Titian used to be a minor character with minimal personality. I'm not sure when he metamorphosized into Jigsaw, but I'll roll with it. I just used him because it seemed the Head Gamemaker would be the one doing this, but then this came out. I'll have to remember the change for future Games.
Everything was different going into the fifth stage. My perspective had shattered and reformed. When the tests started, I'd wanted to prove I was the best and earn a chance to serve with the best. Other than Steel, the best of us were already dead. Whoever won was only the best at surviving. Steel and I were playing a different game now. We weren't trying to please Titian anymore. We were trying not to let him see how much we feared and hated him. The winner would be whoever could keep that hidden for longer.
"My, the time has flown. Already we're down to two," Titian said when we entered his room of horrors.
"I have some good news for you. From now on, none of the tests have a failure quota. If you both pass, we have plenty more waiting. Of course, the difficulty is much higher now that there are only two of you. It shouldn't take long for one of you to rise to the top," he said. He noticed Steel and I were holding hands and smirked to himself.
"This next test isn't as technically complex as some of the others," he said. He took two handguns from his pocket and dangled them as he continued. I could see where this was going. Steel and I would each get one. He'd see who shot first. "We know you're strong, obedient, endurant, and trustworthy. We want to see how far that goes. This test, which may well be the final one, will measure your devotion. We know you love the Capitol, but maybe there's something else you love more. If so, we have no use for you.
"It's a very simple test. Behind me are two doors." Relief washed over me. If it was a duel, they'd have given us the guns right here. "Shortly, you will enter the one marked with your name. Inside, you will find a condemned criminal. Execute the criminal within five minutes and pass the test. It's nothing you haven't done before. It should be easy."
The gun Titian handed me was loaded. I could tell by the weight. The Capitol really trusted me, or else they didn't value Titian very highly. In this case they were right, though. Killing him wasn't worth my life to me. But unlike before, I didn't believe his instructions. It wouldn't be that easy, not on the fifth stage. I suspected this wasn't a test of devotion, but of reflexes or quick-thinking skills. There was probably an assassin on the other side of the door. I hoped Steel was as suspicious as I was. But she opened the door and stepped inside. My heart skipped, but there was no sound and no blood sprayed into the outer room. Then it was testing something else, or the assassin was farther inside. All the same, I stood outside the door and tapped it lightly.
"Rhoda?" a voice came from inside. I wished it wasn't so familiar. I tucked the gun into my pocket, opened the door and revealed the most horrible sight of the entire ordeal.
I hadn't seen Adonis in ages, since before I volunteered. He and I went back to one of both of our first photoshoots: an advertisement for Fanciful Fizzlers candy when we were both six years old. We'd been together in the crazy world of fashion and photography ever since. Eventually I tried to get him to train with me, but he was both spastic and far too soft-hearted. He liked pretty things and glamor, not blood and guts. I used to think he was a little flighty, but now I wondered if he wasn't a lot smarter than I was. As soon as I got inside he went in for a hug. I was so glad to see him and to see anything still pure and happy that for a second, the conclusion eluded me.
Titian wasn't lying this time. It really was a test of devotion. My face went stiff even as I pretended to be as eager as Adonis was. I knew what he was going to say next even before he said it. The pinprick marks on his arms only proved it. He let me go and held my hand.
"They think I'm a rebel! You wouldn't believe what they've been doing. But it's okay now. They said you were coming to vouch for me. All the way back from the dead, Rhoda! You're the best friend ever!" he said. "Come on, let's go tell them. They'll believe you. You're Panem's Sweetheart!"
I had as much time as it took Adonis to say that to make my decision. Again, my perspective shattered, and my priorities rearranged once more. I wasn't loyal to the Capitol anymore. I'd thought maybe I was still loyal to something. Friends, or family, or morality. Maybe I wasn't loyal to anything. Or maybe it wasn't that simple.
The pricks on his arm were damning evidence. If they were torturing him, they really did suspect him. I couldn't imagine why, but it was true. My decision didn't matter for him. Adonis was going to die no matter what. I saw now that suspects didn't leave Capitol courts. This test was an amalgamation of all that came before it. It tested my strength to kill, my obedience to Capitol decisions, my threshold for pain an account of them, and my craftiness. It was the same multilayered game they played with the buttons. The rules were hidden, just like then. If I didn't shoot, he still died.
My decision was made. The last important factor was to hide how difficult it was. Dead was dead. It didn't matter how I went about it, or what Adonis thought of me before he died. If I did it sneakily, or mercifully, they would doubt the fullness of my devotion and enthusiasm for their orders. So I did it exactly how they would want. I took out the gun and leveled it at Adonis' face. To my relief, his face showed me he thought I was joking, or that I had a plan. He trusted me. I looked him in the eyes when I did it. As he fell, I smiled on the outside.
There was blood on Steel's open door when I rejoined Titian. A Peacekeeper stepped outside carrying a wailing, blood-spattered girl. Adult trials started at twelve years old in rare cases. The girl was right on that mark. I didn't look inside to see what Steel left behind.
"Congratulations, Rhoda," Titian said. I smelled Adonis' coppery blood, and warm specks of it were sticky on my face. "I can't say I'm surprised. We were all hoping you'd come through. And of course you did. You're the ideal example of Panem citizenship. Let's get you cleaned up, sweetheart."