AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am not dead (yet)!I apologize for the long dry spell. It may or may not totally have had something to do with Fire Emblem Fates (if you don't have it, get it. just sayin'). Considering that these chapters (40-49) are all going to be much longer than my usual ones, considering my whole "Golden Age" arc I have going, they might take a little longer to put out. Thanks for being patient with me. While I will never, ever hold a story hostage for reviews (only the lowest of scum does that), I do always appreciate them, evne if they're just asking or encouraging me to update. Y'all rock. That said and done, here's chapter 41. Hopefully it makes up for the wait.
Happy Reading!
The 41st Annual Hunger Games
The previous year's games had been such a hit that even though they had just vowed to step up the intensity a level or two, the Capitol knew that they had to keep that trend going. With the full intent of outdoing themselves once again, the Gamemakers got to work.
Their result, for better or for worse, was the 41st Annual Hunger Games. Of course, creating a stellar arena with intriguing hazards and traps was only half of what made a games unforgettable or forgettable. The other half was decided by what kind of tributes got reaped for the games: who volunteered, who got picked by chance, and, on rare occasions, whose reapings were rigged to silence dangerous rebels.
Fortunately, there didn't have to be any riggings in the reaping this year, and there were tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 5 that all volunteered, as well as a rather bloodthirsty girl from District 7. Rafe Terrn and Lenina Cross from District 2 led the show, and were quickly supported by Azalea Markett and Viktor Williams. They were joined by Heather Mace from District 7, and thus the 5-strong career pack for the 41st year of the games was born.
Opposing them were the volunteer pair from District 5: Henry Gale and Marcelina (nicknamed Marci by some) Kovac. In the shadows, likely lingering in her methods of subversive scheming the way District 12 so infamously did in recent Hunger Games, stood Ariana Fox, whose eyes lingered on the careers and the intimidating District 5 pair. Would this year's games be another repeat of the one before it, with a career victory at hand; or would one of the outer districts pull an upset? It was never too early or too late to guess, and the Capitol had established a thus far very successful gambling racket around this very thing. Betting on children's lives was second nature to them.
The odds that year were something for the various Panemian audiences to think about. The alliance from District 5 scored high, with Henry scoring a 9 and Marci scoring a 10; and even little Ariana scoring a 7. The pair from District 11, Nefara Rin and Dax Chang, both scored 8s, which also meant that during the games they could very well get sponsors too.
Of course, the career pack did unsurprisingly well. Rafe brought in a perfect 12, while his partner Lenina took a 10. Azalea scored an 11 and Viktor took a 10 as well, promising anyone they considered an enemy that they were all a collective force to be reckoned with. Heather Mace brought in a 9, while her partner, Nazir Wyoming, scored an 8. As a boy with a more rebellious streak, he held a certain disdain for his partner who he felt was sucking up to save her own hide, but at the same time, if it worked, he couldn't exactly blame her.
The games kicked off to a fairly normal start, with 9 tributes falling in the bloodbath. None of the high scoring kids from Districts 1, 2, 5, 7, or 11 were misfortunate enough to die that day, and even little Ariana managed to slip under the radar, even if her partner was not so fortunate. Henry seemed fixed on helping defend Marcelina, although Marci didn't really need protection. Taking responsibility for three of the bloodbath deaths before she sped off southward into a field, she was fierce and mysterious—one of the usual dangerous District 5 tributes. Henry was no pushover either; he had simply adopted a defensive playstyle to balance out Marci's offensive one.
The arena was a treat all on its own. Surrounding the cornucopia clearing were large fields and mountains, with tunnels leading into them. There was a light haze surrounding the skies that gave it an overcast look, but the fog here was not nearly as thick as it had been the previous year. The five careers remained at the cornucopia where there were ample supplies and plenty of food. The remaining tributes dispersed into the labyrinth of caves, only to find that things were trickier than they expected. Inside the tunnels were dim lights and the occasional clearings, but the real trick was the illusion. Many of the stones and pools of water were extremely reflective, and so a shadow in the dim lighting could very well be an enemy tribute, or just their reflection.
No one actually died on the first night, although Nazir managed to steal a kill from the District 5 pair. The careers were mostly just taking the safe route by sticking around the cornucopia as long as they had supplies. This, however, was set to change.
Some say that it was rigged up by the Gamemakers, while others, particularly in the outer districts, attributed it to the ingenuity of the District 12 girl, but whatever the case, little Ariana managed to slip into the careers' camp during the 2nd night and poison more than half of their food. Viktor and Azalea fell victim to it the next morning after Ariana was long gone, and if some of their food was poisoned, they didn't want to risk trying to guess which parts were poisoned and which ones weren't, so the remaining trio headed into the reflective tunnels with everyone else.
Tributes were not the only thing lurking inside these caves, however, and a couple unfortunate District 8 kids found out the hard way that there were large spider-like creatures in here as well. They also ended up coming across Dax, Nefara, Nazir, Marci, and Henry all at different times, keeping them occupied, but not managing to kill anyone. Nefara did take some serious wounds before she and her partner were able to take out the spiders, and on day 4, she got picked off by Rafe, while Dax was killed by Lenina.
Ariana meanwhile, had done some further exploring, finding that the end of one of the longer tunnels led into a tower. The fog in here was thick, but it made it easy to hide. The walls were lined with mirrors as well, meaning that it was much harder to actually locate anything—or anyone. Even the pillars placed systematically around the chamber were reflective, which really distorted vision. Nazir had a close encounter with Marcelina while she was on watch duty whilst Henry slept, but after revealing he did not join the careers, Marci let him off the hook, with both tributes hoping that the other would end up taking the rest of them down before the final confrontation.
The next several days were spent hunting and eliminating tributes until only 7 remained: Ariana from '12, the pair from '2, the pair from '7, and the pair from '5. Henry would wind up taking 7th as he and Marcelina battled against the career pack. They were outnumbered and outgunned, but not necessarily outclassed. Henry's defensive game was enough to allow Marcelina to get right up close and personal with her own axes.
"I don't even know why you're here," she taunted to the District 7 girl, "you're no career."
"I don't have to be," Heather leered, "I just have to be strong enough to kill you!"
"One does not simply kill the empress of metal," Marcelina grinned.
"But we can kill your friend." Heather grinned. Marcelina jumped back, swiveling her head where she saw Rafe's sword sticking out of Henry's back. She swore loudly and took a few more steps back before disappearing into the fog. The careers gave chase, but to no avail.
The career pack nearly had a rough patch with traps they knew belonged to Ariana, but they couldn't find that girl any easier than they could find Marcelina.
However, poetic justice for Marci and poetic irony for Heather as not more than a day later, the latter was ambushed by her own partner, Nazir.
"Marcelina Kovac sends her regards, fake-career." He teased. "sucking up to the Capitol will just get you killed so elegantly."
The tears of defeat were not enough to sway Nazir in his decision, and he turned to face the careers before vanishing into the fog as well. They gave chase, following him until suddenly another cannon went off. They heard the sound of scuttling in front of them, which meant that the victim had likely been Nazir. Spider-mutts were the likely culprit, but these ones were behaving very systematically as opposed to randomly attacking them like the others had been.
"It's '12!" Rafe warned, "It has to be!" The two careers began fighting off the legions of spider-mutts, which was made difficult due to all the mirror-like reflective surfaces everywhere.
"Well how did she prevent herself from getting attacked by them?" Lenina growled, nearly stumbling over Nazir's corpse, "that doesn't even make any sense! At the Gamemakers rigging it against us?"
"The Gamemakers wouldn't rig it against their lapdogs," a voice taunted from the mists, growing fainter down the tunnel, "and they'd certainly not rig it in favor of the most rebellious district in Panem…"
Rafe and Lenina raced after the voice, following it through the mist and up into one of the towers. Here it was foggier, and the mirrors were everywhere. What none of them knew was that Marcelina was also hiding here, quietly waiting for the others to duke it out. She was a bit disappointed that the District 12 girl had led the District 2 pair right into her lair, but she'd make do.
"It's just a matter of me making them not want to kill and eat me." Ariana giggled, throwing knives from the shadows. Her reflection appeared in faint parts on the reflective glass, and it took Lenina watching closely to see where they were coming from, right after one of them grazed her arm. She pinpointed Ariana and took her out with a swift knife throw to the forehead, only for it to bounce off the mirror instead. Ariana giggled, but did not move, and so Lenina guessed again, this time luckily getting it right and striking down the little saboteur on the spot. It was only after her cannon fired that Marcelina emerged, positioning herself ideally so that her reflection appeared everywhere, and it was hard to tell where she really was. She had been rehearsing these movements for hours and now it was paying off.
"I'll eviscerate you myself! Rafe roared, drawing his sword and striking against the reflections in attempts to find the real (and very elusive) Marci.
Lenina attempted to attack as well, but she had the same luck as Rafe, while Marcelina moved elusively around the pillars and behind the careers. She used one of her axes to strike Lenina down, killing her instantly. With Rafe at her side, he was now face to face with a grinning Marcelina, ready to finish the game off once and for all.
"14 days of wandering down foggy tunnels of mirrors and this is how you go," the District 5 girl leered.
"You think that just because you offed my partner means I'm going to give up so easily?" Rafe took a swing at Marci, who ducked under it just in time, "After I kill you I'm going to kick your face in—might make it look prettier."
"Oh, ho, ho…" Marcelina cackled, "my face will be the only one they remember, as I line the Capitol plaza as victor number 41!"
"We'll see about that!" Rafe jeered.
"No we won't!" Marcelina taunted as she lodged her axe into Rafe's chest. "Game over, son."
Rafe clutched his chest, and made an attempt at one final swing that nearly decapitated Marcelina. She saved herself only by how flexible she was, bending backwards to evade the slash. It did cut her belt, but she kept her pants from falling down as she caught her breath, and the final cannon rang with Rafe as nothing more than a corpse on the ground. Marcelina had just become the 6th victor from District 5, and the 41st victor of the Hunger Games.
Slightly crazy from before the games, Marci's life from here was still fairly normal, and she settled back into District 5 fairly easily. Her face was not ugly by any means, but she was not one of the excessively pretty victors that would need to go to the Capitol too often. Her face was too stern, almost as if she was always frowning or grinning viciously. Still, she had managed to prove that while her district produced hit-and-miss tributes, that when they were "hits", they tended to hit hard, and hit fast. That was a trend that she hoped to continue as she became the next mentor for tributes to come…
VICTORS BY YEAR:
1HG: Fukaya Kerezaki (#1, District 5)
2HG: Lucy Takamatzu (#1, District 11)
3HG: Naseru Litzak (#1, District 3)
4HG: Naisha Szasz (#1, District 2)
5HG: Jade Prima (#1, District 1)
6HG: Cedar Hardin (#1, District 7)
7HG: Susan Jackman (#2, District 5)
8HG: Malcolm Reed (#1, District 6)
9HG: Mags Cohen (#1, District 4)
10HG: Faren Dragmire (#2, District 1)
11HG: Maius Karuha (#2, District 2)
12HG: Iunius Karuha (#3, District 2)
13HG: Hilda White (#1, District 10)
14HG: Minali Otoyome (#2, District 3)
15HG: Willow James (#3, District 1)
16HG: Lark Chandnea (#2, District 11)
17HG: Woof Casino (#1, District 8)
18HG: Leah Holden (#2, District 7)
19HG: Zeruda Mezkiel (#2, District 6)
20HG: Muscida Lee (#2, District 4)
21HG: Kada Lahka (#4, District 2)
22HG: Gleam DiFronzo (#4, District 1)
23HG: Ivette Coronado (#3, District 5)
24HG: Olivia Thurman (#1, District 9)
25HG: Laurel Fox (#1, District 12)
26HG: Daron Armstrong (#5, District 2)
27HG: Cobalt Evans (#5, District 1)
28HG: Lyme Golding (#6, District 2)
29HG: Ash LosDias (#3, District 7)
30HG: Challis Worth (#2, District 8)
31HG: Beetee Latier (#3, District 3)
32HG: Fletch Crossley (#4, District 5)
33HG: Seeder Howell (#3, District 11)
34HG: Price Emerson (#6, District 1)
35HG: Leto Irizari (#7, District 2)
36HG: Jackson Kjelle (#5, District 5)
37HG: Zerviah Hawke (#3, District 6)
38HG: Wiress Plummer (#4, District 3)
39HG: Nephi Lott (#3, District 4)
40HG: Miriam Luxio (#7, District 1)
41HG: Marcelina Kovac (#6, District 5)