Chapter 27:

The Feast

Noon is fast approaching and while some of the tributes have spent the morning preparing for the feast, none of them seem truly ready for the fight.

Perhaps the most prepared to fight are Marian and Tiv, both of them having spent the morning chatting about their strategy to attack the other careers. As Tiv does some last minute stretches, Marian watches her subtly, a cunning look in her eye being the only hint that she has plans she has not shared with Tiv.

The other two careers are much quieter, for different reasons. Kaz practices swinging his crystal sword while talking quietly to himself, preparing for the feast. Abel sits on a nearby piece of rubble, checking over his leg braces for the third time with a somber look on his face, as if he doesn't expect himself to survive this feast.

If Abel doesn't think he will survive, Sasha seems to have fully embraced that thought. Yet as she sits by herself, replacing her bloodstained bandages with fresh ones, there's just a hint of stubbornness in her eyes that shows she will not go down without trying.

Grey has spent the morning going over his plan with Artem, telling the younger boy exactly what he should and shouldn't do for the feast, all while holding his warhammer propped against his shoulder. Artem keeps glancing at the weapon and as the feast gets closer and closer, he shows more fear at the fact that he is going into the feast empty handed.

Iroha and Jenny have sat in a tense silence together, eating some of the food they were gifted in the temple. Both of them keep giving side eye looks to each other, knowing this would be the last time they were together, even if neither has spoken about it. Whether they both survive or not, neither of them seems too keen to keep their alliance together afterwards. Maybe it's fortunate that the feast will split up their alliance for them without any need for betrayal.

And then there are Asha and Sissel, the pair sitting quietly together. Asha has her arms wrapped around her legs, staring down at the whip at her side with pained eyes, knowing what she has to do to survive the feast but clearly struggling to accept that side of her. And Sissel has had his eyes turned towards the sky as his greatsword sits on his lap, deep in thought as he considers calling Katsu to his aid and revealing his hand.

As the sun reaches its peak, some of them start to look up at the sky, waiting to see just what they meant by the champions finding them. It wasn't clear how they were going to get to the feast. But at noon exactly, a large roar sounds from all over the arena and with a great shattering of stone, the roofs of eleven buildings explode outward as their dragons fly into the air.

The dragons circle above the tributes in the sky, some letting out huge columns of flames and making a few tributes crouch down in fear. After a minute of flying around in a circle, the dragons split off from each other to go find their respective champions. A flurry of colors find the tributes, picking them up by the shoulders and carrying them over to the Cornucopia. Sissel lets out a cheer of excitement at the feeling of flying through the air and Tiv laughs a little at the feeling, but otherwise, most of the tributes are clutching the talon feet of their dragons for dear life.

They truly have no choice to attend the feast or not.

One by one the dragons set their champions down at the Cornucopia, using the plates that they were raised up on to spread them out. The Gamemakers freeze them in place to wait for everyone to arrive, letting them stare at the bounty of food and water waiting them. Around the circle they're place: Marian at the northern point and clockwise, Asha, Jenny, Abel at the eastern point, Grey, Tiv at the southern point, Sissel, Sasha, Kaz at the western point, Iroha, and Artem. All but Artem clutch their weapons, some braced to fight, others looking petrified at the thought of fighting.

Marian stands calmly, head tilted as she studies the tributes around her, her eyes calculating her move against the careers.

Asha's hands tremble as she holds onto her whip, lip quivering in fear of what she might do if she lets Slash out.

Jenny stares greedily at the pile of food and water, ready to get items and leave Iroha behind.

Abel keeps glancing between several tributes, looking unsure about all of this, especially with the brutal mace in his hands.

Grey's lip twitches in frustration as he stares over at the girl that betrayed his trust, ignoring his ally that's all alone with no weapon.

Tiv's fingers twitch on her bow, anxious to use her favorite weapon, her eyes locked on her target.

Sissel studies the tributes around him with a tilted head, his gaze occasionally turning to the sky and lips pursed to whistle if he has to.

Sasha trembles as she stands on her plate, one hand holding her wounded side, but despite fear making her shake, she keeps her head held high.

Kaz doesn't waver as he stares at the pile of supplies, his plan to protect them from the others, just like he did at the bloodbath.

Iroha stares at her dagger in her hand, comparing it to the weapons the tributes around her hold – or the weapons they don't hold.

And Artem has a tear falling down his cheeks as he wavers in place, and he shuts his eyes as the gong goes off.

The careers are the first to leap off of their platforms, their targets set. Tiv has her bow notched in an instant, tracking Kaz's movements as he runs towards the supplies, waiting…waiting…for the perfect shot.

The arrow pierces Kaz's chest, sending him tumbling to the ground, right before he reaches the pile of supplies. On the other side, Marian runs past Abel, dodging a swing from his mace that he takes at her, but she ignores him. Abel watches in bewilderment, starting to take a few steps after her, wondering who she was running towards.

Tiv reaches for the next arrow in her quiver, ready to find her next target, just before a huge blow knocks her forward, her muscles screaming out and paralyzing her from the pain. Marian rips the morningstar out of her back as Tiv stares up at her with eyes full of betrayal, trying to reach for a knife to pay her back. "Sorry love, but thanks for taking out Kaz," Marian says, staring down at Tiv and giving her a shrug. "Did you really think I would let you win over me?"

"Fuck you," Tiv spits out before Marian brings her morningstar down on her once more, swiftly ending her life.

Now that the careers were down to two, the other tributes have started to make their moves.

Abel stumbles from where he started to move after Marian and stares around in confusion, searching for some purpose in this fight. When he sees Artem all on his own, with Grey racing in a different direction, he starts to move towards the boy, hoping he can maybe save him from Marian's wrath.

Jenny runs for supplies and brings her weapon up to fire it at Asha nearby, but a crack of a whip makes her flinch. Asha stares at Jenny, moving her whip slowly in a threatening manner before grabbing some food once she knows she won't strike her, before racing to get over to Sissel. Jenny curses at her flinching as she runs off, her dart gun still ready to be used, and as she tracks Asha, she finds an easier target.

The dart hits Abel in the thigh and he stumbles right away as his leg locks up, hitting the ground hard. He clutches his leg and cries out at the burn from it, unable to move as he watches as the boy he was moving towards has someone else target him, and Jenny runs from him, clutching her own leg, and leaving him to die.

Sissel watches the drama unfold in front of him, letting out a laugh when Marian takes down Tiv beside him, which draws her focus over to him. He holds the greatsword in front of him and whistles, drawing Katsu towards the Cornucopia. As the bird lets out a screech, Marian flinches down, narrowing her eyes at him and watching him, seemingly onto him. But having seen firsthand what the bird can do, she runs towards the Cornucopia and ducks inside, willing to save herself over getting another kill. Sissel lowers his sword as Asha runs towards him, no fresh blood on her, but food in hand, and motions for her to follow him.

Sasha grips her blow darts tightly, her knuckles going white, only stepping towards the supplies after Marian has ran past her. But in her hesitation to get caught up in the career drama, she has given enough time for Grey to run towards her. "SASHA!" Grey bellows at her, grabbing her arm harshly and pulling her towards him.

She cries out in pain as she feels her shoulder getting pulled out of the socket. "Let me go you creep!" she screams at him, but he only tightens his hold on her.

"You never should have left me," he whispers, pulling her closer so she can see the anger and hurt in his eyes at her betrayal. Hurt quickly replaced by pain as Sasha swings the blow dart gun into his head. He releases his grip on her just enough for her to slip free from his grip and she takes a step back, her legs trembling as she begs them to let her run from him.

When he gets done rubbing the side of his head, he moves his head side to side to stretch his neck and rolls his shoulders, becoming so incredibly calm that it petrifies her. "Oh you shouldn't have done that," he says quietly, his voice so calm. Calm enough to completely surprise her when he slams his warhammer into her leg, dropping her to the ground as she screams out at the shattering bones, quickly blacking out from the immense pain. "Try to run from me now!"

Grey raises his hammer to swing again at her, but stops when he hears a cry for his name. With Kaz gone and Marian preoccupied, Iroha is able to easily run in to grab more food and water than she'll possibly need for the rest of the Games. When she goes to run away, she realizes Artem is still standing on his pedestal, eyes shut with tears falling down his cheeks, just waiting for the feast to be over. Part of her screams to just leave him be, but with adrenaline rushing through her, she knows she can't miss the opportunity to get one step closer to her children. So she races towards him, quickly plunging her dagger into his chest. Artem's eyes open immediately and the painful look he gives Iroha has her flinching away as he calls for his ally.

When Grey sees what Iroha did, he screams in frustration and starts running towards her, warhammer raised and ready to strike her down. "How could you!" he screams at her, making her start scrambling to run away from him. He chases her away from the Cornucopia, leaving Jenny conflicted as she watches her ally be chased. She knows she should just leave her, let Grey get them one tribute closer to the end… But fuck, she can't let slimy Grey kill Iroha. She didn't like him for one second in the pre-Games, reminded too much of Kane…

Fuck it, she will kill that bastard, just like she killed her husband.

Jenny runs after Grey and Iroha, loading another dart in her gun as she does so, ready to stop him from hurting anyone else.

Marian pokes her head out of the Cornucopia as the footsteps fade away and there is no further sign of the bird mutt flying around. She looks around at the bodies scattered around: Kaz with the arrow in his chest; Artem rapidly bleeding out on his pedestal; Sasha motionless with her bent leg; and Abel… Marian walks towards her former ally, finding him still clutching his leg as he breaths heavily and sweats profusely. She crouches down and pulls out the empty dart from his leg, reading the small print on it. "Paralysis poison. Yikes," she tosses the dart next to Abel and gives the spot on his leg a pat, making him wince in pain. "Sorry pal, looks like you're a goner. I'll leave you to that while I go track down that weird bird kid."

And with that, Marian grabs some food and water, before jogging off in the direction she saw Sissel and Asha go. After all…

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.


There may come a day when I don't end chapters on cliffhangers, but today is not that day. Which is exactly why I wanted to update this on Friday so you have less days to wait until Monday compared to if I posted this on Monday and made you wait a whole week. So yeah, good news is I have next chapter written (plus a few chapters after that point) so we're zoomin' to the end of these Games. Who knows, I might even have the Games finished by time Monday rolls around!

Next chapter will have the eulogies since there's a lot of fates up in the air right now. Oh, and yeah, the final 8 interviews aren't going to be the final 8 lol, they're the final X. You'll just have to wait until Monday to find out just how many that is. Yes, I didn't want to write 8 interview lol.

RQ #27: How would you react to getting carried by a dragon?

Alright, I'll see you on Monday to finish up this feast and to confirm exactly who has died!