Fire is catching
Chapter 16
Authors Note: Okay, thanks to all the people that took a guess in the comments and congratulations to 2Nerdzz for getting it right. You either are extremely intelligent or you must be able to read my thoughts! Or you're probably just a good guesser…
Anyway, enjoy chapter 16!
But I know that voice, it's so familiar I would recognize it anywhere.
Wait…,what is she doing here?!
Standing in front of me is Michelle, my little sister Michelle!
She wears her usual light pink long dress and her characteristic bonnet under which her smooth curly hair sticks out.
Wait…, that's impossible! She can't be here, this is simply impossible!
Great, now I'm hallucinating things.
"Lucy, you have to look. The solution lies right in front of you. Actually you're even surrounded by it nee-chan."
"W..Wait Michelle, why are you even here? What is this?"
She gives me a knowing smile.
My vision keeps zooming in and out, the heat killing me softly. I'm always on the edge of being unconscious, but with the rest of my brain (the small part that wasn't burned away by the sun) I certainly recognize Michelle. It really is her.
"I want to help my bigger sister, what else?" As if it's normal for her to be in this arena!
How did my little sister (I know that she's actually a doll and it's a little childish to still treat her as if she was my little sister, but deal with it ok? That's what I like to do!) even get here?
When I was a little kid and my mom was still alive, my parents got me a doll for my birthday. That doll meant everything to me, I took her everywhere, we were never separated. I even talked to that doll, treated her as if she was a human being. As I've always wanted a little sister, but never actually had the pleasure of experiencing the birth of a younger sibling, I simply pretended Michelle, my doll, was my little sister. It's a time I like to remember, we had so much fun together. It was a time of happiness and freedom, a time when I didn't know about mom's disease or the hunger games or the horrible dictatorship I was living in. After my mother passed away, I fell into a deep hole of grief and sadness. The funeral of my mother wasn't only for burying her, it was the day my childhood, including Michelle, died, and the carefree me left with it. Since then I never touched Michelle again but now she's standing in front of me, just as tall as I am, made out of human flesh.
I must be imagining things.
"You want water, right?"
I silently nod still very confused.
"The solution to your problem lies right in front of you, Lucy nee-chan. You just have to open your eyes and see it."
She walks over to one of the bushes on which the poisonous fruits are hanging on and picks up one of them.
"Michelle, don't…they're poi…", before I can finish my sentence my sister with her beautiful long curly blonde hair takes a big bite of the pink food.
But instead of dropping dead or something like that she shows me that the fruit are actually filled with water!
"But…,but I thought they were poisonous…." I stammer completely confused now.
"They indeed are nee-chan, you have to be extremely careful. Look closely. Can't you see the difference?"
I focus on the small bushes, peeling of the glamour. Everything turns black and white (I really don't know how I do this so don't ask), only the toxic fruit sending of a neon green light, revealing their true form. But as I pay more attention, I notice that not all of the fruit are colored in green.
Some of them are sending of a pale yellowish glimmer.
It's kind of difficult to tell the difference, but if you look closely, it's clearly visible.
"Those are the ones filled with water" Michelle says as if she was reading my thoughts.
"So these fruit aren't poisonous…I can drink them?" I ask suspiciously.
"Yes, trust me sis"
I carefully grab one of them and take a tiny bite.
A sensation floods my mouth, I don't remember water tasting that good.
It's so pleasantly refreshing, washing off all my dizziness, as if I've never suffered and before I know it, I emptied all of the fruit.
"Oh my goodness, thank you Michelle, you..", but as I turn around my little sister is already gone.
Maybe she was a hallucination, but I don't really care.
She showed me how to find water, she saved me.
I carefully pick another pink fruit and break it into two equal parts. I sip the fresh cool water and it's amazing how quickly my body comes back to life.
I wonder if the other tributes already found out about it or not, I mean, they can't all have a hallucination of their little sister showing them the solution right?
That sure was strange…, but that whole arena is remarkably bizarre.
A soporific scent, toxic fruit protected by a glamour that can be looked through, water only available through eating a certain kind of that apparently poisonous food, the game markers were creative this year.
They created a perfect deadly paradise for me and my 23 fellow tributes.
And I just saw a fraction of the fun.
I stuff so many of the water fruit into my backpack that it literally weighs a ton, but who knows when I'll come across fresh water again. I never want to have that experience of blacking out because of dehydration again, so better safe than sorry!
Also always carrying water with me has another advantage. If I actually am forced to fight, I can summon Aquarius, one of my strongest keys.
Feeling a lot better than before I make my way through the dense forest. I don't actually know why I'm moving, it's not that I have a special location to reach or anything like that, but it keeps me busy.
Standing still would probably make me even more nervous than I already am.
It is still incredibly warm although I'm in the shadows, but the heat doesn't feel as terrible as it did before, now that I know that I have water with me.
The landscape gets a little hilly, dead leaves lying on the dry ground, trees caressing the sky, pine needles brushing against my skin as I walk past them.
What should I do?
I found something to drink, food will be the next problem, but for now I have no particular goal other than staying alive.
Although I always feel like I'm in a rush, like I should start running, there is no need to.
As far as I know, nobody is following me, I solved my biggest problem and I stayed alive for the first few hours this day.
I guess that I'm a really pathetic tribute, I don't even know what to do. Although I have to admit that this was a quite eventful day.
I was trapped in a labyrinth, was nearly killed by Erza's flying knife, got into a fight with Lisanna which ended deadly for her, almost got brainwashed by the arena's smell and was close to fainting, maybe even dying, because of dehydration.
That's a pretty awesome first day in the hunger games.
The day is slowly coming to an end, the temperature decreases to a pleasant cold and the sun is starting to sink.
The sky fades from orange to bright pink into a warm gold and I watch the sun set through the high trees of the woods that surrounded me.
Although this day sure was horrible and exhausting, I had imagined it being worse.
To be honest, I didn't think I would make it through the first day at all, so I'm pretty content with the outcome.
I am alive and I have water and…,a picture of Lisanna's dead body covered in blood crosses my mind, and I'm responsible for a death. How can I forget about that?
I truly am a monster.
A selfish, heartless monster.
My name is Lucy Heartfilia, I'm 17 years old and I come from district 8. I survived the first hours of the hunger games which gives me a reason to be a little relieved and so far it doesn't seem like I'm in danger so-
I shouldn't have said that.
Saying that I'm not in danger is like challenging the game makers to get me into trouble.
And no kidding, a few seconds after I had this thought, I hear some footsteps, the cracking of a dry branch lying in the floor, the sound of boots walking through the leaves.
"Come on, walk faster, we have some tributes to kill" I hear the determined voice of Erza Scarlet way too close to me.
She's only a few meters away, 100 or 200 maybe, if I'm lucky.
I can hear other footsteps; most probably the other careers and they're coming closer.
I look around, panic crawling up my spine.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
Career alarm!
What should I do, where should I go, what should I do, help me!
A million thoughts race through my mind.
I have three options: Flight, hide, fight.
I immediately cross out the option of fighting, 'cause that's just ridiculous.
Me against 6 trained killers?
No way, my chance of winning is 0, 0000000000000000001%
The 1 is for the probability that several trees would fall on our heads and burry the careers under them, with me being the only survivor, but as this is my only chance of winning I shouldn't even dare to fight.
That leaves flight or hide.
I'm not the fastest runner and as they're so close they would probably spot me and I'd be dead.
I look around searching for a place for me to hide as I hear the footsteps coming closer.
There is no time….
My hands start to get sweaty.
I was so happy that I made it this far and now the careers are after me! Why?
Isn't my life screwed up enough already?
A cave, maybe a hole under the roots of a tree, I would take anything big enough to hide me, but I'm not that lucky.
My eyes lock on a deciduous tree that has some lower branches.
I'm not that much of a climber, but its way better than being tortured by Erza and Co.
To be honest, I haven't climbed a tree for years. It's not the usual thing the daughter of the mayor of district 8 is supposed to do.
I remember climbing the old apple tree in our garden when I was a kid, but as I always ruined my clothes I soon was forbidden to do it again and that's how my relationship with trees ended.
As I stand in front of the large oak tree I grab the lowest branch, hoping that it will carry my weight, lift myself up and dig my nails into the bark.
Maybe that idea wasn't that good after all, but there's no turning back, I don't have the time.
I reach for another branch, steady my foot on a small projection and pull myself onto the next stage.
Sometimes it's really hard for me to get any higher, because the branches don't grow in a symmetrical way, so I occasionally have to jump up to get hold of anything at all.
I climb my way up so slowly it's a miracle the careers haven't spotted me yet.
They're coming closer though, they'll be here anytime, hurry!
Beads of sweat are running down my forehead and my hands are shaking.
I'm so scared, pure terror rushing through my body.
Finally the leaves get denser, protecting me from their sight, I should be a little safer now but I don't stop climbing until I reach the very top of the huge tree.
I don't even want to look down.
But as I do it anyway, my world starts spinning and I have that uncomfortable feeling in my gut.
I'm usually not that afraid of heights but only because I never was on a tree, 10 meters high, a strong wind blowing through my hair, sitting on a branch that isn't safe to hold my weight, having 6 skilled killers under me.
Yap, that pretty much sums up my situation.
I'm so scared of falling down, I cling to the branch that I'm sitting on, begging that it will hold me long enough.
It's actually really cold up here, my almost bare arms get goose bumps and my whole body is shaking from the cold (oh and the fear of course).
My teeth shatter so loudly I'm afraid the careers will be able to hear it.
"Calm down Lucy. You're not cold at all. And you're not scared either. Think of something nice. A warm summer day back home…"
Unfortunately this trick doesn't work.
The six careers are just a few meters away from my tree now, I can see them through the foliage, I hope they can't see me though.
Erza is leading the troop, dressed in her usual armor, followed by Gajeel and Saphir both having wicked grins on their faces. Juvia clings to Gray who doesn't seem to like that and looks away searching for help. Is he getting tired of the star-crossed lovers act already? Mirajane walks in the back looking on the floor. It almost appears as if she doesn't belong to the group, as if she's not eager to kill some unprepared kids.
"Mirajane, get moving" Saphir calls her grumpily.
"C-...coming" she says and hurries to catch up with the others.
I try to press as close to the trunk as possible, please let me melt into the tree, please!
My skin is tingling, my body trembling with fear, but I try to hold still. One false movement, one weird sound and they would find me, torture me, kill me.
I don't want that.
I hold my breath as the career pack walks right under my tree.
Go on walking, there's nothing here, just continue, go on, get going!
Suddenly Gajeel stops and sniffs around.
"You can't be serius", I curse under my breath. Why now? Can't he just sniff the air in like, 5 kilometers?! Why can't he just walk, walk away from that tree, walk away from me?
"What is it?" Erza Scarlet asks, also coming to a halt.
Oh no…,this is bad.
Authors Note: Oh my God Lucy, you surely got yourself into a dangerous situation…
Will she get out of this dead end, or does this encounter mean Lucy's final fight? Find out all about it in chapter 17 and please tell me what you think about this upload!
Lucy: I wonder what everyone else is doing while I'm stuck on that damn tree…
Natsu: *sitting on the ground being bored* I WANNA FIGHT SOMEBODY!
Levy: *chilling in the forest reading books*
Gray: *stripping as usual*
Wendy: *being cute*
Erza: *thinking about strawberry cake*
Gajeel: *eating iron*
Loki: *flirting with girls*
Lucy: Wait, isn't this supposed to be the hunger games?
Author: Well, yes….?
Lucy: THEN WHY THE HELL IS EVERYBODY DOING THE SAME THING THEY ALWAYS DO?!
Author: Well, Lisanna's dead, that's a change…
Natsu: Besides, you're being the same too, Lucy!
Lucy: I'm not, I am sitting in a tree being scared to death
Natsu: No you're not. You're sitting in a tree being noisy and complaining about everything, business as usual. *smirks*
Lucy: I quit. Like, seriously.
Author: *panics* Nooooooo, my main character can't run away from me!
Natsu: Make me the main character! I could fight everybody and be the glorious, heroic winner!
Author: What about no.