"What is wrong with you!" Moxie gasped as she helped Taiya's stylist do her hair.
"It's not a big deal Moxie," Taiya groaned as she rubbed her eyes.
"You and that girl from 7 drinking alcohol and having a party the night before the Games is a big deal!" Moxie screeched.
"It was fun," Taiya reasoned.
"Your district partner had the good sense to go to bed early," Moxie hissed.
"Yeah well, I doubt he slept. At least Jo and I had fun," Taiya snapped back.
"Manners!" Moxie gasped.
"It's not a big deal. I took a pill this morning, no hangover."
"It's not smart," Moxie sighed before she placed her hands on either side of Taiya's face sadly. "I know I may not show it often, but I care, I want one of you to win. Please. Please take this seriously."
"I am," Taiya whispered as she blinked back tears. "But I didn't want to spend what could be my last night alive miserable."
"I pulled some strings to be here with you today," Moxie tucked a piece of hair behind Taiya's ear.
"I thought you didn't like me," Taiya whispered.
"That's just not true!" Moxie gasped. "I'm very protective of you. I'm the one who got Antonia the job as your stylist."
"Antonia?" Taiya asked as she glanced at her stylist who was busy organising her outfit in the corner of the room. "Why?"
"Antonia is my sister," Moxie answered as she adjusted Taiya's hair again. "You should've seen the stylist they had lined up for you. If you thought your outfits for these Games were revealing… you don't want to know what they had in store for you," she shook her head in disgust. "Antonia looked after you as best she could."
"I was mostly naked at the parade!"
"At least it was more coverage than paint," Moxie replied quickly and Taiya's eyes widened. Moxie had been looking out for her but Taiya had never realised. "I wanted you to marry that Crane boy," Moxie sniffled. "I know you never loved him, but you would have been safe. And now seeing both you and Finnick go into the games together… it's hard to watch."
Taiya frowned down at her district escort. "You know?"
"Oh please. I'm not as stupid as you all think I am. I never would have told. It does hurt that you didn't tell me, but I understand. You should get dressed my dear."
"Moxie," Taiya grabbed her hand. "Can you give something of mine to Buck and Tyler?"
"Of course," she nodded.
Taiya sighed as she reached into her top and pulled out the chain she'd threaded her engagement ring onto.
Moxie's eyes widened. "Seneca's?" Taiya just shook her head. "Oh my goodness," she gasped. "My dear girl. Congratulations," she smiled with tears in her eyes before she took the ring. "I'll give it to them," she nodded before hurrying out of the room.
Taiya sighed before she made her way over to Antonia.
"It's a wetsuit," Antonia spoke up.
"Water," Taiya nodded. "Yeah, I know." Thanks to Plutarch's earlier hint she had an idea of what to expect. She grabbed at the material and stretched it. "Tropics," she surmised. "Great." She and Finnick had an extreme advantage.
"Here," Antonia manoeuvres Taiya's body in a way that allows her to get dressed. "It's time," she announced as a buzzer sounded in the room.
Immediately Taiya began hyperventilating. "Don't make me do it," Taiya turned to her stylist, tears flowing into her eyes. "Please I don't want to go in there."
"You can do it," Antonia assured quickly as she ushered Taiya towards the glass cylinder. "Moxie believes in you, so I do as well," she nodded as the glass cylinder closed around Taiya.
Taiya immediately let out a yelp and smacked her hand against the glass, desperate to get out. She didn't want to do it. Maybe it had been a mistake to volunteer. She couldn't watch her friends die. She couldn't kill her friends.
She was still traumatised from the last time she'd been in this arena. She couldn't go back!
The plate then began to rise and Taiya quickly composed herself. She couldn't let the other victors see her cry. She was a known threat in this game. If she came up into the arena crying she'd lose all credibility.
The light was blinding at first.
A stark difference from the gloomy underground launch centre.
The sun was beating down on her, reflecting off the blue waves below her. She took a deep calming breath, tasting the salt in the air. It was calming to her.
It was the same as standing on the end of her dock if you ignored the fact that a good amount of the people around her now would happily kill her.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Let the 75th Hunger Games begin," echoed over the speakers.
Finnick.
She quickly opened her eyes and looked around her frantically. He wasn't in sight. He must have come up on the other side of the cornucopia and been out of her view.
"Finnick," she stuttered quietly.
She looked beside her to see a mystified Peeta staring at the water.
"Peeta!" she yelled and he looked over at her. "Can you swim?"
"What?" he asked in confusion.
"Can. You. Swim!" she snapped in frustration.
He merely stared at her. Unsure whether she was plotting a way to kill him or genuinely asking him the question.
She groaned out loud before lifting her wrist in the air, showing off the bracelet that had been delivered to her courtesy of Haymitch.
His eyes widened in recognition, immediately understanding the bracelet as a message from Haymitch.
"No," he nervously looked around himself at the water below. "No, I can't."
"Ok," Taiya nodded. "Stay there ok," she instructed as she looked over at the giant clock. Only 10 seconds left. "Lower yourself into the water. I'm going to swim over and help you ok," she instructed as the gong sounded across the entire arena.
It'd begun.
She knew Finnick would be ok. He'd focus on weapons. She just had to hope he realised she wasn't there and grabbed some for her.
She had to make sure bread boy made it through the bloodbath.
Taiya immediately dived into the water and swam in the direction of the plate to her left where Peeta was.
"Hey bread boy," she greeted with a smile as she surfaced beside him.
"Hey," he greets nervously as he clung to his metal plate.
"Have you swum before?"
"No," he shook his head. "Never."
"That's cool," Taiya nodded her head as she looked around. "Ok, I'm going to pull you over to that spike over there and then we're going to look for Finnick and Katniss ok?"
"Ok," Peeta nodded nervously before his eyes widened. "WATCH OUT!" he yelled as she felt arms wrap around her head and shove her underwater.
Taiya immediately flung her elbow back, colliding with the man's stomach with a force hard enough to knock him off of her. That wasn't the end of it though, the man immediately swam over the top of her and attacked Peeta.
Taiya swam up to the surface to see Peeta punching the tribute repeatedly in the face as he tried to hold him off.
"Asshole!" Taiya yelled as she swam towards the pair. "FINNICK!" she roared as loud as she could. She could handle this situation, but she'd rather have him close on hand just in case something went south.
"TAIYA!" she heard him yell back.
She didn't have time to communicate further. She had to help Peeta. So she latched herself onto the tribute's back, putting him in a chokehold.
"Hold onto the plate!" she ordered Peeta, she needed to pull this man under and not risk Peeta going under as well. If he held on there was a higher chance of his head staying above water.
Peeta immediately turned to cling to his plate. But this tribute was relentless and kept clawing at Peeta's back despite Taiya's hold on him.
"Get onto the plate!" Taiya yelled at Peeta as the boy kept losing his grip, making it ten times harder for her to control the situation.
She knew Peeta was running out of energy fast, she had to act.
She looked over at the closest spike to see Finnick and Katniss sprinting towards them.
Finnick was able to sense something in her body language and frantically shook his head. "Wait for me! Wait for me!" she heard him yell.
But she didn't have time. She wrapped one leg around the man's midriff and placed her other foot against the base of the metal plate.
"Hold onto the plate Peeta!" she instructed before she kicked off the base of the pedestal, unbalancing the tribute and pulling him underwater.
Peeta hadn't been able to follow her instructions though. He'd lost his grip on the plate and plunged underwater with Taiya and the tribute.
Taiya still had the aquatic advantage, but having Peeta under the water with her was dangerous. His ability to hold his breath underwater wouldn't compare with hers, so she had to end this quickly.
She tightened her grip around the tribute's neck as hard as she could and pulled back until she felt a resounding snap. She heard the echo of a canon sound, muffled by the water around her.
So she released the man in her grasp, allowing his body to float to the surface. She quickly looked around her and saw Peeta frantically paddling in the water, unable to bring himself up to the surface.
She immediately wrapped her arm around his and kicked the pair of them up to the surface.
Upon breaking the surface of the water she immediately met Finnick's eyes. He'd entered the water and had been making his way over to them when she'd thrown the three of them under the water and he'd been powerless to do anything. His eyes demonstrated that. His eyes looked traumatised, with a slight degree of relief when he lay eyes on her.
He'd heard the canon but not known who it had been for.
"I'm sorry," she tiredly apologised as she dragged Peeta over towards her fiancé.
"It's ok," Finnick breathed in relief. "Come on," he encouraged as he grabbed ahold of Peeta, taking some of the pressure off of her as he dragged the boy over to the closest spike where Katniss was waiting frantically for them.
Taiya huffed as she pulled herself up onto the spike. Taking a moment to catch her breath as she watched Finnick help Peeta up.
"I need weapons," Taiya huffed as she stood up.
"Can't," Katniss bluntly replied. "Careers have taken over the Cornucopia."
Taiya looked over at the middle of the Cornucopia. Katniss was right. Cashmere, Gloss, Enobaria and Brutus were currently gathered in the Cornucopia, foraging for weapons and survival tools.
"I've got some knives, Tay," Finnick touched her arm lightly.
She looked down around his waist. He only had 5. She unclipped the belt from around his waist and tied it to her own. It'd do, but it wasn't enough. He'd been distracted by her yell and hadn't been able to gather enough weapons for her.
"They won't hurt me," Taiya declared as she took a step towards the Cornucopia.
Katniss immediately grabbed her arm. "They'll kill you."
Taiya carefully removed her arm from the younger girl's grip. "It's fine," she reassured, looking particularly at Finnick who looked nervous. "I have a blood bath truce with 1. They'll see it through. I'll be fine, they won't hurt me. I'll meet you guys on the beach."
"Tay," Finnick hesitated.
"I trust them," Taiya whispered back to him. "It's Cashmere and Gloss. I trust them at least. This might be the last time I see them. Please," she looked up at him.
Finnick blinked as he tried to come to terms with her decision. "Ok," he nodded. "Just be quick ok?" he asked as he nodded.
"Promise," Taiya nodded before sprinting towards the Cornucopia.
Enobaria and Brutus immediately acted poorly to her presence, pulling out their weapons.
"Woah," Gloss defended her as he jumped in front of her. "Cornucopia truce remember? We discussed this," he warned the pair from 2. "How you going Tay?" he asked.
"Not bad," she shrugged. "Took out one person already."
"Only one?" Enobaria asked. "You're slipping 4. Here I thought you'd try to beat your last time," she smirked.
"Well tiger shark, I've got bigger things to worry about this time," Taiya retorted angrily.
"Ouch to your little friend. What was it? Theo," Enobaria taunted.
The taunt had its wanted effect. Taiya immediately froze.
"Shut up Enobaria," Cashmere defended her friend as she grabbed Taiya's arm and pulled her away from the sharp-toothed female. "You need weapons?"
"Knives," Taiya replied bitterly. "Finnick didn't get a chance to grab me much."
"Have at it," Cashmere nodded her head towards the stockpile of weapons that'd been left for the tributes.
"Thanks," Taiya nodded as she loaded her belt up with more knives and grabbed more belts from the pile.
After she'd loaded up with all she'd need for the games she stood up and looked at Cashmere and Gloss who were standing behind her, protecting her from the unpredictable Enobaria and Brutus.
"I'm ready," Taiya announced sadly.
Cashmere and Gloss both spun towards her.
Taiya let out a loud sob as she lunged at the siblings, pulling them into a hug.
"Please, survive ok?" Taiya asked. "There's more going on than you know," she whispered. "Just hang on ok? Stay away from my group. It's in your best interest. Trust me," she released them and pulled away as they stared at her quizzically, not fully understanding what she'd told them.
"Huh?" Gloss asked in confusion.
"Trust me," Taiya stared at them pointedly. "I have to go," she said as she glanced toward the beach where she could see Katniss and Peet arguing with Finnick. "I love you guys ok?" she said before she sprinted away, not giving them an opportunity to ask any further questions.