Chapter 32:
Day Three
Seraphim Lukianas, Head Gamemaker
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him has Seraphim picking up his head from his desk and letting out a big yawn, exhaustion quickly setting in with the Games reaching the third day. Not even a constant supply of coffee can keep him going for much longer. "Yes, Laelia?" Seraphim asks as he glances over his shoulder to see the young Gamemaker there, her hands behind her back and looking a little nervous as she holds back a smile.
Laelia soon gives him a grin that immediately puts him on edge. "Well, we have had a…unique sponsor request."
Seraphim sighs at this and shakes his head at her, knowing this can't be good. "Define unique."
Laelia holds back laughter as she tells him, "Someone wants to send a cool hat to every tribute." Seraphim stares at her, blinking a few times as his tired brain tries to wrap his head around why someone would want to spend that much on hats compared to items that are actually useful for the tributes. Laelia keeps going in his silence, giving further explanation, "They randomized twelve different hats and they are ready to send them. We just all agreed that we should inform you first."
"But…why?" Seraphim asks, still confused by all of this. "I don't understand."
Laelia simply shrugs at him. "Do we need a why? Someone thought it would be entertaining."
"There's literally a rebel threat right now and someone wants to waste their money on hats," Seraphim tells her, just in disbelief at this.
"Yeah, but the public doesn't know this," Laelia points out and Seraphim sighs, knowing she's right. "And right now, our job is to keep them entertained and unaware of that threat. So, in the spirit of the sponsoring, well…" Laelia steps forward and before Seraphim can stop her, she puts a headband with a halo on his head. "You get to be part of the cool hat extravaganza too!"
Seraphim can feel the halo bouncing around with every small movement of his head and lets out a loud sigh. "Laelia, there is an impending rebel threat right now.
"Come on, Seraphim," Zephyr says with a laugh as he steps into the Headquarters, holding a large coffee and plate full of breakfast foods. He sets the meal down in front of Seraphim, before leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You need some fun right now. The rebels aren't your problem right now."
"But they are," Seraphim tells him, rubbing his eyes to try and wake up a bit more before taking a few sips of coffee. "My mother is at risk and I don't trust the rebels to not do something else with the Games. Why didn't they stop Holly's death? It doesn't make sense. And this halo is not helping the situation."
"But now you're really your Mom's little angel!" Laelia tells him, clearing trying to cheer him up but she just gets a glare from Seraphim that Zephyr chuckles at.
"I told you not to bring that up," Seraphim tells her quietly, looking around to see if any of the other Gamemakers overheard her.
Laelia pulls up a chair next to him and starts picking at one of the donuts on the plate of food, making Zephyr let out a noise of annoyance. "Oh please, we all know that your mother calls you that. It's cute. She's such a nice woman and we all love her."
"She is," Seraphim agrees as he picks up a donut for himself. "And why I am stressed about her safety and don't understand the point of sending all of the tributes cool hats right now."
"Does there have to be a point?" Zephyr asks him and Seraphim shrugs at him, knowing that the answer is no, but he just likes having a reason. "Then just let the Capitol have their fun. But I would hurry up and send it before you have any cannons to fire," he adds as he points over to the screens.
Seraphim turns around, making the halo annoyingly bounce on his head, but he soon forgets about it as he tenses up and is fully alert right away when he realizes what is going on in the arena right now. "Get those gifts sent right away to distract them. Don't let them ruin my plan."
Bellona Silvanus, 18, District Two
Bell knows what she should be doing right now. She's studied so many past Games and knows the signs to look for in a career pack that is on the verge of disaster, and their pack is heading right for it. The mood has been tense all morning as the lack of rest and the number of remaining tributes left has put them all on edge. Even Bell has snapped a bit at the others this morning, on edge as she thinks about what could happen next.
The biggest concern for her is the fact that they make up half of the remaining tributes left and haven't had any casualties of their own… A fact that has put herself and some of the others have clearly realized as they sit around, trying to figure out a plan. How long will it be until the Gamemakers force a casualty on them? The next Trial by Combat has been looming in the back of her mind, making her anxious as she thinks about all the combinations they could have that would force the careers to fracture. Or maybe they're just going to wait for them to snap on their own and cause even bigger loss. Bell doesn't like either of those options and knows she should just leave the alliance now while she can. She could just go out hunting with Demarcus and just leave him. Not like he would be able to tell the others where she went. Or she could take him down before he even had any idea…
Yet her damn heart has her sticking around when she should get the hell out of here. She can't just leave now after talking to Odyssey last night and once again agreeing to stick together to the end – even if that decision is already haunting her. She knows he'll want to stick with the pack because he's too good and finally starting to accept his role as their leader. And also…the petty part of her wants to see what Anastacia has planned. Now that Bell knows what Major is up to…she's pissed that she didn't see his manipulation before he did it to her. She's the one that should be calling the shots with their allies, but she didn't see it.
And it's all that damn boy's fault.
But no more. She needs to get her damn feelings pushed aside already and focus on getting the hell out of this arena alive. And that means getting her other allies taken down. Now that she knows about Major…he might be the second biggest threat to her, after Odyssey. Odyssey…no, that's something to worry about later. Major is clearly too smart to keep him around for much longer, but how can she do that without Odyssey getting caught in the crossfire? And then there's Delta, the next threat. At least she's more predictable and just a loose cannon. Maybe she can set her off against Major and then whoever survives will be weak enough to easily pick off. Then the blind duo… Bell does like Anastacia and Demarcus, but they're not going to win in a fight against another career. The Games aren't time for forming friendship…
Which is how they are where they are right now.
"Would you stop pacing?" Major snaps at Delta, sitting up from where he was laying down to glare at the pacing girl from Four. "I can't nap when the ground shakes every time you stomp by."
"Then stop laying around and do something," Delta snaps back at him before looking around at the rest of them all just sitting there. "Why the fuck are we just sitting around? There's twelve tributes left! We should be looking for them!"
"Some of us can't exactly look for tributes," Anastacia says with a scoff.
Major crosses his arms, pouting as he glares back at Delta. "What did you say?"
"Please stop," Demarcus says quietly, turning his head around as he tries to listen to what is going on around him and clearly growing anxious by the second.
"I said you're a little bitch," Delta rolls her eyes at Major and Bell tries to hold back a snicker while Anastacia openly laughs.
"Hey, that's a little unnecessary, don't you think?" Odyssey says carefully, jumping up to get closer to Delta and Major, clearly ready to be a dumbass and stop a fight between them if it gets to it instead of just letting them bring their numbers down before the Gamemakers decide to do so.
Bell shakes her head as she gets up, knowing this is not going to end well and a part of her is also being a dumbass about Odyssey. "Odyssey, don't," Bell says quietly as she reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder, making him glance back at her.
"We can't be fighting like this among ourselves," Odyssey tries to reason with the group, but from everyone else's faces, Bell doesn't think they're going to be listening to him. Well, Demarcus looks like he wants to be anywhere but in the middle of this argument and Major can't listen at all. "Hang on, Major," Odyssey says as he holds out his hand to stop Major from sassing them about not knowing what is happening.
Bell looks around at the others as Odyssey starts writing to Major, knowing he is putting himself at risk by not paying attention to them. Some slowly starting to reach for weapons, and Bell knows if it comes down to it, she'll now get caught in the middle of this and only has a knife right now. "Odyssey is right," Bell says slowly, even though she had already been thinking about how she could start bringing down their numbers. "Fighting like this is what let an outer District tribute win last year. Do you really want this to happen again this year? Hell no."
"Bell is right," Odyssey agrees with her quickly, looking up from writing to Major and Bell can see his shoulders tense as he looks at Delta and Anastacia getting defensive. "Let's not do anything rash here…"
They stare each other down for a tense minute, Odyssey standing his ground and not reaching for any weapon, but Bell knows he could be ready in a moment if he needs to. Delta and Major really don't look like they want to stand down and Bell is starting to get very concerned that the split is going to happen now.
"I don't want to fight," Demarcus finally speaks up, bringing the attention of the others over to him. His arms are wrapped around himself and his anxiety is written all over his face, yet he's still standing up to them. "Please, stop arguing."
Another minute passes in tense silence, until a familiar beeping sound has them all looking up at the sky. Six silver canisters are gently falling towards them, putting Bell on guard. Mass sponsor gifts haven't been a good thing in the past… "See?" Odyssey says as he catches the one floating towards him with a '2' on the side. "The Gamemakers don't want us fighting right now."
Bell grabs her canister, trying not to laugh when Anastacia is hit on the head with her own and she groans in pain before rubbing the spot. "A heads up would have been nice – don't," she holds her hand up in Odyssey's general direction before he can comment on the accidental pun she made, making him chuckle a little.
"Come on, Anastacia, who doesn't love a good pun?" Odyssey says, chuckling some more as Anastacia opens her canister and pulls out a hard hat. "There you go, someone is looking out for you!"
Somehow that breaks the tension that was in the group and they all groan at Odyssey's bad joke as they start to pull out their own hats. Bell shakes her head as she opens hers and finds her hat is a stuffed pile of poop with a smiley face. When she looks up and sees Odyssey swapping his octopus hat for a pink princess cone hat, complete with ribbon on the end, she starts pouting. "How come you get the princess hat and I get a poop hat?"
Odyssey laughs at this as he takes the hat from Bell and puts it on her head, covering up her greasy hair – something she won't complain about too much. "Come on, Bell, you gotta wear the hat." Bell pouts a bit at him, but soon even she can't help but laugh a little with him standing in front of her in a princess hat.
"At least this has a cute bow, unlike the squid," Major grumbles to himself as he puts on a rainbow unicorn hat.
"I don't want to wear this," Delta says as she tosses her wizard hat to the ground before crossing her arms and stomping away from them, walking towards the edge of the pit to stew in her anger.
Demarcus clears his throat and Bell looks over at him, finding him very confused as he holds a headband in his hands and turns it around as he tries to figure out what it is. "Can someone tell me what this is?"
"Just put the headband on," Bell tells him, laughing a little at the sight of it, but realizing the irony of it. "It's a headband that makes it look like you have a knife sticking out of your head."
Demarcus frowns at this, "Why would I want that?"
"Well you can just pretend to be dead in a pinch with that hat," Odyssey jokes, but Bell can hear his voice is strained from the thought that they could have been in that pinch just now and some of them dead…
Odyssey shares a look with her, clearly relieved that they didn't get to a fight, and Bell finds herself feeling the same way. She gives him a small nod, reassuring him that she will stick to her word and fight with him. Even though the tension has temporarily been diffused…Bell knows it's only a matter of time before they reach this point again and they aren't stopped. She needs to come up with a plan to get her and Odyssey out of here now.
Fete Bayard, 18, District Eight
Fete knows he's letting down Astrid and Clark, and probably all of District Eight, and making them realize their chances of having back to back victors is so unlikely. But how can he possibly have hope of winning when all of the careers are still alive? Fete knows he isn't going to be killing any of them, let alone more than one if he were attacked by the group. He doesn't understand why anyone would sponsor him in the first place, let alone a second time, even if it is a dumb little rainbow hat with a spinning fan on the top. But the soup…as bitter as he was at first for it, he knows now that he would be in a lot worse shape if he didn't have that to hold him over.
But why does he deserve to have these gifts? He's done nothing but mope around in this room for the past three days, just waiting for someone to take pity on him. But no one has entered his room and when someone was outside of it, they weren't let in, leaving him to sit in silence and just sleep next to the warm forge. And he feels ridiculous admitting it, but…
He's bored.
How the hell is he bored in the Hunger Games? Yet he is… Fete feels like a real dumbass for feeling this way. Here he is bored when his best friend is dead. Could he be a shittier friend? First he got her killed, now he's just wasting away in the arena. Just like he was wasting away at home by drinking himself to sleep every night. Why was Atropa ever friends with him? He's not a good person.
"Fuck, Fete, get your shit together already," Fete grumbles to himself as he kicks around at the cabinet in the room out of boredom. He stops when the door creaks open, not having expected the Gamemakers to actually let him in to whatever is on the shelves. It was why he hadn't bothered trying to open it in the first place.
Fete hesitantly opens the door, half expecting some sort of trap, but just finds some bricks of metal and tools inside to work with it. He picks up the hammer, testing out the weight of it for a moment, even giving it a couple swings. He's…not going to be impressing anyone with his strength, but maybe he can scare someone away with it. Ah, who is he kidding, he got a 1 in training. He's not intimidating anyone that can see.
Which…the one who killed Atropa can't see… He wishes he wasn't so pathetic and could go on some grand mission to get revenge on Anastacia for killing Atropa. Maybe then he would be deserving of people actually rooting for him to win. He's just fooling himself with the hammer, really. No one should be fooled by the sight of him.
Fete sighs as he picks up a few bricks of metal, surprised at the weight of it. He turns one around, wondering about using this as a makeshift weapon, but his arms are already straining from the weight of it. He tosses them aside in the little bucket next to the forge, cringing at the noise caused by it. Great, good job Fete. Make some noise to draw them right to you.
Fete skims over the rest of the cabinet, finding nothing that would actually be useful for him. There's no way he'll attempt to use the weapon molds – or even a guarantee that the Gamemakers will let him use the forge. And he doesn't even have a single clue what to do aside from melting the metal down and pouring it.
He really is pathetic.
But with the cabinet searched through, Fete's boredom just continues to grow, and he paces the room, finding nothing else that can preoccupy his time. He could just nap some more…but the room is starting to smell from him having to piss and shit in a corner and he doesn't want to stay here any longer.
It might be time for him to finally move.
He knows it might be his funeral, but he isn't going to just sit here and die from boredom. That would just add further insult to Atropa's death. And yet, Fete stares at the door for a few minutes, trying to will himself to go over to it already. He is afraid of dying in this arena, even if he hasn't done much to stay alive…
Atropa wouldn't have sat around like this.
Fete shuts his eyes for a moment, being able to picture in his head what she would say to him if she was still here… "Come on Feet Boy, move your butt so you can get home to your cats."
Fete shakes his head as he opens his eyes, finding tears falling down his cheeks. He has to try to win for them… He can't just keep sitting around here, waiting for something to happen or else the Gamemakers will make something happen to him and he won't survive that.
Before he can lose what little resolve he has built up, Fete heads towards the door, pushing down thoughts that the Gamemakers won't let him leave the room. It swings open right away, not making any sound, and Fete pokes his head out, glancing up and down the hallway before stepping out when it's clear. His heart is racing as he holds onto his hammer with both hands and starts moving down the hallway at a quick pace. Well, at least his boredom is gone now, replaced by fear as adrenaline pumps through him and he's the most alert he's felt in days.
Fete walks past one door on his right and keeps going, not wanting to stay that close to the room he was just in, and he picks up his pace as it's opposite a staircase. He keeps walking and walking, passing two more doors and just not knowing where to stop, afraid of picking a room that has a tribute in it. But the further he walks without any encounters, he can start to feel the initial adrenaline starting to wear off, leaving him feeling exhausted once more. He can feel his eyes prickling out of annoyance and hatred towards himself that he can't even walk around the arena without exhausting himself… How is he ever going to fight anyone and try to win?
This is why no one should be supporting him…
Fete uses the back of his arm to wipe at his eyes before picking the next door to enter, too angry at himself to hesitate at the door before opening it. If someone is in there…so be it. Let them kill his pitiful self.
But no one attacks when he steps inside the room and looks around, blinking back tears to see better where he is. And when he sees beds and even a tub in the corner, Fete stumbles further into the room, not caring at all if the beds aren't comfortable. He'll bathe at a later time to get the stench of three days without showering off of him, but he just wants to sleep now. Anywhere is better than napping on the hard ground.
Fete flops himself down, shutting his eyes right away and ready to use his one useful skill of being able to nap at any given time. But a bit of guilt nags the back of his mind, preventing him from falling asleep right away.
I'm sorry for being such a disappointment.
Sky Odum, 13, District Nine
Sky stares at the wall, watching the Capitol seal fade away with no faces shown today. A boring day for the Capitol, she's sure because the sick fucks love watching them kill each other. Boring except for whatever resident dumbass of the Capitol decided to send her this lame umbrella hat. When is she even going to need to use it?! She's underground, for fucks sake! The Gamemakers aren't going to flood the lower level by making it rain here. Unless…actually, she can't guarantee that for sure.
Why does she even care what the Capitol does? She just wants to be out of this arena…yet she doesn't want to be back home in Nine where everything is just a bitter reminder of Marek. But she doesn't exactly want to die…she doesn't even think in death she would get to see him again. Marek's selfless ass would have gone straight to heaven and there's not a chance Sky is going anywhere but hell. She's not a good person, especially not compared to Marek Hall.
Really, it's no wonder he didn't care about her the same way she did about him. Who could ever love a bitter street rat like her? Certainly not Marek or his parents. And she doubts the Capitol likes her after she spent all of her time there yelling at them for what they did to Marek. Why would they want her to win these Games?
"Fuck," Sky says aloud as her eyes start watering against her will. Why is she crying again over stupid Marek? Why can't she move the fuck on from him already? Because she's still holding on to a piece of him, refusing to fully believe that he's gone…
Sky pulls out the playing card, flipping it around in her hands as she stares down at it. He was the one good thing to happen in her life… He was there for her after she kept going from orphanage to orphanage, lashing out at everyone after the death of her parents. He kept her from becoming this angry shell of herself and made her actually have something worth living for… But without him, she's become an even worse version of herself. He never would have wanted her to be this way and volunteer for the Games.
"You deserved someone better than me as your friend," Sky whispers, feeling her voice shaking, before sniffling. She turns her head up, fighting back the tears, but it's no use. "I loved you, you stupid idiot. Even if you didn't love me, I loved you…"
Sky tries to hold back a sob as she curls up against the wall, next to the bars of the jail cell in the room, but she can't hold it in. She knows she must be making too much noise, but she doesn't care at this point. She's held it in for so long, hanging onto the couple bad things that Marek did instead of letting herself keep remembering all the reasons why she loved him. "Why did you take him from me? Why?!"
Sky knows yelling at the Gamemakers isn't going to change the past… Nothing is ever going to bring him back to her. So why can't she just move on already? Sky turns the playing card around in her hands, still hearing that echo of his voice in her head and his dorky laugh, making her smile a tiny bit, the first time she's smiled in so long. She has to let go of him. He's never coming back and if she doesn't let go, she'll never get out of this arena alive. "You're always going to be my number one," Sky whispers before crumbling up the playing card and tossing it aside before standing up on shaking legs, gripping the jail cell bars for support. She stares at the crumpled up playing card for a few seconds, choking back a sob as she lets go of the one piece of Marek she's been holding onto for the last year.
She slowly steps towards the door, afraid to do this, but she has to. Yet she still hesitates with her hand on the doorknob to look back, giving herself one last chance to hold onto him. "Goodbye, Marek. Maybe I'll see you again…"
And with that, Sky steps out into the hallway and shuts the door behind her, letting out another sob. She has to do this. She has to let him go and stop holding onto a ghost. It's just so hard when he was the best thing to ever happen to her…
But Sky forces herself to take a step away from the card, refusing to turn back and pick it back up and smooth out the wrinkles, even if every bit inside of her is screaming to do that. Tears keep falling down her cheeks and she does her best to wipe them away as she slowly moves on, away from the past and down the hallway towards a future where maybe she could win… She needs to try… Marek would want her to try.
That thought puts a small smile on her face, surprising her that she can think about Marek and actually…be happy… She keeps walking ahead, starting to feel better with this choice with each step. Maybe she can actually do this.
But the smile soon falters as she looks ahead and sees a tribute stick their head out of a door. When they see her face, they quickly move back into the room, but Sky is already running towards them and she shoves the door with her shoulder, stopping them from shutting it.
She knows what she needs to do now… Sky is going to win these damn Games that she stupidly got herself into. She doesn't want to die, not yet… So she is going to win. For Marek.
Whoo things are starting to kick into gear! And hi there cliffhanger ending ;) We're nearly at the halfway point in the tributes and so you know that means things are just going to keep picking up pace from here. Also thank you Celtic for spending a lot of sponsor points to be chaotic with the Cool Hat Extravaganza XD We'll see what the other hats were soon but rest assured, they are just as amusing as the ones we saw so far.
So what could be Seraphim's plan? Who will be the first casualty when the career pack finally breaks down? And who was Sky running towards?
Not sure when the next update will happen but it could be soon considering this chapter happened in a few hours once I sat down and started writing XD So I'll see you hopefully soon with Night Three!