Just Another Face In The Sky

by Sexy-Foxface

We were the ones whose tales were never told. We were the ones who were either forgotten or scarred by the horrors we were forced to live through. Perhaps it is better off our horrific tales were lost amongst the howls of the wind, but perhaps it is time our tales of our final moments are brought to light. We suffered and we lost and very few of us got to hold onto our lives.

2. Crimson

A/N So I'm adding this chapter in due to some wanting to see what drove Glare from my first chapter into becoming what he did by the end of the Games :3

Games: 1

Keyword: Crimson

District 1 male tribute – Age eighteen – Glare Lancaster

Bloodlust is the only thing that pushes me forward in this moment. Not my long forgotten promise to get my sister home, not my own want to return back to the place I call home; nothing, but my undying need to spill blood. What drove me to this brink of insanity is something only I will ever be able to fully understand. Paying witness to these events through the screen of a television, cannot even pale in comparison to actually living through these deep mind shattering horrors.

There are several defining moments that I have been forced to live through, that have created me into what it is I am now; a bloodthirsty monster. There is a small shred of my humanity left that screams for me to return to who it is I used to be, but I know now there is no turning back. Now that my vision is tinged with crimson I cannot return to the boy I used to be. The boy I used to be before the deaf defying gong tore its way through the arena is someone who nothing more than a stranger to me now. His face is familiar, but every other aspect about him is forever lost me, as if he has sunk to the bottom of the ocean crushed beneath its icy waves.

A low growl escapes my lips, as I stand up the remains of the District 4 girl staining my hands in a deep almost luminous crimson. She was my final ally that stood by my side, how foolish she was for believing I would do everything in my power to protect her. She should have clued into the fact that only person I care about now is myself and no one else. Not even my precious baby sister, which is still being protected by the canopy of the trees. I will hunt her down and I will choke out every blood curdling scream from her lungs, as I possibly can.

I tilt my head to the side, as I look down at the ravine of crimson that has begun to pool around my feet. What a fascinating color it has become in my eyes. It holds much more power over me than any other human being will ever be able to understand. It is that one simple precious substance that will propel me forward; it is that deep color that will force me to come out on top. I will not settle for the pitiful spot of second place and there are now only two more people standing in my way of emerging of the first ever victor of the Hunger Games.

A cruel smile tugs at my lips at the very thought of being crowned victor. My name will be written along the walls of history, never to be forgotten. "Glare Lancaster the boy who beat all the odds," I whisper to myself, as I wipe the crimson that still clings to my flesh off on the surface of my clothing. To the eyes of the Capitol I must appear, as if I have been driven completely mad and perhaps I have. I am no longer the Glare Lancaster I once was so I must be nothing less than mad, but this is a notion I will embrace with open arms. Only those who have been driven mad, monsters if you will are capable of achieving the crown. Those who are weak and who dwell on the sinister deeds they have committed, those are the ones who will fall by my hand; those are the ones who are not fit to wear the crown clearly upon their head.

My senses are sharp, as I push the heavy forested bramble away from my form, clearing a path forward. There are only two more lives I must hunt down; only two more lives that I will destroy and watch transfixed, as the life drains from their eyes. This sight is something that I now take a great pleasure in. It is exquisite the way the color just appears to fade away into nothing, as if it was never there to begin with.

I turn my attention to the setting sky and know this is when the real fun begins. Here settled in the fog that twilight creates is when the predator inside of me bursts free from its cage. My hand twitches slightly, earning to spill more blood. It is more than a want now, but it has contorted into a sickeningly sweet addiction. I close my eyes and breathe out slowly, as my mind falls head first towards the first defining moment that created me into this beast that now stands before all of Panem.

I stood tall upon my platform with the entire arena surrounding my still form. I held my breath for seemingly longer than should be possible. My mind had begun to work in overdrive, as my eyes danced across the Cornucopia searching for that weapon that rightfully belonged to me; that weapon that would get either myself or my sister home. At that moment in time I still held onto the concept that I would try to go against the odds to get her home, as I was the older brother and it was my sworn duty to protect her. If only at the time I knew this idea would soon be lost, swept away by the screeches the winds bring forth.

The moment the gong tore through the anticipation that buzzed like electricity in the air, I was running faster than I had ever done before. Many other tributes stood their ground unsure of what it was they should do. Many did not want to fight, but none of us wanted to die either.

"If we stand together we can get through this!" The boy from District 7 called out for all to hear, that is before an axe lodged itself deep into the side of his skull. I didn't even think before I allowed my precious axe to escape my clutches. I watched with slight curiosity at the sight of the heavy flow of crimson that flowed from the gash embedded deep into his skull. His was the first blood to fall, but his wouldn't be the last.

As I push on forward I realize that after committing my first murder that I almost enjoyed it. It was as if it was something my body had always longed to do, but the chance had never presented itself, that is until now. I didn't feel remorse for what I had done, but at the time I tried to decipher what it was I actually felt. What I felt at the time I realize now was nothing more than desire. The desire to feel powerful, to prove to the world that you are stronger than the ones who will fall beneath my feet.

My attention is drawn away from my haunting thoughts at the sight of Mockingjays bursting into the sky, as if they had been disturbed by some unseen being. A wicked smile dances its way across my lips, as I now know what direction I need to take. I am off running once more, leaving the decaying remains of my final ally far behind me, without as much as a second glance. She was foolish enough to trust me so it was only right that she perished by my own hands.

I can hear the sounds of one of my final prey, but my pursuit is cut short when my entire being is torn away from the ground. I thrash around wildly, as I have fallen into some feeble trap that has been set up by one of my final competitors.

"It actually worked," The boy from District 5 steps out from behind a tree, as he watches with eyes full of awe at what he has just done.

"You are so dead once I get out of here," I reach my arms forward and grab a hold of the bonds that have begun to cut into my flesh. The boy appears to have snapped out of his haze, as he has begun to fumble around for any sign of a weapon. By the time he has a knife held between his feeble clutches; I have already torn apart my bonds, which causes my entire to tumble back down towards the earth. My head spins in a slight wave of confusion before I come back to my senses. I roll across the grass, as the boy lunges forward with the flawless steel of the blade. It pierces into the ground, only missing me by a few precious inches.

"I will not die by the hands of scum such, as you," I growl in a voice that appears to be almost inhuman, as I scramble across the grass in search of my discarded axe. It appears not that far away from my form, as it glimmers playfully in the paling light. I reach my fingertips towards it, but my body is crushed back down towards the ground, as the pressure of another body lands on top of me. I can hear the boys labored breathing, as he fights to work his hands around my throat, but I am stronger than he is and I will not lose. I roll over slamming him hard into the ground, causing the wind to be swept clean out of his lungs. I stand up casually, as my axe now rests peacefully where it belongs, held tightly between my clutches.

I look down upon the trembling boy who looks up at me with nothing, but fear reflected in the surface of his eyes. "Pathetic," I snarl, as I bring my axe down in a single bone crushing motion. His screams rip through the air, as my axe is buried deep between the shelves of his ribcage. I kneel down next to him, as that beautiful sweet crimson substance begins to snake its way from the cavity of his mouth. I watch intently at the sight that is the light slowly dissolving from the glazed over surface of his eyes. He coughs once, which causes fine drops of crimson to coat my flesh, but even then I still do not blink, as I do not want to miss it. As his cannon booms in the distance that is when I see it; that wavering light that vanishes, as if it was nothing more than the faded light of a candle.

Only one remains and as I replay every single face that has appeared in the sky I know exactly who it is that is left, waiting for me to claim their life as my own. "Garnet," I growl inaudibly beneath my breath. I want to find her while the shrouding darkness continues to act as an ally. I walk silently through the woods, my senses perked up for any sound that would give away the presence of another source of life.

I find my mind spiraling towards that one memory that defines everything that I have become; that one instant that pushed me over the edge; right into the brink of insanity. I fell with my arms spread wide, as if I was finally accepting what it was I was meant to be. That moment something inside of me shattered, never to be repaired again. One can only pay witness to so much violence and horrors before their own mind turns on them. My mind replays the memory of the evens that caused my own mind to snap.

I was walking alongside the girl from District 2, as we were scouting the area for any of the dwindling numbers of tributes. No blood had been spilt in a few days time and we were all on edge, as none of us knew exactly what it was we were supposed to expect. I quickly learned during this short time I have spent in this living hell that expectations are something we should all let go of. Once we have done this we are capable of just about anything. When you are not expecting the worse to fall upon you, your mind remains sharper and much more focused. This is when you become a threat to those that surround you. Once I released every single one of my expectations, this is when I was able to hone into my primal being.

A string of almost inaudible buzzing noises began to work their way through the air, as if they were the build up to a whirlwind that would tear us down without as much as a second thought. Jasmine cast me a sideways glance and she too knew something was wrong. My eyes frantically searched the surrounding area, desperately trying to pick up on what was causing this faint disturbance. If I had leant anything by this moment was not to underestimate anything.

Jasmine opened her mouth to say something, but then in an instant it was as if her entire being shattered from the inside and every aspect of her flew across the area, coating everything. She had triggered a Gamemaker's trap that had caused her body to explode. There I stood coated in the slick crimson substance from head to toe and this is where my mind was pushed over that edge into the oblivion. I dropped to my knees gagging relentlessly, as never once in my life had I experienced something such as this.

Everything that had happened over the last few days suddenly came crashing down on me, in one swift movement. Here covered in the remains of one of my allies I felt everything at once; all the fear, all the remorse, all the pain, everything. The cascade of emotions that boiled to my surface was enough to send my mind over the edge, never to be seen again. I laid in the grass still covered in crimson and other parts that were unnameable and this is where my mind fully warped into something no one should be forced to become. I was now willing to do whatever it took to won, even if it meant destroying my own sister's life. I no longer could care about anything except the need to spill blood; this need that had slowly turned into an addiction.

A blood curdling scream escaped my lips, as it felt like the seams of my skull were being torn in two. I held my head tightly between my hands, as the screams kept rolling off my tongue. My howls echoed off the hollows of the trees surrounding me, as the deep crimson blood rolled in heavy streams off my flesh.

My eyes snap back open and I am thrown back into my reality. A quiet twilight had begun to settle around the arena, now shielding me from direct view. I began to walk forward still on the hunt for what remained of my prey. My sister was never the strong one and I knew these events would easily break her down and reduce her to almost nothing. A wicked smile crept across my lips at the thought of my only sister huddled up in a ball somewhere lost and alone, with these events that have played out wrecking havoc upon her mind.

Everything was silent until I heard it; the soft sound of someone crying. I didn't have to think for a single moment to know where these sounds were being produced from. I held my breath, as I stalked forward closer towards the source of this pathetic crying and that is when I saw her. I perched low in a nearby bush and my steely silver eyes pierced through the inky darkness. There Garnet lay before me curled up holding onto her backpack, as if it were her final lifeline. I tilt my head to the side, as I watch in slight disgust of the weakness she shows. Even here shrouded in darkness I know her flesh is slick in tears. I wonder what it is she cries for in this moment. Perhaps she cries for herself, as she must know she stands no chance against her final competitor or perhaps she cries for that pathetic boy from District 4 that I know she grew closer to then anyone should have here in the Games.

My hand twitches towards my axe, but I will not grace her with the relief of being free from this world yet. I will allow her to see one final sunrise before she is to close her eyes for forever more. My breathing slows down, as Garnet cries herself into oblivion, but my form remains active. I will not allow myself to be tempted into slumber, as I cannot allow her to vanish from my sights before I get the chance to ring my hands around the smooth surface of her neck. Sleep beckons me like the lull of a sweet lullaby, but I refuse to give in.

I can feel my mind edging away from me, as the sun begins to slowly rise over the arena for the final time, as today is the last day I will ever have to wake up in this beautiful piece of hell. My mind is drawn out of its sleep tinged state at the sound of my sister stirring. My eyes watch, as she stands tall and appears to be formulating what step she should take next. If only she knew her predator was closer than she will ever realize.

The moment she begins moving, I follow in silent pursuit. The coursing feeling of adrenaline that flows through my veins due to the thrill of the hunt is one that I will embrace with open arms. It is a feeling that I will never shy away from. My heart pounds in a steady rhythm, as an eerie silence falls around the surrounding area.

"Come out from hiding Glare," A cruel smile tugs at my lips at these words, as I know the end is soon approaching; the end of her life, along with the end of the first ever Hunger Games. Much crimson has been stained to my flesh, but still I feel nothing. I feel my bloodlust, but ever other emotion has become lost to me. My name is Glare Lancaster and I lost myself in crimson. I did not become another face in the sky, but a part of me will be buried beneath the soft dirt of the earth. The deep color of crimson changed me for the worse, but this concept will forever be lost to me.