Guys, if you do not start reviewing we are gonna have problems. Because PowerOfAphrodite is the only one who's reviewing, maybe I should just PM her the chapters. I am very, very serious about this reviewing thing. It is very important to me, and nothing bothers me more than 25 people reading that last chapter and only one person reviewing.
The Games start next chapter, so it'd be a shame if you guys don't get to find out what happens in them...
The day after we got our scores was our resting day. One day to finally prepare ourselves for the games that would begin the following morning at precisely 8:05. Unfortunately, it didn't help me prepare at all. All it did was make me more and more anxious, and I was worried about my resolve crumbling.
I pushed my fears away and spent the day with my allies, planning what we were going to do to begin the games. The basic idea was this: Ash would run towards me the second the chimes went off, while Ty and Dianna ran for the cornucopia to gather all the supplies. Thomas and Thray would cover them, while staying back far enough that they weren't in any serious danger of getting involved in the blood-bath. The other children, the ones from District 13 and then Kiki, would run after Ash, trying to keep up as Ash and I ran to the nearest shelter that would hide us from the rest of the bloodshed. Trees, hopefully. Ty and the others would then follow us, using the 60 second pause at the beginning to evaluate where we were. In the pause, I would indicate where we were going to run.
That night, I went to bed early but I couldn't sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, I was worried that I would never get to sleep, and I couldn't risk being exhausted the following day. I got out of bed and searched for Naevius. When I found him he was still nursing the sick Hadriana, but he stood up and left her room when he saw me. He gave me a small tablet to help me sleep, and sent me back to bed.
When I finally woke up, Aelia was banging her fists against the door.
"Get up, up, up!" she was saying in a sing-song voice. "It is six, you must be dressed and fed by six-thirty! You must be downstairs by six-fourty-five for us to transport down to the center for the debriefing, so you can leave for the arena by seven-thirty! Then, you will be in your rooms by eight and up in the arena by eight-oh-five!"
"Ughhhhhh," I groaned, rolling over and smacking my fist against the pillow. "Are you sure I can't just stay here?"
"Absitively-possolutely!" she said, chipper as ever. I rolled out of bed and opened the closet, wondering what would be best to wear into the arena. I didn't get a choice; there was only one outfit inside. I looked at it, wondering how precisely I was supposed to put it on.
It was a thin black material that didn't consist of a shirt and pants, but was rather both in one. I took it off the rack and glanced at the back, which had a zipper go from the back of the neck all the way down to the small of the back. I unzipped it and slid inside, fumbling awkwardly for the zipper on my back when a second knock came from the door.
"Rosa?" Ty's voice called. "Are you ready for breakfast?"
"Almost," I called back.
There was silence for a moment as I tried to get the zipper the rest of the way up my back. "Are you having problems with your uniform?"
"A little," I admitted. The door opened slowly, and Ty peeked around the corner.
"Here, let me help," he said, and he walked closer. He gently removed my fingers from the zipper and zipped it the last ten inches, brushing my hair out of the way and over my shoulder.
"Um, thanks," I said, a little awkward.
"Don't thank me yet, there's more," he said, smiling lopsidedly. He reached back into the closet and grabbed a bag from the bottom, in which I had assumed would be shoes. He opened it and dumped it out on the foot of my bed, sending small pieces of silver metal clinking across the bedspread. I picked a piece up, examining it, and then I glanced back at Ty, studying his outfit.
His suit was also black, but it was encrusted in a deep red metal. A chest-plate made of different plates of metal that seemed to have no way of staying on his body outlined his physique, and cuffs of metal clung to his biceps and thighs. I picked up a piece of my silver metal and was surprised to find it incredibly light weight, it might have been made out of feathers.
"That's a cuff for your forearm," Ty said, taking it from me and touching it to the fabric on my left arm. There was a weird sound almost like velcro, and the fabric knit itself to the metal. I tried to pull the metal off, but it wouldn't budge. "Don't worry, it won't hurt. You'll get used to it."
I nodded, taking a deep breath to clear my mind. I reached for another piece of metal, which matched the one on my left forearm, and touched it to my right. The sound followed, and I took another breath. Ty handed me another piece of metal. "This is for your upper arm."
Once my arms were covered, I worked up my legs. He grabbed a few more pieces of metal and fit them to my back for me. He then handed me another piece of metal. "This is for your, uh..." he stopped talking, his face turning red. I glanced at the metal and realized it had cups, and I quickly put it on my chest before he finished talking. The last two sheets of metal guarded my stomach, and then I straightened. It felt odd to wear this metal armor, and I worried that it would make it difficult to maneuver in the arena.
"Two more things," Ty said, fishing in the bag. "Boots, and... ah, here they are. Gloves." He handed me the gloves and boots, then took a step back awkwardly. I looked at him for a long moment.
"It'll only take a minute to put them on, I'll meet you for breakfast," I said, and he nodded. His lopsided grin returned and he backed out of the room.
"See you then!"
I yanked on my boots and laced them up to my ankles, and then tugged my gloves on finger by finger. When I walked out to the dining room, everyone was there. Extra chairs had been pulled up to the already large District 12 table to accommodate not only the four tributes from District 12, but also all their alliance partners... and all their alliance partners' stylists, and all of their mentors. All of the District 13 kids were there, Kiki was there, Ty and Dianna were there, Thray and Thomas were there... that meant 13 tributes were there in that room, and 8 mentors, 26 stylists, and 2 Capitol representatives were there. 49 people were crammed into that room; it would have been 50 if only Hadriana was there. Hadriana was still ill. I wondered briefly if she should ever get better, because she had been sick for multiple weeks now. Had she not tried any of the Capitol's medicines?
I grabbed a flaky roll from the center of the table and took up the vacant seat in between Ash and Ty. Everyone from the Capitol side was talking, but the tributes were mostly quiet.
"So, does everyone remember the plan?" I asked, looking at the faces circled around the table. They all nodded, some looking more grim than others.
"Are you ready, Ash?" I asked, giving him a long look. He looked up at me with wide gray eyes, and I offered him an encouraging smile.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "But that isn't going to change, so I suppose I have to be."
"Yeah," I nodded. "But don't worry. In just a little bit, you'll be out of the arena. It'll happen before you know it."
He obviously wasn't comforted, but he didn't say anything else. I ate my roll quickly while Dianna and Ty talked softly to one another. Not soon after I finished, Aelia stood up on the far end of the table and tapped her spoon against her glass.
"Everyone, everyone!" she called. "It is six-thirty-five, please start heading in groups to the elevators! Tributes first, please!"
I got up slowly, pushing my chair backwards as I stood. I put my hand on Ash's shoulder and steered him around towards the elevator, with Ty on my heels. We made the mistake of shoving all 13 of us into the elevator in a single go, so we were all very very close to one another. I jumped up against Ty on accident, and in my attempt to give him some space I stumbled slightly. He reached out and caught me, laughing.
"Oh, so coordinated," he said, dimples showing. "I can tell you're going to be fearsome in the arena, Ms. Danger Score of 12."
"Oh hush," I said, rolling my eyes. The people standing behind my shifted, pushing me closer against him. Color rose in my cheeks, and I looked down quickly. When we finally reached the bottom, everyone staggered out of the elevator in a wave. The mentors came down in the elevator after us, and I saw Naevius' eyes searching for me over the crowd. When he saw me, he pushed through the crowd, John trailing behind him.
"You two," Naevius said, directing us off to the side. "It is my job to keep you alive. Avoid the blood bath, which I'm sure you've both already talked about. But another thing... play the game. Don't fight the Capitol, don't think you can beat them. Just go along with it, it's your only chance of getting you... or someone you love... out alive."
"Got it," John agreed. "Is that all? I'm going to go track down Allie."
"Yeah, you're good," Naevius said, and John disappeared back into the mess of tributes, mentors, and stylists.
"Sweet," I said, moving to meet back up with my allies.
"Not you," Naevius said, grabbing my arm and turning me to face him once more. "You. Do you know what is going on?"
"Um... I'm going to fight to the death, I'm pretty sure," I said.
"No, not that," Naevius said. "They said your brother would go back into the games, even though they already said the victors get immunity. Do you know what they're doing?"
"No," I said, frowning. "Do you?"
"Damn," he said, shaking his head. "My best guess is that it's a special thing for the Mockingjay's kids. But that doesn't sound right... they always have something more devious than that. Be careful. The entire country was watching when they made that blunder and they are going to have to explain it... the only time it won't matter is if Ash is dead. Your job is going to be harder than you had thought before."
My heart sank down into my stomach as I processed what he said.
"Great..." I said, sighing.
"Tributes to the front!" a bellowing voice called, and I saw Varius, the head trainer, looming over the crowd. "Time to leave!"
"Good luck," Naevius whispered, and gave me a light push towards the other tributes. I followed the mob of tributes as they moved from the large entryway in which we had gathered down through the depths of the buildings to the training center that we had been in only a few days ago. After a few minutes of walking, we saw the training center.
The training center had been reorganized. Many of the walls that had surrounded it had been reorganized, blocking over half of the center from view. What remained of the training center was filled with chairs and a single white sheet, which hung on the wall that all the chairs faced.
"Sit down, sit down," Varius said, and everyone took a seat. A light flashed across the white sheet, illuminating it with a few images. "Here is your lastdebriefing before the games. Once this is over, I would like you to exit through the corridor on your left.
"Many of you may have heard of the Hunger Games, and this game will be very similar. However, it is also very different. It is not the bloody free-for-all that your parents knew. There are rules in the arena.
"Firstly, what everyone wants to know... What will happen if you're a victor. For most of you, you will be granted what is virtually the same as immunity to the games. You will get suspended from having your name re-drawn for seven years, which will make each of you too old to compete again. However, those of you who are the children of higher ranking officials will have your name suspended for less time. Many of you will have your name-drawing suspended for four years. The exception is the Mockingjay's children, who will only have it suspended for a single year following their games. This means that they will not be drawn next year, should they win, but they could be drawn the following year.
"Secondly..." I stopped listening to the trainer then. I was absorbed in taking in the information they had just provided me. If Ash won this one, he could go back when he was 14. And then again when he was 16. And again when he was 18. And me? If somehow I won this one, I could go back when I was 18. And Baby Blue... I took a deep, shuddering breath.
"It's alright," Ty whispered, nudging me slightly. I looked up at him and smiled slightly, and he returned my smile. Varius kept talking, but I didn't tune back in until he said,
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Please exit through that corridor, which will lead you under the city to an airpad where the airship is waiting to take you to the arena. Today is the day of the Games! May the odds be ever in your favor."