Chapter 29:

Johan Bonavento, District Ten, Age 15

Victor of the 104th Hunger Games

Johan really was surprised that he had made it this far into the games. Only ten people left and he's one of them? He hasn't picked up a weapon to kill anyone yet and kind of hopes that it can stay that way for a while, even though he knows that won't happen if he wants to become victor. And he so desperately wants to get home to both his family and Darlia.

Johan lets out a small sigh at the thought of his closest friend as he sits in front of the fire with his ally. He really should have told her how he felt before he left the District. He also definitely shouldn't have revealed his crush during his interview. But it might be the best that he doesn't know now what she thinks. Because right now, she's a reason for him to fight, but she could have been a reason for him to doubt himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Oreste asks him, bringing Johan out of his thoughts. He looks up to see the District Six boy giving him a small smile, in turn making Johan smile. It's really not a good thing how much Johan has grown to like his ally as they obviously both can't make it out, but still, he's happy that he has Oreste by his side in this arena.

"Back home," Johan answers honestly before giving a small shrug of his shoulders. "The people I'm fighting to get home to."

Oreste nods his head at this and gives Johan a sad smile. "I think about my parents all the time. And my younger brother who just looks up to me and thinks I'm the coolest person ever," he pauses to chuckle at this. "Little does he know I'm just a nerdy person and not really that cool."

"I always wished I had a sibling," Johan responds to Oreste before falling silent, staring into the fire in front of him and starting to feel upset at the memories of years spent alone. But he looks back up at his ally and starts to smile again. At least he isn't alone now.

"Trust me, they're not that-" Oreste cuts off at the breaking of branches as a figure comes running towards them. When Johan realizes it's one of the career guys, he knows they have no shot at beating him. But Oreste grabs Johan's jacket, trying to drag him up. "Come on, we have to run!"

Johan scrambles to his feet as the guy comes to a stop in front of them. Even worse, it's the one from District Two. Johan shakes his head at Oreste, feeling a little stupid at his decision but he pushes Oreste away. His ally has a lot greater chance of winning because he hasn't been afraid to kill. Oreste has more bravery than Johan does. "Go! Don't let both of us die here."

"I'm not leaving you," Oreste stubbornly says as Johan stares at the boy from Two, feeling his heart racing at the sheer size difference between them. He can hear the plead in Oreste's voice as he starts to take out the dull axe they managed to get from the cornucopia. "Johan, run with me!"

"Get out of here!" He yells at Oreste harshly. A few seconds pass before he finally hears Oreste running away. Johan shakes his head as he tries to push aside his fear, but standing in front of his killer, he feels pure terror running through him. He almost considers running after Oreste but stands his ground, ready to make sure that his ally can win.

The boy in front of him shakes his head at Johan and laughs at him, the sound causing more fear to run through him. "That was a really dumb idea. He's still going to die because once I get done with you, I'm going to find him and kill him."

The guy unsheathes a sword that looks a lot sharper than Johan's poor excuse for an axe. He starts to take a couple steps closer to Johan who takes a few shaky breaths, stupidly hoping that maybe he can have a chance to beat this guy.

Just let Oreste get far enough away to live.

The guy makes a large swing of his sword, the action taking enough time for Johan to duck around him and try to elbow him in the side. A grunt from the career tells him that he succeeded as he runs a few feet away before turning around to look at him. For once, his small size and speed might help him and keep him alive for just a little bit longer.

The guy gives Johan an absolutely terrifying look and Johan can feel his face paling as the career starts to walk towards him, gripping his side and hunched over slightly. "Oh you are so going to die."

Yeah, Johan is probably going to die. The career tries to make another swing at Johan and he once again ducks under him before making a really dumb move. He tries to tackle the career's legs and it takes a few seconds of him being unbalanced before they finally both tumble to the ground. Johan loses his grip on his axe as the guy scrambles to pin Johan to the ground. He succeeds, given his much greater size and once Johan is pinned down, he starts struggling to get free but it's useless.

The guy wraps his hands tightly around Johan's neck, cutting off his air supply. He frantically tries pulling the career's hands away as he brings his knees up, trying to do anything to get some air. He starts gasping as his lungs feel like they're on fire as he desperately needs air.

Fire.

Johan can just barely see the fire to his left as his vision starts to darken and he reaches out, ignoring the immense pain as he grabs a log and smacks the career with it as hard as he can. His grip lightens as Johan drops the burning wood, allowing Johan to take a huge gasp of air before the career falls on top of him. Holy shit did I just kill a career?

Johan still feels lightheaded and tries to push the career's heavy body off of him, his fingers slipping as he tries to move him. Why is he slippery?

As his vision straightens out, he sees red covering the careers neck and falling onto Johan. A figure stands over them and Johan closes his eyes for a moment, realizing that he hadn't killed the career. Another tribute took advantage of the careers distraction during their fight, and now they're going to kill Johan.

The body is pulled off of him and familiar laughter makes his eyes shoot open in shock. "Did you really think I was going to abandon you?" Oreste laughs as he holds out his hand for Johan to take. Johan can't form any words as he takes Oreste's hand and gets pulled up from the ground, his throat still feeling on fire from being choked. "Come on, let's go and win this."

And there we have our victor dad, Johan Bonavento! Even as a tribute, he was trying to look out for others. I'm slowly working on updates with this here and there so the stockpile will remain around the same amount for now.

Well, not much else for me to say at the 29th chapter of a story like this lol. See you all next week with a rogue career!