[just thought you should know the last 3 chapters have been posted on the 5th of each month and i thought that was pretty cool. okay, enjoy the chapter!]
Okay, Ariadne, you can do this. Just open the door, throw a few things around, and then leave. Easy. Come on. Go. If you can't handle this, then you're doomed. Just open the door, and go in. Go, go, go, go, g-
"Has the door stumped you, darling?" Garnett called from behind her, causing her to snap her neck up to look at the boy.
"It's super simple," he joked, walking past her to the tall mahogany door and giving it a light push. "You just push on it and little, just like this, and boom! It's open."
Ariadne gave the boy the meanest look she could muster, but ended up breaking her facade with a laugh when the boy hit the top of his head on the low entrance of the door. "Do you not know how to enter a room?" She joked, waltzing in past him. "You just take a step forward, just like this, an-"
"Oh, shut it." He mumbled, giving his head a hard rub before joining her inside the room.
The two observed the room together, the joking atmosphere floating away.
Training day. The one day all the tributes had to practice their skills one last time before the Games being. Translation - the day given to you to show off with a few pointy objects in hand and go ally-hunting. You were supposed to figure out two crucial things for the days to come; who to kill and who to align with. It was quite literally a life or death deciding day, and the pressure was getting to the brunette. On her last training day she was able to just squeak by and go unnoticed, but she was sure today wouldn't be the same case.
Garnett bumped shoulders with her, bringing her back down from deep within her thoughts. "Just stay low, I guess? We aren't really looking to impress anybody by this point."
Ariadne shrugged, walking aimlessly over to the closest station they had.
▪️
It had turned out to be knot tying, which did nothing but make the girl frustrated to the point of just just flinging it around in the air until the tangles came out. She brought the rope close to her eyes, trying to think of where she going wrong. Stupid knots, good for nothing, useless pieces of-
"What did the rope ever do to you?" A voice from beside her joked, causing her to clench her jaw.
"Hilarious, Finnick. What is this, Make Fun of Ariadne day? Come to rub your knot-tying skills in my face?" Ariadne asked tiredly.
"You know me so well." Finnick laughed without even trying to deny it, his fingers moving at a mile per minute that gave the girl nothing but a headache.
Ariadne had moved a few steps over to the snare section, recognizing everything easily from books she'd read in school. When she was making quick enough work of the snare that she could handle not looking, she looked back up to Finnick as he continued to work on his rope. "Making any progress there, Oh Rope Masterer?"
"Actually," Finnick replied, a smile growing on his face as he finished his last knot, "yes. It is exactly what I wanted."
It wasn't until then that he held up his rope that Ariadne could recognize what he had made. A noose. This brought a small laugh out of the girl, watching Finnick joking place it around his head and fake a dead face. It was almost humorous as a few of the Gamemakers looked down concerningly from above, but the boy was quick to undo it and place the rope back on the table with his hands up in surrender.
"Where are you going to go next?" Finnick asked the girl as they walked away from their stations, him walking obviously towards the tridents.
"I don't know, I was supposed to try and make allies but-" She stopped with a shrug, her eyes flickering up to Finnick.
He somehow saw the question she was asking with her eyes and gave the girl a small nod. Ariadne wasn't if Haymitch had talked to a lot of people, but she was pretty sure that Finnick was one of them. He was strong, and even though arrogant, he was extremely loyal. Her eyes cut over to Katniss, who was talking with Peeta, and tried to find something on the girl that she hadn't noticed before. Something that made her so worth protecting.
Finnick nodded once more, more to himself, after a minute of silence and shot Ariadne a quick salute before walking over to the tridents. Ariadne contemplated going with him, but decided after a minute not to.
Instead, she walked over to Beetee and Wiress, odd company that she had found comforting all those Games they had mentored together. The two were too deep in their own world to even notice her walking up, but were quick to smile when they did.
"Ah, Ariadne Stone." Beetee said in his typical, wise and kind tone. "How are you?"
Ariadne sat beside the two as they worked over the poisonous plants station, giving Wiress a small squeeze and smile as she did. "Slightly worse than yesterday, but better than I'll be tomorrow."
Beetee, somehow always on a level of knowledge much beyond everyone else, seemed to appreciate her tiny riddle and gave her a nod of approval.
The three all sat and talked amongst eachother, mostly about the plants in front of them, but occasionally about things they had discovered about the other tributes. Wiress, who spoke in a way that Beetee always had to translate, seemed to observe a lot about the others, which was comical to Ariadne. It was always the ones you'd least expect figuring out all of your secrets.
She had also caught Katniss' eye across the room every few minutes, who seemed to be studying the girl and her friendship with the two seniors from afar. Ariadne gave a half hearted smile, but the District 12 tribute just turned away.
They were in a comfortable chatter when they were interrupted by Johanna's loud voice across the room. "Hey Stone!" She hollered, a wicked grin on her face as all the other tributes turned, "look what I found!"
In her arms were twin blades, too wickedly sharp for the way she was swinging them around. Twin swords - Ariadne's signature weapon from her previous games. With one in each hand, they always made the girl feel slightly more safe, or maybe just less exposed. She figured if she could hide behind the fancy killing machines, then no one would be able to notice her shaky hands.
Ariadne bit her lip, suddenly flooded with memories just from the sight of the two.
As they always did whenever she thought of her previous Games, images flashed across her mind. Each one sent shocks that seemed to reverberate among her whole body, but it was not an unfamiliar sensation.
As always, they were too quick to fully comprehend, but not fast enough to shrug off.
A boy, dressed in what was unmistakeably the uniform of the Games.
The image cut, the boy then looking down at his abdomen. No matter how hard she tried, she could never focus on what he was looking at.
It flashed again, her vision blurring as she sprinted closer to the boy.
And then she was crouching in front of him-
And then she was looking down at her own hands and-
And the last image, which seemed to be tattooed into her memory, were her hands gleaming back at her, covered in red.
As she blinked, the image of Johanna in the distance of her training room finally flickered back. No matter how many times the visions came, they always felt like snippets of a stop motion movie that she couldn't put together. She could distinctly remember the first time they happened, on the jet ride home directly after she had won. When she told the nurses about them, no hint of surprise crossed any of their faces.
They were memories, the nurses had told her, and there was nothing they could do about them.
"So what do you say, Eight?" Johanna sing-songed, the swords still dangling loosely from her lazy grip. "Show us how it's done?"
By this point, the entire room was watching her with peaked interest. Even the Game Makers, who had previously been chatting from their balcony above with their second glasses of champagne, had silenced themselves to watch the area below.
Ariadne drew in a breath, and after cursing Johanna in her mind, prepared herself to leave the safety of her tiny corner station.
"Only because you asked so nicely," she sighed, and Johanna squealed and jumped on the spot like a happy puppy. "But only for a minute!"
Johanna nodded, a smile still on her face, knowing that she had already won. Ariadne took the swords from her friend's hands, and tested them out with a swinging motion of her wrists. She hated how the feeling felt natural, hated how she could feel so comfortable knowing what was in her hands were meant to end lives. She walked up to the sparring mat, where a man already stood covered in protective pads.
She smiled hastily at the man, taking in his weight and height in attempts to understand how he would start the match and how she could end it.
"Ready?" He asked quietly, raising his single sword into an attacking position. Ariadne bounced lightly on her feet, remembering the tips she had to remember in order to make the match quick and simple.
Light on your feet, head up at all times, watch your boundaries, keep your wrists loose.
She rolled her neck quickly, looking up at the clock overhead before back down at her opponent.
"Ready."
The match began almost instantly, with the man taking the first move just as she had expected. He raced towards her, relentlessly gaining ground in attempts to push her off the mat. He raised his sword high above his head, slashing down ruthlessly.
Ariadne met his attacks forcefully, ducking and spinning as she almost danced around her partner. The moves felt fluid and deliberate, each swing of her swords had a purpose and struck home on her target just as she had planned.
It wasn't long before he was cornered on the mat, his moves getting sloppy and rushed as he tried anything to get her to retreat back to the centre. The ending was close in Ariadne's sight, and she saw her opening just as he turned to spin.
Her left blade butted the back of his knees, hitting the pads with enough force to send him toppling down. As he fell into a kneeled position, her right blade quickly swung and stopped centimetres from his throat.
Ariadne smiled softly as his hands raised in surrender, knowing that the match was over. Her final move would have been the death blow, leaving no need to continue.
"Good work." She said to the padded man, who sat panting and slouched on the mat. She rested her blades on the ground and stuck her hand out, which the man grabbed thankfully as she helped to pull him up.
"Your left swing is impressive, catches me off guard every time." He laughed, wiping the sweat off of his brow. "You're gonna kick some serious ass out there."
Ariadne flushed, and said nothing as she turned to tuck back the hair that had escaped from her braid. She froze as she looked around, noticing everyone's eyes focused on her. Even Chaff stood with his jaw dropped, which made the girl impressed. He never stopped talking.
In attempts to avoid the stares, and glares from the Careers, Ariadne turned her attention back to the clock overhead. It was her turn for her jaw to drop slightly, as she read the number three times before confirming what she saw.
9 seconds, that was all it took for her to win the match.
9 seconds.
I've been waiting to write this chapter for as long as I could remember, I always loved the training room scenes :)
Also, while I'm here if like to shoot a shameless self-promo to my newest book - Starlight. I AM SO STOKED TO SHARE THIS STORY, it's a Stiles Stilinski short story au and I think any Teen Wolf fans (or enjoyers of a good short story and teenage friendships) would like it a lot!