Shimmer Calvisi-18 (District 1 Male)

This isn't how I wanted this to happen. I was supposed to have more time to set things up before I had to make my move. But Cornelia forced my hand. The selfish little bitch.

All she had to do was keep her head down and her mouth shut, and everything would have been fine. But she couldn't do it.

Instead, she was planning to run away. She was gonna ruin everything. And I won't let her do that.

"You shouldn't have tried to run, you stupid bitch," I whisper, my voice low and angry, my eyes locked on hers as I watch the color drain from her face and the light seep out of her eyes as she tries to pry my fingers off her throat.

"Oh, well, live and learn. Right?" I say, my mind racing with possibilities as I stand here and watch her fight for every breath before finally letting go at watching her collapse to the ground in a heap.

"I asked you a question, bitch," I whisper, my voice dripping with venom as I reach down and grab her by the hair before yanking her back to her feet with a pained shriek. "It's rude to ignore someone when they do that."

"Why are you doing this?" she whines, her voice low and tinged with pain, her cheeks covered in tears as she looks up at me with fear and confusion burning in her big brown eyes.

"Because I can," I growl, my voice dripping with anger and disgust as I let her hair slip out of my hand before backhanding her across the face so hard I split her lip.

"Because you're too weak and pathetic to stop me," I say, my eyes burning with barely contained glee as I casually push her back into the wall of a nearby building with a playful little huff.

"Because you're a worthless waste of space," I coo, my voice soft and caring as I slide my hand under her chin and tilt her head up, drawing a pathetic little whimper from her lips as she silently pleads with me to stop.

But I don't.

Instead, I slap her across the face like the worthless little bitch she is before grabbing her by the throat and leaning in to whisper in her ear, "But the main reason I'm doing this is because I want to see how much I can hurt you before you break."

"What?"

"You heard me.

"I wanna see just how much pain you can take before you break, Cornelia.

"So that's what I'm gonna do," I mumble, my breath hot on her cheek as I lean in close enough to hear her heart pounding in her chest. "I'm going to break you."

"You're insane," she whispers, her words coming out in short, jagged bursts as she struggles to catch her breath as I dig the tips of my fingers deeper into the soft, supple flesh of her throat.

"You're just noticing that? You might be even dumber than you look," I joke, a sick, twisted little grin on my face as I run my fingers gently down her cheek. "But that's ok. You don't have to be smart to scream when something hurts."

"I'm not gonna scream for you, Shimmer," she lies, her voice low and unsteady, her big brown eyes dripping with fear as she fights for every precious breath. "There's nothing you can do to me that'll make me give you that satisfaction."

"Are you sure about that, Cornelia?"

"I-I-I am."

"Good.

"I want you to hold onto that confidence. It'll make breaking you that much more fun."

"What the hell's going on out here?!"

"BELLATRIX! HEL —"


Bellatrix Harvey-18 (District 2 Female)

"BELLATRIX! HEL —" she screams, her desperate attempt at a warning being choked off by Shimmer as he tightens his grip on her throat and slams the back of her head against the wall with a disgusting thwack.

"That's enough out of you, Cornelia," he whispers, his voice soft and almost caring as he leans in and whispers something else in her ear before brushing his lips against her tear-stained cheek.

"Your part in this is done," thwack. "So, why don't you do us all a favor —" thwack. "And shut —" thwack. "Your fucking —" thwack. "MOUTH!" thwack, thwack, thwack.

"There, much better," he coos, his voice tinged with smug satisfaction as he lets Cornelia's limp, unconscious body slip from his fingers before turning his attention to me.

"Now, where were we?" he asks, a sick, twisted little smile on his lips as he struts towards me.

"Oh, that's right, you were asking a stupid question. As if you know how to ask any other kind."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I growl, my voice low and angry, my eyes fixed on his smug face as I slowly back away from him with my hand on the hilt of my sword.

"You know what it means, Bellatrix," he laughs, his voice low and sarcastic as he continues to strut towards me with a calm, hungry look burning in his cold, dead eyes. "You're not an idiot.

"No shit," I snarl, my frustration building by the second, my eyes darting back and forth between Shimmer's smug face and Cornelia's bruised and broken body as I try to figure out if she's still alive.

Something which would be easier for me to do if he wasn't trying to goad me into kicking his arrogant ass.

"And even if you were an idiot, it wouldn't change anything —"

Oh, for the love of — is he still talking?

"Idiot or not, you saw what I did. The question is, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm gonna make you pay," I growl, my body acting on instinct as I rip my sword out of its sheath and slip into a defensive stance.

"For what, hurting your precious little feelings?

"Or were you talking about that?" he asks, his face lighting up as he stands there and admires his handiwork for a few seconds before reluctantly tearing his eyes away from Cornelia and returning them to me.

"Does it matter?" I ask, my voice tinged with anger and just the faintest hint of concern, my eyes dancing between his smug face and Cornelia's body as I tighten my grip on my sword.

"Not really," he admits, the same sick, twisted little smile from earlier plastered on his face as he shrugs his shoulders dismissively before starting towards me again. "But I'm curious, so humor me."

"Fuck you," I snarl, my body tensing as I stand here and fume at his arrogance. "I'm not here to humor you."

"Of course, you're not, Bellatrix," he coos, his smile widening as he lets a blood-chilling little chuckle slip past his lips. "You're here to scream for me. Just like Cornelia is."

"No, I'm not," I snarl, my voice dripping with venom, my eyes burning with rage as I stand here and try to fight back the urge to slice that smug smirk off his stupid face.

"You say that now. But you'll be singing a different tune after I beat you into submission like Cornelia."

"I'd like to see you try!"

"I was hoping you'd say that," he whispers, his voice low and excited, his eyes burning with glee as he gives me a final hungry once-over before dropping down into a defensive crouch and daring me to attack him.

And I want to. God knows I do. I wanna slice that stupid grin off his face so bad it hurts.

But I can't.

I can't let him goad me into making such a stupid mistake.

I have to be patient. I'm only gonna get one chance at this, and I can't afford to waste it. I have to stay calm.

I have to. I have to. I have to.

But I can't.

I'm just not wired that way, and he knows it.

I wish I was, but I'm not. And there's no way for me to change that.

So I don't.

Instead, I allow my anger and frustration to bubble over in a spectacular display of stupid before rearing back and lunging at Shimmer like an idiot. Hoping against hope that my sneak attack, that he definitely doesn't see coming, will catch him off guard. Allowing me to end this fight with a single stroke.


A/N: So I know this update is short, but that's because it's actually the second half of the update I posted a few weeks ago that I split into two in order to get something out after a month and a half of radio silence. Going forward, I should be back to slightly longer 4 to 5 pov updates and the action should start to pick up a little now that I've got most of the story arcs set up.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the update and I look forward to seeing all of your happy faces at the next one :D