Flash Back Games (Closed)

Amadrya glanced ahead, small beads of sweat falling below her bangs, and down her cheek as she and the Careers walked ahead. She didn’t wipe at it, as it was a fruitless chore, more sweat would come.

She knew she was better off with the Careers, with the supplies, the sponsors, and the strongest tributes. But she felt at any moment it would snap, sending everything into a fray.

She wondered, as well, how little Aspen Kaine would handle these games, and shook the thought away. Macaria and Alessandro killed Astrape and Carlo due to seeing the youngest tributes as weak, though she saw the mercy of the action too.

Those two would have died regardless, at least they didn’t suffer. But Aspen? Amadrya didn’t even want to think of how Aspen would handle the games.

But Amadrya refused to let herself forget the trees, and her cousins, and all she left behind in District 7.

Everest walked beside her, an act she appreciated, but her gaze turned forlorn for a moment, and he picked up on the emotion easily.

His eyes skimmed her, before he sighed, “What’s wrong?” He asked, voice coming off more gruff than usual due to exhaustion from walking. They had been going at this all day, and had yet to find any living tributes.

“Thinking of home,” she responded, she couldn’t lie to him. With her newfound feelings, she doubted she could even think of him wrong. She wasn’t one to reject having feelings, but she could choose to ignore them if she needed to.

His serious face brightened a tiny with a small smirk, saved just for her, “What about home?” He questioned.

“What about it?” She pondered, her grey eyes seeming to brighten just at the thought of the forests, of her cousins and her uncle, though not in a childish way, just in a solemn remembrance. “I miss the forest, and my older cousins.” She admitted, shrugging.

“Oh,” his voice trailed off slightly, before he focused his own brown orbs ahead. “That’s nice,” he commented lamely. Yet after a pregnant silence, he spoke again, “My parents were both victors,” he simply admitted.

Amadrya wondered if that’s why Alessandro hated Everest, because Alessandro had one parent for a victor, and Everest had two.

She banished the thought, rolling her eyes slightly.

Behind her, Sapphire and Halina strode in silence, yet Halina’s gaze remained locked on Amadrya, a question in her eyes, a curiousity lingering behind from days earlier, when they injured Burton in hoped to lure Holly out.

The goal had not yet been accomplished, Amadrya noted, and was slightly thankful. She felt guilty when Burton was attacked, as she told Holly she would do her best to help Holly’s friend. But then again, Amadrya reasoned that she had to place herself first. The boy wasn’t dead, at least.

If he was, the guilt would have been much worse.

“They still don’t trust you,” Everest pointed out, and the two of them nodded at one another, before glancing at Macaria and Alessandro.

Of course, the two were flirting with one another, and Amadrya rolled her eyes.

She, at least, could show her affection in a much less cliché and cheesy way, and she wasn’t dumb enough to show it either. Not during the Hunger Games.

Everest seemed to mimick her thoughts, his own right eye twitching as he glared at the brunettes before them. “They act like children,”

“That’s insulting to children,” Amadrya said in response to his comment, automatically, her stare completely deadpan as she watched the two.

Everest snorted, before both fell into a comfortable silence again.

But it wasn’t so comfortable, they were both stressed, obviously, and the games were far from over. Amadrya knew that much at least. Little tributes, like her own District partner, Ari, and the girl from District 12, Robin, were still alive. So were Burton and Holly, and that was, according to Alessandro and Macaria, the next biggest threat.

Amadrya knew though, or at least had a strong feeling, that Holly wouldn’t hurt someone if she had the choice. She was a protective personality, not exactly a hostile one, and Amadrya knew from experience by talking to the tribute that Holly didn’t exactly value her life as much as she probably should have, she valued Burton’s.

Amadrya saw it before Holly did, but Holly fell for her District partner, a fact that Amadrya would say is dumb, but glancing to the side, seeing Everest, she knew it wasn’t something you could control.

It just happened.

Her gaze lit with surprise though, noting the slower pace Everest put on, and the far off glance in his eyes, her eyebrow quirked with worry, her voice wavering slightly at first, “Are-“ she stopped, coughing slightly due to the dust in the air, “-Are you fine?” She questioned softly.

He seemed to snap out of his stupor, his eyes widening as he glanced at her, before he nodded, “Yeah, I’m just-“

He stopped, but the words died on his lips, and everything went deadly silent.

Macaria and Alessandro had stopped right before them, still as deer as they stared ahead of them.

Sapphire and Halina seemed confused, before they paused as well, eyes wide.

Everest beside her stilled, his own eyes didn’t widen, but filled with soft dismay.

Amadrya, for her part, was confused by what the big deal was. She was still staring at Everest, trying to read his features, but a grin on Macaria’s face caught her attention, and she swung her gaze forward.

Her mouth gaped open at the sight before her, her eyes wide and quickly filling with dismay as well. But Macaria and Alessandro couldn’t look more delighted if they tried.

Before them stood a short and skinny girl, with messy and dusty black hair, and green eyes which seemed to have lost some shine they once held. Blood was caked to her outfit, and her cheek had a small little scratch running from the bridge of her nose down to under her left eye.

Amadrya noted above all else though, the frightened, dawning look of horror falling over Holly’s face. Amadrya assumed that was because the girl knew what came next, that her death would be in the hands of the Careers, because she had no way of fighting out of this one.

Everyone was frozen, no one wanted to move, not an inch, and breaths were quick, adrenaline and exhaustion playing role.

Holly skimmed her eyes through everyone there, before settling on Amadrya, and Amadrya felt glued to the spot under the emerald gaze. A question ticked in her mind, Holly was alone, Holly was never alone. She wouldn’t be, not from what Amadrya knew about her from the parade conversation they had.

A thought hit her, and she felt cold under her skin at it, Holly had a plan. A plan that would get herself killed.

Yet Holly kept staring at her, eyes somehow so full of hope, yet so hopeless at the same time, acceptance circling the hues, making the color almost dull and haunting to look at.

Amadrya felt herself nod subconsciously, and Holly returned it. Very lowly, a soft dip, but the action didn’t go unnoticed by Everest, whose gaze switched to Amadrya, but he too remained silent.

No one moved a muscle.

Holly glanced at them all again, settling on Macaria, before unfreezing and running off towards the right. To the others, it may look like Holly was running back to base, back to Burton for help, due to how panicked she seemed. Amadrya knew better, but kept quiet. Because Amadrya knew that to her right, and Holly’s left, Burton was somewhere. She would keep that in mind, keep the others away.

Like a flash, when the District 8 girl moved, so did everyone, mostly everyone. Amadrya remained for a moment, and Everest stopped, raising an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head, following after, she had to keep this in her sights.

Amadrya registered that throughout the darkness, Holly was a rather fast runner, agile on her feet, almost like the deer back home in District 7, but Amadrya also recognized the blood thirsty glint in Macaria’s eyes.

Macaria was running forward, ahead of the pack, hunting down her prey. A knife was in her hand, and she seemingly stopped for a moment. Yet Amadrya saw a second too late the true intention behind the act.

Before she could even react, Macaria aimed the knife for the other tribute’s leg, and threw the deadly weapon.

Amadrya didn’t think she could ever forget the cry that hit the air, or the fall of the girl as she was hit.

Macaria smirked, slowing to a walk, a menacing smile on her face as she grabbed out another knife, after all, she could retrieve the other later.

Amadrya stopped a few feet away, she wanted to cover her eyes, hide away, but she couldn’t, she was transfixed, watching the scene and her body refused to move.

Everest stopped beside her, wary, and a bit uncomfortable by the looks of it.

Macaria stood over the fallen girl, twisting the knife in her hand, a trick of her’s, as she stared down the ebony haired girl.

Holly sat up some, glaring up, a grimace was on her face, blood trailing down her leg, but she ripped the knife out of her leg with a small whine of protest at herself, before throwing it haphazardly back at Macaria, a small smirk on her face when the hilt hit the District 2 girl’s side, no pain would come, Holly wasn’t trying to kill, and had no idea how to correctly throw a knife. But she found that ability to joke still, her voice a taunting little tune, carrying over the small amount of wind, “Wow, someone’s got some anger issues.”

“Shut it,” Macaria said, before stooping down, cupping Holly’s face in her left palm, holding a knife in her right hand. “Now, let’s give the Capital a show!” She said, menacing smile increasing tenfold.

Amadrya was panicking for a moment, her voice shakily coming out as she turned to Everest, “What-“ she forced herself to calm some, “What is Macaria doing?” She questioned, but she didn’t need an awnser, she already knew.

Everest knew that too, and remained silent.

Holly slapped Macaria’s hands away before them, her glare intensified, “Don’t touch me,” She snapped.

Macaria rolled her eyes, not seeming phased, before looking Holly over, “Where’s you little partner?” She questioned, playing with the knife still.

Holly let off a small laugh, one Amadrya raised an eyebrow at, before she calmed down some. “Oh? Burton?” She questioned, crossing her arms, “You really think I was going to waste my time on him?” She asked, rolling her eyes, wincing in pain as well, “Well, I expected to have a partner, not to have to babysit,” She sourly put in.

Amadrya could tell she hated saying those words, and frowned slightly, but it came off believable.

At least, Macaria seemed satisfied, and everyone else backed up to give Macaria her room to work.

“Well, if that’s the case, we’ll still check this way,” Macaria said sickeningly, her voice soft and sweet, innocent. “I have a feeling you were running back to loverboy, after all.”

Holly frowned, playing up the act, making it more believable that Macaria was right. “Loverboy? No, I think the only one here’s who has that is you, with you’re little toy over the-“ she went silent, a grunt of pain and gasp escaping her as Macaria shoved her back down.

Alessandro was who Holly was referencing, obviously, but he remained silent beside Halina and Sapphire.

“Shut up, District 8,” Macaria hissed out, before tightening her grip on the knife, “And stay still, okay? It’s not very fun to carve when you’re sculpture moves.”

Holly glared, but couldn’t even speak as a scream enveloped her, one she attempted to keep muffled. But Macaria was dragging the knife around, making gashes and cuts.

Amadrya was seeing red, blood, not much yet, but blood was dripping from the knife. Holly was attempting her best to get up, but Macaria was snickering slightly at the act. Of course
Macaria would choose to torture the girl from 8 to please the Capital.

It made Amadrya sick.

It made her feel terrible too, what kind of person was she allowing herself to be? Was she really going to let Everest and the Careers change her so much?

A thought came to her, making her blood feel like it was running cold.

What if she didn’t want to be a career anymore? What if she didn’t want to see tributes die like this?

She glanced at Everest, and somehow she knew he would understand. He usually understood her rather well.

Yet her thoughts came to an abrupt end as Macaria chose a place for the fatal wound after getting bored of making gashes, ready to slay and kill, a bloody and brutal, and painful death awaiting.

Amadrya moved quickly, making up her mind, as she grabbed her axe, stood behind Alessandro, and held the blade to his throat. Her voice coming out cold, and brutal, “Let the girl go, or I’ll kill him.” She threatened.

Amadrya reasoned for a moment, that maybe this would be better than waiting for them to slaughter her, she got what she needed out of them anyways.

Macaria froze, knife dropping, as Amadrya expected, but Sapphire and Halina didn’t, they went to grab their weapons, ready to turn on her too, and Alessandro was staying very still. For good reason too.

Everest stared at her, before nodding once, grabbing a weapon, his gun, and aiming it at Sapphire.

Everyone was frozen.

Macaria was gaping, staring at Amadrya, before her fierce eyes narrowed and her mouth clamped shut. “Excuse me?” She questioned, picking up the blade, and holding it to Holly’s side.

“Let her go,” Everest spoke this time, “Or she’s going to kill Alessandro, and after all the pushing around you guys have done, I don’t blame her.” Her looked back, he seemed to understand. At least a little.

Amadrya was glad for that.

Alessandro huffed, “What, so we let the girl go and you expect to rejoin us?” He questioned, voice raising in fury. “Not going to work out well, traitor,” the word was spit out in anger.

“I’m not staying with the pack, you guys have served your use to me,” Amadrya snapped, before glancing over, “I’m going off, if you guys want to join me, go ahead, but I’m not putting up with this crap anymore.” She huffed out, glaring towards Halina and Sapphire.

Sapphire remained silent, backing up, she had chosen her side. She was of District 1, Alessandro’s District, she would remain with the Careers.

However, Halina seemed to hesitate. If she remained with the Careers, Macaria or Alessandro would kill her in a heartbeat. She respected Everest more than Alessandro and Macaria, and could turn more easily on the new group.

“I’m going with you,” Halina said, crossing her arms and walking over. She stood the best chance this way, she had reasoned. So she stood beside Amadrya, choosing to remain silent.

Macaria huffed in anger, moving the knife away and backing up, leaving Holly, who was remaining silent, curled up in pain, on the ground. “Release Alessandro,” she snapped out, glaring at Amadrya.

Amadrya did so, but not before kicking the back of his leg, doing a nice job to twist it, and slamming all her force into stepping on his ankle, satisfied when she heard the tell tale crunch of a bone breaking, a thing he cried out at, and letting him drop.

Macaria looked even more infuriated, but Amadrya shrugged, “Hey, gotta give the Capital a show,” She mockingly put it, before walking over and helping Holly up. The other girl wasn’t too bad, mostly scratched up, with a few deep cuts that would need tending too, but nothing that seemed fatal.

With that, she turned to leave, helping Holly up, and smirking as Everest held Sapphire and Macaria at gunpoint, Alessandro too injured to really do much, or be a worry in any manner at the moment,

They walked, Halina joining them, remaining silent, and Everest following after some time, when he was sure Sapphire and Macaria wouldn’t make any moves.

It was silent, as Holly directed them back to the base she and Burton set up, and they walked in silence, no one talking about what just happened.

Except, Holly found this the perfect time to pitch in, her sarcastic nature still strong even in her pain, “Well,” she started, before glaring back, “Wasn’t that just a blast?”

Burton snored softly, and by softly, he snored loudly.

It wasn’t the most comfy spot to lay, but ever since the careers decided he needed to be injured, just to let him run off, he tended to sleep, because Holly decided to watch him like a hawk until he did. Or bully him, or both. Most of the time it was both.

He shut his eyes, letting off a whine as a scream pierced the air, because how dare someone die and wake him up?

His eyes fluttered open, taking in the silence, the lack of sarcasm, before his own eyes widened completely and he jumped up, off the...

Ground?

He turned, ignoring that tad bit for now, favoring to look for his District partner.

“Holly!” He huffed out, crossing his arms as he limped throughout the shelter. “Come on, it’s not funny when you do this!”

He pretended that was a valid argument, even though she never hid from him, he knew it was because she was too scared of scaring him(oh the irony). Because if that wasn’t the reason, he had no idea why someone with such a morally grey code of humor would pull their punches on hiding.

Maybe today she changed? Hopefully?

He almost smiled at that thought, but another scream sounded and it sounded strangely like Alandria, his nick name for the raven haired girl.

It then dawned on the brunette what happened before he passed out last.

Was he...fighting with her?

—

“No, Burton!” He remembered her saying, her gaze deadly and set, “I’ll be fine, I’m just going scouting,” she had said.

“I don’t believe you,” he remembered saying that too, his eyes at the time and Ben pleading, because he knew she was going to do something. He just knew it.

“You don’t have to, I’m going,” she had said roughly, though he had caught a glimpse of her eyes, she had looked upset, strangely accepting towards something.

It clicked like a snap, and he had grabbed her wrist, carefully, but with strong hold. “No,” he had pointedly said, “We both know you don’t go scouting without me,” he pointed out, sounding almost like a kicked puppy, who refused to let go of their owner.

He wondered if that was more closely related to the situation than it should have been or not.

“Acton,” She had said, a deadpan expression falling over her face, “I haven’t went scouting since you got hurt, so unless you want to find a way to get down there without dying, go back to bed.” She has said, fully expecting him to rest.

He, as usual, had ignored that. “Okay, Yeah, sure.” He had said plainly, having watched in humor as her expressions changed from shocked, to angry, to amused and just down right annoyed in a matter of seconds.

“Are you kidding me?” She questioned, her wrist was still in his hand at the time.

He had ignored that thought, instead opting to stare at her. “Holly, please don’t go alone,” he said, voice having had taken on a serious tone.

She had seemed to waver, having glanced out the window in fear, before having lunged forward a bit, hugging him close, and he had hugged her back.

Feelings or not, she was his friend, and he knew she wasn’t going out to scout. He knew her, she had been planning on doing something to protect them.

“I need to lead them away,” she had whispered out, having mumbled the words into his shoulder.

He had remained like that for a second, contemplating, his aspect had changed, set on finality, “Fine, I’m going too.”

He had said it with a smirk, but he hadn’t expected the small sob that she had given, or the tears he had felt welling on his shoulder. But it had felt like his blood went cold when she had mumbled out just two words.

“I’m sorry,”

—

And like that, he suspected by the dull ache in his head now awake, she had probably hit his head, causing him to pass out.

The scream that sounded next clipped off, and he feared whoever made it was dead, it was a muffled little scream, barely even detectable from his place, but he was close by, he assumed, and a scream is a scream no less.

It still sounded like Holly, and that was frightening, to say the least.

He started pacing, waiting for a canon, trying not to think of the worst. Of course he was worried, they were friends, feelings disregarded.

No canon fired yet, and he let off a breath when the screaming had stopped. He heard some yelling, a small amount.

He was, promptly now, confused. He walked up to the window, looking out, but spotted nothing.

Probably because he was looking the wrong way, because Holly was trying to lead the Careers away.

Regardless, he was still panicking slightly. He knew very little, that Holly was there beforehand, they were arguing about her leaving to lead tributes away from the shelter, and Holly started crying and knocked him out.

A tiny part of him was hung up on that part and agitated she would have done such a thing to him. He had ego, he didn’t need her tearing that up too.

The brunette fixed his chocolate eyes on the ground, he would go down to check, but without canon fire, he knew it may be fruitless. It might not have even been her, it was probably just some other tribute that got caught in the cross hairs of the Careers.

Like Holly.

And his train of thought went about that deep, kept there, and lopped, and so he paced around.

For probably about 10 minutes straight he paced, before he went to check the window again. Hoping for a sign of his friend, because panic was starting to set in. He wasn’t dependent on her, but he cared for her and didn’t want her to be dead.

He was about to go check for her, deciding that she had enough time by now to lead any Careers away, but stopped as a new figure started climbing up.

Burton almost screamed out himself, but backed up, grabbing a discarded pipe from the floor, and standing ready to swing, yelling out a “Get out of our shelter!” as he did so.

He closed his eyes, swinging out at the tribute before him, only to have the pipe caught by the other tribute, and stopped.

“What do you think you’re doing, exactly?” Everest asked, glancing at the boy before him with curiosity.

Burton backed up, letting go of the pipe, which Everest just dropped, eyes wide and doe-like as Halina climbed up, “I’m going to die,” he whispered out, backing up from the Careers.

“Um,” Halina started, seemingly amused, “No?”

“Yeah, real assuring, say it like it’s a question, Halina,” That voice sounded familiar. Burton was relieved, and newly panicked all at the same time, and mad. But he was concerned, Holly did sound rather pained as she spoke.

Amadrya was helping Holly up still, the level bellow, and hadn’t come up yet.

“You betrayed me!” Burton spit out, like some frightened animal, “Now I’m going to die!”

“Nope, been there, done that, I’m not really a fan of almost dying,” Holly mumbled. Before a small yelp escaped her as she attempted to move.

“Well, then why are they-“ He paused as Holly and Amadrya came to the floor. Blood coated parts of his partner, gashes visible on her skin, like a weakened, beaten creature.

He blinked, once, twice, probably 5 times total, before he intelligently decided on, “Is that blood?”

Well that was embarrassing. He was getting all kinds of ‘really?’ stares from the others now.

He found himself wincing as Holly stared him down, “No, Burton,” She seethed, glaring, “It’s grape juice.”

He found a small smirk on his face, a laugh somewhat bubbling up through his chest. Though he was panicked half to death(or maybe that was Holly), at least she was still in the mood to joke.

Though he turned on Everest and Halina with a agitated glare. “I never invited you into my house, and I want to know what happened to my partner, and why you guys are here when you obviously did that to her.” It wasn’t a question, he went from laughing to snappy in a moment.

Holly facepalmed behind him, and Halina sighed. “Tough girl over there thought it would be fun to go and-“

Holly blanched, putting up her hand and weakly interjecting, “Um, maybe don’t mention-“

Overruled. By Amadrya, who sighed at the people surrounding her. “She was trying to lead the Careers away from her by trading her life for your safety,” Amadrya said bluntly, and Holly sighed from her own side.

Burton stared at them, this was too much, at once. He glanced at his partner, eyes narrowed, “We’re talking about that-“

“-Never?” Holly offered, smiling at him.

“Soon,” her corrected, glaring daggers at her.

She had went out, he had a feeling too, to risk her life, almost dying, just so the Careers wouldn’t find them.

It strangely warmed his heart and scared him to death all at the same time.

“Don’t be melodramatic,” Holly rolled her eyes, “I’ll probably be dead before sunrise anyways.”

Halina snorted, if Burton heard right, or maybe that was him. Probably both of them.

Burton rolled his eyes, falling into the banter easily, “Don’t be melodramatic, I give you maybe a few hours at most.”

“Are you always like that?” Everest questioned, glancing between the two as if he was confused, which he was. Oh, that reminded Burton...

Burton huffed, agitated at the newbies still. “You still haven’t explained why your in my shelter-“

“It’s our shelter,” Holly had hissed out.

“-and I would like an explanation.” Burton huffed out, “Because days ago, you guys decided I looked best limping,” he bluntly put in.

“Amadrya was done with Macaria and Alessandro, who attacked you, and attacked Holly, and started trying to elongate her death for Capital amusement,” Everest put in, voice monotone for most of the part, “Is there another question, or-?”

“That awnsers nothing!” Burton explained, growling in frustration. “Why are you here?”

“We saved Holly,” Halina started.

“-You guys hurt her in the first place.” Burton corrected.

“-Macaria did that, so we got this in return, what’s going to do better, two injured people against the other Careers, or a larger group against them?” Everest asked, crossing his arms.

Burton stopped, glancing back at his partner, who simply nodded, and sighing. “Try any funny business, or you so much as touch a hair on her body, and I’ll push you off the roof,” he threatened to the three past-Career pack members, before turning to curl up in a bed near Holly’s own bed, which she limped over too earlier. “I trust Amadrya the most, so she’s on watch.” Burton than said, glaring at them from his little spot.

Holly sighed, “They don’t have to touch me if I’m dead,” she complained, a small whine escaping her.

“Hey, I wasn’t allowed to complain so neither are you,” Burton said, somewhat sourly, but teasingly as well, and the banter softly continued.

He, for the most part was happy with that.

Alessandro stared up at the sky, at the resting sun, which may have been an illusion by the arena, and the looming buildings above. Yet he was straining to keep his eyes open and straining to keep from doing something stupid.

Like standing with his broken ankle. His gaze traveled down to his leg, the broken bone was covered in white bandaging, and he was thankful that Sapphire had been insistent on medical supplies when they first left the Cornucopia when they were still part of the group.

His eyes trained softly over the horizon, watching for tributes as he sat on a lone piece of rubble. Before him, Sapphire slept on a small roll out blanket that she had with her from the Cornucopia, and Macaria was on her own blanket, turned away from Alessandro, and both girls were asleep. Yet if he was being honest, Sapphire could be dead for all he cared. He planned for her to be dead after Holly was killed, but the goal was never accomplished, and picking a fight with her now would spell out his own death.

He was injured, she was not, and the winner of that fight was obvious to even him.

So he instead offered to be on watch, since both girls had been tending to him, watching for other tributes, while he rested, and recalibrated his strength. He felt rested enough anyways, watch didn’t require moving.

He still hated Amadrya, planned to make her death the slowest he possibly could. He hated her more than he hated Everest now, and that was saying a lot.

Not that the spoiled Career could be blamed for the hate, a broken limb was disastrous in the Hunger Games, no one came out without a wound, but broken limbs? This early in the games?

Sponsors probably wouldn’t be supporting him anymore, reasonably anyways. He knew that if he was a sponsor, he would support someone like Macaria, or even Everest and Amadrya, as much as he hated both of them.

But he? He was injured and his chances were much lower now.

Shaking the thoughts from his head he forced himself to focus on the task at hand, watching for any tributes that would be coming around, thinking they could ambush the remaining Careers. He held a gun in his hand, one without ammo, but the action of pointing a gun at someone, a person who would not know if the gun had ammo, would most likely scare the person off, and if not, he had his knives with him.

He was no Macaria when it came to knives, but he knew how to throw them, that’s how he killed Astrape, after all.

The sun was setting already, and the anthem would play soon. Yet he already knew from the lack of cannons that no one had died.

No one had died in a few days, the Capital, he presumed, must have been getting bored.

No one came close to base, and he waited, just staring out, trying to keep his temper under control.

Part of him was tempted to run off and find Amadrya, kill her slowly, and agonizingly. But the flaws with the plan included leaving his teammates defenseless, having a broken leg, and the fact that Amadrya’s new group would be able to kill him easily. She herself could kill him easily at the moment.

He had a feeling, he didn’t know for sure, but he had a strong feeling that Halina, Everest, and Amadrya were joining forces with Holly and Burton.

They needed a plan if they wanted to defeat the group of 5, saying as a fight, 3 against 5 wasn’t a good chance. Even if two of the tributes of the other group would be injured, so was Alessandro.

He grumbled slightly, a soft growl escaping him.

“Are you alright?” A voice asked, and he turned his head, eyes wide to the speaker. He knew the voice well, but was surprised she had awaken.

Macaria blinked sleepily, rubbing at her eyes, even tired she looked alert and deadly.

He smirked, “Oh, concerned are you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, the comment came off as flirtatious.

With a sourness, he noted that at least Everest and Amadrya couldn’t complain about them anymore. Not where he could hear at least.

“I happen to be, yes,” Macaria said, voice slick, a flirty comeback coming up next, “Couldn’t let such a handsome guy worry his pretty little head off, now could I?”

“I wouldn’t want such a pretty girl like yourself to worry over me,” Alessandro bit back, adding a wink with the comment.

Macaria rolled her eyes at him, and he smirked in reply, “What’s on your mind?” She questioned, voice more serious now, and less drowsy in sound, more aware.

“Other than you?” He flirted back, amused by the small amount of red filling her cheeks, “I’m thinking about what to do to handle Amadrya-“

“Think they joined up with District 8?” Macaria interrupted, her face now cleared of blush, her gaze swept over the sleeping form of Sapphire, before focusing on Alessandro again.

“I do,” he affirmed, glancing at the sky, his visage slightly covered by dust from rubble, “Which means they would be more dangerous,” He noted.

“If you’re so worried, why not play dirty?” Macaria offered, a smirk on her lips, “Let them have their fun, and when they think they have won, that they are safe, we strike.”

“That won’t work,” Alessandro huffed, arms crossed. “There are 5 of them, and I’m injured. We’re outnumbered.”

She went silent, contemplating that. They were silent for a while, the girl decided to move over to the piece of rubble, sitting beside Alessandro in a silent manner.

It was so surprising how such a deadly girl could be so beautiful and smart. How she could trust him? Really, he didn’t know. But he knew he was falling for her, and instead of pushing it away, he let that remain. He needed something to occupy his thoughts.

“What if we-“ her glance went right for his eyes, the deadly gleam was back, a fact he noted with glee, “What if we made them turn on one another?” She questioned, arms crossed.

Alessandro smirked at the idea, arms crossing over his own chest, as he thought, “Yeah,” he started, “That could work, but how exactly would we do that?” He questioned, intrigued in the idea.

“We make them choose between love and living,” Macaria said, eyes narrowed, gleaming with interest in her own idea, “We make them think they are safe, steal sponsor gifts from them, we pin them against one another, find what makes them tick.” She suggested.

He took a pause, the idea would work rather well. Especially if they had someone on the inside to do it, instead of going off by themselves.

He stoppped his thoughts, frowning, “So what, we stalk them?” He questioned, his aspect aspect changing to annoyed. “That won’t work either, I have a broken ankle, and sending one person into that group would be dangerous.”

Macaria sighed, crossing her arms, “I’m working out the details, okay?” She snapped back, the gleam vanished, “But it would be perfect, we could break them apart, take back some supplies and get read of some of the competition if we did that, and we wouldn’t even have to put much effort into it. Once the group is split, we could go in and simply kill them, one by one.”

Alessandro raised an eyebrow, “Why talk about it if we can’t do it?” He questioned, the idea would be perfect, but unrealistic.

“Well-“ Macaria started, before glancing over at Sapphire, a gesture Alessandro followed and noted.

“How do you suppose we do that?” Alessandro questioned, obviously daring her to awnser with Sapphire, his own icy eyes narrowed. He knew where her thoughts were going, send in the other girl. But he knew the group wouldn’t trust her, the plans would be revealed if they did that.

“Well, if you’re looking for someone to do it,” That wasn’t Macaria, nor Sapphire.

Both froze at the new voice that sounded behind them, and the footsteps heard as the person approached. They turned to glance at a young boy, Amadrya’s district, who seemed concerned and hesitant, and the proud girl from District 12, with her fiery colored hair and crossed arms, she was the one who spoke.

Ari remained still, watching as Robin grinned, crossing her own arms, speaking new words to Alessandro and Macaria.

“I can help with that.”

Ari knew from the start that he should have remained solo. Yet after seeing Amadrya join forces with the careers, even with what she expressed to him about going solo, and with how well she seemed to have done, he decided maybe, for Jude, he might as well try.

That’s why when he ran into Robin, the girl one year younger than himself, and the girl from District 12, he offered the truce that Amadrya offered to him.

Not to kill each other and to have each others backs.

He remembered vividly that she had been running from the bloodbath, a bow in hand, and backpack on her back. She had killed one tribute, as she said, a mercy kill. He wondered who though.

She wouldn’t mention the name, just the fact that she killed someone.

He didn’t know her well enough, but she almost looked guilty to him.

So she agreed, they would both stick together for higher chances of survival.

Yet, Ari reflected upon his time with her, frowning at it slightly.

He knew her better now than before, she had an older sister who was pregnant, from what she revealed, and loved her family to death. She should have had a low chance at getting into the games, refusing to take tesserae, but fate didn’t have her side. Much like it didn’t have his.

He also knew that she became even more broken as the days went on, as more tributes died and she got closer to getting out.

She was slowly, but surely, losing her sanity because of the arena.

He couldn’t do a thing to help, but remain silent.

So he walked, trailing behind the girl as she took lead, she became possessive, hungry to get out alive and find others to kill.

He knew she was a good person at heart, but the games had impacts on people. She was wanting to go home, and that’s all she wanted. Her actions became less and less guilt-ridden, and more and more ambitious.

But he followed, because he wanted to go home too, back to Jude in District 7, and the only way to do that was to win. Together, he and Robin stood more of a chance..

Yet alone...

He was better off with a partner, at least, he thought he was.

But he second guessed that, when at night, Robin decided to hunt for tributes. A thing that he didn’t find very intelligent. Robin and himself didn’t know the Careers broke up. He was terrified of being caught by the Careers.

He knew this far into the games, they made any and all kills a show for the Capital. He didn’t want to die like that.

When they heard voices, that night, late into it actually, he frowned. Deaths hadn’t occurred for days, and he knew the voices well. But the words just didn’t add up.

“Think they joined up with District 8?” Someone said, and it wasn’t Robin, and he could tell she was surprised too. It came from just a block away, rather close, and just around the corner.

“I do,” a male had responded, “Which means they would be more dangerous.”

“If you’re so worried-“ the female who had been speaking began again, but Ari tuned her out. Those voices belonged to the Careers, specifically Macaria and Alessandro. By the look on Robin’s face, she knew that too.

He shivered remembering their interviews, and the kills they had. Robin described their kills to him. The two Careers were responsible for the deaths of many in the Blood Bath.

“That won’t work,” Alessandro huffed, arms crossed. “There are 5 of them, and I’m injured. We’re outnumbered.”

As the two went silent, Robin perked in interest, turning to Ari who had a look of confusion on his face.

He was at a loss as well. Everyone knew the Careers were the largest group. So why would they talk like this?

“Who are they talking about?” Ari whispered out, the question sounding confused, as he was at a loss.

Robin shrugged, “I have no clue, just listen.” She commanded silently, and the two went quiet when the Careers began communicating again.

“What if we-“ Macaria started again, but the two Careers spoke softly. Ari could barely hear them, and gasped when Robin started inching closer, silently.

“What are you doing?” Ari asked, keeping his voice low, but his eyes were as wide as saucers. “Get back here! Robin!” He also let off a cry as she silently stepped closer, completely ignoring him.

Regardless, he followed closely, getting a better view of the two Careers now, noting their faces, and their words.

Alessandro smirked at the idea, arms crossing over his own chest, as he thought, “Yeah,” he started, “That could work, but how exactly would we do that?” He questioned.

“We make them choose between love and living,” Macaria responded, eyes narrowed, gleaming with interest in her own idea, “We make them think they are safe, steal sponsor gifts from them, we pin them against one another, find what makes them tick.” She suggested.

Ari finally puzzled something together, not much, but some. A group of tributes had formed together, by the lack of half of the Career pack, Ari deduced that they either left and joined this new group, or were killed by the other group.

By the lack of cannons, Ari would guess the former.

Alessandro had paused before speaking once more, “So what, we stalk them?” He questioned, his aspect aspect changing to annoyed. “That won’t work either, I have a broken ankle, and sending one person into that group would be dangerous.”

Ari noted the injury, he hadn’t seen it before, and Robin did as well. A little grin was rising on her face too.

Neither spoke, just listening and watching instead.

Macaria sighed, crossing her arms, “I’m working out the details, okay?” She snapped back, the gleam vanished, “But it would be perfect, we could break them apart, take back some supplies and get read of some of the competition if we did that, and we wouldn’t even have to put much effort into it. Once the group is split, we could go in and simply kill them, one by one.”

Ari frowned, the cruel plan Macaria suggested sounded cruel. He knew for fact now that some of the Careers had split, the injury Alessandro had was almost living proof, and a new larger group? But he wanted to warn Amadrya of this, she was of his District, if the Careers were planning against her now, planning to break her and her new group apart, he would break his truce if he didn’t warn her.

He noticed Robin’s face, which bordered on confused, and almost a deciding look, as if she was contemplating doing something. Yet a strange look of determination passed along her face, and she focused it ahead.

Ari didn’t know what to think of that, and went back to watching.

Alessandro raised an eyebrow, “Why talk about it if we can’t do it?” He questioned.

“Well-“ Macaria started, before glancing over at Sapphire, a gesture Alessandro seemed follow and note.

“How do you suppose we do that?” Alessandro questioned, obviously daring her to awnser with Sapphire, his own icy eyes narrowed.

Ari heard a crunch, and he swung a surprised look to Robin, who had stomped her foot down, a grin on her own face. That seemed to cause the Careers to stiffen before her, and Ari to gape.

Did she want to kill Ari and herself?

Her words shocked him even more, filling him with fear, and a cold uneasy feeling. Even if he didn’t have proof that Amadrya was a part of this new group, she almost had to be.

“Well, if your looking for someone to do it,” Robin said proudly, crossing her arms, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Ari tried getting his mouth to move, wanting to ask her what exactly she thought she was doing, but he couldn’t get it to cooperate. He remained shocked and silent.

Both careers had turned at her words, taking him in, which causing him to freeze up a bit more, but at least his stance was still and almost relaxed, and just as quickly they took in Robin, who didn’t seem bothered in the least.

Ari remained still, watching as Robin grinned, speaking new words to Alessandro and Macaria.

“I can help with that.”

The two Careers stood up quickly, grabbing their weapons and directing them right at Robin and Ari.

Ari jumped, and held his hands up in surrender, but Robin just stared, grin on her lips.

She really was going crazy!

“What did you say?” Macaria had ground out, and her voice grated against Ari’s ears, causing him to wince.

They were going to die, and he should have never agreed to work with her.

“I said,” Robin started, raising an eyebrow, “I can help with that.”

She just repeated the same words, again, and she had three sets of glances set on her. All of which made up of some kind of shock. Two at a complete loss because she’s wasn’t afraid, and one out of complete terror, the latter would be his own.

“Why would you help us?” Alessandro asked, glancing at her for a moment.

Ari felt relieved when the weapon lowered a bit, he didn’t like that gun being pointed at him. Then again, he didn’t know it didn’t have ammo.

“Because, a group of 5 is almost guaranteed a win.” Robin said, as if that was the obvious reason for helping out the most deceptive and dangerous tributes in the Hunger Games, “I want them gone just as much as you.” She tacked on, shrugging.

Macaria, Alessandro, and Ari himself just blinked at her.

“-Okay?” Alessandro said, backing up. This could work out well, at least, for him and Macaria. “And what would you do, exactly?”

“Go in there, be sweet, act helpless.” Robin said, shrugging again, and Ari found himself absolutely despising her at that moment. “From what Macaria described, they should fall for it.”

Ari himself was almost panicking at being caught in this situation, and glanced at the Careers. He finally found his voice, “Um, who exactly is in this group?” He was sure he knew, but just in case.

Macaria hummed, looking irritated for a moment, “District 8, Everest, Halina, and Amadrya.” She responded, toying with her knife.

He watched that action, her just playing with it, and felt chilled and frightened just by watching it, she really was deadly.

He was saddened too that Amadrya was there, but kept quiet. Maybe he could dismay Robin, make her see that the idea was dumb and would only get them killed.

“Well,” Robin began again, “Ari and I could go, break them apart from within, and when they are separated, you can pick up the remains and shatter them.” She said in response, turning away.

Alessandro seemed to be fine with it, and as did Macaria. When the Careers told Robin and himself the direction they should go, the two tributes headed off, looking for the group of 5.

Yet it was night, and they were both tired. So they took a few hours rest, stopping at one of the buildings, and hiding inside. Ari found it a perfect time to bring it up.

Robin beat him to it, “Look, Ari.” She started, glancing at him as they settled in to rest, “I know Amadrya is of your District, but if you want to go home, you have to act.”

Ari kept silent, because that was true. But it didn’t mean he liked the idea.

“I just-“ he started. He sounded more hopeless than he meant to, and she picked up on it easily.

“I imagine you have something or someone you want to get back to, are you really going to let Amadrya hold you back from that?” Robin interrupted. Her gaze was set on him, and he gulped slightly.

That was true, he had his sister, Jude. He told her he would try.

Robin had someone like that too, and he wondered if she was going to turn her back on him too. Just to get home.

They both went silent, curling up, both attempting to sleep. Indeed, Robin slept fine that night, but Ari didn’t at all.

He was left to his thoughts, watching as the sun slowly rose. He didn’t really care for Everest, Burton, Holly or Halina. All of them were people, sure, but he didn’t make a truce with them, and he didn’t know them.

He knew Amadrya and acting like Robin planned would get her killed, and he would never forgive himself.

He watched Robin for a few moments contemplating the girl he befriended and teamed up with, and the shell that existed of her now.

He rose up, if he didn’t want to be part of her plan, he had to leave. He couldn’t dissuade her from her goals. He couldn’t get her to see reason. So he had to go warn the group himself.

He would go, find them first, warn them, and make them hide when Robin came. Just because he didn’t agree with her didn’t mean he wanted her dead. They too had an agreement, and she, regardless of what she had become...

She was still his friend.

Grabbing his stuff was easy, staying silent was, but leaving wasn’t.

Staring at her, sleeping, he remembered she was just troubled, that she was just desperate to go home. She didn’t want anyone to die, and everyone she had killed thus far had been in mercy.

It was best this way, she didn’t need to have anything to regret if she did win, and she didn’t need to go get herself killed for no good reason.

With that, he turned away from his snoozing red haired partner, tearing his gaze away to focus on the door.

He left quickly, and silently.

He ignored his surroundings, following the directions the Careers had given. He was close, he was sure, and smiled in relief.

But it fell quickly, taking in the darkened cloud behind him, well, where he was before. It blocked out the sunlight, or perhaps faux sunlight that was there before. It made a sheen of darkness cover the ground.

He noted by the foggy look, darkness and distant sound that it was raining.

That was...odd?

The color of the rain almost looked bright to him, but he shrugged it off, continuing on his way. He has just imagined it, or so he thought.

“Ari!” That was a scream, a large, agonizing scream that carried even from all the blocks away.

He found his gaze swiveling back, doing a double take. The rain was closer now, and it was not at all normal.

The droplets were close to the color of a yellow-green, and it was moving very quickly.

He also noted the corrosive behavior the rain had as it contacted a lone piece of fabric that lay on the street, in the rubble, and he found his gaze swinging back up.

“Ari!” The scream came again, and his stomach dropped, because it came from where he left Robin, and where the rain was.

She must have went out to search for him, or find the other tributes, and got stuck in the storm.

A storm that obviously wasn’t normal.

The scream was agonizing. Painful even, but then it stopped abruptly, and he found an overwhelming guilt fill him. A yearn to run back and find her.

Yet, he took one footstep in the direction.

That was when the cannon fired.

Macaria didn’t think much whenever Robin came and left. If the plan worked, it was great, the enemy group would be gone and she would be closer to winning.

And if not? If Everest and the others decided that the girl and her little partner were too big of a threat? It was two less tributes to deal with.

Honestly, Macaria would have killed them herself, but it was worth a try on the plan, and with Alessandro hurt it would really only be herself fighting them. And if they survived to this point, they were obviously strong.

So that was it, she went to bed after a little meaningless chitchat with Alessandro, and she decided to sleep.

Then, before she knew it, it was morning, and some sound was awakening her,

She registered the sound of rain first, but remained in her attempt to fall back to sleep, her eyes closed in hopes of peaceful slumber.

But then she felt a drop hit her cheek, and instead of the refreshing cold she expected, she felt a burning, searing pain burst through her skin. A cry escaped her as another hit, and she heard agonized cries from around her. It wasn’t a steady downpour yet, only a few drops, a sprinkle really, but it hurt.

Her eyes flew open, and she glanced at a droplet, her gaze following it as it fell, noting it’s coloring of darkened yellow-green, and corosive behavior.

She didn’t register it, she just screamed out “Run!” and ran, the downpour wasn’t too far from them, moments later it would fall over them, like a wall of calm and then storm.

Alessandro immediately stood up, even with his hurt ankle, the adrenaline helped him ignore the pain in favor of leaning slightly against Sapphire and Macaria and running as well. Most of the supplies remained, except the ones right by them as they slept.

They were slowed down by Alessandro, but kept ahead of the torrent of rain just a bit. Some stray droplets came, and assaulted them, but for the most part, it was fine.

Even the pain wouldn’t stop them, she noted to herself, it couldn’t. Or they would die.

“Up ahead!” Sapphire warned, glancing at the two other present careers. “There’s a building,”

Macaria wanted to snap at her that the arena was full of buildings, but looked ahead. She understood then, it could work. It wasn’t a single story building, or one that was falling apart. It was in fine shape, and likely wouldn’t leak.

“That’ll work!” Macaria shouted out, noting with alarm that it was getting harder to hear.

The rain was getting much closer, and was coming much faster.

Alessandro was too concentrated on walking, limping moreso, to speak with his teammates.

Macaria smiled as they neared the building, she could get to it in just moments, and stopped just for a moment, thinking they were free, they had time.

That’s when the rain starting hitting her, harder, and more viciously, and she, Alessandro, and Sapphire all screamed in agony as the corosive rain hit them.

Macaria was the first to burst ahead, lunging at the door before them, feet before them, and opening it, luckily it wasn’t locked, she held it open, wincing from the pain, the bubbling she heard from the corosive acid burning away at the areas it hit.

The other two were inside in a flash, and Alessandro slammed the door shut.

They all remained silent, other than painful gasps and mumbled cries.

Macaria didn’t dare look at the damage done to any of them, instead favoring to think on other things, anything to make the pain go away.

She found a new set of screams being sounded, and curled up to cover her ears. They were agonized, painful, and close enough that they absolutely hurt her eardrums.

“Who is that?” Sapphire questioned, having followed suit. She too was curling up.

“I don’t have any clue!” Macaria snapped back, annoyed. She wanted to roll her eyes, but the scream increased in volume. The rain was hitting hard outside, bigger, fatter droplets coming down.

“Ari!” Macaria could make that out, and she realized that it must be the girl from District 12.

It went abruptly silent, and the cannon fired, signifying the girl’s death.

“Why is the rain like this?” Sapphire then asked, and Macaria finally snapped back to reality.

“No one’s died in days! They must have gotten tired of everyone resting.” Alessandro beat her to the reply, glancing at her for a moment. He looked absolutely terrified.

She knew the feeling. Anyone of them, all of them, they could have been dead in Robin’s place.

Part of Macaria was haunted by the girl’s scream, instead of just screaming, she was crying out for her partner.

Macaria wondered where Ari was, she didn’t hear a cannon beforehand, and she doubted one fired when they were asleep, if the rain awoke her, she was sure a cannon would, meaning that she trained herself to awaken just at the very sound of footsteps.

Which meant he should be alive, and that he wasn’t with Robin when Robin got stuck in the storm.

And subsequently died.

Macaria looked back at Sapphire and Alessandro. They both looked rather red, almost grotesque where the rain hit them, skin red, parts ashen, bubbly like a burn.

She forced herself to look at a broken pane of glass that lay nearby in the ground, to take in her own reflection.

She shivered at the sight, just above her eyebrows, patches of skin were bubbly and red. Luckily, she noted, they weren’t out in the rain long enough for the acid to travel farther than skin level. It seemed to only destroy what it first hit.

It must have been painful, she also noted, to die and be stuck out in that rain. To have your skin be hit, and have your body slowly killed as each raindrop destroyed whatever it hit.

“It-“ Sapphire probably looked the worst out of them, her whole face was covered in the rashes, her neck was filling with them, “It hurts.” She whispered out, and Macaria nodded.

It did hurt. She knew the feeling. Didn’t mean she was complaining.

She almsot snapped at Sapphire, but stopped as a new figure appeared, just outside the door, they weren’t screaming, they were actually rather covered. And everyone went silent, noting in fear the figure, feminine in shape.

They had a weapon in hand, and the eyes, Macaria recognized them.

Corvina.

The door wasn’t locked, Macaria noted in horror, and none of them were in any form to fight.

Corvina opened the door rather quickly, before walking into the building. An axe was brandished in her left hand as she pushed into the building using her right.

Alessandro cursed under his breath and Macaria went to grab her knives. Only to find empty air. She then glanced down in fear, grabbing for the knives, anywhere they may be.

She then remembered with horror a little thing she had overlooked before, they left their supplies behind.

That included most, if not all of her knives.

She promptly cursed under her own breath. Noting in panic as Corvina took them in, as if they were defenseless.

Which they were.

The door shut with a thud, and the glass door was see through, giving them all the view of the downpour of literal acid rain. Macaria wondered if maybe that was a better fate than an embarrassing death of three Careers to some other tribute that should have died long ago.

Then again, they were all clueless to the fact that Corvina killed Jonas, the boy from District 4, even if his death was over a prank he attempted. He was a Career, but Macaria had assumed he died in an epic battle like Careers should die.

Not hunted down like cattle, to die like this.

Sapphire was, to Macaria’s surprise, the first to act.

And by act, she meant attack.

Sapphire lunged, taking Corvina down with her as she tried to pin the other girl down. Macaria was frozen, noting that she couldn’t exactly help a lot.

It wasn’t exactly her main concern either, and Alessandro was attempting to stand and intervene and if he wasn’t careful, he would be hit by a crazy swing of an axe.

So Macaria ran to him, looking back to assure that Sapphire was fine, before grabbing Alessandro’s arm, and curling it around her shoulders.

“We have to help her!” Alessandro snapped, agitated.

“She’s a career,” Macaria pointed out stiffly, “It won’t do any good to get yourself killed, she’s fine.”

He promptly shut up, and she took him to the stairs, it took a while to get him up. But she eventually did so.

Macaria was about to turn to go back down the stairs, letting out a few huffs of breath, but froze.

Shattering.

Glass had shattered downstairs, and two cries sounded from downstairs. Macaria was frozen, listening for anything more.

If anything, the rain overpowered most of what she could hear, but the two, very distinct sounds that followed alerted her to move.

Cannons.

She raced back down the stairs, leaving Alessandro upstairs, despite his arguments to let him come down as well.

The sight that met her shocked her.

It was a mess in the room, blood lay around in some places, not much, but from struggling. The axe lay discarded on the ground.

Macaria rose her gaze up, finding the culprit of the shattering, the door, in fact, had been rammed into, and just outside it lay two bodies, only feet apart, some blood marked on each one from the fight. Glass lay shattered around then, some stuck to their skin. Yet the most disturbing part was the corosive behavior the acid rain had on the bodies.

Macaria forced her gaze away from it, forcing the guilt away, and in the process of looking away, noticed something strange outside. That is, stranger than acid rain.

A odd flash was taking over part of the sky, almost in the shape of a crack, and electronics being fried.

She ducked for cover as a loud zap was heard, and covered her eyes from the large amount of light that followed.

“Everest?”

His head snapped up, he had been staring out the window, at the clouds building on the horizon, and glanced back at the girl who said his name, her skin was lightly tanned, and her hair brunette in color, her eyes an amazing grey color.

Amadrya. Amadrya Darrow.

“Yes?” He questioned, voice softly beckoning her answer. Over the week leading to the games, with training, and her agreeance to be a part of the Career Pack, he found her fascinating and back then, he had thought of her as a simple tribute, yet another that had to die.

Staring at the tiny little paper in his hands, he was reminded of how strong his feelings for her since had become. He fell in love with her, another tribute. At first, during the first days, he tried to quell it, call it a tiny insignificant crush.

But now?

Everest might be a tribute who once was dead set on the win, but he was never a liar, not to others, and certainly not towards himself.

That why he followed her at first, when she turned on the others. He followed, out of love, and out of respect. However a large part was due to his annoyance towards Macaria and Alessandro.

He looked up at her, seeing her eyes filled with concern made him feel even more guilty. “What’s wrong?” Was all she said, straight to the point as always.

Classic Amadrya Darrow.

“What, is he sulking again?” A voice piped up, and Everest would have chuckled, that was, if he was feeling better, if he didn’t hold a powerful message in his hands.

“No, Holly,” Amadrya responded to the girl from Disctrict 8, letting off a roll of her eyes, “I’m sure he’s tired.”

A snort followed from where Holly resided, she had healed up a bit, she looked and seemed to feel a tons better. “He’s been acting like this since he got that Sponsor’s Gift, it’s like they killed his best friend.”

He winced at how close to the truth that was, and his eyes wandered to the little paper he kept hidden from the others.

Two words, that’s all it was, and it was killing him to review them.

Kill them.

And that was it.

The message was obvious, and even if it came with a small little thing of ointment, it was haunting to see. It was correct though, he had been dormant too long, allowed these tributes to get too close to him. He was attached now, especially to Amadrya.

But if he wanted to go home, he had to kill them. If he wanted his mother to be proud, for his District to be proud, he had to do it.

He trained his whole life just to be a winner, a victor, to kill and win.

”What’s wrong?”

He found his clutch on the paper tightening, the words Amadrya had said echoed.

To bluntly respond to her question, a simple everything felt like an understatement.

His indecision clung to him like a disease. He felt terrible. Each of these tributes he came to know as people, and dare he call them it, but friends. They were no longer enemies, and that was dangerous. But to him, Halina became a girl who was closed off, but seemed to genuinely be nice under all of the training and pressure of being a Career. Holly was a sarcastic girl, who had a deep caring for Burton, and a strange fascination with death threats that she didn’t carry through with. Burton was a boy who was funny due to his teasing nature and joking comments, and was easy to get along with. And lastly, Amadrya, the brave girl from District 7 who had captured his heart, who trusted him with her life at this point.

And there he was, contemplating on taking it just to win the games.

Though, in his defense he had trained his whole life to win.

“I’m fine,” he put in, after noticing that Amadrya was staring at him expectantly, and that Holly had come to see what was wrong with him. Burton was resting, and Halina was out gathering supplies.

“Are you-?” Amadrya was caught off by the sound of cannon fire, and Everest jumped, swinging his own gaze out the window of the little base, and staring with wide eyes to the outdoors.

“Excuse me,” Holly, this time, was speaking, “When did it start raining?”

She was right, it was raining outside, not too close to them, but nearby. Oddly enough, the rain had some kind of green tint.

He shook it off, it was probably an arena event, but it was too far for care, and they were all indoors.

“Isn’t Halina out there?” Holly then asked, she seemed to blanch some as she asked, before turning around. She was right, everyone was indoors, except Halina. Halina who was gathering supplies.

Amadrya turned to watch her walk towards the entrance of the base, “Where are you going?” She questioned, before glancing towards the outdoors.

“Halina is out there,” Holly only repeated, and Everest raised in eyebrow in turn, “Isn’t that reason enough?” She snapped, apparently having taken note of his expression.

“Someone just died-“ Amadrya began, speaking in disbelief.

Holly shook her head, about to respond, but Everest beat her to it.

“Holly, it could be dangerous out there,” he pointed out. The whole situation, while terrible, ripped his attention away from his Sponsor’s Goft, surely given to him by his mentor.

Holly fixed them both with a chilling gaze, “I’m not a coward, I can handle myself.”

“You’re injured,” Everest pointed out, “Why don’t we go instead?” He gestured to himself and Amadrya.

“I’m not helpless!” Holly then snapped again, before grabbing out one of the sleeping bags the group had, and ripping off a piece of it. It was an extra anyways.

“What are you doing, exactly?” Everest questioned, absolutely confused by the girl.

“You said it’s raining, I’m not keen on getting sick.” She simply responded, “I’ll be back soon, try not dying while I’m gone.”

Amadrya had remained silent until the girl had left, using the scrap piece of material to cover herself for the most part, wearing it around her shoulders. Everest didn’t know her the best, but he knew she was intelligent and adaptive.

“Well, that happened,” he jokingly said, turning back to Amadrya.

Amadrya, who, while he had been distracted, had grabbed the piece of paper he had loosened his hold on. She read it, the two words, and froze.

He too, noticed, that he froze as well. She didn’t react much, just set the paper down and looked up at him. She went to sit again, eyes wide.

“You wouldn’t do that,” she commented quietly, before tagging on a eartbteaking question that made him regret ever having considered killing her, “Would you?”

“I-“ he trailed off, hearing footfalls. That was...odd? Holly had left moments before, minutes by now. She should already be gone.

That’s when he turned back to spot Halina standing with a gun in her hand, directed right at him. A gun he knew was loaded because it was technically his.

He and Amadrya froze, staring at their partner, or the person they thought was their partner. He didn’t think he would have the chance to call her that for much longer, judging by the barrel directed right at him.

Wasn’t she supposed to be out, collecting materials?

Apparently she had other plans, but Holly went out looking for her.

He had to be sure.

“Halina?” He asked, surprised by how calm he sounded.

She was frozen too, he noticed, it was like she too, was hesitant to kill them. He wanted to hate her for trying it, for contemplating it, but he couldn’t. He did the same thing, didn’t he?

“Halina-“ he started, as Amadrya remained frozen, staring at him in fear, fear that wasn’t for herself, but for him.

“What?” Halina questioned, he could tell she was trying to keep her voice from shaking, but it did still. It was quivering, she didn’t want to kill him, but she had to. That’s how you won, in the games, there wasn’t another choice.

But there was, and he surprised himself when he spoke again, “Halina, lower the weapon.”

“No!” Halina howled back, prepping herself to pull the trigger. Her hand was shaking, she wanted to do this and not be caught. She didn’t want to have to deal with people watching, and knowing. But her eyes fell into resolve.

Everest closed his eyes, wincing as two cannons were heard, he at first made mistaken them for bullets.

He heard the weapon crash on the ground, as Halina jumped away from them in shock and terror.

He was, as anyone probably would be, confused by her doing that. She attempted to kill them, and was afraid because of two people dying elsewhere?

Then again, one of those people may have been Holly. Judging by the fact that she was out there, it might have been.

He then noticed that Halina didn’t seem to be shocked by the cannons themselves, because she remained staring out the window, instead of calming down.

“What’s-?” He began, as he noted that Amadrya had turned towards the window and looked terrified as well.

That was, for lack of better understanding, completely frightening. Her eyes wide, as if she was scared and shocked out of her mind.

He barely registered the new footfalls, or the yawn from the room next.

“Oh my-“ That was a new voice, Burton was up, apparently, and had walked into the room to observe the commotion, but had settled on trailing off as he too in the scene Everest had yet to look at.

Everest gave into temptation, turning, and immediately taking a step back.

The rain was yellow-green, at least it had seemed to be earlier. But now it looked closer to a red tint, as if some kind of blood got mixed in. It looked corosive, and dangerous, and he guessed that by the bodies being carried away, it was the cause of the three deaths they had heard so far.

The bodies, taken by the hovercraft, looked almost grotesque in looked, and he shivered at the sight.

It was enough to haunt anyone.

Burton seemed to freeze as he took in the others around him, much to Everest confusion. What was his deal? Of corse they just saw two bodies that got hit by the rain, and were strange renditions of mummies to the degree of mutilation by the acid, but Burton didn’t wear that look of terror out of disgust or fear for himself.

He looked concerned.

That confusion broke and gave way to terror for Everest very quickly when Burton had asked, “Where’s Holly?”

He froze, and when everyone remained silent, he simply pointed out the window. Burton seemed to get the message, freezing up as he stared, wide-eyed, and broken. Yet a resolved look came over the other male’s eyes, and he started towards the exit and entrance to the shelter.

Everest found himself glaring at Halina for a moment, who was still staring out the window, and found himself becoming agitated at her. “it’s your fault Holly’s out there,” that got her gaze to snap to Everest, a bit of guilt mixed in. Good, it was her lie that put them in this situation. He turned his attention to Amadrya next, “Watch her, please.”

Amadrya nodded, but her gaze betrayed some of her feelings, she looked hurt and betrayed, and he doubted that was because of Halina.

He averted his eyesight quickly, running up behind Burton and placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Burton looked determined and resolved, but he must know stupidity wasn’t going to help anything. “I have to go-“ he began.

“No.” Everest interrupted, shaking his head. “Those bodies, they were too far away from the building, she couldn’t have gotten that far in such a short amount of time. Especially not with the rain.”

Burton glared at him for a moment, frowning deeply. He didn’t speak, though he was tense.

“She’s a smart girl,” Everest continued hoping to calm everyone down. “It won’t do her any good if you get yourself killed.”

Burton stared down for a moment, but nodded. He was still tense, and Everest understood. He and Holly had been partners since the beginning. The last time Holly went off on her own.

Well, she almost died. At the time, Everest couldn’t care less about the girl and her dying. He didn’t exactly care much more now, he couldn’t afford to. He could kill any of them, and feel extremely guilty, but Amadrya?

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. And if he killed the others, Amadrya would never forgive him.

He probably would never forgive himself.

Everest just sat there, beside Burton, making sure he didn’t run off. It had been minutes, and his gaze flickered to another parachute, that floated right by the window, and down towards the ground.

That was...odd. Last time, the parachute landed on the roof, the one that told him to kill the others.

He shivered at the remembrance.

Amadrya seemed to catch the Parachute in her sight as well, her gaze flickering towards his in curiousity and in that same look of betrayal. He felt terrible for ever considering it as an option. She hadn’t turned her back on him, and he thought of doing it to her.

They all paused for a moment, before Amadrya pointed at the sky. “Look!” She whispered out.

There was a flashing going on, little cracks looked to be spreading through the rainy sky. Somehow, they hadn’t seemed to notice it earlier. But it was kind of bright.

“What-?” He began to question it, his eyes wide. What was going on with the force field?

Or maybe it was supposed to be some weird lightning?

“We have to go!”

That was new, that wasn’t him, and it surely wasn’t the others. He sighed in relief, turning, “Holly-“

“No, we have to go, now!” She exclaimed, and she ran by him, towards the window. Something was in her hands, he narrowed his eyes to assure himself of what it was.

The parachute?

He noticed a little slip of paper that was taped to the bottom canister, which was empty except a few rocks?

“The sponsors sent you rocks?” He found himself asking incredulously, raising an eyebrow at her.

Her green eyes flickered to him for a moment, Amadrya remained frozen beside her, Halina stood, guilt-ridden still. Oddly enough, Holly only nodded at Halina’s presence. That was curious, saying as she left to find Halina.

She was really shocked.

“No, you-!” Holly trailed off, leaving the insult open for him to guess, “I mean, technically yes, but that’s not the important thing.”

She was being little help to solving his concerns.

“Holly,” He began, taking a step forward, Burton looked delighted, at least, that Holly was alright, wet, and some rashes sprinkling her face, but she wasn’t dead.

“I-“ She was really spooked, her voice shook some as she ripped the paper away from the parachute. She held it out to him, walking closer.

“What’s in that one?” Amadrya questioned, glancing back at the earlier discarded stray piece of paper. The one telling him to kill.

He too, hoped it wasn’t another reminder of what he was told to do. Another message telling him to kill.

He expected it though.

He opened it, and tipped his head in confusion, nothing was connected, just a single piece of paper. One word, that was all it held.

Run.

“Run?” He read it aloud in confusion, and Amadrya glanced at him in surprise. Burton looked confused, as did Halina. Holly just stood, staring out the window at the spot that was flashing, her eyes wide.

That’s when a blinding flash emitted from the sky before them, and he ducked down to cover his eyes as it did so.

So did the others, and Amadrya turned to him first. Holly only remained still, backing up from the window.

“What just happened?” Amadrya asked.

He had no clue, and simply shook his head.

Yet when he fixed his gaze back on the spot Holly was watching with wide eyes, he was surprised to see that some of the clouds and rain had dissipated, leaving something that looked like distant clouds and sunlight to appear in about half the sky.

He realized what caused that a moment later, before his gaze flickered back to the message he held in his hands. It clicked into place just like that, and let him screaming out one word as he stood up.

“Run!”

Run.

That’s what she was trying to do. Her feet pounding on the ground, her eyes trained ahead. She had to...

Run.

The sunlight was hidden in the darkness she was in, but freedom was closer than she expected.

Run.

The silhouettes reflected all around, and the door was right in her grasp. Just a few more steps. The open door, freedom, was so close.

Run. Run. Run.

“Why are you running?” A voice asked, and she shook her head, forcing herself to go faster.

Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.

“I can’t stay.” She said, gaze locked ahead.

“Why?” The voice asked again.

She stopped, glancing at the figure behind her, a menacing smirk, always watching, always near.

“You know exactly why.” She said, yelling out as the doors closed around her, encasing her in complete darkness once more.

And just like that, it was ripped away once more.

—

“Run?” Amadrya questioned, standing to the side as Everest read the paper Holly had handed him.

Her eyes fell to the ground, before flickering back outdoors. She was frozen, and stared out at the opening to the arena like it was a dream.

A dream come true no less.

Yet it turned to terror just as fast, realization dawning, a glitch in the arena wouldn’t last long. They had to take the chance now, no matter what gifted it. And obviously, some of the sponsors, stylists and mentors were in on it.

Everest beat her to the words, “Run!” He simply yelled, and like bugs, they scattered to grab their most precious items in case they needed them.

Holly felt at her neck, realizing she had her amulet still with a sigh of relief. Then she scampered forward, she was still fast, and the chance? It wouldn’t last forever. They could escape, and live out their lives. They could never return home, most likely.

Her mind was running very quickly, and the group already exited the building, all running to the bottom floor.

Her mind halted and reeled as her body did. The rain still was pouring, but they would worry about that when they got there.

Freedom costs them a price.

She glanced at the others, unlike her, they would have families waiting for them, families that might pay if they took this chance. The guilt was already building, but she shook it off. Whoever sent the message must have ensured the safety of their families before acting.

She had to, quite literally, run on the hope that they did.

Especially for Burton, she hoped. His sisters deserved to have their brother back.

She found herself smiling softly as she raced behind him, her friend. One she didn’t have feelings for.

That’s a lie.

Yet when the group came to a halt, she found herself annoyed.

Were they scared of the rain?

“Oh-“ she suddenly said, spotting the haunted look in the eyes of a tribute who was seeking refuge in the bottom level of the building. “That explains a lot.” She then tagged on.

Burton shot her a glare, and she promptly ignored it, that is, in favor of running ahead and pushing out the door, “Now is really not the time to be shocked, we gotta go!” She yelled out to those behind her.

Amadrya and Everest at least got the message, nodding and running past, though Amadrya was a bit more happy now, the boy was from her District. Halina was still pouting over her almost betrayal and probably guilt, and Burton was coaxing the boy into following. Ari did so, nodding to the others and running as well.

Holly winced as she ran into the rain, but was surprised to find that it was now clear, and didn’t burn any longer. She expected pain, but none hit her.

“That’s a relief,” she whispered out, before running ahead weaving a way for the group to safely get to the exit that lay for them and others.

She thought it was safe, anyways, but her gaze flickered up to the area where the blinding flash had occurred, and she could see little sparks flying, the electronics of the arena were fried.

She wondered how long that would remain.

Her guess was not very long at all.

And by safe, she meant she had to skid to a halt as a spark, probably meant to be like lightning earlier, rammed right into a nearby building, sending shatters of glass and crumbles of rumble flying over the group like a cloud of dust.

Do not be fooled, the mixture did contain dust.

She noticed the flashes kept appearing all throughout the sky, buildings set on fire, rubble crashing down.

“We have to hurry!” Halina oh so helpfully put in.

“Really?” Holly questioned incredulously, “What in the world gave you that idea?” She added sarcastically.

Halina shut up, and Holly continued on her way, dodging as much glass and dust as she could. Suffice to say, it was extremely hard to see.

She could barely hear above the crashing sounds and sound of flames flickering, but she heard a cannon, and that was definitely a telltale sound.

It felt like her heart dropped, and she turned, expecting to see a body fall to the ground, dead and gone. She was happy to see that, while she expected it, that wasn’t the case. Everyone was accounted for, including Macaria and Alessandro.

Wait, Including?

“Get away from them!” She found herself shouting, grabbing a knife that Amadrya had loaned to her when the others first joined the group. She walked closer, brandishing it, she was skilled with some types of blades. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill if she needed to.

She just really, really didn’t want to.

“Drop it, Alandria, we aren’t here for a fight, we saw it too.” Macaria snapped, discarding any fight by running ahead with Alessandro, towards the exit.

—

“What it the world was that?” Alessandro questioned, sending the girl out of her shock.

“That’s...” she breathed in for a moment, sucking in the air to refuel her oxygen, she felt lightheaded. “That’s the sky.”

“-Okay?” He had responded, and Macaria wanted to slap him in that moment. She was tempted to.

“No, that’s the real sky!” She exclaimed, “We can get out of here, both of us!”

He froze, staring up, he seemed happy and discouraged all at the same time. To be honest, so was she. She wanted to win, make her District proud. But at the same time, she got closer to Alessandro, she didn’t know how or why it was open, or what it would result it. But if she and Alessandro could live?

She wouldn’t have to kill him. He wouldn’t have to kill her.

“Let’s go.” Alessandro finally said in resolve. She nodded in response, and smiled.

They could both live.

—

Holly stared at their retreating figures, hidden by the clouds of smoke. She was frozen still, partly out of fear, and some part of it shocked.

Just days ago, they had tried to kill her.

She only moved when her group was getting ahead of her, disappearing into the fog as well. Though Burton had stopped, staying in view for her.

She shook her head, nodded, affirming her thoughts and casting them away, and ran after the others. They wouldn’t have time to stay and wait for the chance to go away.

Even if they tried to kill, they all had a common goal now.

So she ran again, and sighed in relief when he did too. She was now at the back of the pack, and once she passed the thick fog of dust, she spotted the 7 figures before her approaching the broken down force field. It was so close now.

Very close indeed, and she skidded to a halt as she stared in wonder.

Before she screamed as something fell from the sky, more precisely, one of the skyscrapers, one that was nearby, and rolled out of the way. The debris fell right where she was moments before, and when she swung her gaze up, she noticed that the forcefield was reappearing, and closing rapidly.

Some had stopped to assure her safety, and she’s pointed at the exit, “Wow it looked like we have forever!” She snapped, before forcing herself up, sore or not, and running as fast as she could, “Move it!”

They got the message turning and staring at the forcefield before moving like she had.

Macaria and Alessandro got out first, and Holly stopped when two cannons rang out, staring ahead. She expected one of her friends to be dead. Yet three more cannons followed as Amadrya, Ari and Everest crossed the forcefield.

She realized then that no one actually died, but outside of the arena, they appeared as dead.

To make them harder to find?

It was genius.

Burton and Halina came out next, and the force field was closer to closing.

“Holly!” Everest yelled out, she would be surprised by his care in her survival, but she was a bit busy at the time. “Run!”

What did he think she was doing?

She would have snapped at him, but deciding running wasn’t good enough because she wouldn’t make it in time, she lunged at the exit.

She registered she made it, just barely, right as her cannon fired, the force field closed, but she was more alarmed by the fact that everything was going in circles.

That is to say, she was rolling from her landing multiple times before she finally stopped. She laid curled up for a moment, catching her breath.

“Are you alright?” One of the figures towering above her asked. She couldn’t distinguish who by looks, but she would say it was Amadrya by the sound of the voice.

She was a bit dazed, and let off a long breath, “My world is spinning.” She simply responded with that.

“Earth does that,” She could tell that was Burton, no one else would be saying that right now except for him or herself.

“Shut up Burt.” She hissed out.

Everest held a hand out to her she took it, stood up, and brushed off. Mumbling out a quiet thanks, and looking around. Macaria and Alessandro were waiting in a nearby tree line, she was surprised they were waiting but, then again, they would do better as one big group.

They were free.

Movement caught her attention in the corner of her eyes, and she shifted her gaze to the arena, now closed again. She was shocked to see some tributes standing in the dust, brokenly staring at the closed forcefield, but she was even more startled as the buildings began to fall, and fire started spreading faster and faster.

She watched in shock as the tributes were sunk under the buildings, cannons singing in the air like some sickening tune.

“Everyone’s dead.” Amadrya said, gaping.

Holly only blinked, a frown settling on her face as she turned, “Freedom costs a price.”

—

Ari felt extreme guilt, staring back at the arena as everything collapsed and burned. The words the girl said next, about the cost of freedom, caused him to shiver slightly.

It struck him too that Robin was so close to escape, that she could have lived.

That is, if her hadn’t left her. It was technically unfair to blame himself, he couldn’t have known what would happen, and he didn’t even know for sure if she was looking for him.

Her last words, her saying his name in panic, is what made him feel even worse. It kept playing in his head.

Yet the others had already run ahead, and he needed to as well.

That he did.

—

“We need to get moving,” is what Everest had said, and Holly nodded in reply. She had already turned away, and was walking closer to Amadrya and Macaria as it was. Some others, like Ari, had remained closer to the arena, and Amadrya offered condolences to those left behind.

But Everest was right, the time to mourn would come later. They had to go quickly, before they were found.

When the others began to run again, so did she, stepping right next to Macaria and Alessandro, offering them a quick look before walking ahead. She couldn’t care less to offer them anything more than a acknowledgement. They put her through a lot of pain, and she couldn’t spare them a care in the world.

They walked for a while once they were hidden by the forest that laid near the arena, they were walking away, in no certain direction. But the people who freed them must know where they would be going, the exit was in one place.

She noticed with a haunting thought that the Capitol too would be searching for them around there.

They had to hurry.

She noticed maybe they should have done that from the beggining. So she started running herself, and the others took it as a clue.

—

Amadrya was running behind the others, minutes had passed, her breaths came out quick and jagged. The amount of running they had done in the short time was slowing down her body as it was with the others.

So she stopped to catch her breath, they were rather well off in terms of being hidden. The foliage, the trees, it reminded her of home.

Home. District 7.

She wondered if she would ever see her home again.

Would she?

She spotted a small clearing and pond up ahead, dehydration had set in, water was harder to find in the type of arena they were in. There were sources, but even with them, dehydration was hard to avoid.

“Water, Up ahead!” She told the others, and they nodded, heading towards it.

—

Holly followed the others, skeptical of the pond in the clearing. It was, by lack of better words, a clearing, Which, given there current status, wasn’t exactly a good thing.

But it would be quick. Just a small drink, and then they would leave.

Her footsteps were light, wary, as she approached the water, before kneeling, cupping the water in her hands and taking a few small sips.

It seemed so calm, tranquil, and she breathed in a sigh of relief.

—

Alessandro found himself waiting at the base of the treeline, he wasn’t that thirsty, and it seemed Macaria wasn’t either.

They both seemed stained from the things they had saw, Sapphire and Corvina’s dead bodies.

“Freedom,” he tasted the word, and Macaria nodded next to him.

That was when he noticed the movement overhead, and grabbed Macaria’s hand, running back into the forest, opposite off where they came from.

—

Movement caught Holly’s eyes from above them though. And her face fell. The trees rustled like some wind was blowing by, but she knew it wasn’t. That was a hovercraft, and while the others saw it and ran back to the clearing, that was, for the most part, Halina sat staring at her reflection at the water’s edge.

She didn’t think, she just ran.

“Halina, Move!”

—

When the group found water, Halina sat at it’s edge, cupping her hands in it and taking a small drink. The ripples caught her eyes, from where her hands hit it, and guilt hammered in her chest as she was met with her reflection.

She tried betraying people, who, if it wasn’t for them, she would be dead. She owed them her life, and she tried to kill them.

She was glad she didn’t, if she did, the message would have never made sense, and she would be the only one alive out of them. Even if she escaped, she would most likely be caught if she was on her own.

”Halina, Move!”

Her gaze snapped up, met with wide green eyes nearby, running towards her, and her gaze flickered upwards on instinct, she scrambled up, and started running for the treeline once more. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but she wasn’t keen on finding out.

—

Holly came to a halt, when Halina ran off, she was happy, the hovercraft seemed to move, invisible to the eye.

Holly dove in the water, she didn’t know if the claw was nearby or not, and she figured water was safer then land, especially given that it was closer than the tree-line.

She found herself opening her eyes under the water, staring up at the blurry scene, yet the hovercraft didn’t seem to be over her.

She deemed that safe enough to move, and hurried to swim back up. The peaceful aura of the water could not keep her trapped.

When she sucked in some air, forcing herself back onto land, she immediately spotted the now visible hovercraft.

It wasn’t over her at all. But she knew it had someone trapped.

She took the chance to run to cover.

—

Everest found everything peaceful at the water’s edge. Quenching his thirst, sitting by Amadrya.

The yell broke it, and his gaze shifted to Holly as she’s dove in the water, and Halina as she ran for cover.

He had no idea what was going on, but he stood on his own feet and forced Amadrya up as well.

They were about to run for cover when he spotted it, the Hovercraft the others ran from.

He felt something hit his skin, sending a small amount of pain and numbness running down his neck before he fell unconscious.

—

Holly made her way back to the tree-line. She wanted to check to make sure they had everyone, but they didn’t have the time. They had to run.

The only person she even saw was Burton, and His form dissapeared behind the treeline.

She heard some voices nearby, and spotted just outside the treeline, some of the others, and some opened up tunnel.

Freedom.

—

Burton felt his feet carrying him. He ran after the others he saw ahead, he couldn’t tell who exactly though.

His heart was beating quickly as he spotted something just beyond the treeline, what looked like the opening to a tunnel, and some of the stylists, Alistar and Diana by the looks of it? Others were there, he noticed, and with a few final strides he broke through the forest and hopped down into the little hole that seemed to be the escape now, it was like a cave, but he knew there had to be a tunnel within.

When he dropped down, he wondered about what life would be like from then on.

They could live.

—

Holly smiled, Burton was safe, she knew it.

Just a few more feet!

Run.

She didn’t feel much through her adrenaline, but she knew it was close.

Run.

She took a few more steps, a smile overtaking her face, it was so close!

She felt the wind though, it wasn’t real wind either, and she could hear it too.

Run!

Something hit the back of her neck, right near her shoulder, and a numbing feeling overtook her body.

She hit the ground, her ankle twisting and causing her to fall, she immediately found her hand reaching out towards the treeline, just meters away, but it blurred all the same.

Her hand hit the ground and everything went dark.

—

She woke up in darkness, a shivering, cold darkness. Curled in a ball, instead of being soaked through still, she seemed dry.

Dry, but cold.

And her body was sore, and she had a splitting headache.

She uncurled herself, squinting at her surroundings, trying to adjust to the lack of light. She snaked her hand out blindly, but when they hit something, she retreated them just as fast.

Her vision cleared a little, her eyes skimming the cold metal bars she had just touched. A cell?

Why was she in a cell?

She was supposed to be free!

“Where-“ her voice sounded odd, groggily and dry, and she coughed some. “Where am I?”

“Holly?”

That came from the cell over, and her eyes widened as she turned her head, akin to an owl. The dark hair, the eyes, the voice...

“Everest?” That was a new voice.

“Amadrya?” Everest questioned, and Holly found dread pooling in her stomach.

“How kind!” A voice greeted, and Holly felt her stomach drop even more. President Louden. “Now, if we are done with greetings, I believe we should get to business.”

Silence. Amadrya and Everest seemed to be in the two cells to her left, no one was in her right.

Her gaze slid back to the figure cloaked in darkness, standing before her cell.

“Panem is in outrage!” He then began, keeping his voice smooth despite his frustration and annoyance, “To show them that it will never be repeated, we are going to make an example-“

“Killing us wasn’t enough?” Holly found herself snapping.

He went silent, before hissing out a reply, “I suggest you shut up, enjoy your time of peace as it lasts, because soon, you’ll be wishing you were dead.”

His footsteps faded, and she found herself catatonic. One thought circulating in her mind.

Freedom.

But freedom comes at a cost.

Halina was very uncomfortable, and cold. Her eyes were closed, and her head hurt. She was almost afraid that she’s was in the Capitol, that she was about to be, or had been tortured.

It’s just a headache, she rationalized, opening her eyes, and sighing in relief that she was not indeed in the Capitol.

Or maybe she was? But she saw other tributes and stylists nearby, so that was a rather welcome sign.

Forcing herself to s curl, she pressed her palms to her head and sighed, she felt very tired, and her mind was foggy. What happened?

That’s when she noticed Alistar and Diana nearby, the female stylist turned her head in Halina’s direction, and Halina found herself sucking in a breath of air.

She really hoped this wasn’t some dream or hallucination.

She was about to speak to Diana, who turned back to Alistar and said something that looked like, from her mouth’s movements, she’s awake. But Halina couldn’t be for sure. All she was sure about was that she was confused.

That was, until the memories slowly returned. The arena, the opening, the escape. And with it came the guilt, she could have ruined it all. Halina wasn’t a kind child who was against killing to survive and win and make her District proud, but she didn’t want to needlessly kill. But she almost did.

That’s when it finally arrived to her about who was in the room, many stylists, many mentors, many people she didn’t recognize, and many of their other tributes. Ari, Burton, Alessandro, and Macaria.

Where were the others?

Something wrapped around her from behind, and she almost screamed out until the recognizable and jolly voice reached her, “Halina!” Was all he said, but her thoughts swarmed as tears pricked at her eyes. She was almost sure she may die in that arena, part of her didn’t expect to ever hear the voice again.

Turning, the best she could anyways, she gave the man a bear hug, and they saved him so Louden wouldn’t hurt him or mom, “Dad!” She cried out, and the reunion became more perfect when her mother joined in. “I’m sorry!” for ever volunteering, for playing their game. But she couldn’t phrase it into words, and she didn’t know why she was sorry.

She just was.

It bothered her, but she let it go, listening to the silence and tears that reassured her that she was alive, and for a moment all of the confusion and helplessness dissapeared.

And when she had enough, when the comfort finally came, and the safety set in, she rose her gaze towards Diana, who had approached the family while they embraced. And the calmness reassured her that she would live.

“What happened?” She croaked, wiping the rest of her tears with her left palm. She was still dirty, but that could be worried about later.

“The arena was destroyed,” Diana responded with a hollow smile, like something bothered her deeper than she was revealing. It unsettled Halina greatly. They were all alive and safe, right?

“What-?“ Halina couldn’t tell before, but she sounded terrified, “How?” She decided upon.

“We had a game maker on our side, someone who programmed in a bug into the arena,” Diana simply responded, blunt and to the point, and her gaze only seemed to darken as Halina’s eyes lit up in appreciation, “Don’t ask, but they were caught.”

Halina’s eyes dimmed just like that, her gaping mouth snapped closed, caught meant dead. And a pregnant pause remained for many moments. Halina finally found herself curious, “What happened to me? I don’t remember coming here.” She stated, leaving the old topic behind. It didn’t matter, the logistics and specifics, she needed to take in things at a small amount, but she was curious as to what happened.

She remembered a hovercraft, a tunnel, and nothing else.

Diana sighed, rubbing her temples slightly, “Shortly after running through the tunnels, you passed out, I assume from exhaustion,” she commented, and Halina rose an eyebrow at that.

It made sense, at least.

“And where are the others?” Halina asked, gesturing to the other present tributes. “Are Amadrya and Everest finally a thing?” She asked with a tiny grin, looking around still, and when she didn’t get an immediate laugh or awnser, her gaze swung to Diana.

Something’s wrong.

Very wrong.

Diana just stared with some sympathy and confusion, before shaking her head, remaining silent.

“No!” Halina found herself yelling out, “Where are they?” She asked.

Diana opened her mouth, but someone else was speaking, someone Halina was horrified to recognize, and her gaze swung in horrorto the front of the room. The mindless chatter of others hushed at it as well.

On the television was President Louden, his eyes boring at the television in a mixture of fury and annoyance. “-Let this be an example to the tributes who escaped the Arena,” he hissed, “And to all of Panem, the price of rebellion.” The camera shifted left, and Halina backed up at the sight, blood dripped from the figure standing to the side of Louden, bruises dappled their skin, and a hollow glance was in their eyes.

“No-“ The figure croaked, sending chills down Halina’s spine, and she forced her eyes closed as a baton swung down on the figure, refusing to watch. A horrified sound escaped someone near her, but Halina didn’t care to see who.

Louden turned back to the camera, “Let this be your warning, rebels, of what happens to those who defy the Capitol.”

The room filled with a horrified silence, before it became chaos.

—

For a little while, Amadrya was only aware of darkness. A cold, endless, suffocating darkness. The kind of darkness that scares you but also tells you instinctively that the darkness is far less scary than what awaits you if you open your eyes.

But then the splitting headache came in, causing a quiet groan to cross her lips, and her whole body suddenly seemed to be aching. A dull, throbbing pain. She was aware she seemed to be lying curled in the foetal position, something which made her feel all the more vulnerable.

The last thing she could remember was forest, forest that made her feel safe and secure and hidden. Forest like District 7, a place she had finally allowed herself to feel hopeful that she might see it again. She remembered running with Everest, legs carrying her as fast as they could. But it hadn’t been enough, she remembered, as Everest first went down (she recalled her distress as she called his name) and then her, a numbness spreading throughout her body as the world faded to black.

And finally, cautiously, she opened her eyes, doing so slowly so as to allow her eyes to adjust to the light. She was in a cell, confirming the broken memories she had over what had happened. She hadn’t made it out. She was in a cold metal cell, bars stretching before her.

She uncurled herself from her position, moving to sit up against one of the walls of the cell.

“Where...where am I?”

A dry, groggy voice could be heard from a couple of cells to Amadrya’s right, pausing to cough in the middle of its words. She couldn’t see the figure, at least not well, but she did recognise the voice. It was...

“Holly?”

Another voice had beaten Amadrya to the punch, this time from the cell next to Amadrya, to the right. A voice that would ordinarily bring her comfort, that would normally cause her heart to race and her cheeks to flush and for her to have to fight to remain emotionless. But now this voice made her stomach drop, made her want to cry or maybe punch something out of anger. Because it confirmed her worst fears. He was here, he shouldn’t be here, he should be safe with the others.

“Everest?” Amadrya spoke now, her voice sounding hollow already. She was already practically broken if he was there with her. They would hurt him, probably use the two against one another.

She didn’t want to see him in pain, she couldn’t. But she realised that this meant she had to be the protective warrior again. If it were just her and Holly she would have nothing to lose, she could shout whatever awful things about the Capitol she wanted, or she could be the scared kid she really was, no matter how much she pretended.

But that wasn’t an option now. Strength was paramount once again. She was getting tired of being strong.

“Amadrya?”

And when he said her name, her heart twisted.

But before anyone could say anything else, a new voice interrupted. Louden.

“How kind! Now, if we are done with greetings, I believe we should get to business.”

Nobody said anything, But Amadrya struggled to her feet, just to stare him down on more equal ground. She was here but he wasn’t going to break her. Her only goal was to protect Everest and the others as much as she possibly could. Beyond that she couldn’t care less. She couldn’t care anymore about what happened to her, she didn’t have anything left in her.

“Panem is in outrage! To show them that it will never be repeated, we are going to make an example -“

Panem in outrage? Just the Capitol, more like. And what the hell was all of this anyway? Make an example of them? Their whole role as tributes was to be living examples, their whole existence within the Games was to make an example. To die and kill. She was fed up of being used as a symbol for somebody else’s use. She was Amadrya Darrow, an individual. Not a pawn to be used by Louden or the Capitol in order to spread whatever message they wanted to Panem.

Amadrya would have said so herself if Holly hadn’t spoken instead.

“Killing us wasn’t enough?”

Amadrya found herself nodding in agreement, there. Holly was right. But killing them would never be enough for the Capitol, they all knew that really. The Capitol, and Louden in particular, never went in for just an ordinary death. Death always had to send a message, to mean something, to be a show. Just killing them wouldn’t accomplish what Louden wanted. Oh, he planned on killing them; the District 7 girl had no doubt of that. But it would be very public and preceded by a prolonged period of horrible torture.

“I suggest you shut up, enjoy your time of peace as it lasts, because soon, you’ll be wishing you were dead.”

And with those words, Louden stalked off and left them all in silence for a moment, as Amadrya sunk back into her sitting position before casting her grey eyes towards the figures in the other cells.

She wouldn’t call this an ideal situation

Still, she was just glad that the others were safe. Perhaps all of this would end up being worth it in the end. Ari was still alive and out there, he could get home to District 7. At least one of them should. And the others would be okay, they had hope and they were all strong. Even the ones she hated, she knew they were survivors. It would be alright.

“Let the 91st Hunger Games begin,” she said grimly

There was no verbal response from the neighbouring cells, apart from perhaps a light sound of agreement, which sounded like it came from the furthest cell from Amadrya’s – Holly’s.

Nobody spoke for a while, each seeming to be thinking in silence, until finally Everest spoke up. His words were clearly meant to be a joke, the kind of gallows humour that came easily to Holly, but there was no amusement in his tone. The District 7 girl didn’t blame him; it appeared that only Holly and Burton were really capable of making light of situations like this, not that Holly seemed to want to do that right now either.

“Well, this is not exactly an ideal situation,” the District 2 boy pointed out

“You think?” Holly shot back sarcastically

But the brunette’s mind, as it so often was, was back in District 7. If it wasn’t she could only be back in the Arena, and that wasn’t what she needed right now. The Arena was only marginally better than this; at least there she had been given a chance to fight. Here it was just waiting and pain.

No, she was thinking about District 7, her mind fixed on her family. She could see her tribute token, the bracelet, still on her wrist. Either they hadn’t noticed it yet or they’d deliberately allowed the captured tributes to keep them, but right now she didn’t care about that. Her concern now was for her uncle and her cousins, and for the people of her district. The Capitol could kill anyone who had ever even spoken to Amadrya before if they wanted to.

“What about our families? They could kill them,” Amadrya asked “or they could attack our districts, make them like District 13. We might never see them again.”

She missed home, and that was what she was trying to express, even if she wasn’t saying it in those exact words. The normally confident girl, who was always blunt and straight to the point, found herself uncharacteristically afraid. Her voice sounded smaller somehow, the first veins of fear creeping their way into her tone.

“Don’t worry,” Everest assured her, “I’m sure whoever took down the arena will have made sure our families and districts are safe. They’ll be alright.”

He didn’t sound entirely certain either, but Amadrya chose to believe him anyway. She needed something to hold on to, and she trusted Everest more than anybody else. She had to tell herself that if he said everything was going to be okay, it was going to be okay. They might die, and in fact she suspected they would, but she knew that it would all be alright in the end.

“You’re probably right,” Amadrya replied “I’m sorry, I really need to pull myself together.”

And she did need to. If she was going to be the strong warrior girl she realised she still needed to be, letting herself react like this wasn’t a good idea. She had to be strong, especially because Louden and the Capitol would prey upon any signs of fear or weakness.

Holly hadn’t said anything – or at least not much – for some time now. Amadrya didn’t really know what to think of that one. This was a scary situation, there was a lot to process, she was probably worrying about Burton and District 8 and about everything else. It didn’t surprise her that the raven-haired girl hadn’t said much so far.

Amadrya was about to ask Holly if she was okay when approaching footsteps could be heard. And more than one. Now was definitely not the time to say anything – Louden must be returning.

Sure enough, it was him, and he was flanked on either side by two peacekeepers, batons at the ready. She could see Louden speaking to the peacekeepers as they approached, but the words were harder to catch. She was pretty sure she heard ‘the boy’ somewhere in there as the three approached the cells.

And it appeared that she was right because first they walked right past Amadrya’s cell to Everest’s in the middle. Amadrya felt sick as the watched Louden open the door to Everest’s cell, and the peacekeepers enter.
Everest barely had time to stand, much less react, before the peacekeepers began to beat him with those terrible batons. The District 7 girl heard Everest hit the ground, letting out groans of pain between the relentless flurries of blows. She was sure she could hear him being kicked, too.

It didn’t take long before Amadrya, tears in her eyes, rushed to her feet. She couldn’t bear that sound, she couldn’t bear him being hurt, she couldn’t just let this happen. She loved him, he didn’t know it but she loved him. And any kind of physical pain they inflicted upon her could not hurt her more than the pain of him being hurt.

She was at the front of her cell in a heartbeat, hands curling around the bars, her grip tightening until her knuckles whitened and the cold metal almost seemed to be burning her hands. Everest was still groaning, asking for it to stop, occasionally crying out. There was a heavy silence from Holly’s cell.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!” Amadrya was begging, “Please!”

The peacekeepers landed a couple more hits on Everest for good measure but Louden was looking at Amadrya with a self-satisfied smile, clearly very pleased to be seeing the girl beg. Tears were already running down Amadrya’s face, and she never cried.

“What wonderful manners! Well, seeing as you asked so nicely…” Louden responded

He gave the two peacekeepers a nod and they left the beaten Everest. But then they started approaching Amadrya’s cell, and Louden seemed to be about to unlock the cell door. Amadrya didn’t move from where she was standing. The front of the cell was as good as anywhere and it wasn’t as if there was anywhere else she could go.

“Don’t touch her,” came a voice

Everest’s voice sounded pained, but despite everything he seemed to have struggled to his feet. The District 2 boy headed for the still-unlocked door, apparently in his desire to stop the peacekeepers before they could harm Amadrya. But just as he was about to reach the door, Louden swiftly locked the door, leaving Everest helpless to do anything.

“Oh, you stupid boy,” Louden was chuckling now, “did you really think-“

But the president was interrupted as one of the peacekeeper’s batons came flying through the air, hitting him hard on the shoulder. Amadrya, in the relatively dim light, could catch what appeared to be a triumphant smile on the face of Holly, a sparkle in her green eyes.

It appeared that, while Everest was being beaten, one of the peacekeepers dropped a baton close enough outside the District 8 girl’s cell for her to grab it. Amadrya hadn’t noticed, too focussed on what was happening to Everest. Luckily Holly was far more observant.

And Amadrya didn’t think she’d ever seen the President’s face turn quite that shade of beet red before, but it was obvious the man was embarrassed and absolutely furious at the actions of Holly. A calmness seemed to settle on his face though as the redness faded, and a malicious glint was in his eye as he turned his gaze towards Holly.

“Forget Darrow,” he snarled to the peacekeepers, “this one instead.”

And what followed…well, it wasn’t pretty. The peacekeepers attacked Holly instead, since President Louden was clearly determined to break her resilient spirit. It was an agonising few minutes (though it felt like much longer) of blow after blow landing, and of pained sounds from Holly. Protests from Everest and Amadrya once again appeared to fall on deaf ears.

Amadrya could do nothing but watch, helpless, as the girl who had saved her from a beating took the punishment herself, if not far worse since she had angered Louden in the process. She had always said she didn’t like owing people, but that didn’t seem to matter so much anymore. What she did know, though, was that she was firmly in Holly’s debt.

It had seemed like an eternity before Louden, with a simply raise of his hand, commanded the peacekeepers to stop. Silence fell, the only sound being the heavy, ragged breathing coming from Holly. Some blood shone on the batons, both Holly’s and Everest’s together.

“You three will all learn your lesson about speaking out, and you will pay for your rebellion,” Louden said cooly “Crimes do not go unpunished, and there is no place for fiery spirits here. If you want to survive, at least for a little while longer, I suggest you keep your emotions to yourself. Don’t you think for a second that I’m done with you, Miss Alandria, either. Because of your little stunt earlier, you can expect that I’m only getting started”

A coldness suddenly seemed to spread through Amadrya’s body as Louden’s gaze fixed on her.

“As for you, I trust having to watch your fellow tributes be beaten has been sufficient? I have don’t my research, I know everything about all of you. I know exactly what you are like, Miss Darrow, and I expect that seeing your two allies hurt is punishment enough for the moment. And I suspect you speaking in front of the Capitol will have the same effect. Don’t worry, though, if you’re feeling left out. It won’t be for long.”

Once again, he looked to all three tributes.

“I’ll be back in a moment. I suggest you all attempt to recoup your strength; you’re going to need it.”

He vanished then, and when his footsteps had receded Amadrya let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding at all. She finally took a moment to wipe the tears from her face.

“Are you two okay?” she asked almost immediately, her tone worried.

She heard an assenting noise from Everest, though he still sounded like he was hurt. At least he seemed okay. It was Holly who spoke, for the first time in a significant period.

“You two need to be quiet,” Holly hissed “You heard the man, we need to keep our emotions to ourselves. And no offense, but neither of you have done an especially great job of that so far. If you keep acting like this he’s going to end up using the two of you against one another, and you don’t want that.”

“You’re right,” Amadrya nodded “of course, you’re right. I don’t want that at all.”

“Then zip it.”

“Fine, but you have to look after yourself,” Everest said, “you don’t say anything either.”

Holly did not respond.

There wasn’t time for any more conversation, though, because Louden was already back. He’d scarcely stepped in front of Holly’s cell before she was shouting at him.

“You’re never going to win!” she was saying “I’m never going to stop fighting you. You can beat me, make me speak to the Capitol in stupid frilly dresses, but it isn’t going to change anything. I’ll always hate you and everything you’ve done, and with every bone in my body I want to make sure that everyone else in Panem hates you just as much as I do.”

Holly was right, and Amadrya agreed with it so much, she felt such hatred burning in her now for Louden and the Capitol, who had harmed Holly and Everest so much. Who had been the only cause of any of the suffering she’d ever endured in her life.

“Yeah-“ she began to say, about to agree with the other girl, but that only earned her a warning look from both Holly and Louden. Holly obviously wanted her to keep her mouth shut like they’d agreed.

“Say another word,” Louden warned in a low voice, “and I’ll have my peacekeeper friends beat Everest again, and I’ll make sure they don’t stop for a long time.”

That, though Amadrya felt guilty about not helping Holly, caused her to stop talking instantly. She couldn’t let them hurt Everest any more, and clearly Holly didn’t want Amadrya to speak out, she wanted her to keep quiet so Louden didn’t use Everest against her.

That was why Amadrya could only watch helplessly, silently, as Louden unlocked Holly’s cell and lead the girl away into the darkness.

It was silent, a dull thrum of noise in her ears, and she was in a curled up position. White noise, not from pain, but from terror and fear built in her chest like a plague.

She could vaguely make out the chatter to her left, Amadrya and Everest, talking about the chances of family and the district’s being safe. But she couldn’t care, wouldn’t care, about it.

Why?

Why should she care about the Districts? No one was alive for her, not anymore.

She wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation, her life, a constant buzz of unease and unhappiness. Fate hated her, it really, really did. Yet Louden warned them, and she knew pain would come soon.

Holly stared to her left, at Everest and Amadrya, and something like jealousy built in her chest. Even in the darkest situation, they still had someone to lean on, each other. Yet everyone Holly loved? They were gone, away from her, or didn’t love her back. Her mother was dead, her father was gone, and Burton? Button would never like a girl such as her. She was sarcastic, demeaning, and extremely secretive and blunt. He dealt with her, but it didn’t matter in the end.

Regardless, she had to come to terms with the fact that the rest of her probably short life would be full of constant pain and misery, and most likely lived out in a cell.

A small lull appeared in the conversation, and Holly’s green eyes rose towards President Louden and his peacekeepers. She wasn’t listening to him, tuning everything out, forcing herself to distance herself some. Because she knew, she knew what would happen.

That’s why she didn’t move, nor speak, nor react when they opened Everest cell and beat him. At least, she didn’t seem to, and she didn’t want to.

But as she listened to his pained grunts, every kick, and hit of a baton, her anger grew, festering and spreading like a flame. Amadrya’s cries landed on her ears spurring the internal fire, but her expression remained apathetic. She was used to misery, she could tune it out. She cried like that once, like Amadrya, for her mother, but it didn’t change anything, it only gave more fuel to the budding fire. Her annoyance built, not specifically at Everest and Amadrya, she wasn’t blind, she saw the growing feelings between the two, but they were being too open about those feelings, and Louden would use it against them.

And he was using it against them, sending a malicious grin at Amadrya, and his peacekeepers stopped. But it was all blurred and odd, she couldn’t detect the words, and she could tell by her softly speeding up breaths that she was panicking, her gaze dizzy, her anger built. Her breaths were fast, almost panicked, memories flashing in her eyes, her mother dying, her in the arena, escaping.

And what snapped her out of it was a clink, metal hitting ground, right before her, and instantly her vision cleared, and Everest was trying to escape to her left. He yelled out something, something that forced Holly into action.

“Don’t touch her!” he said, and she found herself uncurling and crawling towards the baton, and reaching forward while Louden and the peacekeepers were distracted with him. Her hand extended completely, reaching beyond the cell, the baton just in reach, but her finger’s just skimmed it.

Everest was in pain, but he was fighting back, and so could she. She heard his heavy breaths, and Louden locked his cell. He was going to hurt Amadrya, try to destroy Amadrya’s fire, to break her, and Holly couldn’t stand it.

Her fingers curled around the baton when Louden locked the cell, her fury built. How dare he cage them like animals?

“Oh, you stupid boy,” Louden started, and Holly grabbed the baton in both hands, looking at her target and taking a deep breath. She knew already what would follow, what she was risking. But if she didn’t...she would be giving in to him, letting fear control her. And right as she heard his voice pipe up again, she raised her hands back, protruding them through the bars for better aim, and as hard as she could at the moment, given the circumstances, she threw. “did you really think-“ and with a satisfying stop and a silence falling like fog over the room, she smirked, raising her head proudly, forcing her posture to raise while retracting her hands back, and crossing them.

Louden’s red face was enjoyable, his embarrassment and fury, it felt like revenge, and she forced herself to stand proud even as he changed the direction of his target from Amadrya to her.

And as soon as her door opened, and the first strike came, she forced her mind to shut off slightly, detach to elsewhere, her home, District 8, was lonely, so instead she forced herself back into the arena, with Burton and their group.

Yet still cries came with each strike, and pain enveloped her body like a body of water, slowly drowning her. Yet she refused to plead for them to stop, she refused to beg. Louden wanted her to beg, and she wouldn’t do it out of spite. Each hit increased her hate, and every blow brought her closer to breaking, but she refused to.

“I miss District 8-“ Burton had said, and she forced herself to remember the conversation, it helped her lock out the pain, and with every blow she was more engrossed in the made up world she forced herself into.

“Part of me misses it too,” she had said, sitting on the roof of their base, glancing at the skyline. “But part of me is glad to be here, because I met you,” she commented, she had known at the time that she had a tiny blush from the comment. He thankfully didn’t read too much into it.

“Yeah, Same here,” he had replied, turning to smile at her, and she had smiled back.

She had went to lay down, staring at the sky, and that’s when she broke back into reality, a hit landing on her side, causing her to curl up into a ball, a small whimper escaping her despite her best attempts.

When Louden finally decided enough was enough, and raised his hand, she glared at him, laying down still, and her hate was obvious. Of course it was, she wanted him dead, more than she had ever wanted anyone dead in her life before.

Then he warned her that he wasn’t done with her, that she already knew it. And as soon as he left...

She needed to address an issue, the issue that was the overly protective probably soon-to-be couple to her left. That is, soon-to-be couple if they survived, which they wouldn’t if they didn’t shut up.

“Are you two okay?” Amadrya questioned, and Holly normally would have even delighted by the kindness, but she didn’t respond at first, not in the way Amadrya would want. Was Holly okay? No.

She forced her emotions into her voice, careless to if her pain laced it or not, “You two need to be quiet,” she hissed “You heard the man, we need to keep our emotions to ourselves. And no offense, but neither of you have done an especially great job of that so far. If you keep acting like this he’s going to end up using the two of you against one another, and you don’t want that.”

“You’re right,” Amadrya nodded, agreeing, “of course, you’re right. I don’t want that at all.”

Holly was glad at least Amadrya understood what she was saying, but she wasn’t now in the mood for her usual silly jokes or teasing games, she had enough of Games already, and her voice came out rough and to-the-point, “Then zip it.”

“Fine, but you have to look after yourself,” Everest said, “you don’t say anything either.”

Holly did not respond. She wasn’t going to either. She wasn’t about to agree to those terms. Unlike them, no one loved her, the Capitol had no one they could use against her except herself. Both of them had some family, and she did not. She had one goal left, and that was to see Louden suffer.

Before either of her comrades could demand her agreeance, Louden returned, and she forced herself to a stand as he came before her cell. She didn’t even let him talk or begin to think of it, her voice was angry, forcing out her emotion.

“You’re never going to win!” she was saying “I’m never going to stop fighting you. You can beat me, make me speak to the Capitol in stupid frilly dresses, but it isn’t going to change anything. I’ll always hate you and everything you’ve done, and with every bone in my body I want to make sure that everyone else in Panem hates you just as much as I do.”

“Yeah-“ and just like that, Holly felt her anger boil over more, snapping her glare towards Amadrya, along with Louden. Amadrya got the message, especially after Louden’s threat of more torture to Everest, it seemed, and fell silent, and Holly glared at Louden as her cell was opened and when he went to grab her arm, she slapped his hand away, and walked out instead, and like that, a peacekeeper came and grabbed her arms, forcing her forward.

She had no idea what she was about to face, but she knew she still had plenty of anger and sarcasm all stored up for it. So when she walked for multiple minutes, and they stopped before a room, stopping at the doorway to it, where a stage sat with an empty theater, she was a bit confused, that was, until she spotted the camera.

“Smart idea,” she said, her sarcasm thick, “Put me in front of a camera, I dare y-“

“Shut it,” Louden ordered, and she closed her jaws like a snap, glaring his way. “Do as I say and maybe you can have a peaceful rest of your day,” he offered, though his voice wasn’t kind in the slightest. It was an order, but she didn’t listen to rules anyways, she wasn’t about to start. “Sit there and be silent, the example you are meant to be, and you can return to your cell and get rest.”

That’s when he walked further into, and she was still restrained by the peacekeepers around her. Yet he walked before a camera, straightening his tie quickly, and folding his hands behind himself, standing proud and tall. Yet Holly was happy to see some fury and annoyance mixed in his gaze as well, her goal accomplished.

“Citizens of Panem,” he started, boring his eyes at the lens of the camera, “Let this be an example to the tributes who escaped the Arena,” he hissed, “And to all of Panem, the price of rebellion.” The camera shifted her way, and Holly glared at Louden as she was pushed forward by the peacekeepers, though she kept her balance, righting herself, and glaring at him,

His gaze returned back on her, like he expected her to agree with him, to admit she was wrong or something. Oh please, she would never do that.

“No-“ She started, voice angry, and filled with pain as well, and her sentence was cut short, her snark silenced as a baton hit her back, sending her to the ground as more swings were taken.

Think about the arena, of Burton, and of the jokes, and of everything.

And she went silent again, her vision became blurred, and voices fell on deaf ears, her body was trying to shut itself off, push out everything happening around her.

She almost lost conscious, and Louden’s last words of warning to the others was lost to her as she was forced to her feet, a groan of pain escaped her, blood dripping from various cuts, she couldn’t even count how many.

She thought Macaria tortured her, she was mistaken.

It stopped, the beating, and several painful moments, maybe minutes passed as she gained her breath back, her gaze clearing just a tiny bit, and small, painful wheezes escaping her.

“Now,” Louden said, and she shifted her gaze upwards, the camera was pointed a new direction, and was off by the looks of it, and her blurry gaze had to readjust to her surroundings, specifically Louden’s form before her. If it wasn’t for the peacekeepers picking her up, she wouldn’t be standing. “I don’t think you can take much more, so let’s just have a nice chat.”

She growled at him, his dumb smirk, and his dumb face. Despite the blood dripping from her chin, she shot back a retort, “Yeah right!” She seethed, “It’s not going to be nice if your involved,” She snapped.

“Now, now, Holly, I think we got off to a bad start,” Louden said in reply, smirking at her glare. The peacekeepers seemed to vanish some, but she knew they were near. The ones that were helping her up set her in a nearby chair, across from Louden. A table sat next to them, two mugs lay dormant, and a knife that was in his hands was set down on it as he sat. Probably for torture or protection should he need it. She had no clue why, really, and she didn’t care.

“You think?” She snapped back, taking every chance to retort that she could.

“Why yes!” He replied, before shaking his head, “I didn’t properly know you then, but now, now I know a lot about you Miss Alandria,” he said, voice falsely calm, the annoyance still lingered in his eyes, and she found her head spinning even more with a newly set in panic.

What did he know?

“Like what?” She decided to ask, she wasn’t the most alert, but things were slowly piecing back together, and something stood out to her. He knew something about her, and what it was was the mystery. But she didn’t like that, she liked having her secrets, her walls.

He gave her a glance, “District 8, orphan,” he commented, voice smooth, watching her above a mug he had picked up from the nearby table. He even had one for her, filled with who know’s what, but she ignored it.

“Wow, it’s like you know my life’s story,” if he thought that was anything, he was clearly dumber than she thought. She felt relieved, like her stress had been for naught.

“Oh, that’s not it my dear-“ he began, but her voice snapped him out of his sentence just as fast.

“Holly,” she commented with a smirk, a bloody, angry smirk, “I prefer people to speak my name when talking to me.”

His annoyance increased, “my dear,” he repeated, “I heard of a certain event, apparently your mother and something about being hung in public?” He asked, gaze already resting on her, victory set on his face. He knew he hit a weak spot.

She froze, her breath ragged still, probably from various broken bones and her various cuts, but also possibly from the shock and upset his phrase brought her. The panic came back full swing, as did anger, and her and clenched on her lap.

She remembered the day as clear as glass, and yet she kept it locked away for a while. And he was bringing it back, to use against her. Her mom, the only person who ever truly loved her, and he was using her against Holly, and that wasn’t allowed.

“You see, I heard you cried for her, begging for them to st-“

”Stop,” she hissed out, already tensing up like an attacked animal, her voice turned from snarky to something akin to feral, demanding and oddly dangerous. He wasn’t allowed to bring her mother into his games.

“Oh, did I strike a spot?” Louden asked, sipping his tea, that ugly smirk still on his face. “Now, you don’t want to be hung like your mother, do you?”

“I don’t care what you do to me,” she snapped again, she knew her palms were bleeding, her knuckles white, from how hard she was clenching her fists. She could feel the fingernails biting into the skin. The soft sting didn’t help her calm any, it went mostly unnoticed, “Go ahead and kill me, make me a martyr for the rebels, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot.”

She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t care. He wasn’t allowed to bring her mom into his games. He just wasn’t.

“And I heard your father left-“

“Stop!” She snapped, watching the victory build on his face. He did know, and no one should. Those were her secrets, her walls, and we was breaking through them like a hot knife through a stick of butter.

“And everyone left you-“ He added.

“I said stop!” She screamed, forcing herself to a stand, her movements no longer controllable in her fury, her panic, her need for him to stop. So when the glint of metal caught her eyes, she acted on instinct, grabbing his discarded knife from the table. It was a move he clearly didn’t expect as his eyes filled with fear. She enjoyed that, his fear. She was going to make him pay.

Feral in her actions, she turned, lunging for him next, aiming the knife at his chest with a certain bloodlust to her eyes, uncontrollable fury hidden in the emerald depths. It was quick, but the peacekeepers were fast as well...

All that registered was the gunshot, and her body hitting the ground as the knife fell from her hand, before everything faded to black.

—

Burton had awoken a little before Halina, to be greeted by the smiling faces of four individuals around him. He had thought he might be hallucinating for a moment, or that he was dead, because there was no way these people were here. There was no way. He had thought he would never see them again, in fact he had come to peace with that in the Arena.

It was clear the Arena hadn’t left him yet either; he was dirty, the dust from the air having settled in an almost permanent layer on his skin. His hair was messy, and his eyes were still wild. He was very much in survival mode still.

But he was seeing them.

And when he reached out to touch the closest figure, he realised it was all real. They were really there. The memories came flooding back; the Arena opening, Burton escaping with his friends. The hovercrafts.

And so, with a beam on his face, he embraced his family. His mother and his father, and then his younger sisters. Lea and Twylla both looked older somehow, despite the fact Burton hadn’t been gone even a month. It was clear that what had happened to their brother had taken a toll on the two girls too.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured into the shoulders of the two younger girls who looked so much like him. He was sure that while he was unconscious none of the other tributes had experienced any problems figuring out whose family they were.

Over Lea’s shoulder he could see many people around him. Stylists and mentors, and the families of other tributes. He recognised the faces of the tributes in some of them. Some of them he knew had lost that children that day, the kids who hadn’t gotten out of the Arena despite the plans.

His gaze was drawn towards two figures, though. Alistair and Diana, two of the stylists for the Games that year. Diana seemed to be heading over to talk to Halina, who had just woken up. The stylist was one of the stylists who had undergone little to none of the augmentation that was so common in the Capitol. She was graceful, with cool blonde hair. But she looked concerned.

Burton looked again to his family.

“Some of the others are missing,” he realised, “where’s Holly?”

Holly wasn’t there, she was missing. Where was she? Did she not make it out? And for that matter, where were Everest and Amadrya?

But a voice on the TV screen soon answered that question.

On the television was President Louden, his eyes boring fron the television in a mixture of fury and annoyance. “-Let this be an example to the tributes who escaped the Arena,” he hissed, “And to all of Panem, the price of rebellion.” The camera shifted left, and Halina backed up at the sight, blood dripped from the figure standing to the side of Louden, bruises dappled their skin, and a hollow glance was in their eyes.

“No-“ The figure croaked, and Burton’s heart dropped seeing the brokenness, the pain. It was Holly, and Burton felt sick. She should have been safe. He shouldn’t have ran ahead, he should have stayed with her. Even if it meant being in the Capitol with her. He should have protected her, he should be protecting her now. Like she had always protected him, because that was just what they did for one another, right?

A baton swung down on Holly. There was a horrified sound, and Burton wondered distantly if it had come from him. He couldn’t really be sure anymore. He felt a sickening mix of anger, fear (on Holly’s behalf), sadness and guilt. His sisters moved closer to him.

Louden turned back to the camera, “Let this be your warning, rebels, of what happens to those who defy the Capitol.”

The room filled with a horrified silence, before it became chaos.

Burton couldn’t watch after that point, he couldn’t see the horrified reactions of the people watching, he couldn’t take the guilt. Why had he gotten out and not Holly? She was braver than him, tougher than him, and every inch more of a fighter.

His feelings for her were complicated, and their relationship no less. What were they right now? A little more than friends, less than lovers? It didn’t matter, all he knew and the only way he cared to label it was that he cared about her. They stuck together. They might have been out of the Arena but they would have still had one another’s backs like they had when they were in there. She’d had his back when he was injured, and so many other times, just like he had made sure to have hers.

How could he have let this happen to her?

It seemed he was not the only one who felt guilty; the shine of guilt that was in his own eyes was also visible in the downcast faces of Halina, who obviously felt guilty about her little murder attempt in the Arena, and Ari. The boy had obviously just realised that the same fate had befallen Amadrya that had befallen Holly.

But his gaze was taken by an unfamiliar man, someone he didn’t recognise and couldn’t link with any of the tributes in the room, or even any of the dead ones. Who was he? He looked shaken, too, by what he had seen on the camera.

Curious, Burton broke away from his sisters, to approach a small group of the other tributes. Ari sat relatively close to Macaria and Alessandro, but the boy still left a clear gap between him and them. Even in his sadness he would not be seeking comfort from those two. Understandable.

“Do any of you know who he is?” Burton asked with a nod towards the gentleman. He then fixed his gaze on Macaria. “Is he related to Everest?”

He was sure he wasn’t, since both of Everest’s parents were victors and so he was sure he would have recognised the man if he were, for example, Everest’s father.

As he looked at Macaria, he could see sadness in her eyes too, a kind of heaviness that he had never seen before. Her gaze had always been sharp and keen, intelligent and deadly. He remembered those eyes glinting at him before she wounded his leg. But now her gaze was sombre and heavy, despite the fact that Alessandro was next to her and safe.

Did she feel bad about Everest? Despite the fact that the group had broken up? Perhaps so. He was from her district, after all. It just surprised Burton to think that the District 2 girl might actually have feelings.

“No, he’s not,” Macaria confirmed, “sorry.”

The sorry was unusual. He didn’t know whether she was apologising that she couldn’t help him or whether she was apologising for something greater. His pain at losing Holly? Perhaps.

Burton could get used to this Macaria.

But now he turned his brown eyes to Ari, who seemed to be staring off into space.

“Ari?” Burton asked “is he related to Amadrya?”

“No,” Ari replied with a shake of his head “that’s her uncle and cousins over there.”

The District 7 boy nodded towards a group of four males stood together, all tall like Amadrya, and with brown hair. There was an older man who was obviously her uncle, and then three young men who were clearly her cousins. They all looked tired and heartbroken. Burton quickly realised that when Ari was staring into space he had been staring in roughly that direction.

“Alright,” Burton said with a nod, “and Ari? I’m sorry about Amadrya. It wasn’t your fault.”

He wanted to make sure Ari knew that. The younger boy nodded, but Burton got the feeling he didn’t really believe him. That was okay, he couldn’t believe that Holly getting taken wasn’t his fault either. Guilt was funny that way.

But the District 8 tribute was still determined to figure out exactly who this man is and so he decided the best way to learn the man’s identity was just to ask him directly. And so that was what Burton did, approaching the man.

“Sir?” he asked “I’m Burton, but I’m pretty sure that introduction is redundant now.”

That much was true; this man will have been watching the Games for the last few weeks and would know for sure who all of the tributes were.

“I know who you are,” the man replied, looking at Burton

“I’m sorry, I just had to ask,” Burton continued, “but a lot of the people here are family to the tributes, and I just wanted to know who you are.”

“I’m a relative of Holly Alandria,” the man said, “it surprises me that you wouldn’t recognise a family member of hers, with how much time you spent together in the Arena.”

“Holly?” Burton asked in surprise “but Holly…”

She was an orphan, wasn’t she? She had grown up alone, had no family. That much he had learned about her. Her cat was the thing she had been most concerned about leaving behind in District 8!

“I’m her father,” the man revealed

Her father?

What?

That revelation but shocked Burton and made him feel more sick. Holly’s father was here, and she didn’t even know it. Her father who had been gone for years was finally back and she had no idea. She could have known if Burton had protected her and not let her be taken by the Capitol.

He had to go, and so he excused himself rapidly and left the crowded area to explore. He wanted to know more about where they were.

The boy walked through hallways, looking around and trying for the life of him to figure out where they were. A hidden place in the Capitol? Unlikely. One of the districts? That didn’t seem likely either. Burton had no idea where the Arena they had initially escaped from had been, and he didn’t know whether they had been moved or not from that place. It seemed more likely that they had, because why on earth would they stay when the Capitol would be looking for them? No this had to be some kind of headquarters. But he had no idea where this place was.

But he walked past a room with a door that was open, and as he looked inside it seemed to be some sort of armoury. Weapons and armours in a disparity of sizes. Some for the mentors and stylists; he could see the stylists had played no small part in designing them either. A couple he identified as being for Diana and Alistair.

But he could also see armours for the tributes, dark uniforms. What? Why were they expected to fight? He could see one especially designed for Macaria, light and with a place to store throwing knives. One that was just his size. Others were clearly designed for Halina, Alessandro and Ari. But what hit him most were the other armours.

There was a uniform for every tribute who had been alive shortly before the Arena was destroyed. A one for a tall female that he could only assume was designed for Amadrya, a one for a shorter and more slight girl. It hit him with a pang; that armour was for Holly. One for Everest, one for Corvina and Sapphire and Robin and others. One for every tribute who hadn’t made it out.

And a couple of doors further down he could see TV screens again, but they weren’t showing Louden’s monologue with Holly. Instead they were showing chaos in the districts, people rioting and attacking peacekeepers. Banners with the faces of fallen tributes flying in the air.

There was a rebellion, the districts were finally turning against the Capitol. The stylists and mentors must have gotten them out of the Arena with the help of a Gamemaker sympathetic to the cause. He couldn’t help but wonder which one of the men who had been watching the tributes when they were training back in the Capitol had been the one on the side of the rebels.

But it didn’t matter now.

The Games could be brought to an end now. The 90th annual Hunger Games could be the last ever if the rebellion was successful.

And he planned to fight. For Amadrya and Everest and all the tributes who had died in the Arena.

But most of all, for Holly.

Silence wasn’t something Everest was used to. The training halls in District 2 were filled with angry shouts and brawls, or knives hitting dummies. The games always has some background noise, either that of a tumbling building, rubble hitting the ground, a cannon, or even something as simple as background laughter from his group.

Most of said group, he felt, he would never see again.

But silence was what he knew now. Other than soft words spoken with Amadrya, they simply waited for the return of the third tribute, Holly, but silence. Long, long silence.

Moments before, he and Amadrya had been talking, about District 7 and District 2, slightly about their families. For a girl he came to love, Everest felt terrible that he could have known so little. And yet, hearing her words only made his feelings grow, as like falling in love with Amadrya Darrow all over again.

And no, as much as he wanted to admit that his feeling for Darrow were just a crush, he knew it wasn’t. It physically hurt when Louden would have peacekeepers beat her, it wrenched his heart. He would die for her.

And it made the guilt so much worse, he almost killed them in the Arena, he thought about it, at least. At the time, the win mattered, making it home, a victor, was his goal. But her response, her sullen, but understanding reaction hurt.

“Darrow,” he commented, he wasn’t always the best at expressing feelings, but to her, it came easier, “In the arena, when I got the message to-“ he couldn’t even repeat the message, it hurt to think about, filling him with guilt, and she seemed to get the point anyways, simply nodding at him. He sucked in a breath, nodding at that, “I’m sorry.” He tagged on, lamely.

“You were raised to think like that, I was upset at first, but now that our days are numbered, I don’t want to be angry anymore.” Amadrya commented, seemingly okay with what he ad done. Then again, she did have a point, they would most likely live out short lives in a cell. Why waste time thinking about the ast and being angry?

But he couldn’t leave it there, that hurt too much, “I wouldn’t have done it-“

“Everest...”

He glared her direction, a cell to his left, too far in his opinion, “No, I couldn’t have lived with it, killing you-“ he felt his cheeks warm, tagging on a “All,” before continuing, “It would have killed me.”

“Maybe it would be better than this,” She stated simply, staring forward, “For what it’s worth, forget about it, it’s in the past. We can’t change it,”

“Maddie-“ He started, and that’s when the gunshot sounded, echoing though the halls. The conversation was forgotten as they both hopped up onto their feet, gripping the cell bars as if doing so would give them better access in regards to looking down the hall.

He contemplated what it could have been, dully, and sullen, because he already knows and one look at Amadrya reveals that she does too.

Still, his mind thinks in overdrive. He had heard distant shouts, too distant and distorted to hear, and not at all loud or shout-like when they finally echoed into the cells. But he could tell anger when he heard it even in whispers. Holly had been gone, and hadn’t yet returned.

Would Louden already make an example this early on?

“Maybe it’s a rebellion, maybe they’ll save us?” He suggested, but he doubted it, more than one gunshot would be heard. Inside he knew it had to do with Holly.

Louden must have killed her, her sharp tongue...he must have. But that didn’t make sense, wouldn’t he want tributes to be tortured, in pain, not killed in such a quick manner.

“I doubt it,” Amadrya said, looking rather upset. For some reason, Amadrya and Holly seemed to have some mutual understanding, to the fact that Amadrya was willing to save Holly in exchange for betraying the other Careers. But he kind of understood, seeing Macaria fall for Alessandro was not the same, but similar. Macaria was his District Partner, he knew her for a long time because of the academy, and he knew Alessandro was going to break her heart. Alessandro was deadest on the win, as was Macaria, but it was different, Everest was rooting for Macaria, behind himself of course, up until Alessandro and her started flirting.

Suffice to say, Everest hoped the two were okay, not pressured by death no longer(at least, not to fight to the death), they would finally have a chance to be normal kids, teens in love doing normal teenager stuff, instead of training to kill other children,

Then again, Everest didn’t have that option, and no one could really do that when part of a revolution, but whatever.

He could dream, and hope, that one day he could, even if that was unrealistic.

But it was silent then, the shot was a broken memory for a moment, and Amadrya didn’t speak either. The silence was consuming, they both worried over their friend.

Footsteps, and his gaze locked up, he was still standing, gripping the bars tightly. But Louden was alone, some blood along his grey suit, and Everest felt a chill through his spine.

“What the hell did you do to her?” He surprised himself with the bold words, and the anger they held. But Louden only chuckled in response, and it was dread.

She had to be dead.

“Is she dead?” Amadrya asked, echoing his angry thoughts and Louden’s annoyed look gave Everest some hope.

Maybe..

But Louden didn’t answer.

---

It was a week, a week of torture, or beatings, and of waiting. Every day the doubt grew, Holly was dead.

Holly was dead.

He was comforted by Amadrya, he wasn’t all to close to Holly, but even the small amount of time in the cells built a bond. Her raging fire, never dying, was comforting.

But silence, he and Amadrya didn’t fight in fear of hurting one another, and no voice was there to snark to Louden. The fight was gone, but inside it reigned. A fight, and he was starting to lose control.

He wanted to fight back.

Footsteps, again, broke that silence he and Amadrya held. He looked up, not expecting much, another beating, yes, but he felt the faintest of smiles.

She returned, just as she left. Except, she was different. She was bandaged, her left shoulder was, and she wore a grimace. Yet that was all. No words spoken.

That was the difference in her, no fight, no snark. Her voice was gone, silenced, and her gaze was so blank and distant and hollow just like her old Capitol nickname suggested. She wore a look of acceptance, of pain, and of fear.

She was afraid before, accepted the predicament, and had experienced the pain. But something troubling hid in her gaze, a willingness and haunted thing.

Before he could take up anymore time questioning her silence, what Louden had done to her to kill her flame, his cell was unlocked, and he was being beaten once more. Amadrya’s wide, saddened eyes trailed him, he could spot them from his curled up position, but she no longer cried, learning it made the punishment worse for him, and not only in a physical way.

Seeing her tears, her cries of terror and pain, broke him more than their punches and blows.

Yet he was hit by Deja Vu, when they stopped, and a small clink hit the floor. A baton, right before Holly’s cell.

She felt the Deja Vu too, and Everest was in his cell, this time locked. Louden was moving on to Amadrya.

He could see it, the taunt tension her gaze held, the contemplation, and he felt a ghost of relief when her hand snaked slightly out of the cage. Closer, closer, closer, and mayhem Amadeya wouldn’t be tortured again today, maybe she could get rest.

Closer and it stopped. Her green eyes flickered to Everest, and just as quickly she retracted back, like a turtle into a shell, curled into a ball.

And Amadrya cried, pain lacing each hit, and he was helpless to aid her, to ease the pain. He had to watch, and the baton just lay there.

That night, no one talked. No one probed, no one asked. Holly wasn’t beaten, instead, when he and Amadrya were given scraps, she was not.

Figures, Louden couldn’t push her past some physical limit, but he could sure starve her instead.

But that’s where it was left. And the next day came, he didn’t know when, he didn’t know the time.

He was, seemingly, the first to wake, but when his eyes fluttered open, he noticed that indeed he wasn’t.

Holly was to his right, in her cell, curled up in the same ball with just her head poking out, staring ahead. Her fingers idly traced her arm, lightly tapping, drawing symbols and figures, and he was almost intrigued in what exactly she was doing.

She was silent, he knew, but a closer look, even in the dark revealed that soft, quiet tears littered down her cheeks, and he frowned. Not because she was crying, but because he spied on her doing so.

Turning over, he forced himself back to sleep, letting the image of the woman he loved fill his mind, easing away the visions of broken girl’s crying and strong one’s being beaten.

---

“Holly-“ Amadrya pressed from his left, he knew it was futile, it had been a rather peaceful few days, no beatings, not really, probably a false calm. Yet the peacekeepers came with their food, placing it before the cells. This time Holly had some, and thus lead to the current issue.

She didn’t touch it, she only looked at it for a moment before going stoic again.

“You have to eat, you have to talk,” Amadrya pressed, and he sighed, Holly wasn’t going to talk, she hadn’t since she returned, and this was her first meal since. She had to be hungry, he was sure.

But she didn’t eat, and she didn’t talk. And he knew she wasn’t going to do either that day. Not by choice. She may look broken, but she was a fighter under all that broken armor, her silence may be for a whole other reason than brokenness, but he doubted it. She still seemed snide at times, often glaring at him or Maddie when they said something stupid, or well, that she considered stupid.

Then again, she was always an odd little book. Amadrya was not much easier, but he preferred her. But he did grow closer to the girl in the cell to his right, almost like a sibling. One he felt bad for.

And Amadrya’s words were ignored, as they always were. Holly ignored them both, and he knew she wasn’t an avox, she mouthed things, he could see her tongue, and despite her best efforts, sometimes she would wake him or Amadrya with her cries and whimpers in her sleep.

She wasn’t an avox, just quiet.

And she wasn’t the one Everest should have been watching.

---

He fell asleep earlier, Holly already had dozed off, and he and Amadrya were talking. He was beaten, the only for the day, just hours earlier. The pain lingered, this was a worse one than usual. More public, electroshock wasn’t fun, and it was his first experience with it on that day.

Amadrya had of course been worried, his screams still streamed down the halls, and he had only grown closer to her.

Despite his pain, he should have stayed up, been there, to tell her no.

But he was helpless, in the fingers and claws of his sleep, Amadrya, to his left, was left awake, to the upcoming footfalls that’s fell on his deaf ears.

He thought it was just some crazy dream at that moment, a figment of a dream, but he came to realize hours later that he should have been watching Amadrya closer, that he should have been there.

But he wasn’t, and Amadrya had agreed when Louden offered it.

“Let’s make a deal.”

And he wishes he would have just been content with the silence instead.