POV District 12 Adoss Drysay
I shifted, keeping my eyes closed. All my muscles were sore, and as I pushed myself up and finally opened my eyes, red marks from the bed sheets ran along my arms. The longer part of my hair had flipped over in front of my eyes, and I curled over onto my back so I could slick it back. When I did, my eyes fell on Zalnys, dead asleep in a chair, with his feet resting on the corner of my bed. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, leaving trails of makeup on my fingers.
I crawled across the bed and slipped off, my feet thudding on the floor. I froze, but he didn't flinch. I walked up to him, hesitating for a moment when I looked down at him. I gently brushed his hair out of his face, and it fell into the way it had been last night for the Opening Ceremony. I smiled, and I slipped into the space beside him in the chair. I propped my legs over his, and I laid my head on his chest. I stayed there, feeling and hearing him breathing, looking out at the Capitol. The sun began to rise above the colorful lights, and I had to admit it was a pretty scenery - that they kept all for themselves.
Zalnys shifted beside me, and I looked up at him. He groggily lifted his head, searching the room until his eyes fell on me, and he looked rather surprised. "I'm sorry," I whispered immediately.
He smiled. "You got it wrong, Adoss." I raised my eyebrow at him, bringing a smile myself. "Wanna know the truth?" I narrowed my eyes. I hadn't known he was hiding anything from me. But I nodded, and he laced his fingers through mine, focusing on our hands. "Yesterday morning, Katniss came in to talk to me." He paused, and then turned his gaze to my eyes. "She said that the 'star-crossed lovers bit' was a bad idea and we should stop. I told her that it wasn't a ploy, and that we'd both rather die than one of us go home. I didn't bring it up, because I didn't want to imply that you should agree with me. I wanted you to make your own decisions."
"You want me to go home...?" I questioned, swallowing hard.
"Only if you want to," He said, kissing my forehead. "I personally want you to live, but it would be a bit selfish if you felt the same way for me, wouldn't it?" I nodded. It was a hard thing to think about. We were both committing ourselves to death. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he died, and I could tell he wouldn't be able to if he lived and I died. But to constantly remind myself that we'd both be fighting so we can stay alive just to fall short.
"We have training today."
POV District 6 Arda Emc
"Come on," I'iem said, his hand on my shoulder, trying to move me forward. He had been forced to come get me for breakfast, and I was still resisting. I shook my head, but he didn't let up.
"There you are, Kay!" Dylin exclaimed, and I instantly cringed. I'iem looked at me, and I stared back like I was dealing my a knife wound in my stomach.
"That's what we need to talk about," I'iem said, glancing around. "Where's Orird?"
"I'm here!" She chirped, walking out of her room and into the living room with the rest of us. "What is it?"
"There's a bit of a story to tell," I'iem explained, glancing down at me as I started grinding my teeth. He took a look at me, and instantly his expression turned to sympathy. "Her siblings came to me at the Reapings. Her twin brother and twin sister, Bourr and Kay." Orird and Delet shared a look, and Dylin just stared at us in confusion. "Apparently, Kay's name was drawn, and her sister Arda decided to take her place, but she was in so much shock she didn't actually say she was a volunteer."
"So, you're name...is Arda?" Orird clarified, glancing at the other two after several heartbeats of silence.
I nodded. Orird stepped forward, and bent down to hug me. I'iem backed up, and when Orird pulled away, she placed her hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "You're very brave."
"Thank you," I choked, though my expression stayed the same.
"Don't bring this up with the other tributes at training today," Orird continued. "Delet, Dylin, and I will figure this out while you're gone." I nodded, blinking away tears. I was thinking of my family. All day today, I'd be hearing my sister's name, and I'd be forced to claim it as my own. "So that means you have to keep calling her Kay, I'iem," She added, glancing at him intensely. He nodded.
Orird let me go, leading me towards the table for breakfast before we headed down, I'iem trailing behind. Delet sat down himself, and Dylin opened his mouth as we passed. I caught Orird giving him a look, and Dylin thought better of any comment he had. Orird and I'iem sat on either side of me, while Dylin and Delet sat across from us. Suddenly we had become divided.
POV District 9 Adshywor Tash
"You guys can go on from here," Romara informed us before pointing Neassale and I down the hallway. She hadn't been paying that much attention all day, but it's not like either of us really minded. I could just assume we were late, and leave it at that.
I glanced at Neassale. Her eyes were wandering around the hallway, but she made a specific effort to avoid my face. It was slowly eating away at me to say something, but where would I start? Thank her for practically condemning herself to death to save Saest? I figured that would make her think that I planned on using her as a simple stepping stone to get back to her. Tell her I would protect her, to repay for her bravery? I couldn't even promise myself that it would be true if I did say that.
I had never felt as much curiosity, burning inside the pit of my stomach. Did she know who I was? Did she know Saest? What was her motive for protecting Saest? Was she even protecting Saest, or in her mind, a stranger? I needed to know. Every possibility and question lead to another, causing me a million loose strings curling themselves into a knot up instead my head. "What?" I suddenly realized Neassale had turned to look at me, her face growing wary the longer I studied her, while her voice was stern.
"How did you do that?" I asked simply, and instantly felt embarrassed, heat rushing to my cheeks.
She raised an eyebrow at me. "Do what?"
"You volunteered," I informed her, and she just gave me a look - saying she already knew that. "Why...how did...you do that?" I stammered.
She suddenly narrowed her eyes at me. "What's it to you?" She shouted. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind to say. I just wanted to ask more questions - ones she clearly wouldn't be answering now. She glared at me when I said nothing, and stomped ahead of me. And we had just reached the training compound. All the careers were gathered near the door, and they were staring me as I followed after a furious Neassale. I just stared back at them. They had heard Neassale yelling, but they must not have heard everything else we said. My face more flushed than ever, I made a quick escape to find something to do - away from them - but I could still feel their eyes soaking in every bit of me.
POV District 3 Moria Kegariss
I leaned against a wall, rather neglected, glancing around the training room. Eagee and I had been really early, and we were the first ones there. Even some of the gamemakers were arriving, and none of the other tributes were there. Eagee was wandering around the room, walking in circles, keeping far from me. "What did I do to you?" I whispered, my eyes trained on him as I fiddled with my nails.
The careers came in all at once, the quiet room suddenly filling with merciless laughs and loud feet. I watched silently, and Eagee instantly stopped wandering, freezing to glare at them. More tributes slowly trickled in. At one point, there was a yell, and the District 9 came storming in. The boy followed her, and quickly went to hide himself. I hadn't seen Aldmos come yet - he and the girl from his District were late. I suddenly started praying that he would actually come, that he hadn't changed his mind and decided to throw himself off the building anyway.
A commotion came from the gamemaker's little perch, and eventually Mylute emerged from the swarm of other gamemakers. He was smiling, saying something that I couldn't hear. When he finally waved them away, he put his hands in his green-outlined pockets as his eyes slowly studied the room, it's contents, and it's tributes. "Hey, Moria," Aldmos's voice suddenly came.
I jumped a bit, looking at him before I trained my gaze on Mylute again. "Hey."
"Where do you want to go first?"
Mylute eyes fell on me, and I could see his greedy smile soften when they did. He gave a small wave to me with one of his hands, hiding it beside his leg so nobody else would notice. My mouth gaped a little bit, and then quickly filled my mouth with an answer. "How about the fish hook station or something?"
Aldmos glanced over at it, but I was still watching Mylute. "You think there will be water there?" I swallowed hard, and I could feel my face light up. I tried to shrug nonchalantly. The last thing I wanted to do was for Mylute to see how terrible I would be at anything...though there was the small prick in the back of my head wondering if I could make some sort of weapon work to my advantage. Aldmos shrugged too, and then made his way towards the fishing station. I followed after him, still watching Mylute. I gave a bit of a wave to him, trying to shelter it from the rest of the tributes. His smile broadened, a bit, and then he turned away and fell back into a chair and started watching the careers behind me.
I glanced over my shoulders, but Eagee caught my attention first. He was still standing in the emptiness, while the rest of the tributes were heading to find a place to start. He was staring up at the gamemakers. I followed his gaze, and my eyes found Mylute again. When I turned back to Eagee, he was glaring straight back at me.
POV District 9 Adshywor Tash
We had finally headed off to lunch, and by then, I was starving. I hadn't eaten much at breakfast that morning, and I was glad to see some more normal food waiting for us after training. I had met a group of tributes at a fire-making station and had traveled around the training center with. The District 10 girl and boy, Foemshay and Aramdash, and the District 8 girl and boy, Miryp and Sulsay. Aramdash waved me over to them, and I was thankful to find refuge at their table. There were twelve tables, but there were a lot of empty tables. I had been very close to finding myself alone at one of those.
The careers, who I had learned to identify as Ludacris, Silver, Luipos, Arale, Mekyl, and Poldra, were all at one table. The District 3 boy, Eagee, was the one keeping Neassale company at one table. The two of them sat at a table right behind the careers, coversing quietly and staring daggers into their backs. I was surprised to see they didn't have the District 3 with them, I had anticipated most of the tributes from the same District to stay close to eachother. But the girl, Moria, was sitting with the District 5 boy, Aldmos. The District 5 girl, Kaiadra, was separated too, sitting with the District 6 girl and boy, Kay and I'iem. The rest of the tributes were together, each pair at their own tables - Aleas and Cidet from District 7, Samundirban and Delmosskelmer from District 11, and Adoss and Zalnys from District 12.
"So, Adshywor," Sulsay began, pulling my attention back. "What exactly did you do to that girl, Neassale?"
I paused for a moment, the end of my fork dropping onto my plate with any food I had on it. All their eyes were trained on me, but I looked past them at her, wearing a rather speculating look. "I have no idea." I said eventually, and Aramdash and Sulsay laughed. Foemshay and Miryp just smiled, but they had both been rather on-edge since I had met them. "I wanted to ask her why she volunteered - that girl that she volunteered is a friend of mine-"
"A friend?" Aramdash gasped, and I gave him a look.
"That's very nice," I sneered, and he just smiled. "Anyways, I wanted to like ask her why, or thank or, or just something, and when I asked, she screamed at me."
"Well then," Miryp said quietly, and everyone laughed, and she had an amazed smile on her face like she couldn't believe the attention.
"This is pretty forward," Foemshay jumped in, "But this is a pretty good group already."
"You thinkin' allies?" Aramdash asked, leaning on his elbow and beginning to play with a lock of hair from her pale brown ponytail.
"Sounds good to me," I replied quickly. "I think you guys are my only hope." Sulsay gave a glance over his shoulder at Neassale, and nodded in agreement.
"Me too," Miryp replied, glancing at Sulsay, who gave a slight nod of approval. I had never made friends that fast, but considering how I fast I had made enemies, I wasn't too off-guard. But we only have about five days until we would be killing each other. The faster you could make friends, the better. Because your bonds would be stronger when your life depends on it.
POV District 8 Miryp Arhone
"I'm going to go try my luck at the plant thing," I told the group, as they headed for the knife station - the first physical one we had yet visited.
Adshywor, who was ahead and had stopped to wait for the others, nodded to me. Aramdash glanced over his shoulder at me, saying a quick goodbye. Foemshay gave a wave before following after him. Sulsay paused, his eyes finding the large screen before looking back to me. "Ok," He replied, then stiffly turned away to follow behind the others. I was glad that he was taking such close care of me, but I had grown used to solitude. And I didn't want to show how weak I was. I trusted my group, but I only trusted Sulsay to not abandon me if they discovered how useless I would be. I knew how to sew. Not kill. And it wasn't a skill I was keen on learning.
I turned away from them, heading over to glass room with the podium. I stepped in and up in front of the podium, and almost instantly felt lost. "Why can't they just have a start button?" I wondered aloud to myself. "It seemed pretty easy to get me in the Reapings."
"Well that's a random comment," I whipped around, to find one of the careers standing behind me - the boy from District 1. He stepped up beside me, looking down at the podium, while I just stared at him. He pushed one of the buttons, outlined on the stand, and it began to start. He smiled, and then turned to me to find my amazed - and terrified - look. "What?" I didn't respond, shriveling away from him. "My name's Ludacris," He continued, holding out a hand to me.
"Miryp," I finally sputtered, taking his hand tentatively. He had a strong grip, and I wondered if he had forgotten I wasn't a career for a moment.
Ludacris smiled at me, turning back. The room had turned into a green house, with plants filling rows and rows and rows. "Find the edible plants," A monotone voice said, and the words appearing in front of our eyes. I had never seen any technology like it before. I knew the weapons were like this, but they weren't as realistic.
"Since I'm stuck in here," Ludacris started, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door behind us. "I'll help you." He stepped down from the podium, and I began to follow him into the rows.
POV District 4 Poldra Umenvor
"What do you think he's doing?" I asked, watching Ludacris with the District 8 girl, Mekyl at my side. I had tried to wrap my hair around my sunset-tattooed skin, but my again, it was my dyed hair. I had expected a lot of torture from the rest of the careers, but they hadn't said anything bad - Silver had, in fact, complimented me on it.
Mekyl shrugged. "Dunno." I glance towards him. His arms had been tattooed, like the water. That's why his sleeves had gotten so thin - it had turned to skin. "What?" He asked, and I looked up from his arms to find his dyed eyes.
"What did Zujevi say to you to get you to do that?" I asked, frowning at him.
He shrugged. "Dunno." I narrowed my eyes, and his smile came back. "He said that all the victors looked like that, so it would send a message to the others if I did it before hand." I glared harder. Exactly what Fenux had said to me. He gave me a look up and down. "He didn't say you were too."
"She hounded me," I defended quickly. "She was making it very clear that she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. I said yes just to get her to shut up."
Mekyl smiled more. "Makes sense." I huffed, turning away from him. Luipos and Arale were at the bows, while Silver was at the hand-to-hand combat. The pair of us had been dejected to fires after lunch, and now we were mulling around the fish hooks. My eyes went back to Luipos and Arale, and I crossed my arms as I watched them, glaring until my face was sore. "What now?" Mekyl asked, turning away from the fish hooks to look at me.
"What do you think of them?" I inquired, not turning to look at him, not softening my expression.
Mekyl leaned towards me, following my gaze. "Who? District 2?" I nodded, not responding. "Well, I dunno," He said, abandoning his hook. He took a quick look at me, before continuing, "He's making it pretty clear that he's putting his sister before himself."
"Not a good trait," I muttered. "You think they'll abandoned."
Mekyl shrugged. "If they do," He said with a huff. "They're dead."
POV District 7 Aleas Chemore
Training had ended, and I walked along with Arale and Samundirban. The two twelve-year-old girls had come up to me together as the tributes were recollecting to leave, saying something about us being twins. We all had curly blond hair, I had to admit. Both of them wore their hair out, but I had my hair in a ponytail again. We trailed behind the rest of the tributes, me in the middle, holding both of their hands. They both were skipping, and though I wasn't, I wore a smile on my face. It was hard to remember that while Samundirban and I were both from the lower Districts of Panem, Arale was a career, straight out of District 2.
Once the career pack, which was right in front of us, spread apart out of the hallway, I saw Belm and Cidet waiting beside one of the elevators. I let go of the two girls' hands to go meet them, but they held on. Arale pulled the three of us towards the careers, who were dispersing. When we got there, District 1 was gone and the District 4 tributes were stepping into the elevator. The District 2 boy - Luipos, Arale's brother - was waiting for us, and I tried to pull away from the two girls that ran up to meet him.
Delmosskelmer, Samundirban's brother, swooped in, and I was finally let go. I stepped back, trying to put as much distance between me and them. I thought both of them had taken a disliking to me, but I realized I had completely been ignored. Luipos and Delmosskelmer pulled their sisters away, and Luipos gave him a dirty look. I could only see the back of Delmosskelmer's head, but when he turned to his escort to head to their floor, I guessed he had returned the gesture by the look he still wore.
I stood still for a moment. How had that happened? I had spotted the two girls meet up at the camouflage section, while I had been standing neglected beside Cidet. They had quickly turned into best friends, it seems, and then spotted me. The ran up to me, and Cidet and the other tributes left me to follow behind everyone else. They had pulled me over to Luipos, Delmosskelmer had come to his sister, and their brothers became enemies as fast as they had become friends. I knew they were young, that they weren't really being impacted by their eminent death - they were too young to realize that their lives could actually end end in these games - that and the fact that one of them was a career. My mind still felt clouded.
I started chewing on my nails again, and soon a pair of hands came down on my shoulders. I turned around, to find Belm standing behind me. "Hey," I greeted him, a bit of a smile coming to my face. I looked around, realizing everyone else was gone. "Where's Cidet?"
"I sent him up," Belm explained, letting go of my shoulders.
I studied his face, and I realized how harsh it was. I began to shake softly, out of fear. "What?" I asked, my eyes searching his face. What had I done? What was he going to do?
"Maybe you are suicidal," He said, looking me over. I opened my mouth to say something, but his hand clasped around the back of my neck. I instinctively pressed my head back, straining my neck, my muscles tensing. I looked at him, my eyes wide. "Don't get mixed in with those girls, those people," He hissed, his face close to mine.
"What did I do?" I asked, and I had no idea why my voice was so strong.
"Did you not see it?" Belm asked. "That look, between the District 2 and 11 boys. They both have a thirst for blood, to protect their family." His breath was hot on my face, and my face started getting hot, my stomach starting to twist. "You get mixed in on that...that potent cocktail, you'll find yourself dead."
"What is this?" I prodded tensely, my voice shaking.
Belm didn't say anything at first, his eyes searching every inch of my face. His index finger laced itself through my hair, pinching the back of my head. I felt a shiver slide up my spine, running through my veins. "If I'm going to keep you from being suicidal," I frowned at him. "I'm going to make sure it doesn't go to waste." He let go, and I finally let my body slouch. He kept his eyes steady on me, making his way back to the elevators. I glanced down at my feet, my face getting even hotter, my palms starting to sweat. Is that really what I was? A waste, without assistance?
"Hey," I glanced up, surprised, and he was waiting for me at the elevators, holding the doors open with his hand. "You coming?" I kept my head low, shuffling past him. He let go of the door once I was in, and leaned across me to press the seven button. He started leaning back and forth on his feet, and I glanced up to see him pressing his lips together tightly. I realized that his hair was a bit of a mess, and his tight teal and ginger shirt was a bit disheveled.
A thought hit me - what if the escorts do actually realize that the children they meet are really killed? People can have an impact, especially people that know they will soon die. All these kids, always impacting, never to be seen again. "Ok," Belm's tight voice broke into my thoughts. "Maybe I shouldn't say you're a waste." I easily assumed he was still being protective that I was possibly suicidal - at least to him. But I couldn't help but smile a bit as my eyes drifted from him to the door as it opened on the seventh floor.