Please review! This is a bit of a filler, sorry!
The Betrayal
Theo and I had planned out what we would be able to do to be able to guard together while Clio was stuck here. I didn't like it at all. It was a terrible plan. But it was all we had, and I trusted Theo. I knew that if things went wrong he would just scoop me up and we would fly away to another part of the arena. Which was looking all too likely.
Still, I still didn't feel comfortable doing what we were doing to distract Clio. Earlier on Theo flew over towards the town and left a note on the door for the girls to set off to camp after the faces of the dead were in the sky. He did so by pretending to scout the area for tributes close by, none of my allies questioned it, knowing if they did we wouldn't have four new kills. But we still were unsure on how they were going to 'test' us so I had no idea how to prepare for it, and pass.
That night just before I fell asleep the faces of the dead were shown. First faces to show were District 3, Jonas and Electra. Their cheerful faces looked down upon us, and I felt a pang of guilt. I killed Electra, and I did nothing to save Jonas. Their families would never see them alive again, they would never grow old, and they would never have a family of their own. I shrugged off the feeling that was threatening to crush me, and swallowed the lump in my throat. The government put the Games in place because we need to be punished, and they were dead because I wanted to live, and because their ancestors rebelled. Not my fault.
Pisces face shows, and I forgot what his human face looked like. He was a lot happier, I think. Less calculating and suspicious. I barely knew him so I struggle to care.
Cosmo and then Leone. My mind flashes to the way I plunged the sword into his eye and his body shuddering. Leone, another girl I killed. A district I wiped out on the first day.
Webster from 6. Kingsley from 8.
Black Berry, the guy I stabbed in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord. And then finally Cameo the Minotaur. I'm glad he's gone; he would have been a hard guy to kill, what with the horns and all.
Theo doesn't emerge from his sleeping to see the images of the dead. I almost pity him, thinking he can't face the fact that he killed people. And then I hear him snoring and I know it has nothing to do with guilt. I snort with laughter, almost waking him up.
I haven't felt remorse in an extremely long time, and my mind seems to reject the notion that I might be guilty. But I was already a killer, and I had no remorse for those girls I grew up with. I didn't understand why it was so different in the real thing. And it's not real guilt I feel, so maybe I'm not remorseful at all. Just sentimental.
The thought that I was turning soft made my insides cringe. I could not become soft. I knew that if I won, I could never lose my air of confidence. Bad things happen to tributes who do.
And I refused to be weak. I would not die, like my sister. I would not be kind like my mother or sisters. And I certainly would not be selfless like my brother and father.
To be a victor you had to be ruthless, cruel and determined. Putting on a good show falls into each of those categories.
I fall asleep to pleasant thoughts of multiple techniques to mutilate Cinder.
When I wake up I see its mid-afternoon. No one else is in the cornucopia, so I take my time getting up. Thankfully the mall had a lingerie store, and wasn't stuck in the same dirty knickers for however long these games last.
I change out of my dirty clothes, and finally go for practicality. Armed with the same boots, ripped jeans and a tshirt with the hunger games logo.
After some digging in the weapons accessories, I strap a knife to my thigh and get a knife belt. I fill it to the brim, and head out of the cornucopia and towards the sound of voices.
Everyone was sat eating sandwiches. I smiled when I saw one had been put out for me, so I plopped down beside Theo and tucked in. Iowan seemed extremely miserable this afternoon, and looked sullenly at the ground. Once I had finished eating, the small chatter had died down and my allies all lay back in the sun, relaxing.
If there was nothing interesting happening right now, then we would be showing on screen. We are the highest number of tributes gathered together, we have more supplies and more kills than anyone else. So when it gets boring, watch the future winners.
"So, guys," I say, clapping my hands to get their attention. "Last night was pretty tough, but we managed to eliminate a tough tribute." Theo interrupts me by waving his hand into my face until I high five him. I don't, I just grab his wrist and squeeze until he yanks it away. Giving a sweet smile I continue: "Theo got injured badly so tonight he's staying at camp." He pretends to protest but I shush him. "Clio has to stay here by no choice. I'm going to stay here too; we need at least two fit people to guard the supplies considering how close Cosmo and Felicity were. Iowan, you're in charge of the scouting trip. Go back through the shopping plaza, there was only one building we went to and there were about a hundred, and a good place for tributes to get supplies. So go there with Sunshine." He nods affirmative, giving Sunshine a nasty smirk. She rolls her eyes, looking disgusted. "Clio and I will be going as far as she can to the border to look for tributes too, so we're not entirely useless."
Usually, there would have been a debate as why there was three at camp and only two going hunting. I gave Iowan a meaningful look and he grinned. He understood.
I felt sorry for Clio though. She must know that Theo and I were going to do something to get rid of her, and if she wanted the plan to work she had to go along with it.
"Sunshine can ride on my back to cover more ground. We'll be back before sunrise." His meaning was clear. Don't kill them until we get back.
For the next few hours the rest of the camp is full of energy. Sunshine and Iowan have little naps while Clio flirts with Theo and I 'secretly' pack up 8 packs. Theo looks extremely uncomfortable trying to pretend to keep Clio distracted even though she knows what he's doing and has to pretend to be completely clueless. As I stuff a gas cooker into a huge backpack, I watch in barely contained fury as Clio reaches out to grab onto his arm and feel his muscle. Not aware of what I was doing until I was stood directly in front of Clio, I snarl at her like a rabid dog. And then, without a noticeable twitch in my mind, the clear blue sky suddenly darkens. A single storm cloud forms seemingly out of thin air and to my amusement pours down with rain, only battering Clio in its torrent.
And as quick as a blink the cloud dissipates. I grin slyly. My powers were growing and growing.
"What the fuck, Liv?" Clio whined, wiping the droplets of water off her face. She gives up and summons a warm breeze around her, drying her off quickly.
Her hair floats onto her shoulders, soft and delicate. I grit my teeth and try not to stab her.
"I needed you as target practice. Well done, you pass." I say flatly. I hear her stomp in frustration as I turn my back on her. And look straight into Theo's eyes. His face makes me want to punch it into a bloody pulp, with that knowing smirk. He quickly wipes off his expression as he knows it doesn't take much before I go deadly.
I finish off the pack, studiously ignoring the way Theo helps to dry Clio off. I watch them for a while, and she makes him laugh, a big booming one. And then they both look up at me, and I scuttle off back into the depths of the cornucopia, face burning. They were obviously talking about me. I know Theo had to befriend Clio for the sake of the plan, but it still made my face flame in embarrassment about the way those two were together. And I don't even know why that embarrassed me.
I finished up the packs, knowing by tomorrow I would be unpacking them for the rest of the careers.
I then grab a bottle of water and take it behind the cornucopia. Getting changed this morning I knew I was kinda stinky, so I stripped naked and slowly poured the bottle of water on my bare body. The water was nice and cool, and it felt really good when the hot sun air dried me. Quickly getting back into my gear and throwing away the bottle across the field, I go to where Sunshine and Iowan sleep and kick them awake.
I give Iowan and Sunshine 2 of the 8 packs, full of snacks and medical supplies, extra clothes, some rope and night vision goggles. You never know what you might encounter in the arena.
The sun starts to set and Iowan and Sunshine set off towards the shopping plaza with barely an adequate farewell.
The minute they're out of sight Theo bursts into action. He flies up in the air and takes off, heading towards the purple house with another scrap of paper in his hand and a sword at his belt.
"Where is he going?!" Clio demanded, looking furious. The gentle breeze around us quickly turned into a furious gust and whipped my already airborne hair.
"Why does it matter?"
She looked at me, aghast. "He just left. Are you with us or against us, because if you are…" she draws off, slowly bending down to retrieve her trident.
I narrow my eyes and glare at her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Oh?" she says mockingly, twirling the weapon in her hands. "And why would that be?" coming towards me, laughing silently, her pretty lips curled up into a cruel smirk.
I smile at her, a full beautiful smile. Not a nasty, mean twitch of the lips. She seems to falter at my smile, unsure if it's genuine or not.
I spread my arms wide, still wearing the smile until my jaw aches. "Come and get it." I laugh, shouting with joy.
Clio charges, her trident raised and poised to impale me. Quick as a snake, I dodge her strike and I slip in past her defences. I tackle her to the ground and twist her arm painfully behind her back. I kick her weapon away, and slam her head into the ground. I ignore her small muffled cries. But almost relishing in the cruelty I was about to unleash upon her, I let her up, holding onto her hair. Slowly and painfully, I begin to draw the moisture out of Clio.
"Okay Clio, this is how it's going to go." I say snidely. Her gust immediately stops, and she stares at me in horror as bits of her body water starts pooling at her feet. "So basically, I'm drawing out all the moisture from your body. Cool huh? This would mean that within the next three hours- maybe less- you will be a desiccated skeleton." I explain, mostly for the audiences benefit rather than hers.
"Why are you doing this?" she chokes. She tries to cry, but her tears immediately are drawn from her eyes and float down into the soil.
I stop, holding a small body of water in front of her, pretending to be in deep thought. Then, with a wicked smile I say: "You are of no use to this entire alliance. You can't even leave the field." I bark out cruelly. "So, I have made other arrangements. People who will be of use."
With the water I have gathered, I form it into thick, shimmering knots. The liquid holds Clio in place, and before I gag her mouth with a piece of cloth she spits at me.
"What? You're not going to kill me? No bloody end? Not very career of you Liv." She sneers. "Iowan will get you for this." She yells. She says something else but it is muffled by the gag.
I prepare to wait a while. I settle down, the 6 remaining packs just by the entrance of the cornucopia. It is already pitch black, with little pinpricks of stars in the sky that don't give off much light. There is no moon. I light a crackling fire, and wince when a spark flies off and touches my skin. To my horror and amazement, the ember sizzles and smokes against my skin, like it would when it touched real water.
I actually start to nod off, my eyes feeling as heavy as weights, my whole body leaden with sleep and exhaustion.
BOOM.
A canon goes off, waking me out of my trance. Hopefully that was a kill from Iowan and Sunshine.
I look pityingly at Clio. She looked more drained than ever, and the pool of water underneath her was growing. Traces of blood were in the water. She knew I would have to do something to keep her away from ruining the plan. But right now she may suspect that I actually have to kill her. And I wouldn't do that.
Not yet, anyway.
The anthem blares and soon the seal of Panem is lighting up the sky. There has been only one death today, so hopefully this will spice up events.
Sunshine and Iowan killed the girl from District 11. Ambrosia. Mermaid. I'm glad she's dead. There is only one spot for a water freak and that's me. I was not going to let her steal my thunder.
I go back into the cornucopia and begin to subtly pour almost all our contents of water into the soil. Clio's eyes widen in alarm and she begins to struggle against her bonds. I shut her up with a slap on her face.
A thought then occurs to me. I need to make it look like I actually am holding her hostage. I look into Clio's deep green eyes, whisper sorry and draw out a knife.
By the time I was done, Clio was a bloody mess. Even shallow wounds like the ones I gave her bled a lot, staining her clothes and the soil beneath her with blood. She passed out some time ago.
But at least now no one would be able to see that I stopped drawing out her moisture.
Just as I have finished cleaning my knives, the sound of heavy flapping wings brings me to attention.
And then I see Theo, drop from the sky like a plummeting rock.
"Theo!" I scream, and run to his aid.
He groans in pain, and landed far away from the fire so I can't see the damage done. I push his black hair away from his face, but my hand comes away sticky with blood. Hands shaking, I scoop him up and run to the cornucopia.
I gently set him down by the fire, and remove his blood stained shirt. This lets loose a bloodcurdling scream, from Theo and I both. All of his left side seemed to be completely skinned, and he was losing a lot of blood.
"Who did this to you?" I wonder, nearly in tears. Tears out of fury. No one messes with those I consider my friends. If I ever found out who did this to him… well Theo's fate would be brought upon them sevenfold.
I clean his wound with rubbing alcohol and he starts to scream. My heart starts to break into little pieces. I would destroy that fucking tribute. I slap my hand across his face to shut him up.
I tightly bandage up his side and give him some painkillers.
His body is covered in a sheen of sweat, and he is panting. I feed him some water but it doesn't stay down. I then coax the water down his throat to soothe his fever. I drench him in water and somehow manage to keep it cool on his body.
After an hour of tending to him, my body is aching and my neck was sore, all my adrenaline and energy having left my body. There were about 4 more hours of darkness left, and I wanted to go and hunt down that fucker, despite my exhaustion.
"Theo wake the fuck up." I snap, slapping him round the face. This doesn't bring him to so I begin to pinch him all over his body, carefully avoiding his wound.
This still doesn't work, and I have an idea. Knowing it would kill me.
I hit him hard on his side and his eyes fly open. He gasps in pain and glares at me with hatred, his black eyes unrelenting.
"Why did you do that?" he growled.
"You know why." I snap. "I need to know what happened."
He takes a deep breath, calming himself. He looks around camp, anywhere but me. When his eyes settle on Clio he smirks with amusement, his eyes twinkling.
"Well, you know the plan, yes?" I nod, rolling my eyes. He has to hurry up with his damn story. I've got some killing to do. "Well I flew over there to escort them here, y'know, to make them safe. So I knock on the door. It isn't a surprise, they knew I was coming. And when they didn't answer I just walked right in.
"It was an ambush. I don't think they ever planned to be our allies. They just started attacking me. I couldn't fight off all 4 of them, not with their powers, and when I struggled Snakeface threatened to turn me to stone.
"They… they tortured me. And healed me with this special cream. And hurt me again. But they wanted to hold me as long as possible until you came looking for me. Cinder, the earth girl, she obviously felt bad for me. I was being weak. Crying for my mum and all that." he winces in shame, and I almost feel sorry for him. He would have lost sponsors, but who could blame him considering what he'd been through?
"Anyway, she felt bad for me. So she distracted Snakeface. They went out for a cig, some sponsor gift I assume, and then I took my chance. I burst through the ceiling and roof and flew back here to warn you. That's how all my skin came off, when I scraped it on the bricks. We need to leave, they're so powerful Liv. You can't take them on your own. Not with me like this." He said, looking at me desperately. I lean back on my heels, taking in the story. It was almost overwhelming. Those sneaky bitches. Even though I was supposed to do it myself.
I get up slowly, full of pent up fury. How dare they? How dare they? They are nothing. Measly shitty tributes. They would be dead by now if the fucking Gamemakers didn't fuck everything up with the powers.
My hair whips around me in a furious torrent. My skin ripples in anger, and my scales come out, hardening my body in an impenetrable armour.
And without thinking about it I raise the water from the ground that I had poured there and shoot it at Theo and Clio.
Immediately the both of them shoot to their feet, Clio's bonds discarded and melted into the soil. Their eyes are shut and they both shimmer in the strange luminescent light that sets my skin aglow, and they radiate from within. Almost without believing my eyes the water forms a layer over their wounds and forms a liquid bandage over them. All too soon, the water drains back into the soil, leaving them both dazed and dripping wet.
"What the…" Clio exclaims, staring at her body and poking her skin.
"Did you really just do that?" Theo asks in awe, staring at me in amazement. I look at my hands, still not being able to believe it either. I just healed them with water without even thinking it. My power is growing, and I feel it growl within me as a response.
Without dwelling on what I just accomplished, I pick up the discarded knives and strap them to my belt.
"Come on guys, we've got some bitches to kill."