May The Odds Be Ever In Our Favour {PurplePhone | Hunger Games}

Eight.

((Yay! I'm in the car on a roadtrip. I love roadtrips. This chapter is 1111 words yesssssssss!))

A canon sounded in the air.

Scott dropped to his knees beside the corpse of an innocent girl, who'd done absolutely nothing wrong, and now had an arrow piercing into her heart. He hid his face in his hands, beginning to sob.

He was distantly aware of Vincent slinging an arm comfortingly around his shoulder, and he lost it, flinging his arms around the boy's neck and crying openly into his shoulder, "I k-killed her, Vincent! I-I... I'm a murderer!"

"So was she," Vincent countered, wrapping his own arms around Scott, his fingers trailing over Scott's pronounced ribs and shoulder blades. "You just did what you had to. I'm proud of you."

"S-She didn't deserve to die... Gawd, Vincent, my whole district just saw me go savage and kill our own tribute... I-I'm such a horrible person..." Scott shuddered, remembering Annabeth's parents, seeing them in his mind's eye now, either in shock or tears at the loss of their daughter. He'd never even heard of a tribute killing their own District's tribute before. There were some lines you just didn't cross.

"Not horrible, just fed up," Vincent soothed. "And rightly so. I think your district - heck, all of Panem - has learnt something today. Never underestimate the little people."

Scott sniffled, pulling away from Vincent's shoulder and leaning his head on his chest before pulling away entirely, looking back at the girl. "The hovercraft will be here soon to take her away. We should clear out of here."

Vincent nodded and stood up, "Let's go get out clothes and supplies before they get stolen."

Scott gently got to his feet, "If it's okay with you, I'd like to say a quick goodbye. You go ahead."

Vincent tilted his head just slightly, obviously finding Scott's request odd, but he shrugged, "Alright, suit yourself... Don't be too long though, okay?"

 "I won't," Scott waited until Vincent was gone before walking over to Annabeth's still body. Just seconds ago, she'd been looking up at him, absolutely terrified, that chest rising and falling with fear.

Now she was still, her eyes glassed over, no longer looking fearful, but peaceful.

Scott's eyes filled with tears again, blurring his vision. He crouched down beside the girl and reached out, closing her eyes so she looked like she was just sleeping. He hoped wherever she went from here, it was much nicer than this godforsaken arena. He'd be joining her soon enough, anyway.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "This isn't how I wanted it to end." He leaned down and kissed her forehead just once, "Bye, Annabeth."

Sighing, he stood up and made his way around the edge of the lake to Vincent. Kicking aimlessly at the loose grass, he mumbled, "She was right about me. Look. I turned into a mess as soon as I knew she was dead."

"That's not a sign of being weak, it's called being human," Vincent reminded him. "Here's your shirt."

Scott caught the bundle of fabric that Vincent threw at him and muttered a thanks, pulling the shirt over his head. "Can we get out of here before the hovercraft comes? I don't want to be here when they take her away."

"Sure, just put your shoes on and I'm happy to go now," Vincent shouldered the pack with their supplies.

Scott sighed, grabbing his shoes and pulling them on. "I hate this. I hate all of this. Why can't you just kill me now? End it, Vincent. Just end it."

"Well, what's the point of that?" Vincent scoffed. "You want to come all this way just to commit suicide? Now that's true weakness. If you're going to die, you might as well do whatever you can before then to leave your mark."

"You mean you're refusing to kill me?" Scott started walking. "I thought winning these games meant everything to you."

"It does, and I have no intention of losing, whatsoever," Vincent followed behind, quickly catching up to Scott with his longer strides. "I just don't believe in giving up."

"You're cruel," Scott whined. "I don't want to have to live to watch you kill me. I don't know whether to believe that we're friends, or enemies, or..." He trailed off.

"Or lovers?" Vincent suggested. "Perhaps we're all three."

Scott flushed, his face filling with colour. He looked over in the other direction, staring at the leaf-litter nervously, but his arm reached out, and the next moment, his cold fingers twined with Vincent's warm ones.

Vincent chuckled, and squeezed Scott's hand playfully, stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. "You need to eat more. I can feel all the bones in your hand, and you look like a skeleton with skin."

Scott snorted, "Thanks. You look great, too."

"I'm just saying," Vincent grinned.

As they continued to walk through the forest in search of somewhere to set up camp, the temperature began to drop suddenly. The sun hadn't even gone down, and Scott was already beginning to shiver slightly, hugging his skinny arms to his body. "W-Why is it s-so cold?"

"I think we impressed the audience," Vincent replied. "Our little display in the water today must have gotten our sponsors going crazy. After all, what do the viewers back at home love more than bloodshed? Romance. And what do they love more than romance?" Vincent put his hands to his heart, spinning around, "Forbidden romance~"

"F-Forbidden?" Scott asked curiously.

"You know. Like, a girl and a girl, or a boy and a boy," Vincent shrugged. "Unorthodox. Forbidden. It's ten times more heart-melting when two hot guys like us are throwing around a little romantic tension. Gets all the girls in a mess."

"D-Did... you just call me hot?" Scott couldn't help himself from sniggering. "I don't think 'hot' is exactly how you'd describe someone like me. I'm more like a walking icicle at the moment."

"Well, I'm sure if you put on a little weight, you'd be much more attractive. But then again, this is the Hunger Games, not a beauty pageant," Vincent slung his hands into his pockets.

"S-Still, though," Scott's teeth chattered annoyingly. "What's r-romance got to do with it being -10 degrees?"

"Oh, they want us to cuddle up together in a sleeping bag, of course," Vincent grinned. "You know, conserving body heat and all that. It's not like we could sleep by ourselves in this weather. We'd both freeze to death."

Scott's eyes widened, "They w-want us to what?"

Vincent suddenly stopped walking, looking around at the clearing they'd walked into. "Actually, this spot will do quite nicely." He looked at Scott and wiggled his eyebrows. "You ready to snuggle up?"