The sixth day
-Remus La Rocque, 18, District 2-
Remus didn't think he would be, but he was itching to get out there. He was happy to stay back from the first hunting excursion with Arden, but that had been days ago and Remus wanted to do something.
Although, the story that they all came back with was a little fishy. An unmarked bottle that said drink me appearing out of nowhere? Willie, a trained Career, drinking something unfamiliar? Remus didn't want to be that person that couldn't put even the slightest grain of trust in his allies, but it was just a little bit weird that it would happen that way.
Whatever the case was, it was probably for the better that it happened anyways. It was just one less person that Remus would have to deal with.
As much as he didn't want to kill, Remus was pretty tired of just hanging around and doing nothing. After all, the longer they did nothing, the more food and water they would consume, and the chance of something ridiculous happening to them in order to get them moving was heightened. After all, there had been no death yesterday, probably not even any action either. Be that as it may, Remus wasn't worried. The alliance had a strategy to pick out all of the tributes who couldn't get moving. They had so far been the only tributes to use the elevator, and to great success. The hunting party started by going up to the fourth floor. Then, they hit the third floor. From what Remus heard, they hadn't explored it much after Willie died, so yesterday he, Arden, and Celestia went up there to explore some more. Besides empty card and pool tables, there was nothing there.
That was just as relieving to Remus as it was nerve-wracking.
The only annoying thing was that the elevator did extend down to the ground floor, as all the bags were in that space during the bloodbath. That wasn't a big deal though, because they would just take the stairs to a floor and then use the elevator from there. After all, they were goddamn Careers. Who was going to openly challenge them? Thankfully, nobody at this point. Remus was glad for the security in numbers, and the fact that they could be out in the open and not have to hide like some of the other tributes.
"Today we're going to work towards the second floor," Celestia said, and the others agreed. "I think since nothing happened yesterday, we should send the same team."
"That makes sense," Kelwyn said with a warm smile her way.
"I suppose," Mercury huffed. He wasn't actually upset, but Remus knew that it was annoying to just have to sit like a gargoyle over there all day and do nothing. Hopefully he and Kelwyn would find a way to pass the time.
"I agree!" Arden said. Remus could tell she was getting especially antsy to get moving. He didn't know her for long, but Arden seemed like a busy bee that never wanted to be left out or sit and do nothing. That was good for her, but he had a feeling she would overexert herself one of these days and not be able to recover from it. He could only hope, because she was a good little fighter, and Remus didn't want to have to get messy here if he could avoid it.
"Good. Then how about the three of us get moving, and hopefully we can be back here by sunset. Er, whatever you want to call it."
Remus's stomach grumbled. Despite having plenty of food, rationing was far harder than he expected it to be. He was used to eating until he was full, foods that were packed with protein for muscles and carbohydrates for quick energy he could use while training. When he was hungry back home, all he had to do was go look for a snack (and if he was lucky, Valerie would bring over some delicious treat for him to have as reward for a day of hard work). Now, he couldn't just eat whenever he wanted to. It was annoying, but it was what he had to do to survive, so he knew he just had to deal with it.
Each of them got a handful of dried nuts to munch on as they walked, and soon the bags were loaded, weapons were slung over shoulders or attached around waists, and it was time for the three of them to go. They went out the nearest door, and up the stairs. Arden, in typical Arden fashion, had run ahead of the pack, and kept looking behind her, beckoning them on. Remus wasn't moving slow by any means, but he wanted to keep some of his energy in case he had to make a fast move or decision. Celestia was behind them both, taking her good old time up the staircase in a very methodical way.
"Come on guys!" Arden said, a little whine in her voice. "What if we miss someone because we took too long to get there? Or what if someone else knows we're out and is going to use the elevator instead!?
"Then we'll just call it to us and get them then, easy," Celestia said, absolutely unbothered by the urgency in Arden's voice. "It's a lot of stairs Arden. I'm damn tired." It certainly was a lot of stairs. The staircases were so confusing, looping up and down. One moment they were going upstairs, the next down. It was simply confusing.
Remus agreed with Celestia's sentiment, but wasn't blunt enough to have put it quite that way. Arden blew out an annoyed breath, but it fell on deaf ears for Celestia. Always wanting to be the peacemaker, Remus picked up his pace slightly to reach the waiting Arden, and Celestia eventually noticed and followed suit. The door slid open when she approached, and soon they followed her out of the cold, dark staircase to the light. They were greeted by the sight of familiar green-felted tables.
"Maybe this is a sign that we should play a game of pool," Remus teased.
Arden's face contorted in a pout. "And let tributes get away?"
Remus laughed as he strided across the spacious room towards the center, where he would find the elevator. Arden now was the one dragging behind, still looking under all of the tables and stools for tributes.
Remus pressed the call button and waited. The elevator made no sound. Odd. He pressed it again. Celestia watched curiously over his shoulder as no motion was made. Suddenly, he heard the click of the microphone signifying an announcement was going to take place.
"Good morning tributes," Lux said over the microphone. "I see that a number of you have noticed that the elevator isn't running this morning. Have no fear, it will be soon. But only for one of you." The ground in front of the tributes opened up and out rose three large dice: bright red, true orange, light brown… Remus had a bad feeling about this. "Everyone step up, roll the dice! Highest roll has exclusive control of the elevator for the next 12 hours." Remus and his allies looked at each other before they each picked up their respective die. It was far lighter than Remus expected- made out of foam.
Arden spent her die rolling first, and it eventually stopped on…
"Nine?!" she said, her jaw dropping at her crummy luck. Celestia and Remus snickered to themselves at this.
"Hopefully I can do better than that," Celestia said. She blew on the giant twenty-sided die, perhaps for luck, before she threw it high up in the air. The die landed on the ground, the number fifteen shown to them.
"That's better," Remus said. But still not a guarantee. He knew he could do it. He gave the die a kiss for better luck, and sent it rolling along the ground. It stopped on a corner, but eventually fell over to reveal…
"Five!" Arden said, and immediately started laughing.
"That's not funny Arden," Remus said, crossing his arms in annoyance. "That was our last chance at that."
"Unless Merc and Kelwyn roll better, that is," Celestia said.
"How will we know for sure?" Remus asked, but it wasn't long before his question was answered. With a short fanfare, the elevator glowed rapidly-changing colors, each of the remaining tribute colors, until it slowed and slowed, showing dark red, Merc's color! And flicking and flicking until it finally stopped…
The elevator lit up true blue, and stopped.
"Dammit," Arden said, looking annoyed their plan was just foiled.
"We could stake out and wait for them," Celestia said, but Arden was already heading back to the door.
"We'll still find tributes, we'll just have to do it manually!" she said, new determination in her voice.
"Everyone's a critic," Celestia said, sounding resigned as she jogged after Arden, and Remus followed.
And so they were back to stairs. Stairs and stairs and stairs. They were everywhere. Arden continued up the stairs, then down, then up, then down. They curved around and around, like a spiral, then went back down again. It felt like hours and hours of stairs. It was so long, even Arden slowed down to a walk. They passed around a water canteen between the three of them as they went. (Remus would have certainly preferred not to drink in everyone else's backwash, but you must do what you must do.)
They stopped for lunch at the top of a flight, a small platform that only lead to more downward stairs. They weren't even sure if it was lunchtime, the staircase was so dark. They didn't even have a flashlight and they had left the night vision goggles with the two on guard, so the only light to guide them was the slowly dying glowstick necklaces that they passed around while they ate. Remus was positive it looked absolutely silly: Celestia looked so funny holding the dim neon pink and yellow light in front of her. Remus was wearing an orange and yellow one around his neck, while Arden had a green and a dim blue one in her hands and was holding it out in front of her, as if that would help her to see better.
The only sound between the three of them was the sound of water dripping somewhere in the staircase that echoed. Remus was even starting to feel a little bit cold, but that was soon finished as they were up and moving again, doing all the stairs.
"I sure wish I'd done more of the stair-climbers back at the Academy," Remus joked. "They didn't prepare us for this."
"They didn't pre-stair us," Celestia said, completely deadpan, then, after a second, she disappointedly added, "Nah, that was lame."
"I thought it was good," Remus said, as they kept on walking. It wouldn't have been tactful to agree with her anyways.
"Door!" Arden exclaimed.
"That's not really related to the joke," Celestia said.
"No, a door!" Arden said, and suddenly she was running ahead, much to Remus and Celestia's chagrin. "Sweet freedom!" she said, as the door slid open to reveal…
Green-felted tables of all kinds. Arden and Remus were frozen in shock staring out at the scene.
"Um, not to be that person, but… I think we're on the same floor that we were on before," Celestia said.
Arden let out a loud groan of frustration, as Remus continued staring out into the room that was truly the exact same room they'd just left, and climbed stairs for hours to get away from.
"Well, at least we're getting good exercise?" Remus tried, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Come on Arden, just staring-" he didn't even finish the sentence after realizing the unintentional pun he'd made and laughing to himself.
"It's not funny, Remus," Arden said, scrunching her face into a pout and crossing her arms.
"I won these glowstick necklaces fair and square. At least we're getting good use out of them," Celestia said, just as Arden stomped back in the door, puffing out an annoyed sigh of air. Celestia and Remus exchanged a glance before heading back in to follow her.
It was going to be a long day.
~.~.
-Rammie Carnel, 18, District 5-
This was the turning point for Rammie, she could just feel it.
She had rolled a perfect 20! Who else could say that?! Obviously, nobody, because now control of the elevator was hers. And that meant that she didn't have to worry about the stupid doors taking her to places that she didn't want to go. Now, the only goal of hers was to find the bitch who had stolen her supplies and make things right!
And how badly she thirsted for… Well, water. Rammie was often called a thirsty bitch, but she didn't like to actually be thirsty! It was time for Rammie Carnel to get what she deserved: a luxuriously cold drink.
Or really, any drink would do at this point.
She took the blue pass card that her dice produced after the elevator lit up in her color! Oh, the joy! The pride!
Honestly, if you asked Rammie what color she liked best, this shade of blue would have probably made the bottom of the list. After all, her most favorite color was black, the color of her beautiful hair. And second was the same deep brown as her beautiful, clear, practically flawless skin! And her beautiful eye color of course would be third. And oh, gold, the color of sparkles that looked best on her body, the color of a winner, the color of fame, fortune, and victory! How magnificent!
A color like this, that a first grader would use to color the sky for their art project, hadn't exactly been on Rammie's list before. But now, well, it was stating to grow on her. After all, it was the color that represented her, Rammie. So it had to be a good color, right? It didn't hurt the eyes like Owen's eye-catching neon blue, and it didn't look like baby poop like the lame excuse at gold and light brown. And it certainly didn't look like… Like straight eye-vomit, like the ugly-ass mostly empty sack Rammie was forced to carry now. It could have been much worse for her.
And now that the elevator, which all tributes could see, was alight in her beautiful color, Rammie was more attached to it.
"Twenty," she said to herself, swaying her hips to bring attention to her gorgeous ass and the new sling of blowdarts she wore on her waist from a sponsor. Her act had worked, somewhat, considering she got an item that was better and more useful than a stupid blanket, so it was a step in the right direction. She hadn't received the record-breaking onslaught of gifts that she was expecting, but that would come. And now that she had the power, she was going to use it while she could.
Rammie swiped her card and pressed the button, and the elevator lurched into motion, just for her. She grinned as she watched the doors slide open, and went inside. It was pretty royal looking, really. The inside was sparkling, shimmering silver, and it was quite spacious.
Where should I go first? She wondered. If I were a conniving little bitch that steals other people's supplies for fun, where would I be? She looked at the four buttons, and went with her gut instinct by hitting the number three. It seemed like that would be where Harleigh was. Then Rammie could really give that girl a piece of her mind, and get her well-deserved food and water back!
The elevator lurched into motion, and Rammie grinned with excitement as it took her up, up, up! Okay, so not that far up, it was only one floor.
It made sense, now that she thought about it. She had started by going out of the bloodbath and up one flight of stairs. Then she went up another on her way to find Harleigh. So the fact that this was the third floor made sense to her. Duh.
She stepped out of the elevator, sword raised, prepared to face a tribute!
…Nobody was there.
Alright then, Rammie thought. It made sense that they would hide. They knew what a threat Rammie was after all, and they were all scared little bitchy kids that didn't stand a chance against her. Especially Harleigh.
Rammie immediately started searching around, positive that her gut wouldn't lead her astray. After all, she was Rammie Carnel! She was almost always right! And even when she was wrong, with a little bit of nipple or a couple of coins, she would be right!
A little bit of nipple! That's it!
All she had to do to get sponsors was break this shirt, just like she'd done many times before! Rammie took off the blue vest they'd been made to wear and immediately tried to bust out… These buttons were stubborn.
With a great effort, Rammie pushed her chest forward, trying to create as much tension as she could with her great breasts… Still nothing! Not even the sound of fabric stretching! How disappointing.
Fine, I'll just take it off myself, she thought. She started to undo a button, but it wouldn't budge. Were these just… Decorative buttons?! How was she supposed to strip like this!? Rammie put on a pout. "Don't say I didn't try for you, my beautiful fanbase," she said with a huff.
But she was off topic. Not the first time she or anyone else was distracted by her beautiful breasts and her even more succulent nipples. And it wouldn't be the last if she had anything to say about it!
Rammie kept walking, searching under every table, in every single nook and crannie of the room. Nobody was going to get away from her! Rammie was armed and ready to go. Rammie's eyes suddenly noticed a figure under the table… This was it! Rammie threw the table aside with great force!
…Only a shadow. Rammie huffed with frustration. Hopefully her frustration was hot at least.
The more she went, the harder it was for her body to keep going. Her beautiful, perfect body had never failed on her before, and she wouldn't let it now! As tiring as it was, as exhausted as she felt, she just had to keep moving forward until she found something!
And that was when she saw the stains on the floor. How could you miss them? They were huge! A huge, expansive puddle of blood around the silhouette of a small body, and the stain on the floor that absolutely reeked. Oh, God! That wasn't a normal bodily function (Rammie would know, as she'd participated in some very niche risqué shoots in the past). With how jank it smelled, it absolutely had to be vomit.
Rammie chuckled to herself. Couldn't even handle their own kill. How silly.
And yet, Rammie was jealous that someone would even have something to throw up at this point. Jealous of vomit?! What had Rammie become!?
Rammie kept going until her body started shaking from exhaustion. Her world started to spin, and she couldn't do it.
As she laid there, eyes closed, she heard the treble sound of someone's voice.
A tribute! I can attack! But she couldn't even force herself to get up, let alone attack! Before she knew it, the voices were gone. But that didn't necessarily mean the tributes were gone.
Once she felt better, she sat back up. Her head was still pounding, but at this point it always was, so she had to ignore it and move on. She never missed a day of work, even when she was deftly sick (that was a kink for someone somewhere!) and she wouldn't miss out on this just because of a little dehydration!
…Could dehydration cause wrinkles? Rammie grabbed her face with a horrified gasp. She really needed some water and food: and soon.
Rammie had a new purpose, finding the sound of that voice! She continued on, all the way around the room, until she reached a wooden desk and saw something that made her stop in her tracks.
On the table sat two unmarked syringes, both full of something clear. Both said, "Take me."
Rammie frowned at it. She knew that they were playing with fate, but it wasn't something she was quite ready to handle. Rammie picked up the syringe closest to her, grinning with adrenaline at the thought of using it…
…After all, what use was a blowdart without a little touch of poison to go on it? This would ensure her an advantage if there was a way she could sneak up on someone else. It didn't require any real skill to use after all.
Rammie felt the smirk press across her face as she pushed the handle down and the needle painted the tip of her dart with the clear liquid. She loaded the dart back in, and now held the weapon in her left hand, just in case she'd have to make a quick shot. Then, she continued on her way, leaving the other syringe laying on the table. She was more unstoppable now than ever!
If only her body would cooperate! The longer the day went on, the more breaks Rammie had to take. She was starting to get the feeling that her gut was wrong, but she had to get back to the elevator anyways she decided to go ahead and finish checking.
A cannon booming made her look up, just as the lights were starting to get dark. A cannon that she didn't cause! She couldn't believe it. She had total control, and where had it brought her?! To this place! Not too long after that, the blue light on the elevator began to flicker and blink, until eventually, it shut off.
Rammie's control was now over.
She barely had time to be disappointed about it before her exhausted body slumped down on the floor, using the backpack as a pillow, and she dozed off.
~.~.
-Coda Fukai, 14, District 8-
At this point, the only thing that was driving him forward was spite. It had been that way for a couple days, but now it was really his last chance. Henley couldn't go on, and it was up to Coda to save them both now.
You couldn't keep us from getting caught, Kousuke said in his head. You couldn't even save yourself like you always do.
No. Coda was going to save them both. He was going to save them and they were going to be okay. Henley was going to be okay. How miserable she looked, her body convulsing on the ground in front of him, and there was nothing he could do to make her snap out of it or wake up… Her body was giving out on her. He had to keep it from happening. He had the ko-nanny thing, and his will, and today he was going to find someone and get those supplies if it killed him! Well, it wouldn't be much use to anyone if he died, so maybe that was a bit too far. But at this point, he didn't mind the thought of sustaining an injury for her sake. After all, he'd felt one of the worst injuries possible in his life, so it couldn't really get worse, right? For food, for water, he would take it. He was absolutely desperate.
Coda hunted all through the day for anything, but the only thing that happened to him was getting horribly lost. He didn't find another tribute, another wheel, nothing. It was starting to get dark, but Coda was refusing to give up. He was going to keep going until he had the chance to raise hell, then he would.
Just as the lights became dim to signify an "evening," the floor opened up in front of Coda, but he knew not to let his hopes get too high. After all, these gifts didn't matter and were all random, so no matter how much the mentors tried and tried, they couldn't save him unless they got lucky.
But there's always the chance they did…
Coda opens the bottle and his heart stops in his chest. A canteen! They did it! They really did it! Oh he was so thankful. His arms were so tired and weak, but he had new energy through his body at the sight of some fresh, cold…
…Why is it so damn light?
Now he felt more suspicious, throwing the lid off and holding it up over his mouth.
His suspicions were confirmed.
The damn thing was empty.
Coda roared in frustration, throwing down the canteen. The Capitolites thought this was funny!? Why the hell would an empty canteen even be on the list other than to fuck with them! It wasn't like there was a faucet anywhere that was just pouring out water! At the mental image, Coda's mouth felt so damn dry. He was so damn close to it, and yet so far away. Coda threw the damn thing down in frustration. This wasn't what he wanted! He held back a yell, worried that it would draw a threat to him that he didn't want to face yet.
Before he could get too angry, another smaller package raised from the ground, and by this point, Coda knew what it was. He quickly opened up the lime green token and put it in his pocket. Last time, he'd seen it as a godsend, the answer to all of their problems… Now, he knew it wasn't useful at all unless there was a damn wheel, which he'd all but left at this point. There was one in twenty-four chance at water, of course he didn't get it! And one in twenty-four chance in food. There had to be something with better odds somewhere! But Coda had even lost his place following the tracker blindly, and didn't know where he was.
Coda let out a deep sigh and collapsed on the ground, so angry and frustrated at this turn of events. It was so pointless. There was no way he was possibly going to get there. But at this point, there were no more tears that he could possibly cry. He just felt so defeated, and he didn't know what to do with himself. He wanted to hurt himself, but that would get him nowhere. He wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do was try…
And that was what he had to keep doing.
Suddenly, the floor opened in front of him, so large he could probably fall in if he tried. And up raised, slowly… Not another lamp…
A wheel.
"What the fuck?" he asked, looking at the big wheel. It had a title printed on it… THE CRITICAL WHEEL.
Coda looked at the words on it…
Large canteen, small canteen, food, food and water… They were all good for him. There was such a high chance of success, just for him! The Gamemakers didn't want him to give up yet! Either that, or someone paid a lot of money for it! Coda was suddenly excited, hurriedly fishing the token out of his pocket, but stopped cold when he saw the black panel that was suddenly staring at him.
Henley dies.
Coda swallowed hard. He wasn't sure he wanted to make the risk. He looked over the options, and it was only a 25% chance it would stop on that terrible panel. But also… He had some pretty bad luck through his time in the Games. Her life would be in his hands.
Coda flipped the token in his hands, imagining the feeling of water and the celebration he and Henley would have at having supplies. Alright. He was feeling lucky.
Coda put the token into the slot, and with a great effort, pulled the lever. His heart pounded as the wheel spun around and around, for what seemed like hours. As each second past, he became more and more sure that he'd made the wrong decision. His eyes stung as the tried to form tears. He shouldn't have been so rash…
The wheel slowed down, and each time it passed the black panel Coda took in a breath of air, heart pounding just a little bit harder.
Coda watched with wide eyes as the wheel practically came to a stop on the black panel, collapsing to his knees…
Until he heard another click.
The machine dinged, and Coda saw what he had won: a large full canteen! He couldn't believe it! The prize came out, a golden canteen with a lime green band over the top of it, just like the one he'd received except this one was heavy.
Coda let out a laugh. A real, true, joyous laugh! He picked out the canteen, quickly unscrewed the lid, and took a huge sip of water. His stomach turned at the sudden gulp, so he slowed down, and took another beautiful few sips. He had to get back to Henley to share the good news.
He hurried up, he wasn't sure he'd ever run faster. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but he ran and ran until he saw the basics wheel, the one that had failed him, but that didn't matter anymore! The full canteen was a beautiful weight for him to have to carry on his shoulders.
He passed there, found the trail of slot machines, and hurried towards the one that he knew Henley was under…
When he arrived, she was asleep. Coda hurried over and gave her a shake. "Henley!" Her body wasn't moving. He had seen her this still before, but he couldn't help but worry. He kneeled down beside her, now barely able to see in the dim light with her hidden in the shadow under the slot machine. "Henley!" He gave her a shake. Then, he hurried to listen to her chest.
Her heart was beating so slowly… This wasn't good. Coda could feel his frown deepen as he grabbed onto her hand and shook it… Her arm was a stiff bar, her muscles completely frozen. This wasn't normal. Was she having some kind of seizure Coda had never seen before?
He put his ear next to her nose to try and listen for her breathing. It was weak, but he could hear it.
"Henley!" He tried to pull her out, tried to sit her up so that she could drink, but she was hard to budge.
Suddenly, a cannon boomed.
"No…" He put his ear back on her chest, desperate to hear her heart beat, but only heard nothing. Trying to hear her breathe, but no air was hitting his ear. It couldn't be… He hadn't even been gone that long! This wasn't normal… What happened to her!?
"Henley!" he said, louder, not caring if someone heard if only she would just wake up. "No…" Her body was quickly becoming cold.
He couldn't lie to himself anymore. She was gone. He lost her.
How did that happen!? Coda looked around the camp, for some kind of sign… And that was when he saw the smaller wheel that had popped up on the other side of the slot machine, and the small pile of four packages wrapped in gold, lying next to a canteen.
Coda's eyebrows creased as he read the title.
KISS OF DEATH WHEEL.
That was different. There were no panels declaring Coda's death, they were all good prizes.
He looked over at the dead body that was still lying there. Kiss of death? What did that mean!? It couldn't be… It couldn't be…
But ultimately, it was all coming together in Coda's mind. Kiss of death… Henley didn't have any tokens before he left. This wheel had no bad outcomes, except for the only one which was guaranteed…
Henley had given her life to spin this wheel.
Why had she done it?! Coda felt actual tears come up to his eyes now. He thought that things were looking up, but he had no idea it would come to this. She didn't deserve this. She deserved so much better. Why would she give her life away to spin this wheel, knowing that she wouldn't get to reap the reward?
A tear slid down Coda's face as he slowly crumpled down to his knees in front of the wheel. He knew why she did it.
For him.
Coda wept bitterly, the tears forced out of his eyes and splashing down on the soft carpet in a puddle. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve her giving up her life for him… Why would she ever think he was!? Coda's mouth felt full of mucus… He took a sip of water, trying to ration, but soon taking another big gulp. It felt so, so good. When his heart was so, so broken. He sniffled some snot back into his nose and took another gasp of air. "Why would you do this?" his voice was a raspy, weak whisper. "Henley…" Saying her name sent another wave of sobs through him. He buried his face in his hands.
It had been so, so long since he'd cried. He didn't think that it was a very manly or cool thing to do. His friends always told him to just suck it up, because that's what they did. And they were adults, really cool adults, so Coda wanted to be just like them… But why hadn't they come to visit him at the hospital? Surely they knew he was there…
They didn't matter to him at that moment, though. They had left him, stopped talking to him, abandoned him… Henley gave her life for him… Coda didn't know how he was ever supposed to accept that gift that she gave to him!? What did he even do to deserve it? He couldn't even help her when she needed him the most. Just like he couldn't' help Kousuke, as much as he tried. Coda did everything he could, and he still couldn't help her. He couldn't be what she needed. And yet she still decided to give up her life for him.
"Why?!" he asked quietly, feeling the tears streaking his cheeks. He wasn't worthy of her sacrifice and he knew it. How did she even know he would come back?
She knew you would come for her when you heard the cannon.
He couldn't take that. He slowly crawled over to the body. She was so pale. Like a baby doll that hadn't been harmed or hurt at all. He could only hope that it didn't hurt her. He didn't want her to feel any pain. He face was so pale, and so smooth, and her eyes were closed peacefully, as if she were only sleeping. If only she were only sleeping.
"They're going to take you away from me soon," he said quietly, taking her hand just as he had when she really was only asleep. What the hell were you thinking?" He brushed away the hair from her face. "Why would you do this for me?" But he would never get an answer. He was only staring into a lifeless face. She barely even knew him… "I don't know what you saw in me Henley. I couldn't even protect you when you needed me… I failed you! Why would you do that for me when I failed you!?" he gripped her hand with an iron grip as tears rolled off of his nose and splashed on her golden vest. He would never understand why. "Why?" he sobbed. "Why?"
The drone came in that was just big enough to fit her body, and Coda knew it was time.
He looked into her face one last time. "I don't know what you saw in me. But someday, I'm going to be that guy." Another tear rolled down his face as the claw came down. Coda let go of her hand.
"Rest easy Henley. I'm so sorry." Slowly, gently, Coda leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. Then, he stepped back and allowed the Gamemakers to take her away. The claw gently grabbed hole of the body and lifted it up. Lifted it up to heaven, like the angel that she was.
Even when she was gone, Coda couldn't stop crying. He already missed her so badly…
He then noticed the small, crumpled up piece of paper that was nothing but a faint shadow in the dim light. He slowly uncrumpled it and smoothed it out, squinting to see what it said.
Spin with your life. Save the boy.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out exactly whose handwriting that was. It wasn't Ani's, with all of its loopy neatness in cute little gel swirls. No, this was the chicken scratch of Coda's mentor.
So she did it because of… Tartan. Coda's tears all but evaporated off of his eyes, his face was getting so hot. So Tartan was the one that sent her this wheel… Tartan was the one that told her to do this! How could he do that to her?!
Coda couldn't stand to look at the fucking paper anymore. He ripped it up to shreds with a great yell of anger. How dare he do this! Coda thought Tartan was cool, that Tartan was looking out for him… Well, bullshit! He wasn't! Tartan was the reason that Henley was dead! Surely he knew that Coda would get to spin on a wheel that would keep her alive! And yet he still manipulated her into getting Coda more supplies with her death. Even when Coda could have had the chance to come and save her!
Coda's tears were all gone now, oooh, now he was crying fire. "What the fuck?!" Coda shouted. Now all he could do was picture himself wringing his mentor's fucking neck! He had absolutely no fucking right to intervene like that! Henley was dead and it was Tartan's fault! No way in hell did Coda want to hurt or kill his ally, she was his… His friend! "I'm going to get home for no other reason than to fucking kill you Tartan! I trusted you! I liked you! But Henley did nothing wrong, and there's no reason I should be alive when she isn't!" More tears pooled in his eyes, but he bit his tongue to keep them from falling. "How dare you do that to her!" Coda's voice ripped out of his throat. He couldn't control the anger he was feeling. With another yell, he grabbed the lamp, flipping it so that the heavy metal plate at the bottom was now at the top. With all of his might, Coda sent the lamp flying into the Kiss of Death wheel, shattering the glass in front of the panels. He put the lamp down, panting, and watched the wheel lowered quickly back into the ground in front of them.
The tears came back, but this time they were angry tears. Tartan was about to regret what he did, Coda would be sure of it.
Eyes teary, Coda glared at the corner of the ceiling, trying to find a camera to look into. "You're going to fucking pay for that, Tartan Vincent," Coda said. His voice was low, quivering, but dead-serious. "I promise."
He wiped his eyes again and sniffled angrily once again, his heart hurting from the loss with a searing pain. Pretty bold statement there Coda, he thought to himself. But he had to get justice for her.
When Coda Fukai made a promise, he meant it.
~.~.
A/N: Gahh this was so hard for me to write. We started so comical and we get here. I'm sorry for the pain. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'm going to keep going with updates as I can throughout the rest of this break and maybe into the month of January if I can. Let me know your thoughts and predictions and angst!
CQ: Will Coda be able to bounce back from this or self-destruct?
Eulogies:
16th Place: Henley Dorset, District 3- Killed by spinning the Kiss of Death Wheel.
Henley really deserved to go farther than she did. Unfortunately, though, those two had a string of bad luck starting from Day One in all forms, and they just couldn't escape it. Henley was beyond saving, and I think most of us knew this was coming, but in her last act she decided to at least give Coda a chance at living even though she knew she wouldn't. This was a very unlikely pair and they were fun to write. Thanks so much for getting her in so last-minute May, and I'm glad you could be part of this story! She was so great. RIP Henley.
See you next chapter!