Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I am not making money off of this. Please don't sue me.
Chapter Twelve: Letting Go
"If you want to kill me, then why don't you just stop talking about it and get it over with tomorrow. In all honestly, its getting old, Flux," I barked at him, hardly realizing what it was that I was saying before it was already out of my mouth.
He didn't look at me, but simply shook his head," That's the problem, Savera. You see we're all part of a big game here in the Capitol, if you haven't already figured that out. My dad is constantly reminding me of it, that being the reason why I'm supposed to be all chipper and friendly around you."
"That's what they do every year, Flux…it's not some new invention," I added, my arms still folded over my chest. "The Careers are supposed to get all dolled up and pretty, form a pact with each other…and then at the end kill one another. There's nothing of loyalty or honor to it; it gives the rich people of the Capitol something to place bets on while getting drunk at their house parties as well as providing the leaders with the fear of those in the districts, ensuring them that nothing will ever go array after the Dark Days. You're acting like this is supposed to be difficult…it's a simple-"
"Okay, okay, I get it, but please just shut up before you make this any more drawn out than it need be," He said, as nicely as I had ever heard him speak to me before.
Following his orders, I listened and waited for his "plan".
"Brutus, Lila, and Zane know that you're smart or whatever. After watching you at the opening parade and in that interview with Flickerman, they seem to be a little nervous…a little antsy about just how much the crowd likes you. Killing you at the beginning could prevent those little fans of yours from getting a…fair show and it could possibly deter our own support from being as strong as it should be," He started, speaking slowly and clearly, as if forcing himself to say the words. "Not only could it simply roughen our success…it could mean the difference in winning or losing. That's why I'm offering you a deal…"
It would have to be something very substantial in order for me to consider…
"A spot in the Careers: you, me, Lila, and Zane together. Let's make it a quick and easy beginning to the Games, get rid of those other punks and give the people what they want: a bloody end amongst kids with actual skill and not just little twerps who get unlucky and pulled into the Games by chance. We'll actually…protect each other rather than look to kill one another. Join the alliance and you'll have all the help you'll need," He told me, as if he was trying to sell me the latest product in the market.
I stared at him, as if he were crazy before shaking my head and letting out a dry chuckle whilst pacing about the room, unable to believe what he had just offered me.
"Why in the world would I accept this, Flux?" I asked, after several seconds of allowing the idea to seep in. "Why should I trust any of you?"
Flux looked down, still not making eye contact with me," I know that things have been a little ruff, but you have to realize that they're playing games with us anyways and if we can give them a better-"
"I'd like to think that I give them a better game on my own, Flux," I said to him, not wanting to hear his offer any more. " It's not everyday that they have a District Two tribute who doesn't join the Career pack."
I was mostly saying this to make him angry, not because I believed a word of it…was it true? Sure, but the whole "better game on my own" part was…spur of the moment.
"Yeah, because no one's that stupid. Face it, how many times has a Career not won the Games?" He shot at me.
"But, of the times that a Career has not won…it makes that victor stand out that much more," I answered, not really answering his question, but giving him something that would set him off even more. "Plus, we're at each other necks right now. We can't go two minutes without snapping at one another, how much would the people really believe our ploy? I'd get sick of us."
He didn't have a comeback to this, but simply stood up and put his hands out, as if asking what more I expected of him," I'm offering you a life saver. I'm handing you the key to one of the best Games they've ever seen."
And this was the problem.
Flux truly did only view this as a game in which he could only win. He gave me two options: die now or die later. Were there any benefits to either? For him maybe, but for me there were none. The thought of not taking his offer appealed to me much more than ever forming an alliance with him. In offering me a position in their alliance, it meant that I made them nervous and if I made them nervous away from them…then I would stay away from them for as long as I could. I wanted so badly to turn this little game around on him…and that moment, I made that my goal:
Staying alive for long enough to turn the tables on Flux and prove to him that he really wasn't the one controlling this game.
"No," I said, stopping my pacing to look straight at him. "If drowning means refusing your 'aid', then I would drown a thousand times before swimming to shore safely with your 'help'."
He shrugged his shoulders, as if indifferent to the situation," I suppose that its your funeral. I'll be the one on dry land."
"Be wary of where you stand, for you too may find yourself sinking," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, quoting a line that my parents had told me several times as a child.
He snarled at me, as if that were the imprudent thing he had ever heard. Without another word, he started down the hallway, obviously angered and impatient with me. Before he could enter his room, I stopped him with one last thought," Not to anger you, but I do hope you don't take the role of leader too seriously, Flux. The people of the Capitol may like the Games, but if there is one thing that those certain individuals named Gamemakers don't like…it's a someone who thinks they can control something that they themselves have clearly marked as their own."
"In English?" He questioned, his hand rested on the doorknob of his door.
"Remember whose really in control of the Games," I said simply after several moments.
He chuckled before stepping into his room, without another word.
As Enobaria woke me up that morning and I was dressed by Sage and his crew…I couldn't help but feel as though I were dreaming. If I was any other tribute from District Two, then this should have been the day I'd been training for my entire life, but seeing as I was a fish out of water…I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. After all, this would be the last I would see of the outside world in a long time, if not ever.
There were two things that kept me from having some sort of a nervous breakdown: one of those was the idea of disproving Flux and finally being able to show him that he didn't control everyone's life. The second was my brother Titus, whom seemed to be appearing in all of the strangest places that morning. The one moment I had to myself in the restroom before being escorted to the elevators that would take us to the airlift.
I remember as I stood, washing my hands in the sink before leaving, I saw his reflection in the mirror and nearly fell over. At first, the image of him seemed so real to see his face and brown hair again. I had to blink several times to realize that it was only a figment of my imagination and that I must have been delusional. In that moment; however, I flashbacked to the morning of the Reaping. Nearly five years ago…I remember him telling me to be strong and to not be scared.
He pulled me from his arm, putting both of his hands on my shoulders before wiping away the stray tears," Just trust me, Savera."
Just trust me, Savera. Just trust me.
The words haunted me for several moments as I stood there, doing all that was within me not to cry. I had just trusted him…and he was killed. I heard a knock at the door and then I snapped out of fantasy world and looked in the mirror, wiping my eye dry before pulling open the door to see Sage and Enobaria standing there, waiting patiently.
"Are you ready?" Enobaria asked somberly as I stepped out of the room, remembering my brother's image in my head. I said nothing, but merely nodded my head and took in a deep breath.
Just trust me, Savera.
Enobaria was actually silent for once as we traveled to the aircraft that was to take us off to the arena. To say that I was finally calm would have been an understatement, but being able to stand in silence was nice for a change. It wasn't until the doors to the runway opened and Enobaria was to hand me over to the Peacekeepers that I finally turned to her to speak," Thank you for everything you have done for me."
Her eyes met my own, I noticed them watering up slightly as she pulled me into an embrace," Show them what you can do. Make us proud."
I pulled back, swallowed hard and nodded cordially to her," Of course."
There was little more that could have been said. It was sad to depart from my mentor, who had tried to give me so much advice and had taken up for me several times, but it was also nice to have this ending come. To say the departure was bittersweet would have been very accurate.
And with that, I turned on my heel to meet two men, Peacekeepers. The sight of them was nothing unusual for me since I saw them nearly every day back home. I walked silently with them as well, trying to keep my mind at the task at hand and nothing more. I remembered my father's last words to me and to think of it as a big puzzle. I couldn't help but think that was a little irrelevant at the moment, but still the sound of his voice in my head was comforting.
I was escorted to an aircraft where the others tributes were already seated in complete and total silence. We only waited for two of the others to take a seat before one of the medics came around to put a device inside of us. I presumed this to be some sort of a tracking system. Knowing how intelligent the men and women of the engineering department at the Capitol were, I doubted they would allow us to wander aimlessly without knowing precisely where we were.
The flight was in complete and total silence. Tension hung in the air thicker than any fog could coat a city. The steady rise and fall of my chest reminded me that I was alive and breathing still. When the aircraft landed with a thud, the silence was broken amongst us all and we were quickly ushered from our seats in the carrier to what appeared to be a complex. All twenty-four of us were separated into our individual rooms. I was a little disoriented at first, but at the sight of Sage in my room, I took a sigh of relief. Never had I been this happy to see the designer with electric-green hair. Mentally, I wondered how he had gotten here before me…but that was slightly unnecessary.
"So, today is the big day, huh?" He asked, moving behind me to pull my hair back into a knot on the back of my head.
I smirked slightly," Yes, I suppose so."
He pulled my hair tightly," You already have them excited."
"I don't think that matters so much. They may be excited, but I can't stand the wait. I wish they'd just go ahead and get all this over with," I said, as he pinned my hair to my head, securing it tight before walking around to face me and place a hand on my shoulder.
"You'll be just fine," He said with a smile before embracing me. I realized this was the first time he had ever hugged me officially and I really did appreciate the gesture. There wasn't much time for anything else for the sound of a countdown could be heard. My heart was both racing and on the verge on being relieved from this incredible tension. Slowly and carefully, he escorted me over to this pod-looking device, which looked as though it would elevate me upward.
I stepped into the pod, feeling the clear door shut behind me as I looked back to my designer one last time. I waved to him meekly before feeling the ground push upward. In those few moments, I felt all of the memories from the past few weeks come flooding back to my head; from my family's last visit with me.
They were all flashing through my head so quickly, I could hardly make sense of it all and by the time I felt a peace of mind, the countdown was down to ten as I observed my surroundings.
I was very disoriented for there were tall walls blocking my view from any of the other twenty four tributes. In many of the other years, the tributes were all lined up, but I was isolated. Far down at the end of this maze section appeared to be the Cornucopia and behind the Cornucorpia was a different trail leading in a completely direction. I surmised the Cornucorpia to be the middle of what appeared to be a grey, brick…intimidating… labyrinth.
If my part of the maze lead to the Cornucorpia, I assumed the others did too…they had to have their bloodbath one way or another. I may have been skilled with hand-to-hand combat, but there was no way that I could take on Flux, Lila, and Zane at the same time with their newly acquired weapons…as the countdown came closer to one, I was already planning where I was supposed to go and how I was going to get myself out of this trap they had already set.
How strange it was that a labyrinth was the choice of arena this year…there were many ways that a maze could be manipulated. I then realized that it was a little bit of the best of both worlds…the intelligent, more cunning players could stand a chance at hiding in something other than out in the wild, while the more aggressive, blood-thirsty players would be pinned against one another to give the audience the fights that they wished. And as always, I'm sure that the Capitol had its limits as to how much they allowed to be discovered about this…brick maze of terror.
The sound of a booming canon echoed through the brick walls sounding the beginning of the Games before I could fully think of the rest of my plan.
A/N: Thanks to all who have favorited/alerted/reviewed this story! I appreciate it so much! From here on out, the story is going to be a little more…ahem, violent and dramatic, as expected. So, let me know what you think!
