'There lay between them, separating them, that same terrible line of the unknown and of fear, like the line separating the living from the dead.'
~Leo Tolstoy
Mari Caresse Katou, 15, District Three
Zhi would like her to carry on with her life but it hurts too much. Her thoughts of him still in the forefront of her mind. She can still see his face on the same night sky, and every time she closes her eyes. The way his face looked so gentle, and his eyes filled with so much love.
Her face tearstained; never dry as she continues to wander around aimlessly. She hasn't stopped moving around since that day, straying up the stairs on the first floor of the mansion and into different rooms. Resting if she's tired before moving onto another room again.
She's nervous and scared. Anxious at everything she passes up the stairs of the manor. Closed doors that could have a tribute come out of it at any moment. Her head splitting from every possible emotion she's currently feeling. It's been a couple of days since Zhi's passing and she's still a mess. Her sadness amplifies as she thinks of him.
She never got to say goodbye.
Mari wipes wayward tears from her eyes as she rounds the corridor she's walking through, petrified at the thought of what can lurk around corners. The first floor of the manor is eerily quiet, and through blurry eyes the corridor doesn't change that much, still the same red carpets of the manor. She continues to move her footing muffled as she moves quietly through the corridors.
It's another hallway but halfway through you there seems to be open space. She can feel a slight breeze coming through there as she nears it. The sunlight illuminates her from the open courtyard as she views it from a balcony.
The memories of days past flooding back to her when she sees the pond and how innocently she stared at it, wading her fingers through it. That was a different time even though it was only a few days ago. She can hear Zhi speaking to her quietly and with a smile on his face.
It all haunts her now. The courtyard has blood splattered everywhere and even the once serene looking pond is now stained a lighter shade of pink, obviously from more blood. She looks away from it, thinking that this was the last place she truly enjoyed being with Zhi.
She runs away from it; she's been running ever since Zhi told her to so why should she stop now? Her tears begin once more passing by several more doors in the corridor before finally stopping and opening it wide as she leaps inside.
Her stomach grumbles as she clutches her stomach and as the thought continues and various images of her district partner comes to surface, more disturbing as the last and it took all but a mere second for her stomach contents to empty on the floor, the food she had eaten this morning coming up in chunks of green mixed with bile.
She wipes at her face, the tears pricking her eyes once more as she slides down against the closed door. Mari has never felt so hopeless in her life, the fact that she has made it this long in the arena is a complete surprise to her, and probably a complete surprise to so many people.
"It should have been you." She says to herself trying to find strength in herself but the more she reminisces about Zhi, the more she thought that she should have sacrificed herself so that he could live instead of the way around. "Now you're gone."
She blames herself for his death. Mari has never thought much about herself; she was just a quiet girl from Three that happened to be friends with the mayor's daughter, she never thought she would amount to greatness. She knew that as much as she thinks that Zhi would have had such better chances if she hadn't been so weak.
Mari begins to sob again as her hands cover her face, the overwhelming feeling of sadness washing her over once more. The thought of Zhi consumes her very being going through the heartbreak. Her parents, though separated, must be worried for her.
How will she make it alive now? She wonders in between the tears. No weapons, no fighting prowess. Nothing. She's doomed the moment she encounters someone that is remotely better at fighting than her, which, at this point in the Games, is everyone else. There's no point trying to steel yourself when you know you're destined to die at any moment now.
Even though he's gone she can still hear him in his head telling her to keep moving and keep going; to win for both of them. She smiles slightly to herself, even at home back in Three he would be encouraging her, during the times when she would blush at his every word, he was always happy to help her with anything and everything. Mari wouldn't put it past him if he had offered to look for her twin brother.
She tries to pick herself up, despite the initial emotional response earlier at the thought of Zhi she feels better now at the thought of those encouraging words she knows he would be shouting at her. The feeling of endearment forces her to keep moving, always, so she should never forget that. Mari stands from the door and walks towards the window, she places the bag on her shoulders to her side, looking out the window.
The cornucopia just directly within view from the window. The grandiose statue of the former President of Panem feels like its staring at her directly. Her eyes avoiding the gaze, her eyes drifting to his one arm pointing at the manor.
She looks at it more intently, trying to follow the direction only for her to figure out that he's pointing at one of the rooms a few doors down from the one she is currently staying in. Mari puts two and two together and think that it must mean something.
This may lead to something potentially helpful to her and under a new invigorated vigour from Zhi's belief of her she chooses to explore that room. It can lead to supplies that can help her survive the arena, if such a thing can exist in this forsaken place.
She backs away from the window now as she scrambles to put on the bag again walking quickly to the door. She opens it slowly and peers outside with just her head, looking side to side, to see if there is anything there. Nothing.
The Three girl walks out of the room and counts her way down the hall to open yet another door. Her fingers feel the cool doorknob and opening it quickly. Her eyes widen as an immediate gasp escape her mouth at the contents of the room before entering the room.
The room is entirely white, blinding from the lights. It's very reminiscent of the room she was in before the Bloodbath. She looks around the room, silver boxes litter the area at each side of the room. Her eyes focus from them onto the massive portrait of Julius Nepos, his gaze just as intense as the statue's outside.
Underneath him is one of the silver boxes, with a black number One written on it big and bold. She moves closer towards the box, kneeling down to open it to reveal a silver flail. Her mind thinks where she had seen one of these weapons before, her thoughts lead her to the One boy using it at training at some point.
Her mind comes up with a conclusion as she looks at the rest of the boxes and immediately scrambles on her knees to get to the boxes for Three. The silver box glints at her when she puts her hands on it, her hands touch the black Three before lifting the lid. Inside the box are medical supplies, something that she has been very good at during training, and some darts along with a pipe, blow darts, something that she had trained with briefly back in the Capitol.
With this discovery she stands a chance. Mari is glad that Zhi had never given up on her, even after he had passed. He's still looking out for her as she takes the supplies and the blow dart. She takes the bag from her shoulder opening up only to stop at a voice.
"What has the little girl from Three found?"
Diana Grey, 18, District Two
She had not meant to sound so ominous when she encounters the girl from Three. She does, however, sound excited from what she sees following the girl as she looks around the room. A treasure trove of silver boxes strewn about like some hidden cache. The Gamemakers have their fun all the time with their tributes, but to hide an entire cornucopia worth of items in one room?
She looks at the girl, trembling like a leaf holding on to her blow dart. She feels remorseful that it had come to this, sure, but Diana isn't one to back away now that she has a fighting chance against Velvet. She wants to shiver at the thought of her name, the incompetent alliance leader.
She understands that alliances are great, only if they work well, betraying your starting alliance for another? It's a recipe for disaster and she hopes that Velvet can understand that. It sowed seeds of doubt amongst everyone else that it caused a fracture, a huge rip between all of them.
Diana breaks away from her thoughts and look down to the cowering girl clutching the pipe to her mouth. She commends her will to fight for her life. She preferred it when her opponents fight back, it lessens the pain of killing outright. The Twelve boy did the same before she had choked the living hell out of him in that pond a couple of days back.
They stare at each other for a few minutes, the eerie silence choking her throat as she readies herself for any form of action at what the Three girl might do. She can see the shaking form as Diana's eyes lock onto the chocolate brown ones of the girl, reading her move.
Diana leaps into action, narrowly avoiding the dart as it flies past her and hits the wall. She didn't anticipate for her to be an accurate shot for how shaky she has been. She lunges forward and grabbing a hold of the silver pipe from her hands wrenching it away with strength far greater than hers.
"Sorry kid, nice try though." She says before dragging the girl away from the box she had been kneeling besides, she peers quickly at it, bread and other medical supplies, she takes a note of that.
The girl is crying now with Diana continuing to hold onto her arm. She looks at the box beside the one she had opened and sees a number Two on it. Curiosity takes the better of her as she drags the poor girl with her so she can open the box. She grins as a pair of silver daggers glint into view with the light from the room.
"Perfect." She says to herself holding one of them with her free hand.
"Is this it?" Diana looks at the girl from Three, through her sobs and tears she speaks. "Are you going to kill me now?"
"Yes." Diana replies grimly, the silence after seems to resound against the Three girl as she swallows the lump on her throat. Diana looks at her as she speaks once more. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick."
She lets her go, the girl collapsing in a heap on the floor in front of her. She doesn't look at Diana, her tears falling on the white carpet on the floor. She looks at her, approaching her cautiously as she holds the dagger tightly in her hand. This would mark her second kill in the arena, after Merrick; two different children's lives she has ended.
The feeling is different this time. Merrick did die but he died at her hands through a fair, she assumes it was fair, fight. Now she has a weapon in her hand. Taking her life away so easily instead of putting up a fight, which she thought she would have. It's different to sparring at home too, fighting someone and beating them in a fight with their fists.
She approaches the girl, crying and muttering to herself, steadying the blade in her hand lifting it closer to her neck. "Any last words, Three?"
"My name is Mari Caresse Katou and I love Zhi Penn Lu, with all my heart, the biggest regret I have is never telling him before he died."
With her last breath Diana slices as hard and fast against the Three, no, Mari's porcelain skin. Mari's eyes widen in shock, her hands instinctively coming to her neck as she faints to the ground, her blood seeping out from her neck at a fast pace before she completely passes out.
Her blood stains the carpet, pooling around her and approaching Diana who backs away. She can't look away from her as she lay motionless. The white carpet now stained so dark red that even Diana shudders at the sight.
When her cannon fires, the muffled sound of another life ending, she looks away and goes towards the other boxes. She opens each one, finding food items in some and weapons in the others, all silver to contrast the golden weapons they were given at the start. She figures that there are more items here than the cornucopia itself.
She doesn't do anything else in the room, only taking the pair of silver daggers and some food and stuffing them all into her bag. She leaves the room not even closing the door behind her. It wouldn't matter in the long run because after Mari's death there's only twelve tributes left.
The dynamic is going to change from here on out, and Mari's death will amplify the Games, she reckons. She needs to prepare for when that happens, formulating plans and figuring out what to do next. She should start hunting the weaker tributes that remain. Her listless sigh escapes her mouth as she wanders the hallway.
Leaving that pack was the best idea of her life, she knows when a team wouldn't work well together and she's glad she escaped it before it devolves into carnage. Velvet and Carnelian are two clueless leaders that don't know how to understand their team. She would have left sooner but Tony didn't want to go.
Training at the Peacekeeper Academy back at Two, you are taught to obey authority, but she thought Velvet's betrayal as their leader compromised that authoritative role. With Tony gone too that only emphasised the need for her to leave as fast as possible, she took his death as an opportunity to leave. They were not prepared.
It's a shame that Lily had stayed with them, as much as she was 'too nice' to be a part of the team, or at least she thought she did. She is one to watch, they all are admittedly, when it comes to fighting but other matters, it's best not even think about that.
She looks over the courtyard as she passes by the balcony seeing the alliance of the Nine boy and the Eight girl. The glint of the golden dagger shines and blinds her slightly, and as she shields her eyes. She continues to walk away from them, the dagger is the only thing that seems to be with them.
She's found her next kills in that case, but she'll wait for an opportunity. She needs to scope out the place for escape routes just in case they overwhelm her. She tries to think about the other tributes, there's a girl that is proficient with the bow and arrows, not to mention the Ten boy is also still alive and from the sounds of it he's competent too.
She smirks as she continues on from the hallway. She's confident she can take them all on.
Velvet Ecletant, 18, District One
She isn't having a breakdown, not yet.
Her mind is going a mile a minute leading the group into the jungle like greenhouse batting away a loose branch or bush away with her sword. The infamous greenhouse doesn't seem so bad, the heat from all the plants within the house is nice and comfortable, almost relaxing. She can understand how Carnelian and Tony may have put their guard down briefly before being attacked by Gharial and his alliance.
They have run out of provisions, with only two packs and three people the food inside the bags they had would only last them so long. The only lead they're following is from Carnelian who thinks there are food inside the greenhouse, like a fruit or some sort of edible plants. She isn't an expert, but she knows well enough how to distinguish normal fruit and plants from toxic vegetation, hopefully.
Carnelian trails behind her and Lily. He is still a little bit shaken from yesterday and looking tired from the looks of things. The wound on his shoulder has stopped bleeding but it doesn't look that good either. Diana leaving was inevitable, she knew that, and she expected a bigger spectacle than what she had done, but she supposes she will come back with a vengeance.
Lily, also sad from yesterday, walks beside her quietly. She seemed so indifferent before, but she can tell that yesterday was too much even for someone that shows very little emotion. She doesn't react much, but Velvet is somewhat thankful that she decided to stay with her, the trust in that action alone makes her feel safe.
She stops when she sees a grandiose looking tree, probably the tallest out of all the others she had seen inside the greenhouse. A few red apples hang loosely on the branches devoid of leaves, inviting anyone that lay their eyes upon them to come and take them. It would have to do for now, she doesn't have any complaints. They don't have much of choice and she knows she can't be too picky when it comes to food.
Carnelian stops at the edge of the clearing, Lily and Velvet looking back at him. He's clearly hesitant from the events of two days ago, his eyes flickering between a few places reliving the moment in which everything just went wrong for him and their alliance; outsmarted by the Seven boy.
He gets over it, slowly, making himself walk to one of the benches and resting on the bench near the tree. He places the mace beside him turning around to look at the apple tree. He turns back to look at Velvet who raises an eyebrow.
"I hate this place." He says but it's clear he didn't direct it at Velvet to complain. "Why are we here again?"
"To look for food." Velvet says crossing her arms as she moves closer to the tree hitting it a few times with the hilt of her golden sword to try and get one of the apples to fall but to no avail.
The apples sway back and forth from the vibration caused by the sword, blissfully unaware that they are about to be picked and eaten. One of the branches low enough with a fruit swinging along with every hit of the sword.
Lily locks her eyes on that one analysing the tree for any dangers and pulls the apple from its branch. The crunch from the apple sounded so good Velvet looks in envy seeing the juices fall from her mouth as the girl from Four wipes it with her free hand. She gives Velvet an affirming look to say that the apples are okay, even offering her own but Velvet refuses.
"I can get one myself." She says with a huff preparing herself.
She lay her sword against the tree as she scales it. Most of the other fruit are higher up now, the lower hanging branches have run out of apples, probably from other tributes picking them on their passing. The juiciest apples look more enticing the higher she climbs.
"Be careful, Vel!" Carnelian shouts after her standing up now to look up at her.
"Just catch the apples that fall down!" She shouts back ignoring the safety warning from her district partner, she knows to be careful.
She reaches for one of the branches, feeling the wood coarse as she vigorously shakes the branch filled with apples. Several apples fall as Carnelian works on picking up the apples, Lily offering her help after finishing her own apple. Velvet looks down, there is a decent number, but they might need more just in case the arena days drag longer. She hesitates but decides against going further up She's high up in the sky already.
She can see most of the greenhouse from here, a big and vast ocean of green. She takes a breath in feeling the freshness from newly produced oxygen from all the plants. She likes it up here, calming in a way as a gentle breeze passes her.
It's as if the arena is relaxing everyone for what is to come next. Preparing everyone that's remaining for a battle. She doesn't go up anymore as she begins to scale down the tree dropping beside Carnelian who eats one of the apples.
They all sit as the anthem blares across the arena only to show the face of the girl from Three. Diana is still out there, who knows what trouble she's going to get herself into. Velvet knows the next time they meet will be the last, she's prepared for that, or at least she hopes she is ready.
"That's the tribute count down to twelve." Lily mentions as she lay against the tree.
"Half of us gone just like that…" Carnelian adds looking up at the night sky.
"Only eleven more deaths until a victor is crowned and goes home." Velvet says to the both of them a worry in her tone.
She closes her eyes, trying to drift off to sleep, forgetting the arena even for a little bit as she begins to mentally prepare herself for what is ahead. She needs to steel herself from the impending storm approaching them and erase all kinds of memories she has of Lily and Carnelian.
Because she knows how hard it will be to let go of them.
Rye Durum, 16, District Nine
The sun sets once more, the face in the sky ending another day in the arena. Four days have past and with only one death today he knows that it will definitely be the calm before the storm.
Rye Durum is settling down for the night in one of the corner offices of the bottom floor of the manor. It's a quieter place where they have chosen to hide and judging from other voices they have heard, and avoided, there seems to be more tributes inside the manor than before. It is better hiding away from such voices not wanting a fight conserving their energy when there are fewer tributes left.
Eleven tributes remain on his path to victory and one of them is sitting by the window looking forlornly out of it. Her face pressed against the glass as she watches the night sky holding onto their stars for another night. Rye switches from Francesca back to the door staring at it intently whilst sitting on one of the small chairs, no weapon in his hand.
Francesca still holds onto the golden dagger not wanting to give it away just yet. Judging by the settled atmosphere between them, they seem to have reconciled a lot of their differences. He remembers their tumultuous relationship prior to the arena, like a pot about to boil over, their constant arguments as well as the reluctance to communicate with each other.
He remembers that the last few days before the arena were a boiling pot threatening to blow over, their arguments constant and their reluctant to communicate ever present. Now they talk as if they have been friends for a few years.
"What do you think is going to happen now?" Francesca speaks in hushed tones looking away from the window and opting to sit beside Rye.
"I think it's going to ramp up fast." Rye replies looking at her before going back to his watch of the brown door. "Salvia said that last year they forced the tributes together."
Francesca looks worried, they haven't really encountered anyone yet, well no one they were willing to engage in a fight. They've only avoided tributes, which in the grand scheme of things have probably irritated the Capitol.
The Victor's son not doing any of the killings? A travesty. He doesn't care about any of that shit. The arena punished them all except for six lucky tributes. He has no weapon; he wasn't that lucky. His eyes glancing to the dagger by Francesca's side, there's no way he can defend himself in a fight. He might be strong, sure, but against someone that has a weapon he's dead.
"So, what is the game plan then?" Francesca says shaking from her own worried thoughts, tiredness seemingly taking her over, their whole day spent looking for food to no avail.
"We continue with our food hunt." He says and Francesca nods her head at that. "You can sleep if you want, I'll keep first watch."
Francesca agrees, lying down on the floor, the blanket she had fished out of their bag already on her in a heartbeat. The dagger resting beside her as she closes her eyes. Rye looks at the weapon once more, the soft glint from the moonlight through the window shines, drawing his attention to it.
He's fighting all temptation to take it for himself, kill Francesca and leave. No one will know, there's only the two of them left in their alliance. Sooner or later, they will have to split up anyway, either by Gamemaker involvement or through other tributes. So why not start now?
He shakes himself out of that mindset, he's not the type to do that to friends. He stops himself, furrowing his eyebrows at the word circling his head. Is Francesca his friend? He considers her to be one, after everything they have been through, he doesn't see the malicious type that he had initially thought of her.
He knows that is a bad idea, Salvia's one advice to him was to never look for friendships because it's harder to leave. Harder to separate from those that you have bonded with. He believed that with all his heart. Now he's stuck with her, for better or worse. He considers her a friend now and he doesn't have many of those back at home.
If he didn't want to be her friend, then he would have ditched her by now. He had ample opportunities to betray her, and every single time he was either too scared, or she held the dagger a little bit too close. Then they would speak about their lives, and their homes, they bonded over them however different their lives have been.
He sighs as she looks away and focusing on the door once again. He doesn't want to kill her for no reason, even if that reason is to go home. He doesn't betray just like that; he stops at practical jokes and that's it. The only way he could kill her is if she had tried to kill him first.
Their case is too complicated now, he doesn't see that happening. She might think it, but in the end, she doesn't think she will go through with it. They have grieved together for their allies, laughed together at some stupid joke and got angry at the Capitol for their cruel games; you can't just end a friendship like that.
He shakes his head, away from those thoughts, there's eleven tributes left not including him, he should focus on the other ten first. Then he will deal with Francesca.
A/N - Hello! Updating just before I go on a wee break! This concludes Day 4, not much has happened except for Mari's inevitable demise. A lot of people thought that Diana was doomed but guess what? She's back, I don't know how people would think. It is very Deus Ex Machina but legit this room has been in the plan from before the Games has started.
So Mari is dead, a lot later than some of you thought, but with her death comes our Top 12! Any surprises? Diana is still in the Game, how do you feel about that? Velvet and co wholesome apple picking? Rye contemplating betrayal and making friends?
13th - Mari Caresse Katou, District Three Female - throat sliced by Diana Grey
I did struggle writing a lot of her and Zhi's POV purely because I couldn't conceptualise a plan for them to be together for long. Her form stated that she only wanted to be with Zhi and vice versa so it was very limited. The only redeeming thing I found in her is a potential to drive her forward once Zhi had died, however the more I thought about it the more useless she felt and that is why Mari's time has come. Thank you for her curiousclove.
That's that! Our Final Twelve are here! It's going to ramp up fast as every tribute seems to think so. Next chapter is a Capitol chapter and then after that two arena chapters until the end!
Thank you to the readers who read and review all the time, you guys are amazing!
Cheers!
~Alec