Fire is catching
Chapter 15
Authors Note: The Hunger Games really started. What kind of deadly traps await Lucy in the heavenly arena? Find out all about it in this chapter. Enjoy!
Although I now know that the arena is cursed, filled with all kind of traps and a smell that makes it hard to concentrate, it's still hard to withstand it.
After a while I get used to it though and my mind almost automatically pushes away the wave of dizziness that tries to overcome me once in a while.
Water, I need water, desperately.
Oh right, I have my backpack, the one I fought so hard for, the one that cost Lisanna's life.
The fabric of that bag lies heavy against my back, the straps cutting into my flesh, making every movement painful. It's almost as if the backpack doesn't contain important survival items but all the fear and guilt that built up in the last hours. The weight on my back feels as heavy as the weight on my heart.
I'm responsible for the death of a young girl. Pain, pain, pain It is kind of pleasant though, in a weird way. Although carrying the pack hurts, at least the pain comes regularly. With every step I take comes a cutting sensation. It's like it punishes me for every movement I make, because I shouldn't be able to move at all. Lisanna should be the one walking through those woods, still having a slight chance to survive, not me. I should be the one being carried out of the arena by a hovercraft.
So the backpack is a painful way to remind me that I'm still alive.
I take the black pack of my back and my hands start to tremble as it reminds me of her death. Her blood is still on my hands, sticking under my nails and those last words will stay in my head forever "It's okay,all living things eventually die".
I shake of those memories and examine the things inside the backpack.
A role of magic coins that I carefully place in the pocket of my skirt, a bottle which unfortunately turns out to be empty, a pack of dried fruit and some crackers, a few ropes and a thin sleeping bag that I can, guess what, sleep in.
That's not too bad.
I feel a little hungry but decide to keep my backpack food for later.
As I'm surrounded by bushes and trees full of delicious looking fruit I don't think that I'll have a food shortage soon.
I walk over to a nearby bush and pick three gigantic, round, pinkish fruit which I never saw before.
I look at them closely, trying to find some flaw, but they look perfectly all right.
Just as I want to take a bite I remember Levy's words. "Fully of deadly traps" and for a split second it's like I can see the fruit's true form, like I peeled of a second layer and saw behind some kind of illusion that was hiding the real fruit.
I don't know how and why I could see it, but I'm certain of it.
One bite of that fruit and my cannon would have gone off immediately.
I look around , concentrate really hard until I see it, until I revealed the true form of all the food around me.
I stare at the ripe fruit and concentrate, try to forget everything else around me and look deep into it, try to dig deeper, to look behind that tasty looking fruit to see what really hides behind it. It's like I'm moving into the fruit visually, going beyond the barrier.
When I try to take off the glamour the world around me turns black and white, only the fruit are filled with some kind of greenish liquid, most probably poison and I know that I'm not supposed to eat those.
I don't know how that technique works and if the fruit are really that poisonous, but I'm not eager to poker my life on it.
It's like the arena is designed with different layers. The final layer shows what I see, the beautiful paradise surrounding me, but by looking carefully and concentrating very hard I can somehow overcome a kind of barrier and after that I can see another layer of the arena design where it's actually shown that that fruit is deadly.
The game makers really do invent "great" things every year to keep it exciting.
Looking past that illusion is a test in order to find out whether the tributes are careful enough. Although seeing through the glamour is basically just looking, it acquires a lot of concentration and energy and after a little while my head starts spinning.
Or maybe, although it sounds like a crazy thought, I wasn't supposed to see beyond the barrier. Maybe the game makers didn't want somebody to know that the fruit is dangerous, maybe I managed to trick their system?
No, that's impossible, right? It can't be that I, just another girl from district 8, fooled the game maker's technology?!
No matter which way it is. at least I know that the food is poisonous now.
Great, I'm surrounded by food which I can't eat, I can hear water which I'll never get and I'm constantly endangered to turn into an overly happy and careless me due to the strange scent that's trying to hijack my brain.
What an awesome arena.
Thank you very much, Seneca Crane.
I guess I'll have to deal with it.
The game makers can't just leave us here without any food and water, right? That would lead to too many deaths because of dehydration and starvation which would take all the fun of killing each other away.
So there must be something to drink and eat.
It's just well hidden.
I continue my way through the woods, looking for something ed- and drinkable.
What I thought was pleasant warmth at first turned into an intolerable heat, the sun burning down on my head pitilessly.
I'm not used to being exposed to the sun that much, it isn't good for me.
I really don't know how much time I spent in that forest already, but it seems like the woods never end.
Maybe I'm running circles, who knows?
That water source is making me nuts. I can hear it, I can hear the water but no matter which direction I go, the distance doesn't get more or less.
It drives me crazy.
Also my tongue is starting to feel like sandpaper. I need a drink.
Oh I would give everything for some drops of clear, fresh water.
Did I mention that I'm very, very thirsty?
Think Lucy, think! There has to be some water here, somewhere.
They just hid it very, very well.
Ok…where can water be?
In lakes, rivers, oceans, cactuses, rain, the ground water, uhm…..
Maybe I could dig a hole and try to get access to the ground water, yap, I#m starting to get desperate.
Shit, this isn't going anywhere.
The heat makes me sweat a lot, so my body is losing liquid all the time which only increases my need for water.
Although the high trees and their leaves give me some sun protection my vision starts to get a little blurry, my head feeling like it's filled with fried potatoes.
Okay, that just absolutely made no sense, get what I mean? I can't even think straight anymore.
I can feel how my thoughts aren't processing as fast anymore, everything is slowing down and all I want is to stop moving and simply lie down in a cold bath.
I read once that if you tell yourself that, for example your arm, feels warm, after enough practice it will really feel warm. Maybe that goes into both directions. I try telling my body that it isn't that hot, I try to think of ice and cool drinks, but nothing really helps.
The high trees start spinning in front of my eye, watching them makes me dizzy.
Oh right, I shouldn't forget about the arena's scent, only supporting my brainlessness.
Come on, don't tell me I'm going to die from dehydration?
No, that's just too lame.
I'm not going to let that happen.
I will find water before the sun goes down.
Honestly, it's not even been a day since the games started. Can you be that dehydrated after so little time?
Okay, it indeed is very hot, but I can't be at my limit after some hours….or can I?
Until now I didn't even notice how exhausted I am. All that running, the fight with Lisanna, the stress and fear and the heat were hard on my body.
It would be so pleasant to sit in the shadow of the tress and sleep, sleep forever.
But no, no, I can't do that, I have to find water, I have to go on, I have to..,
Before I know what's happening, I break down.
I simply sink to the ground, in the middle of the woods.
My body's lying on the dry hard earth and I'm not even able to move an inch.
That was too much, too much for the spoiled mayor's daughter.
I guess I'll take a short break.
Just a short one.
I'll get up in a minute…
I open my eyes, blinded by the light.
My mouth is so dry I can't even open it.
I feel like a wringed out cloth.
They say the body is more than 70% water, but I swear, right now I'm 10% maximum.
I mean, honestly, I bet you can make fried eggs on my back.
This heat isn't the normal one. It'sawfully dry, the air containing no humidity at all.
I need water.
Please, damn it Angel, I'm dying! Send me some water!
I know my mentor wouldn't just let me die and suffer like this if she could help it.
That means, there is a way I can find it on my own. Maybe I'm even very close to it.
"Lucy!" I try to turn around, but my body lets me down. If somebody attacked me now I wouldn't even have enough strength to defend myself, let alone summoning any of my spirits.
But I know that voice, it's so familiar I would recognize it anywhere.
Author's Note: Who is this mysterious person? Have a guess… I swear, if somebody gets it right I will totally freak out, because it's actually very hard! I mean you would have to be able to read my thoughts in order to know it… Small tip: It is a character that actually occurs in fairy tail.
Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, please let me know what you think!
Next chapter will be out in one week, so be prepared!
Lucy: It's soooooo hot, I'm dying…
Natsu: You really think so? I don't feel the heat at all. It's nothing compared to my flames.
Gray: I'm always cool enough, the weather doesn't affect me.
Erza: I AM TOO STRONG TO BE BOTHERED BY A LITTLE BIT OF HEAT!
Wendy: I'm a sky dragon slayer, so I can always create a pleasant breeze to cool me down.
Mirajane: A demon doesn't care about heat, the dark flames of hell are way hotter than this.
Lucy: WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE SUFFERING FROM THAT DAMN HEAT?! *faints*
Natsu: Pitiable creature.