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As Dove walked through the last forest between her and the lake, the sound of rocks falling surprised her. Screams echoed through the Arena, followed by two cannons.
From the tree line, Dove saw what had happened. A rock avalanche occurred next to the lake where the careers were standing, killing the girl from One and the boy from Two in their desperate attempt to run.
There were three people left to kill. The boy from One, the girl from Two, and another tribute. Probably someone from District Eleven. Dove remembered only watching one face from that district in the sky, but she didn't remember the gender.
"Hey, Four," a voice spoke up behind her. As quickly as she could, Dove turned around with her trident prepared in her left hand. She was ready to battle against whoever was there.
"Wow. Calm down. Do you want to fight the Careers all alone? What would Twelve say?" the person added as they stepped to the light. It was a boy. The boy from District Eleven.
"He's dead," Dove replied coldly. She didn't know what the boy wanted from her, but she was too tired to have chit-chats before trying to kill each other.
"Sorry about that. I saw it yesterday in the sky," he said. Dove looked at him, puzzled. Why was he friendly towards her? Even giving her his condolences for her lover's death?
"What do you want, Eleven?" Dove spoke up with the same tone as before. "I want an alliance. You and I, against the careers. What do you say?" he proposed. She thought for a few seconds. Why would he ask for an alliance with her? He could kill her and go against the careers himself.
"Why do you want to have an alliance with me, of all people?" Dove asked. Her confusion grew the more she questioned the situation.
"First of all, both of us are at a great disadvantage in number. They're two and if we go our separate ways, we're just one." He said as he approached her. Dove didn't like that one bit and tightened her grip on her trident, ready to battle.
"Second, there was a cannon this morning before the avalanche. I was watching the Careers all the time, and none of them died or killed anybody. So, either you or your district partner had died at your partner's hands. And here you are." he added, stopping right in front of her. He had no weapons whatsoever, so he wouldn't make it if she attacked.
But both of them knew she wouldn't. She couldn't take him and the careers on the same day. She needed time. A time that an alliance could grant her.
"So, tell me. What did he do for you to kill him?" Eleven spoke up again, as he saw her lowering the trident.
"He mocked Alder," Dove replied, the bitterness back in her tone. "So, I would advise you not to do the same if you don't want this trident in your chest," she added with a mocking grin.
"I'll take it. What do we do now? Attack them while they're unprotected?" Eleven proposed.
"No, you don't have a weapon, and their supplies are under a pile of rocks. We could use one more day to get ready. They'll go crazy once they get hungry and realise they don't know how to hunt," Dove replied. Eleven followed her into the forest, where she collected different types of berries, leaving them in two piles.
"Why two piles? Wouldn't it be better to just put them all together?" he asked. "Sure, if you want to get poisoned, of course. I will not stop you," she commented as she got the last edible berries on the left pile.
"Oh. What do we do now?" Dove was getting tired of the boy's questions, but since she was again in some sort of alliance again, she had to explain the plan to him.
"We'll attract the careers here once they're hungry. If they think we're collecting them to eat ourselves, they won't suspect a thing." Dove explained as she stared at the boy.
"I'll place a trap around the berries. Once they're in, you can kill them with this knife," she added as she got some of the edible berries in her pockets, and tossed him the knife. The boy copied her and stuffed his mouth with some before getting some in his pockets.
"When was the last time you ate?" Dove questioned as she looked at him. The boy had visibly lost weight since the last time she had seen him. And ate the berries as if it was the first meal he had in ages.
"About yesterday morning. I stole from the careers' supplies some days ago when they went to search for their prey." He replied, still eating the last berries in the pile.
"You want more? There are some nearby," Dove spoke up involuntarily. The boy gave her the same sensation she had with her ally. She wanted to protect them, even though she knew one of them would die. And she wasn't planning on dying any time soon.
"No, it's alright. Let me help you make the traps. It will be better to do something to make time fly," he said.
Time until nightfall was clearly shorter than it had been other days. The Gamemakers were itching to speed things up. The only reason mutts hadn't attacked would probably be for Dove's plan.
Everyone in the Capitol was interested in the newly formed alliance. They sympathised with the poor girl who had just lost her lover, and the boy who had been almost starving for days.
Pity. That's what is saving our butts. Dove thought as she looked at the sky. Three deaths that day, all careers. Even though she tried to ignore it, Dove couldn't do anything but pity them, too. She pitied the one who had died. The ones who were left to die, not only that year, but the next to come.
But was it really that bad to die? Thinking about what would wait for her after the games made dying not so bad. Once you were dead, that was it. But if you won, if you survived, your family, your loved ones were in danger. Any mistake, any wrong move could get them killed. In Dove's case, she would die before the president could touch her sister. That was her deal. She was an obstacle.
Dove pitied herself. She had allowed herself to appreciate a boy who she knew would die. Not only once, but twice. Although, both her and Eleven tried not to have any small talk apart from their survival tactics, it didn't change the fact that they were desperately searching for any hint of comfort. Having someone by their side while they were risking their life brought them that comfort.
To Dove's dismay, her nightmares came back once again. She had forgotten what waking up through screams felt like. She crouched down and placed her hands in her ears, trying to stop the voices. Her forehead hit the ground repeatedly as she had done after Alder's death. This time, it wasn't helping her to remain sane.
The air didn't reach her lungs. It was a suffocating sensation that she had suffered before. But when? She didn't recall a sensation like this before. It was like almost drowning. A torture that never ended. She was sure she had gone through it before any of her memories took place.
Luckily, her necklace escaped from her shirt, where it had been hiding all those days, and appeared right in front of her eyes. She stared at it for a few seconds before taking it off. Angel, Melo, mum, they're all waiting for me. She repeated multiple times in her mind.
Her breath calmed down slowly as she remembered Finnick's words. He was always the one to calm her down whenever she had a panic attack, even now that he wasn't next to her.
Dawn was breaking. It was time to put their plan into action. Dove woke the boy up and both started the fire that would lure the careers to them. Even if they weren't fooled by Dove's trap, they would enter her territory. She had studied her surroundings during the night with Alder's night-vision glasses.
A mere hour went by when the careers made their appearance. Dove and Eleven were hiding behind a tree, waiting to see if they had fooled the careers. Even though the boy from One seemed convinced, it wasn't like that for the girl from Two.
That was bad news. Either Dove and her ally jumped to action and attacked, or the Gamemakers would intervene. Nevermind, they already did. She thought as she saw some kind of fog approaching them.
There was no way that would be a harmless fog. Something had to be wrong with it. Dove got her ally's attention and pointed at the fog that was closer every second, then she pointed to the path that led to the Cornucopia. She wanted for them to run, and then they would care about the careers that would go after them.
Dove grabbed a good hold of her trident before starting running to the Cornucopia, closely followed by her ally. The careers followed them out of the forest, not understanding why they hadn't been attacked.
Once she arrived at the base of the Cornucopia, Dove looked around. The fog didn't stop at the end of the forest like the birds had done. Her ally was near her, watching the scene, too. The careers were far behind them, screaming in pain and falling to the ground for no apparent reason. They no longer cared about killing but keeping themselves alive.
"What are you doing? Up, up, up!" Dove shouted at her ally as she climbed the Cornucopia until reaching the highest part.
Her ally and the careers joined them soon after. Once everyone was up, they saw the fog increasing. It wouldn't stop until the Gamemakers had their Victor. The careers looked at each other in fear before looking back at Dove and Eleven.
Dove dodged the best she could when the girl from Two threw a knife. The final battle had started. As the girls were in an attack and dodge situation, the boys were fighting each other. The girl from Two threw her last knife with her left hand, which Dove blocked with her bag. The girl's right arm was suspiciously still. As if it was paralysed.
Dove's trident penetrated into the girl's chest, making her cough blood as she fell down to her knees. Dove took her trident back from the girl and showed a few berries into her mouth. A cannon roared right after.
Turning around, she saw the battle that was going on between the two boys. One was clearly dominating the fight, even with his legs suspiciously almost dropping him to the ground from time to time.
Eleven wasn't giving up and continued to fight the best he could, although he had been injured in his leg and arm. Dove threw her trident once again, striking One with it. The boy fell down, making it easier for her to feed him the berries. Boom. Another cannon echoed.
"Congratulations on your victory, Four," Eleven spoke up as he fell down. Dove looked at him, confused. Examining him with her eyes, she understood why he was giving up. His nasty cut on his leg and arm. He couldn't win against her, even if he had a proper weapon.
"My name's Dove," Dove said as she sat next to him. "Why are you telling me your name?" the boy asked, confused at her sudden change of attitude.
"I only tell my name to my allies. I saw you fight. You had those cuts for a while, and even though you had given up on winning, you didn't stop fighting. I appreciate it. . ." Dove explained. She wanted to say his name, but she hadn't learned anybody's names apart from Alder.
"Clem. That's my name. Short for Clematis." Clem said with a light chuckle. "I only tell my nickname to my friends, you know?" he added with a laugh.
"I feel honoured. I don't have any nicknames to tell you. Well, a special someone called me Freckles one day. I don't know if you count that as a nickname." Clem snickered at her comment. The pain grew the more he laughed, and the fog was dangerously near.
"Dove, do it. . . Just so you know, I forgive you. . . I forgive you for what is about to happen," he whispered. "And when you visit Eleven. . . Tell my family I love them," he added, a few tears escaping his eyes.
Dove looked at him with pity. "Thank you. . .And don't worry, I will do it, Clem," she answered as she got the last berries from her pocket. She got his head on her lap, as she had done with Alder, and got his hair out of his eyes. Clem opened his mouth, ready to die. She gave him the berries and waited. As his eyelids became heavier, Dove whispered. "Goodnight, Clem."
To which he used his last breath to whisper back at her. "Goodnight, Freckles." His cannon boomed around the Arena right after. Dove was close to another panic attack. She had won, she had survived. But she knew she had lost herself along the way. At least five tributes had died because of her. There was no way she would ever forget that. The memories and faces would forever remain in her head.
Dove desperately wanted to see her family. She wanted to see Finnick, Mags, Muscida, even Ron and the other two male Victors. Most importantly, she wanted to cry her eyes out in peace.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the Victor of the Sixty-seventh Hunger Games, Dove Ogilvy! I give you the tribute of District Four!" The voice of Claudius Templesmith roared around the Arena. Through the speakers inside the Arena, Dove heard the crowd going crazy at her victory.
She didn't leave Clem's side until the hovercraft made its appearance. She knew she had to go back home, just as his corpse had to be handed over to his family. Secretly, Dove hoped the family would hate her. She didn't want pity from the family whose child she had helped to kill.
Once Dove was inside the hovercraft, she fainted from exhaustion. When she woke up, she didn't know how long she had slept. Minutes? Hours? Days? She did not know.
It freaked her out to find herself in a room with no visible doors or windows. Her body had no longer any injuries and was perfectly cleaned. On the left side of the bed, on a chair, there rested an outfit identical to what she wore during the Arena.
She assumed she had woken up at the perfect moment. She could meet her mentors, her family. Without caring much about the clothes, she put them on as quickly as she could. An invisible door opened shortly after she was ready.
She left the room and walked down a corridor. Dove wasn't too sure where to turn or go. "Melo?" She yelled, not confident anymore. "Mum?" What if she was still dreaming?
"Dove!" Her brother and mother's voice came from the last room of the corridor. Dove took off running to the door and stopped in her tracks once she reached the door. Everyone was there—her family, Mags, Finnick, Delia, even Ohan.
Dove ran to her brother and mother's arms without hesitation. It had been an entire week since she could enjoy that simple gesture. "I missed you. I missed you so much," her brother whispered during the hug.
However, Dove had to greet the rest. She hugged Mags tightly and gave a quick and simple hug to Finnick. Finally, Delia stroked her hair carefully with tears in her eyes, and Ohan hugged her as tightly as he could. Kala nodded at her approvingly.
Dove looked at everyone in the room. She was back. She was alive. Everyone had been waiting for her impatiently, and now they couldn't be happier to see her alive.
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