Happy (Late) Holidays. Whatever, you celebrate, I hope you had fun and if yesterday was just a normal day for you, I hope it was a pretty rad day. I got a lot of teddies, sweets and a Vikings boxset. T'was a good day.
I planned for this to be posted Christmas Eve but what can you do. Turned out I was busy on those days. But anyway, my Christmas gift to you is a video I made. Not groundbreaking but I kept me amused for a few hours. It is a Trailer for my next story. You can find it at:
resurrectionhgDOTweeblyDOTcom/
I hope you enjoy that, be sure to let me know what you think. There are elements from all my stories but Realism in this. If you have any questions, just PM me.
Right, this chapter, we see two more Warriors fight and see how our other Warriors are doing in The Arena. Again, don't skip to the bottom and enjoy.
23 hours and 15 minutes left.
Sunbeam sat down against one of the hedges, the red cape protecting her skin from the harsh sand. In her hand, she held an arrowhead, a heart-shaped arrowhead and sighed. She was never confident with a bow and she was confused as to why The Gamemakers would give her such a useless weapon.
With a groan, she placed her head back so she could see the overly bright moon and stars. They had only been in the Arena just over an hour so it was hard to know if the sun would ever rise but Sunbeam, despite her namesake, was not too concerned about it. It was bright enough that she could see and warm enough that the darkness did not pose a threat. She was fine staying with this level of darkness for the next few days.
"I don't know, I honestly don't!" A loud voice broke the silence. She turned her head so she was facing Veyron and Nero who argued over which direction to go in. Veyron had got them lost but it was not like she could blame the boy, it was not his field of expertise. "I know I have seen that wall before, though," he said sternly, pointing towards a hedge that cornered them in.
Nero rubbed his temples as he paced. "Right, so we have seen that before, we are getting somewhere, so where do we go?"
"I don't know!" Veyron squeaked, causing Nathalie to roll her eyes at him. He looked over and scowled before turning back to the crude map he had drawn in the sand.
"No I can't, they need me," this voice was different and entirely out of context enough for Sunbeam to look towards the owner. She found Venus talking to the floor, her back turned to the group. Even with a craned neck, the blonde girl was unable to work out what her ally was speaking to. So, with a huff, the girl pulled herself to her feet and shuffled over to Venus.
"What you got there?" Sunbeam asked, causing the girl to jump. Dropping the small thing she held in her hand. Sunbeam followed the small golden mass and smiled. There, looking startled on the ground was a small, golden mouse. Large silver horns growing out of its head. It had back legs like a kangaroo, hopping forward to get a better look at Sunbeam.
The girl had seen them about before but never thought to pick them up like Venus had. "I didn't know they were tame-"
"They say to put them down-" Venus was too late as with a shattering shriek, Sunbeam threw the mouse across the clearing, the small creature vanishing into the hedge. Venus looked at the blood that trickled down the girl's hand from the bite the mouse had caused. "Sunbeam, I'm-"
"Leave it," Sunbeam said with an unsure voice, turning to Coutille who ran over, a small bag of bandages in hand.
They were lost. Every twist and turn ending in the same wall blocking their path. It was almost like they were going in circles, even if Belinda's salt trail showed they were heading in a straight line. While the other girls and Damon talked among themselves, becoming more agitated with every blocked pathway, Evelyn trailed behind, her spear held by her side. Her eyes stayed narrowed as they darted around the Arena, taking notice of every hedge they passed.
After an hour of walking, Belinda stopped, her chest rapidly moving with frustration. Her brown eyes flickered over to the rest of her group before looking at the long winding path before her. "I swear, this was the right way," she whimpered, the anger cracking her voice.
"It's okay," Damon sighed, running his hand through his blonde hair. "I don't think there was a right way, to begin with." Damon himself sounded more broken than lost. He had not been dating for a long time but he still felt empty without Vulcan. His heart felt torn between grieving for his lost boyfriend and working on surviving. Right now, he could not find it in himself to give more than the brief words of encouragement to Belinda.
"Great," Shelly growled, crossing her arms. "I just hope Nero is doing better than us."
"Oh, I am sure he is," Nathalie giggled. "You know, he is one of my biggest regrets."
A small grin spread on Shelly's face as he looked over to a scowling Evelyn. "What do you mean by...regret?"
Nathalie blushed slightly. "I should have done him before all this. I mean, if I was in his group, I'd be trying to do him now...after all, he would be broken about Annabella and I think he might be into me because-"
Nathalie was interrupted by Evelyn stabbing her spear into the ground with force, her lips pierced. "Climb that hedge," the dark-haired girl said, gesturing towards the wall behind her.
"B-but why-"
"If you get to the top, we will be able to see the exit."
"But it's so high, you need a good climber like Grover-"
"Well that little weasel isn't here, is he?" Belinda shuddered at these words, the broken trust coming back to haunt her.
Nathalie looked around for backup but when no one spoke up, she walked up to the hedge and started to climb. It was easier than she thought, the thick branches that made up the hedge making it easy to clamber up. About eight feet of the ground, her foot snagged on something. However, when the girl went to move her foot, the grip became tighter.
"Fuck off-Argh!" with a shriek, the grip on her foot slung the girl forward, throwing her from the hedge and by Evelyn's feet, a small, vengeful smile playing on her lips.
The group looked on in fear as the hedge started to shake, a deep, growling noise coming from within. One after the other, the other hedges started to shake until they moved around the group, blocking off the final pathway and opening up a new one.
"What was-"
"Just as I thought," Evelyn sighed, pulling free her spear and walked towards the new path. "The arena is working against us...there is an exit but don't expect to come out unscathed." Evelyn looked back at Nathalie who lay on the floor, cradling her broken arm through tears.
"You broke it-" A spear flew at the girl, landing only a few feet away from her. Evelyn stormed over, pulling her weapon from the earth and kneeling down beside her ally.
"Nero would never be interested in you...he isn't that type of man," Nathalie mumbled a small apology as Evelyn stood up and started to walk away. "Now come, we are wasting time, we will not sleep, rest or relax until that exit is found!" and with that, the girl walked off, her group trailing behind. As Nathalie hobbled after them, she noticed a bore watching Evelyn vanished into the distance from within the shadows of the hedge.
As Clarissa walked out from her chamber, her side silently cheering for her, she was able to look past the sand in her sandals and focus on a shivering Berik. His blue eyes looked her in the eyes as she stopped a few feet away from him, her body ready to charge.
He looked around at the crowd, tears running down his cheeks before looking back at his target. "We don't have to kill if we don't want to," he said, looking the freckled girl in the eye. "We can stand together."
"No," Clarissa said with a sigh, dismissing Berik's offer. "If we don't fight, they will kill us both just in time for the next pair to kill each other...this is the only way we are getting out of here." Tears started to form in Berik's eyes as he stomped his foot on the floor.
"This is bullshit-"
"It's what we trained for, maybe if you attended class more, you would know that."
"I could say the same about you," Berik chuckled, bringing a smile to the girls face.
"Look, if you win, can you promise you won't kill Sunbeam?" Clarissa asked, her voice cracking.
Berik gave a nod. "I promise...tell me, how is Annabella?"
"Frightened and missing Nero, not that different from the rest of us...do you want to say something to her before we fight?" Clarissa asked, a warm smile forming on her lips.
Berik nodded sadly before Clarissa gestured for the blonde boy to walk past her and towards the gate was Annabella stood with Ares, Tore and Maurice, their faces still tear stained from Loretta's sudden death. The crowd around him started to chatter among themselves, some even shouting at them to fight in frustration.
"Annabella," he asked the frightened girl. "I am sorry I broke you and Nero up...I don't know who started the rumor or made those photos but I know Nero would never have believed it if I didn't love you so much." The girl stiffened up at these words. "I love you but Nero got there first and if I hadn't have hung onto the notion that you might one day love me in return, someone couldn't have lied about us and made me lose a friend, you and make the public place us in here."
Berik looked away, tears started to form in his eyes but he turned back to the blue-haired girl. "I killed the girl I love-AGH!" The crowd jumped at Berik shrieks as Clarissa kicked him in the shin, causing his leg to buckle. Before the boy had a chance had time to pull himself back up, Clarissa once again kicked him in the knee but this time shattered it, pulling broken, pained sobs from the boy's throat.
While he was distracted, the girl moved around, kicked the boy in the face, rolling him into his back but also breaking the skin on the right side of his face.
As she jumped in the air, she felt weightless, the silent world slowing down as she raced through the air. She even noticed the second Berik registered what was going on, his arms attempting to shield his face but it wasn't his face she was aiming for.
As her feet came into contact with his chest, she felt each one of his rib bones shatter and crack, sending shards of bone into his vital organs. As she toppled over, falling onto the floor beside the Warrior, his screams quickly turned into fountains of blood that sprayed from his mouth.
Caught in a sea of fear, Berik quickly started to roll himself over so he was facing Annabella but each small movement drove the shards deeper into his heart. "Annie-" he said through broken lungs and his own blood. "W-win." and with those words, the head he had been holding up dropped to the floor with a crack. However, the boy did not react. In fact, he stayed awake for another minute, his breathing little to none, not blinking or reacting to the world around him. Only opening his mouth slightly to let some of the blood trickled out. However, the Warriors couldn't take their eyes off the brain-dead boy until he took his final, broken breath and his cannon sounded. Then their attention turned to Clarissa.
"You killed a man after you promised him the chance for final words," Tore spat with hate when the girl entered the cell. She looked over at the dark-skinned boy and frowned, her hand covered in blood.
"He was a fool for trusting me, all it taught me was that having anyone you love in these Games just lowers your chances," she growled, sensing she was no longer welcome with her teammates so sitting opposite from their huddle.
"Would you have done the same if it was Sunbeam on the other side of the gate?" Annabella asked, her voice pained.
Clarissa couldn't answer, casting her eyes to the ground as she thought about her girlfriend, knowing she would have said much more than Berik did.
"So don't ever call a man a fool for saying his goodbyes to a loved one again," Ares growled, his palms bleeding from the scratches he had caused with his own nails. "Everyone here has a weakness whether we like it or not and that weakness is someone else."
23rd Place-Berik Mathews, District 12, killed by Clarissa Silvia, District 11Poor Berik was a victim of my poor handling. His bounty hunter self could have been far more interesting if I gave him more time to express himself. However, he would never have been a victor, too arrogant and lacking in sincerity. Given a different style Games, he would have been amazing to write. R.I.P Berik, you didn't deserve the hand I dealt you with this story and I am sorry. Annabella and Nero will miss you despite the lies that were spread about you and Clarissa will never be the same after killing you.
Until next time, have fun!