Aurelius Crane (District 10 Mentor)
"What the fuck, Aurelius?!" snarls Cleopatra, her normally soft, sultry voice dripping with venom and disgust as it knifes through the din of the celebration in the plaza below me and smashes into my ears like a tidal wave. "I thought we agreed to discuss sponsor gifts before sending them out."
"We did," I mumble, my eyes fixed on the screen in front of me as I take a small sip of my drink while SB and her allies cautiously examine the sponsor gift she just received.
"Then why did you send your tribute one without checking with us first?!" she sneers, her voice softening slightly as Dahlia and Alexander slowly make their way out of the club and onto the balcony with concerned looks on their faces.
I don't know how to answer that question. I've spent the last fifteen minutes trying to come up with one, but I'm no closer now than I was when I started. Though that probably has more to do with the bottle and a half of vodka I've drunk than it does anything else.
That might have been a mistake.
"Don't ignore me, Aurelius."
"I'm not," I finally say, my voice calm and even, my eyes never leaving the screen as she stands there and fumes in silence while Alexander and Dahlia stand at the far end of the bar and wait to see what happens next. "I'm just trying to think of an artful and elegant way of saying that I didn't send the gift."
"Bullshit!" she growls, her voice trembling with barely contained fury as she slams her fist down on the bar beside me. "If you didn't send it, then who did?"
"I don't know," I admit, my voice dropping half an octave as I casually reach into my coat and grab my sponsor datapad before tossing it to her.
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"What about that statement was confusing?" I ask, my vision blurring slightly as I reluctantly pull my eyes away from the vidscreen to look up at her as I take another sip of my drink.
"Don't get cute with me, Aurelius. I'm not in the mood for it."
"I'm not getting cute with you, Cleopatra. I'm asking a question."
She doesn't like that answer. And for a second, it looks like she might hit me. And she probably would have if Dahlia hadn't swooped in and saved me at the last minute.
"Do you at least know what's in it?" she asks, her voice soft and curious as she carefully plucks the pad out of Cleopatra's hand before she can slap me with it.
"I'm afraid I don't."
"Why not?"
"Because Alfonso and Ariadne were blocking the cameras when SB opened it."
"This isn't a joke, Aurelius," she coos, her eyes never leaving mine as she casually hops up on the bar with a sigh. "It's serious."
"I know it is," I sigh.
"Then why aren't you taking it seriously?"
"I am," I say, a little too defensively.
"Then why don't you just answer the question?"
"Because I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because there's no record of the gift in the system," mumbles Alexander, his voice low and serious. "Is there?"
"No," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Of course, there's not," he groans, the color slowly draining from his face as he stands there and stares off into oblivion. "Fuck!"
"I know," I say, my voice slurring slightly as I quickly shotgun the last third of my screwdriver before slamming the empty glass back down onto the bar with a disgusted grunt. "I'm worried too."
"Why are you worried?" growls Cleopatra, her voice laced with anger and disgust, with just a hint of fear bubbling under the surface.
"Because there are only a handful of people in Panem with the power to send a sponsor gift without leaving a paper trail," mumbles Alexander, his face a mask of indifference as he calmly walks over to the edge of the balcony and stares down into the mass of people below. "And none of them are supposed to do it."
"But one of them did," I say, my words slurring slightly. "And we all know what that means. Don't we?"
"Someone's playing favorites," whispers Cleopatra, her voice dropping half an octave as the anger burning in her captivating green eyes is quickly replaced by fear.
"Exactly," I mumble, my head throbbing with every word. "And that means shit's about to get real."
"So, what are we supposed to do?" asks Dahlia, her voice barely above a whisper, her lip quivering with every word.
"The only thing we can do," I mumble, my face covered in a fine sheen of vodka-scented sweat as I force myself off my stool and stumble back behind the bar to look for more. "Pretend WE'RE the ones who sent the gift and pray that whoever really sent it doesn't do it again."
"And what if they do?" whispers Cleopatra, her voice eerily quiet as she stands there and stares at me with a look of honest to god fear etched on her perfect face.
"I don't know," I admit, my eyes swimming as I stand here and fight a losing battle with my stomach while slowly sifting through the mass of unlabeled bottles piled behind the bar. "I figured we'd cross that bridge when and if we have to."
"That's a terrible idea, and you know it," mumbles Alexander, his voice smashing into my head like a nuclear bomb as he reaches over the bar and plucks the bottle of vodka I found out of my hand with a sigh before sliding it down the bar to Cleopatra. "But, lucky for you, we're here.
"Hide that from him, please.
"Dahlia? Will you ask the avox hiding by the door to bring us a pot of black coffee and a bottle of warm water?
"We've got a lot of work to do, and Aurelius needs to be sober to help us do it."
Alfonso Cadel-18 (District 1 Male)
"So, what the hell is it?" I finally ask, the question slipping past my lips in frustration as I stare down at SB's new toy and fight back the urge to yawn.
"I'm not sure," mumbles Ariadne, her eyes fixed on the crude, brutal curves of the weapon's head as she runs her fingers gently along the handle. "It looks like a club."
"What kind of club has a built-in flashlight and runs on batteries?" I ask, my irritation and exhaustion seeping into my words despite my best efforts.
"The deluxe battery-operated kind?" she says, her lame attempt at a joke drawing a groan from my lips and a slightly dramatic eye roll.
"It's a stun baton," whispers SB, her voice soft and distant, her eyes glued to the letter that came with the gift.
"What the hell's a stun baton?" I ask, my voice tinged with curiosity.
"Isn't it obvious?" coos Ariadne, her eyes lighting up as she slips the weapon out of the box and gives it a couple of playful swings before spinning around to face me with a massive shit-eating grin. "It's a baton that stuns."
"There has to be more to it than that."
"There is," mumbles SB, her voice barely above a whisper, her hands trembling, her cheeks covered in tears as she continues to sit there and stare down at the tiny piece of paper in her hand. "But I don't ... I don't have time to explain it to you."
"Why not?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me despite the uneasy feeling her reaction to what she's reading is causing to bubble up in the pit of my stomach. "You have somewhere more important to be?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," she mumbles, her voice cracking with every word as she pops back to her feet and reluctantly stuffs the letter she's been staring at into the folds of her tunic.
"Really? Where?"
She doesn't answer me. Instead, she slowly shuffles over to where Ariadne and I are standing with a terrified look on her suddenly pale face.
"Ariadne, will you go wake up Helena, please? And try not to take no for an answer like Alfonso did."
"You act like I had a choice," I say, my voice low and defensive as my hand instinctively shoots up to the fresh bruise on my cheek. "Helena nearly took my head off when I tried to wake her up.
"And you didn't answer my question."
"And I'm not going to," she mumbles, her eyes glued to her new toy as she bends down and unscrews the bottom before casually sliding the batteries into the handle.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not," she says, her voice dropping half an octave as she quickly screws the cap back onto the bottom of her weapon before popping back to her feet with a defeated sigh. "And no, I'm not going to explain why either."
"Why not?" I snap, my frustration from earlier rushing back in as I stand here and try to understand why SB is acting this way. Does it have something to do with the letter that came with her gift?
"Because I can't," she whispers, her composure hanging by a thread, her wide, tear-filled eyes silently pleading with me to drop this.
So I do.
I don't want to. And the logical part of me knows I'm making a potentially deadly mistake. But I force myself to do it anyway.
Why? Because I don't feel like pressing the issue. And, more importantly, I don't have to. Not yet, anyway.
And as long as SB's secrets don't put me in danger, she's welcome to keep them. I don't care. But the second they do, all bets are off. She'll be spilling her guts, or I'll be spilling them for her. The choice is hers. And she knows it.
"Alright, have it your way.
"Ariadne, go wake up Helena. But be careful. She's got a mean right hook."
Cornelia Harbor-16 (District 4 Female)
I can't do this anymore. I thought I could, but I can't. I'm just not cut out to be a career. I wanna go home.
Everyone I knew told me this was gonna happen, but I didn't want to believe it. I was so in love with the idea of the Games that I never dreamed the reality wouldn't live up to the fantasy.
And for a while, it did. Things might not have been perfect, but for the most part, they were living up to my expectations. And then Shimmer made me cut Cassis's throat.
I didn't wanna do it. God knows I didn't wanna kill him. But I didn't have a choice.
It was him or me, and I wasn't ready to die. So I did what I had to, and I cut his throat.
And it took every ounce of self-control I had not to cry or throw up as I did it. And then Shimmer and Bellatrix congratulated me for finally getting a kill. My hands were covered in Cassis's blood, and all they could talk about was how proud they were that I'd finally popped my cherry.
That's when I realized I'd made a mistake, a stupid, pointless, life-destroying mistake. And I have no one but myself to blame for it.
But at least it's not too late for me to fix it. All I have to do is grab my stuff and walk away. I could take what's mine and disappear into the depths of the arena before either of them knows I'm gone. It would be so easy.
So why can't I do it?
I know I can't just sit here and wait for Bellatrix to snap or Shimmer to lose his shit. It's not safe. So why can't I leave?
"What am I still doing here?"
"I don't know, Cornelia," says a soft, almost unhearable voice behind me, their cold, condescending tone sending shivers down my spine as they slowly walk up behind me. "What are you still doing here?" they ask, their breath hot on my neck, their fingers leaving a trail of goose pimples in their wake as they slowly run them up my arms to my neck and shoulders.
"Who's ..." I don't get to finish my question. Because as soon as I open my mouth to ask it, the hands on my shoulders slip down around my neck and start to squeeze, cutting off my air supply and choking off my question with a weak, terrified little gurgle.
A/N: Hey everyone, it's been a while. I want to start off by apologizing for how long it's been between updates. I never intended for there to be a nearly two month gap between chapters, especially not in the arena, but life had different ideas. My Fiancée and I had our twins about a week after the last update and I've spent the better part of the last month and a half trying to figure out how to be a dad. I'm starting to figure it all out, and I want to thank you for your patience.
Now, I know this wasn't the most exciting or action packed return to the story, it's also on the short side of things, but there is a reason for that and I hope it'll be made clear in the next couple of chapters as we start up the second act of things in the arena. So please, bear with me as I try to get back into the swing of things and start bringing the story back to life :D
Thank you all again for reading and I look forward to your comments and suggestions :D