Today we have the District 2 pair! Sorry, this update took a while, I really want this story to be the best I can be so I am taking my time with it. Also, random bit of information, I should hear back if I got into University soon, so finger crossed! Anyway, I hope you like the next two warriors and be sure to tell me your thoughts! Next up we have District Three.
As for the plan of action, this is the rough draft of what you can expect. Maybe subject to change if I decide to add and take things away. These are the next to sections I have planned (this is section one).
Section 2: Mentors. Three chapters, four POV's in each. So one mentor from each District will get a POV here, the other one will get theirs later.
Section 3: Warrior Pairs. Six chapters, two pairs in each chapter. It will take place over a day (like section 1) and will show you how they all work in a woodland style environment (does not mean that is the arena) and how all the pairs work together. Also allows you to get to know the characters better.
After those two sections will come the fun, pre-game events. Such as chariot rides, interviews (but only with 12 tributes) but I will touch more on those when we get past the next two sections, which I hope does not take too long. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Nero Anghel, District 2 Male
Nero never wanted this, he was only a child, only just grasping the concept of death. It terrified him, the idea of him being the one to kill people or die himself making him. His father comforted him, telling him that it was going to be okay, that he would be a victor and once he was home, they could learn to forget about it together.
The only reason his parents volunteered him and he stood upon that stage was because his older sister, who had been training with Astrid, the victor of The 9th Hunger Games, had not been chosen for the 25th. This left his family desperate for a Victor.
His father stroked his blonde hair as the crowd cheered for their favorites. However, when his name was called out for the male tribute, he felt the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. His parents hugged each other, proud of their achievements while Nero tried to tell himself it was going to be okay. He hoped he would not be picked, his parents would be angry but he could have trained up until he was eighteen that way, finding another reason to not go into the Games. Sadly, as the crowd cheered him on, it became all too clear to the small boy that he was never coming home without being a victor.
10 Years Later...
Nero laid on his bed, his head hanging off the edge as he focused on the nature books that lay open on the floor. As his eyes scanned the page, taking in every word as he felt a long, blunt nail being traced along the skin of his back. It moved in a spiral but then morphed into something else with sharp edges and circular joints.
Nero craned his neck slightly, glancing at that blue haired girl who sat on his legs, her tongue out in concentration. "What you doing there?" he asked, turning his attention back to the book on the floor.
"A blueprint," Annabella Giada mumbled in response and she continued to concentrate on her work. She stopped for a few seconds before digging her nail into Nero's skin once more, making him flinch slightly.
"And you don't have any paper for that?" Nero gasped, earning a giggle from the girl.
"Hm, in my room...but I like your room...it's why I sleep here," she sighed, pulling back from her drawing to take a look at it for a moment. "You seem a bit gloomy this morning, what's wrong?" she questioned, biting her nail as she was deep in thought
"Nothing, what made you think that?"
"The first thing you did was pull out that book and start reading, you always do push ups, the change of routine means something is bothering you," she said this with a lack of emotion, already knowing she was correct about her observation. Nero knew whatever he said, she would not believe. However, he could not let her know the reason why he was a bit out of it that morning.
When he first arrived at The Capitol, the first Warrior he spoke to was Loretta Moriko from District Six. The two had remained close friends throughout the ten years in The Capitol, regularly meeting in the garden to talk about nature and sometimes have competitions to name every bird in the sky. He was the only person in a relationship that The Capitol wanted to pair with someone else, Loretta. There was a campaign for him to get with Loretta but thankfully, The Capitol had not written that into the script yet. They were nothing more than friends but that friendship is what had led him to feel so down that day.
Loretta was dating Pallas Narciso from District Ten. From afar, and from what the public saw, they looked like the perfect couple, always together and always having fun. However, Pallas had informed Nero the previous night about his plans to propose to Loretta, something that made Nero and Grover, who was also in the seating area at the time, feel uneasy.
The hard truth was, Pallas suffered from multiple personality disorder. In Front of the cameras and as long as no one brought up their impending doom, Pallas was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. However, Nero was not the only one to see the other side of him. During the ten year period, everyone had. When reminded that his death was soon coming, the boy always became enraged, taking it out on anyone close to him and most of the time, that was Loretta.
Everyone in the house had tried for years to get Loretta to leave Pallas, even Damon who did not care about anyone but himself. However, Loretta refused to leave him, insisting that she could control him. However, whenever she slept in his room, she would always walk out covered in bruises, black eyes or hand marks around her neck after one of Pallas nightmares, things would then spiral out of control. Romilda would always attempt to defend her, trying to beat a bewildered Pallas up, only to be tackled down to the ground by Nero and his Warrior partner, Berik. But the hulking mass of a man would only stop when Loretta begged him to. Then it would all end with Pallas declaring death on whoever had laid a hand on his love.
Nero could not blame Pallas, they were all messed up in their own way. However, Loretta's beatings had become more frequent as the Game drew closer and to know he was powerless to stop his best friend marrying the same person who tried to kill her every night, it was hard. Grover had suggested placing a baby monitor in their shared room so they could hear whenever Pallas attacked her. However, that idea had been barred by the rest of the group in fear that Grover might want to install the device in a couple's bedroom for other reasons rather than Loretta's safety.
Annabella and Nero sat in silence for a few more minutes, as he pretended to read about the armadillo, until Annabella rolled off him and onto his king size bed, gazing up at the ceiling. She huffed and sighed a few times, trying to gain his attention, but he ignored her until she decided to address him. "Is it about the Games?" she whispered, her breath catching after she spoke these words like she was worried what type of reaction he would give her.
"The Games don't bother me," Nero lied, not looking up at his girlfriend, knowing that his eyes would give him away. Everyone was bothered about the Games, anyone who said they were not was lying and they all knew that.
Annabella clicked her tongue before rolling on her side to look away from him. "It does not bother you that in under three weeks, twelve of us will be voted out by the public, immediately executed, the other twelve forced to fight to the death-"
"See, that's where they are wrong," Nero groaned, rolling over and placing his head on her shoulder. "They made a mistake by putting us together, no one would sever our ten-year relationships for a stupid Game," he said with a forced smile. He was trying to make Annabella feel better about something they could not avoid but she was always too smart for that.
She pushed him away, rolling over to face him with her eyes wide in disbelief. "The prize isn't some useless cash, Nero...this is life we are talking about. A chance to live and not die young, to see the world beyond this stupid apartment. To see our family again. You see, it does not matter how close everyone is, when panic, fear, and hunger set it, we will kill the ones we love the most because that's what we have been trained to do."
Evelyn Callie Spires, District 2 Female
Evelynn Spires was the richest little girl in the District, second richest child of her age group, the first being the mayor's son. Her family owned the largest forgery in the District so from a young age, weapons had been part of her life. However, her family always wanted more from their daughter rather than owning their business. They wanted her to be a victor.
Her three years of prior training gave her some upper hand but not much, coming from a Career District and all. But none the less, she remained in front, no matter how close the gap between her and the other children was. She finished first on every task set so when she stood on the stage with her proud family, it was no competition who the female tribute would be.
When her name was called out, her family pulled her into a large embrace, her father cheering on his daughter with pride. And as she stood there, side by side with the dashing young man, Nero Anghel, she knew one thing. She would be coming home. She was not a Career or a Warrior, she was a Victor.
10 years later...
Evelyn hated Annabella with the passion of three thousand burning suns, or so she said. She watched the blue haired girl squeal as Nero swung her round, his hand on her perfect waist. Just everything about the girl infuriated Evelyn. She was a fan favorite with her giddy, smartass nature and good looks yet she was by far the weakest warrior out of the group. The girl never trained, just spending her time working on the useless contractions she made. Her good figure was kept purely by luck, nothing like the training Evelyn had to go through the stay in shape. However, at the root of all the hatred, even she could admit it was jealousy, but Evelyn believed it to be justified jealousy.
Evelyn mutilated the ice cream in the small tub, tearing it apart in frustration as she remembered her courting of Nero. She made sure to be extra nice to him and for once in her life, pandered to someone else other than herself, doing everything he asked of her. It worked too as Nero asked her on four dates before settling for the spunky Annabella. Evelyn, even five years on, struggled to understand what Annabella did to gain Nero's affections, stealing them from the dark haired beauty. Not only that, the rejection made her look like a fool and made her seem easy. Even now, Grover still thought a flash of his muscular arms was enough to get Evelyn to just hop into his bed, already undressed. And it was all Annabella's fault.
True, there were many people Evelyn didn't like, mainly anybody who were all brawn and no brains, like Grover Lindall of Seven and Berik Mathews of Twelve. However, she hated anyone who looked at Nero in a remotely romantic way. Due to this, Loretta was also on her hate list. Over the years, Evelyn had come to realise the girl's heart lay with Pallas but she still had a closeness to Nero that Evelyn longed to have, something she felt she deserved and was so close to achieving.
As the girl sat there engrossed in her hatred, she failed to notice Damon Romulus of District Five shuffling by her said until she was almost breathing on her face. Evelyn let out a small scream as she brought her elbow towards the boy's face as she rose. However, Damon was as well trained as her and saw it coming, grabbing her wrist and twisting her arm behind her neck before forcing her head into the table, pinning her down. "You are a dead man, Damon," Evelyn seethed at the blonde haired male.
Damon gave a little chuckle as he leant in close to the girl's ear. "Remember the rules, no fighting until the arena," he whispered with pride, a slight giggle rumbling in the back of his throat as he pulled away and freed the girl.
"What do you want, squirt?" Evelyn grumbled as she wiped away the ice cream that had been smudged on the back of her neck.
Damon looked around nervously, like he was worried someone might be listening. "Can we talk in your room?" Although such a request from anyone else would have been quickly rejected, Evelyn had been friends with Damon since they were young, respecting his smarts and brawn. So when she saw Annabella trying not to snigger at Damon beating her, she quickly gave a nod and lead him towards her room.
In the apartment, the boys were kept separately from the girls although The Capitol did not work hard to keep it that way. Couples or one night stands sleeping in different rooms was not an uncommon thing. The Capitol did not seem to care either, as long as the Warriors produced good ratings and didn't catch anything, they were free to do whatever they wanted in that department. They must have realized that telling twenty-four hormonal teenagers with short lives to keep things to themselves was not going to work. However, Evelyn was one of the few who had no given into the urges, maybe if Nero had chosen her over Annabella but no one else grabbed her attention in the group. Damon was the next possible choice but she liked him as a friend, nothing more, friends in the environment she was raised in was rare, well, true friends anyway. She wasn't willing to lose that for some action. That could wait until after she won.
Evelyn's room was the second along on the corridor, representing the District that over the years, she had become detached to. She didn't call herself a Career, she was a warrior and the people around her were either weak or strong based on their performance, she no longer judged based on District. Those were merely hometowns that did little to define their personality or skill.
Back in Two, people would have expected her room to be painted in the blood of her enemies, human skulls and weapons as the only decoration. However, Evelyn's bedroom was painted a beautiful, sea green colour, her furniture white and walls adorned with white fairy lights. It may have been surprising to other people but Evelyn was fine with having an average teenagers bedroom. She didn't need to show that she was a killer from her appearance, she saved that for her deadly performance.
As the pair entered her room, Damon rushed over to her window, gazing out of the long, rectangular glass at the city below. The bustling sea of people that moved far beyond Tribute Walk, most likely excited for that night's episode, maybe even excited to watch some of the people they had seen for ten years die at the hands of their friends. As these thoughts rushed through the taller male's mind, his hand drifted over to the pile of clothes next to him, picking up a silk dressing gown and running his thumb along it.
"What did you want to talk to me about then?" Evelyn asked her blue eyed friend who quickly pulled his hand away from her laundry, blushing slightly at the idea of what his hand was touching.
"You like Nero still," he stated, his eye flickering over to the midday sun that was reflecting off the skyscrapers outside. Evelyn's mouth swung open as she looked at her friend, puffing out her chest.
"You read my diary!"
"No I swear!" Damon shouted, his hands out infront of him in a display of surrender. "Grover told me-"
"Grover read my diary?" Evelyn squeaked.
"Yes he also steals your dirty underwear-"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I only found out this morning but that is not the point!" Damon growled, getting the girls attention back. "If you want Nero back, I know how to help."
Evelyn, sat down on the bed, her face still red from learning about Grover snooping around her room but intrigued by Damon's proposal. "Go on."
District 2:
Nero Anghel-17
Evelyn "Eve" Callie Spires- 17
Tributes Mentioned:
Annabella Giada, District 3
Lorette Moriko, District 6
Pallas Narciso, District 10
Romilda Vasilios, District 4
Grover Lindall, District 7
Damon Romulus, District 5
Berik Mathews, District 12