Chapter 7; Lancel Count.

'And here here here he is ladies and gentlemen….your 7th Victor….the 1st to bring multiple wins to the same District….Lancel…..Count!'

The applause almost deafened the stage as the curtains opened. A tall, calm looking dark skinned boy walked out, holding his hand to wave across the massive room. His lips might have curled upwards slightly.

'Welcome welcome welcome Lancel! That was quite the event we just saw out there'.

The boy pursed his lips. 'Well Rolby, I was just repaying a debt. I owed it to all of you. I'm very glad it lived up to your expectations in some small ways'.

'Oh it did more then that lad! Did it not everyone?'

The crowds yelled out their agreement.

'So let's talk through the goings-on, Lancel. 8 kills, and you took some hard blows along the way. You were in a bit of a tricky spot there a couple of times, but you came through them well enough, just like your mentor here, isn't that right Marius?'

The older victor tilted his head and gave a sort of half nod. 'Yes, Rolby, well us District 2 boys are made of tough stuff. I had luck on my side for sure. But Lancel here is a tough nut too'.

Lancel looked over at the audience. A lot of chuckles. Everyone looked to be having a great time. But they were watching him too, looking over his face, posture. To see just how much of their loyal soldier he was at the core.

The next few moments were pivotal.

Lancel raised an eyebrow as Marius clapped him on the back. He looked up, almost but not quite startled, as his mentor gestured to Rolby Flickerman.

'Well you're certainly glad to meet us all, I'll say that for sure!'

Lots of cheers. Intense cheers. Yes, the Capitol loved their victors, but more then that, Lancel was their first true champion. A crusader, one could say.

I think that's all the time for just words we have this evening folks-let's put the show on the road! Memories can only do so much for things like this!'

The cheers reached their crescendo. Lancel inhaled slightly and tiled his head over to the screen.

Recap Time.

The video smashed through each of the Reapings. Districts 1, 2, 5, 7, 10, 11. 24 tributes, all reaped, to be sent off to fight to the death.

Lancel knew they wouldn't pay much attention to the training days but he was surprised even to see just how quickly the recap breezed through it.

The 7th Games were set in the first of several burning desert arenas. Their alliance that year was more ruthless and forward, prepared for vicious killing. They'd all seen Grapple Luna and Aoife Morgan break the odds the last 2 years. Not this time. Lancel watched himself personally impale the District 12 girl and District 5 boy with one blow of his sword.

This was the 1st Games where their alliance got all 6 of the core components-each of the male and each female tribute from 1, 2 and 4. Lancel hadn't been personally the absolute fondest of District 4's but he had let it slide for the time being.

Back in present time Lancel's eyes flickered towards the sky in the recap. The vulture mutts would be circling high above up there.

Marius immediately gripped his shoulder.

Their alliance killed 8 tributes at the bloodbath and claimed the Cornucopia as its base. Lancel had been very quiet, letting his District partner take the leadership spot.

The next few days had been slow; the remaining tributes spread far out and away. Thankfully their alliance had stocked up well on supplies. Lancel noticed they'd included the highlight where the boy from 4 impaled the girl from 6 with a trident from over 80 feet. Very impressive.

The recap also showed what Lancel did his best to hide from the rest of the alliance. Just as Lancel was beheading the boy from 5, the dying boy managed to trip him over and knocked him to the ground, where his knee smashed into a boulder. The 5 boy died, of course, but Lancel's knee tendon was badly damaged.

He couldn't risk showing weakness in this alliance. Lancel had known that as well as any of them, especially with his near psychopathic District partner in charge. If they knew, they would kill him first and probably leave him to die.

The vulture mutts came on the 12th day.

The 7th Games was the first time mutts were ever included and they had more then the desired effect. They scattered the alliance all along different directions-Lancel believed he spotted the boy from 4 with his District partner, but the rest were all separate-but then Lancel tripped at the last moment and that didn't really matter because the mutts were on him.

They had their way for the first 4 minutes. One of them beat its wings around the very corner of Lancel's eye; another inch closer and it would have taken it out. Others pecked at his stomach, ears, legs.

The Capitol audience watched in awe for the next step. Lancel could've heard a pin drop.

Strike by strike, as his life slipped further away out of his grasp everything flashed before him. If he died now it would all be for nothing. Everything; his parents, the Dark Days, the quarries, the reapings, The Reaping. If he lost he would be nothing. It would all be a failure ending in blood and organs ripped apart and nothing left to recognise. No more learning, laughing, running, climbing, hope, love, despair, hate, power.

The second before the next vulture mutt soared to his chest Lancel sucked in a massive breath of air, picked up his sword and slashed it through the creature's neck.

It's head plonked onto the ground but by then he was already on the next mutts where he used the very same technique from the Bloodbath to kill the second and third simultaneously.

8 minutes later he dropped his sword. Then he collapsed onto the ground nearly dead again.

Marius had told him the sponsoring had gone absolutely crazy after that, that even the Rhinestone girl hadn't had things soar this highly. The Capitol wanted more of this warrior, the man fighting for his life.

Lancel's sponsor supplies for food, water and weapons that evening were easily the largest so far in Games history, and rarely matched in the future decades either.

Marius hadn't even bothered to check if the water and drugs were spiked for adrenaline boosts. They obviously would be.

He did, however, write a very short note to impose on Lancel the importance of his next course of action. To play his part.

After reading it, Lancel declared that if they wanted more blood, he'd show them blood.

In present time Marius winced noticeably but didn't turn away from the screen. His protégé would need his help, healing. He would make it through watching this.

The next 12 hours were some of the most memorable in Games history, and watched several times every year at the Institute for the next 2 thirds of a century. Lancel cut through the remaining field with unprecedented ferocity. He found the girl from District 11 hiding within a ring of dunes first and broke her neck promptly. The boy from District 6-Lancel struck him down with the very first blow of his throwing knives. His former alliance, where he cut down his old rival from 4 first, then the boy from 1 and then to his District partner, Cabella. He didn't look back afterwards.

The Gamemakers had been under strict orders to keep the boy from 8 alive to face off against Lancel. Isaac Madison was one of 6 children of the former rebellious Mayor of District 8-still serving in the role as a sort of figurehead- and the first to be sent into the Arena. His purpose in the arena was to die a gruesome death and send a clear message of futility of rebellion.

Lancel had left little left to be recognised of the boy.

Marius raised an eyebrow slightly when he realized that of the 3 hour long recap, over half of it had been purely on Lancel's crusade over the last day.

The audience were on their feet in a stampede of applause.

Rolby was shaking Lancel's hand and congratulating him on giving his District multiple victors but also on the 'extraordinary patriotic duty' he'd shown in the arena.

Lancel looked out at the crowd, clear eyed, and smiled at them.

Marius ran to catch up with his former tribute as he walked away.

'Lancel!'

The younger victor stopped and turned his head back. 'Something you wanted Marius?'

Marius looked him in the eyes. 'Things might never be the same again', he admitted. 'We'll never fully forget the arenas. But, if we work together, things will be better. I know it looks crazy, I know it'll feel horrible for so long, but I can help you. You can still have some life of your own'.

Lancel seemed to mull this over for a few seconds and looked round the city landscape.

Then his lips curled down.

'No, Marius' he said coolly, still looking round the skylights. 'No, I think this is the Capitol's world and it'll be worse for us if we don't realize that. And they won't let us go. That's the price'.

And with that he walked into the night.

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