Chapter 17: Humanity

A/N: Greetings. How long's it been, almost a year?! I've got college work, but now I'm back, and you know it! Before we begin, I want to say thank you to the people who have reviewed, favorited, and have read this far. It means the world to me :). Special thanks to LittleMermade, who is my inspiration. Alright, now that's done, let's go!

Day 13

Time: 7:35 A.M.

Location: The Arena, Burnt Forest Sector

[Rain]

I have no idea when I fell asleep. Sophia's sleeping figure is right next to me, her brunette hair untarnished. The artificial sun is slowly rising under the horizon.

I check on her wounds; it's already back to normal, with only a scar left. I check my backpack for the medicine, only to find that there are a few measly drops left, sufficient only for minor wounds, or maybe a mild burn.

I stuff it in my backpack, and poke my head out the dense forestry. Nobody in sight… perfect. I'm about to wake Sophia, when I hear the noise of footsteps. I duck down, and peek through the leaves to see who it might be.

To my surprise, it's the girl from Three, Ellie. She blazes past the forestry, without looking back. Not a second later, I hear thundering footsteps and a loud battle cry, as Cyrus appears, axe in hand. Observing the axe, it has a shining silver blade, with said blade being deadly sharp. The handle is made out of what's presumably black steel. Seeing as I grabbed the District 2 bag, it's not hard to imagine that he got it from a sponsor. He charges after his screaming victim, passing by us without even knowing it. I wait until the rumbling footsteps are gone, as well as the cannon shot to signify that another tribute is down.

…Nothing. Just the charred trunks around me, but no noise. Ellie likely somehow evaded Cyrus, but I find it unlikely that she could have escaped. No time to think on that though, as I roused Sophia from her slumber.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

The golden mockingjay pin glimmers, as Sophia gets up, a little groggy.

"Ughh… where am I?" she inquires, still sounding dead-tired.

"You got some nasty wounds at the Feast. Lucky for you, I treated your arm with the sponsor gift that was in the bags I got, Try moving it." I replied.

I watch as she moves her arm, and sees my makeshift tourniquet.

"So this is the famous mockingjay pin…" she mumbles to herself

"Come again?"

"Nothing. Other than this.." she says.

She cups my face in her hands, and gives me a kiss on the lips. She pulls back after a little bit, and is clearly amused at the shock on my face.

"What have we here? Are you getting embarrassed that easily? So much for Twelve's hotshot."

I grunt in annoyance, as she smirks. I get up, as she hands me my jacket.

"Whatever magic you worked, it was super effective, because my arm feels brand new. Other than the nasty scar I've got."

I hand her the bag labeled "2" on it, and as she opens it, she reveals a beautiful sword, with the unblemished blade being made of shining silver. I eye the crossguard, with it being made out steel, as well as being inlaid with gold. The hilt is covered in leather, with the pommel shining brilliantly in the morning sun.

"It's beautiful", she murmurs.

"Glad to hear it. Now, let's move. We got a base to get back to."

She nods, and begins packing. I can't help but wonder…

What did she do that for?

Location: The Capitol

[Katniss]

I'm out, trying to net sponsors for my last surviving protégé. After aggressively negotiating with Capitol sponsors, I managed to get a small dose of the almighty regenerative medicine from those same people. Despite being stuck-up and being a pain to deal with, something always came back to me when trying to gather sponsors for Rain. It was something Haymitch told me when I was a tribute in the last Quarter Quell.

"Some water, a knife, or even some matches can mean the difference between life and death. And those things only come from sponsors. And to get sponsors, you have to make people like you."

Instead of treating these people like shallow, frivolous, despicable human beings who are completely ignorant of how much the districts suffer under the Capitol's tyrannical rule, I have to treat them nicely. While mentors are the tributes' lifeline to the outside world, what that lifeline brings to them is ultimately up to us, the mentors.

"Hey, girl on fire."

I look up. It's Wade, who's mentoring Sophia, my sole tribute's ally. In recent days, he's been talking to Haymitch and I, discussing strategies to have two of our tributes win the Games, as for the first time ever, they'd be allowing two victors.

"Did you see? They're getting intimate."

I look over at a TV screen to see what Wade means by that. Right as I turn my head, I see Sophia pulling Rain in for a kiss. The citizens of the Capitol are gushing over this, screeching like the mockingjays occasionally do. Speaking of mockingjays, the citizens blabber on about how amazing it was that a tribute was using a victor's token. I remember the year I won, mockingjays were all the rage in the Capitol, being "fashionable" for that year until the 76th, where someone from District 2 won. Wade taps my shoulder to regain my attention.

"We can use that."

"Hm?" I raise an eyebrow, signaling to Wade to explain what he's getting at.

"Don't you see? The Capitol citizens are going crazy over just this one. Their weakness is their sentimentality. Rain and Sophia don't necessarily have to keep this up, but the message is strong here. What's more, is that there are six tributes left, them included. Any gift can determine whether they live or die."

"The message being that a rich district with too many victors to count with two hands is now getting involved with the district that has the worst record in the Games?"

Wade chuckles at my comment.

"See? This is why no one lets you make the plan."

"He's right, sweetheart. You've got the charm of a dead slug."

I roll my eyes at Haymitch, as he comes in.

"Old man, you shouldn't even be mentoring anymore. Nobody gets anything done with your drinking."

Haymitch was now 66, and still working as a mentor. Sure enough, he had a glass of alcohol, and at a table nearby, was his drinking buddy Chaff, who won five years before him.

"And let you and the kid make the plans to keep the tributes alive? That's when I'll stop drinking."

He was justified in that regard. The first time I tried mentoring with Lukas, both of our tributes ended up dying in the bloodbath. Wade snickers at Haymitch's own remarks.

"Besides, Wade's right, sweetheart. We can use this to their benefit. We'll just have to communicate with them."

With that, it was time to head back out there.

Time: 9:15 A.M.

Location: The Arena, Burnt Forest Sector

Sophia and I are traversing the ruins of the forest, when something swoops down. It looks to be a pink bird, with an extraordinarily long beak. Sophia speaks up.

"Watch out, Rain. Those things are-"

"I'm aware. Those things are bird mutts. They killed one of my district's victor's allies in their games."

We manage to sneak past them, moving as quietly as possible to avoid detection from the candy pink birds. As soon as we're out of range, I question Sophia on what she did before we left.

"Just wanted to ask. Why did you do what you did before?"

"Easy. I'm a human being; I have emotions. People portray Careers like me as vicious killing machines, when all we're trying to do is survive. When you win the Games, it doesn't feel like you accomplished anything. You just survived to see another day."

I wasn't expecting Sophia to go into a full-blown speech about how Careers suffer just like other tributes, but I listen to whatever she's got to say.

"I did that just to show my thanks. It's that simple, Rain."

She smirks, as I give my answer:

"Fine, if you say so."

We manage to make it out of the burnt forest section, without anyone spotting us. Sophia suggests this:

"We should make a detour and stop by the river first. We should fill up on water before we head back."

I nod, seeing as that's a good idea. Water is essential to any Hunger Games victory, not that it mattered when the Arena was a burning desert, like 31 years ago.

When we come to said river, that's when I realize just how we're low on water. I look at Sophia, and she nods, knowing exactly what to do..

We dip our flasks in the running stream. I squeeze in the right drops of iodine to purify the water, and let Sophia use it to purify her own water. Sophia looks at me, her hazel eyes locking with mine.

"We've been walking for quite a while. It'd be good to take a break while we can."

I set myself down on a rock, crossing my legs while looking down at the stream. I turn to look at Sophia as she does the same.

"Sophia, what you said earlier…"

"I know, Rain. Careers suffer as much as every other tribute. People in the other districts… they don't think we do. They think we're invincible. So what if my district has a good relationship with the Capitol? That doesn't mean anything if we still have to participate in the Hunger Games. We get butchered like any other person sent into the Games. "Pride" this, "pride" that… Bah, it makes me sick. "Killing is the only thing we know how to do" is what people say about the Career districts, especially…"

"Especially…?"

"My district. District 2."

I look down, at a loss for words. I get up silently; I gesture for her to come along with me. She gets up to follow me.

By nightfall, we're back at base, safe for another day.

A/N: I hope you liked that little moment between Rain and Sophia :). I'm really sorry that it took me so long, but college's got me occupied. I'll try to update, but that's that. As a reminder to who's still alive…

District 1 - Vulcan Prisma

District 2 - Cyrus Rankine & Sophia Kirhart

District 3 - Ellie Volicy

District 4 - Aileen Kendari

District 5 - (none)

District 6 - (none)

District 7 - (none)

District 8 - (none)

District 9 - (none)

District 10 - (none)

District 11 - (none)

District 12 - Rain Orion

No one this time around, but that's subject to change soon.