Chapter 29:

Night One

Fete Bayard, 18, District Eight

The tears have long since dried up on his cheeks, leaving him with a pounding headache from crying so much. He stopped crying hours ago and was left with just an empty hole in his chest. All he can do now is curl up near the warm forge and stare at the door, numb and waiting for someone to come in here and end it for him. Maybe he should just go find some poisoned food. He wouldn't know it was poisoned anyways. Probably would be less painful than getting stabbed by a career.

Or shot in the neck with an arrow.

And just like that, the tears have come back instantly and Fete holds in a sob as he uses his arms to wipe at his cheeks, bitterly reminded that it's all his fault. His best friend is gone and he's to blame. He was calling for her and made her run right into Anastacia. He could have gotten there faster and tried to help her. He could have done more for her than just sleep during training. But now it's too late. Atropa is…she's gone.

She's gone and with her she took District Eight's chance of getting another victor. Fete knows he never had a shot at winning, no matter what Astrid and Clark tried to tell him. He was always going to make sure that Atropa was set up to win. But now…Fete shakes his head at himself and wraps his arms around himself, desperately wishing for the comfort of his home and being surround by his family that always knew when he was upset and would cuddle with him. But he has no one. No allies. No cats. He doesn't even have any damn supplies. He doubts there will be anyone sponsoring him. Why would anyone support the boy that got a 1 in training?

He's…pitiful. A poor, pitiful excuse of a friend.

Atropa wouldn't have sat around moping like him if he had died instead – God, he wishes he would have died in her place and given her the chance to win. She would have understood that his death would have to happen for her to eventually win and she would have been doing her best to set herself up for victory. She probably would have even had sponsors.

"It's all my fault," Fete groans to himself as he shuts his eyes and leans his head back before starting to hit it against the wall. Maybe he can give himself a headache on the back of his head to balance out the throbbing ache in his forehead from crying. "So stupid to sit here crying…wasting water when I have nothing."

Yet he can't bring himself to stop being such a pitiful mess of a human being. He just feels so…numb, and even the thought of moving is too much. Someone could walk through the door right now and he wouldn't be able to muster up the energy to even try to run away from them.

"I'm sorry…" Fete whispers to himself as tears slip down his cheeks, unable to work up the energy to wipe them away. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend…"

What Atropa ever saw in him…he'll never know. But he clearly proved that she was wrong to ever put her faith in him. Yet deep down, way deep down to a point where he barely wants to admit it to himself…he knows she isn't blaming him. She would tell him that it was simply her fate to die in the bloodbath and it wasn't his fault. And that just makes it worse.

It's easier to keep blaming himself than accept that it wasn't his fault.

Fete opens his eyes and scoffs at himself as he shakes his head. Of course it's his fault. "Sorry to disappoint you, but Eight isn't going to get back to back victors." Fete wraps his arms tighter around himself as he stares out into the room, the chunks of metal waiting to get melted in the forge next to him, the molds that are weapon shaped. Any tribute that was actually competent could use this to make themselves a weapon if they didn't get one in the bloodbath… Good thing he isn't competent.

Fete scrunches his face at a soft sound echoing in the room, using a finger to rub his ear, thinking he surely is imagining it. Because why would anyone want to sponsor this pitiful mess and support him? Yet the sound gets louder and Fete blinks a few times in shock as the small silver canister lands in front of him with a soft thud, the parachute settling around it and blocking the number on the side of it. Fete knows it can't be for him – surely not even Astrid and Clark could convince Capitolites to spend money on him. Yet…he finds himself slowly reaching towards it and brushing aside the parachute to see the number on the side of it.

He holds his breathe for a moment, before he soon can't see the number 8 on the side from the tears building up once more. "I don't deserve this…"

Yet he can't stop himself from pulling the canister into his lap, a small bit of curiosity bubbling up in him and, well…a small flicker of hope that's quickly overwhelmed by the crippling sadness that's filled him since the Games started. As he pops open the container, a small bit of steam rises up, bringing with it a smell that takes him back to home, times when he was sick as a child and his mom would make him some soup before tucking him into bed and give him a kiss on the forehead before heading out to meet with a client. Or to the times after his surgery when Atropa would come over and help him cook dinner so he didn't survive on only cereal for months…

Fete's hands are shaking from the memories that a stupid thing of soup brings him as he reaches in and his fingers brush up against a piece of paper. He has to wipe at his eyes a few times to actually see the scrawled writing on the paper, and even then, it takes a few attempts to understand it. One would think that someone who is studying art would have better handwriting…

'I know it's easy to blame yourself right now but it's not your fault…and you're not alone. We're all supporting you here. -Clark'

For a moment, all Fete can do is stare blankly at the paper in his shaking hands, until he suddenly crumbles up the piece of paper in anger and tosses it into the fire next to him, not believing what Clark said. How could it not be his fault? He was the one yelling at Atropa and having her follow his voice. And one look around the room shows he's as alone as it gets. The two people he might have actually allied with if he wasn't too scared to ask them…one of them is gone and the other is who knows where in this arena. Fete will never find him. He's alone.

"You're wasting your time," Fete angrily says to his mentors before letting out a yell of frustration as he throws the container across the room at the wall where they had shown the faces of the dead tributes. The soup thermos falling out and just adding to the series of loud bangs as the metal hits the stone walls.

Fete curls up on the ground, letting heavy sobs escape as he holds onto himself, a sad pitiful mess of a tribute. How long will it be until someone finds him? He isn't exactly being quiet. How long until he proves to Clark and Astrid that they made a mistake by supporting him?

He stares blankly at the door across from him, just wondering who it will be that finally finds him. Maybe there's a chance whoever it is will take pity on him. Unless it's a career. Then they'll just take him out of his misery and get themselves one step closer to winning. There won't be a repeat of last year when a tribute from Eight took out a career…

Suddenly the door knob starts jiggling and Fete sits up, scrambling over to the corner of the room in a pitiful attempt to hide as fear takes over him. He pulls his knees up to his chest and holds on tightly as he stares at the door with wide eyes, waiting for whoever it is to walk through and find him. He didn't expect to feel this sort of fear in him when there's actually a possibility of running into another tribute.

No matter everything he was just saying…he doesn't actually want to die.

Major Emerson-Ness, 18, District One

Major stands back, watching as Odyssey struggles with the door, his arms crossed and trying to fight of the annoyed look that has been threatening to appear ever since he got paired up with Odyssey. Odyssey keeps trying to jiggle the handle of the door, even putting his shoulder into it, yet it won't budge. It's the fifth locked door they have come across tonight and it might be time for them to finally admit that the Gamemakers are stopping them from going into rooms.

"I think they want it locked for a reason," Major finally says to Odyssey, no doubt letting a bit of his annoyance slip into his voice. But not like he can actually tell… That's part of why he's annoyed in the first place. How is he supposed to pull the strings with the other careers and get them to turn against each other when he can't even hear what they're saying? It hadn't taken long for the little bit of paranoia to start creeping in, filling him with doubts as he stood around with his allies and couldn't participate in their conversation. Were they talking about him? Plotting against him? Hard to say, and he doubts it as he's been careful up to this point to not let them see what he's been up to. And yet…the bit of paranoia is there, deep inside of him, making him doubt himself, which really is a first for him.

Basically, none of this is how he planned it and he does not like it.

Odyssey turns back to him, shrugging his shoulders and grinning as he says something to him, no doubt another one of his terrible jokes. Well, if there's one good thing about losing his hearing, it's the fact that Major no longer has to pretend to laugh at Odyssey's jokes. Odyssey holds up one finger to Major, telling him to wait, and he turns back towards the door, stares at it for a few seconds before kicking at it.

Yet the door stays shut, only making Odyssey start hobbling around on the foot he used, shaking his head and surely laughing a little.

"Nice job," Major tells him, shaking his head as Odyssey picks up the notepad from the ground to write something to Major. "That worked so well."

'I thought I would look cool if it worked,' Odyssey shows him the note and Major just stares at him blankly, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. How this boy got picked as the leader of the career pack over Major is beyond him. And seriously, what was District Two thinking in sending him in? But then again, the others probably are thinking the same thing about One picking him. Which just makes him even more cautious and certain that he has to do everything possible to sabotage him.

Major shakes his head at Odyssey, trying to push back the self-doubt that's been hovering at the back of his mind since the adrenaline from the bloodbath faded away and he realized the magnitude of just what it means to have lost his hearing. "Let's keep moving, maybe we'll find a door that the Gamemakers will let us go into."

Odyssey gives him the 'ok' hand gesture before motioning him to walk first to watch Major's back since he obviously can't hear anyone approaching, but the whole thing has him on edge. He's studied all sorts of career betrayals over the years. This is the most classic setup to stab someone in the back. Yet part of him still doubts that the drama queen would do that…but the fact that there is any worry has him on edge. If anyone is going to betray someone in the career pack, it's going to be him.

They continue down the curving path lit by candles, and Major lets the annoyance show on his face towards this whole situation. Only the first night and he already feels like he's letting down his parents. He failed to become the leader of the careers – and even though he hates to admit it, their logic is right about not having a leader without their hearing… But the leader should have been him. People don't expect the leader of the pack to turn against the others because they're supposed to be, well, leading them. He can't hold a conversation with the others to turn them against each other, not in a discrete way. He can't even go hunting for tributes without needing someone to watch his back to make sure no one is sneaking behind him.

He's failing and he hates it. This is everything his parents have trained him to do and he's failing at all their lessons. He didn't get Two to fully fracture – no doubt because of the drama queen, how could anyone possibly stay mad at him? Major rolls his eyes at this thought and stops himself from shaking his head, not wanting Odyssey to question it. He got the boy with social anxiety to trust him and that's it. Anastacia has succeeded in getting Delta on her side before Major could do anything. He's failing to Anastacia. Fuck.

Were his parents wrong in putting their faith in his ability to destroy the other tributes? No…they can't be wrong. He won't let them be wrong. All his life, this is what they have pushed him towards and he will not let them down. He will finally bring glory to the Emerson-Ness names. And then when he gets home, he'll have their praise for winning in the thing they never got to compete in.

Someone suddenly pulls on the back of Major's toga, bringing him to a stop and kicking in the years of training Major has. He turns around quickly, bow notched and aimed in a moment, but he relaxes his arms when it's just Odyssey standing there, his arms raised defensively to show he wasn't trying to hurt Major. It would be so easy to kill him now…just claim it was an accident as he heads back up to the others, doing his best to cry fake tears of guilt. 'Oh I don't know what happened! I got spooked and acted on instincts and shot my arrow before realizing it was him!' Would they believe him? Demarcus surely would. Bell would probably thank him for getting rid of the boy that broke her heart – which was his doing, but that's beside the point.

Not yet, Major. The slow victories are always the best.

No…if he didn't kill Anastacia when he had the perfect chance to – and he very well could have, he is the top archer in the entire year in One – he won't kill Odyssey yet. He'll get the others to see that he's not a good person like they all think and let them turn against him. Or he'll push him to do something rash. Either way, he will be the cause of Odyssey's downfall.

Once Major relaxes his arms, Odyssey points over to where two silver canisters have landed on the ground, one painted with a 1 and the other with a 2, making it very clear who they are meant for. Good, finally someone is acknowledging him. Major is smirking a little as Odyssey grabs his canister, saying something about it as he pops open the lid as Major picks up his. He reads over a note, smiling to himself before tucking it away in his pocket, making Major look into his and scoff at the note he finds.

'Don't be an idiot and cause the downfall of One this year.'

Major quickly crumbles up the note and puts it in his pocket, not wanting Odyssey to see it, before looking back over at him. Even though he is deaf, he can still tell that Odyssey has burst out in laughter as he puts on an octopus hat, making the smirk fade from Major's face as he pulls out what can only be a squid hat from his container. "I'm not wearing it," Major says as he tosses the hat over at Odyssey, pouting at the fact that the sponsors and Emilio are mocking him by giving him something matching with Odyssey. Here he was starting to think that Emilio was actually cool and his parents weren't completely justified in their hatred towards him, but not anymore. "Thanks a lot, Emilio."

Major crosses his arms as Odyssey scribbles something out to him, still laughing to himself. 'You have to wear it, we can't disappoint the sponsors who sent it.'

Fuck…he has a point. But still, he doesn't want to share the hats with Odyssey of all people. Yet he doesn't really have a choice, does he? Odyssey takes his silence as a sign he agrees and puts the hat on his head, only making Major start angrily shaking his head. But this just makes the situation worse when the tentacles of the squid hat start moving back and forth, hitting him in the face and making Odyssey crack up.

"Whatever, let's keep moving," Major pouts as he turns around, trying not to let Odyssey see just how angry he is right now and would like to send an arrow right through his head and the stupid octopus hat he now wears. Patience, Major, he reminds himself. He will get his time and it will be all the greater when it does happen. But he knows one thing for sure.

Major can't wait to bring down Odyssey.

Sky Odum, 13, District Nine

Sky has slept in some really miserable places over the last year. She's slept in literal piles of garbage, hiding behind the trash bags in the dead of summer, because no one would look to see if there was a kid sleeping in there. She's huddled for warmth in the dead of winter when the temperatures dropped and she had to hide in whatever cracks she could find to protect herself from the harsh wind. But nothing could compare to the hell that is this arena.

She can't make herself sleep in this shitty arena. Not when it's bringing up so many memories and making her feel so many things. Because…

Because she's scared. She never thought she would feel this way entering the arena, not with all the pent up anger that's been inside of her all year… But being in the bloodbath and seeing a tribute explode right before her eyes – reminding her so much of the death that made stupid Marek go running towards his District partner last year – it just…brought all the pain she had pushed so deep down up to the surface, pain she swore she would never let see the light of day. At the end of the day, no matter how much she tells herself she hates Marek for what he did to her…

Sky still very much cares and misses him.

"Stupid," Sky mumbles to herself, hating that she cares. Why can't she make herself completely focus on the pain he caused her and forget the years of happy memories the two of them shared? She shakes her head at herself, but quickly stops and puts a hand to it, groaning at the pain from where she slammed her head when she was thrown back by the blast. Her vision blurs for a moment and she has to take a few breaths as she feels like she might throw up from the pain of it. Her head got fucked up from that blast…

Great, she's both physically and emotionally in pain. She doesn't know what part hurts more… Probably the pain from Marek that led to her making the decision to volunteer for this in the first place. And what has that even accomplished? All she's done is be reminded of Marek at every turn. She didn't get to kill a career in the bloodbath like she promised she would do. All she's done is possibly give herself a concussion.

As her eyes well up in tears from all the pain, it's time for her to finally admit to herself that she might have made a mistake… She's not getting revenge for Marek's death. The person that killed him has been dead for a year. And now she's starting to doubt that even killing this year's career from One would even do much.

What was she even thinking? But that's the problem…she wasn't thinking when she stepped forward and volunteered. She was full of so much rage seeing the escort on the stage that picked Marek and sent him to his death last year. Anger towards the boy that left her behind. But now…what was the point? He's gone…he's gone and nothing she ever does is going to change the fact that he was a selfless dumbass who sacrificed himself for the sake of his ally…

And that was precisely the reason that made her love him in the first place.

Her hands shake as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the beat up playing card that she still hasn't been able to throw out at this point and is starting to think she'll never be able to. Not when it's the last little piece of Marek she still has. She runs a finger over the red heart and can hear his stupid voice in her head. "You're number one!" But she wasn't…he was her number one, but she was never his. And now he's dead, and she might be soon too because she stupidly volunteered for the Games to get revenge for him wronging her.

A drop of water lands on the card, cleaning away some of the dirt on it, soon followed by more drops, and it takes a moment for Sky to realize it's her tears. She wipes them off the card, trying not to damage it, before wiping at her eyes and choking on a sob. She hasn't been this scared and terrified since she first heard Marek's name get called out. For a year she's been haunted by his ghost and the memories…

Sky puts the card away, unable to keep looking at it, before slowly bringing herself to her feet. The world spins around her and she puts her hand on the bedpost to steady herself, before slowly walking towards the door. She can't keep sitting here without doing anything. If she lets herself just stay put…she'll never be able to move again and just get sucked into the pain of losing the only person she cared about. And she'd rather die than keep reliving that pain over and over again.

She stumbles to the door and holds onto the handle for a moment to steady herself, glancing back at the room full of uncomfortable beds lined up in a military style. She could have picked a worse room to stumble into after the bloodbath, but also the room provides no food or water. Things she needs soon.

Sky heads back into the long hallway, not even glancing either way before heading right, keeping her hand against the wall for stability. She's so slow walking and has no idea how much noise she is making, yet she can't bring herself to care. All she can focus on still is the sinking feeling building in her stomach that she was also a dumbass like Marek for volunteering.

Both dumbasses, how perfect for each oth- no. Sky stops and leans against the wall, wiping hard at her eyes to stop the stupid tears she can't seem to stop. She won't finish that thought. That possibility is long gone. "He didn't deserve you and you deserve better than a dumbass like him," Sky whispers to herself before pushing herself from the wall and continuing on to the door she can see up ahead. She focuses entirely on that door, not even glancing into the stairwell as she walks past it, trying her best to keep her mind from wandering to the past.

Without much thinking, she pushes open the door and stumbles into the room. She stares around it, her stomach beginning to rumble when she sees the barrels full of fruit and vegetables, the fountain of water, the table in the center piled high with food. Her feet start moving towards the table without thought, but she freezes up when she catches movement in the corner of her eye.

Arthur is faced somewhat in her direction, clutching a silver thermos that could only come from sponsors, saying something she can't hear. His head turns as he scans the room, and Sky holds her breath, recognizing the signs of someone who can't see. He takes a hesitant step in a direction away from her and Sky glances between the food, Arthur, and the door.

She knows what the smart decision would be…but Sky has never made the smartest decisions – that's how she ended up here. But how does one sneakily grab food from a blind person when they can't even tell how much noise they're making?

Sky takes slow steps over to the table, doing her best to make little noise, pretending she is back in Nine and trying to pick the pocket of a stranger to get a little money so she can eat for the week. And really, this isn't much different. Arthur keeps walking around the room, turning his head repeatedly and holding the thermos in front of him defensively, doing his best to hear her.

She reaches the table and stands still as he stops a few feet away from her, at the other end of the table with his head tilted to the side as he stands still. She waits like that for a few minutes before slowly growing impatient. Sky starts reaching out and picking up apples from the table, holding them in her arms and constantly glancing back over at Arthur. Her hunger grows with each apple she grabs and she grows hyper focused at the prospect of food. She can't help but be greedy about it and grab as much as she possibly can now. It's a force of habit after a year of scrambling to get whatever food she could.

When her arms can simply hold no more, she slowly starts backing up from the table, keeping her eye on Arthur. She gets halfway to the door and he still hasn't moved, giving her comfort that she isn't making noise to alert herself. She lets out a sigh of relief before realizing how terrible of a mistake that was when Arthur turns in her direction. She doesn't have time to dodge the thermos as he throws it at her and she cries out in pain from it hitting her shoulder, forcing her to drop most of the apples from her arms. He runs over to her and she kicks out her foot, tripping him and bringing him to the ground before turning and running out of the room.

Her shoulder is throbbing in pain as she runs back into the room she had left not long ago and shuts the door with her foot before sliding down it to the ground. She drops the few apples she managed to still hold onto and cries out at the movement to her shoulder. Slowly, she brings her other hand up to it and rubs the spot, making her eyes well up with tears.

Everything has been going wrong for her… Why did she ever volunteer for these Games?

Holly Alder, 17, District Seven

Holly knows she has to get moving, yet fear has immobilized her in place for hours and hours. How does one possibly get the courage to move when she's absolutely certain the Gamemakers will not allow her to live? How long will it be until they send Delta after her or some terrifying mutt to guarantee her death? She's terrified of both happening…she could barely sleep last night after the party as her brain just kept repeating over and over and over again Delta cornering her in the bathroom and the threats she made… She knows. She knows who Holly really is. She knows she isn't Carameuse. If she knows that…there's only a small handle of people that could have told her that – maybe more, if the coded phrases she slipped into the interviews worked and the rebels know she's here. Yet from Delta's tone…Holly doubts the career is with the rebels. Which means the people who told Delta have to be…

Delta is clearly working for the President…

Which means Holly needs to find a way out of here, if that's even possible… She knows the rebels have members in the Capitol and in the construction of the arena, but will they have a way to get her out? Do they even want to help her escape? …Do they even know that she's here?

No…she can't let herself start thinking that they don't know about her… She has to stay hopeful. The rebels are going to get her out of here. They'll find a way to sneak her out of here and get her back home to her family and she can go back to being Holly Alder, not Carameuse Juniper. She just has to stay away from the careers until then.

Yet she can't stay here for much longer… If she does, she'll just be a sitting target for Delta or the Gamemakers. The Capitol never likes tributes that just stay put and don't do anything. So as much as just the thought of moving gives her anxiety, she knows she has to. She must stay alive until the rebels can get her out.

Holly runs a fingertip down the spine of her journal, knowing what she should do… She doesn't dare bring out the piece of paper here, not when the cameras are watching her every move and the Gamemakers will be alerted right away to the information she holds. Information she was supposed to transport from one rebel to another back in Seven on the day she ran into Carameuse and accidentally killed the girl before pretending to be her in a moment of panic… Which she never should have done. They wouldn't have known it was Holly that killed her, there was no reason for them to figure it out. And if she hadn't…she wouldn't have been picked.

But others knew that she was under the identity of Carameuse. Joseph recognized her. That Peacekeeper who let her pass through as Carameuse at the Reaping surely must have known from the device that she was really Holly Alder. Not just the Capitol knows who she is…she has to keep having hope.

And if that means using the arena map that got her into this in the first place, then she will. She hadn't wanted to get her hopes up after being reaped that she really did have a map of this year's arena. Not until she saw for herself. And her map has been true so far. Which means she should get to the basement and find one of the five sense items they've hidden in the arena for them. She doesn't know which one is in which room, but regardless if she finds the one for smell, it will be a good bargaining item if she runs into another tribute, and that might just keep her alive.

It's decided then, she has her plan. Holly takes a few deep breaths, getting herself the courage to move from her hiding place. Yet the seconds pass into minutes, and she remains frozen in place by her fear. Fear of running into Delta or a mutt – or both at the same time if the Gamemakers wanted to be particularly cruel to her. She knows what she must do, yet she can't physically bring herself to do it. Why can't she force herself to do what she has to do? It could mean life or death for her…

Just move, Holly.

But just as she's willing herself to start inching out of her hiding place, the sound of bickering voices drift over to her, completely freezing her up.

"Anastacia, would you please hurry up?"

"I'm trying, but in case you forgot, I'm blind."

Holly recognizes the first of the two annoyed voices right away, even as they drift away from her. She will never forget the voice of the person that told her she wouldn't make it out of the arena alive. After all, that voice kept her awake last night.

As Delta and Anastacia keep walking away from her, Holly's fear finally pushes her into moving and she quickly slips out of the crack where she was hiding, heading in the opposite direction of the two careers to put as much space as possible between them. Her pace keeps quickening as she heads towards one of the five staircases, yet she tries not to run. She doesn't know how loud running would be and she doesn't want to bring Delta right to her. And from her annoyed tone…surely they're out hunting for her. Why couldn't Delta have been one of the tributes to lose their sight or hearing? Well, Holly knows why…the Capitol probably made sure their supporter didn't lose one of her most crucial senses. Holly's a little surprised they didn't make her lose one of those two.

Holly makes it to the staircase and glances back, almost certain she'll find the careers chasing her. But they're out of her sight. She doesn't stick around long enough for them to find her and she slips down the stairs, taking it slow at first to avoid notifying the careers at their camp of her presence. They might not have a grudge against her, but they will still kill any tribute they come across.

But once she slips underground without notifying them to her presence, she picks up her pace. At the bottom, she runs to the door right across from the staircase…only to find it firmly locked. "No…" Holly whispers to herself, shaking her head as she steps back from it. She glances up and down the hallway, before heading down it one path, trying every door she comes across in the inner ring where the sense items should be. Yet each one is locked to her.

She stops after the third door, finally letting her frustration rise to the surface. Her eyes start to water as she stares at the locked door in front of her. Of course…why would the Gamemakers let her get into one of the rooms with the most valuable items in the arena? They know who she is and won't want her to win. They won't give a rebel their most precious supply when instead they can-

Boom.

She lets out a gasp of surprise at the sound of the cannon and quickly covers up her mouth. She frantically starts glancing around her to make sure no one heard her, before her eyes land on another spot to hide. She runs over to the crevice and squeezes into it, holding her breath and shutting her eyes as she counts to ten, waiting for someone to find her. But the seconds pass in silence and she opens her eyes, only finding darkness and no tributes, and lets out the air.

She will just have to search for a room to hide in another time. She won't be leaving there when the careers will all be up and moving soon.

Elias Pilkvist, 17, District Six

The sound of a cannon firing startles Elias out of his sleep and he blinks a few times before rubbing his eyes, trying to get himself reoriented with his surroundings. The cannon has his heart racing in fear, knowing that tributes are out hunting and they have found and killed someone. Doing the thing that his parents and brother tried to train him to do for years and once he was finally free of them, he ended up in the very thing he thought he was free from. Elias scans the area around them, the sky starting to get light with the rising sun and providing him with light to see. He leans over to look down below and can feel himself relaxing a little at the sight of the campfire blazing down below where the careers are. They are still there…well, four of them are, which brings a frown to his face. Where the other two are, he does not know…but if a cannon just fired, they are probably the reason for it, which means they should be a good distance away from them.

"I think we are safe," Elias says quietly as he turns back to face their small, makeshift camp. He leans back against the pillar once more, feeling his eyes struggling to stay open, but his mind too active to go back to sleep. "It is nearly morning. Do you think we should move today?"

Elias waits for a response from Genesis, but she stays quiet. "What do you think?" Elias asks as he looks over at where his ally still lays, a little surprised to find her still sleeping. But he does not want to disturb her and wake her up if she is sound asleep, knowing how much she struggled in the first place to sleep. "A few more minutes," Elias says quietly to himself.

Elias sits there in silence, watching as the sun starts to lighten the sky, and he finds himself smiling a little at how pretty the sky has turned. Living in the city back in Six, the nights were always filled with city lights, blocking out the stars, and the sunrise was blocked by the tall buildings. But not here. There is nothing to stop him from taking in the sunrise.

"Is this what it is like back in Ten?" Elias asks Genesis, turning to look over at his ally. As he stares at her, he notices how pale she has become and begins to frown as he turns his attention to her wound, finding her toga soaked through with blood. "Genesis?" He asks as he moves over to her, reaching out to shake her arm. "Genesis, wake up."

But as he shakes her, she makes no movement or sign of waking up. "Come on, Genesis, please wake up," Elias whispers as he starts using both hands to shake her. But she is limp and when he rolls her over, her eyes are still shut. He sits back, his hands shaking as he stares at her, not seeing any rise of her chest as she takes in air. "Please…" He pleads with her, putting his head down to listen for the beating of her heart, the sound of breath, any sign of life…

But all he hears is silence until the sound of his own sobs start to fill the air.

"Do not leave me," Elias sobs as he grabs onto her, holding her desperately as he sobs against her shoulder. He does not want to believe that the cannon that woke him up was for Genesis… He cannot handle the thought of losing his ally, his friend…the second person in his life to actually care about him. He thought they had stopped the bleeding on her wound and she would survive… He does not understand what he did wrong. What has he done to deserve this? Or everything in his life from his family? Uncontrollable sobs build up in him and Elias cries out, slowly rocking back and forth as he holds on to Genesis, unable to process everything going through him.

"I do not want to be alone!" Elias chokes out through his sobs as tears pour down his cheeks. Immense fear builds up in him at just the thought of being alone within the arena, fear for himself and what he might do. He does not want to become the person his parents were training him to be…and without Genesis with him, he does not know what will happen to him.

And that scares him more than death.

"Why?!" Elias screams, picking up his head to scream at the sky he had just been admiring a few minutes ago, unaware that his ally was already gone next to him. Why did she have to be killed? She was good, like Cecy… She was his friend.

Elias stares up at the sky through his tears, still letting out sobs of pain. Never before has he felt this kind of sadness before. He did not cry when his family left him. That had given him freedom. He did not cry like this when he said goodbye to Cecy, believing her promise that he would make it out alive and back home to her. He has never known this loss before and he would not wish this on anyone.

"Genesis, please…" Elias pleads once more, a soft whisper as he stares at the sky, as if he could will her to wake up once more. But he knows this will not happen. She is gone.

"Ow, Delta, what the hell?"

Elias turns his head immediately at the sound of the tributes, finding Delta pushing aside Anastacia to start running towards him. Elias scrambles to get to his feet, his prostheses sliding to get traction on the stone as the career gets closer to him, spear raised and ready to be used to kill him.

The sight of the careers fills Elias with white-hot rage, reminding him that a career was the one that shot Genesis with an arrow and caused her death. Instead of running away from Delta, Elias runs at her, screaming out in anger as he ducks around her spear like he would avoid a punch back in the fighting pit, using the momentum to drive a fist into her side. Delta stumbles back, gasping in surprise at the punch as Anastacia makes her way over to them. Delta stabs out her spear, grazing Elias' shoulder, but it does not stop him from moving closer and punching her on the side of the head.

Delta slumps down, holding her head, and Elias turns at the approaching footsteps, his rage still burning in him over what these careers did to Genesis. Anastacia has one hand on the wall, guiding her towards him, a sword raised in the other. Before she can get close enough to hit him, Elias runs past her, shoving her into the stone wall. He hears a loud crack followed by a groan as he runs away from them, tears still pouring down his cheeks as he tries to take enough steady breaths, but they are all shallow and leave him gasping for air as he runs away from them.

Elias eventually has to slow down to catch his breath and he leans over, gasping for air, as a different fear comes over him. He forces himself to stop sobbing, realizing he will only lead them back to him if he keeps making noise. And he does not want to fight them again… Not after he so easily switched into fight mode when he saw them at first without even thinking about it. His instincts were immediately to fight, rather than run away from them. And that realization scares Elias. He does not want to be the killing machine that his parents tried to make him into, yet how can he fight that when it was second nature to fight the careers?

He is scared of becoming a monster and now that he is all on his own…he does not know what to do. He has never really been alone like this before. He had Cecy when his family left him. He had Dampero and the rest of the team while in the Capitol. He had Genesis… But now he has no one. He is truly alone. No one to tell him what he should or should not do. No one to stop him from turning into a fighting machine. No one to stop him from killing.

No. He will not do that. Elias refuses to become what his parents trained him to be. He cannot be the reason someone feels loss like he just experienced.

Eulogies:

Genesis Barrett [10], Ranked 15th, Killed by Odyssey [2]

I struggled for a long time to figure out how far I wanted Genesis to go. I adore the relationship between her and Elias and I know she had enough skills to get farther. Yet I felt that this was the time for her to go. Everyone seemed pretty hopeful that she was going to survive her injury from the bloodbath, but it was too deep of a wound. She was a lot of fun to write and I am sorry I don't get to continue writing her, but not everyone can go far. Her death is certainly going to have a huge impact on Elias and what he now does in the arena and it won't be the last we hear of her. Thank you so much for sending her in, Huntress! RIP Genesis.

Well, it's been a minute since we last had an update. Life has been...well, a lot of things have been going on that have made me have very little energy and motivation to write. But today I finally had the energy to write. And I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out!

I'd like to invite you to come participate in the SYOT Alliance forum's third annual SYOT Awards! This event is a yearly thing we do to recognize another great year of SYOTs and those involved! We are currently in the nomination stage of the awards so please check it out, let others know, and come participate :) the link to the forum is on my profile because FFN does not like links within the actual story.

Of course things weren't going to stay calm for long in the arena and without deaths. And better buckle up because it's only going to get crazier from here on. As always, your thoughts on the chapter are much appreciated!

Blog is updated with end of Night One information. Sponsorship is still open so get those items in now because prices will go up with each day!

I'd say see you soon, but I don't know when the next update will happen. It could be a while or it could be next week, I have no clue. So see you whenever motivation next strikes lol.