Author's Note
I do not own the Hunger Games.
Eventually, dusk fell, the light fading through the trees. As the Capital anthem placed, Hyperion climbed up one of the larger, stouter trees and pulled some of the branches back. The face of the girl from Two appeared above them, followed soon after by the girl from Eleven. Her smiling image faded away.
Not the girl from One like Four had believed.
Hyperion climbed back down, jumping the final few feet and scaring the shit out of Shelley.
"Well?" demanded Azrayk.
"Girls from Two and Eleven."
Four stared at him. "Livi," she whispered.
He shrugged. He'd never known either of their names; never particularly cared to know.
Four sprang to her feet. "But not Nike! She's alive; and he could be- We have to help her!"
Hyperion shrugged. "It'll be dark soon."
Four scowled. "We have to help her."
"I don't know who this 'we' is Four," Azrayk said dryly.
"Aye, that sounds like more of a 'you' problem," agreed Shelley.
"But you- We can't leave her there!"
"We're not doing anything in the dark. You're free to do whatever the hell you want."
She scowled, looking about the three of them. "Cowards."
Azrayk waved an arm. "Go ahead and be our guest. I don't know why we're on this fucking quest to begin with."
"Maybe I will!"
"Go on then!"
"Don't push me Nine!"
"Oh, I'm pushing you alright!"
"Fucking cowards!" she spat. Hyperion cracked her round the legs with his spear hard enough to force her to the ground and jabbed the end at her face. She scrabbled against the dirt with one hand, grabbing at the spear with the other.
"You're useful Four, but you're not vital. Don't make me stab out something that is. If you want to go, then go."
Four glanced around her at the rapidly darkening trees.
Five minutes later when the last of the light had faded she was still with them.
Hyperion took the first watch that night. Part of him was hopeful Luciente might call again, howl out for him in the empty night.
It never came.
He didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad one.
With Luciente it could be either.
And he was away from the stream now, away from his path to her.
But he would find her.
They could always find each other, even when they roamed, even when they were miles and miles apart, they could always find each other. They were family, pack, and they were always drawn back together.
So long as there were no canons tonight, he knew she was safe for a little longer.
Four sat away from their little trio, huddled by a different tree, her arms wrapped around her knees. The monster that had done this to her was still out there.
And so was Luciente.
Make sure that one dies.
He hadn't, but now he was going to fix that.
He was going to make this right, before it could reach her.
He had to.
He could only hope she was alright, only hope she was safe. It was almost as bad as being back in prison again, sitting in his cell night after night after night, not knowing if she was well, if she was safe, if she was happy and free and roaming.
Except at home the risk of death came from the Peacekeepers.
Here in the arena the risk of death came from everywhere.
The land, the other tributes, the mutts, the Gamemakers.
There were still two Careers out there unaccounted for.
Luciente was good, but how was she meant to defend herself against tributes who had trained for this their entire lives?
How was she meant to defend herself against something that could kill that kind of tribute?
Even when Shelley took over watching and guarding Four he fell asleep worrying about the matter and woke before the dawn to the sound of howling ringing out inside his head.
Luciente.
He sat up abruptly, jerking his spear over his lap, glancing this way and that.
The howling sounded… clearer than normal. Louder too. Closer, he wondered, and then dismissed that.
Something told him he would feel it.
He dug the fingers of his free hand into the earth, closed his eyes, and sent out an answering, echoing call.
Come to me, she had said yesterday, come to me.
The plan had been that they would be together; they needed to be together.
Find me, come to me, find me brother.
And he would.
But first he had to fulfil another promise.
Make sure that one dies.
Azrayk looked about himself. "Something wrong wolf-boy?"
He rocked back on his heels. "Thought I heard something."
Azrayk rolled his eyes. "You're way too paranoid sometimes, you know that?"
He grunted a reply, listening as the howls faded.
He, Azrayk and Shelley shared a few crackers to stave off the familiar gnawing hunger. Four glared at them hungrily, hunching against a tree.
They gave her nothing.
They only needed her until they could find the boy from Twelve and he could fulfil his promise. Then he was removing another tribute from their path and she was dead.
They had spent the night on the beach, unsure and afraid that the rest of the careers might have been somewhere around the girl from Two, might have found the cabin. It was kind of chilly, though not freezing, and the three of them pressed together for warmth. Bunny cried most of the night, sobbing into her arms, and Luciente was unsure whether she slept.
Nathaniel shook her arm shortly before the sun began to rise. "Luciente."
She raised her head, frowned, and then she felt the hum.
"There's someone here."
She shook her head, scanned the beach until she found the lone, forlorn figure down at the edge of the tide. "It's alright. They won't hurt us."
"This is the Hunger Games Luciente; everything wants to hurt us."
"The dead can't hurt anyone." She pushed herself to her feet, stretched her stiff limbs, and padded across the hard sand towards the swirling tide.
"Luciente!" Nathaniel hissed from behind her.
"Do you want to meet her?"
Nathaniel looked frantically between her and the still crying Bunny and then hurried after her to catch up. "Who is she? Shelley or Azrayk?"
Luciente smiled. "No; they're upstream with Hyperion."
"How do you- then who then?"
She stopped as the tide began to lap at their boots. Bethany's shimmering yellow jacket stood out against the flat grey sea. Nathaniel stared at her, past her, through her. Bethany lifted a hand and pointed outwards and downwards into the grey water. Luciente followed her indication. She could see nothing, but she could feel it, stronger than ever now, a humming purr that vibrated her bones.
She needed whatever that was.
"What is that?" she heard someone ask.
Bethany opened her mouth as though to make a sound, and footsteps echoed across the beach behind them.
"You could have woken me," Bunny grumbled.
Bethany smiled, sadly, and faded away.
Bunny wrapped her arms around herself, gazing out to sea. "It looks so peaceful like this."
Nathaniel shook his head. "Luciente, that… shimmering thing. What was it?"
So he did see her, or at least know she was there.
She knew he was gifted.
"Bethany."
Would Heaven join them, she wondered?
These things were never certain, else the world would be overrun with ghosts.
"Bethany died in the bloodbath," Bunny said a little shakily.
"What's dead can never hurt us. I need whatever's down there." Luciente unzipped her jacket and peeled it off, handing it to Nathaniel. He frowned.
"What's down there?"
"If I knew, this would be easier." She took a step back to remove her boots, tying them together by the laces and draping them around Nathaniel's neck like an odd looking necklace.
Bunny shook her head. "I don't think this is a good idea."
"It's important. Whatever's down there… I can feel it."
Oh, she could feel it like she had never felt anything before.
And she needed it.
She craved it.
"We have no idea how deep that water is."
Luciente reached down and plunged her hand into it, closing her eyes. The water was cold against her skin, salty and foam tipped, dropping down and down, and the land felt mostly natural.
"Deep enough."
"And… whatever it is you want. Will it help us?"
Luciente turned to her. "It will help us be free."
Bunny wet her lips and then nodded. "Alright then. There's no use us all going in; Nathaniel and I will keep watch here. You should… maybe take off your trousers and shirt as well, so you have something dry to wear afterwards."
"Good idea." Luciente pulled them off, handing them to Bunny.
"Have you ever swum that deep before?"
"I know what I'm looking for."
"That's… not an answer to the question I asked."
Luciente gave her a smile, wading further out into the water. Nathaniel backed up to the water's edge, glancing about himself. Luciente cast one last long look at him and then drew in a deep breath and plunged under the water.
It was cold.
She'd known it was, it had been cold when it barely reached her chest, but now it closed over her face she could appreciate how truly, boneachingly cold it really was.
She kicked her legs furiously, propelling herself downwards. She could feel the call, singing in her veins, but she was still human (mostly), and humans needed air. After thirty seconds her lungs were burning, after forty she was fighting the water with leaden limbs and seemingly getting no closer to that haunting call.
After fifty she had to return to the surface to take another lungful of air.
"Anything?" Nathaniel called out, but she only shook her head.
This might take longer than she had hoped.
THE FALLEN
District Two Female: Livia Dolabella. Killed by Luciente Ripley of District Ten. Placed Fourteenth.
Livi was likely one of the strongest tributes in this story, a terrible person, and while an excellent Career, doing it for all the wrong reasons. Thank you for submitting her Celtic, and stay tuned! Livi is going to have an impact yet.
District Eleven Female: Heaven Jonas. Killed by Livia Dolabella of District Two. Placed Thirteenth.
Heaven was a sweetheart who deserved more than this. She gave a slightly more lighthearted feel to an otherwise very grim situation, and was always fun to write for. Thank you for her, A Proud Bibliophile!
