Chapter title taken from "Under Tides" by Steven Grove/Monster Siren Records
General reminder that Theo's pronouns are she/it!
XII.
Under Tides
The night of day five revealed only seven tributes were left alive, and Theo spent the whole night laying in bed with Char as the faces flashed across the ceiling.
She should never have let Bellatrix go through with the plan to sink the cornucopia. She should have vetoed it and carried on with the previous plan. Maybe then, four people in the alliance wouldn't have died needlessly. Maybe then, the remaining four still alive wouldn't be separated and in worse shape than when they'd left the dormitory.
"I'll bet they're interviewing our families now," Char said, filling the silence when the national anthem stopped playing. Theo had her head buried in the pillow, but it hummed in response to show it was listening. "I wonder what they have to say about us."
What, indeed. Did Theo's parents think less of her now, especially after she'd left the girl from Seven to be mauled to death by the mutts? What about Betty? Did Betty think Theo was heartless after it failed to save Saffron from being swept up by the current, especially when Theo could've grabbed her and dragged her along with Char? What about everyone else? The Academy had to think Theo was a failure, a worthless investment. Desdemona probably thought Theo was the one at fault for everything that went wrong. Desdemona wouldn't be wrong to think so.
Char rolled over and watched Theo. He propped his head on his hand, elbow hanging off the edge of the bed.
He pushed some of Theo's hair out of her face and said, "Hey. It's okay."
"It's not," Theo mumbled. Char patted its head softly as it spoke. "I'm the one who made the plan. I gave in to Trixie and let her sink the cornucopia. I should've—"
"Hey, listen." Char sat up and turned Theo's head, making it look at him as he stared down at it. "We know Trixie wouldn't have come up with a plan lightly. We know she was the least experienced of us. And if she knew you were struggling to hurt people, then it's within reason to believe that she did this to help you."
Theo felt herself tearing up. With a slightly wavering tone, she tried, "I didn't want her to help me thin the numbers…"
Char seemed almost pained when he considered his words. He let go of Theo's face, letting her lay back down into the pillow, and he was silent for a time.
It wasn't until Theo was on the cusp of sleep that it heard him speak again, but he was so quiet that it almost missed it.
"It's like when you'd make us wear extra layers on a snow day," Char mumbled. "We may not want to, but it's what we need. Trixie just knew what you needed, even if it wasn't what you wanted."
And Theo hated how right Char was—because if Theo dared to admit that Bellatrix had done her a favour in killing the others, even their own allies in the process, it would be like admitting that someone like Saffron or Fortuna deserved to die for Theo's sake.
That was far too cruel a fate, to die for the sake of Theo's own gains.
Things really took a turn for the worst on the eighth day. Theo and Char sat together at the table and ate their breakfast in silence, watching the mutts swim around outside and occasionally peek in with chomping motions. With fewer bodies to eat now, all of the doors locked tightly by the surviving tributes, the mutts had no more food to sate their hunger. Theo considered asking Char to move the corpse of the girl from Twelve outside, but the risk of their legs being grabbed by the mutts was too high. Moreover, part of Theo still held onto hope that at least one of these corpses could go home whole to their families.
Just one was enough.
Only two names appeared that night during announcements, but they weren't names she recognised. Theo did recognise the face of the first one—it was hard to forget the sight of the poor tribute trying to sneak out to take more food, only to be snatched and torn apart by the mutts the moment her foot dipped into the water. The other tribute, though, Theo had completely forgotten was even still alive. One of the Eight kids unrelated to the boy she'd tried to help died as well, and Theo munched silently on its food as the announcements were made—two dead, five remaining in the arena—while Char watched the mutts move around.
"They're up to something," he said idly. Theo looked away from the ceiling, still chewing, and hummed. "I saw a couple come into the arena and go to the launch areas. They aren't leaving with corpses."
"Maybe they're checking the doors again," Theo pondered aloud. "Someone might've unlocked their door."
As soon as Theo said it, she immediately took it back. No, by this point it was just the duo and Truffle and Khoi, plus one remaining tribute. None of them would open their door, let alone unlock it, and Theo had a sinking feeling that the remaining outlier wasn't about to open their door any time soon.
"Do you think they know how to use the explosives in the podiums?" Char asked out of the blue.
Theo went to open its mouth and say no, but then Theo paused. Actually, they probably did… One of the launch pads did explode when the boy from Eight's mutt entered it. Theo didn't give it much thought, but now that Char drew more attention to it, it was puzzling how a disarmed explosive still blew after the tribute in the corridor had tried to run.
How intelligent were these mutts exactly? They were smart enough to taunt and stalk and tease. But did they have higher thinking capabilities like humans? Theo set down the rest of its food and stared at the table with a blank expression.
That couldn't be good.
At the very least, they got to sleep through most of the night with little issue. About the only thing that woke Theo was the sound of tapping on the glass, mutts with Fortuna and Cyanea's faces staring inside, and Theo had to shake Char awake in order to ignore them. Char effectively made a blanket fort for them to sleep under, but the tapping persisted all through the night. It only really stopped when the lighting switched to daylight mode, and when they emerged from the blanket fort, there was certainly a sight to behold in front of them.
There were certainly not forty-three mutts outside, and Theo theorised some had died in the cornucopia sinking, but the number around their dome was more than ten. And each and every one of them stared down at Theo and Char, smiling with wide, toothy grins. Theo looked up, checking to see if any were on the ceiling, but all she could see was something small and flashing red attached to the ceiling.
Theo grabbed Char, and they both ran out of the room just in time to hear and feel the explosive go off above them. Mutts flooded into the room through the broken ceiling, all hissing and screeching, and both Theo and Char had to pull the door shut in order to stop the garden from flooding. Mutts banged on the door and clawed at the window, leaving long white lines along the glass, and both Char and Theo looked around wildly for a sign of what the fuck was happening.
A speaker crackled to life near the escape hatch, and the lights in the room turned red. It was just like when they'd launched, nine days into the arena events, and both Char and Theo were on high alert as the Gamemakers' voice echoed through the dome.
"Attention tributes. As you are now in the final five, the escape hatches above you will now unlock. Please make haste to the surface of the arena before the domes are fully flooded."
That was all the warning they got. And as Theo and Char stared up at the escape hatch above them, Theo quickly realised yet another terrible thing: It was probably only wide enough to fit one of them at a time.
"I'll—" they both said at the same time. Theo wanted to shake Char, to demand he not argue with it, but Char seemed to be on the same train of thought as he grabbed Theo's shoulders and actually shook it a little.
"There's no time to argue. I think all of the mutts on our side are in the dorm dome," he explained. "We have to figure out a way to flood the room without pulling more inside."
"Cornucopia is too high," Theo argued. "And without the actual cornucopia, there's no hope of reaching it. We might have to go back into the dorm room."
Char clicked his tongue and looked around. He glanced from the exit of the garden, back to the dormitory entrance, and he chewed his lip enough to turn it white.
"Okay," he said, and he sounded as stressed as he looked. "Okay. What if we open the door and flood them out? The water will be too busy flowing out into the cornucopia, so we'll have time to shut the door after most of them are out."
"Char, do you have any idea of how much force is needed to shut a flooded room's door?"
Another mutt appeared above them. Theo and Char sucked in a quick breath, holding it for a fraction of a second, before Theo noticed who this mutt resembled. Bellatrix's mutt lifted the sledgehammer that'd been lost to the depths high above its head, and it gazed down at them hungrily as it swung it down against the ceiling.
It cracked, but didn't quite cave in yet. Theo and Char bolted to opposite sides of the garden—Char to the dorm, Theo to the cornucopia—and Theo wasted no time unlocking the door and pulling it open while Char unlocked the dorm and let loose the torrent of water and mutts trapped within. Mutts flew out of the room with the flood, some of them trying to grab for Theo, but none of them could get a hold of it.
Just in time, too, Theo thought; Bellatrix's mutt swung down again, and a small hole was made in the ceiling—no larger than the mutt's head—that let in a cascade of water.
"I'll use the dorm's hatch!" Char called over the deafening rush of water. He was struggling to drag himself into the dorm, but the water from inside was certainly filling the garden at a rapid pace. "You use the garden!"
Theo nodded and let the door slide shut under the pressure of the water, not even bothering to spin the wheel to lock it in place. As the water rose and the escape hatch became closer and closer, Theo paced its breathing and tried to reach for it. If she shut the hatch behind her and locked it, water wouldn't be a concern for the rest of the way. Theo had no doubt that the hatch had a ladder inside—it wouldn't be much of an escape hatch without them.
She could see through the glass and water that Char had managed to twist open his hatch and pull himself up, and Theo didn't miss the water being dumped on him from inside the hatch. Was the tube damaged by the explosion? She hoped not. Theo wasn't sure how long Char could hold his breath for, but it wasn't long enough to last a forty-foot climb. Theo reached for the handle of the hatch again, fingers brushing it, and for a brief moment it felt hope blossom in its chest.
And then a tight grip yanked Theo downwards. Theo screamed as she was dragged underwater, surprised and unable to suck in a breath, and all she saw through the red light was Cyanea's mutt pulling it deeper and deeper into the dome.
Theo kicked at the clawed hand gripping its leg, but the mutt wouldn't budge. Theo's lungs were crying out in pain as she kicked harder, more desperately, but Cyanea's mutt only acknowledged its efforts by scratching a long trio of lines down Theo's leg deep enough to cloud the water with blood. Theo held back another scream for the most part, mostly because she had no air to let out of her lungs, and she almost considered giving up right then and there. Char was already on his way up and out of the dome, and everyone else was likely facing this same problem of mutts attacking them. And if one of them did make it to the surface, Theo had full confidence that Char would win in a standoff with them.
The desire to give up didn't linger for long, though. No sooner had Theo thought that everyone else was busy with mutts of their own, a flash of bright yellow entered the room and approached the tribute and mutt. Theo was briefly able to see Khoi's face through the blood, just long enough to register Khoi shoving the mini oxygen tank into Theo's hands, and Theo hurriedly brought it to her lips and sucked in crisp air.
The mutt let go of Theo's leg and turned its attention to Khoi, and Theo saw the pained expression on Khoi's face as the mutt reached for them. Theo reached for Khoi as well, hoping to pull them away from the mutt's path, but Khoi pushed Theo's hand away and stayed in place, gaze locked on the mutt that wore Cyanea's face.
Khoi didn't want to leave Cyanea down here, all alone.
Theo bit back a wave of guilt as it swam upwards, towards the escape hatch. The water became warmer, like body-temperature liquid was introduced to it, and Theo pressed onwards—ignoring Khoi's lack of presence and the mutt no longer following.
The ceiling had a tiny air pocket left for Theo to see through and twist the hatch open, and as soon as it flopped open and splashed into the water, Theo dragged itself into the hatch and stared down at the slowly riding water.
"Khoi?" she called, despite knowing exactly where Khoi was.
The red light made it impossible to tell which parts were water and which parts were blood.
"Khoi?" Theo called again.
After five minutes of waiting—of the water slowly rising—Theo was forced to admit that Khoi wasn't coming. Theo crouched as best as it could to pull the hatch closed, still using the oxygen tank to keep breathing as it had to duck under the water to reach the door, and Theo spun it shut with a guilty conscience.
All that was left was to climb, and climb Theo did. For all of forty feet, never once stopping, and in the darkness of the hatch, Theo had to wonder if an end would ever be in sight. All Theo had for reference of distance was a brief patch of sunlight peeking through the roof of the hatch, so far away yet so close, and Theo only paused once in its ascent to see how far it was.
The second time Theo paused, the sunlight—the exit to the escape hatch—was only a few feet away.
Despite emerging from the hatch, there was still a half foot of water above the surface of the arena that Theo had to push past before she could spit out the oxygen tank. Theo gasped for air, proper outdoor air, and looked around. Heads of the mutts poked out of the water, staring from a large distance away, and Theo could see a hatch open a short distance away—Truffle's head poked through, oxygen tank also in their arms. They briefly exchanged frazzled glances, and Theo took stock of the situation for a moment as it realised what was missing from the scene.
Why hadn't Char come out yet? Theo was a whole five, maybe ten minutes behind him. Where was he?
And when Theo looked to where the dormitory dome's escape hatch would be, she caught sight of Char's face in the distance.
Staring at her among the crowd of mutts at the edge of the arena.
Theo's heart leapt into her throat.
"No," Theo muttered. The mutt leaned upwards a little, and it smiled with sharp teeth. "No. No."
Theo lunged for the hatch Char was supposed to come out of. She clawed at it, found the hatch would only twist once, and Theo felt even more horror dawn on it. The door was almost entirely opened, so how could Char have not come out?
Theo threw the hatch open, and Char's head bobbed to the surface. He wasn't moving, and when she pulled him up into her arms and smacked his face, trying to wake him up, glazed eyes stared up at Theo.
He didn't blink. He didn't breathe. He just stared, lifeless, as water drained from his open mouth.
Theo fell back into a sitting position and wailed. It cradled him close, his body heavy in its hands, and thoughts raced through Theo's mind as she took in the scene. The hatch was only a single spin away from opening, and it had some weight to it that Theo knew Char would've needed help to open as he was running out of breath. And as Theo looked at it, she noticed water didn't drain into it like Theo's hatch had. Char's had flooded at some point in the escape hatch, and he clambered upwards in the darkness, holding his breath, for the only shred of light he could see at the top of the hatch.
If Theo hadn't waited for Khoi—if Theo had hurried up to the surface without wasting time—maybe Char would be alive. Maybe Theo could've pulled open the hatch for him, pulled him out just as he was struggling to hold his breath any longer. Time spent unlocking the latch could've been spent pulling himself to the surface and gasping fresh, proper air.
He was so close.
He was so close.
Truffle didn't move closer the whole time Theo sobbed over Char's body. They sat down with their head in their hands, curled in a ball, and Theo could understand why. Truffle had watched Saffron drown in front of her, and there was no doubt that Saffron's mutt had been the one to flood Truffle's dome. Both of them lost someone precious to them to the depths, and now they were left to stew in the aftermath while the faces of the dead watched from the edge of the arena.
Theo hiccuped and kept checking Char's face, his pulse, everything. The water was too deep to give him proper CPR—six inches would drown him all over again, the moment the water was pushed from his lungs—and something told Theo that, if a mutt showed up, it was only after resuscitation was off the table. The scratches on Theo's leg continued to bleed profusely, the salt water numbing the pain after being exposed for so long. Dizziness washed over her, more than what blood loss so far should've brought on, and when Theo looked up from Char's body, an overwhelming sense of vertigo hit it all at once.
When Theo looked over at Truffle, it became harder to breathe. Truffle was still bent over and holding her face in her hands, but now Truffle was staring back with a tired expression. Theo's breaths stuttered and the dizziness got worse, and Theo weakly leaned on top of Char's body as it tried to catch its breath. When it looked up again, Truffle was crawling over on all fours and pausing on occasion to catch her breath.
"I—" Truffle gasped. They stopped a couple of feet away from Theo and Char, taking a moment to curl into a ball and suck in deep breaths again. From her spot, she continued to call, "I think— The bends—"
Given how far they have to move in such a short amount of time, decompression sickness maybe made sense. Theo's vision blurred, two Truffles sitting in front of it. As she swayed back and forth, Truffle began to move again.
When Truffle reached for Char, Theo scrambled away and dragged Char with it.
"Don't touch him!" she yelled.
Truffle just stared at Theo, eyes full of pity. Not a single part of her looked bloodthirsty or angry. She was just tired.
"You need to sit forward," Truffle panted. "I won't pick you up if you pass out."
Theo stared at Truffle—tried to, at least. Truffle reached for Char again, and before Theo could tell them to stay away, Truffle added, "I won't let the mutts take him. I promise. You need to breathe."
It didn't want to let Char go. It didn't. If Theo let Char go, maybe he'd never miraculously wake up.
But when Truffle gently grabbed him, holding him like a glass that would shatter in their hands, Theo couldn't bring herself to pull him back. She didn't want to be the one that broke him, not when Truffle was being so careful already.
She followed Truffle's instructions, and some of the dizziness went away. Theo's lungs opened up a little more as time went on, and when Truffle handed Char back to Theo, it watched them do the same for a second time. They were both tired and out of shape, exhausted from the near-constant harassment from the mutts and the fear of drowning. Now that they were free, it all came down to what the two of them did next.
It all came down to who wanted to go home more.
As Truffle sat up properly again, Theo asked her, "Did you bring a weapon?"
Truffle seemed to understand what Theo was asking. Theo swore they did. But instead of answering—or even acknowledging Theo's implications in any way—Truffle just stared back over at the hatch she'd emerged from. Back at Saffron's mutt.
"You know," Truffle wheezed. "I think I was a bad sibling."
Theo stared at her, silent. None of the mutts moved, and neither did Truffle. Truffle just… sat for a moment, watching the ghost of her sister.
"Me and Saff, we always loved the idea of going into the Games together," Truffle went on. "Just like you and Char. But towards the end, I think it got too much for me. And I never said a word to Saff about it. She didn't like when we didn't match—she wanted us to be one person, the first double victors. For both of us to win the same Hunger Games. But it felt like I wasn't allowed to be a person, and she never got the chance to understand that. I never gave it to her."
Theo blinked and looked down at Char. For the briefest of moments, Theo wondered if Char had those same doubts while they were apart. They always made a big fuss over going into the arena together somehow, always tried to match each other's pace. Did he even want that? Did he even want to be faced with the possibility that he'd have to kill Theo? Or that Theo would kill him?
They'd had chances to talk, but… So did Truffle and Saffron, over the course of the pre-Games events.
"I liked how honest you and Char were," Truffle went on. She looked back at Theo and smiled softly. "I think I wanted that for me and Saff. Unconditional trust, not to be the same person. She trusted me unconditionally, but I didn't give her that same treatment—I didn't trust her to not react poorly when I got tired of the twins gimmick."
Theo looked around quickly, trying to see where they'd both discarded their oxygen tanks. If Truffle didn't have a weapon, then they'd have to use their tanks to fight each other.
"We need to—" Theo started.
"I know," Truffle said, gentle but resolute. With a great deal of effort, Truffle pushed herself to her feet and swayed on the spot. "I know we do. I was just getting a little wishy-washy. What I'm trying to say is… I wanted what you and Char had." Truffle was crying now, sniffling as she smiled down at Theo. "I wanted it so I could do this for Saff, just like how I know Char would do it for you."
Theo stared up at them, yet another feeling of unease settling in. "Do what…?"
And Truffle just kept smiling. She turned around, trudging through the shallow water, and for a moment Theo thought she was going to grab her tank and fight. Theo pulled Char along with it as it watched Truffle walk, and walk, and walk—and then Theo was calling for Truffle when she realised the bright yellow oxygen tank went ignored.
Theo let go of Char for the briefest of moments to chase after Truffle. In that moment, several mutts moved closer to try and snatch his body. Theo held him tight, screaming at them to back off, and when she looked back at Truffle, the blonde had stopped walking.
Truffle stood at the edge of the arena's surface and looked back at Theo. They were still smiling, still calm, and Theo called out, "They'll tear you to shreds!"
Truffle's reply was so quiet, Theo almost didn't hear it over the sound of the water moving around them.
"I'd rather be bones in a reef than go home without my sister."
Without much else to say, Truffle jumped over the edge and into the water. She made a small splash, small enough that Theo could still see her, but the mutts frantically crowding her and ripping into her flesh kicked up enough water—slowly turning from white foam to pink—kicked up a big enough splash to hide the sight from Theo.
There was about a five minute gap between when Truffle jumped into the water and when their death was announced. For all of those five minutes, Theo just held tightly onto Char and buried its face in his torso, doing its best not to listen to the frenzied sound of feeding. The mutts nearby had moved closer to where Truffle had jumped in, but it was obvious they wouldn't get much of a feed. Not that it mattered, though; one by one Theo heard small explosions circle the arena, and when she looked up, the mutts were slowly being taken out with what appeared to be small explosives in their bodies. Head after head blew, one by one each tribute dying a second time, and Theo felt sick to her stomach watching it.
When the final mutt exploded, the blood in the water surrounding Theo and Char and mixing with Theo's own blood, there was finally a signal that the Gamemakers were on their way.
A siren blared in the distance, a faraway airship turning off its camouflage as it approached, and Theo could hear the announcer declare it the victor of the Quell. Theo stared up, listless, at the airship, and for the briefest of moments as it slowed down to hover above her, she wondered if she could drown herself before they could hoist her up.
Theo absently reached for the yarn and gave it a rub. The water had fucked with the feel of the velvet, and Theo couldn't relax by stimming like usual. But Theo did look down at its father's signet ring, no longer heavy on its hand, and Theo reconsidered.
She promised Alamo that she'd try to stay alive if there was a non-zero chance of survival. She'd already broken one promise to Char, failing to fight him honourably and evenly in the finale. Theo couldn't break another promise so quickly after that last.
Theo would stay alive, and Theo would make sure Char's body wouldn't be lost to the depths like everyone else's. There was no reason why both of them couldn't go home, one way or the other.