Anakin didn't remember falling asleep, but he woke up to feeling his stomach growl—not the kind of growl that he was used to, but this one a little more painful, the kind that only came after too much time passing with too little food. Anakin figured that was only natural, because he couldn't remember the last time he ate something that wasn't tree bark…
Anakin pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around. Ahsoka was curled up next to him, her head pillowed by folded hands. Her jacket covered her like a small blanket, and when Ahsoka shifted against the ground, it slipped a little from her shoulder.
Anakin dragged the jacket back up. Ahsoka, to his surprise, didn't wake. For a disconcerting moment, he wondered if that was a bad thing—and then he wondered if it was bad that he was wondering that in the first place—but then Ahsoka shivered, and she shifted a little against the ground.
Anakin paused, waiting for her to wake, but Ahsoka just mumbled something and lapsed back into sleep.
He let out a breath and looked up. Where was—
He found Obi-Wan sitting at the mouth of their little cave.
Huh.
Anakin pushed himself up to his feet and, rubbing a hand over his face, he managed to reach Obi-Wan's side. He tried to move as quietly as he could so to avoid waking Ahsoka, but when he took another step, Obi-Wan turned around.
"You're awake," he said.
"I was about to say the same of you," Anakin replied. He sat down and looked at Obi-Wan. His color seemed to have gotten better since the last time Anakin had seen him—but then again, the last time Anakin had seen him, they'd both been partially frozen.
"Are you—"
Obi-Wan lifted his hand.
Anakin looked down. The swelling had decreased considerably.
"Ahsoka was right. The cold certainly helped," Obi-Wan said, dropping his hand to his lap.
"And you're not tired? If you needed someone else to take watch…"
"I've slept for nearly the entirety of…" Obi-Wan frowned. "How many days?"
Anakin glanced up at the grey sky. Only a little bit of light was peeking through the clouds now, enough for Anakin to think that morning had come at last. "Maybe a day?"
"There you have it then," Obi-Wan replied. He turned, held out one of the water bottles. "I've re-filled them. It doesn't look it, but the snow does melt." He looked around the snowy and icy wasteland. Anakin followed his gaze. "I suspect this really might be the only water source here. That, and the rain."
"Well, the gamemakers already made it rain once—so they're probably not going to pull that one on us again, right?" Anakin said halfheartedly. He took a swig of water from the bottle, passed it back to Obi-Wan.
"I'm fine," Obi-Wan said. "Like I said—I had to refill them."
Anakin nodded. He took another sip, this time a bit smaller, and then he screwed the cap back on. There was still half of this water bottle and the other one left, so when Ahsoka woke up…
Anakin's stomach growled again.
Obi-Wan gave him a sidelong glance. "I suspected as much."
"There's got to be something around here," Anakin said, forcing himself to stand up again. Now that he was actually aware of how hungry he was, his body felt both heavier and lighter at the same time. No, his head felt light—it was just his body that felt weighed down.
"There's nothing out there," Obi-Wan said, gesturing out to the landscape. "Anything out there would either be frozen or camouflaged too well."
"Camouflaged," Anakin said, staring into the snow. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, there are animals that blend in with the snow," Obi-Wan said. "Foxes. Owls, bears even. Up north, I believe. Far north. Not something we'd find back home."
Anakin snorted, crossing his legs. "Well, not like something I'd find back home, either."
They were quiet.
"District 3," Obi-Wan said at last.
"My name's Anakin."
"No, I know that—I'm only saying that you're from District 3. That's a dryer climate."
Anakin lifted his shoulders. "Yeah," he replied. "So no…snow."
Obi-Wan paused. "So it's your first time?"
"Sure." Anakin stretched his arms over his head. "Then again, it's also my first time being thrown in an arena filled with kids who want to kill each other, so there's that." He dropped his arms back down. "And what about you? Is this your first time seeing snow, or…"
"No," Obi-Wan replied, looking out to the landscape. "There's snow where I come from. No animals, though. Most of them go into hiding when the snow hits."
A wind blew by. Sharper, carrying with it a whine that sent a chill down Anakin's spine.
"Is it usually this…"
"Empty?"
"I was going to say white, but sure. That works."
"Sometimes," Obi-Wan replied. He looked funny. "Sometimes the snow isn't all that bad. Children would play with it."
"Play," Anakin said, looking out to the snowy landscape again. That was something he hadn't heard of in a while.
"They throw it at each other," Obi-Wan explained.
"And you didn't?"
"I did. Once."
"Busy doing something else?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied simply.
"Like what?"
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin.
Anakin had the feeling maybe he shouldn't have asked—or maybe he didn't really need to ask, because of course, Obi-Wan came from District 1, and of course, Obi-Wan was the son of a victor…Anakin suddenly became very, very aware of who he was sitting next to.
He figured he was supposed to be scared—someone who was a little smarter and a little more aware of the situation would probably be scared, but Anakin had dragged Obi-Wan's unconscious body through half of the arena.
So he stared back at Obi-Wan.
Finally, Obi-Wan said, "We should think about finding food."
"Right."
Ahsoka woke up to hearing quiet voices from somewhere to her right. Or, at least, she was fairly certain that was her right—her sense of hearing felt a little off, because she was still trying to blink the sleep from her eyes, and she was still trying to remember exactly where she was…
Ahsoka opened her eyes to find herself staring at a rock wall. Her cheek was pressed raw, and her hands were numb, and her legs were stiff, but Ahsoka managed to sit up. She rubbed a still-numb hand behind her even number and stiffer neck, and she turned to find Anakin and Obi-Wan speaking at the cave mouth.
They had both woken up before her, then. And they had both somehow stayed.
Ahsoka, for some reason, found that she wasn't too surprised by that.
She stood up and, swinging the jacket around her shoulders, walked towards the two.
"Good morning," she said.
Both Anakin and Obi-Wan turned to her, clearly startled by her sudden presence.
"Morning," Anakin said. "We were just going to wake you."
"Must have read your minds, then," Ahsoka said, sitting down. She swiped the water bottle from Anakin's side and, unscrewing the cap, asked, "What's the plan?"
"You're already assuming we have a plan?" Anakin asked.
"Sure," Ahsoka replied. "Because I was the one who got us here, I'm betting that someone has the next part of the plan." She tilted her head back to catch the water. She set the water bottle back down on the ground and looked expectantly at Obi-Wan and Anakin.
"So?" she prompted. "What are we doing next?'
"First," Obi-Wan said, "we need to find food."
Ahsoka nodded. She certainly liked the sound of that.
"Only problem," Ahsoka said, looking out to the snow and ice in front of them. "I don't think this is where we'll find food."
"We figured that part out," Anakin said.
"So what are we figuring out next?" Ahsoka asked, opening the water bottle again.
"We're getting to that," Obi-Wan replied. "We could try to head back for the forest…"
"There was nothing there," Anakin said. "Except maybe more bugs."
"They could be gone," Obi-Wan mused. "Like you said—the gamemakers already pulled one of their tricks on us. They're not bound to do it again, not unless they're very bored."
"Don't you think the gamemakers are listening to us right now?" Ahsoka asked.
"Let them listen," Anakin said bluntly.
"What we mean," Obi-Wan said, "is that the bugs might not be there."
Ahsoka remembered the bugs with their strange arms—the skin—and she shuddered, drawing her jacket tighter around herself. No, she didn't particularly feel like seeing those things again.
Anakin paused. And then he said, "We haven't seen any of the other tributes. How do you think they're eating?"
"Maybe they managed to take food from the Cornucopia," Obi-Wan said. "Or maybe they, too, are taking advantage of the bark."
Anakin had a strange look on his face. "You don't think with the bugs…"
Ahsoka's stomach twisted. "Don't—"
"I'm just saying, there was that one tribute that ate—"
"Anakin."
They all fell silent. Ahsoka tried to picture some of the other tributes—Barriss being one of them, tearing the bugs' arms—
Ahsoka's mouth suddenly tasted sour, and the thought alone was almost enough to make Ahsoka forget her own hunger.
Almost.
"What matters is that we find food for ourselves," Obi-Wan said. "There has to be something—"
Before he could finish his sentence, another wind blew. This one fiercer and stronger, and somewhere, in the distance, a howl.
"I wish it would stop doing that," Ahsoka murmured. "It's been like that since yesterday."
"Just the wind," Anakin agreed.
The wind blew again—yet another howl.
"Strong wind," Obi-Wan commented.
Ahsoka nodded, resting her forehead against her knees. She wondered what her dad and her brothers might be doing now. If they were watching her now. Her home was so warm, and her district was so warm, and there was never any snow or ice or anything like this…there were fields and the Peacekeepers, to be sure, but there was warmth…and her dad and her brothers and sometimes even the occasional friendly dog that the Peacekeepers would always blame when Ahsoka stole food—
Another howling wind.
Ahsoka closed her eyes.
And then she opened them.
"It's not just the wind," she breathed.
Anakin and Obi-Wan both looked at her, their brows so comically furrowed that Ahsoka wanted to laugh. She almost did, right then, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or her hunger or just her overall disbelief with the two.
"It's not just the wind," she repeated, shooting up to her feet. "There's something out there."
"Do you think it's…"
Another howl.
Obi-Wan frowned, and then, realization slowly dawning in his eyes, he stood up. "She's right," he said. "I don't know why I couldn't have thought of it before—"
"If we catch it—"
"So we just catch a wolf," Anakin said, standing up. "Is it a wolf?"
"Could be a wolf," Obi-Wan replied.
"So we just catch a wolf," Anakin repeated. "That should be easy."
Ahsoka palmed her knives, ignoring the flip-flop sensation in her stomach. "Easiest thing in the world," she said.
It turned out that catching a wolf was not the easiest thing in the world.
Because firstly, wolves were quick.
And secondly, wolves had very sharp teeth.
And thirdly, wolves were heavy.
Which was why Obi-Wan found himself shoving the wolf's dead body off of himself with more force than he had expected. And that was saying quite a bit, considering that Obi-Wan had been used to throwing heavy loads in his own training periods, but throwing a whole animal off himself—that was a little different.
Still, as Obi-Wan rolled out from under the wolf, he couldn't help but feel sorry. It didn't feel right to kill a creature that was just going about on its own—Obi-Wan was sure the wolf hadn't asked to be put in the arena, either, but then again, there they all were.
For that, Obi-Wan took to dragging the wolf back himself. And it was bit of a drag—they had found the wolf a good little ways from their cave, but now, Obi-Wan dumped the dead wolf on the rock ground.
"We're going to need a fire," Anakin said at last. "Unless you guys are fine with eating raw meat…"
"No," Obi-Wan and Ahsoka said at once.
"I could…see if I can get something from the forest," Ahsoka said after a little while. She adjusted her grip on her knives. "I'll be back in just a few minutes." As Anakin started to stand up, she added quickly, "You two just work on the…wolf part."
"Ah, yes. The wolf part," Obi-Wan said dryly. "The part that no one else wants to take."
"That's the spirit," Ahsoka said, and before anyone else could say anything, she darted out of the cave.
Obi-Wan and Anakin only looked at each other before getting to work.
And it turned out that…skinning the wolf was another experience. He found himself frowning more than he would like.
"This part bother you?" Anakin asked after a while.
"If it does?"
"So it does," Anakin said, looking at the wolf. "Nothing wrong with that."
"And yet you're surprised."
Anakin lifted his shoulders.
Obi-Wan looked up at the sky. Some of the clouds had since started parting, and now, he could just vaguely remember his own survival lessons growing up. He looked around the landscape and couldn't help but feel a sense of triumph—the first one, Obi-Wan realized, he had felt since coming to the arena.
Obi-Wan walked out to the landscape and dug his sword into the ground. A small crack cut into the air—and Obi-Wan ducked down, picked up the ice waiting for him.
He turned around to Anakin, who only wore a quizzical look.
"An old trick," he said. He sat down on the ground, and with a few careful inspections of both the ice and the sun coming through the clouds, Obi-Wan positioned himself accordingly.
"What are you—"
"Be patient."
Anakin huffed.
After a second, Anakin said, "Aren't your hands cold?"
"Of course," Obi-Wan replied, smoothing out the ice, "but they'll be fine in a few moments."
"How—"
"There's no one out there," Ahsoka announced, rushing back to the cave. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan jumped. "Oops. Sorry. There's no one out there."
"What do you mean, there's no one out there?" Anakin asked as Ahsoka tossed down handfuls of pine needles. She had a few sticks with her too, some of which she handed to Anakin.
"I mean there's no one out there," Ahsoka repeated. "I didn't hear or see anyone in the forest."
"Maybe they're closer to the Cornucopia," Anakin suggested.
"Maybe." Ahsoka looked down at the ground. "What's Obi-Wan—"
"You'll see," Obi-Wan replied. At both Anakin and Ahsoka's continued bewilderment, he added, "I thought you two took the survival course?"
"Do you really think they'd teach us everything?" Ahsoka asked.
"Fair point," Obi-Wan replied. "In any case…" He nodded down at the pile of pine needles. Slowly but surely, the light reflecting off the ice brightened, and then—
Smoke started to curl from the pine needles, and there, a small flame bloomed.
"There we go," Obi-Wan said. Pleased, he looked at Anakin and Ahsoka. "Better than dragging ourselves all the way to the Cornucopia, isn't it?"
Nods of agreement in response—and then the three sat down.
"I don't think I've ever…eaten a wolf before," Ahsoka said.
"I believe it'll be a first experience for all of us," Obi-Wan replied.
"But it'll be a very new experience for you," Anakin said. He set the raw meat over the stick, twisted it slowly. He looked up and nodded at Obi-Wan pointedly. "District 1."
They were all quiet for a moment.
"I suppose so," Obi-Wan said, looking at the small fire.
"Well," Ahsoka said after some time, "we didn't get all that much meat back home, so it'll be a little new for me, too."
Both Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at her.
Ahsoka shrugged. "Agriculture," she said. "Sometimes we get a little more if the harvesting season's good, but for the most part, it's just…whatever we're growing." She shifted against the ground, and she looked like she wanted to say more, but then she added carefully, "Sometimes the Peacekeepers will…give us meat if we really need it."
It took a moment for Obi-Wan to understand what Ahsoka meant by giving. And then he remembered how quickly Ahsoka had climbed the ropes in the training room, her overall swift hands. He couldn't help but smile a little. He didn't have too much trouble imagining Ahsoka swooping down to steal whatever it was she needed. He wondered if that was what she did during the trials, too—that certainly would have been enough to surprise the gamemakers.
"And you?" Obi-Wan asked, looking at Anakin.
Anakin rotated the meat. "Just sometimes," he said. "My mom and I—" He stopped, looked into the flames.
Everyone was quiet again.
"My mom and I run a shop," Anakin said after a little while. "We fix things."
"People need things fixed in the technology district?" Ahsoka asked.
"Nothing big," Anakin replied. "Smaller things." He didn't elaborate, and Obi-Wan didn't feel the need to ask him any more of that. Like Ahsoka, Anakin probably had his own faire share of secrets that he would rather not have broadcasted for the entirety of the country.
"So there's trading going on," Anakin said. "Someone brings in something for us to fix, and sometimes we might get something in return."
A spark leapt up from the fire, but no one reacted.
"So then, life in District 1," Anakin said after they had all eaten. "What's that all about?" He kept his eyes on the fire—they had decided to let it keep running, even though it was down to only a few smaller flames now.
"What do you want to know about it?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin shrugged. "It's not really a matter of wanting to know anything," he said after a little while. "Really just curiosity at this point. I mean, you're the Capitol's favorites and all."
"That much is true," Obi-Wan said.
"So?"
"So?" Obi-Wan rested his head back against the rock wall. "We have our comforts, and I'm here."
Anakin paused. There was something strange in the way Obi-Wan said that—and I'm here.
Anakin turned back to the fire. Ahsoka was sitting across from him, her knees drawn up to her chest. She also seemed to contemplate Obi-Wan's words, although the expression on her face was neutral.
Anakin poked at the fire. He had always thought that District 1 liked sending tributes to the games. Something about bringing glory to the district. At least, some of the past victors had brought that kind of attitude both to and leaving the games.
But judging by the way Obi-Wan spoke, Anakin couldn't help but feel that perhaps not all the tributes from District 1 felt the same way.
Anakin frowned at the fire. It was obvious that Obi-Wan still had some training—probably more training than the majority of the tributes here, anyways, and with the added fact that his father was the victor…
"Odds weren't really in your favor then," Anakin said after a while.
Obi-Wan looked sharply at Anakin. "What do you mean?"
"You're the son of a victor," Anakin replied. "You can't have your name in there that many times."
"Seven times," Obi-Wan replied.
"Fourteen," Anakin said.
"Three."
Anakin looked at Ahsoka.
"My brother," Ahsoka said simply. "He put in his name the most out of all of us." She paused. "Five of us in total. It happens." She leaned back against the rock wall too, the expression on her face oddly nonchalant. "So I guess the odds just aren't in our favor, period."
Anakin thought of the Reaping—that felt like a hundred years ago, but then he remembered how he had at least been glad that he didn't have to put his name in forty, fifty times. He looked at Ahsoka. Her brother must have been the one to put in his name all those times, then.
And she had still been entered into the games.
And Obi-Wan—only seven times, and he had still been called.
And yet, looking at Obi-Wan, Anakin had the strange feeling that there was something else in the background, too.
And I'm here. As though he was always meant to be.
Anakin paused. But that didn't—
Then again, District 1 tributes were always fighting over who got to the arena—
But no, Anakin was pretty sure he had seen Obi-Wan's name pulled out, and volunteering hadn't been allowed in this year's Reaping, so—
Before Anakin could ask, there was a loud crack outside.
Everyone started.
"No," Maul said, emerging to the mouth of the cave. "The odds aren't in your favor."
Ahsoka was up in an instant, hands reaching for her knives. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Anakin and Obi-Wan jerk up to their feet too, their hands already wrapped around the sword hilts.
"Says the person who comes here alone," Obi-Wan said.
Maul sneered. Ahsoka had always thought that his eyes and his teeth were too similar a shade of yellow, and up close, that much was confirmed. She twisted the knives around her wrists, eyed Maul warily as he took a step closer.
Everyone instinctively raised their weapons, but no one struck.
"He is alone," Anakin said aloud, tilting his head at Maul. "Since his buddy was taken care of."
Ahsoka hadn't expected Maul to care too much for his ally, but now, Maul's teeth bared and his eyes narrowed right on Anakin.
"You'll pay," Maul said, "for what you—"
"He didn't kill your friend," Obi-Wan interrupted, and both Ahsoka and Anakin looked at him—but Obi-Wan was busy watching Maul. Already bracing himself, Ahsoka realized. She noticed Obi-Wan's heels slightly dig into the ground, the slight opening of his stance. "Although I think you had a feeling of that already."
Maul's already twisted face turned even more grotesque as he focused on Obi-Wan. "You should have joined us when you had the chance," he said quietly.
"Well," Obi-Wan said, "we've all been disappointed so far, haven't we?"
Maul bared his teeth. "You're about to be disappointed again," he said.
When he struck, he didn't go for Obi-Wan. Ahsoka saw the spear coming a moment before anyone else did.
Ahsoka heard shouting around her, but she was already back up on her feet, knives securely in her hands this time. She felt movement behind her, and digging her foot into the ground, Ahsoka spun around and kicked up a good amount of dirt and snow to Maul's face.
Wait—dirt—
Ahsoka frowned, looked again at the landscape.
The snow was melting—
If it was melting—
Ahsoka slipped—slipped, because now there was enough water to make the ground slippery—back out to the landscape. She saw Obi-Wan and Anakin catch onto her movements from behind Maul, and they didn't need to speak. They simply followed.
And Maul did, too.
This time, both Anakin and Obi-Wan came for Maul, their swords lifted at the ready. Maul was ready for both of them, twisting his body from one way to the other to block off any blows. Ahsoka, in the meantime, ran to Maul's back, flipped the knives in her hands. If she could look for an opening—
But before she could concentrate on finding one, she heard the crunch of boots against the snow, and then a quiet whistle.
"Duck!" Ahsoka shouted, and she ducked her head in time for a dart to come shooting over her head.
She couldn't see where the dart landed—if it landed at all, and she blindly hoped that neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan got hit. But right now, she was too busy trying to find District 10—
Ahsoka shot out her leg, hooked it around District 10's ankle and yanked him down.
She heard a grunt, and then, just as Ahsoka scrambled up to her feet, she felt a cold hand wrap around her own ankle. Ahsoka only had a moment to react before she felt a sudden shock run up her leg, and with a cry, she hit a part of still-solid ice. Her grip loosened on the knives, and for a terrifying, terrifying second, she couldn't see anything—
Ahsoka heard a shout above her, and then the hand holding her wrist let go.
"Get up, get up—"
Ahsoka blinked to find Anakin dragging her back to her feet.
"Knives—"
"Here." Yes—Ahsoka wrapped her hands around the hilts of her knives, and she would have offered her thanks if she wasn't already thinking about where District 10 was, and if Anakin was next to her, then where was Obi-Wan—
She heard shouting from behind, and she decided that Obi-Wan was probably holding off Maul well enough on his own.
District 10, on the other hand, was just barely coming into focus. He had slid away a few feet, and right now, Ahsoka could see him already preparing another dart. His ridiculous hat had been knocked out of the way, revealing a bald head with a few pulsing blue veins. For a moment, Ahsoka just watched that pulse, and then she was back to steadying her knives.
"I'll be okay," she said.
"Ahsoka—"
"I'll be okay," Ahsoka repeated. "Go help Obi-Wan."
She saw District 10 smile at her. Cocky, she knew he was thinking. A cocky little kid who didn't know what she was doing.
Ahsoka smiled back.
Try me.
Obi-Wan supposed that in all honesty, he wasn't too surprised that Maul would come after him in the end. He had a feeling that this was somehow marked somewhere, from the moment they had seen each other at the Chariots, and then later in the training rooms.
Still, he supposed a part of him had wished that they wouldn't bother facing each other off at all—or that someone else would have taken care of him by now.
Then again, it wasn't like Obi-Wan ever got what he wanted.
He dodged to the side. Maul's sword clanged against the rock wall, right where Obi-Wan's head had been. Out of the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan saw Anakin helping Ahsoka get up. He could see District 10 staggering up to his feet now, already readying what looked like darts. Obi-Wan was willing to bet they were poisonous—but he had to have more gadgets with him, because whatever he had done to Ahsoka had been enough to knock her down to the ground.
District 10, Obi-Wan mused. Livestock. Certainly not anything related to technology. Whoever was sponsoring District 10 had to be wealthy. Wealthy and ridiculously trusting.
Obi-Wan dodged again as Maul's spear came rushing down. He could tell that Maul wasn't fighting with the same rigor that he had earlier in the games—after all, the bug had affected him too, but the difference, Obi-Wan knew, was that Maul was angry. Angry and unhinged, probably by the death of his ally. Savage.
Obi-Wan caught Maul's spear, threw him back. Maul slipped against the snow, and Obi-Wan saw where some of that snow had parted to reveal a layer of dirt and mud. Obi-Wan could have sworn he saw actual steam rising now, too, although that could just be a trick of the light.
And behind Maul, Obi-Wan saw Anakin rushing back, his sword glinting against the sun, and for a moment, Obi-Wan wondered if Anakin would actually make it—
But Maul spun around, aimed for Anakin's ribcage.
Anakin dove out of the way, hit the ground. He twisted, brought his legs up to kick Maul over his head.
Maul, to Obi-Wan's surprise, managed to land on his feet. He was already spinning back around, his teeth bared and snarl halfway past his lips when he lunged again.
"Close," Obi-Wan commented as Anakin reached his side.
"I tried my best," Anakin replied.
"And Ahsoka…?"
"She said she's got it handled."
Obi-Wan heard a hoarse cry that wasn't at all Ahsoka's. He had no doubt that the girl did.
In the meantime, though…Obi-Wan fixed his gaze back on Maul, who was now staring them down.
"Right," Obi-Wan murmured. "Might as well get this over with."
A/N: Sorry for updating a few hours late again! I think I might start updating Thursday mornings starting next week, just because of how my schedule's been shifted around a bit in the last few weeks-I hope that's okay!
As always, reviews/follows/favorites are greatly appreciated!