Estefania "Cupid" Sanchez, 18
Shelby's #3 Female Pick
"Tributes I have an announcement," Moriah Jackson said into the microphone. Cupid's heart fell into her stomach as she listened to the words of Moriah echo across the arena, and for the first time, Cupid can process where she is.
It's a big jungle arena; trees are lined with brightly colored fruits, and various bright-colored birds fly across the clear blue sky. In the very center of the jungle stands a tall treehouse that's big enough to be two houses connected in one. A river is on the right side of the arena, and Cupid can see various colored fishes swimming in it.
"You've been told your whole life that twenty-three of you will perish in the arena. Well, upon talking with the President, I've decided that that's not the whole truth. While most of you will still fall in the arena, two of you will make it out alive. That's right, tributes. In the 118th Games, there will be two victors. May the odds be ever in your favor."
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Cupid's brain spazzes out as the news processes that she has double the chance to win the games now. Two victors means that she and Janet can get out of here. They just have to make it through the bloodbath first.
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Focus Cupid. Find Jupiter. She scanned the crowd, and Jupiter was three platforms away from her on her right. He stared at her as she looked for him, and he smiled as he waved sarcastically at her. Alright, bitch. Let's see.
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"Let the 118th Hunger Games begin!"
Cupid sprang off her platform and ran straight for Jupiter, picking up a machete on the way over. Jupiter was waiting for her standing by his platform with a machete as well as he stood ready to fight. As Cupid got closer, she jumped and lunged at him slicing her blade in the air.
Jupiter sidestepped her attack and laughed. "Someone didn't learn from their past mistakes!" said Jupiter as he sliced his blade. It nicked Cupid in her arm, and she let out a small wince as he laughed at her even harder. "Twentieth place, twenty-fourth place, it doesn't make a difference. At the end of the day, you're still not making it out of the bloodbath!"
Cupid flashed back to her, dying in the arena. She remembered what it felt like to have the life drain out of her body. She remembered what it felt like, with her eyes drooping lower and lower. This was not going to happen to her today. This was her revenge.
"You dumb bitch! You think you're going to-"
Cupid threw her machete directly at Jupiter, and it landed in his throat. He fell to the ground and collapsed as blood squirted around his body. As he gasped for breath, Cupid bent down and grabbed the knife from his body and yanked it out. "Overconfidence is a bitch, Jupiter," she said as she scanned the crowd for Janet and ran to fight with her alliance.
Ajax Volt, 18
McKenna's #1 Male Tribute
"Oh, look!" shrieked Kitana as she ran over to Darcy and tackled her to the ground. "Little Darcykins all by herself in the bloodbath!" she punched Darcy in the face over and over as Ajax watched horrified.
They were siblings. Darcy and Kitana were his sisters, and Kitana is just trying to kill Darcy. How could she do that? Ajax started to feel a sickly feeling in his stomach. Last time he betrayed those that were truly there for him. This time he won't turn his back on the people that matter.
"Kitana!" screamed Ajax as he kicked her off of Darcy. "That's enough!"
Without a word from Darcy, she got up and ran away from the scene. Kitana attempted to chase after her, but Ajax tripped her, and she fell to the ground. "What the fuck Ajax?!" she screamed at him. "You can't just let her getaway!"
"That's your sister, Kitana!" screamed Ajax as he pushed her. "What are you doing?! You can't just sit there and kill your family! You have to have some sort of loyalty for the people that you grew up with!"
Kitana rolled her eyes, and that made Ajax all the angrier. She opened up her mouth to talk, but Ajax shoved her once again. "How dare you not take the relationships we've made since we were kids seriously!"
Kitana rolled her eyes, and with one sharp movement from her, Ajax found it hard to breathe. He reached up and touched his neck to see blood pouring out of his neck. He tried to gasp for air, but each time he wanted to inhale, it only became more and more painful.
Ajax fell to the floor and looked at his sister, surprised as she snickered. "Could have been Darcy if you'd just minded your own fucking business. I'd ask you what it feels like to know you're going to die twice, but you can't talk right now," says Kitana as she feigns choking. "Bye-bye, Ajax!"
Sagar Dewpont, 18
Princeton's #1 Male Pick
Cupid just killed Jupiter.
Sagar was distracted. He just watched his number one ally get slaughtered because he was cocky, and now he's watching as chaos unfolded. Their plan was simple. Grab supplies, group them together, and defend them until they have enough to get out of the bloodbath without having to come back to the cornucopia.
Princeton's House has already lost one kid, and Sagar refused to let another one die amid all this war.
Cerise, Lily, and Valerian were gathering supplies as Sagar and Axton ran around, making sure their sisters were protected. Axton seemed to be hyperfocused on making sure Lily was okay, and that left Sagar to defend Valerian and Cerise at all costs.
"No!" screamed Cerise. "Let go!"
Sagar turned around and saw Cerise and Rana fighting over a backpack in the middle of the alliance's hoard pile. Sagar frowned as he walked over to Rana and grabbed her by her arm, throwing her in the opposite direction. "Go, Rana!" Sagar warned.
"You don't scare me, Sagar!" she ran at him with a knife drawn, and Sagar quickly sidestepped her and pushed her again. He held up his hand in her face and warned her one more time.
"Stop, I don't want to hurt you!"
Rana threw her knife at him, and Sagar stepped to the side easily once again as he launched his sword directly into her heart. She sunk to the ground and had tears running down her face as the blood began to pull under her.
"I'm sorry, Rana," said Sagar as he came over to her body and took his sword back. "I tried to warn you. You were just too stubborn."
Rudi Carlson, 18
Hazel's #3 Male Pick
Rudi was frustrated. He's been frustrated since his memories had come back, and he remembered his dad had cheated on his mom. He remembered beating the shit out of his dad, and now he had to remember the first time he died.
A shiver went down Rudi's back. The last time I died. He thought. He didn't like the feeling last time. It was cold. He always heard on television that when you died, it was warm, but Rudi can honestly say his body was cold. He was shivering.
It was safe to say that Rudi was mad, and he needed someone to take his frustrations out on. It was then that Valerian ran by as she was collecting supplies on the ground. Might as well. Thought Rudi. I've been taking my frustration out on her for years.
It was easy to sneak up behind Valerian. She wasn't observant, and Rudi knew that. So when he threw her to the ground, and her eyes grew wide in terror, it brought him a lot of joy to see that he caused it. Soon he would get his anger out of his system.
He could think about the consequences of his actions later.
"Rudi, are you serious?" Valerian asked with hurt in her eyes. "After all of our history you're going to...you're going to try and take me out?" her lip began to quiver, and she looked to the side angry. "I gave you everything. And I accepted the bullshit you gave back because it's what I felt was worthy of what I was giving you."
Rudi raised his knife above his head and was ready to bring it down when Valerian kicked him off. "But I've woken up from the trance you've put me in, Rudi," she stood up and kicked Rudi in the mouth. His front tooth popped out onto the grassy field, and he was disgusted as the metallic flavor filled his mouth. Rudi hated the taste of blood. "You don't own me anymore, Rudi," said Valerian as she kicked him again.
He tried to grab her foot, but she took her other leg and locked it around his neck. She knocked the wind out of him as he fell to the ground in pain. She came and sat on top of him, and Rudi chuckled at her. "Old habits die hard, huh?" But to Rudi's surprise, she wrapped her hand around his throat, and as he tried to fight her, her grip only got tighter and tighter.
Her nails dug into his skin, and he was in agony, attempting to push her off, but the more Valerian squeezed, the harder it was for Rudi to struggle. He frowned as he saw his life flashing before his eyes.
"People like you don't get happy endings, Rudi. They die miserable and alone," Valerian said, but her voice was getting farther and farther away from Rudi. "People like you don't deserve the love people like me give. Because I gave you my whole heart. You merely stomped on it. Consider this our official break-up."
Rudi drifted off as his vision became fuzzier and fuzzier. Dying was colder than he remembered as the vision of blurry outlines turned into darkness all around him. Eventually, he was looking at nothing, everything was black, and suddenly, Rudi knew he was leaving. I'm sorry. He though with his last bit of life. I'm sorry…
Napoleon Walter, 18
McKenna's #2 Male Pick
"Rana!" Napoleon screamed as he watched the sword enter his sister's chest. She fell to the ground, and Napoleon had tears well up in his eyes as he watched his sister die. It was sad. Rana and Napoleon were never close, but she was like the little sister that he never wanted. He always felt like he had to look out for her.
And now, when it mattered, he failed.
"Sagar, you'll pay for that!" screamed Napoleon as he hurled his spear into the direction of Sagar. Sagar moved at the last minute, and Napoleon screamed in frustration upon seeing it. When the chaos of the moment settled, Napoleon looked over and saw that his spear had landed directly into Cerise's chest.
"Sister for a sister," called Napoleon as Sagar sunk to his knees and mourned the loss of yet another sibling. "Blood must have blood!" Napoleon grabbed his supplies and ran over to the rest of his alliance when Sagar and House Princeton ran over and started to battle with them.
"You made a big mistake!" said Sagar as he sliced at Napoleon. Napoleon kicked Sagar in the stomach and pushed him down to the ground. "You killed Cerise!" screamed Sagar.
"And you killed Rana!"
Everyone stopped fighting from the random emotional outburst from two of the most stoic tributes in the games. Sagar and Napoleon stared daggers at each other before Caio walked over to Napoleon and grabbed his brother by the arm. "It's not worth it yet." He motioned for both alliances to stand down, and they did.
"The next time we see you, it's game over, Sagar," said Caio.
Janet Berenski, 18
Shelby's #1 Female Pick
Janet watched as Kitana and her alliance were running toward the exit of the cornucopia. She wasn't getting away that easy. She blew Janet's head off, and for that? There needed to be some sort of repercussion.
And Kitana's death would serve perfectly.
Janet ran at the alliance and tackled Kitana to the ground. She flipped her over, and Kitana squealed in delight when she saw the goth girl was the one that made such a bold move. "Was me killing you the first time not enough, sweetie?" she asked as Janet attempted to stab her in the head with a knife.
Kitana easily pushed Janet off and stood ready to battle. She motioned for her alliance to run off and waved her hand. "I will catch up with you shortly," she said.
Janet rolled her eyes as Kitana ran at her with full speed. Janet sidestepped her and grabbed her by her hair as she swung her around back to the ground. Kitana let out a squeal of pain and stabbed Janet in her calf, causing Janet to let go of her hair.
"Have you lost your fucking head?!" said Kitana laughing as she stood up and pushed Janet down. She climbed on top of her and stabbed her directly in the throat. "Not yet, anyway!" Kitana laughed as she began to saw into Janet's neck.
Cupid screamed as Kitana looked at her handiwork in pride. "Not quite blowing your head off, but it'll do!" she said as she got up and left Janet drowning in her blood. "Tata, Janet!" she screamed as she disappeared into the jungle in front of her. "Have fun in hell!"
"Janet!" screamed Cupid as she grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed. "No, Janet, you can't go," said Cupid as tears ran poured down her cheeks. "I need you, please don't go. We were supposed to get out of this together."
Janet turned to her sister and smiled to the best of her ability, and with the last bit of energy she had, she winked and stuck her tongue out at Cupid as her body collapsed, no longer able to help support her due to blood loss.
"I love you too, Janet," said Cupid as Janet silently drifted away.
Well, I'm sad. I don't know about you guys, but this was the hardest bloodbath I've ever had to write.
24th Place: Jupiter Aeneas, Killed by Cupid Sanchez- Someone has to die first in every story, and it's never easy to decide who it is that gets the honor. Misty, I picked Cupid because I hadn't seen you around for a minute, and with how I planned to arc Cupid, it made sense for her to be able to kill her original killer. I hope you don't hate me too much.
23rd Place: Ajax Volt, Killed by Kitana Striker- This was hard because Ajax was one of my favorite tributes. I liked him, and I think in another story, his character would have shined. The issue with him in Project Rebirth was Ajax was very...normal. And while I do have normal tributes still alive, I could figure out where to plot them, Ajax just never fit into any of the arcs I wanted, and I tried. Unfortunately, every story needs some bloodbaths.
22nd Place: Rana Celeste, Killed by Sagar Dewpont- Meh, she was mine. She was going to go anyway, so I literally wrote the numbers down and then picked one out of a hat, and that was Rana's placement. She was cool. It was fun to write her again. Probably should have brought back Kate. 0.0
21st Place: Rudi Carlson, Killed by Valerian Mercury- Oh Rudi, from the moment I saw your form, I knew your arc. It was all about finding the right girl to carry out the situation. You had a more significant impact than you know. Valerian is going to have a pretty cool arc because of you.
20th Place: Cerise Ramirez- I LOVED CERISE! BUT OUT OF HOUSE PRINCETON I NEEDED ONE TO MORE TO DIE. I couldn't let the twins go. There's a lot of angsty drama that I needed to connect with. I couldn't let Sagar go, because I have some stuff for him. And then Valerian has growth she required as well. I didn't have things for Cerise; her things just didn't motivate me as much as the others. I'm so so sorry, Axe, and if you hate me, I understand entirely.
19th Place: Janet Berenski, Killed by Kitana Striker- Jesus, this was hard. This was hard. James, there were a number of factors that went into this. The first of which was that I didn't think you were too into the story, and that's no fault of your own. Sometimes people just get busy, and unfortunately, it came at a time where I had to make some cuts. She was a great tribute, and if you guys that read Blood Grants recall, there was Hecate, and she caused a lot...well...Janet's death has a domino effect I'll reveal as the story goes on. This changed everything, including my victors.
Alliance Update:
Yikes: Kitana/Napoleon/Caio/Vritra/Synth
Bad Bitches Alliance: Darcy/Cortana/Cupid/Delaine
House Princeton: Lily/Axton/Sagar/Valerian
Boys, Boys: Ruben/Hadrian
Overthinking: Arturo/Carter
Loner: Elizabeth
I dropped a lot this chapter...let me know what you think!
Keep it classy,
Caleb