"After interest in the Games drops to an all time low, President Snow is determined to regain the once amazing popularity. Twelve tributes. One 'arena.' And one game-changing twist. Welcome to the 80th Hunger Games, the Rebirth."

~ The Rebirth Games ~

Chapter Seventeen:

Vote

He's dead. He has to be dead. There's no way someone could survive a wound that deep. The metal blades draw upwards unveiling the huge crack in the back of Igneous' head. I don't wait for another second. I don't wait for their chance to escape. No. I run straight forward and bash into the Mockingjay at full force. I shove them backwards straight towards the wall and grab onto their mask. I latch my hands around their entire head, and with no moral thoughts, I bash their head back towards the wall. I hear a crack in the plastic laying under the feathers and I slam again with all my power.

They struggle in my grasp attempting to push me away, but with one foul kick of my knee, I kick them straight in the stomach. I don't let go of the mask at all. Repeatedly, I continue to whack it off the wall, hoping they'll fall unconscious any moment now.

Slam! Slam! Slam!

The splitting sound of plastic makes me grit my teeth. Sweat runs across my forehead.

Slam! Crack!

They've got away with too much.

Slam! Crack!

They've caused too much pain.

Slam! Crack!

And I don't care if I die in this room right now. I'm going to die shattering this helmet to pieces and knowing who is under this mask.

Their fist hits me right in the hip and I wince in pain. I stop attacking for almost a split-second, but that's enough time for their counter attack. They grab onto my shoulders and dive down onto the ground, bringing me down alongside them. I tower over their body, hands locked together, both of us trying to push the other back. They get the advantage. I'm rolled over onto the ground and they mount me. They lock their arm down on my throat and manage to get up on their knees above me. I attempt to shove them off, tossing out several blows to their face, but they give me one back. Straight to the cheek, the impact knocks my head sideways and I see Igneous' lifeless body, dead eyes staring straight at me.

I tilt upwards, wriggling like a worm for escape, but then a headbutt into my face knocks me back down to the ground. My head whacks against the ground and I feel powerless. Like my energy has been drained within seconds. My vision blurs and my breathing heavily increases. My arms fall dead beside my body as the Mockingjay forms one final fist. They rise it high above their head, and I don't even try to fight back. It's pointless. I'm done. And the final thump to my face instantly turns everything black.

Every single one of the Gamemakers has a smile on their face. They stare at the television screen, glaring at the two bodies down in the basement.

"Good work," says Umbree, standing at the top of the stairs. "But we're going to need to get you a new mask.."

The Mockingjay rips the mask straight from their head, holding it in their hand and letting Umbree see their face. Several cracks run through the plastic. Not even glue could patch it back up.

"He's a tough cookie," continues Umbree. "But you better get back up there... It's almost time for the vote."

With a flick of their long cape, the Mockingjay spins around and vanishes out the door.

"Danny boy!"

The moment I hear the voice, my eyes burst open immediately.

"Aw, look it! He's still alive!" squawks Destiny. "I told y'all dumb hoes that we didn't have to bury his body out in the snow!"

"Who said that?!" I exclaim, jumping up from the sofa. I look around and I see that I'm in the living room. Everybody, and I mean everybody, appears to be here, alive and well.

"Little Ms. Celia said that!" Destiny answers.

"Oh, come on!" Celia yells. "If you see two bodies, one clearly dead with a huge slash in the back of his head, one is to presume that the other is dead too! And I don't care what any of you buffoons argue to me about; I am always the right one! So that's why you must listen to me for a second..."

All the tributes lean forward on the sofas, listening to Celia carefully. "If we stay in this house, we are all going to die!"

"Your point is?" asks Tren.

"I was getting to that!" snaps Celia. "If we stay in this house, we are all going to die-! So, I propose a plan.. We all move into the houses in the village."

"No way!" screams Livvy, bouncing up from her seat. "No freaking way! We cannot move into that village. We are going to die there too!"

Celia sighs. "What are we supposed to do? At least if we move down there, we will die less."

"How the hell can we die less?!"

"I don't know, but we will!"

"Wrong!" exclaims Are. "We are not moving into that village. We are staying here in the mansion."

Celia's face glows red with anger. She pouts her lips, her entire mouth shaking, and she squints her eyes. After a moment of silence, she bursts out a reply. "Are you crazy?!"

"I saw you running up the mountain and back to the house!" I shout. "What were you up to?!"

"I was just following Obedience who ran past me in the village.. He said he found the key to free you," Celia explains.

"That's true," Obedience speaks up. "I found it in a box of cereal in the supermarket."

"And that was after I got locked inside the storage room in the supermarket. The door automatically opened up after a while so I just ran back to the mansion," says Fern.

Suddenly, a rumble shoots through the ground. We all hold onto the sofas as tightly as we can as the floor begins to shake.

"What's happening?!" screams Livvy. "I'm having a panic attack!"

"Oh shut up, you div!" replies Celia.

I look forward, straight through the kitchen and out the kitchen window at what is happening. I stand up, slowly walk forward and watch as hedges begin to raise from the snowy ground outside.

"Look.."

Everybody stands up and stares out, watching as a gigantic ring of bushes rapidly grows. It's definitely not hard to tell what it is.

"It's a maze.." I whisper.

"I wonder what it's for," says Obedience.

"Tributes should stay seated. Tributes should stay seated."

We all stare at one another in horror as the voice rings throughout the house. It's him. Him again. Caesar Flickerman. We all sit down on the sofas and listen to his monologue play.

"Tributes, at the very end of the village lies a court house. Tomorrow morning, there shall be use made of it.. One by one, you shall now call out who you want to be put on trial to be executed for being the Mockingjay. Each of you have one vote, so make it count.. Celia should start first."

"I vote for Danix!" she screams. "Of course he's the Mockingjay, so he's going to be punished!"

"What the hell is happening?" Tren whispers to me. All I can do is shake my head, and once Caesar calls out my name, I give my vote.

"I vote for Celia because she's a spoiled brat and the one murdering us all."

"Tren."

"I shall also vote for Celia because I think she is suspicious and-"

"No need for a speech!" screeches Celia. "Just say it and get it over with!"

Tren huffs. "Fine! I vote Celia because she's a cow!"

"Fern."

"I vote for Celia too, because just like Tren said, she's a cow!"

"Are."

Are stands up and folds his arms over. He lets out a cough and then speaks. "I vote for... Livvy."

Everyone gasps in the room, Livvy included. I don't think anyone expected that at all.

"I think Livvy is acting about everything.. She overreacts about everything."

"Livvy."

"Well I was originally going to vote for someone else, but now I'm going to vote Are because that was mean!" squeals Livvy. "You have upset my feelings!"

"Okay.." says Are.

"Destiny."

"Hmmm, okay, okay.. I think it be really clear who the murderer is a'be!" says Destiny. "I be doing some sleuthing, and I come to the choice that Celia is that killer, boys!"

"WHAT?!" screams Celia.

"Haha! I gots me a killer! Gotcha, girl!"

"Obedience."

"Well.. I think the killer is Crazy. He is super weird," Obedience explains. Everyone turns their head to Crazy who sits right beside Destiny. His eyebrows are arched and he stares at every single one of us. I think most forgot he was even here because he never speaks.

"Crazy."

Everyone waits to hear his voice for the first time, but we never hear it. He stays absolutely frozen, looking straight at the wall and doesn't say a word.

"Crazy!" yells Caesar. "Oh, forget it! The votes are in... but there's a twist."

Livvy gasps.

"Instead of voting who to put on trial, you were voting who to become the judge. And with two votes, the most votes, Celia is now the judge."

Celia jumps up off her seat in glee and prances around. "I got you buffoons! Haha!"

"But there's another twist... Now that she is the judge, Celia will now decide who to put on trial."

At this moment in time, I wish I could just run for my life. Run out the door, never come back to this horrid place. I want to be back home with my parents, Cas and Seidon, and Maris. I never wanted any of this. It's pretty clear who she picks.

Celia slowly walks forward and points her finger straight at me.

"I have decided to put Danix on trial!"

Author's Note:

Oh no! Danix is going to be put on trial! :OOOOOO

Well hello everybody! Welcome to Chapter Seventeen of The Rebirth Games: Vote! Obviously in this chapter, we had the big vote... And Danix is going to be put on trial! What do you think is going to happen with this plot?! Will he be sentenced to death?! You never know... But remember this: in this story, ANYTHING can happen.

What did you think of Danix's fight with the Mockingjay at the beginning?! It was super fun for me to write. Also, what about the situation of the key in the village? So apparently "Obedience and Fern were split by the door, Obedience found the key, ran back towards the mansion and found Celia. They both went back to the mansion and tried to free Danix but he was already freed.. The rest of the tributes made their way back to the mansion eventually while Danix was knocked unconscious."

Do you believe any of this?! Remember: somebody is the Mockingjay. I am writing this story in the way that if you ever decide to randomly re-read a chapter, you'll be saying "Oh my gosh.. It was pretty clear that this person was the killer all along!" I love shows that do that and succeed. Then there's shows that attempt it but end up with a billion plot-holes... *I'm looking at you, Pretty Little Liars.*

Hopefully this story has no plot-holes. When we finally get to the reveal of the Mockingjay and find out who it was all this time, there are going to be some complex explanations. And I'm hoping that ALL questions will be answered. There are many questions still floating around, some that you may not even know you have, but trust me, they will be answered eventually! :)

Don't forget to vote on my profile for who you think the Mockingjay is! The results so far are pretty interesting. I can neither say that someone has guessed correctly or wrong. ;)

Whether you liked or disliked this chapter, feel free to leave a review if you have time! I always love any sort of critiques because I want to try and make my stories as good as they possibly can! Hopefully you're going to be in love with the killer reveal ;) I am SO EXCITED for you to eventually read it! Next chapter is Eighteen. I am planning on having the reveal around Twenty Six/Seven. Then I'll have the aftermath of the Games which will probably have the final chapter of the entire story end at around Thirty!

Stay tuned for more to come! What a hint of the next chapter..? ;) Well the line of Celia screaming in the sneak peak of the previous chapter will be in it. c;

Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeee! :D

(P.S, new cover for the story! Hope you like it!)