A/N: That's Astraea⬆️ She's portrayed by Dove Cameron.

Day 11

Name: Astraea Kellet
District: 1
Initial Scoring: 8
Weapon Of Choice: Sword
Weakness: Empathetic
Judges' Comments: Astraea is well trained in wielding a sword, and she has successfully embedded herself into this year's career pack. However, her strengths do not match those of her fellow alliance members, and her tendency to let her emotions cloud her decision making can pose as challenges for her in the games.

* * *

I woke up to the sun, piercing through the side of Iris and I's tent. As I unzipped the entrance flap, the sound of scraping metal rang in my tired ears. The other girls were huddled up in front of the Cornucopia, sharpening their weapons and eating packages of dried fruits.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to join the party," teases Phoenix.
"How long has the sun been up?" I ask, worried I've slept through most of the day.
"As far as we know, 5 hours," Iris says. "But it was sunny when we woke up, so it should be about noon."

Not a moment later, the mockingjays started going bezerk, just like they do every day around this time.

"I hate those freaking birds," Venus groans. "Anything that loud can't be good for the environment. They'll have deers killing themselves before their dumb song's even over."

I just begin to open my pack of dried apple slices, when I notice a black cloud out of the corner of my eye.

"What is that?" I say, looking across the field to see a plume of smoke floating above the distant trees.
"Looks like a campfire," answers Phoenix with a sudden grin. "Where there's a campfire, there's a tribute."
"There's one over there, too!"Cavalla points, looking both excited and scared at the same time. "What do we do?"
"We go after them, obviously," Iris joins.
"Nope," says Venus, without even looking up from her package of dried bananas. "Do you think these were sprayed with pesticides?" She examined the bag.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I'm just saying. Bugs like bananas, the Capitol hates bugs. You do the math."
"Not the pesticides, Venus! The campfires. Why shouldn't we go after them?" I shout.
"First of all, lose the lip," Venus starts. "Second of all, you really think that two tributes on opposite sides of the arena just happened to start fires at the same time? Not likely."
"She's right," Phoenix agrees.
"Of course I'm right. Try to come up with a time when I was wrong," Venus laughs.
"So then what do we do?" asks Cavalla.

I think for a second, but then realize that I'm a career. I was trained for moments like these, and so was everyone else here, except maybe Cavalla.

"I say we go after them. We can take on whatever pyromaniac lit those fires," I say, standing and grabbing my sword.

Cavalla jumps up to the thought of going on a real tribute hunt. "Agreed. Come on guys. We're careers. This is what we do."
"Correction," Venus says, pointing to everyone except Cavalla as she speaks. "We're careers, she's a moron, and you're gonna get yourself killed listening to her."
"Well, I'm in," says Iris.
"Me too," Phoenix agrees, being inspired by our enthusiasm.
"Then it's settled," I start. "Phoenix, you and I will pair up and take the fire on the left. Cavalla and Iris, you guys take the one on the right."
"Phoenix and Iris," Venus chimes in again. "You guys look out for these two. Make sure they don't die."
"What? You don't think I can handle myself out there?" I ask.
"Not in the least bit," she replies, getting up and walking back to her tent. "If my sister ends up dead, I'll kill you all," she calls without looking back at us. Only Phoenix finds this funny.

Finally being able to lead, I split up the group and send us off in opposite directions. Phoenix and I to the left, Cavalla and Iris to the right, just like I planned. We arm ourselves and take off towards our respective fires.

* * *

As Phoenix and I start to approach the smoking fire, she grabs my arm and pulls me behind a bush.
"What?" I ask.
"Shhh. There's gotta be someone here. If this really is a trap, they'll come checking their fire soon."

We sit and wait for about five minutes, when a little dark haired girl from District 12 peeks her head out from behind a tree.

"There you are," whispers Phoenix, smiling and starting to crawl around under the dense vegetation on the forest floor.
"Where are you going?"
"Just stay here," she says, shooing me away.

I watch as she crawls her way to the tree 12 was behind, going undetected. Before I know it, I hear a scream and Phoenix is dragging the girl by the foot, out towards her fire. I jump up from behind the bush and grab the other foot as the girl keeps screaming. Phoenix switches to the girls arms and holds them behind her back.

"How many of you are out here?" Phoenix yells in the poor girl's face.
"No one. I swear," She cries.
"Don't lie to us," I warn.
"I think I know how to make her talk," says Phoenix, dragging the girl closer to the fire.

She holds the girl's face just inches away from the flames, letting the intense heat and smoke choke her up. Her face turns red and sweat beads start forming.

"Ready to talk yet?" I say.
"Three! There are three of us," she screams.
"Very good. See how easy that was?" Phoenix lets the girl hang over the heat as she speaks, then pulls her back and throws her to the ground.

All of a sudden I get a weird, scary feeling, and all my confidence from before drains from my body.

"Hey, Phoenix. If there are two more out there, who's to say we aren't being watched?"

Just then, the trees behind me start rustling and I brace myself for what's to come.

"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," says Venus, breaking through the trees and approaching us.

As she gets closer, a body starts to emerge behind her and we can see it's the other girl from 12. She's got big, swollen lips, and blood dripping from her nose. Venus drags her by her blonde ponytail all the way over to us.

"You idiots should have listened to me. Caught this bitch aiming her little arrows at you not 30 feet from here," she throws a silver bow and quiver at my feet, causing me to hop back.
"Lilac!" The dark haired girl says, trying to run to her friend but being pulled back by Phoenix.
"Olive!" The blonde one yells.
"Shut up!" Venus yells, giving Lilac a swift kick to the ribs. "I'm going back to the Cornucopia. Get rid of these two and do it quickly."

With that, Venus disappears back into the darkness of the forest. Just then, it hits me. Venus is trusting me to do something for the first time these entire games. I can't let her down.

"Take Olive here to the tree she was hiding behind," I order Phoenix. "I think it's time for some target practice."

"No!" screams Lilac. She gets up and starts trying to charge at me, but she's weak and bloodied.

I grab the rope I keep in my backpack, and push Lilac towards the tree across from Olive. Tying her arms around the trunk, and securing her legs with more rope, making sure she can't escape. Finally, I make a final loop around her forehead, making sure her eyes are fixated on Olive. Phoenix does the same to Olive.

"Now," I say, picking up the silver bow. "Let's see if I can get the hang of this."

I stand with my back to Lilac, pulling back the arrow, and aiming it at Olive.

"Is my form right, Ms. Hunter?" I ask Lilac, just having some fun. As I ready my fingers to let go, I look into Olive's eyes. She looks so scared, and every whimper she makes echoes right through me. I can feel every tear on her cheek roll down my face, and it burns. I just can't do it. I put down my arm, and hang my head.

"You do it," I say, handing the weapon to Phoenix.
"With pleasure," she chirps. "Steady . . . aim . . . fire!"

Bullseye. Phoenix lets go of the arrow, sending it straight through Olive's throat. The cannon fires, and the bloodcurdling scream that comes out of Lilac repeats over and over again in my ears. As the hole in Olive's neck starts oozing with red, I have to look away.

"You got something to say, 12?" Phoenix moves on to Lilac.

She cuts her down, and throws her on the ground. I stand there and watch as Phoenix kicks, punches, and scratches Lilac to a bloody pulp. She walks away for a split second to grab the bow, but a second cannon fires.

"Hmm. Didn't even mean to kill her, but hey," Phoenix shrugs. "C'mon. Let's get back to the Cornucopia. It might just be the 5 of us left and it's Cavalla's turn to go."

She takes off and I hesitate, staring at the two girls from District 12. I can remember seeing them holding hands on the chariot, and on stage with Caesar Flickerman, telling the world about their friendship. Now they were here in the arena, still together, just in a different way. I turn away and start running to catch up with Phoenix, hoping that this nightmare would end soon.