Tw: Depressive thoughts in Conrad's pov. Please dm me if you want a summary. Your mental health comes first!
Conrad Martell, 18, District 6
It's so quiet.
I'm kneeling deep in the icy, white powder, shivering into a frozen corpse. Snow drenches my legs, rendering them numb and filtering into the bones.
I let out yet another deep, gruntled cough - rupturing my ribs further. They're getting more frequent and more painful. It used to be a few an hour, now it's a few every minute. My lungs are being squeezed in from all sides, gradually suffocating me. Not that I care much. I'm probably going to die here. I've excepted that. I just hope it's not too painful… when I drift off. That's all I could ever hope for.
In front of me is a wooden stick, wedged in the snow. With another tied horizontally across it using the only loose bit of string I could find.
I also managed to carve some words into bark with a sharp stone.
It reads: "Beckett Amory. The bravest boy I've ever known – I'm sorry."
I've never written a tombstone before – not even for my parents. They don't even have graves, I don't think. So that was the best I could come up with. It probably doesn't do him justice and his family should rightfully hate me.
He was the one who begged me to let him go to the feast in my place, afterall. If I had just listened - it would have been me instead of him.
What happened? It's just a blur. All I ever wanted was to make people smile and laugh… that's all I remember. That was enough for me in life… I never meant to cause all this insanity and death. But I guess… I can't get anything right.
That leads me to the painful thought that's been lingering in my head for the last day - did I do this to him? Taliesin was after me. He wanted to get at me. He was a reaction to me. That's why he wore my face when he did it. It may as well have been me that plunged the blade into Beck's body.
Everything that happened after that is just a red fog in my mind. I pursued him and brutally slaughtered him. I remember that. I killed the only person I could blame for Beckett's death… other than myself. Very clever.
Now I'm just left here - tied to the guilt that's consuming me as fast as the poison in my lungs. I wonder which will take me first?
Frozen trees surround me in all directions in front of the grey, misty air. My numb fists clench together, and I Struggle to take in a breath with my tight lungs, staring dead on at Beckett's makeshift grave in front of my eyes.
"Keep watching that sunrise for me, will ya?" I croak, swallowing my tears.
Then, I lift myself back off my knees to my feet… somehow.
Breathing is getting more and more difficult.
There's a frozen puddle just below me, revealing my scared reflection to me.
The deep slashes across my eye socket and cheek are still there, covered in dark, dry blood. The one across my eye reminds me of someone…
Suddenly my reflection fades and Taliesin is staring back at me. Still with the bloody gash over his own eye and of course adorning his usual grin, stretched across his face. The grin he had as he stood over me…ready to finish me. Just before I violently put him down.
His face infects my heart with a sting of fear! Then, with a cry of anger, I stamp down on the puddle, smashing his reflection into pieces.
I'm heavily panting all of a sudden in the freezing air. Even with my collapsing lungs.
Now I'm stumbling on through the snow, clutching my ribs and coughing constantly. Not really sure where I'm going or why. Drifting through the snowy air as a lost spirit would.
Eventually, standing at one of the old, rustic train stations, I find myself face to face with another old-fashioned train, gliding to a halt in front of my very eyes.
The door opens and I trip inside. The interior offers up the tiniest amount of warmth on my skin.
Finally, my body collapses down against the inside of the train wall, while it begins to slowly move off. I'm slumped down in a heap, staring out the window at the drifting snowfall against the clouds. My path leads no further, and I've got nothing left inside me, just an empty heart.
It doesn't matter. I can't go on. Every road has come to a dead end. I've finally run out of gas… my tank is empty.
I'm trying to remember how I used to be, but I don't even remember my own name anymore…
The thunder of the train against the tracks bumps my sunken eyes slowly closed, as the coughs continue to rip my lungs open.
After, all I see is blackness…
Until…
My eyelids slide open. I'm huddled in a ball, with my arms cradling my knees to my chest. I'm in that dark, murky-brown, smelly cave from the second day. The cave with the Buzzers… where I rescued Beckett. Roots extend down, blocking out my sight from what lies past this hole.
Am I in the afterlife? I don't think so. My head, face and body are still throbbing with bruises and cuts and I'm still shivering to the bone. Besides, I never believed in any kind of afterlife. Nor do I want to. I can't go on with my guilt.
Suddenly, a shadow, no… a silhouette appears in front of me. The person is very small. A child. He's crouched down just past the roots.
His face fades in, dirty and grimy but wearing an excited smile and bright eyes. Beckett. I remember him. If he's here, then maybe my parents are too?
"Am I… am I dead?" I croak, meekly.
He shakes his head.
"It's not your time yet," he replies, still smiling.
His deep, brown eyes travel down to my pocket.
"Have you still got my necklace?" His gentle voice asks.
"It's to bring you luck, remember?"
Instinctively, my hand finds its way to my pocket. Yes. I can feel it. The shape of a bee attached to a string in my pocket.
"I have it," I mutter.
Crouching down, he offers out his small hand to me.
"You're doing so well; we just need to get you outta this cave. Do you think you can help me with that?" He asks.
My arm stretches out in response, straining hard and painfully.
However, with struggle, our hands meet and clasp around each out. Still smiling, he hauls me up.
My eyes and lungs burst open on the train floor! My lungs had closed off completely but now they have a new air running through them again.
I'm gasping desperately for oxygen, crawling and rolling around on the floor. I'm still alive. Somethings keeping me alive. I have no idea what. I don't even remember who I am anymore. I've lost myself but I'm still breathing.
Harrison Jones, 17, District 11
My eyes flutter open and I sit up with a gasp. Darrah leans against a tree a few feet away from me, perplexed as I start to wake up.
"Are you okay?" She plays with her medium device, keeping it close to her chest like it's her lifeline.
"Yeah, I guess. I'm sorry." I brush the dirt off my clothes and straighten out my tense limbs just as my muscles start to punish me for another night sleeping on the ground.
"A cannon fired while you were sleeping. I-I think you knew her. I'm sorry." Darrah doesn't even have to give me a name. Her tone tells me enough.
Serenity. The only person left I felt like I could trust. Gone, just like that. I wasn't even awake to mourn her properly. What kind of ally am I? Was I?
You're not an ally, Harrison. You're a tribute. Just like she is, or, was. Just like Darrah, and Marissa, and even Taliesin. No more, no less. Pinned against each other for the entertainment of the Capitol. Did they relish in her death? Did they cry? How long did they mourn before the shot cut away to the next tribute? Before they got ready for the next fight?
How many of them were betting on Serenity Jasper to be crowned victor? I bet they care more about the loss of money than the loss of life.
Again, and again, we're bound to live in this cycle. Pawns in a game of chess. The first pieces to be played, and the first to be knocked off the board.
No more. This was the kind of thing I wanted to prevent when I was still home. Before this stupid Hunger Games.
"We should move." I tell Darrah as I start together the few belongings we have left.
"Where?" She asks me, staying in her spot against the tree.
"I don't know." I don't bullshit her. I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't have any answers for her. We could be dead in an hour for all I know.
"Well. I could use a bit of exercise." She pushes herself off of the ground. And we're off.
Despite being in this arena for almost two weeks, I don't feel like I've been everywhere. Sure, when I was with the Careers we stayed in our little manor, but other than hunting, I didn't make a habit of exploring.
"I wish your map was still active." I joke with her as we stop through the trees.
"It was El's map." She reminds me.
"Right. Sorry." Good job Harrison.
"But, same. It was nice knowing where the treasure was."
"Treasure?" This takes me off guard.
"Oh yeah. It was a treasure map of sorts." She chuckles.
"I thought it was just a map of the arena."
"Well, it was also that. But it had markings that showed us where there was treasure."
"Wow. What kind of treasure?"
"Well, you know that big castle on the other side of the town? There was a secret room there. Full of supplies. We were able to hide out there for a few days. Then, we found a secret underground cave-thing. It's where I found this." She raises the medium device.
"Underground cave? Where was that?"
"Um, it was south of the lake. The big lake."
"So, nearby?" Ideas swirl around my head. The potential for setting traps, waiting out the rest of the kills, something. Anything is better than doing nothing.
"I guess. Why? There's nothing left." She reminds me.
"No, but who else would know about it? It might be a good place to hold out." She seems to consider the idea, but to be honest, I can't read her well.
"Okay. Sure. It should be this way." Darrah leads the two of us through the forest. We don't say much as we travel, but the silence isn't awkward. I think we've both found comfort in our alliance. Somehow.
No cannons fire as we travel, and I can only wonder what has been happening. What the rest of the tributes are doing. What the Capitol is showing, focusing on. I'm sure they're cutting back to us limitedly. But what about Tati? Marissa? Conrad? I'm sure the fight between Serenity and…whoever took her life was entertaining enough for the viewers. But how long until they get bored, and try to force action?
Darrah starts to slow down as we reach a small clearing of sorts.
"Are we here?" I ask, trying to see…well…anything.
"I think so. Watch your step. Last time I fell in." My eyes immediately lock to the ground, and I look very carefully before stepping anywhere new.
We walk around for a few minutes, covering a small radius fairly quickly. I keep making glances at Darrah, who despite her best efforts, can't hide the confusion on her face.
"It's around here, I promise-" Her words are cut off by the ground starting to shake, accompanied by a low-rumble.
"What's happening?" Darrah's stance widens as the ground continues to shake, and I do the same, trying to stay low to the ground.
"I don't know." I look around the clearing we're in. The ground shaking causes the debris on the ground to rattle. Branches dance in the air, leaves fall from the trees that shake them off onto the two of us.
"Harrison!" Darrah and I are slowly moved apart from one another as the ground below us so ever shifts beneath our feet.
"Just, keep your footing." I back up as the ground continues to…open up? I take a few more steps back and trip over something protruding from the ground and fall straight on my back. Darrah grabs a hold of a tree trunk as the world continues to shake.
After almost a full minute of the world shifting, it finally stops. The silence is deafening, in between the heavy breaths of both Darrah and me.
Where there was solid ground has now been replaced with a hole in the ground. Darrah doesn't move a muscle, her grip stays tight on the tree. I push myself up to a squat and lean to get a better look into the new thing.
"Harrison!" Darrah snaps at me, slowly releasing her death grip.
"It's okay." I say as I slowly lean closer. From the angle and lack of light, I can't make out anything.
"Get away from there, unless you want to fall in!" Darrah yells, but I continue to inch forward.
"This opened for a reason. We have to go in." I look up at her and her expression tells me everything I need to know before she verbalizes it.
"Are you insane?"
"Maybe. But think about it. The Gamemakers triggered this as soon as we came over here. They clearly want us to go down here."
"I don't know about you, but I actively avoid doing what the Gamemakers want me to do." Darrah pupils slowly become less and less dilated as the adrenaline as the world calms down.
Ignoring both my better judgment and Darrah's rational thoughts, I continue moving closer and closer to the hole. It's wide enough for a human to pass through.
"Are you really going to do this?" Darrah asks one last time. I shrug.
"What's the worst that could happen?" I try to feign confidence, but I can tell Darrah can see right through me. "You can stay up here; I don't want to endanger you more than I already have."
Darrah is silent for a while. She quickly glances around the clearing we're in, maybe she's looking for signs of other tributes, or mutts, or proof that this is just some dumb Gamemaker trap that I'm literally falling directly into.
"No. I don't want to be alone." She exhales, her skin paler than usual. "But you're going first. And if you scream, I'm not following you."
"Understandable." I inch closer and closer to the opening. Without a single clue of what might be waiting for me on the other side, I enter the tunnel.
Marissa Grey, 17, District 4
There's blood on my hands.
Literally and figuratively. I scrub and scrub and scrub, but nothing gets the stain of red out of my skin.
Serenity's dead. She's dead because of me.
And more have to join her before I can return home.
Because I refuse to. I refuse to join her. To join Taliesin, and Henry, and Jade, and the hundreds of other failed Careers that weren't good enough to get out of the Hunger games alive. No, I will be the one the world remembers. I will not fail.
Because failure is not an option. Failure means that my family was right all along. That Sofia should have been here instead of me. I wonder if my family has even watched, if they've seen what I've gone through. What I've done. If they regret their last words to me. Because when I come home, they can be damn sure I won't say a single word to any of them. My fame and fortune will be flaunted in their face, but I'll make damned sure they won't see me or my money ever again.
The pleasant thoughts are just enough to block out the bad ones. Jade's face in the night sky. Serenity's screams as I finished what Taliesin started. Everything before, and everything in between. It's no secret that the arena changes people. But for me, I've never felt stronger.
There's only four people in between me and my deserved crown. They're scattered around this arena, most likely each suffering from some kind of injury from the last few days. The feast was brutal, and the attacks that came after were even worse. I'm surprised no further cannons have fired. But I'm okay with it. It just means more people to add to my kill count.
I circle around the manor that had been my home for the past week and a half. I try not to stray too far, but just waiting around hasn't been that engaging for me either. I keep hoping the Gamemakers try to push us all together, try to shove the remaining tributes in my direction for me to give them a good last showdown. But it doesn't seem like they're doing anything of the sort. What are they doing? Unless there's something incredibly engaging happening elsewhere, which I doubt, they shouldn't just be letting us run wild like this. I wonder what's going on?
No matter. Sooner or later, they'll have to have the games end. I can wait. I can play their games. I can be the Victor, they want me to be.
But I can't stand around here any longer. I grab the rest of my things, which isn't much anymore, and wander away from the safety of the town. I head in the general direction I think Serenity came from, hoping I can run into Conrad, or someone else, on the way there.
So, I wander. I wander through the arena that has changed just as much as the people that have been inhabiting it during these Games. Trains, castles, vampires, werewolves, all designed as an obstacle. More examples of the obstacles I excelled in.
I wander across the train tracks and a movement catches my attention. At first, I think it's too small to be anything other than a rabbit, or a squirrel. But after a second glance, I see another movement, and there's no question in my mind it belongs to someone more human sized.
I unsheathe my sword and stay low to the ground as I approach the area, I saw the creature moving towards. Whatever it is, it's hard to track, which makes me think it's a mutt or a trap. Either way, I'm sure I'm front and center on Panem's screens. Which is exactly where I belong.
So, I push forward and use the structures around me to my advantage. Whoever, or whatever I'm following doesn't seem to have a clue I'm there.
Finally, it stops moving as we reach the very edge of the main town. The one where we were attacked by vampires. God, what a lifetime ago that feels.
In complete stillness, I'm finally able to make out the creature, or rather person, I've been pursuing. My face falls into a big grin the instant I realize.
Tatiana Emery. The youngest volunteer left in this arena. The girl who has surprised me every step of the way. I thought she was just an ignorant child with a big ego when I saw her step onto that stage. She's certainly proved that she's more than that.
She takes in the area, seemingly searching for any threats. I keep my distance, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
"I know you're there." Her voice cuts through me like ice, sending a piercing chill down my spine. Shit.
I don't move for a bit, under the off chance she thinks she misheard, or someone else appearing from the shadows. No luck. I know as well as she does that there's only two threats in a half mile vicinity.
I reveal myself, hands half up, yet keeping the tight grip on my handle.
"You caught me." I tease. She does not find as much humor in me as I do. She immediately goes on the defensive, raising her weapon to an offensive position.
"Alright, fine. If that's how you want to be." I mimic her pose, keeping my sword across my chest. We're about a dozen feet away from each other, seemingly waiting for the other to make the first move.
If that's how it's going to be. I push off the stone ground with the back of my heel and close the distance. Metal on metal pierces the air around us. Adrenaline rushing, time feels like it slows down as the fight begins.
And a fight it will be.
So we're back into the games arc of the story! As you can probably tell its not going to be like a regular ending for a syot. The reason for that is we just felt like we could tell a lot of these characters stories better as a two parter! So expect survivors! Next chapter will be the last of the games then we're onto the epilogue arc. Incidentally, we're both planning to open sequels to this fic. More information will arrive about them later on – Nautics.
Povs written by Nautics: Conrad
Povs written by Team-Shadow: Harrison, Marissa
Roles
Serenity: Vigilante
Taliesin: Disguiser
Harrison: Vampire Hunter
Conrad: Guardian Angel
Nadia: Potion Master
Charon: Werewolf
Marissa: Ambusher
El: Pirate
Tatiana: Arsonist
Franz: Transporter
Darrah: Medium
Eulogies
Day 1
24th: Ricky James (D9M) Killed by Serenity Jasper - decapitated.
23th: Tristan Card (D8M) Killed by Jade Hastings – Slashed through the chest.
22nd: Jonathan Priel (D10M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Knife thrown through neck.
21st: Elijah Axenfros (D7M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Blunt force trauma.
20th: Emily Lynch (D6F) Killed by Heather Monroe – Knife thrown into torso.
19th: Kalen Demner (D5M) Killed by Marissa Grey - Sliced with a sword.
18th: Aeliana Decima (D8F) Killed by vampire mutts – bitten in the neck.
Day 2
17th: Henry Haines (D1M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat crushed and neck snapped.
Day 3
16th: Adelina Claire (D10F) Killed by Gargoyle mutts.
Day 4
0 deaths.
Day 5
0 deaths.
Day 6
15th: Jade Hastings (D1F) Killed by Charon Aytigin – Throat ripped out.
14th: Charon Aytigin (D12M) Killed by Serenity Jasper – Shot in the chest.
Day 7
13th: Heather Monroe (D5F) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Throat slit.
Day 8
12th: Electra Shielle (D3F) Killed by Franz Kubo.
Day 9
11th: Seia Loam (D11F) Killed by Harrison Jones – Stabbed through the back.
10th: Nadia Miniera (D12F) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Knife thrown in into torso.
9th: Beckett Amory (D3M) Killed by Taliesin Ulysses – Stabbed.
Day 10
8th: Franz Kubo (D2M) Killed by Tatiana Emery – Impaled by spear.
7th: Taliesin Ulysses (D4M) Killed by Conrad Martell – Hung by the neck.
6th: Serenity Jasper (D9F) Killed by Marissa Grey - Impaled in abdomen.
Day 11
No deaths yet.
Jade: 1
Taliesin: 6
Marissa: 2
Heather: 1
Serenity: 2
Charon: 1
Franz: 1
Harrison: 1
Conrad: 1
Tatiana: 1
Mutts/arena: 2