The Last Morning:

Acacia Hazeldine, 14
District 11 Female

She dreamed she was back at home.

Absolutely nothing had changed in her absence, for better or for worse. Her bothers were home. Her father was passed out. Oriole was asleep. And Viridis was stirring a pot of something, but his head drooped so low, Acacia thought he was going to pass out right then and there.

"Come on," she told him, rubbing his arm. "Go get some rest."
"I can't...I have to stay...
"What was that?"

"I can't!" Viridis threw a wooden spoon at her and Acacia ducked in the nick of time as it smacked into the wall. "I have to take care of this!"
"No you don't! What's wrong with admitting you need me to help!?"

Viridis open his mouth to talk back and Acacia gasped at all his sharp, pointy teeth. Then his eyes rolled back and he slumped over, his face landing directly in the now boiling pot. Acacia screamed as Viridis stood back up again and faced her. His skin had been melted completely off and for some strange reason, his eyes were black voids leaking dark red blood.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!" Acacia jumped back and next thing she knew, she was sitting up right in an unfamiliar bed. God, what an awful dream. She rubbed at her eyes until the room was a dark and blurry mess. Eventually, her focus came back and so did her breathing.

"Oh jeez...oh my God..."

She couldn't hear any sort of noises outside her room, so thankfully, she hadn't woken anyone else up yet. Yeah, Acacia definitely would not have wanted to freak Weller out and have his allies snap her neck the next day as revenge. Although, that was a little too far, wasn't it?

She lay back down on her side for a few minutes, blinking back tears and mentally chasing away the invisible demons lurking in the shadowy corners, until she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Thankfully, when Acacia fell asleep, she remained that way for several hours until the lights streaming through her window forced her to wake up.

Today was a big day.

Too bad she didn't feel like celebrating.

Back in District 11, absolutely nothing in her morning routine would have changed. Get Oriole fed and dressed, wake up her father, go boss Viridis around and finally make him a shower, he didn't need to be doing this, she could take care of it! Of course, trying to convince Viridis of anything took too much effort so she'd work on other chores instead.

Then the Games would actually start and they'd all travel down to the Justice Building to watch. Acacia often debated whether or not she wanted Oriole to see such things. Hell, she wondered now if she still wanted him to watch.

How would he feel? Seeing his big sister die in front of him? How could Oriole possibly comprehend that?

Maybe, if she was lucky, Viridis would cover his eyes.

She got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. One hot shower later, Acacia was dressed with her head pressed against the bedroom door. Oh God, she was so not ready for today. But what could she do about it? How could she change her fate?

Well...not dying was an obvious choice. If she could pull that off. She liked her allies; Lily and Astrid were nice people. But for crying out loud, she was the youngest or the most mentally mature of the alliance! She knew to keep herself out of danger, but did she have to babysit them as well?

Breakfast consisted off waffles, french toast, pancakes, omelettes...anything Acacia wanted, she could have. She felt a little guilty knowing she had all this food at her disposal when back home they sometimes had to skip meals to save groceries. Maybe the only good thing about this situation was that Viridis could now stretch out their food supply even further, with one less mouth to feed.

She only had the energy to munch on a slightly burnt waffle. Acacia knew she should really be taking advantage of this opportunity, because realistically, this could very well be the last time she would ever experience a freshly prepared meal. Hah. How poetic if she were the one to perish in the Hunger Games thanks to starvation.

But if she tried eating anymore, she would probably throw up.

Acacia managed down two more waffles before she finally pushed her plate back with a slight hiccup. She took a small sip of orange juice and thankfully, it stayed down. She sighed. No nausea here, just nerves. Just nerves. Just...

Just a waiting game that could literally kill her.

Weller had filled his plate up with fruit and didn't mind taking his sweet time. Acacia wished she could be as calm as he was, internally. Maybe it didn't show on her face, or at least she hoped so, but she just so so so nervous...

There was a loud knock at the door, causing her to jump a little. A slightly muffed but gruff voice came from the other end. "Hurry up."

Weller put down his fork. Acacia pushed herself out of her seat, then glanced at the nearest clock, hanging high on the wall above a couch. Really? Was it time already? It was still pretty early in the morning. She thought she had at least another hour left. But if the Peacekeeper said so, she wasn't really one to fight them. She knew much better than that.

At least the turmoil and torture of the waiting game was over. At least she and her allies had a decent chance of meeting up in the arena. At least she knew she had some skills up her sleeve and she had made the most she possibly could of her training days.

The Peacekeepers finally opened the door and Acacia let them grab her by the arm.

Bellona Pierce, 16
District 2 Female

She had never been more excited in her life.

Hovercrafts, as far as Bellona was concerned, were really fucking cool. Dark and cramped? Of yeah, for sure. But they were flying! She probably would never get this chance until she won the Games and finally had the means to buy a hovercraft of her own.

Yes, until, not unless. Was that a guarantee? She liked to believe so. She didn't do that training for nothing. And at the same time, Bellona Pierce had nothing to lose. Should she die, by some foolish mistake or whatever, at least she's be with her family again.

So she wasn't afraid. She had no reason to be reason. It was a win-win situation for her.

The hovercraft was deadly quiet and Bellona had been squished between Toren and the little scamp from 3. She would've liked to shoot the shit with her district partner, but he kept his mouth shut and she did the same.

Besides, he wasn't going to walk out of their alliance anytime soon. The second Bellona was on her feet in the arena, she, Toren, and Elsie were going to grab some weapons and wreck havoc. Killing was harsh and absolutely cruel, but the only way she was sure to survive the damn Hunger Games.

Wait, what if the Gamemakers didn't let her?

Well, she'd show them how much she hated their guts. By becoming the Victor they never wanted. Sometimes, the best kind of defiance came from the inside. The real prize here was survival. Killing the other tributes was just a an obstacle along the way, And it wasn't like she was purposefully out for bloodshed. She had morals, after all.

A tall woman with dark hair and a white coat strolled down the two aisles of twelve tributes, each up against one side of the hovercraft. She carried with her a funny looking needle that she used to press into each tribute's arm. Bellona flinched only slightly when it was her turn. She wasn't afraid of needles. besides, there was worse to come. She could see a slightly glow in her skin before it faded and everything returned to normal.

Then the hovercraft gave a violent lurch as they touched down on visible ground below them; the blacked out windows didn't allow Bellona to actually see where they were. But, this was their destination for sure. Now, there was only two ways out.

Peacekeepers stormed the hovercraft, each of them in a group of three pulling different tributes off. Bellona flashed Toren and Elise a quick ok sign as the Peacekeepers moved her off the hovercraft and down a dark twisted corridor, until they finally reached a little room.

Honouria and Bellona's lead stylist, Claudio, were waiting patiently inside. Bellona gave them both a little nod as Claudio produced a large brown clothing bag. "Here. This is your arena outfit. Let's get you dressed quickly."

The outfit was definitely not what Bellona was expecting. It consisted of a long red toga that covered most of her body, stretching all the way down to just above her ankles. Bellona quickly hiked it up as Claudio produced a golden leather belt and wrapped it around her waist. The last bit of fabric was thrown over her left shoulder, creating a single but very large sleeve. Bellona quickly laced up her golden sandals, taking the time to study her reflection.

Claudio finally produced a few set of bobby pins. Bellona just rolled her eyes. "It's the arena. I don't need to get all dolled up."
"If what I think the arena is comes true, you're going to want the hair out of your face," Honouria insisted. "Especially you might work up quite a sweat."
"Fine. But just one."

Of course Claudio used the biggest bobby pin he could fine. it actually looked pretty nice, even if Bellona knew she had no business looking this good. The Games were not a pageant. A dumb long dress like this was only doomed to slow her down. Unless everyone else had to wear the same thing.

Wait, was what that Honouria said? She turned to her mentor. "What do you know about the arena?"
"Nothing yet. But based off what you're wearing..."
"Yeah?"

"I'm expecting it to be quite outdoorsy." Honouria shrugged. "Might not be that old either, if they're really not giving you a lot. But then again, these are just my predictions."
Bellona kicked at the ground. "I hope you're right, then."

"TRIBUTES! PLEASE PROCEED INTO YOUR TUBES!"

Honouria pointed Bellona in the direction of a glass tube standing at the end of the room. Bellona stepped inside and instantly, it closed up right behind her. She turned around to give her mentor one last determined look. After about a minute, the tube began to slowly rise.

She could see a blue sky above her but for some reason it looked so far away. The platform beneath her feet continued to crawl upwards and suddenly...she was outside. The tube was still rising but she could see 23 other tubes rising at the same time as her. She had Corbyn to her left and Twill to her right, the two of them wearing shorter tunics in the colours silver and pink. Damn. How come all the ladies got stuck with the long one?

But she could see a platform above her, which appeared to be...floating? How was that possible? Then she passed right by it and saw how it was connected to another rocky platform using a shaky wooden bridge. Above that was the largest platform of them all, attached to the ground below by thin narrow chains.

This was the platform containing the Cornucopia and all its goodies.

Bellona was locked into place, as a countdown appeared in the centre of the floating island. They weren't that high up, but the clouds looked slightly bigger than usual. Maybe, if they went any higher, she'd end up in heaven.

"60..." a male voice said and Bellona crouched low. The Games were about to begin.

And we're off!

Finally a sneak peek at our lovely little arena! It may not seem like much, but we'll get a way better look next chapter. Does the arena concept surprise you? :)

Last chance to make any Bloodbath predictions, as well as get your check-ins in! You have all of July to do so, as we won't have the Bloodbath going up and the Hunger Games officially starting until August 1st! So, I'll see you all then.

May the odds be ever in your favour,

-Vr