Chapter Text
The lights on the stage dim slightly as the big screen shows a logo for the 68th Hunger Games. This must be the introductory stuff the audience got to see as we were sweating on those pedestals. The music they play sounds absolutely atrocious, but I probably shouldn't say that out loud as my very first post-Games remarks. I cannot believe they're playing music over this.
The camera pans around while we're still in the tubes. Caesar (in the recording) tells everyone about how the water is going to rush over our plates as soon as we're in place. They must want to brag about their own genius idea one more time. Narcissists.
And here we come. We all rise into place and the 60-second countdown is reduced to 10-seconds. The gong rings out and I see myself crab-run with my high knees as we all storm towards the Cornucopia. They briefly show which Tributes are running instead of entering the fight--and I see that Quill stays on his pedestal while everyone else runs for a few seconds longer than everyone else. He watches who goes where before deciding whether to enter the fray.
The music fades to play all of our yells as we run in towards the Cornucopia. I snag my backpack and throw the axe...and it clips Madlin in the ear! The Games pause for the first time.
"Now, Arling," Caesar says, looking down at his prepared questions. "In this moment here--" he starts, but the screen shifts to show me throwing it from three different angles--"it seemed like you didn't even turn to look when you were throwing that axe, but did so with such force and precision for a skinny young man like you. You seemed to run right towards them. Have you used axes before back in District Six?"
"No," I shake my head. "I picked one up for the first time on the first day of Training."
"Wow," Caesar says, dropping his jaw and looking fake-surprised at the audience. They laugh for some reason. But my eyes are glued so tightly to the screens in front of me showing the Games that I keep forgetting the audience is even here. And that everyone in Panem is watching. I try not to sweat too much. Caesar keeps going: "Such impressive Training! You know, folks, that the Training component of the Games is so essential and important. The edict with the first Hunger Games said it: 'the Tributes are to be trained in the art of survival.' The Games don't work without the Training. Would you agree, Arling?"
I nod. Caesar looks at me for a beat longer, apparently not anticipating my silence. The audience laughs at the stumble.
"A man of few words?" Caesar laughs, smiling out to the cameras. "Maybe this'll be quick then!"
The Games resume. My axe flies through the air and Madlin doesn't even see it coming. It seems to take off a chunk of her right ear, which she is concerned about for all of one millisecond before she hurls a spear out somewhere. They zoom in on specific deaths as they get particularly gruesome. According to them, Xavier is the first to officially die after Hero shoots an arrow right through his heart. So Xavier came in 24th. It cuts to Crystal sawing off Nickel's head with some sort of curved knife looking thing. She's second...but also 23rd. Venus drags a knife across Trinity's throat swiftly before Trinity even realizes someone is behind her. She's 22nd.
We ignore the actual gore for a moment to zoom in on Ulysses as he focuses in on me and almost gets to me, but Graham from Nine jabs him with that knife. We see that Graham was distributing quick, sharp stabs to a number of Tributes--Ivy first, then he gets one in Madlin!! Madlin was in ROUGH shape, it seems. He goes to jab his third and he gets it in, but, unlike the others, the victim doesn't even flinch away. He turns and jabs his knife into Graham's gut, but it gives me just enough time to get away. The Games stop.
"Now this was a lucky break for you, wasn't it?" He asks me before winking to the audience. He's a pretty terrible showman and not even that great of a regular host, so I'm not sure who gave him this job or that hideous suit.
"Yeah." I nod, spacing out a little bit as I stare at Graham's bulging eyes of horror and pain. Where the frame is paused, he is just starting to reach for the dagger in his gut. It's mortifying and makes me say nothing more. His eyes watch me move as I shift in my chair. Or, at least, it feels like they do.
"Let's jump back in!" Caesar declares, and we cut back to the gore to show Piper getting mostly decapitated by Atlas. She finishes 21st. We zoom in to quickly see Jasmine and Booma reach for the same backpack. They both stop and try to be the one that keeps it, but this proves fatal for them both. Venus puts several knives into Piper back and neck while Madlin jabs a spear through Booma. Piper's pulse stops a few seconds before Booma's, or so says the Caesar that was announcing live that day, because Piper 'officially' comes in 20th and Booma gets 19th.
Zooming back in on Ivy as she reaches to grab the knife that Graham got into her left shoulder. As she pauses, Hero loads his bow. She doesn't even see it coming, but slices right through her neck. 18th.
Dustin appears, already bloody, but not currently being attacked. He's trying to grab supplies, but he stumbles. Ulysses tackles him and drives a big dagger into his gut, making him come in 17th.
The cameras cut back to show that this is, more or less, all of the killing that happened right in the surrounding area of the Cornucopia. Unlucky for them, Orion and Graham have almost gotten away...but not quite. In their last moments of visibility before getting to the tree line, Hero gets an arrow through Orion's skull. Graham turns to look and trips, falling down and spilling his supplies everywhere. As soon as he sits up, an arrow pierces his chest. 17th and 16th.
Instead of following any of us who get away, we zoom in on the Careers as they look to each other with stomach-churning grins of satisfaction. They don't even say anything--they each just wipe off the blood from the weapon in their hands as they assess all of the supplies around them. Hero re-joins from his archery post on the far side of the Cornucopia, and he makes six. They're thrilled they all lived.
Madlin stumbles but insists she's fine.
"Who got you?" Crystal asks sharply, eyeing Madlin's injuries. Ulysses watches from a few feet away while everyone else steps back.
"I don't know," Madlin shrugs. "I'm literally fine, though."
"Girl..." Crystal says condescendingly, "You don't have an ear."
The Games pause just so everyone can laugh at this. I don't laugh, though. I'm glad that they show everyone watching in the Districts the footage of the Games in full so that they don't stare at me the whole time.
I think about Con and Fuller. They're back home in Six...but I have no clue what they're doing. District Six hasn't had a Victor since we were infants. Are they celebrating? Is everyone happy? Or is everyone horrified at what I've done?
The Games resume and Crystal and Madlin end up arguing, but it's Ulysses who comes out of nowhere and slashes a sword-looking-thing right down into her neck. She dies almost immediately, or so the graphic on screen indicates. She comes in 14th and completes the group of 11 cannons I remember hearing on the first night.
We fast forward rather quickly as each of us on our own tries their best to run as far as possible. The Careers team up and assemble a pile of supplies for themselves, but they opt to not initially set up camp at the Cornucopia so that some Tribute might come back searching for something they need. It's awful to hear them giddily plan the death of some unknown Tribute. They hunt around for a bit that night, but we get to the night within moments. We see all the faces in the sky and the Games pause right before Trinity's face should fade into Piper's. My heart drops as soon as it pauses because I know exactly where this line of questioning is going to go.
"Arling," Caesar asks, "I think we all know whose photo comes next. Do you have anything you want to say about your late District partner's family and rest of Six about little Piper?"
I swallow hard as Caesar points the microphone towards me.
"Ummm..." I pause. "Yes. I want to say that, while I didn't know her well, Piper became, even if just for a brief period of time, a friend to me. We were stuck in an impossible situation together and we were the only piece of home that either of us had. I'll be grateful for the rest of my life that she was there when we both needed each other just to make it through."
"Touching." Caesar adds, hamming up his (seemingly real?) tears. The Games promptly proceed. We see the rest of the faces in the sky, and then we fast forward to morning.
The next morning, the mosquitoes arrive. I quickly spray on the insect repellant, but the other Tributes don't fair as well. Feller wakes up dehydrated and covered in big red bumps. Zero gets bitten pretty well, as do Lavender and Skinner. Turns out they weren't sleeping too far from me that first night. Lavender is near the reed field and sees me walk by. It doesn't look like she has any weapons at this point, though.
The Games pause as mosquitos descend on Radia.
"Now Arling," Caesar grins, "Were you aware, at this point in the Games, that you happened to have picked up one of the only insect repellant in the arena?"
My jaw actually drops. There is simply no way I got that lucky. Lucky things don't happen to me. I got reaped for the Hunger Games. That is about as unlucky as you can get in Panem.
"No." I say to him.
"No one could believe it!" Caesar laughs. The audience does, too. "We couldn't quite figure it out for a bit, but when we interviewed Flaminio that night, he told us all! He said they didn't even think anyone would spot the repellant on the first day! Such luck."
I nod, but I don't smile. Caesar shoots me a look and the Games resume.
The cameras track me and my walk towards the cornucopia. We see Quill in his tree and watch Esther cover herself in mud. The audience chuckles as she does, which concerns me. We get a brief glimpse at the Careers meandering around--they stumble across a jet-black river with too many sets of eyeballs sticking up out of the water. They rightfully retreat and get back just before I arrive.
They don't show Quill and I reuniting at all. Instead, they show the Careers on their various escapades that morning. Atlas and Crystal go towards the field of dead trees that Quill, Esther, and I should be discovering soon enough. They argue the whole time, most especially when Atlas tries to flirt with her. They get mad enough that they turn back before they even reach their destination.
Then we cut to Hero and Venus. They cautiously pass the reed field and continue on towards the gorge. But as soon as they exit the tree line and stand on the rocky edge, the giant swam of mosquitos starts approaching from the bottom of the ravine.
The two of them eye the bugs as they approach, but they don't run at first. It isn't until Hero gets stung for the first time that they take off. It's unclear whether they think they're more deadly than they really are, but they run back to the cornucopia so fast that it shocks me.
They burst back onto the scene, Atlas proves himself useless, and Crystal sprays them both with the repellant. The Games pause.
"Arling," Caesar starts, "You seemed to develop quite a knack for hiding during these Games. Can you tell us--at this point in the Games, where are you hiding?"
"The trees." I say quietly, pointing to the edge of the cornucopia clearing on the screen. "I was looking for Quill and Esther."
"I think I speak for everyone when I say that the alliance you and those two Tributes from District Eight formed was...simply beautiful to watch. And so tragic to see end. Had you three agreed to anything before the Games began?" He asks it almost accusatorially.
I shift in my big, uncomfortable seat. I can hear the leather creak and I really hope the microphone can't pick it up even though Caesar is pointing it towards me for a response.
I go to speak, but my throat feels dryer than sand. I cough, which the audience chuckles at as Caesar dives to avoid being in the line of attack of my wheeze.
"Did you bring us some new disease from the arena?" He asks, which inspires rounds of hearty laughs and cheers. This one feels different, though. So far I have been numbly moving through this process and nodding along like a good puppet...but these people are laughing at the fact that twenty-three kids are dead. They think it's hilarious to imagine the filthy, ravenous District kids spawning a new disease in their televised death match. It's one of the first times the Capitol has made me feel rightly and truly dirty.
"I met both Quill and Esther during Training," I say into the microphone once the laughter lapses. "I hoped they would both want to be in an alliance once we got into the arena."
"And clearly they did!" Caesar gawks. "Who were you more excited to see--Quill or Esther?"
What a horrid question.
"Both of them." I say a little sharply.
"Of course." He nods, then pauses. "But it was totally Esther, wasn't it?"
He and the audience break out into a laughter that I cannot help but feel is a bit misplaced. Why does the mention of Esther elicit this kind of response?
"What makes you say that?" I ask Caesar, sounding a bit accusatory myself.
"You seemed pretty fond of her during the Games." He says, raising his eyebrows at me. "The long conversation out on the rock? When you confessed your feelings?"
"What?" I ask, confused. He smiles at me but his expression drops slightly. For a brief moment, I think I might see a little bit of the real Caesar buried down in here behind all the makeup and overcompensation. His vacant eyes send me an ominous warning to stop speaking. Then, as quickly as the vulnerable glint arrives, it disappears entirely.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" Caesar asks the audience. He sounds practically giddy. They cheer and whoop. What in the world are they talking about?
"Let's continue!" Caesar announces, and so we do.