sunlight beat down on her. She rotated her shoulders and sat up, barefoot in the sea of flowers around her. Staring up at the cornflower blue sky, it was a perfect day with only a few white clouds streaking across the horizon. Content with the world for a moment it took her a moment to notice someone sitting not too far away from her, on a boulder near the stream. It was Toby.
Although it was not in her nature to approach him, for some reason she couldn't help it and she slunk towards him, clearing her throat when she was about a meter away. Toby turned to look at her and suddenly a smile she wasn't sure if she'd ever seen on his face, was fixated on her. His midnight eyes glowing as he looked at her, so content with simply seeing her right there.
'Lyra,' he said softly.
'Hi there… What are you doing here?' she asked curiously.
'You tell me, this is your fantasy world,' he laughed with a shrug.
'...This is a dream?'
'Course it is, you're in the arena remember? But you wanted me to be here with you, so why don't you tell me why you think I'm here?'
He said it so playfully that she didn't entirely know how to respond, before she slowly went and sat beside him, staring at the ripples in the water as a few fish lazily swam by. She didn't say anything for a long moment and Toby seemed to feel no need to prompt her further. He seemed willing to wait until she was ready to say something.
'It doesn't make sense,' she said shortly.
'Your mind brought me here for a reason,' he teased lightly, still grinning at her.
'Not that… you said... you… you loved me…'
'I do seem to recall saying that several times, but I get a distinct feeling that you don't believe me,' Toby replied, and before Lyra knew what was happening, he reached out and took her hand.
'It's not… No I don't… I thought you hated me… to find out you're claiming the opposite… that doesn't seem… possible,' Lyra said, staring at his hand as it gripped hers, it didn't feel unnatural for it to be happening and she made no move to get away, she was so confused.
'Possible that I in particular loved you? Or that anyone could?' he asked with caution.
'...I don't know… both I guess…'
'Makes sense, you've had a hard life, harder than most people will ever experience,' he said simply and she stared at him.
There was another long silence as she continued to stare at him, she knew it wasn't real, he had confirmed that, it just felt so… natural, 'What I saw… Ike… was that real? Was he really there?'
'...No,' he said gently, 'He wasn't, he died that night. You're the most paranoid person on the planet Lyra; you know the Capitol was messing with you. They've done this sort of things before in other games. All those things he said to you, he'd said them before and the Capitol recorded it. You remember those words. You remember hearing them. You just didn't have time to process it.'
'But what he said at the end...'
Toby hesitated as she said this seeming to nod a tad to acknowledge what she was already beginning to guess, 'That was all in your head I'm afraid… Lyra you'd been thinking all of those things since you lost him. It was only natural for you to picture those things-'
'Shut up. Why are you here Toby?' she hissed angrily
His emotional response seemed to rise to match hers as he retorted, 'Because both of us know I'm all you've got.'
She waited for him to continue in silence. He seemed surprised for a second to realise she wasn't going to dispute this. He was right; both of them knew it was true. With her obsession to get back to talk to Ike's family, her random muttering and screaming from the mountain… quite frankly they already would know exactly what he'd wanted to say to them if he got the chance. Toby was the last motivation she had, and she was grasping at any inclination to live that she had left.
He took a deep breath as if letting the anger drain from his system, before saying very earnestly, 'I want you to hold onto your sanity just as much as you want to, maybe this is your minds way of helping you heal. Maybe this is your way to bring yourself back into reality… Lyra, we don't have long, you need to think of a plan. You need to figure out what you're going to do next,' Toby said, the yearning in his eyes all too clear.
'I… I… I don't know what I'm going to do… After I attacked Astra… I don't… I don't know what I can do. Do I have a choice in what I do?'
'Lyra, please just think, use that brilliant mind of yours; think about what you know for certain. Who's still in the game? Where are they? And what does that mean for you?'
'Astra… Orion… Seir and Kali… Lilith… Greg… and someone else, someone I just don't remember… Astra's probably gone to find Orion… Greg's still in that clearing… Seir and Kali have stopped hunting… that might be because of what I did to his leg… Lilith… Lilith is...'
'Right nearby, you've been seeing the signs for days and ignoring them, but you know in your mind she's there,' he told her, and Lyra nodded, figment of her imagination or not, this Toby was certainly being helpful.
'Okay… So Lilith… if necessary, I could take her down, probably… I think I could… maybe…. But Seir and Kali… if he's not injured, even if he is… I don't know if I could take both of them… They're too synched...'
'Which means you need help,' he told her, 'and who can you go to for help?'
'... I don't know… Astra was all I had and I turned on her...'
'Lyra don't think about who you want to go to. Don't think about that. Think about who won't kill you if you approach them about this. Lilith will not partner with you, Greg is too dangerous to be trusted; you can't access someone who you can't remember. You know who the only people you can turn to are.'
'Even if Astra forgives me, I will not work with Orion-'
'Lyra, it's not his fault Ike is dead, he was the weapon, not the murderer. It's my fault; it's the Capitol's fault. Not his. He was trying to protect you. You know that. Blame me if you must, but you have to survive, you have to try to make it… Please...'
Lyra's severe denial forced her from her dreams, for years she would sleep and never remember the visions that had taken over her in that time. She knew every moment of that dream. She didn't know what had caused it, or why her brain had used Toby to do it, but this had to be the way her brain was trying to make her heal. Her survival instincts were in overdrive as she got to her feet, and began processing every moment that had overtaken her thoughts.
She knew dream Toby was right; Orion wouldn't kill her if she got too close to him. She didn't want to think about that, maybe she could find Astra first; maybe she could find her before she found Orion. Lyra knew she had to move quickly, she had to use this will to live while she still had it. She was about to run off into the trees before she hesitated for a moment and pulled a singled piece of paper from her pocket, staring at the handwriting dotted across the page.
The truth is I love her, I'm not sure how but I certainly do.
That feeling of curiosity swarmed across her skin once more, and with a new determination in her steps she began to move forward. Still uncertain, yet still moving none the less. As she glanced up, she saw a face in the trees, Ike's face, staring down on her, with a small smile on his face, as if this had all been his doing. She felt her breath catch in shock, but at the same time the strain in her joints seemed to lessen. Telling herself it was a hallucination she continued along, but there was still so much she was uncertain of. So much more she had to do.
…
Orion lay in the snow, trying to wish himself into unconsciousness. All he could feel was pain. Burning pain; piercing and throbbing through his system. He couldn't think of anything else other than how much it hurt, about how much agony he was in. Tears squeezed out of his eyes, dripping onto the cold floor, not just from physical pain alone. There was something that hurt more than any form of torture and that was the knowledge that no one was coming for him. He was all by himself. Alone, to slowly have the life torn from his body, piece, by little piece.
It seemed that Greg had taken the torment up to a new level, taking him to the very edge and holding him there for as long as possible before dragging him back. Several times Orion was sure he had nearly died, but every time Greg had pulled him back, determined not to let the game end.
Now he just wanted it to be over. He was done fighting this. He just wanted Greg to let him die.
…
Astra walked carefully through the winding woods, keeping her eyes peeled for the tell-tale signs of traps. After she had activated a few traps on the way over and narrowly missed ending up hanging upside down from a tree, she was on high alert. She found herself thankful for Ike's lessons in the training centre, it may have been weeks ago yet it felt like a lifetime. She couldn't help but notice more and more traps that she had to avoid, they were getting closer and closer together as if making a very clear point that it was unwise to continue. However this sign only piped her curiosity, wondering internally if Orion had made it this far without stumbling into a trap.
As if to prove her wrong, she noticed a dippet in the ground up ahead and scurried over to investigate. Far from a little hole, it was more like a pit, too deep for anyone to get out of on their own. She didn't know how to explain it, but part of her knew that this was a sign of Orion passing through the area. A feeling of dread built in her stomach and she drew her short sword and began moving with the utmost care across the snow covered ground. Orion couldn't have possibly gotten out of their alone; someone else had to be here.
She couldn't see any sign of fresh tracks, so it would have had to have been a few hours at the least since he came through here. She wasn't expecting to see any sign of him for quite some time, but after a few minutes, she heard it. Originally she couldn't tell what it was, it sounded like a voice, although she didn't know quite what was going on. Bit by bit she crept closer, slowing down her steps, making sure she was careful not to be heard as she wound her way around traps. She almost threw caution to the wind as she got closer, recognising the tone she associated with Orion. When she heard a slight groan, she knew he was in a far from welcoming environment.
Her brain went into overdrive, as she tried to figure out what could be going on. Had Kali and Seir finally caught up to him and were making him suffer for betraying him? Was it Lilith? Lyra? Or a game makers trap that he had come across? Was it one of the spider mutts? She definitely hoped not. Trying to find some way to gage the situation, she clambered up a nearby tree and taking care she leapt to another, then another, getting closer and closer. Orion's moans were nearer, she knew he had to be in a significant amount of pain; she desperately wanted to help him. However, she needed to know what she was going up against first.
Her heart dropped into her stomach however as Orion or rather, what was left of him came into view. Blood stained the snowy ground, she couldn't make out a single inch of him not battered, bruised and sliced. Her lips quivered as she stared, not knowing who or what did this to him, or why anyone would. She wanted nothing more than to run to his side, help him in any way she could. When his attacker at last came into view a cold understanding swelled in her system.
Up in her tree she could still hear every word which was spoken, 'I have another game for you Orion.'
Weakly Orion raised his head, but upon recognition of his captor he curled tightly into a ball, covering his head, attempting to hide. Astra couldn't bare it. She had never seen him like this before; she had never seen him so defenceless. He just seemed so vulnerable, he was positively broken.
She could see Greg was holding something, but she was too far away to see exactly what. When he crouched and wrapped it Orion's neck, she got a good idea of what it was. Orion didn't seem able to react; he simply choked, twitching slightly. She could just see the beads of blood forming across his neck as Greg wound whatever it was tighter.
It was only a few seconds until Greg released him and Orion slumped back to the ground, curling up again. Wrapping the wire around his hand Greg sighed and looked down at Orion as if disappointed.
'Well, you're no fun anymore. I'll leave you be for a moment, I just need to ponder the best way to make your life end,' Greg started to walk away, 'oh, and when I come back, if you've moved from there, I'll know.'
Greg disappeared into the trees, winding his way through the traps. As soon as he was out of sight, Astra sprang down from her branch and sprinted to Orion's side, throwing herself to her knees next to him. The sheer amount of damage he had taken was heartbreaking and unbelievable, if she was to begin listing his injuries, she wouldn't know when to start. She shook him gently, trying to gage some response.
'Orion,' she whispered, 'Orion.'
His eyelids fluttered slightly, like he was trying to open them, but he didn't appear to have the strength left. She couldn't leave him like this; she had to get him as far away from here as she could before Greg came back.
'Come on, let's get you out of here,' she coaxed quietly, 'I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore.'
Orion seemed to respond slight, but he didn't have the energy to help himself. Slowly she slid his arm around her shoulders, and trying her best to balance him, she got back to her feet. He came up with her, but he wasn't able to stand, which made her almost drop him, unable to take his weight. She overbalanced slightly but readjusted her footing, determined to get him out of here, she wasn't going to leave him.
'Come on, walk,' she pleaded.
Instantly Orion's feet scrambled for the ground like he was terrified not to obey and his eyes flickered half open. She glanced down at his feet, only to see the gigantic blisters and scorch marks that covered them. Every inch of her wanted to stop and help him here, but it was too dangerous. He may have been in pain, and a lot of it, but she had to keep him moving.
Orion was little more than a dead weight on her shoulders, but her determination to keep him moving allowed them to get out of the little clearing. Orion would occasionally make a noise, a grunt of pain, a muttered word that sounded somewhat like a swear. Mostly he just fumbled for the ground, trying to push off it to simulate
some form of movement. It wasn't much, but it at least kept them moving. She knew it wouldn't last long though, the little strength he had was fading fast. Their progress was slow and every step was difficult, they had only made it a hundred meters away from the grove when Astra was forced to stop. Though it wasn't because Orion's strength had faded, something far more sinister had reappeared.
'The insect should never venture into the spiders nest unless they're sure the spider won't return.'
A sick feeling gathered in her stomach, Greg had returned much faster than she thought. It couldn't have been hard to follow her, with the rivulets of blood still dripping off Orion and the scuff marks all along the ground from where she'd been practically dragging him. Knowing that she had to confront Greg, she put Orion down with as much care as she could, before turning to face the monster who had dared to do this.
'I won't let you hurt him,' she said simply, staring him down as the wind picked up, billowing her blonde hair around her face.
'I don't think you have a choice Miss Vee,' Greg said calmly, 'Sure you could outrun me, or out climb me. But your little friend doesn't seem to be in the condition to do any of that. And you can't do anything lugging around a hunk of meat.'
'How could you do this to him?' she hissed, 'How can you justify doing this to anyone?'
'My justification is that I enjoy it, and this sort of thing is exactly what I have in common with the Capitol. A love for blood,' he sneered.
Astra felt the icy sincerity in his tone, which unnerved her but also made her angrier, 'I don't think the Capitol has been enjoying it as much as you think they have.'
'Well they haven't stopped me,' he said simply.
'Why else do you think I'm here?' Astra retorted, the anger building in her system as she drew her short sword.
'Well I think they've delivered me another little playmate, Orion was getting boring,' Greg stepped a little closer, 'and you are much more of a shrieker. So be a dear and decide if you're either going to run and leave Orion's fate to me, or be foolish and try to stop me.'
Resolving not to run, Astra took up the fighting stance Orion had taught her and raised her sword, standing between Greg and Orion's crumpled form. She wasn't sure how far she was willing to go, or how well she would do in a one on one fight, but she knew that she wasn't going to let Greg go anywhere near Orion while she was still standing.
Looking like Christmas had come early, Greg charged. His brute strength was too much for her as he slammed against her arm, sending her weapon flying. They went sprawling to the ground, him attempting to lock his hands around her throat. She wriggled and kicked, one hand pressed against his face, her fingers gouging into his eyes. Unable to see he attempted to rip her hand away from his face, locking both her wrists in one of his meaty fists. With a snarl Astra head butted him forcefully, a trick she'd learnt from the annoying calves she had raised back in District 10.
Using the distraction this bought her, she wriggled out from under him, and attempted to make a break for her weapon. Greg was up too quickly though and he tackled her down again before she could reach it. On instinct her hand flew out, trying to grip the handle of her weapon. Her fingers closed around something and without stopping to think she swung it around into Greg's head. He recoiled and she kicked him away, rolling on top of him. Lashing out for her throat, Greg attempted to push her off, but she slammed him in the head again with the rock she had picked up. She hit him again and again until suddenly she heard the distinctive boom of a cannon.
She froze,instantly looking to Orion, only to see him still quivering in the snow. Frowning, she looked over at the rock in her hand, still raised to strike and saw the thick, syrupy blood dripping from its surface. Greg lay underneath her, the side of his head caved in, his face a mess of blood. Numbly she placed the stone down and stood grabbing the sword which lay only a few feet away and sheathing it.
Moving back to Orion's side, she levered him onto her shoulders again, 'come on, let's get you out of here.'