Hi again!
We're back into the Games now, and after a particularly emotional chapter, we're jumping back into the arena to see ourselves through to the final three before we head to the Capitol again. Yes, you got that right, over the next four chapters, we're losing another eight of our wonderful tributes, with some finalisation on plotlines, playoffs and setting ourselves up for the finale!
How exciting! I hope you're excited too!
Thank you Remus98, Alecxias, FireflyLlama and contemporarydancer2 who reviewed! I have yet to respond to them, but I will in due course! Thank you for all of the support so far :)
Trigger Warning: Mentions of domestic abuse in Austin's POV.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games in any way, shape or form. I only own the arena I have created.
"As the rolling stone gathers no moss, so the roving heart gathers no affections." ~Anna Brownell Jameson
Vanity Genot, Seventeen, District Two Female
A cough comes from my left.
We've stayed the night next to the burning house and where we killed the Five boy, although we made sure to stay clear of him so his body could be taken away. Orion's taken some time to rest up, although even now he's still coughing occasionally, most likely some kind of damage from the smoke he inhaled fighting to get out of the fire. Aisha's been pacing all morning, likely thinking about our next move and Austin is…chuckling to himself.
He got a sponsor for killing the Five boy, and he's only just decided that digging through it is a good idea. Still, I can't knock him for doing his best; that's all any of us can really do. His blue eyes flicker up to meet mine as he opens the package, shifting over to me ever so slightly. Oh right, we're allies. I don't know why exactly he's decided to entrust me with the information and advice from his sponsors, and I'm dead sure it's some kind of manipulation technique, but it's Austin. He's better than Orion and Aisha, and if it all goes to shit then at least he's watching my back for the time being.
Austin retrieves a bright green tube that resembles toothpaste.
He smiles at its appearance, and I too manage to recognise it as an expensive sponsor item – healing paste. We were briefed a little bit about healing paste by Helena, Ava and Kian back in the tribute centre; it's a particularly useful little item should you end up seriously wounded. It's unlikely in a Career, a kind of situation you'd expect if you'd fought against your fellow Careers and run.
Austin tilts the note slightly so that I can read it, obviously trying to keep our internal alliance a secret as Orion coughs again from my left and Aisha continues to pace.
Use this once you and Vanity break off. Do it soon. ~S+R
While Adira gone, Austin's charming nature has made him quite the hotspot for adoring sponsors. I've gotten a few food items myself, but nothing particularly notable since then. I might just have to step up my game. Either that or kill Austin.
I'll kill Orion and Aisha first though.
The idea of killing Austin isn't comfortable to me, but it's a necessity. Our connection has told me more than enough to know that he's not the most comfortable about it either, but we both volunteered for this and we both know that at some point, even the two of us cannot survive together. As Austin slips his sponsor into his bag and zips it up, I stand up stretching.
There's suddenly a rumble.
It's a small one at first, one that I barely notice underneath my feet.
Then it grows, the coloured stones peppering the area around the fountain beginning to jitter and twist, shaking and popping out of their little places, rolling around together to create three stone snakes. The stone is weathered, but beneath the coloured paint, an almost scaly quality shines in the light of the sun. These mutts have no eyes or sense of tasting the air with a forked tongue, but by no means do they not need eyes to follow us. They tremor and crackle, the sound of scratching stones and the faint smell of dust and ash reaching my senses as a small cloud begins to build. Aisha, who's also noticed this commotion, calls to us.
"We need to go!" she calls. "Now would be a good time!"
I roll my eyes in response, pulling Austin up and pushing him ahead of me as Orion scrambles to his feet. Two Gamemaker events aimed at the Careers; it's an obvious sign that we've been sitting around doing nothing for too long. It's just another sign that Aisha's ever impeccable leadership continues to get us in danger of being fucking murdered. Why am I not surprised? This is not how we were taught to do this in Two, and yet we're continuing to follow her around like loyal lapdogs.
As the dust cloud grows and the three stone snakes begin rolling at us, we're all quick to run, knowing that the only option is to move ahead or we'll be the next face in the sky, and that's not what we want here. I run down the glass steps with ease, Aisha ahead of me, Austin behind as the glass begins to crack. This is becoming a Landon situation all over again and Aisha knows it, because as soon as we're down on to the next platform, Aisha looks back to check on Orion, who's running as fast as he can, but is already drawing ragged breaths, his lungs damaged by the smoke he inhaled half a day ago.
"This way!" Austin shouts, pointing to a staircase leading off of the new platform, and we all run after him, hurriedly trying our very best.
I quickly realise that he's trying to head for one of the larger payettes, gaining access to other platforms that may hold tributes. It's a smart move on his part; the closer we get to tributes, the more likely it is that we'll escape from these horrifyingly ashy stone snakes. I'm happy to go with that option. Aisha runs up beside me as we reach the next platform, turning to check on Orion. I check as well; it's almost instinctive at this point, and while I know it's not smart to check on someone I shouldn't really care about, I did help get him out of a burning house and he is still my ally.
Not for much longer.
With a hacking cough, Orion is caught up by the ash cloud and stumbles to the ground and the snakes bear down on him. There's not much we can see amongst the grey shadows, but there's plenty of blood splattering the worn surface of the rocks. He's getting stoned in there, and not in a good way. Austin, Aisha and I all gaze in horror, powerless as a cannon sounds and the snakes almost instantly dissipate, the glass staircase shattering beneath them as the stones roll around in almost any direction; rolling off the side, falling flat before our feet, or slumping where they are.
Once the smoke clears, there's a body. Orion's. Covered in ash and blood.
Another one of us is gone.
Aisha Cain, Eighteen, District Four Female
He's gone.
Orion's gone.
It's not a big deal. Sure, he was my closest ally and probably could have made a fight between myself, Vanity and Austin a little fairer. But those two…it's all their fault this even happened. I saw Austin speaking to Landon once we came back from rounding up the bloodbaths. I saw Vanity pretend to struggle as Orion fought to escape the burning house. I'm not sure if my mind is filled with baseless accusations born from my own suspicions regarding the two, but I'm not waiting here to find out. As Vanity and Austin look on, my hand slides slowly to my pouch, closing around one of my throwing stars.
Our allies are gone, our group manipulated; all of our moves have been pointless, all for nothing, all for no reason. The other tributes who are left? They've got no chance of winning this thing anyway. It's always been the Careers. It's always been me versus everyone else, always vying for the attention over my twin, and now here I have been, slaving away, trying to get people in line over the constant whispered conversations between Austin and Vanity.
Can't I ever catch a break? Can't someone ever allow something that I do to just move along smoothly for once, without trouble, without being ignored or overshadowed? Being unwanted is more than enough, but feeling unwanted by everyone, even the people who are planning to leave you to die in the dust? It's not fair. I was born for more than being the pretty side-piece, and arguably more than being the Four volunteer. Part of me has always wishes to just escape my sorry excuse for a family, to duck away from the ever so sweet smiles of Nyah and Sal. Hell, I would even take the constant presence of Atlanta right now, anything to just remind me that someone actually gives two shits about me and doesn't aim to cast me aside at any moment.
But of course, of fucking course I have nobody to stop me from fighting against the dastardly duo. Austin and Vanity, always together, always conspiring and planning, always opting in to talk to each other as they survey the perimeter. I know they're a little alliance because everything they do just reeks of it. Now, standing here, I'm at a disadvantage. But Aisha, the one who spiked her own twin's cup of tea, knows more than to sit around and wait to be the next one to be picked off.
This time, I'll take action now.
I'm swift.
My first throwing star is already in the air before my hands and ripping out four more, two in each hand, ready and prepared to throw again. Vanity turns and sees the projectile and moves, but slightly too late, the star sinking into her shoulder, firm and true. My hands move on their own; I barely even compute that I'm throwing stars as Vanity is riddled with two more; one in her thigh and the other in her side before Austin pushes her out of the way.
"What the fuck, Aisha?" he yells, having his spear at the ready.
"What the fuck indeed!" I snarl back. "I bet you planned all of this, didn't you? You've been scheming behind my back since the very start, as per usual, with your sick and twisted bullshit!"
"What are you even talking about?" he questions, wincing as a star hits his chest and the other bounces off one of the stones from those godforsaken mutts.
My eyes are stinging with tears, there's ash on my tongue and hate in my heart and all of this bitterness is too much for even me to fully comprehend.
"You and Vanity, swanning around, planning away." I point out incredulously.
"Aisha," Vanity says, sitting on the ground, bleeding from where I've hit her. She's as calm as ever, not even a wince coming from her face. She's hardy, I'll give her that. "This was bound to happen. The Careers were never going to be together forever."
"Don't you think I know that?" I scoff. "Of course we were never meant to last, but I would have thought that the four of us would've at least lasted until there was only eight people left before we decided on alliances and killing each other."
"You started it though?" Vanity shoots back. "You've been having bitch fits since day one, big or small. You just wormed your way into our group and expected us to follow you."
"You've done nothing for us as a leader," Austin sighs in agreement. "All we've done is walk around in circles, killed a couple of tributes and been attacked by Gamemakers twice."
"Okay fine, I started it then," I throw up my hands in the air, furious. "But bitch, I'm ending it."
Austin's quick, but I'm quicker, two stars flying forth and piercing his pec, just beside his right arm. He growls but follows through with his lunge, the spear grazing my size. As much as the pain makes my eyes water, I'm not going to be giving them the satisfaction. Hell no, they're going down! Grabbing the spear, I yank it from Austin, hitting him with the butt of the weapon. He grunts, but pushes back and the tip of the spear rips into my forearm.
I push it aside and leap onto him, pushing him down, my nails scratching into his face as he cries out. Suddenly, a shoe meets the side of my face and I'm rolling over, dazed but still fighting, trying to get up as fast as I can when Vanity pounces on to me, bleeding and a little pale, but holding her tomahawk. The first strike falls down, but I move my head just in time as the blade whooshes by my ear. I head-butt her, my hands pinned beneath me but wriggling around to Vanity's thigh, where one of my stars is still stuck there.
With all my might I push inwards, my fingers meeting with warm, wet blood, and Vanity cries out in agony. She rolls off me just as Austin returns, spear in hand, and sinks the weapon into my side. My breath stalls in my chest as the familiar taste of blood settles in my mouth like the stain of dark whiskey or black tea. Damn it! I'm not done yet. Even if they're killing me, they're going down with me. I scramble up, despite the blood pouring from just beneath my ribs, a new star in my hand as I grab Austin, feeling the ice-cold horror of his spear embedding itself in my stomach right as I weakly palm one of my stars into his, ignoring the numbing pain of the blades slicing up my palms. I can't tell if it'll be enough to kill him, but I can only hope that it'll do some damage.
He kicks me back, sending me sprawling as his spear rises up, ready to finish me off this time.
His blow doesn't come.
My frantic, enraged gaze burns through him as he holds a hand up to his stomach, cuts across his face and blood dripping from his chest. His own icy gaze combats my lingering fire; he knows I want him to get it over with, to kill me, to just end it even when I know he's a goner too.
"You don't deserve it." he sneers.
As he walks away to check on Vanity, I choke on my own blood, my ragged breaths growing ever shorter. He left me here to dwell on everything, to feel pain as I died, but the joke's on him.
He's probably dying too.
Austin Ogara, Eighteen, District One Male
Vanity's dying.
Aisha is too, but I couldn't give a damn about her; she'll be out in seconds, her cannon will sound and then it will be a confirmation that this will all be over.
But Vanity.
She's paper-white, half sat up as she cradles her thigh, the throwing star embedded deeply in her leg as the blood spills forth, a pool of it already beneath her. She's putting pressure on it with her palms, but I can see the blood seeping through her fingers, life slowly leaving her as much as she's likely wanting to deny it. The star hit something vital. She's got what, a minute? Two?
Even so, despite the futility of it all, the throbbing pain in my muscles and my stomach, and the fact she'll die before I even begin to faint, my mind reminds me of the sponsor gift I got yesterday evening.
The paste.
If there's a chance I'm taking it. As I scoot next to her, blood beginning to soak into my bodysuit, I hurriedly dig through my backpack with bloodied, shaking hands. I grab on to the tube of paste and toss my bag aside, popping off the cap and smearing some of it on to my hand. As I move in to help Vanity, she quickly grabs my wrist in a vice-like grip.
"Don't," she tells me harshly. "Don't even think about it."
"You need this," I inform her. "This stuff is really good. It'll help."
"Not with this," she shakes her head. "It's too late…I've lost too much blood."
A cannon fires. Aisha's.
"Finally, she's dead," Vanity smirks faintly.
Vanity looks too pale to be real, and she's beginning to loll back on to me, but her own stubbornness is using the last of her strength to go out like a fighter. Even in death, Vanity's not giving up, but I'm not going to let her. I move next to her, my body subtly supporting her the best I can without invalidating her need to prove her worth to a world that doesn't care, even when she's on the doorstep of death.
"I'm sorry, Van," I mutter, the nickname falling from my lips as if I've been saying it for years. "Fuck, I'm so sorry."
She shakes her head jerkily, although there's a mistiness in her eyes, as if she knows it's all too late and that she'll never escape from this. Her eyes hold desperation, a need to prove herself, to carry on fighting, to never give up even as her breathing becomes shallower.
"No, I expected this," she answers. "I came into this believing that I would fight until the very end. I've done that. I just wish Mars were here."
"Mars?" I question.
I've spoken to Vanity a lot over the last few days but there's very little that she's ever mentioned about home. She is indeed a brilliant Career with the mindset to match, but I know for sure that even she has her own demons and experiences that she has to fight against. Like her, I never told anyone about Dad, nor the way he used to burn me with that hot saucepan, nor the way each punch felt as it struck my jaw. I guess this would be the time for Vanity to tell me her story.
"My brother," Vanity whispers. "He meant a lot to me."
I can hear the lump in her throat just from the mere mention of him.
"Mars and I were close before he became a Peacekeeper and went to work in Four," Vanity tells me, choking up, her dark eyes watching my bright ones. "There are storms in Four like nobody could ever know, and Mars was caught in one. A hurricane. He didn't survive."
A couple of small tears dribble from her eyes as she tries to blink them away but to no avail.
"He was the best brother I could have ever had," she mutters. "Some people just fight in your corner from day one and he was always the first to be at my side. He reminded me that I could live life without feeling broken. After Mom and Dad split up, that was it. It's all been my fault, everything is. I deserve to die for that."
I shake my head, partially cradling her now. She's openly crying, barely breathing or conscious through her own pain, because believe it or not I can feel it. I can feel the abandonment and the loss, the feeling of always being the one in the wrong, the one who has to deserve punishment. My burn sings, a memory of abuse that was there and still is. I could snap my Father's neck in two if I wanted and for some humane reason I still haven't.
I'm scared to do so.
"We do a lot for the people we love, Austin," Vanity huffs. "I would have crawled to Four if it meant I could get Mars back. I didn't. I regret that every day of my life."
"You'll see him soon, I promise," I reassure her. "He will be waiting for you."
Vanity rolls her eyes.
"Please don't go on about the afterlife crap," she tells me matters of factly. "I get it, I'm dying. We have to face that fact. Otherwise I'll make sure we meet death together."
Her eyes are beginning to droop, hovering on the edge of consciousness.
"Vanity…" I mutter, my vision beginning to fog up as the tears fill my eyes. It wasn't supposed to end like this. We were supposed to be the final two. She wasn't supposed to leave me here alone. She wasn't supposed to leave me to fight without someone by her side! So much of me wants to hide the vulnerability, to conceal it all behind my walls of ice as the mist rolls off them, trapping anyone who comes close. Becoming so close to someone who resonates with how you feel - it's too much, even for me.
No! This isn't fair! Why did Aisha have to do us dirty like that? As much as I don't want to admit I hate losing Vanity, the idea of getting through the next few days alone is almost unimaginable.
"So, no head?" she chuckles, but she's already leaving me, her features fading into neutrality.
I smile through my tears and whisper my response, sending her into a land of wonder and dreams - a land where she can see Mars again.
"Not in your wildest dreams."
Her cannon fires.
I let out a shaky breath and allow a tear or two to fall, my fingers tingling as the paste is still on them, the blood from my wounds still dripping and my vision beginning to darken. I don't really think much as I lay her down, fingers moving numbly, just following through the motions. My own survival instincts move my body as my thoughts recede, removing Aisha's stars, slopping the paste messily on to my wounds and going back for more. There's a hot sensation across my injuries, but I can only assume that's a good thing. A few badly wrapped bandages and my own robotic movements allows me register that I need to bring some supplies with me. There's still eight of us left, after all. Luckily for me, I've got a few bags to choose from.
Exhausted and drained, I force myself to fill up two packs to the brim with everything I could need, dragging the two of them behind me, using my spear to prop me up as I sway from side to side, moving a fair distance away from my alliance's bodies for the hovercrafts to collect later. Once I settle beside a crumbled pillar, I slump against its rough edge and surrender to the drowsiness that comes from the aftershocks of adrenaline.
Lights out, I guess.
Orion Trent, Eighteen, District Four Male. Elim, Orion was so sweet! When I accepted him, I liked him, but in comparison to the other Careers, he did fall into a kind of neutrality for me. It was probably the last POV he had with the fire and the burning house that truly made me enjoy writing him, but alas, the plans were in motion. The Careers had to come to a head at some point, and who else would be perfect enough to spark a breakdown of the alliance than the death of the person who was holding it all together? Thank you for him. Placed 11th. Bludgeoned by stone snake mutts.
Aisha Cain, Eighteen, District Four Female. Aisha was truly something. A bitter cup of tea! I loved her backstory and the way that she held herself with such foolhardy confidence, and I really felt that she did have the potential to really give the other tributes a run for their money. Her need for control and the idea behind her being the "lesser" twin really drove the "evil twin" arc I had for her, especially with her ways of organising the group and well as doing her best to direct them. Technicoloured Raincoat, thank you for her! Placed 10th. Killed by Austin Ogara and Vanity Genot.
Vanity Genot, Seventeen, District Two Female. Vanity…oh Vanity, I really enjoyed writing you. I enjoyed how you came across with your blunt attitude and the aim to get the job done as soon as you could. I respected how forthright you were, yet how snippety you could be with the smart quips and fabulous one-liners. Jms2, I really could have taken Vanity further to be honest, but everything comes with a cost, and I felt like her dying here made a lot of sense. The poetic justice with her views on Four, and them dying just before she did? She was very much a fan favourite, but her story came to a close here. Thanks for submitting her. Placed 9th. Bled out from sustained injuries, courtesy of Aisha Cain.
Alliances:
Smol Protection: Aline, Barric, Cleve
Honestly idk: Izzy, Ashton, Lenore
Going Solo: Lewis, Austin
Kills:
Austin - IV
Vanity (DECEASED) - II
Aisha (DECEASED) - III
Orion - I
Career Pack Assist - I
Izzy - I
Lenore - I
Dathan (DECEASED) - I
Morgana (DECEASED) - I
Arena - II
Yikes! I just did that! I can already hear some people's displeasure over a favourite getting killed, but alas, tributes have to die at some point and here we are. This Career pack was definitely different from the one I had in my last story because instead of jumping the gun, they definitely tried their best to work together, despite their own reservations. Alas, all we have left now is Austin, so we'll see where his journey takes him further down the line in relation to everyone else still in this fight.
So, we finally got the "stone" part of the arena. What did you think of Orion's death to the stone snake mutts?
Aisha is furious and she's right to be so. All of her plans fell apart and now here she is, at her own end too. How did you find Aisha as a leader, did you like her?
Vanity and her brother are now reunited. I know she was a fan favourite for some; how did you feel seeing her sent off in this way?
Now that there's only one injured Career left, there's likely to be hope for the other tributes, right? Welcome to the FINAL EIGHT people, we are HERE! Well, we still have a few more to kill until the finale. I guess that's just how it goes.
I'll see you next time, please don't hate me~
Over and out!
~Mental