Chapter 46:

Emilio Signe, District One, Age 18

Victor of the 121st Hunger Games

"How could you possibly think this is fun?!"

Emilio looks over at his shivering ally, the poor guy completely unable to deal with the cold wind and snow pelting their faces as they get carried up the mountain. He gives a casual shrug and grins at the boy from Four, before turning back to watching the lift carrying them up the snow covered mountain. "There's just something exhilarating about speeding down the side of a mountain. Come on, isn't it a pretty sight?"

Piers shakes his head at Emilio, letting out a little cry at the chair hitting a bump and he grips the bar holding them in even tighter. Emilio rolls his eyes at the reaction and noise – is he trying to alert any tributes that they're coming before they even reach the top of the mountain? "I hate this," Piers mutters, giving a huge shiver. "I will never understand why anyone would do this for fun. Or why you dragged me out here instead of one of the others."

Well, none of the others are a real threat to Emilio in a fight compared to Piers and he saw an opportunity. They wouldn't be in too much disbelief if Piers had an accident in the snow while they made their way back to the main lodge, not with all the complaining he's done about the snow ever since they launched. But that's not something he can just go telling Piers. So instead, he gives another shrug and decides to mess with him, lifting up the bar of the chair lift. Piers immediately scrambles to put it back down, but Emilio holds it up. "Come on, there's no need to be scared."

"Y-yes there is!" Piers presses himself further back in the chair than Emilio thought was possible. "Put this down!"

Emilio can't help but laugh at his reaction and he starts swaying the chair for a few seconds, watching his ally's petrified reaction, and he stops laughing as he considers his options. It would be so easy for him to just…push Piers off the chair. Sure, the fall itself probably won't kill him, but could easily sprain or break a leg, preventing him from getting back down to the others – not that Emilio has high hopes in his ability to get down the hill in any manner other than rolling down it. Maybe he'd even land on one of his weapons. Or he could injure him and leave him to freeze to death somewhere.

So many options to sabotage that he can't make up his mind!

"Alright, relax, we're nearly there" he says, still not letting Piers yank the bar down to hold them in as they approach the top of the mountain. "You want to scooch forward to get off the chair," he tells him, gesturing for him to do so. He moves forward himself, checking to make sure his bow is still strung across his back with a quiver full of arrows, before adjusting his hold on his ski poles. "The chair will slow for us to get off."

"I can't do this," Piers mutters as they reach the top landing and he backs into the chair.

Emilio lets out a sigh at his reaction and moves to get off first, before quickly grabbing onto his jacket to pull him along. This wuss is the best District Four had to offer this year? Pathetic, really. Piers jerks at Emilio grabbing him and the chair starts to turn to go back down the mountain, with Piers falling out but his jacket stuck in the metal. "Help me!" he shrieks as he is dragged across the ground before soon getting carried out into open air and back down the mountain.

Emilio can only stare in shock for a few seconds, having honestly not intended to do that to him, before shaking his head and letting out a small laugh. He pushes himself to start slowly skiing back down the mountain, staring up and watching Piers as he tries to grab the chair and pull himself back up. "Just hold on, Piers!" Emilio shouts up to him and the boy can only let out a shriek as he flails his legs, the ground getting further away from him. "I'll help get you down!"

Piers doesn't seem to be listening to him in his panic and Emilio tucks his ski poles under his arms to grab the bow off his back. He looks at the poles for a moment before tossing them aside, knowing he won't be able to fire the bow while trying to hold them. He notches an arrow and gets his skis in a v-shape as he follows Piers down the mountain, for once doubting his archery skills. This wasn't exactly something the academy taught them – maybe he will implement some sort of archery challenge course once he wins, that could be fun.

He draws back his string, still slowly skiing down the slope after Piers, and aims at him, before lowering the bow and cursing as he goes to catch up to him. He can't shoot him! If he gets back to the bottom of the hill and his body is still hanging from the chair with an arrow in his back, well, there's really only one option for who it could have been. Unless…

Does he fuck them over with getting back up the mountain? He eyes the connection point for the chair, wondering if he can hit it and bring the whole thing down. If he misses and hits the cable, is it possible to break the whole lift system? Maybe. But, he also knows his accuracy.

He slows once more, lining up a different shot, and as he goes to release the arrow, a scream makes him yank on the bow and the arrow goes wide, but Piers falls to the ground anyways. A ripped piece of jacket is all that's left on the chair and Emilio shoulders his bow, skiing down to where his ally has tumbled a bit down the hill. Piers screams out in agony, clutching his leg that is bent completely wrong from his landing. When he sees Emilio approaching, he lets out strangled sound in a plea for help.

"Oof, I told you I was going to get you down," Emilio tells him, crouching down on his skis and digging the sides into the mountain to keep himself from sliding down. He looks at Piers's leg, able to see bone sticking through the thick snow pants and he shakes his head. He's gone and sabotaged himself better than Emilio could have planned. "Come on, let's get you down the rest of the way."

Emilio leans over to grab Piers under his arms to lift him up, the boy so distracted by his pain that he doesn't notice when Emilio grabs one of the knives tucked away on his belt. He quickly sticks the knife under Piers's ribs, straight into his heart, and the boy coughs up blood with a look of betrayal in his eyes.

Boom!

"Thanks for getting yourself killed without me even having to try." Emilio wipes off his hands on Piers's jacket before swapping their gloves to get rid of the blood evidence. Before he stands up, he pats Piers on the shoulder. "You know, this has been a fun trip up the mountain. And now, I'm going to have fun skiing back down to our allies."

With that, Emilio straightens and starts off down the mountain, whistling and able to appreciate the crunch of the snow beneath his skis and the crystal shine on the trees. He always heard people complain about snowy arenas but really, he can't find a single reason to complain.

Hi, yes, I am here to say that I love Emilio. That's it, that's all I gotta say. Also forgot yesterday was Wednesday, whoops lol.

Also this was written back in February when I had the urge to go skiing lol, you can see the obvious influence lol.

This chapter also marks the last year for a Head Gamemaker and if you've read any other story of mine, you should know who the new Head Gamemaker is. Which means we will get a break from careers because this woman is not afraid to shake things up! See you then!