Day Seven of the Arena

July 9th, 2427

Ozias Califera, 18

Ozias winces from a sharp sting as he injects himself with the needle of the painkillers that he has been sponsored; it's like a feather duster compared to the searing pain that has been plaguing the left side of his face for the last few hours.

But the Capitol painkillers work rapidly and he soon finds the burning sensation fading from his skin.

In the sponsor box he also finds a black eyepatch, next to where he picked up the needle. He fastens it tight over where his left eye used to be.

In the compact room that he has taken cover in to regain his strength, there is a small dusty mirror. He catches a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror; with the eyepatch covering the worst of his burn, it's not such a bad look. He could get used to it.

Ozias turns his head to the side to admire his reflection. He has the perfect look of the boogeyman that the Capitolites will find in their nightmares. Good. That's exactly what he's going to be when he gets out of this place - their nightmare. It's his destiny.

He's not sure who would sponsor him after his infamous interview in the Capitol. Obviously, he has his fans out there—people who would flock to him to help him achieve his goals. He was always good at convincing others to do his bidding.

Ozias lets out a sudden series of deep coughs, pressing his palm against his chest. He's sick. The damage done to him during the feast went deeper than just his flesh. He needs to get some of that anti-rad medicine and fast. There has to be some left in that hospital that he visited with Ren and Jokull a few days ago.

It would have been useful if his sponsor would have given him anti-rads as well, but then they aren't exactly an easy thing to come by, he guesses.

He has to get back to that hospital. He has to find a way out of here; it's the only way to fulfill his destiny.

The Capitol thinks they have him trapped down here in this underground prison like a rat in a cage, where he will slowly wither away from radiation sickness. But, they're wrong. They couldn't kill him before in District Ten and they won't kill him now, no matter how many liars, tricksters, and pawns they send after him. He'll be the last tribute standing and there's nothing they can do about it.

Ozias packs his bag with the rest of the supplies from his sponsor box and heads back out into the corridors. It somewhat brings him back to the prison corridors of District Fourteen that he grew so used to. The Capitol wasn't able to trap him there. They won't trap him here either.

The facility has quietened down since the initial lockdown began. All that illuminates the grey, dark corridors are the silent flashing red lights and the occasional spark from a ripped cable.

Ozias creeps through the corridors in search of a way out of this dark abyss. He will hunt down everyone that has wronged him in this place - the boy from Nine, the one who took half of his face, and his allies too, he'll kill them first. He'll kill that lying snake from Four who serves the Capitol's whims and wishes. He will kill anyone that stands between him and his destiny.

He will leave no stone unturned.

Auren Demerre, 16

Still, against all logic, Briar and Reese continue onward. Nothing Auren can say will dissuade them.

She can't follow them to their deaths. Even if they survive this, eventually, they will die. Best case scenario - only one of them is making out of this, and Auren is not even sure if that is the best case scenario, anymore. Whoever survives will have to come to terms with why it was them and not any of the others for the rest of their life. Reese, Briar, and Chaney will be stuck in her mind forever as nothing more than shades.

Briar and Reese are striding ahead arduously, their steps never breaking pace. They haven't even noticed Auren beginning to lag behind from fatigue and hopelessness at their mission. But she doesn't fall back too far so that she can't catch her ally's conversations.

"When we get in there maybe we should call Chaney by Lazerboots so people don't know It's us," Reese mentions.

Briar furrows her eyebrows and glances at the Eleven Boy. "Lazerboots?"

"Yeah… his middle name."

Briar fights back a smirk, shaking her head. "That's not his middle name."

"Really? He said it was."

"Yeah. He says a lotta things."

"I kinda figured that," Reese chuckles lightly. "I also really wanted it to be true, but I guess not." He places his hand under his chin. "So what is it then?"

"What?"

"His middle name."

The Nine Girl shrugs. "I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"Chaney talks a lot, as you know, but he don't talk much about that kinda stuff. We just kinda stole shit and vibed and that was it," Briar admits.

"Huh. Well, I think we should all share our middle names as a token of our friendship," Reese pipes up enthusiastically. "When we find him, of course."

"When we find him," Briar repeats, facing ahead.

As the three approach the start of the crater, that dips down to Ground Zero, Auren finally takes her moment.

She can't go on. She can't watch her friends die.

"Forget it," she announces, taking a seat on a nearby slab and dropping her bag on the ground. "I'm not goin' any further. Everything is fucked… my legs, my joints… I'm exhausted."

Reese and Briar turn back to her, the former still enthusiastically gripping the straps of his backpack. "Come on. It's just a little further," he says, softly.

"I know… I know." Auren raises her hand. "I don't wanna argue… I just wanna stop this bullshit. I just wanna rest. Go on without me. It's over. It's time we split."

The Ten Girl unstraps the watch from her wrist before tossing it to Reese. He catches it and clasps it in his hand, glancing between it and his resigned friend.

"You're gonna need it more than me," Auren mutters.

"Well… fuck." Reese steps forward, pressing his lips together to try to hold in his emotions like a dam holding back a river. But Auren has to force herself not to grin- every time Reese utters a curse word it just sounds hilarious, like an alien trying to speak their language.

"What the fuck," Reese continues. "So what? You're just gonna sit there, is that what you want? Hm?"

"Yeah."

"After everything we've survived together! After everything we've been through!"

"That's exactly why." Auren stares off into the distance, swallowing back her sorrow. "Whatever we do from here on out… It's a downward slope, even if one of us survives. I realised back at that lake… will it ever be better than this? Of course it won't."

Reese stares down at the ground. "You have to believe it will," he croaks, choking on his words.

But by now, there's no deterring Auren. Her mind is made up; they split here and then hopefully they don't cross paths again because most likely they'll have to kill each other. She can't bear to process that thought.

Briar has been silent throughout the entire conversation, but she has taken the opportunity of the break in their venture to catch her breath - Auren knows there's only one thing she cares about at this point.

Auren faces Reese again and gives him a faint smile. "We gave it a shot," she offers.

"Yeah…" the melancholy boy murmurs back. His head sinks low, and he nods at Briar to continue on.

"My middle name… is Violet," Auren suddenly says.

Her allies snap back to her, looking between each other in surprise.

Reese steps forward again. "My middle name is Harper," he murmurs.

"Harper? That suits you," Auren chuckles back.

"Yeah… I think I look like a Harper."

"You do."

Reese gives her a final smile before turning back towards the gloomy place that he is heading into.

Briar then steps forward and clears her throat. "Briar Violet Barcardi," she announces.

Auren chuckles again, louder this time. "No way… of course that's your name."

The two girls pause in silence together for what can only be a split second, but even in that time, all memories of their adventures together flash in front of Auren's eyes like it's her life flashing before her.

"Bye Auren," the Nine Girl finally says with a smile.

"Bye Briar."

Just like that, Auren's allies, the people she's been through hell with over the last week, fade into the mist, and she is left all alone.

A void of silence closes in around her, causing a painful sinking feeling to form in her heart. But she quickly shakes the feeling away.

She made the right choice. Did she just leave her friends to their deaths? Maybe. But she made the only choice she could… right?

The now solitary girl pushes herself up and slings her bag over her shoulder. She holds her head up high with conviction.

She pushes the unrelenting voice, which is telling her to turn around and run back to the only comfort she knows, to the deepest pit of her mind.

However, it is suddenly replaced by the faint voice of Briar - "Maybe… love is some kind of guiding force, helping us along the way… to make the right decision."

Auren stops dead in her tracks and sighs at what she's about to do. She takes a deep breath and looks back in behind her in the direction that her allies headed.

Fuma Marlows, 17

Fuma is caught between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand, she could give in to Jokull's persistent thumping on the door and let him save Zora with his "medicine", but that would leave her in the exact same position that she was in only a few hours ago - two allied tributes potentially plotting her death.

On the other hand, she could ignore him and let Zora die. That would be a horrible enough thought by itself… to allow her last ally, her friend, who's just a child, to die - that should be bad enough on its own. But then there's also the fact that if she lets Zora die then what will stop Jokull from attacking her outright?

Jokull is the problem. He has to die, and the easiest way to do that would be to gain his trust first.

Jokull is as crafty as they come, and Fuma is going to have to be even craftier if she's going to have a hope in stopping him. She'll let him save her ally, and then she'll find a way to dispatch him, and things can go back to the way they were.

"I ain't gonna stop!" Jokull calls from the outside. "I'll break this door down if I have to! I promised to watch out for her, and I ain't planning on breaking that promise."

Finally, Fuma relents and swings the door open. Jokull is caught off guard and almost falls through the doorway and flat on his face in the process.

Fuma gives the skinny, pale boy a deathly scowl. "This is your fault this is happening," she blurts.

"You're right… and all I'm asking is that you let me put it right."

Jokull's eyes tell no lie. Fuma knows he'll do anything he can to save his district partner.

Reluctantly, she allows him inside, and he rushes straight to the sofa, where Zora is laying and groaning in agony.

I'm gonna regret this - Fuma sighs to herself.

Jokull kneels down beside his district partner and then produces a small, glass bottle from his bag. The bottle contains at least a dozen pills that are no larger than a fingernail.

Zora tosses and turns on the sofa, repeatedly mumbling a name under her breath - "Kalila." She has been in, what Fuma can only describe as, a sleep paralysis state ever since she collapsed a few hours ago, like she's trapped in a waking nightmare. Fuma has no idea who Kalila is or the significance of the name… does she really know anything about Zora at all?

The stern ranger snatches the bottle from Jokull and unscrews the lid. "I'll do it," she barks.

She delicately removes one of the pills, and then, after a brief pause of distrust, she places it in Zora's mouth - it appears to do the trick as the girl swallows the pill out of instinct.

A huge sigh of relief comes from Jokull's direction.

But Fuma only feels a swelling of dread grow in her stomach. She's right back to where she was when the Sixes first showed up at her door. She's going to have to act now if she's going to have a chance of survival.

Zora remains in her half-awake state for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. However, her condition does begin to improve - the colour slowly returns to her face so the pill must have had some effect.

Jokull perches on a wooden chair nearby, munching nonchalantly on a bag of potato chips. All the fear that haunted his eyes at his district partner's condition has now been replaced by two empty voids.

"So why did you have one of those bottles just conveniently lying around in your bag?" Fuma questions, crossing her arms. She can't believe she's even entertaining starting a conversation with her enemy like this.

"I always plan for the worst," Jokull shrugs. "I'm a survivor."

Before Fuma can reply, Zora suddenly jolts up, panting in terror.

"Zora?" Fuma murmurs, frowning in concern.

"Kalilia… s-she was right there… I just went outside to get some air. She…. she was right there…" the Six Girl mutters. Then, she collapses back onto the sofa, and reverts to her lucid state.

Who is Kalila?

Fuma's curiosity finally gets the better of her and the question leaves her mouth. "Who is this Kalila person she keeps talking about?"

"Her sister," Jokull answers. "She died."

Oh.

Zora never mentioned that to Fuma, but if she shared it with Jokull then in Fuma's mind it only reinforces the fact that the Sixes are the only true allies in this room. She is the outlier, as always.

(It's why Terrance thought he could manipulate her, and hide his true intentions in plain sight.)

The only difference is this time she will act before Jokull has the chance to make his move; she'll put him in checkmate before he even moves his first pawn.

If she kills him before Zora gains consciousness, then she will never know, and Fuma will have her ally back.

There's no way she can do the deed in here with her axe; it will be way too obvious and messy. She remembers spotting a bridge not too far from here; if she recalls correctly it was raised high enough that a fall would kill someone… if they were to have a little "accident."

Fuma suddenly places her hand on Zora's forehead. "She needs water," she declares, feigning concern. "But I'm pretty sure we're out since we didn't go to the feast."

Jokull nods. "Got any ideas?"

"Yeah… I think I remember seeing a shop just over that bridge to the north. That's gotta have some, right?"

"You got a compass lying around or something?" Jokull questions, raising an eyebrow.

"No… I'm a ranger… getting a sense of direction was one of the first things they taught us."

"I'm impressed."

Fuma wants to roll her eyes but she manages to stop herself.

"So… how long do you think it's gonna take you?" Jokull asks.

Fuma shakes her head. "No way I'm leaving you in my base. No, we're both going."

The Six Boy glances at his district partner. "What about Zora?"

"She'll be fine. Let's go."

Jokull nods, seemingly not seeing any point in arguing. He stands up from his seat before fetching his rucksack and turning back to the Seven Girl. "Aight. Lead the way." He gestures to the door.

"Yeah… just follow me," Fuma mutters, picking up her axe and stepping towards the door.

Meilin Seacole, 15

"It wasn't an accident! Why won't you believe me?" Meilin protests as she and Liz scour the corridors for a way out of the facility.

She wasn't imagining it. The boy from Two saved her from her certain death back there. Why won't Liz listen?

Meilin's ally has now started to completely ignore her unless the topic of conversation is about how they are going to imminently escape.

Yesterday, they were only seconds too late from making it through the glass doors before they were sealed shut by the lockdown, but none of that is important to Meilin now.

The important thing is the brutish career boy from Two, who has trained his entire life to kill innocent children like Meilin, found an act of kindness within himself at the last moment when it mattered. If he can do it, then so can everybody.

Meilin's words to the other tributes, while she was standing on the podium of the bloodbath, were absolutely true. She's willing to die on that hill because that has to be the only thing that matters in this forsaken, violent place that she's found herself in; people are capable of goodness in spite of it.

She may have lost her faith in the world but she won't lose her faith in people.

The Duo turn another corner and continue through yet another dark corridor lined with metal pipes that jut out and force the girls to occasionally squeeze in between them. All the while Meilin continues to mutter about her encounter with the Two Boy.

But still, Liz ignores her. The Eight Girl only turns to converse with her ally when they reach a control room. Liz glances around at the various wires and buttons then stares at Meilin with expecting eyes.

"What?" Meilin questions, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Well… you're into all that sciencey stuff… this looks like some kinda control room. Maybe you can figure out a way to unlock the doors or something? I dunno."

"What, you think I'm some kind of hacker that can just break into any security system or something?" Meilin retorts, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno… it's not my field. But it's worth a shot, Isn't it?"

"The Capitol controls everything from above, anyway. Why would they let us just break out?"

"Maybe they put this control room here as some kinda puzzle? And if you solve it you get to escape or something, ya know? They can't just trap us in here with no way of escaping and cut two halves of the tributes off from each other."

They can do what they want - Meilin thinks.

But then she notices a playful glint sparkling in Liz's eyes, a glint that Meilin hasn't seen for, what feels like, a very long time. In fact, she had completely forgotten that side of Liz existed, as it's been buried under this new, stone-cold, hard exterior.

She can't blame Liz. Meilin has lost herself many times here already. It's only today that she's been able to find herself again.

"Alright," The Three Girl concedes, sending her friend a meek smile. "We'll give it a go."

Meilin spends the next few hours unscrewing the various control boxes and investigating the multitude of switches that control different parts of this huge underground facility.

"Whatever you do, don't go releasing any radiation or anything," Liz chimes in, leaning over Meilin's shoulder to observe her handiwork.

But Meilin isn't afraid of the Capitol anymore. They've thrown everything at her to try to destroy her, to break her apart, and forget who she is. Yet, still she keeps going and she won't abandon her purpose.

Suddenly, under the glow of her flashlight, in the corner of the room, she spots a control box with the word "doors" written at the top, and beneath it are rows of various switches that appear to control each individual door.

Meilin gasps, throwing her arms in the air. "No way! Liz! Look!"

Liz skips over to her side, shining her own flashlight at the control box. "You did it!"

"We did it."

The two girls lock eyes, and for a moment it feels like they are back in the Capitol, exploring a museum together, much to Liz's annoyance or building a fire in the training station.

That feels like a lifetime ago now.

"Well… what are you waiting for?" Liz says, snapping Meilin out of her daydream.

"Oh… right… yeah."

Wasting no time, Meilin flips all the door switches from "locked" to "unlocked," and the red lights vanish from each of them as she does it.

The girls then throw their bags over their backs and race for the nearest door, in case the game makers decide to lock them again.

When they re-enter the corridor, Lo and behold, one of the previously sealed exits is now wide open. Hope remains.

"Come on!" Liz beckons Meilin forward, giving her a light shove towards the exit.

But then, Meilin's hope is shattered by a wild bellow from behind her. "Meilin Seacole!"

She recognizes the broken and seething voice immediately as Meridian's… or what's left of them.

Meilin turns around and slowly backs to the exit.

Meridian's face is flushed red with fury. His teeth are gritted firmly and his breaths are heavy and erratic, and he grips a dagger tightly in his hand.

"Listen… the medicine… i-it was an accident. We were trying to help," Meilin stutters.

"Lies! More lies! Don't you ever get tired of lying? Don't you have any remorse?" Meridian snaps back.

"Day was my friend too!"

"Liar!"

Meilin snatches a quick glance at Liz, who is slipping a mallet that she got from the feast, into her hand. Meilin never thought to grab a weapon, violence isn't one of her instincts, even in a place like this, but it is one of Liz's, apparently.

The vicious boy in front of Meilin starts advancing forward, readying their knife to strike.

All Meilin can do is retreat into the corner and slowly sink down to the floor.

What can she do? She can use her words. That's all she can do. The pen is more powerful than the sword.

So, she tries one last time to talk them down. "Meridian… This isn't you. The Meridian I know is a kind and endlessly generous person. Don't let them break you. Don't let them change who you are."

"You already did that," the Five Boy snarls in response. Then they charge at Meilin, aiming his knife at her heart.

But Liz throws herself in between them and swings her mallet straight at the charging boy's shoulder.

Meridian lets out an agonising screech as the mallet connects with their shoulder bone and the noise of it snapping hits Meilin's ears.

Meridian instinctively drops the knife to the floor.

Then, Meilin can only watch helplessly as her friends get into a tussle. She can't hurt Meridian. She can't. He's still Meridian. No matter what the Capitol and their father did to them.

Being the older of the two, Meridian manages to get the upper hand on Liz. He slams her down to hard the floor and pins her beneath him before unleashing a flurry of punches to her face.

But Meilin is not prepared for what happens next; once again like the bloodbath and the poisoned medicine, it is totally out of her control.

As Meridian is slamming their fist into Liz's jaw, the Eight Girl is busy sliding the knife, that he dropped, into her hand.

While Meridian is blinded by their fury, Liz remains calm and collected, despite the growing number of bruises on her cheek and mouth.

Once Liz has the hilt of the dagger firmly clasped in her hand, she doesn't hesitate, not even for a second, to plunge it into Meridian's neck.

The Five Boy freezes. His eyes widen. His arms lose all momentum and flop down, and their fists fall open. He gargles for a moment, clutching the stab wound in his throat before dropping down beside Liz. A pool of blood quickly grows around them.

Everything falls silent again. Thus, Meilin does not hear Meridian's cannon but she doesn't need to. There was no way he could have survived the speed and precision of Liz's strike.

Meilin is getting used to the sight of death. That's not what shocked her. No, what shocked her was the lack of hesitation in Liz's movement.

Even as Liz drags Meilin through the corridor and wipes the blood from her face, her eyes are cold and empty except for the mild look of agitation, like she just completed some menial chore… not killed someone.

It's like Liz never even knew Meridian at all.

Does Meilin even know Liz anymore?

Not really much to say in this an. Bit of a longer wait for this chapter but hopefully the next one will come sooner. Next chapter is the final part of day 7. See you then!

Deaths:

13th: Meridian Birdie: Killed by Alizka Ito - Stabbed in the neck. Similar to Romulus, I also had Meridian making it a lot further originally but with a lot of characters spiralling and their arcs coming to an end, I had to make the decision to kill him earlier. I had such a great time writing them though, with their complex back story, relationship with Day and their dynamic, and of course Meridian's spiral. Honestly the Fives in the fic could have a whole fic written about them. Thank you for the submission wiki!

Kill counter:

Geneve: 2

Romulus: 2

Aida: 1

Ren: 4

Chaney: 1

Auren: 1

Jokull: 3

Ozias: 2

Emery: 1

Zora: 1

Alizka: 1