Author's note: Hi everyone. I know that it's taken me a long time to upload this chapter, but I've been really busy this past week. What with coming but to university and preparing for my job this semester as a tutor, I've been utterly swamped and so I couldn't upload the chapter until today. I just want to include a small side note. I've been noticing that there are a lot of visitors who are not commenting or reviewing the story. Of course I don't write for reviews, but the reason why I upload this story on fanfiction is for others' enjoyment as well as their criticism so I can improve my writing. It doesn't matter if you have positive or negative feedback, both are equally appreciated so please review!
Talon lunged out of his bed, gasping as he sought to catch his breath. He had just awoken from a vivid dream of the night when the Mafioso had brutally disfigured him. In these nightmares, he could still see the look of evil enjoyment on the man's face as he approached him with the switch blade. He could still feel the ice-cold blade as it ripped past his cheek. Whenever he had these dreams, he felt weak and powerless, as if no time had passed and he was still a feeble, frightened boy being assaulted. Hearing an unnaturally fast pounding in his ears, he placed his hand on his bare chest and felt his heart jackhammering within his torso. Worried and seeking to calm himself, he closed his eyes and began to take deep breathes. Breathe in and out. In and out.
Slowly, but surely, his body began to relax as it realized that there was no danger and he stretched out on the bed again. It was a ritual he had perfected over the years. Early on, in the days after he had been attacked, he used to wake from his night terrors screaming and sobbing in anguish and fear. He used to disturb all of the other children in the orphanage who used to stare at him with wide, terrified eyes as they tried to imagine what kind of experiences Talon must have had to affect him so. However, those days were long gone and now, the orphanage never awoke in the middle of the night to Talon's outbursts. He was no longer young and afraid. He was no longer lost and unsure of himself and who he was, for today was the day of the final tryout. Today he would face Roy and Jax in an all-out mêlée to determine whether or not he would achieve the goal he was working towards all these years. He only hoped it would be enough to win.
Stretching his legs and arms, he swung himself off the bed so that he was sitting on it with his feet on the floor. Judging from past experiences, sleep would be hard to come by after one of his nightmares and, if he returned to his bed, he would be in for a fitful number of hours of tossing and turning which he would rather not do. He pulled back the dusty curtains located at the edge of the room and peered out of the small window that looked out upon the District 1 slums. Dawn had yet to break as was clear from the darkness that hung over the streets and the fact that none of the many shops which were located along the alley were open yet. The city was still asleep and it would probably remain so for at least another hour judging from how dark it was outside.
Deciding that there was no point hanging around inside the house as he was unlikely to get any sleep, he resolved to take a walk around the district. Taking care not to disturb the two children who were also sleeping in the room, he put on his training uniform, a two piece outfit which was black and emblazoned with red marks along the sides, and tip-toed to the main entrance to the orphanage. Once outside, he put on his running shoes and began jogging down the streets, his shoes making a soft pitter-patter sound as he went. On nights like these, he enjoyed taking a stroll and having the whole street to himself while he lost himself in his thoughts. There would be no pedestrians looking at him with pity or whispering to themselves about how the poor boy was not only disfigured, but also had no parents to take care of him and was confined to the local orphanage. He hated the way people looked down upon him and saw him, not as a human being with feelings, ambitions and desires, but only as an object of pity, an example to hold up in front of their children to show how lucky and blessed they were. He supposed that it was to be expected from the district that produced only superfluous goods. They would only look at the outward appearance of things without sparing a thought to what was inside them.
However, Talon had discovered some people who were not as ignorant and judgmental as most of the other people within District 1. This included Ruby; the caretaker in the orphanage who did not care that Talon was an orphan and treated him as an equal. The orphanage itself was a small house, barely more than an apartment with six different rooms. One was used as a kitchen, one as a bathroom, one as a living room and eating area and three rooms were used as bedrooms. It was run by old and wizened Ruby who had been running it for over 30 years now. She was a thoughtful and caring woman who empathized with the young children and did her best to provide them with a safe place to call home. Ruby was one of the most genuine and sincere people he had ever met and he often wondered why she had never married. She probably wanted to devote her time to the poor and needy so she wouldn't have had time for a husband. Talon sometimes felt amazed that such people existed and, when he thought of Ruby, he began to think that maybe the world wasn't such an evil place after all and whether he could become like her, loved and admired by all. However, all he had to do was look in a mirror to remember the evil of man and his true purpose in life. Vengeance.
Suddenly, someone stepped out of the shadows of the alley they had been hiding in and stretched their arms towards him. Talon's training kicked in and he swiftly grabbed one of the arms extending towards him, bent it backwards and pushed his assailant onto the wall. As they made contact with the wall, he noticed a coppery gleam of red hair reflected by the moonlight and he grumbled internally as he had a good idea of who his aggressor was.
"Ouch. Hey that hurts. Can you let go of me please?" chimed Courtney.
"What the hell are you doing following me at six thirty in the morning?" huffed Talon as he released her from his arm lock. He did not appreciate being startled, even less so when the person doing the startling was someone he found unbearably irritating.
"Oh, I wasn't following you…I was you know… I like waking up early and feeling the morning breeze. Taking a walk when no one's around, you know that kind of thing." She stammered, seeming somewhat flustered and uncomfortable. She must have been worried about the final tryout and her impending struggle with Alanna and Sapphire.
"I've never seen you this early before and the morning breeze doesn't exist here in District 1. Our altitude is so low we almost never get any winds on any given day." he said suspiciously. What was wrong with this girl? Why was she lying about something as unimportant as to why she was taking a walk in the morning?
"Umm…This is the first time I came out, so I didn't know. Anyway, are you feeling ready for the final tryout?" she said hurriedly.
Talon knew that she was trying to redirect the discussion but he allowed it to slip anyway. "I'm ready. I have been for a long time. Today, I will win my place as tribute for the Games." he said quietly, but assuredly.
"Oh wow! You're so confidant in yourself! That's really great. I hope you get in. I'm not so sure about my own trials. You see, Alanna and Sapphire take things way too seriously. The other day, I was braiding my hair and Sapphire looked at me like I was crazy or something. Can you believe her? I should just…." Courtney went on a long winded speech that Talon didn't care enough to follow. The instant he heard the word hair, he spaced out completely and didn't pay any attention to a single word she was saying. Thus, it came to him as a great surprise when she began tugging at his sleeves to try and catch his attention.
"Hello, earth to Talon. Are you there?" she giggled.
Talon sighed and replied, "Yeah, yeah, I'm here. What is it now?"
"I said that Jax got injured the day before yesterday. Aren't you listening to what I'm saying?" she pouted as she realized he had not heard a single word of what she was trying to tell him.
Talon's pulse quickened at her words as his mind rushed through the possibilities and consequences of Jax, his main competition, being ruled out of the final tryouts. "Are you sure? What kind of injury? How did it happen?" he asked.
"Oh, so you didn't know! Well, it does make sense. See I just heard about it yesterday night from my mother who knows his mother. They always go out together, have coffee. You know the kind of things…"
Talon groaned and interrupted her saying, "Courtney please, get to the point."
"Oh, sorry. Yeah, he was playing with his little sister and chasing her down the stairs when he tripped on a rug. Apparently, he fell badly on his knee and it shattered. It's so sad and here I was thinking about how I might ask him out later. Now he's probably not going to be any fun and will want to lie around in bed all day. Oh well..."
A small smile graced Talon's lips as, internally, his heart leapt for joy. A shattered knee was a serious condition leaving the sufferer incapable of normal motion for a minimum of 6 weeks. The training centre had also trained the potential tributes on how to treat fractures and minor bone injuries in case they happened in the arena. A shattered patella was one of the injuries that were ignored as, in the words of the instructor, "you can't treat it in less than a month and you can't even move so you'd best make peace with God if it happens". With the games less than two weeks away and Jax getting ruled out by this fortunate turn of events, Talon would have to fight the mêlée only with Roy over whom he knew he would have an overwhelming advantage due to them being permitted to choose their favorite weapons.
Talon looked over at Courtney who blushed as she saw him smiling at her. "Courtney, I'm not even sure I believe this, but you've actually made me really happy."
Courtney went a shade of red very similar to the color of her hair and she began to jump animatedly, "Really, really, are you serious? Wait a minute, what are you so happy with me for?"
Talon just shook his head at her stupidity and, noticing a ray of light on the wall, looked up at the sky. Bright beams of gold were painted across the sky which was now a dark, orange color. Dawn had broken a short while ago while Courtney was jabbering on and now it was probably around 7:30, high time he got back to the orphanage to have breakfast. The mêlée was scheduled to happen at noon sharp so he would have to prepare and warm up for the fight. The judges' panel was comprised of 3 former District 1 victors who represented different aspects of what was required from a tribute. These traits included physical prowess, mental ability and charisma. Traditionally, the winner of the mêlée was selected as tribute but not necessarily. If a tribute had been marginally beaten and displayed enough of the qualities required by a tribute, then it was not unheard of for them to be selected for tribute, hence the need for a judging panel. The first male member of the judging panel was a cunning cadaver of a man called Morgan Black. Morgan was one of the smallest, most fragile tributes to ever volunteer from District 1. Standing at barely 5 foot 8 and weighing about 130 pounds, no one had wanted to bet on him as his odds were abysmal for a volunteer from a Career district. However, his skill at manipulating his competitors, especially the Career pack, caused them to turn on each other and, once they were all weakened sufficiently, he massacred the remaining tributes with poison-stained knives. The second was a tall, dark skinned woman named Ariana Gold. Her main skill was with a halberd and she was charismatic beyond compare. Even the District 2 male volunteer, traditionally the leader of the Career pack, ceded his position to her after training. Once she had led them to victory over all the other tributes, an all-out brawl had broken out which she had emerged from victoriously with barely more than flesh wounds. The final and most enigmatic judge was the victor of the 16th Hunger Games, Marcus Lucius. He was a mystery even to his instructors at the training centre. Ever silent and impassive, they had barely coaxed a word out of him until the day of his final reaping when he declared his intention to volunteer. After beating out all of the other volunteers to the stage, he went on to the Capitol where he continued his emotionless front. The audience loved it and he was rewarded with a lethal, black Morningstar on the first day of the Games which he promptly used to batter all of his allies to death with after the bloodbath. After that it was only a matter of time before his victory was declared.
Thinking about the previous victors made him anxious for the time when he would also join these esteemed volunteers and he began to make his way through the streets, back to the cramped orphanage when he heard Courtney calling out disappointedly.
"Talon, where are you going? I thought we were going to relax and take some time together to hang out. Maybe we could go catch a movie before the final trials…"
Talon gritted his teeth together and barely kept himself from growling at her. This girl didn't know the meaning of unwanted. He was just trying to mind his own business and she showed up trying to waste his time with her ridiculous stories and idiotic questions. Talon do you think I should dye my hair blonde or brown? Talon do you think I should wear black or blue shoes to match with my blue necklace? It was enough to make anyone's blood boil. Well, soon enough he wouldn't have to deal with her nonsense as it was nearly impossible that she would beat out Sapphire, or even Alanna for that matter, in the final tryouts and he would soon be rid of her, provided he won his fight with Roy.
Talon dismissed Courtney with a curt wave of his hand and made his way back to the orphanage. The city had awoken from its long slumber by now and he could see the first signs of life growing in the streets. There was the miller's boy, opening up the shop to sell people their daily need of grain and flour. The town drunk and farmer, Aelstein was making his way along the street, calling out to the people of District 1 of how great the milk his cows had produced this fine morning. All around him were regular people, happy people, living their everyday lives who would never understand him, never know the pain that made him who he was. Losing his parents at a young age and suffering in his quest for survival in the slums of the city had made Talon a hard man and fighter. Harder than he would have wished upon anyone. Still, he would need to be if he were to gain revenge on the man who had maimed him and ruined his face. He knew that it probably was not healthy for him to allow such a painful moment to define his life and who he was, but he could not help the way he felt. Only retribution would calm the fires of anger that burned within him and he would not stop until he had it.
After about 10 minutes of jogging through the streets he arrived at the orphanage. It was a meager apartment and even looked like an orphanage from the front. With dark grey paint fading away at the sides of the doorway, it seemed an unwelcoming place which it was anything but. As he entered, he could hear the clanging of pots in the kitchen and he could smell the bread that Ruby was preparing for breakfast. Careful not to make too much sound in case the little ones were still asleep, he took off his shoes and made his way to the kitchen. He saw Ruby with her back to him, her white hair neat and tidied as usual. Even though she was an old lady by now, she still prided herself on looking as good as she possibly could.
"Good morning, Ma'am." he said as he took a seat at the round table situated in the centre of the kitchen.
"Now Talon, I've told you many times before. It's either Ruby or Mom. It's your choice." she said, smiling as she saw him hungrily awaiting his meal.
"Yes Ma'am Ruby." he said humorlessly. She was always so nice and warm to him but he could not bear to be close to her. If he took to calling her Mom like the other children, he would probably also start giving her hugs and kisses as well. She would become his mother in all but blood. And Talon didn't need a mother. What he needed was the focus and commitment to avenge the damage done to himself by the Mafioso and, to do that, he could not be bothered with trivial things like love and friendship hence the reason why he rebuffed, not only Ruby's advances, but Courtney's as well.
Ruby's face had a small, sad smile as she noted his refusal to call her by what she asked and placed his plate in front of him. The plate was filled with boiled eggs and toasted bread with cheese. Well, this was a first. They almost never had eggs and certainly not cheese on regular mornings. Usually they had to make do with toasted bread and some ground fruits. Ruby must have been saving money for this for a long time so she could provide him with a filling meal before his final tryouts. He felt a pang in his heart as he thought of all the ways she cared for him but he refused to even do a small thing such as call her Mom, which she fully deserved. He quickly quashed the feeling and began immersing himself in thoughts of the mêlée as he hastily ate his breakfast.
"Are the other children awake yet?" he asked.
"Not yet. I thought I'd give them a little rest today since school is delayed because of the final tryouts." In District 1, the selection of the tributes for the Games was greeted with great fanfare and excitement. This meant that there were countless holidays in celebration of the Games. One on the day of the selection, a whole fortnight during the Games themselves etc. Other districts accused them, as well as the other Career Districts, of being the Capitol's lapdogs and turning a blind eye to the injustice that it wreaked upon them. However, the Career Districts paid no heed to them. After all, the best thing to do in a bad situation is to make the most of it which the stubborn outer districts plainly refused to do. Their loss.
As Talon finished up his meal, he wiped a small napkin across his mouth and began to clean the area around his plate. At least no one could say that he didn't do his part in the household. Once he was done, he picked up his plate, placed it in the sink and began making his way to the washroom. After he had shaved, brushed his teeth and made himself completely presentable, he made his way to the door only to find Ruby waiting for him.
"Talon, you're like a son to me and, although I know you don't see me in the same way, I just wanted to wish you luck before you left and give you a token for luck. If you do get selected as tribute, I hope you'll accept it as your official tribute token for the arena." Ruby held out a small, blue wristband emblazoned with some kind of picture sewed upon it. As he took it in his hand, he looked closer at it and saw a snarling wolf with its jaw opened in a fearsome roar.
"Thank you Ruby. It's perfect." he said quietly. The wolf was a perfect sigil for him to take. Speed, ferocity and courage—they were the trademarks of his fighting style and he hoped they would be enough to make him a serious contender for the Games.
As he exited the orphanage, he noticed that the sun was a lot higher in the sky than it had been before. The streets were much brighter than before and the number of people in the street had multiplied. He stepped into the warm light of the street and began making his way to the training centre. It was a large building, directly opposite to the Justice Building to illustrate its importance to the people of District 1 and how they revered their volunteers and victors. It was simply another aspect of being a Career district and, planning not to be outdone by District 2 or 4, the mayor had spent a large sum of money endowing the training centre with all it required to continue churning out competent tributes.
After about 20 minutes of walking, he turned a right on the main street to find the training centre, in all its majesty, in front of him. Looking at it from the outside, one would not be able to tell that it was a place to learn the arts of war and death. One would think that it was home to some sort of gallery or arts program. It had large wooden doors, made of the finest oak, adorned with circular knobs of steel to open the doors. Its windows were made of coloured glass in colors ranging throughout the spectrum and including vivid shades of purple and turquoise which allowed beautiful rainbows to appear inside the training centre as the light streamed in from the outside. It was simply a marvel of a building. How fitting it was that in this hallowed place that he would accomplish his goals.
Talon entered the building and immediately made his way to the main training area. Apparently he was the first one here. At 9:30, he assumed that he would find others in here practicing but no one must want to be tribute as much as he did. The thought comforted him as he went over to the spears stand and pulled out a small myrmidon spear. Seeing as his skill with dual swords was incredibly high, he opted to practice with a weapon he was not as proficient with in case he did not find his favored gladiī in the arena. He also collected a shield with a half oval curve at its tip to go with the spear and began his training regime. Imagining that he was surrounded by multiple enemies, he twisted and turned, dodged and twirled, stabbed and speared with increasing speed as he whipped himself into a frenzy. He held his shield up to his torso, placed the spear on top of the opening and began to stab forward, envisaging that he was fighting a sword wielding opponent who would be helpless before this manoeuvre. He practiced more and more tactics until he was sure that he could reasonably hold his own against any foe wielding any type of weapon. As Talon was finishing his practice, he heard a soft murmuring sound behind him. He turned to see that not only had the other tribute trainees had arrived, but the judging panel as well. They had all been observing him silently and he could see Ariana Gold whisper to the inscrutable Marcus Lucius who acknowledged what she was saying with a silent nod of the head.
Talon went to put his weapons back where they belonged and strode over to where the other tribute trainees were standing. Noticing that Jax was missing amongst them, he masked a grin by stroking his face with his palm, as if he were feeling his scar again.
Morgan Black stood up slowly from the table that he and the other judges were assigned to take notes and watch the tributes display their skills. "Seeing as the boys are missing one of their number, I'd like the girls to go first. Pick any weapon you like and on my count of three, you may begin." he barked authoritatively.
Courtney, Alanna and Sapphire each made their way to different sections of the room as they collected their weapons. Of course the weapons were dulled and not sharp enough to induce permanent damage. The only problem was with weapons that utilized the user's strength to batter and break an opponent like Sapphire's mace. The instructors had come up with the excellent solution of increasing the weight of the weapons to make it harder for tributes to wield them lethally. As it stood, the mace that Sapphire was holding would be difficult for Talon to hold forget about wield effectively. Hence, the weapon would still demonstrate the tribute's strength to the judges without the possibility of permanent injury to the opponents.
Once the girls had collected their weapons, they stood in a triangle awaiting the signal to begin. Sapphire had a look of anticipation on her face, as if to say that she was born to do this. Alanna and Courtney were slightly wearier, but Talon noted that Courtney had an intense look of determination on her face and he wondered whether he had been wrong to write her off in the first place.
At Morgan's signal, the girls scattered and darted around and towards each other. Sapphire almost grazed Alanna's chest with the first swing of her mace, a blow which would almost certainly knock her out of the mêlée. She retaliated by slashing at Sapphire's face with her short blades and managing to nick her chin. Courtney, on the other hand, had sneaked behind Alanna and slashed at her calves. Alanna, noticing the danger of fighting both of her opponents simultaneously, dodged away from them both and retreated a distance about 5 metres. Sapphire flicked her mace at Courtney who sidestepped the blow and struck back at her, knives flashing in the bright light as they made contact with Sapphire's left wrist. Sapphire growled as her wrist began to swell and bleed as a result of the blow and struck harder at Courtney only for her to somersault backwards and fire one of the knives she had at her belt at Alanna which took her by surprise. The knife's handle hit her straight on her temple and she collapsed unconscious by the blow. Talon's heart pounded as he realized that it was only Courtney and Sapphire now. He hadn't expected her to make it this far, let alone eliminate the other contestant. She might even make it against Sapphire.
The two girls circled each other warily, Courtney aware that Sapphire could easily crush her in close-range combat and Sapphire hesitant to engage Courtney quickly due to her being much slower. They struck a couple of half-hearted blows at each other until Courtney, realizing her advantage, began to press harder at Sapphire. A feint to the torso followed by a rapid salvo of blows to the calves left Sapphire with minor injuries on both legs as well as the cut on her wrist as she struggled to regain control of the fight. She was growing visibly more frustrated as she had expected to take Courtney easily. She did not expect her to fight back and give as good as she got. No one had.
Suddenly, Courtney fired a knife at Sapphire's head, who gasped and ducked to avoid the blade. As Sapphire stooped, Courtney was already in the air, jumping and latching onto Sapphire's shoulders and back. She quickly scampered upwards towards Sapphire's neck and began applying pressure there. However, she had made the mistake of underestimating Sapphire's physical prowess and close range ability. Sapphire's arms were long, long enough to grab her and slam her into the ground. While Courtney choked and tried to recover from the hit, Sapphire was already upon her, grabbing her in a stranglehold and slowly suffocating her until she was blue in the face and yielded. Sapphire threw her to the ground and raised her arms in victory. It had not been easy but she had emerged victorious and was almost guaranteed to be tribute in the next Games. This was confirmed when Ariana approached her, shook her hand and congratulated her on becoming the next tribute for District 1. Medics came rushing in, stretchered Alanna out and helped Courtney to her feet, who now had tears in her eyes. Talon wondered why she had fought the way she did. No one had expected her to be so fierce or to be so upset when she lost. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to the happy-go-lucky girl who had trained with him for over five years. His thoughts were interrupted by Morgan who called on both boys to prepare themselves for battle.
Talon picked up his two gladiī and looked eagerly at Roy to see which weapon he had selected. This was his only disadvantage. The fact that Roy could choose any weapon meant that he could not prepare for anything specific and had to prepare for one of many different types of fighting style. Amazingly enough, Roy had chosen a large claymore to fight with. Its length was almost as tall as Talon and he figured that Roy had probably chosen it to try and keep distance between him and Talon. A poor choice as Talon had the speed and agility to weave around his blows and get close enough to rain blows upon Roy. The two boys circled each other, neither wanting to make the first move but Talon knew that if he wanted to be tribute, he had to be the one to take the initiative.
Talon darted closer, swinging his right sword at Roy's chest as he approached. Roy barely deflected the blow as his sword's length was detrimental in close combat. He stumbled backwards, off-balance as Talon continued to press his advantage and push Roy towards one of the walls. After about a minute of Talon attacking and Roy countering, Roy stepped backward and used his superior range to deliver a crunching blow to Talon's left thigh. Talon gasped as he felt a searing pain in his leg that told him his femur had probably been bruised or, at worst, suffered a fracture. Roy, noticing Talon's weakness, swung his blade in a vicious uppercut, seeking to end the fight with one blow but Talon was still too agile for that. He dodged to the right and swung both of his blades at the claymore's hilt, knocking it out of Roy's hands and clattering into the ground. Roy's hands went up to his head as Talon raised his blades to his throat and gasped painfully "Yield, Roy."
"I yield, I yield." came the reluctant reply.
Talon collapsed to his knees as soon as he was sure of his victory and clutched at his thigh. Either the adrenaline was numbing him to the pain or the injury was not as bad as he had feared as he could barely feel anything but an overwhelming elation as Marcus approached him. Marcus put a hand to his shoulder and said, "That was a good fight son. When you rise, you shall no longer be Talon, tribute trainee for the 31st Hunger Games. You shall rise as Talon, tribute and, God willing, victor of the 31st Hunger Games."