"If you could only see the beast you've made of me

I've held it in but now it seems you've set it running free

Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart

Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart…"

~Howl (Florence and the Machine)

o0o

Asher Foster (17) District Five Tribute

6:00 am

I wake with what is usually the rising of the sun back in 5, snapping awake and sitting bolt upright in my sleeping bag. Years of living off the streets of 5 have taught me how to emerge from sleep into complete awareness in the blink of an eye. If there is an early morning raid or scuffle, there would be no time for me to blink the sleep out of my eyes. Awake and alert, I slip out of the sleeping bag and roll it up. My stomach rumbles furiously at me and I wince, recalling the fact that I hadn't eaten yesterday, still reeling from Lancia Carerra's death. Her pack had contained a pound of dried jerky, which I am grateful for. It doesn't seem like this place will relinquish anything edible. The sleeping roll goes back into the pack, and I pull out some of the jerky, ripping off a strip of it and chewing contentedly. Even in the Arena, the food is amazing, and everything must have been stocked with the best the Capitol could find.

I eat sparingly, taking care to keep a handle on my appetite. I don't know if I'll find anything else to eat for who knows how long, and this needs to last as long as possible. I'll go hunting for other Tributes soon. Surely someone other than the Careers has to have picked up a weapon, and if I go about attacking them the right way, I can bring them down and get my hands on it. And then a whole lot of Careers are going to die.

Or someone could just Sponsor me with something, but I highly doubt that's going to happen. As much as I've tried to play the part the Capitol wants me to, plus the fact that I killed someone at the Bloodbath, news must have leaked about what's happened at the Training Center. How out of control people must have said I was. Who would want to Sponsor a Tribute like me? No, out here, I have to be all alone. I can't depend on anyone else to help me- not the Capitol, not my fellow Tributes, who saw that scene in the lunchroom first hand.

I shudder to think of it.

But still. A knife would be nice. Or some brass knuckles. Maybe even a sword, if someone's feeling generous.

I grit my teeth. I need to stop with this wishful thinking. It will get me nowhere, and in this environment, I always have to be somewhere. Either I have to make myself interesting, or the Capitol will.

… maybe?

I bury my head in my hands with a groan and stuff my food back into my pack. It's time to move out of this area- the forest can't possibly be good, and this mist has to do something bad to a person. The upside though, is that the trees are so close together that the terrifying metal beast we'd seen earlier at the Cornucopia won't be able to make it through here. In the woods, we're safe, from that mutt at the very least. And with the lethality of that thing, I'm not sure any other mutts will be needed in this Arena.

Then again, the Gamemakers have always been sadistic bastards and bitches. Honestly.

Swinging my bag up over my shoulders I square my shoulders. If there's nothing else going on right now, it's a safe bet that my face is all over every screen in Panem. I seriously doubt anyone else is up this early. The early bird catches the worm, huh? I tilt my head to the side and give the viewers a yawn for effect before smiling. Slowly, and with a mouthful of teeth. I will never be the prey. Not again. I have spent too much of my life on the run, and now it is time for the hunted to become the hunter.

I'm not one to take a leisurely stroll through the forest and embrace the psithurism of the trees in the breeze.

Now, it's time to hunt.

I saw at least five others run into the forest before me- the alliance of all girls and the boy from 12, although he's dead now, probably killed by the Careers. Only five of us then.

Strictly speaking, the alliance has the advantage. They probably have more supplies, they definitely have more people, and it goes without question that the odds of a four against one fight aren't in my favor. I don't even have a weapon, save for my own two hands.

I shoot a glance towards the dark frontier that is the sky. A weapon would be really, really nice right about now.

Maybe I do have Sponsors, and Stardust is just holding them back. She is the one who has the final say in things like this, and I wouldn't be surprised if she let me die out of spite. It doesn't seem like a very Stardust thing to do, though, but she seemed pretty pissed off as I left the hovercraft that brought us here. Who knows. If- no, not if, when- I win this, I should probably mend ties with her. Given that she'll be my fellow Mentor and all.

I'm just about to turn back towards the woods when I see it. Drifting down, light and easy as a feather in the wind.

The parachute is bright in the mist and dim lighting of the forest, but the fire orange color is unmistakable as it floats down out of the sky. A Sponsor gift.

I try to contain my glee as I snatch it out of the air, untying the parachute and eagerly unwrapping whatever is inside the box.

It's an effort, a true effort, to keep the laughter bubbling up inside my chest contained to a soft chuckle. So Stardust is looking out for me. It's good to know that someone cares.

I slide the gloves onto my hands, flexing my fingers, and the claws slip out, beautiful and long and iron. Wolf claws, for their human child. Their edges glint in the unnatural light of the Arena, but it's clear that they are sharp, sharper than anything.

This right here, this is the game-changer.

I slip my pack beneath a tree root, shoving rotting leaves and general decay of the forest floor over it. The orange glow is barely noticeable now. I shouldn't carry it with me, in retrospect, if I'm going after four targets. If I'm taken down, they might get the claws- my heart tugs and recoils at the thought of someone else using these beauties, someone else slashing their hand along Thames Venturi's throat- but they won't get anything else I've stocked up. If I don't get it, then no one does.

It's tempting to pull out the baton-that-doubles-as-a-fucking-cool-cycle-thingy, but I would make too much noise. Besides, these trees would be a bitch to navigate, good gravy. On foot it is.

The claws now put me at a distinct advantage over any melee weapon they would use against me. None of them are trained, and even if they were, the sword is a weapon to be held in the hand. These… I flex my hand, and the harsh cerulean light runs sharp talons over the iron at my fingertips. These are, by all means, part of my hand.

Determination slips through my bloodstream and curls around my heart, purring contentedly as I set off into the trees, claws glinting.

The prey has become the predator, and before I'm done here, the forest will run red.

o0o

Halliday Frost (18) District One Tribute

7:30 am

I'm still running on the adrenaline and slight high from killing Thorne the next morning. I was awake earlier than any of the other Careers, save for Aegis, who had taken the morning guard shift. He's sitting atop the Cornucopia, swinging his legs back and forth. He'd almost be childlike, humming a quiet tune under his breath, if it weren't for the broadsword sheathed across his back and the various weapons strapped around his waist. He's turning his disc over and over in his hands, and his midnight eyes are bright with the satisfaction of discovery. I pull myself up over the lip of the horn and sit next to him. "What'd you find?"

Aegis casts me a sly, sideways look. "Wait till the rest of the Pack is up, Princess."

I scowl at him. "Don't call me that. Thames is bad enough, so don't you start."

Aegis mutters something that sounds like mature, under his breath.

"Oi." I reach out and poke him in the ribs. Hard. "Says the person who set his trail of death to rainbows, before making a joke about death farts. Mature my ass."

He narrows his eyes at me, but says nothing else, returning his attention back to the disc in his lap. Fine then. I'll find some other way to amuse myself.

Sliding off the horn, I duck inside and proceed to trip over Athena. Conveniently landing on top of Thames, who sits up ramrod straight and bumps into Sash. Oops.

"I'm awake," the rockstar grumbles and slowly rolls into a sitting position.

"What's going on?" Thames demands. Athena is a bit slower on the uptake, shoving her head back under the other sleeping roll she had been using as a pillow.

"Your boyfriend discovered something." I jerk my chin towards the outside of the horn. "He's waiting outside."

"He's not-" Thames starts, but Sash pins him with a halfway ferocious, halfway adorable glare, like a small kitten with its fur fluffed out and claws unsheathed. "Fine." He grabs his spear from where it rested in easy reach of his selected sleeping spot and stepping over Athena and out into the Arena.

Sash follows after stretching his arms up over his head, loosing a yawn larger than a ten-ton elephant. He's still blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he slips into the Arena, strapping his quiver across his chest.

"What was that for?" Athena asks sleepily, already reaching for her own bow.

"Aegis has something to show us," I answer quickly. "And he said he wouldn't tell until the rest of you were up."

She blinks a few times, processing the information. "So you had to barge right in here and wake us all up."

I bristle. "You would have done the same thing!"

"Maybe," she agrees through a yawn. "Doesn't matter now, we're all up, aren't we? Let's see what Aegis has to say." she squirms out of her sleeping bag, and I grit my teeth as she eels her way out from in between two crates, planting her bow in order to string it, before vanishing from sight.

I stomp down on the irritation that's bubbling up in my throat and follow the rest of my alliance, walking around the side of the Cornucopia. Aegis hops down to stand beside me.

The rest of our alliance forms a sort of semicircle around us, Sash leaning against the Cornucopia and Athena using her bow like a walking stick. Thames is running his hands over his spear in such a way that I start mentally praying for any young children watching this live right now.

"Stop fornicating with your fucking spear, Thames, I swear to God," Aegis grumbles from beside me.

Thames looks up with a faux innocent expression on his face, hazel eyes glinting in the sunlight as he repeats dryly, "My fucking spear."

Aegis buries his head in his hands. "Oh, no. Oh, no, Thames."

"Are you jealous, perhaps?" My District partner purrs, leaning around his spear, batting obscenely long eyelashes at the other boy.

Aegis doesn't say anything, only leers right back.

I turn an incredulous gaze towards Sash, partly because what the hell and mostly because Dear Lord In Heaven I Do Not Need To Be Seeing This.

Sash grimaces in response. He doesn't seem like he's going to do much about it though, and Athena still appears to be half asleep. I suppose this is up to me then. God save me.

"Aegis, Thames, really?" I scoff and try not to look at the two of them. we're trying to kill other people, now is not the time to be practicing apodyopsis!"

Thames arches an eyebrow, a smirk curling at the corners of his mouth. "Big words, Princess. Besides, how do you know what apodyopsis even means?"

I scowl. "I trained at an academy full of disgusting perverts for over three-quarters of my life, I needed some word to describe what they were doing other than eye-fucking."

Aegis barks out a laugh, twirling his sword around in one hand. "Fair enough. I guess now that everyone's awake, you want me to show you what I found while sitting on top of the back of a great, black beast, keeping watch over my faithful companions who shall keep me from harm and-"

"Just tell us already," Sash interrupts, drawing chuckles from the rest of us.

Aegis, unperturbed that his monologue has been cut short, grins. It lights up his whole face, making his eyes sparkle, and I can't help but be reminded of Maximus back home, with his brilliant smile and eyes like gemstones. Maximus, who is beautiful and strong and decidedly not interested in someone like me.

Aegis vanishes around the side of the Cornucopia, ducking back inside to get something, and my eyes wander to Thames. What does he have that I don't? Biological differences aside, we're not so different. Not really. So why can't he love me?

Jordan says he does. Said it before the whole Capitol, and earned their hearts and sympathy and bets all in one go. It's a lie, a voice whispers in the back of my head. It's a plot, a ploy, and he will only break your heart if you allow him to get too close.

It's true. The voice is right, and I know I can't let my guard down. Which is why he has to die soon. First. Today.

Resolution settles solidly in the pit of my stomach. Today. We're surely going hunting for other Tributes, and I want to hunt for him. He's alone, without a weapon, and I saw him and a few others run into the trees after the Bloodbath. He didn't pick up a pack. He'll be easy prey, for four people like us.

With that figured out, I turn my attention to Aegis, who's just come back to the circle, holding a loaf of what must be District 2's typical bread in hand. He reaches back and unclips the disc from his back, holding it carefully on the flats of his hands. "This," he says, with an air of superiority, head high and with enough satisfaction that I think he's found the solution to world hunger, "is sharp."

A beat of silence. Two. Then, "It's sharp." Thames repeats. Athena drops her head into her hands, and a smile is dancing across Sash's mouth. "It's sharp," Thames repeats, laughter and incredulity and affection all swirling together in his voice. "Good observation there, Age. What's next?" He lets out a melodramatic gasp, widening his eyes. "Are you going to tell me rain is wet?"

I can't help the grin that spreads across my face as a slight blush creeps across Aegis' cheekbones.

"I'm serious!" He protests. "Look!" He places the loaf of bread on the ground, takes his disc, and begins to slice. "It cuts skin as well." He gestures to a slight rip in one of his gloves.

"So it can be used as a weapon as well as being our tracking devices?" Sash lifts a brow. "Hot damn."

Aegis nods, pride lighting in his eyes.

"Smart," Athena says approvingly. "Both you and whoever made these. Are we the first to figure it out?"

As if on cue, the first parachute appears in the sky. One after another after another, one for each member of our alliance. Aegis grabs mine and hands it to me, before accepting his own from Thames. Athena and Sash have each caught theirs.

Thames is the first to open his, and he unfolds a note that rests atop whatever's inside. "Congratulations," he reads. "You're not as stupid as some apparently think you are." He looks up at the sky. "Thanks, Azer. You're a real charmer, you know that, right?"

I snort but fall quiet as Thames pulls out another baton looking thing from his container. It looks almost identical to the ones we have that summon the light cycles, but it's pointed on one end and is uniformly round. He squints at it.

"Uh. Another one?"

A second note flutters out of the tube as Thames turns the thing upside down. 'It's a retractable spear, you idiot.'

Thames blinks at the note, then at his second baton, now glowing a metallic gold. "Um."

Aegis leans over to look. "Thames, darling, there's a button right there. I'm pretty sure you want to press it. Holding it away from you."

"Thanks," Thames mutters. Athena bites her lip, obviously trying to keep from laughing. Holding the baton out lengthwise in front of him, Thames presses the button. The baton lengthens into a spear, about five feet long with a wickedly sharp head of what looks to be honed iron.

"That's pretty nice," Sash observes. "Even though you took a while to figure it out." Thames frowns, opening his mouth for a retort, but Sash rolls right over him, saying, "But I have a pretty good idea of what this is gonna be." He points at the package that his parachute had floated down. A long, curved shape was wrapped in a protective silver casing.

"Gee." I walk over, eye the thing up and down. "I have no idea what that could be. None at all. It couldn't be a bow, could it?"

The rockstar rolls his eyes and rips into the packaging. He emerges seconds later with a beautiful longbow gripped in his hands, woven bands of glimmering violet shimmering through the gaps between his fingers. Athena's found the same thing- although her bow is shorter, with a sharper curve than Sash's. The two archers put their heads together, talking excitedly and in hushed tones.

Aegis' package is smaller than the rest of ours, but there's a spark of hope in his new-moon night eyes as he unwraps it with one hand. His other has roamed up to his throat as if used to finding something there and only met with bare, summer-tan skin. His necklace, I realize with a jolt. He doesn't have his necklace anymore. Is that what he's hoping his Sponsor Gift is? His lost token?

Aegis pulls out a small bag from the silver wrapping, and his lips purse as he opens it. Apparently not his token, then. Reaching in, he produces a handful of matches, a small bottle labeled gasoline, and a lighter. And a decently large bottle of… burn ointment? Is that going to be a thing? Setting other people on fire?

As if he's heard my thoughts, Aegis' dark eyebrows wing up. "So, from the looks of this, and what's left in here," he gestures to the bag, "I can now set things on fire."

"Burning our enemies alive…" Thames looks a bit pale but doesn't balk as he says, "That's an… interesting notion. What do you have, Halliday?"

I look down at the package in my hands. The rest of the Careers have all gotten weapons, of a sort- because Thames does have a point about setting people on fire and burning all our enemies alive. I can only pray that my gift does not disappoint.

The silver wrapping falls to the ground as I tug on the string holding it in place and open the box I find.

Coiled inside, wicked as a snake and dark as midnight, is a whip. The parchment inside, written in Azer's neat, elegant script, reads, I honestly wasn't quite sure what I was thinking when I allowed this to be put through. Weapon, self-defense tool, torture instrument, how you use it is completely up to you now. Choose well, Halliday.

o0o

Aveline Wren (16) District Twelve Tribute

8:45 am

I wake with a scream on my lips and Thorne's name on my tongue. Nightmares and gruesome visions had chased me through restless bouts of sleep and into wakefulness throughout the night. My turn at watch hadn't done anything to calm my nerves either- everywhere I looked I'd seen his face, and if I closed my eyes I would see the horrifying possibilities of his demise at the hands of the Careers.

"Aveline?" Lauren sounds concerned above me, and I press the heels of my palms into my eyes, willing myself to calm the fuck down. I won't be of any use to my allies in this state. Pull yourself together. There can only be one Victor, and if you're going to be that one, then there will be a lot more death before you escape this hellhole.

"I'm fine." I release a breath I didn't know I was holding. "I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Lauren's expression tells me that she knows that I'm clearly not fine, but she leaves it be and offers a hand. I accept it, and she pulls me into a standing position.

"What's for breakfast?" As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. This is the Arena, and by the look of the contents of our pack, we aren't going to be having breakfast for a very long while.

But a grin has broken out over Lauren's beautiful face, and she points over to where Danielle and Natalia are both hunched over something.

I blink owlishly at them, then back at Lauren. "What?"

"Sponsor gifts. They came about half an hour ago."

"For who?"

Lauren smiles even wider. "Does it matter? We have Sponsors, Aveline. People believe in us!"

I let out a long, slow breath. There are people who are invested in our survival. People believe in us.

Danielle, noticing my glance in her direction, waves us over. Her eyes are alight with pride and a fierce sort of triumph as she hands me a plate- an honest-to-God plate- laden with rice, a buttered roll, and there's a sort of stir fry like concoction atop the rice. It smells heavenly, and I can almost hear the angels singing as I put the first spoonful of rice into my mouth. It's funny how I used to revere food back home, before beginning to take it for granted in the Capitol. Now, back in the wild, the whole meal has a sort of ethereal glow to it.

"This is amazing," Nat murmurs as she sinks her teeth into a cinnamon bun.

Danielle looks up, her own cheeks puffed out to accommodate half a bun in a single bite. She chews, a look akin to ecstasy in her eyes before she swallows. "If you're not going to eat that, I Volunteer as Tribute," she tells me, her voice dead serious. There's a mischievous glint in her brown eyes, though, and despite the darkness that the joke should carry, the three of us join her in laughter.

"It's all yours," I say, and she lunges for it, glee apparent on her pale face. Cinnamon buns, as we had discovered the first day in training, were Danielle's nemesis and elixir all in one. She couldn't turn one down and would do nearly anything to get her hands on one.

I watch her devour the delicacy with some amusement, before turning back to my own meal. This, compared to the dull rations and tesserae of District 12, is a meal fit for kings and queens.

"Don't eat too much," Lauren warns, although the impact of her words is slightly degraded by the fact that she herself has a mouthful of food. "We should ration this. Even if it is better hot."

Danielle looks mournfully down at the pile of cinnamon buns, nestled among wax paper like eggs in a nest. "Yeah," she agrees reluctantly, placing the lid back on their container and handing it to Lauren. "I suppose we should."

"You'll get more tonight," Lauren smiles. "And tomorrow, if you can restrain yourself."

Danielle still looks uncertain, because, oh yeah. This is the Hunger Games. We don't even know if we'll survive until tonight, much less tomorrow morning.

This- the meal, the Sponsors, the glimmer of hope we've found while blindly stumbling about in the dark that is our current circumstance, is the only spark we might have to guide us for a good long while.

"Who wants to carry the pack?" Lauren stands, the fully loaded bag in her hands. "I'd ration it, but we only have one bag."

"You should." Danielle stands, brushing herself off, the green light of her suit illuminating her face in a ghostly sort of glow. The lights of the Arena have begun to brighten, and where they are nowhere near as blinding as they were when we were first placed here, they're steadily getting brighter.

Lauren glances around, as if to check for objections. When Natalia and I offer none, she swings the bag over her shoulders. "Alright. We should get moving."

She takes a single step forward.

A rustle in the brush to our right is all the warning we get.

Asher Foster lunges out of the undergrowth, tackling Nat to the ground, teeth bared and metal glinting in the Arena lights. Natalia's scream pierces the forest, before cut short with a terrible gurgling sound. He pushes her limp body aside, and that's her blood glistening on his fingers, on the claws that extend from the horrible gloves on his hands, made of a leather dark as night. He takes a single, threatening step towards us, the muscles in his legs tensing, bunching, ready to pounce. Natalia's cannon punctuates that single movement, and a sob rises up in my throat.

"Run," Lauren breathes. "Run, run, run, come on, let's go!" She grabs my hand and starts dragging me through the trees.

"Nat," I breathe, and that's Danielle running beside us, tears streaming down her face even as she charges through the forest.

"I know." Lauren drags me left and Danielle goes right. Asher's still somewhere behind us, Natalia's dead body even further back, but there's no time for that.

"We need to keep moving." Danielle's rejoined us again, breathing hard. "Come on, Aveline, hurry!"

My feet slip outwards on the slick surface of whatever the Arena ground is made of- a flat, onyx material that siphons the light out of everything, eats it up, and swallows it whole. The light cycles will be of no use here, not in such close quarters. It's my body I have to rely on- my body, which is still weak and frail. Despite the slight weight I've gained from the last week spent in the Capitol, seven days cannot compete with the better part of sixteen years of one who is inured to poverty and malnourishment.

The air, which has suddenly turned frigid, shocks my throat and my lungs as I inhale deeper, faster. Sucking air in through my nose, my mouth, trying to keep each one even, paced, just as Amber taught me. My heart jack-knives against my chest, frantically trying to beat its way straight out of my ribcage, all or nothing. Fail, and my entire body pays the price, run, and the damage is limited mostly to my shins and knees where the strange plants whip against my skin with sharp twigs and tree roots seem to explode out of the formerly smooth ground to catch me off my guard.

I stumble over one, careening into Lauren, who shoves me upright with a strong hand on my back, propelling me forward. "Run, Aveline," she bellows, her voice thunderous and powerful in my ear. My breaths have become shorter, faster, panicked, and uneven. With each footfall, a jarring pain shoots ankle to knee, ankle to knee. Shit.

I have to keep running. My lungs burn, and my legs are leaden, but I have to keep moving. I don't know if Asher is still out there, chasing us, but if he is, he'll be on us- be on me- if I so much as slow to catch my breath.

I don't know how long we race through the trees, splitting and regrouping, dodging trees and underbrush.

We eventually come to a halt in a wholly different clearing, breathing hard, Lauren putting her hands behind her head, chest heaving. "You think we lost him?"

Danielle leans heavily against a tree, breaths rasping in her throat. "I hope so. I don't think I can go much further."

I walk over to the edge of the clearing. Just through the trees, I can make out a flat expanse of black, stretching for as far as the eye can see, and, there, in the middle- that's the Cornucopia. Dread curls low in my stomach as I scan the immediate area for the Careers. A single shape is barely visible atop the Cornucopia, glowing a pale shade of gray. Athena.

But there is no sign of gold or red or emerald green lurking around, and the way the girl is standing, even from here, it's clear that she's acting as a lookout.

Where her other four companions are, I don't know, but they're on the hunt.

"We're close to the edge of the forest," I report, turning away from the Cornucopia. "I can see the horn, and the Careers are gone. We need to be careful."

Danielle's whole body seems to go taut, a muscle in her jaw feathering, and she pushes away from the trunk of the tree, mouth open as she starts to say something.

And that's when Thames Venturi descends from the tree like an avenging angel from heaven, lands squarely on Danielle's shoulders, smoothly drives her to the ground, and plunges his spear into her back.

o0o

Halliday Frost (18) District Five Tribute

9:30 am

Thames' third kill comes from him falling out of a tree. Falling. Out of a tree.

It wasn't hard to track the three girls on their route through the forest- they were making enough noise and breathing loudly enough that Sash proclaimed he could shoot them in the dark. When they'd come to a halt in the clearing, Aegis wasted no time in organizing the rest of us. He'd take the eastern side of the clearing, closest to the Cornucopia so that he could drive them towards Athena if need be. Sash, obscured in the growth on the southern side, would keep an eye out for Asher, and hopefully shoot him dead if he showed any trace. I would take the western side, acting as an impassable, unyielding barrier that none of the three remaining girls could pass, and Thames was up a tree on the western angle, ready for an ambush. Thames was up the tree faster than any of us could say squirrel, and the rest of us wasted no time getting to our planned positions.

Aveline Wren just returned from scouting, saying that they need to be on their guard. If we're going to move, we need to do it now, but before I can give any sort of signal- before any of us can, Thames falls out of the tree.

Falls out of the god-damn tree. He's lucky enough to land right on top of Danielle Oakwood, and he wastes no time in putting his newfound Sponsor gift through her back.

Aveline screams, stumbling back a step or two. Lauren's eyes are wide, revulsion and horror written across her face.

Thames swings off Danielle's limp body, the cannon blast deafening in the sudden quiet. "Did you know," he purrs, voice bedroom-soft, "that there's a place on a man's back where you can sever his spine and pierce his heart, with one strike?" He casts a disinterested glance at the corpse behind him. "Or, perhaps, a place on a girl's back, where one can kill her with a single blow."

"You monster," Lauren breathes, and fury now ripples across her defined features. I can almost make out the tip of Sash's arrow, aimed with lethal accuracy.. It is no arrow of Cupid that waits to pierce that girl's heart, although some do say that death has always been kinder than love. The barbed tip does not waver. Sash makes no move to release it, though. He holds that mighty longbow steady and taut and does not fire. He understands the power of a spectacle better than any of us- and a spectacle before a slaughter is not to be turned down. Not when it could mean the difference between a day of life and a shallow grave back in your home District.

Thames had gone deathly still as soon as the words had left Aveline's lips. Now, his posture has eased, and when he speaks again, his voice is casual. Too casual, to be anything but a threat. "I've been called many things, Aveline, but monster is a first." He throws a roguish wink at her, and I can nearly hear the groan as Sash draws his bow back even farther. "Even for me."

Lauren steps forward, puts herself between Aveline and Thames. "Back off, Thames." She snaps, but her hands are shaking by her sides, where she's balled them into fists by her sides. "You've already killed her, isn't your bloodlust quenched?" Her voice trembles as she mentions Danielle, but she keeps her head high. To her credit, she's demonstrating quite a lot of courage. On the other hand, she's also demonstrating quite a lot of stupidity. She's wide open for attack, and it would be so, so easy for Thames to lunge, spear out, and-

Thames moves. He's a blur of gold and light hair, spear leveled directly at Lauren's heart.

"Don't you touch her!" Aveline's in movement, pink and gold clashing and tumbling to the ground. Sash bursts out of hiding, his great longbow loaded, but there's no way he can get a clear shot off. Not without running the risk of hitting Thames, and with all that power behind the shot, and at such short range… it's a risk we can't take.

Over and over they roll, and Aegis is in the clearing, broadsword drawn, the red of his suit glinting off the honed blade like blood. None of us dare to dive into the fray as Lauren pounces on top of the both of them- if we do, we risk one of them getting their hands on a weapon, and then nothing good will come of anything.

Thames lets out a harsh grunt as Lauren drives an elbow into his gut, and he barely evades Aveline's blow, aimed for his temple. The two girls have him pinned beneath them, and any other situation, it might be sexual, but Thames does not appear to be aroused, amused, or distracted in any sense. There's a predator's gleam in his eyes, like that of a cornered lion, and his lithe muscles flex beneath the skintight contours of his suit. The three of them separate and come together again, and if I didn't know better, I'd wonder if Thames was fighting two trained opponents. Aveline and Lauren work together seamlessly, matching each other blow for blow, forcing my fellow Career to duck and dodge and weave around them.

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was just a training exercise because no blood has been drawn, and Thames keeps his spear close, retracted.

But I do know better. I know better and can see the gap in their defense. See it at the exact same moment Thames does. Our eyes connect. Lock, and years of training together as occasional sparring partners sizzles into place between us. To you, to you, to you, his hazel eyes say, and then he's in the thick of the fray, and now his spear is out. Spinning, sweeping, and not an ounce of energy wasted.

The world fades out around me, and I focus in on the wicked dance that will eventually end in death that unfolds before me. I can't mess this up- it's four against two if the rest of us will ever be able to get in combat, but for now, everything rests on the representatives of District 1.

Time slows down, and the path this waltz of lethality unfolds before me. I know where Thames will spin before he moves, I know how Aveline will trip. I can see how she'll careen into Lauren, sending the two stumbling apart, and Aveline herself will be driven back by the point of Thames' spear.

Right to me.

"Halliday!" Thames' breathless shout brings me back, out of the choreography of the fight and into the present, where Aveline is staggering back, efficiently separated from her stronger ally.

I move forward, knives out, spinning the one in my right hand over- just how Maximus had shown me. Let the weapon fall, then raise, fall, then raise. More for show than anything else, but it looks intimidating on camera, and by the look on Aveline's face, it also looks intimidating up close.

Aveline backs up, fast, but the shaft of Thames' spear slams into her back.

"Hurry," he barks at me, and Aegis is already moving in on Lauren.

The girl from 12 stares up at me with wide, wide eyes, as I angle my daggers right up against her throat.

It's not hard at all to drag my knives across her throat and send her head tumbling to the ground.

Her body jerks once, twice, three times as it falls to the ground. Then it goes still. Her cannon fires not a moment later, and Lauren's howl of grief and undiluted rage shakes the very trees of the Arena. Her cry of fury is quickly followed by a shriek of agony, though, and Thames and I whirl back to see one of Sash's arrows embedded fletching deep in the girl's shoulder. Aegis stands a few yards away, sword out, and stained with her blood.

I read her movement and intentions a second too late.

The warning leaves Thames' lips not a heartbeat after. "Age, move!"

Lauren Silver's light cycle forms beneath her,. She revs the engines and jolts into motion. Blood streams from various cuts on her arms and legs, varying in severity as she begins to move.

Aegis throws himself to the side, rolling, rolling out of the way, barely avoiding getting crushed by Aveline's light cycle as she roars past. He's on his feet again in an instant, but it's too late. Lauren's already speeding across the stretch of flat ground that leads from the Cornucopia out to the city beyond. The twang of a bow is audible, even from here, but the arrow doesn't find its mark, and Lauren makes her escape.

None of us speak on our way back to the Cornucopia. Danielle didn't have any supplies in her, so we'd left her body where she'd fallen.

The silence lasts for the span of three heartbeats once we reach the horn. Irritation, annoyance, and general fuck-the-worlds have been building up inside me all day. I need an outlet- and the perfect one is standing right next to me. Athena makes it five steps in our direction before I whirl on him.

"You let her get away," I snap. Aegis' jaw is set, but he makes no move to argue. "She went right past you, and you didn't do a single god-damn thing about it."

"Lauren was on her light cycle, Halliday." Sash comes over, his brown eyes full of worry and concern. He places himself between me and Aegis- smart, but also risky. "There wasn't anything he could have done to go after them except chase her on his own cycle, and then where would we be?"

"We'd be standing over one more dead body" I retort. "And be that much closer to taking other, more important threats, off the map."

"Exactly." Aegis steps out from behind Sash, limbs loose and voice easy. Easy enough that it is clearly forced, and, at a closer glance, there is a battle raging behind those starless eyes. "There are other, more important threats out there, that we should worry about taking off the map first. Then we can worry about Lauren Silver."

I snarl at him, hand going to my waist, where one of the three knives I have on me is sheathed, and throw every ounce of dominance into my glare. Aegis sends all of his raging right back- enough darkness in his eyes to remind me that there is a gorgon lurking behind that brilliant smile and handsome face, and that said gorgon will not turn me to stone but devour me whole. And savor every last bite.

"We're done for today. We have two kills, and that should satisfy whoever's watching." Aegis unstraps his sword from around his waist. My hands curl into fists by my side at the arrogance in his voice, but I hold my tongue. Aegis' own hand is hovering up by his collarbone again, fingers brushing against bare skin, still searching for a token no longer there. "We'll leave that,"he jerks his chin towards the receding trail of silver, "to Killian and Mikail." His blue eyes are hard as he casts a glance over his shoulder, back towards the woods. "Asher Foster is still out there. So is his District partner, and the boy from 9. It's them we need to worry about."

Worry about indeed. But it is not us who should be watching our backs, keeping one eye open in sleep. I made myself a promise, in a room, surrounded by velvet and clad in betrayed white, a comb of sapphires and diamonds. I will never be heartbroken again. If there is anything left of that shattered heart, I will not let it show. They will never see me cry until I break them.

o0o

14th: Natalia Oakly (16) District Eleven Female (Submitted by SparrowBirdEliza) Killed by a slit throat, courtesy of Asher Foster. Nat, you were amazingly fun to write and I loved your journey throughout these Games. I regret placing you 14th, because I would have loved to see you go further, but that was what was in your stars, and I am not at the point in a story where I can rewrite them. Not just yet. Rest in peace, Natalia Oakly. May you fear no evil. Feel no pain. [KDA: 0/1/0]

13th: Danielle Oakwood (17) District Seven Tribute (Submitted by GreyWolf44) Killed by a spear severing her spine and piercing her heart, courtesy of Thames Venturi. You were another beauty to write, Danielle- everyone who's made it past this point has a special place in my heart, including you and darling Nat. You and your cinnamon buns were what got me through this chapter, honestly, because you gave me the excuse to gorge myself on them. Love you to pieces, so sad to see your journey end here. Rest in peace, Danielle Oakwood. May you fear no evil. Feel no pain. [KDA: 0/1/0]

12th: Aveline Wren (16) District Twelve Tribute (Submitted by thorne98) Killed by decapitation, courtesy of Halliday Frost. Aveline, you fighter you, I originally placed you a bit lower than 12th, but then rearranged the death order and here you are. Just outside the top 10. You were truly a blast to write for, and while your arc doesn't have the steepest curve, you were always one of my favorites. You went down bravely, defending your ally, and Lauren will never forget you, and nor will I, as the first D12F I have ever received. Rest in peace, Aveline Wren. May you fear no evil. Feel no pain. [KDA: 0/1/0]

o0o

Alliances:

We're Wide Awake Now (Careers): Thames Venturi (D1M), Halliday Frost (D1F), Aegis Harlow (D2M), and Athena Sheir (D2F), and Sash Radcliffe (D8M)

Among The Hidden (Loners, for now): Lauren Silver (D3F), Mikail Drakil (D4M), Asher Foster (D5M), Ambrose Volta (D5F), Phoenix/Killian Doppelmen (D6M), and Jordan Wheaton (D9M)

o0o

A/N: And there we have it for day 2 in the Arena! Another, admittedly spontaneous death to add to the kill count of three, and things are moving on much quicker than I expected them to. Things may be pushed forward a few days, and although these Hunger Games might not be the most, erm, realistic, I do hope they're enrapturing and are keeping you enthralled.

Thank you so much for your support and a huge shout-out towards StardusttheKillerQueen, Unravel The World, and ShippingDeity on the group chat for encouraging me to push through this!

I apologize for the late update :( I'm scrambling to find time to write between being the DM for two separate D&D parties, and then writing this story on top of all that, and inspiration is hard to come by these days. On the upside, every moment of my 'off time' will now be spent focusing on my SYOTs, even if it isn't this one. A Court of Mist and Ruin, my sequel to Locked and Loaded, is coming out on October 31st- yes, Halloween, that was indeed on purpose- and I'm grinding down to try and get this either done or nearly there by that date. Updates will not be as constant as they were- they could be three days apart or a week. It depends on my level of inspiration and how close I am to a burnout.

This was a shorter chapter than usual, and I apologize for that as well. Given the split of where everyone us, PoVs will be a bit scrambled, but I'm trying to get everyone some screen time before they die, yeah? We'll be sure to hear from Ambrose and Jordan in the next two chapters.

For reference on where everyone is: the Careers are with the Cornucopia, Killian/Phoenix is in the city part of the map, as is Mikail, but they're still on opposite sides of the place, for now, but a grief-stricken and wounded Lauren has driven over there on her death motorcycle, so shit's gonna happen. Asher, with his scary as fuck gloves, as well as Ambrose, and Jordan are all in the forest together. I don't think I've forgotten anyone, but if I have, I'm dreadfully sorry D:

I'll see you all again next week with the next chapter, Arena night 2! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day/night, stay safe out there, and all my love goes with you!

Over, out, and may the odds be ever in your favor,

~SetFires (Vixen)