Atlas Topazine
A/N: I'm so sorry that I've been gone for a while, guys! I've had a mix of writers' block and schoolwork!
Time to meet your most vicious Career…
Ice cold water splashed across Atlas's face, waking him up and putting him to his senses. He jolted his muscular body upward in one swift motion to see his younger brother, Thaddeus, standing at the foot of his bed with a damp, empty cup. His platinum-blonde locks, a family reoccurrence were disoriented and messy, which wasn't uncommon to happen overnight.
"It's time," Thaddeus whispered.
Atlas smirked smugly. He had been waiting for this moment for an entire month. Even though it was midnight, Atlas easily lurched out of his bed and ran out into the hall, rushing right past Thaddeus.
He ran down the tan-painted halls of the Topazine mansion, not bothering to quiet down as he past the bedrooms of his other five brothers- Cronus, Argus, Lysander, Panos, and Zeus. He passed elaborate portraits of aunts, uncles, and other relatives, and rushed down to the basement of the house.
It was dark, and the humidity made Atlas begin to sweat. Wiping the line of skin right before his hairline with his finger, he turned his attention to the projector and chairs set up in the downstairs family room. There were no lights turned on, and the only reason Atlas could see was because of the projector's digital glow reflecting on the wooden wall.
His father, Iapetus (the entire family had names that were originated by Greeks, as the Topazine dynasty considered the Greeks as the most powerful ancient race, even though none of them were Greek, themselves) sat in one of the black leather chairs set up. He watched contently as Atlas sat down in his chair. He didn't speak, and his ice blue eyes bore daggers into Atlas.
Atlas shuffled in his seat from excitement and nervousness. The Topazine family, for two generations, had led nine tributes (all male; the family almost always seemed to produce that gender, with the exception of a few cousins and aunts) into the Hunger Games as Career volunteers. All had performed excellently, but only two had ever come back. If Atlas were to take the information his father gave him and put it to use in the Games, he could become the next victor. Yet, all the power made him nervous.
"The Topazine hierarchy has become famous for its volunteers, haven't we?" Iapetus questioned, a tone of knowledge in his deep, insightful voice. "You are the tenth, my son. Surely, you will not disappoint us, will you?"
Atlas nodded.
Iapetus smiled. "Good." He picked up a plastic silver remote, and pressed a button. The ceremony had begun.
Atlas recognized the tape immediately. It was the 3-hour summary of the 47th Annual Hunger Games, the one his brother, Julius, had competed in. His father skipped over the interviews, and got right to the Bloodbath.
Atlas spotted Julius immediately. He was between two female tributes, both much smaller than him. Julius crossed his arms across his thin, yet strong frame, as if bored by the countdown. He twirled a finger through his platinum blonde hair.
The arena that year resembled a post-apocalyptic city, with crumbling metal buildings overrun by undergrowth and wildlife. A yellowish-haze covered the clouds, and dust whipped through the Cornucopia clearing.
"Be aware of whom you stand between before the gong rings. Size up your competition, and eliminate them as quickly as possible, if you deem yourself able to." Iapetus explained.
Atlas barely listened. He anticipated the start of the Games. The gong rung, and the tributes scattered. Most ran towards the Cornucopia, including Julius, but a small fraction of the field delved into the city, avoiding the violence.
Cowards, Atlas thought with disgust.
The Bloodbath ensued.
"Don't get cocky," his father announced. "A foolish tribute takes on another that his instinct knows he can't defeat." A thin, small boy with black hair lunged at the District 9 male, Paxton, a buff, athletic brown-haired boy that had interested Atlas when he had watched the games, since he was one of the few tributes, besides the Careers, that had stood a chance, according to Atlas.
Paxton slit the boy's throat with a knife and darted into the city, hoisting a pack around his shoulders.
Julius killed one tribute at the Bloodbath, a tall, 18-year-old girl whose name had been lost to Atlas. He didn't flinch when she hit the ground with a loud thud.
Ten tributes passed on at the Bloodbath, more than half the responsibility of the Careers. The remaining pool of tributes consisted of seven Careers (1, 2, 4, and an extra girl from District 5), an alliance of three, and four solo tributes.
"Make sure you guys go hunting after the Bloodbath is over. You may catch a couple of stragglers," Iapetus explained.
The Careers of that year didn't, so there were no other deaths that day.
Over the next two days in the games, there was only one death- one of the solo tributes, killed by Paxton. The other five non-Careers managed to build up their defenses, finding food and supplies among the building rubble.
In the Careers, Rhett, the boy from One, had taken power of the group. He was an okay leader, but he had already become a big threat to the others. Iapetus explained that Atlas shouldn't lead the alliance, as the leader was usually the first to be betrayed by the other Careers.
Julius and Quinn, the girl from Five, had formed an alliance within the Careers. They had bonded over the past few days, vowing not to kill one another.
"Don't trust anyone," Iapetus explained.
One of the solo tributes, a girl from Ten named Yolanda, managed to kill off the girl from Two on day four, only to be killed by Julius afterwards.
"Even though your alliance isn't bonded, you should still protect each other."
Atlas saw the statement irrelevant. "If they're all going to die eventually, why should we bother to save them?"
Iapetus's voice rose. "Okay then, have fun when there's ten tributes left, and only three Careers. It doesn't seem very overpowering anymore, does it?"
"Haymitch Abernathy killed two Careers last year!"
"They were stragglers! Those two boys didn't even train in the Capitol! They were too cocky." Atlas recalled that there had been a scandal last year, where most of the Careers didn't train after being Reaped, saying that they would win anyways. Haymitch showed them.
Back in the games, Julius had become attached to Quinn. On day six, Quinn was accused of stealing from the Career's supplies, and Julius defended her without any evidence that she hadn't done it, which she secretly had. The two were pushed to the "bottom of the totem pole" within the Careers, and were both barely trusted.
Another element of the games that year were the gas masks. There were seven of them hidden throughout the arena. Four had been claimed at the Bloodbath, by Rhett, Julius, Quinn, and a boy from six named Daniel. Two more had been uncovered by the girl from Twelve (one member of the alliance of three) and Paxton. No one knew what they were meant for, but Daniel and Rhett were the only ones that put them into use, both wearing them periodically.
On day seven, their purpose was discovered. A rust-colored gas fell from the sky, engulfing the arena. It got in tribute's lungs and expanded them until they burst. The five tributes without masks- three Careers and the two other tributes in a non-Career alliance were killed within minutes. The girl from Twelve, Molly, managed to pull off Paxton's mask after following him through the gas.
"Watch your back," declared Iapetus.
It was the only death that upset Atlas.
This left five tributes: Rhett, Julius, Quinn, Molly, and Daniel. Rhett had been separated from the other Careers, which left Quinn and Julius alone.
Julius, who had become comfortable around Quinn, looked through his dead allies' packs for food, turning his back.
That was when Quinn grabbed her weapon, a two-sided axe, and sliced Julius's neck, nearly decapitating him.
Atlas didn't even blink as his brother's blood flung through the air from the blow. In fact, he thought that Quinn made the right decision. Julius was weak, becoming friendly with another tribute. To him, he should've seen it coming.
His father stopped the tape.
"Why'd you do that?!" Atlas growled. "Can't we finish the Games?"
"We stop when our own dies."
"Why?"
"So I can explain their faults."
Atlas listened.
"Julius was weak," he declared, his voice deep. "He let another tribute become too close to him, and he should've killed Quinn long before she could've killed him."
"So, kill my allies?" Atlas asked, slightly confused.
"Yes," declared Iapetus. "In good time. Stretch out the times where you kill them, or the others will get suspicious."
"Kill the Careers…" Atlas muttered. He was already beginning to like the idea. A tribute considering him a friend, only to be killed without remorse…
That would be fun.
It was 2:00 AM when the viewing of the Games ended, and Atlas decided to spend the next few hours in the family gym/training room. Weights, treadmills, exercise equipment, foam dummies, and weapons were spread across the large room. The Topazine sons were required to practice their weaponry and athletic skills at least twice a week. Atlas grabbed a sword in one hand and a mace in the other, and began practicing.
District Two always selected its tributes one month prior to the Reapings. Each middle school and high school in the district let eligible Careers showcase their talents in front of past victors in a skill-based competition. Atlas had shown his power and strength with his weapon of choice, a spiked mace. The victors selected the top five boys and girls from each school (there were eight in total, making for forty of each gender) to move on to the second stage of the selection.
The top sixteen overall from each gender were then selected to showcase their skills to a larger audience at the Justice Building. There were three categories that each eligible tribute would showcase over the next three days: athleticism, weaponry ability, and knowledge of past Games.
For athleticism, Atlas lifted weights of up to 120 pounds. No one else even compared to him. For weaponry, he wielded maces and swords, plunging them into stands and dummies with extreme force and precision.
The last category was the hardest. After a week of studying, Atlas was able to recall the final four tributes in every past Hunger Games, and the arena that it took place in. Even with his vast knowledge, he struggled with that round.
The victors selected the top two most promising tributes of each gender to compete in a mock battle for the spots o District Two tributes. When Atlas found out that he had advanced to the final round, he became very serious. He would spend hours in the gym every day for the battle. He went through a lot of dummies, but the Topazines covered the expenses.
Magnus Faulkner barely stood a chance. The battle was over in minutes, with Atlas pinning him to the ground with his spike-less mace. The moment when he was declared the winner was the best moment of his life.
The winning female was a girl named Artemis. She had met him backstage after the championship battles. Atlas had been confused on why she approached him. He had never talked to her before.
She looked him straight in the eyes.
"Do you know how lucky you are?" she hissed. Her brown eyes were narrowed.
"It all comes naturally to me," Atlas sneered, rubbing his fingernail with his index finger. Surely this girl wasn't insulting his superiority?
Artemis paused. "You don't know about it, do you?"
Atlas focused on the girl. She was short, standing at about five feet tall, but she looked tough. Atlas was already working out how to sabotage her.
Artemis growled. "You're hopeless." The conversation was over. She walked away, not bothering to her Atlas's rude remarks about her.
Atlas refocused on his training. He plunged his iron-forged sword into the lower abdomen of a black, leathery dummy on a pedestal. He could see the beige memory foam filling inside from the sword-mark. Two more dummies were decapitated by the sword, and another was bludgeoned in the face by his mace.
The routine kept Atlas busy for another fifteen minutes. His sweat-drenched hair was flattened onto his head, and his clothes were soaked. He breathed heavily. Dozens of dummies had been recklessly destroyed. Only one remained. He stomped over to the dummy and skewered its head with his sword. Smirking, he pulled it out and decapitated it, laughing viciously.
He dropped both of his weapons. The sword clattered around for a brief moment, producing sharp metallic rings, while the mace simply fell with a loud thud. Atlas sighed in exhaustion, and jogged over to the weights.
The dummy's severed head rolled across the floor. It wobbled as it traveled. Right across the scalp, it read:
ARTEMIS
It took little effort for Atlas to fall asleep when he turned in at four in the morning, and he woke up immediately after his alarm clock went off just four hours later.
The entire Topazine family had been waiting for this day for weeks. They all knew that their son would come back not just a victor, but a conqueror. He would win the Games in a blazing fury of bloodshed and mercilessness.
Atlas sped through his morning routine. A shower was done in three minutes, breakfast done in ten, and pre-Reaping preparation done in twenty. It was all irrelevant to him. The only thing that mattered now was the Games. He didn't even notice the absence of Panos throughout the ordeal.
The Topazine clan walked to the Reaping in style; each boy wearing a button-down black shirt and brown pants. They were striking enough as a whole, but everyone outside of the group that saw them had their eyes on Atlas. Most of the district had already begun to see him as the winner of the Gamers, as it was obviously going to turn out that way.
District Two usually had a desolate climate; lots of clouds, and constant, fifty degree temperatures. Summer was one of the few times where the sun shined through to give light to the barren, stone buildings of the society. In fact, Atlas's neighborhood, consisting mostly of relative Topazines, was one of the few areas in the District that didn't look like a fancy, stone. ghost town. The importance of appearance was not part of the District's culture.
The Justice Building was made purely out of greenish-gray marble, which shone beneath the clear, sunny sky. The Topazines were one of the last groups of people to arrive at the Reapings. Argus, Panos, Thaddeus, Lysander, and Atlas, the four Topazine sons in the Reaping age group, took their places in the Male, 18, 15, 14, 12, and 17 sections. 20-year-old Cronus and ten-year-old Zeus joined Atlas's parents, aunts, cousins, and uncles in the audience, among the rest of the masses.
Atlas couldn't wait to hear his name. He swiveled from side to side in anticipation as the propaganda film and Treaty of Treason were read.
The District escort couldn't have been more unfitting for District Two. Serenity was a young, beautiful woman who looked quite normal for a Capitol citizen, with the exception of her sleek, lavender pixie cut. She wore a form-fitting black dress that complimented her slim body. Her skin was naturally pale, and had not altered her body in any way.
Because of the District's tribute selection system, there were usually no Reaping bowls on the stage. However, due to the Quell twist, there were two bowls on the stage, containing two or three hundred slips each, which was a drastically small amount, considering that there were around four thousand eligible tributes in the District.
These slips belonged to the small percentage of teenagers in the District who didn't audition to become a Career. Most of them were the most gifted, kind, and intelligent teenagers in the District, due to their complex minds and sense of morality. However, they were constantly bullied due to their compassionate mindsets. Atlas was one of the biggest offenders. It was a simple concept for him: if they don't want to be a Career, show them what a Career is capable of.
After the Propaganda Film, Serenity was given a red envelope by a District Two politician.
"First, let's announce the winners of the Career selection tournament," she announced. Her voice was smooth, and filled with modest authority. She cut open the envelope with a letter envelope and read the concealed names from a piece of paper.
"Atlas Topazine and Artemis Wolker," she announced.
With a sudden burst of pride, Atlas strode out of his Reaping section, waltzing to the stage. Artemis, wearing an elegant mocha-brown dress, joined him several seconds later. He glared at her, already plotting her demise, despite her not noticing.
Serenity reaped the male non-volunteer, a red-headed, somewhat short boy from the Male, 16 section. Despite being the same age as him, Atlas didn't recognize him. The reaped girl was a tall brunette. She didn't even look at any of the other tributes as she took the stage.
The tributes were led into separate rooms for the goodbyes. Atlas was only expecting one group of visitors: his family. Sure enough, they all walked in at once, spilling into the room like a violent stream of water.
Instead of being mourned, like most tributes' loved ones at goodbyes, Atlas was praised. He received hugs, flowers, and other tokens from his siblings, parents, aunts, and uncles.
Iapetus walked up to him, handing him a woven badge. Atlas studied it, recognizing it immediately. It was the Topazine family crest; a pouncing lion inside of a red shield. He looked up at Iapetus and smiled. Iapetus nodded.
The Peacekeepers announced that it was time to leave, raising his voice to compete with the Topazine crowd.
"Where's Panos?!" a voice yelled from the crowd. It was his mother, Oddetta. Unfortunately, it was too late to search for him in the crowd. The last few family members were led out the door in the next few seconds, including his mother. No one said goodbye.
That didn't bother Atlas. He knew he'd see them again. He'd bring a better reputation to the Topazine family.
And he'd put Julius to shame.
A/N: You'll find out Panos's story in good time.
Next up: Tamerlane Cobenus!