One more night.
It was our last night together, Finnick, Annie, Pluto, and Me. Perhaps either Pluto or Annie's last night alive, a terrifying fact that none of us wanted to think about. None of us could sleep, none of us wanted to, instead, we sat in the living room in silence, ignoring the cheers of the Capitol below.
"I can't sit here like this anymore," Annie whispered, gripping my hand tightly, "Can we dance?"
A smile broke onto my face, "What?"
"As we used to in District Four, with the water on our feet, I just want to remember it one last time," She explained quietly, "I want to remember home, just for one night,"
Pluto was the one to break the stunned silence, "I think that's an excellent idea," Suddenly it was a rush to fill our apartment floor with ankle-deep water, every single tap was placed on full and before we knew it, cool water covered the entirety of our level. The stereo began to play one of the traditional songs of District Four, it was originally composed as a wedding piece, not that any of us cared.
Pluto and Finnick bowed as we curtseyed, their right arms outstretched, the dance was a flurry of complicated spins changing partners, every movement caused the water around our ankles to splash, drenching the clothes we were wearing in cool water. We made mistakes, we slipped and tumbled, purposefully splashing each other with more water. Laughter rang throughout the entire building until our prep teams and Sylvia ran out with terrified expressions.
It wasn't long until they had all joined us, awkwardly swayed, and turning around in the water, Sylvia, of course, had lifted her skirts to prevent them from getting wet- it was a motion I had once teased Finnick for, but now even he was accustomed to the sensation. I stared at the man I loved, who was spinning me about the room with as much grace as the two of us could muster- I could tell even her was fighting a tear from his eye.
Just a moment like this, before everything fell to pieces.
Just one night for Annie and Pluto to be children.
One more night.
...
Annie gripped my hand for the entirety of the preparation in the morning, Gaia, and I both assisted in dressing her as she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing as I'd practised with her. "Most of these clothes are made to adjust to your body heat," I told her calmly, "I would expect a colder climate, especially in the night-time,"
"Don't make a fire," Annie answered robotically, shaking her head, "Smoke can signal position,"
"Good girl," I responded, "Stay away from the Cornucopia, Annie, Pluto will come and find you,"
"Do you believe that?"
"I trust him," I responded, hoping I had correctly placed my faith in the boy, "This is where I leave you, An, I'll get sponsors through to you both as soon as I can, we'll both be watching, I promise," I wrapped my arms around her fondly, cradling her head with my hands as her arms squeezed my waist.
I heard her whimper with fear as I left her behind, Lorelei and Atlas were waiting at the side for the three of us to make our way to the Mentor's station. It was a bleak-looking room, filled with bright blue technology for us all to use, each District had its own tables and multiple large televisions would project the games overhead.
In the centre of the room was a sunken living space, with multiple grey lounge chairs and mahogany tables filled with food. A self-serve bar stood in the corner, which Haymitch was fully taking advantage of already. "Want a drink?" Atlas asked both Lorelei and me.
"We'll have what you're having," Lorelei responded smoothly as the man walked away.
As soon as Atlas had left, she swivelled around to me, gripping my hand, "Your emotions are controlling you again, Little Pearl, you need to be careful, or you're going to get hurt, ok?" I only nodded, "You can only save one of them, do you understand me?"
"Yes," I breathed as Atlas handed me a strong-smelling drink.
Finnick wandered into the station, conversing casually with the District Two mentors, Enobaria and Brutus. His eyes brightened as they fell on me and he immediately ran to greet me with a hug, Brutus and Enobaria followed him, Brutus shaking my hand and Enobaria nodding her head at me hesitantly. I had killed both their tributes in my games, it was only fair of them. "It could be beneficial for us to collaborate our funds- Horace wishes to ally with Portello and Portello threatened him into letting Annie join him," Enobaria explained logically.
"That's our boy," Finnick wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "The District One tributes will be joining them no doubt,"
"The career tributes are finally back together again," Cashmere grinned, Gloss cheered alongside her as he clapped Brutus on the back, "This is going to be a wild ride,"
"A wild ride indeed," I mused, "We'll be seeing you," I bade them goodbye as politely as I could muster. Finnick sat beside me at our workstation as the computers flickered to life, "I know they're just playing the game like the rest of us, but don't you get the feeling they enjoy it a little more?"
"Was it perhaps Enobaria's teeth that clued you in on that?" Finnick responded sarcastically nodding at the group who were conversing in a lively manner as opposed to the rest of the serious mentors. "Sponsors have been kind to us this year," He began, "Though I'll admit, the starting fund for your year was far more impressive," He smirked, nudging my shoulder.
"I can't imagine what yours must have looked like and for your ego's sake, I hope we never find out," I responded casually.
"Ouch," He placed his hand over his heart.
I knew from my first look at the course that the group was going to struggle. It was built perfectly for a person of district seven to thrive in, towering trees with spindly branches suitable for climbing. There was a heavy fog that shrouded the trees. The only clearing appeared to be by the cornucopia. The journey to the cornucopia would not be easy for them, each tribute stood on a podium on the wall of a large dam, they would have to venture down the dam wall to reach their supplies. There was no other exit unless they were prepared to swim through the dam waters to the higher ground the walls connected to. Who knew what mutts were waiting in the water if they dared to venture through it?
"That's their only water source," Finnick observed carefully.
"It's drawing them there," Lorelei added, "If that's their only source of water, I can guarantee you this game is going to go quickly,"
Most of the Careers stood close by on their podiums, Annie stood directly in between Pluto and Horace from district two. I could tell, even from her that her nerves were failing her, her knees were slowly giving out and I could see Pluto's lips moving, he was trying to calm her down.
10, 9...
I was instantly brought back to that cliffside during my games, I remember all the people I left in that arena, I remember the person it turned me into. I was a shell of the naïve young child I was when I dove off that cliff- but I still had the one quality Finnick had told me he admired me for.
I cared too much, perhaps it was my fatal flaw or my best quality- now I wasn't so sure. Caring too much for my allies had made the loss all the worse, caring too much made the nightmares more frequent. Caring too much would cost me my soul in the end, I would either give up on humanity or on myself. Reign and Ophelia had warned me, and still, I spent too much time trying to play friendly- I didn't want anyone to die.
8,7,6,5...
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Haymitch mocked the voice of the announcer as my hand gripped Finnick's under the table.
4,3,2,1.
"Let the 70th Annual Hunger Games begin!"
Every mentor sprang into action, phoning and receiving calls, using training scores to predict what each tribute would require. Finnick immediately rattled off a list of things we needed to complete, but all I could do at first were monitor the actions of the tributes.
Pluto immediately sprung from his podium, clambering over to Annie's, there were no microphones now, all I could see was his instructing her as calmly as he could. Annie nodded in understanding, turning away from the downward climb and diving into the water of the dam. She had been the only one brave, or perhaps foolish enough to do so. Pluto jumped straight into action once assuring her safety, scaling the footholds in the dam wall, painfully reminding me of the climb to the Cove back home.
Three tributes were already dead when he reached the bottom, their mentor's screens went black.
"Girl from three, the boy from six, the boy from ten," Finnick created a mental list, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lorelei writing the names down on her hand, "Lorelei had a secret book full of all their names- I think she hoping to carve them all into Snow's skin one day,"
"I don't think he has enough surface area to suffice," I responded darkly as the district twelve boy collapsed under Horace's sword. There were no tridents in the arena, meaning Pluto was left to resort to spears, something he was almost just as efficient with. The girl from five made a play for a crossbow in the middle of the cornucopia, however, Pluto's spear impaled the palm of her hand. Horace's blade met her stomach before Pluto could retract his spear.
All those not allied with the Career tributes had already escaped, the other remained splayed all over the group, blood staining the grass a ruby red. 14 cannons. "10 left," Lorelei muttered, I noticed both hers and Atlas's screens had gone black, "I told you, this will be a short ride,"
"Do you think he'll find her?" I whispered to Finnick, he didn't respond, his eyes transfixed on the screen, we'll have to wait and find out.
I hated waiting.
The microphones were finally wired as the hovercraft picked up the final few bodies, "No cannon," Horace smirked, clapping Pluto's shoulder casually, "Your girl didn't drown,"
"No, she certainly didn't," said the District One girl with a coy smile, nodding at the flash of red hair now scrambling down one of the tallest trees. Annie's face was as white as a sheet as she hurtled towards the Career troupe. "Got a present for you, Cresta, Pluto tells us you're a real knockout," the blonde added, tossing a crossbow in Annie's direction, it skidded along the grass, landing at her feet alongside a quiver of arrows.
"Are you hurt?" Pluto asked her warily, stepping towards her and ignoring the amused grins on the other tribute's faces.
Annie picked up the crossbow hesitantly, "No, I'm fine, are the rest of you?"
The others looked taken aback by Annie's concern, Pluto nodded his head in response, "I took a cut to the back if you're interested in playing the pretty nurse," Horace said casually, spinning around to reveal a small laceration.
"You don't even need stitches for that you little bitch!" Haymitch slurred over my shoulder, both of his screens had faded to black too, he was only here for the free drinks now, though perhaps that was all he was here for in the first place.
"Let the sucker bleed," Finnick hissed under his breath, I suppressed a laugh as Enobaria's head snapped over in our direction.
It hadn't taken long before Annie had covered a shirtless Horace's shoulder with some antiseptic and a thick bandage, Pluto had thrown the boy's shirt begrudgingly into his face causing the redhead to giggle. "Hungry?" Pluto asked, holding some dried fruit for her to snack on. "There is a small leak in the dam over there, we should fill up on water while we're here," He advised as Annie rested her head tiredly on his shoulder.
"An excellent idea, cheekbones," Horace remarked sarcastically, detailing the prominent cheekbones Pluto had been admired for in the Capitol, "We're in for a long night, friends, we can't let the other four tributes get too far out, best to strike while they're still finding their bearings, don't you think An?" He prompted the girl who nodded shyly in response.
"What's he so interested in Annie for?" Finnick hissed, his arms folded over his chest.
"I don't like him," I remarked.
"I mean, surely, he's not trying to get into her pants when they're days away from trying to kill each other,"
"I really don't like him,"
"And the whole playing nurse thing was a really cheap shot, if you're going to flirt, at least be good at it,"
"I'm liking him less with every passing millisecond,"
"Guys!" Lorelei snapped, interrupting our minor gossip session, "We get it, you don't like him,"
Finnick and I turned to each other with exasperated expressions, "I'm going to get us some more drinks," I mumbled to him, ruffling his hair, "If I'm going to have to put up with that little turd's voice all night, I better be tipsy,"
Haymitch and Atlas seemed highly enthused by that suggestion.
Finn and Rory playing protective Mum and Dad, we love to see it.
not long now
x
(also tysm for 2k)