Thought I'd do a fight scene for this one so I remixed Cierra's first finale fight with some new moves.
Cierra Daline, District Two female
"Are you all right?" I shouldn't have asked it. Olivine was my enemy and I should have remembered that. It was just she looked awful. I'd managed to avoid the fire but it was clear she hadn't been so lucky. The skin on her face was red and bubbled and sloughing off in places. It made my skin crawl thinking about how it must feel, especially on the hand gripping her knife. We'd never been allies but in the Academy we'd exchanged words. I'd spoken to her as a person and that wasn't something easily abandoned.
"Do I look all right?" she asked. She wasn't smiling but it was only because the skin around her mouth was too tight.
"Guess we should fight," I said. We were the only two left in the Arena. It felt inevitable more than anything else. I didn't even really want to. There was just nothing else left.
"Guess we have to," she said. We were both stalling. No one, not even a Career, wants a knife fight.
We circled each other like two lovers dancing. In a knife fight you're so close you can feel the other person's breath. It was impatience that drove me to make the first move. Even when I did it I knew it was stupid. I wanted to get the fight over with but that attitude would get me killed. Olivine went for a block and tried to counterstrike to my ribs. I barely got away with a scratch.
Olivine snaked out a leg and tried to trip me up. I stabbed my knife down at it and she neatly pivoted. I threw an elbow at her side as she did, landing the blow since she couldn't sidestep on one foot. She brought her other arm around to shove me backwards so I couldn't capitalize on the attack. We both backed away and the fight started all over again with both of us looking for a good moment to strike.
Olivine was breathing hard. I was too, but it was more obvious from her- the breath whistled from her cracked and dry lips. Even with her straight face it was clear she was in pain. She must have been in constant pain ever since the fire. It felt dirty but I knew it was my biggest advantage. If I held back and kept picking at her instead of going for one big blow I could wear her down better than she could wear me down. I changed my tactics and went for little sniping blows, scoring small cuts and keeping both of us moving constantly. She started to bleed from her mouth as the quick and heavy breaths wore at her fragile skin.
When Olivine tried to hook my leg again I pulled her in with me and took us both down. She hissed as her back hit the dirt, no doubt rubbing her shirt all along her raw skin. She didn't let it slow her down, head-butting my nose and dragging her knife down my arm as my eyes teared. We were both slick with blood and slid all over as we grappled each other. I took my free hand and went with another dirty blow. As Olivine dodged what she thought was an eye gouge I instead curled my fingers and raked my nails across her temple and cheek. Paperlike skin caught under my nails and flaked free as she screamed. I reared back and off of her, stabbing her knee as I went. She lashed out with her knife as I tried to rise. It caught me just above the hip.
Olivine tried to rise and staggered. "I think you won," she wheezed, bleeding from a dozen shallow wounds.
My insides shifted as I tried to step closer. "I was about to say the same to you," I said. It was strange how I could feel okay but at the same time feel like something inside me was just… out of place. I wondered what it was. My intestines, all unspooled? My stomach, spilling my last meal out into my guts?
"This sucks," Olivine said from her half-kneeling position. "To be honest I was hoping I wouldn't have to fight you."
"Are you nuts? I was terrified of you," I said.
"Looks like you didn't have to worry," Olivine said. "How'd you even get mixed up with this?"
"I just wanted attention," I admitted. "Pretty stupid, huh?"
"I wanted people to remember me," Olivine said.
"No one remembers second place," I said, sinking into a kneel myself as blood started to trickle up my throat.
"Sorry I killed you," Olivine said.
"Sorry I killed you," I said. "You think people will remember us?"
"One of us will remember the other," Olivine said on her side as I toppled forward and supported myself with one arm. For no reason that I could think of I reached out and took her hand. Both of us were dying. As it turned out, I died a little slower.