A/N: Trigger warning for the fourth POV.
Chapter 32:
Night Two
Sonya Starling, 14, District 11
As the sky turns pink with the setting sun, Sonya just stares up at the sky, slowly blinking as her mind tries to process everything that has happened in the last 24 hours. The day had seemed to drag by but now that the sun is setting and the mutts are about to come out, the minutes seem to be slipping through her fingers. Soon the anthem will start and she'll have to face what happened all over again.
But she doesn't even know how she feels. She's gone through so much pain already in her life, she knows she can get through this pain. It's not even that she is upset that Ricky is dead, so much how it happened. They all knew going into this arena what they were signing up for, so his death had to happen. But…did he have to die after giving her a boost to get to safety? And why would he even help her? He shouldn't have helped her, he should have saved himself. That's why she didn't hesitate to accept his help. She's gone through too much to sacrifice herself for someone else at this point.
"Are you upset about him?"
Sonya looks over at Riley slowly at that question as the girl sits on the other side of the border between the two sectors, munching on some jerky. Sonya stares at her for a few seconds before shrugging and turning back to the quickly darkening sky. "It had to happen eventually if I'm going to win," she says quietly, knowing that Riley will also have to die if that's to happen. And she will not let Riley find any weaknesses in her – aside from the obvious one – and turns the focus around. "What about you? Are you upset about Ryam?"
Riley shrugs as she looks down at her lap, adjusting the straps of her backpack. "No," she finally says and looks up to meet Sonya's gaze. "There's too much at stake for me to lose because I was upset at my District partner dying. Besides, nothing could hurt more than seeing a sibling die."
Sonya purses her lips at that, unsure how to even respond to her. How would she react if she witnessed her little brother die? She…doesn't know, but that won't ever happen once she wins the Games. They'll never have to worry about anything then…
When the anthem starts playing as the sun finally disappears behind the horizon, Sonya lets out a sigh of relief. She's almost happy the mutts will be out soon so they can focus on testing out their theory instead of talking about Ricky. She stares up at the sky, watching his face be the only one shown, before letting out a small sigh when the sky fades to eerie darkness as the blood red moon rises. She feels…almost obligated to win for him now… And she doesn't like this feeling after so long of counting only on herself.
"It should be just about time," Riley says, standing up and brushing off her pants. She holds her knife tightly in her hand as she looks into the District Three sector, waiting for the mutts to come out.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Sonya asks, squinting to see into the District Eleven sector for any sign of movement. She grimaces a little bit when she realizes that now she might have to face the mutt based on Ricky… Maybe they should get far from these sectors to not be reminded of their District partners anymore.
"I'm pretty confident I have this figured out," Riley replies, but Sonya can hear the small bit of doubt in her voice. That really makes Sonya feel confident about this. Well, worst case scenario, she just stays in this sector where the mutts won't attack her.
And she could always use the mutts to kill Riley if she tries to betray her. Part of her suspects Riley wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing to her. She knows what it's like to have everything on the line by winning and just how much desperate people are willing to do. After all, she volunteered for the Hunger Games to get better treatment for her lungs so she can actually live.
"If you're wrong, I'm going to be pissed," Sonya says under her breath, tightening her grip on her knife as she sees a few figures in the distance slowly hobbling towards them. She winces when she recognizes the distorted face of Ricky, but quickly reminds herself that it's not him. It's some sick, twisted creation of those psychos in charge. "Here they come."
"Same here," Riley says and Sonya glances back, seeing the mutts they faced last night approaching. A shiver of fear goes down her spine at the sight of them and she can clearly see the way they tore into Ricky, the blood pouring out of his wounds. She can't let that happen to her… "You ready to switch sides?"
"Not really, but we're here, aren't we?" Sonya asks, cracking a small hint of a smile before shrugging. She really isn't ready to face these mutts, but they need to know if their theory is correct. If they are…well, that will save them precious time during the night of not running from mutts. Time to rest and keep up their strength for during the day. "Let's hope no one else has figured this out yet, it will give us a huge advantage."
Riley scoffs at that as she toes the border between concrete and grass, hesitating to cross that line, just like Sonya is. "You think this group is smart enough to figure that out?"
"You have a point," Sonya says, finding herself starting to smile a bit before quickly reminding herself that she can't be too friendly with Riley. Especially when they have no District loyalty to each other, either one of them wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice the other to win. "Well, let's figure this out, shall we?"
With a deep breath, Sonya steps over into the District Three sector and after a second, Riley moves into the District Eleven sector. The change in the mutts is almost immediately as their heads snap over in her direction before they start heading her way, getting to a run. Fear floods Sonya as she stares at them, her heart beating so fast, before she takes a few panicked steps back and suddenly they stop.
Riley is still standing next to her in Eleven, watching the mutts closely as they get closer and closer, until finally stepping back into the Three sector when they're only a few feet away. And just like the ones chasing Sonya, they stop immediately. "Interesting," she says quietly as Sonya stands there, keeping her knife raised as she stares down the Ricky mutt, almost expecting it to attack her for letting him die in her place. She glances back at Riley as she walks up to the Ryam mutt, poking it with her knife before quickly jumping back, but all it does is snarl a bit and leave her alone. "Excellent."
"So were you right?" Sonya asks, slowly taking a few cautious steps closer to the mutts on her side. She reaches down for a pebble and tosses it at them before jumping back, tensed and ready to run, but they do nothing.
"I sure am," Riley says, slowly starting to grin at this. It takes Sonya a little aback, seeing her happy for the first time…and also makes her concerned that she's so happy about something related to the mutts. So while she lowers her knife to her side, she still keeps a tight grip on it, not really trusting Riley at all. But she has to do what's necessary to survive… "Let's hope no one else knows this yet and has an unfortunate run in with the mutts tonight."
If it will get Sonya one step closer to victory… "Like you said, this group isn't the smartest," she says with a small shrug as she glances back at the mutts. Surely the others haven't figured it out, right? It would be so easy – almost too easy – to hope the careers were killed by the mutts… But that doesn't stop her from hoping. "Fingers crossed they don't know yet."
Adonis Sylvester, 18, Capitol
"This is such bullshit," Adonis mutters as he glances back over his shoulder, still hearing the faint shuffling sound of mutts in the distance. At least they're not careers and he could easily kill the scrawny thirteen year old victors. But…he doesn't want to take that risk. Why would he risk his life killing mutts when he can just outrun them? Besides, soon enough he would be out of this sector and away from the broken down factories.
He slows as he starts to reach the edge of the section and squints as he looks in the distance to the cornucopia, trying to see if anyone is there. If he can get back the cornucopia, surely he'll get attention from the sponsors, right? Show them that he does know how to fight and survive in this arena because really…he hasn't been showing that too well so far.
Yet as he starts walking into the inner circle of the arena, he sees some movement up ahead and ducks behind the fractured remains of a building. He peers around it, trying to see who it is approaching the cornucopia – the empty cornucopia. But seeing the lone girl jogging towards it, spear in hand…he knows exactly who it is who has beat him there.
Fuck! Not even his plan to try to sneak supplies from the cornucopia is his own idea. Of course Chantelle had the same fucking idea.
Adonis lets out a small whine of frustration as he flops down onto the ground, throwing his bag next to him. This is not at all how he pictured these Games going for him! Where's the sponsorship from people throwing money at him? Where's the career allies that were going to help him make it far?
Gone, all gone…just like his chance to have something real.
Before he can even try to stop it, his eyes start watering and he quickly puts his head down, pressing his palms on his eyes hard to try and stop the tears. Everything just keeps piling up on him and he's just tired of it. He's never had to struggle like this before in his life and he just doesn't know how to do it on his own. Which he should be able to do! If he was really the tough man he's tried so hard to be for years, he wouldn't be sitting here crying on national television! But he's fucking weak. A weak ass man who can barely keep himself alive in this arena. Someone no one even wants to sponsor. Just…unlikeable.
Adonis lifts his head, staring up at the blood red moon as he tries to blink back the tears. Where did it all go wrong? Everything seemed to be going so well for him until suddenly it just…wasn't. He had the alliance, a good mentor, a great fling…and now he has none of that. His alliance was fucked from the moment the gong sounded. Misha probably hates him for the dumb rumor he spread about them and that's why he's not sending him anything. Or Drazen is telling him not too…
"What did I do wrong?" Adonis asks aloud, rubbing his face with a loud sigh. Yet he can't stop the stupid tears that keep forming until they start falling down his cheeks, and he puts his head down in shame. Clearly he fucked up somewhere along the way… He just never thought he'd have to deal with the consequences in the arena of all places.
"I'm sorry, Misha," he says quietly as tears drip down his nose and onto his lap. He balls his hands on his lap, hating to apologize and admit he did something wrong… But he needs help. As much as he hates it, he doesn't have many other options left but to swallow his pride and hope they can help him… "I shouldn't have said that rumor about you and Odyssey… And I'm sorry I hurt you." He'd know who he was talking about.
There's a lot of things he probably shouldn't have done… And he hates that he had to realize this and breakdown in the arena in front of everyone. What would his friends say if they saw him right now? But does it even matter if he doesn't even make it out of this arena? Because looking at his odds right now…they fucking suck. He's not a real career, Bez was right about that. He's not the strongest one in this arena, not by a long shot, no matter how much he's tried to be tough and one of the careers. He doesn't really stand a good chance at winning. He just wishes his dumb ass would have realized this before he volunteered…
Adonis just sits there like that for who knows how long, tears silently falling down his cheeks with the occasionally tiny sniffle. He can still hear the mutts roaming the arena, but thankfully they just leave him be. Probably because that bastard Julian is enjoying seeing him suffer. Or…maybe Calisto had some pity on him. He lets out a small scoff at that and shakes his head. Yeah right, like he'd have pity on him. He doesn't deserve anyone pitying him – and he doesn't want their pity. If he's going to win these Games – which he's still going to fucking try – he wants to do it on his own, without pity getting him there.
And yet, pity seems to be what he's earned as after a little while, a small silver parachute starts floating down in front of him. He just stares at it as it hits the ground with a small thud. If it wasn't for the 'C' on the side…he'd doubt it was actually his. He hasn't done anything to deserve it…
Yet Adonis still reaches for it slowly, wiping his eyes with his other hand and sniffling some more. He pops it open and shakes his head a little bit seeing a note sitting on top of a fresh loaf of bread – the exact kind he'd said was his favorite in the Capitol as an offhand comment.
'Apology accepted. You can earn forgiveness when you're out of the arena – Misha and Odyssey'
Adonis can only stare at the note until his eyes are too blurry with tears to read the handwriting anymore. So he sets the note aside and rips off a small piece of the bread, taking a deep breath when he catches a whiff of it – and it's still warm. He doesn't deserve these two as mentors, not after he was such an asshole to them. But if they still want to support him…he has to try.
"I'll hold you to that," Adonis says quietly, folding up the note and tucking it into his jacket pocket. Now if only he could earn Drazen's forgiveness…
He'll only know if he gets out of here alive.
Juno Ladair, 18, District 4
Juno really likes to think that they know how to make good decisions, but they're really starting to question just what the actual fuck they are up to in this arena. Sticking with Bez has to be hands down the dumbest thing – no, even giving Crow or whatever the fuck his name is the time of day in the Capitol is the dumbest thing they've ever done.
Sticking by Bez's side despite the fact that they might actually be insane is the second dumbest thing by a landslide.
It's just to keep an eye on them, a potential threat that the Gamemakers wanted them to watch, that's all. Just another threat that would make for an unstable victor, along with a small handful of names Julian slipped them up on the rooftop the night before. Sure, Bez has their faults, but who doesn't? Juno sure has their own handful. But does it justify them maybe wanting them to not even have a chance? Or others like Shams? Well, they did hear that whole confessing to killing an assaulter, but a kill in self-defense doesn't justify a trial without a chance in Juno's book.
So if the Gamemakers aren't going to give them any sign to get a move on…they're going to just keep following Bez around. Keep their friends close and enemies closer…right? Is Bez either of those? That…is a slippery slope that they don't want to touch, but the fact that they're following Bez around through the arena, letting them scare off any tributes with how noisy they are…
They like Bez…ugh. Feelings are so damn messy and it's why they never wanted to get into this mess, yet here they are. Dumb gross feelings that have kept them by their side, not their threats. That crazy person wouldn't last on their own with the mutts for five minutes, which is why they should just sneak off right now. Not that Bez would even notice, they're so wrapped up in their grand plan of vengeance and chattering away, continuing on with just small noises from Juno acknowledging them. It'd take at least a couple minutes before they turned around and realized Juno was gone…
So why haven't they just done it yet? They're fun, that's what they keep telling themself. Why not have a little bit of fun in the arena before they have to get serious with the murder? They'd make sure Lacey would get her treatment, but victory is still a long way off. They definitely aren't putting off the inevitable just because they stupidly let themself enjoy Bez's company and regret the fact that they will have to die eventually.
Maybe they should just let Bez get caught by the mutts or another tribute, drawn by all the noise they're making. It would make things easier for Juno in the end. But…they can't. They know they can't leave them to that, and it is downright terrifying that they have let themself care enough about someone other than Lacey. They should be out in the arena hunting down the others, killing them before they even saw them coming, not…
"Stop!" Juno snaps at Bez, cutting them off from something about painting – they'd stop listening a half hour ago. They grab the back of their jacket and pull them close, ignoring their cry of offense that they quickly muffle with their hand.
"What are you doing?!" Bez asks them, their voice muffled by Juno's hand. They shush Bez, who makes a small noise of offense, but thankfully stays quiet after that. Finally, they've started to learn to trust Juno's instincts.
Juno turns their head, listening around them, trying to figure out if they did actually hear a noise coming their way. "Did you hear something?" they ask, voice barely above a whisper as their eyes scan the desolate fields around them, the grass high enough in some places to easily hide tributes – or worse, the damn mutts.
Bez shrugs a little bit and Juno waits a few seconds before slowly letting them go. "I didn't hear anything," they say, squinting into the darkness for a moment before shrugging again. Juno rolls their eyes as they get an arrow notched on their bow, turning around slowly to try and get any glimpse of movement. "You sure you don't need to get your – FUCK!"
Bez drops down in a crouch as soon as Juno aims their bow over their shoulder at the mutt coming their way. A clean shot to the head has it dropping immediately and leaves Juno smirking as they hold their pose for a moment, before offering a hand down to Bez. "Got one."
Bez ignores Juno's hand and stands up on their own, before hitting them on the arm. "The fuck was that all about?" they ask, putting a hand on their chest and taking a few deep, dramatic breaths. "Shit, I thought you were aiming at me!"
Juno chuckles a little at that as they go to grab their arrow, using their foot to hold down the Fonio mutt's head. That's for the time they had to steal this slimy shithead's underwear for some crazy Capitolite. "You'd know if I was aiming at you," they tell Bez, focusing on cleaning off their arrow before turning back to them. "Actually, you wouldn't know because the arrow would be in your head before you even saw me."
"That cocky, huh?" Bez asks, stepping closer to them with a sly grin. They put a hand on Juno's bow and push it away, while Juno just watches them with an amused look. "I think it would be the other way around, handsome."
That gets a quick laugh out of Juno and they shake their head for a moment, until they see Bez looking actually offended. "Perhaps," they say, lightly grabbing one of the loose pieces of hair by their face and twirling it a little. Even all disheveled and with blood splattered on their face…they still are quite easy on the eyes. "Let's hope we don't reach that point to find out, huh, love?"
Bez stands up on their toes to lean over by Juno's ear, flirty smile on their face. "I will send an arrow through that pretty head of yours if you even think about killing me first," they whisper to them, grabbing the front of Juno's shirt for a moment to hold them close, before pushing them back with a laugh. "Come on, let's see if we can find any tributes to send arrows into their heads instead of these nasty ass mutts."
"Of course," Juno says, taking a moment to get the cocky smile back on their face as they follow them through the burned grain. With the weak victor mutts and the grass to hide in, it's surely a perfect spot to find tributes. And yet…they let Bez keep being loud. Let the tributes know they're coming tonight and keep the numbers high so they can keep putting off the inevitable.
Maybe it's the thrill of the danger of being with Bez that has kept Juno by their side. They've always found ways to cause trouble, do things that others wouldn't dare out of fear of the consequences. This is just more of the same. Of course they were drawn to the one person who could spice up these Games for them, keep things on the edge, so why wouldn't they want to stay with them?
Being with them is no doubt playing with fire…and they just have to make sure they don't get burned.
Rhiannon Collier, 17, District 8
It felt like all the walls were crashing at once and Rhiannon barely had a chance to breathe as everything she knows falls apart. All she wants is one moment to just catch her breath and just process everything that has happened in not only the last few days, but the last year, yet she hasn't gotten the chance. But she knows it's all just building to one big breakdown. And the thing that was going to be the final straw was the mutts chasing them right now. She thought they were awful when they were in her home sector…but she was wrong, so very wrong.
It got way worse once they moved into District Two.
"Come on, keep moving Ri!" Ciana tells her once more, pulling her by the arm as she maneuvers around the giant broken slabs of stone as the mutts keep chasing after them. At least in Eight they were all young, but in here…these mutts are all full blown careers. Isn't it bad enough they already have to run from actual careers? Now they have a plethora of victors to run from too!
"I'm trying!" Rhiannon says, crying out when she trips over a stone and falls down, nearly pulling Ciana down with her. She feels her knees scrap on the stone and rip through her pants, and when she turns over as Ciana tries to pull her back up, she cries out at the blood on her. "No, no, no," she starts muttering as she shakes her head, wiping at the blood. But when she pulls her hands back and sees the blood on her hands – actually there, not just imagined like in all of her nightmares…she lets out a pained cry.
"Fuck," Ciana says, taking out her knife as she stands between Rhiannon and the mutts, but she can't focus on her. All she can do is stare at her bloody hands as the gunshots ring out in her head over and over again. Guilty. She's fucking guilty and a monster.
"What?" Rhiannon says, blinking as she looks up at Ciana and finds her crouched down in front of her. She's saying something, but her words aren't reaching her. All she can hear is the gun shots, the bang of the gavel as her sentence was called out, the cries from her brothers as she was locked away from them.
She barely registers the movement as Ciana drags her inside a building and as soon as she lets go of Rhiannon to secure the door, she drops back down to the floor to curl up in a ball. She rocks herself as tears fall down her cheeks, whimpering as she digs her fingers into her knees and feels the sting. She deserves to hurt, she is a monster. A murderer. Guilty, guilty, guilty!
But the pain is not enough, even as she craves to just feel nothing. Her hands shake as she stares at the wall while reaching into her pocket, taking out the knife. She could end it all with this… She slowly looks down at it as she gingerly holds the handle, before closing her hand around the blade. She winces at the sting of it but just holds on tighter, whimpering at the blood dripping between her fingers. Slowly, she pulls her fingers away, staring at the fresh blood. Finally, her reality matches the waking nightmares she's always caught in. Her hand shakes as she brings it up to her face, lightly brushing a bloody fingertip against her cheek as she stares out into the room. Ciana is still unaware of what she's doing as she keeps moving things in front of the door to keep out the mutts banging on it.
A waking nightmare, that's what this arena is. How did she ever think that this would be her freedom? She just wants it to all end. She never should have volunteered for this, this is worse than all of her nightmares… Yet she never would have gotten the chance for all of it to end in the jail. She had tried, but they always stopped her… But here, there's no one to stop her. Ciana might try, but she'll fail, and just bring herself down with her.
No. She can't let her do that… If Rhiannon is going to die in this arena, she wants Ciana to live. The one person who has actually treated her like a real person, not just her jail sentence. Well…Ardent did too…but where is he now? Not here…he left her, choosing to go with the other monsters in this arena. Maybe she is too much of a monster for him to be with.
And if not even another convicted murderer would want to be with her…who would? She'll never be good enough. Not for Ardent, not for Ciana. Not for Clark, trying his hardest for someone who doesn't deserve it. And certainly not for her brothers…
Ciana should have just left her outside for the mutts to get to her. It would have saved her a lot of trouble in the end. No more dead weight to drag around with her and foolishly try to protect.
"Okay I think the door is secure…" Ciana says and Rhiannon slowly swings her head over to look at her, her back to her as she assesses her pile of cabinets and chairs blocking the door. When she turns back to Rhiannon, the relief on her face immediately turns to concern as she hurries over to her, taking her hands and gasping at the cut on them. "What happened?"
Rhiannon can't respond to her, ashamed and so tired from trying, so she just shrugs as Ciana pulls off her own shirt to start wiping up the blood on her. But even when the majority is gone, Rhiannon can still see the blood on her hands. The blood that has been there ever since the day Sappho tried to kill her and her brothers. "So much blood."
Ciana looks up and gives her a concerned look at that before she starts ripping her shirt into pieces to tie around Rhiannon's hand. "It's not too bad," she says quietly.
Rhiannon just shakes her head at that and tries to curl up again, but Ciana holds onto her legs to pick out stones and dirt from her knees. She could still see all the blood from Teo and Sappho, the small glimpses she had seen of her parents after they killed themselves… How much blood would there be when she dies? "We bleed so much when we die…"
Ciana sighs quietly at that and puts her head down, hiding her face from Rhiannon as she keeps cleaning her wounds. She wants to tell her to just stop and forget about her, but her mouth feels dry and she can't get out the words. "We do," she finally says and picks up her head to meet Rhiannon's gaze with teary eyes. "My friend Mila wasn't the first dead body I saw…the first was my father's when I was twelve."
Rhiannon just watches her with wide eyes and stops trying to fight her on cleaning her wounds. When Ciana notices her staying quiet, she continues talking, taking a shaky breath first. "He had committed suicide and I was the one who found him… That really fucked me up and it's why I got caught up in the gangs, just trying to feel alive again… So I get it, why you hurt yourself…sometimes we need it just to feel anything."
Rhiannon slowly nods her head at that as she closes her hand into a fist, digging her fingers into her wound through the cloth around it. She didn't know Ciana had something so similar happen to her too… "My parents," she whispers and Ciana gives her a curious look as she sniffles a little. "They… Suicide."
"Ah, I'm sorry," Ciana says quietly as she finishes cleaning the wounds on Rhiannon's knees and moves to sit next to her. She puts her arm around her shoulders and Rhiannon immediately presses into her chest, clinging to her tightly. "We've really been dealt a shit lot in life, huh?" she asks and Rhiannon whimpers in response. "And now we're here…desperately hoping this hell will give us something better. But…I don't know how it could get better after this. Maybe…they knew better."
Rhiannon just nods her head and shuts her eyes, trying to hold back the tears from falling onto Ciana. Because she knows she's right…their parents knew that life doesn't get easier and that death was the easy way out… Yet something stops her from just trying to go outside and let the mutts kill her now. A foolish little sliver of hope that maybe things could be better after all of this. Or maybe just a fear of what is on the other side of death. She doesn't really know…
Or maybe she's just a coward that can't go through with it. They might be safe for now, but Rhiannon knows it's just a matter of time before someone or something catches up to them…and finally ends her life. But hopefully just hers, and not Ciana's. Rhiannon is actually guilty of her crime, but Ciana isn't. And she deserves a chance at a happy life.
But Rhiannon doesn't.
Farren Masou, 18, District 6
"Okay, I think we're finally safe in here," Farren says, peering out of the empty window frame of the stone building. From the outside, the space had been unrecognizable, but once they were inside, it was pretty clear just what this place was mimicking – or rather, he knew what a building back home was mimicking. And he could only hope that they could find some training supplies in here.
"Not if you stand in the open window, you dummy," Kasada says and Farren turns back to grin at her, but the smile quickly fades when he sees her holding her hand on her side. She holds up a hand, trying to stop him, but he comes over to her right away. "It's nothing," she says, trying to swat his hand away before wincing in pain.
"Doesn't exactly look like nothing to me," Farren says, narrowing his eyes at the blood on her shirt. His stomach churns a little bit at it, but after everything so far in the arena…he can feel himself growing a little desensitized to it all. Which…he doesn't know if that's a good thing or not.
"Just one of those bastards managed to get a swipe at me, no idea which of those bastards from One," Kasada replies, waving her hand dismissively at him, but after a few seconds of him staring at her, she sighs and pulls up the bottom of her shirt to show off the scratch marks.
"Kassie…" Farren says quietly as he frowns in concern at her bleeding, even if the wounds aren't deep enough to worry about her bleeding out. But infection is a concern, as well as her continuing to get injured… He just couldn't help but worry for his little sister, despite everything from the last couple of years they went through. "I thought you were good at running, they never should have caught you."
"Well I had a big idiot with me who I couldn't leave behind," Kasada mumbles, making Farren start smiling at that until she smacks him on the arm. "Quit it, you big idiot!"
"I see the name calling still hasn't change," Farren chuckles as he drops down his backpack and starts rummaging through it for the first aid supplies. He tosses a disinfectant wipe at her before taking a sip of water, more tired than he wanted to admit after all that running from the mutts – mutts he didn't even realize were out there in the arena. Maybe they would have been safer at the cornucopia…but it's too late now. "Clean those out and then we'll get a bandage on it."
"Yes sir," Kasada replies with a sarcastic salute, but she surprisingly does as he said without much fuss. Farren watches her carefully as he starts snacking on a packet of nuts, making sure she actually cleans it well. "Stop judging me."
"I'm not judging you," Farren replies and tips back his head to shove the whole handful of nuts in his mouth. He shrugs a little at her as he wipes his hand on his pants. "Just making sure you do it properly. I really don't want you getting an infection."
Kasada tosses the wipe down on the ground in front of him with a frustrated sigh before twisting to try and get a better look at the scratches. Farren stays quiet, watching her face and knowing she has something to say and just waiting for her to spill it already. Finally, she meets his gaze, guilt in her eyes. "I still just don't understand why you're doing this. Or even why I'm doing this. We both know why we're here and what's going to happen with us…"
Farren pats the spot next to him and waits for Kasada to slowly sit down next to him. He puts his arm around her shoulders and she tenses up for a few seconds, before slowly relaxing and shifting to put her head on his shoulder. "Don't you feel like we made a mistake?" he asks her quietly, hoping their grandfather isn't watching right now. But even if he is…he's the one that pushed them to this point. He's the one that instilled the competition between them for years and years. And now, because of him…he might lose his sister. "Why the hell can't we both just run it? Together? You could handle the people and I handle the crew…"
Kasada is awfully quiet at that for a while and Farren glances down at her, finding her lips pursed and brow furrowed. "It's too late now," she finally whispers to him and shakes her head before pressing her face into his shoulder. He can't help the surprise on his face when he feels the small wetness on his shoulder from her tears and holds her a little tighter, careful of her injured shoulder. "We're not both getting out of this arena alive. If you weren't so dumb, you should have let me die in the bloodbath."
"And if you weren't so dumb, you would have ran ahead and left me to the mutts," Farren comments back, shrugging a little bit. "Kassie, let's just face it that we both can't let the other just die."
Kasada is quiet for a few seconds before she finally moves her head from pressed into his shirt and sighs quietly. "I don't want to talk about this anymore and stay up wondering about all the impossible what-ifs."
"That's fine," Farren says quietly and rubs her shoulder a little bit. "I think we're safe in here, so why don't you get some sleep first? I'll keep watch."
"You really going to keep me safe?" Kasada asks, the distrust clear in her voice.
"No, I'm going to feed you to the mutts," Farren responds with a scoff and shakes his head until Kasada punches him in the stomach. "That wasn't very nice. Of course I'll keep you safe. I know we haven't really trusted each other in years, but…you gotta trust me now. We have no one else we can trust in here."
"As much as it pains me to actually admit this…you're right," Kasada says and Farren chuckles quietly at the displeasure in her voice. He grabs her hand before she can punch him again and sets it down on her lap, patting it lightly. "This would be so much easier if we kept hating each other."
"Shh, stop thinking about that right now," Farren tells her, shaking his head. She was right, but…he never actually hated her… "Just sleep now while we can. I'll wake you if I get tired."
"You better," Kasada grumbles and shifts a little bit, whimpering a little from moving her wounds, but eventually she settles down against him.
Farren smiles to himself when it only takes a couple minutes for her to quietly start snoring. It had been so many years since they had fallen asleep leaning against each other like this. All because their grandfather encouraged them to have a rivalry… If Farren gets out of this arena – somehow with Kasada, he doesn't know how, but he has to try to figure out some way… Well, his grandfather better watch out. Because if he gets out of here without his sister with it being all his grandfather's fault that they ended up here in the first place and almost never reconciled…
He will tear that fighting pit to the ground.
Well here we are once more. Having a real job is Exhausting (posting this after I had to go in on a Sunday to take care of stuff, fun times). This has been on the back of my mind for a while, but I'd remember in the morning and then be exhausted and forget by time I get home. But better late than never, right? Pretty sure this chapter was written months ago and I just didn't post it because I wanted to have more of the next one done, but yolo.
But we're gonna keep pushing through this. I have all but one POV written for the next chapter and I want to get that done soonish. But don't be surprised if that isn't up until late May. But also, things should slow down a little bit at work by then so I should actually have more energy to write this story.
So see you whenever the next update happens, hopefully sooner rather than later. We'll get to the end of this story eventually, I promise.