A/N: That's Phoenix (but imagine her with longer hair)⬆️ She's portrayed by Phoebe Tonkin.

Day 7

Name: Phoenix Kentwell
District: 2
Initial Scoring: 11
Weapon Of Choice: Throwing Knife
Weakness: Dependent
Judges' Comments: Phoenix is remarkable with a blade. She is very skilled and has a high chance of winning. Unfortunately, she is incapable of finding independence from her sister.

* * *

THINGS have been going pretty slow lately. It's only us and a few other tributes left, and Venus has been really on edge.

"What are you two doing!" she yells at Gem and Sapphire.

They've been throwing rocks at the side of the Cornucopia for the past 20 minutes, trying to see who can throw the farthest.

"They're just kids, V," I say.
"I don't care! We still have four days, at least, and they're driving me crazy! You know what? That's it. I'm done," she says and throws her hands up in the air. Venus picks up her axe and starts walking towards the girls.
"Woah! No, V!" I grab her by the arm and lock her in a bear hug.
"It's fine, P! I'm just gonna hurt Gem a little bit. Just one swing, that's all I'm asking!" She says, trying to shake out from my grip.

At this point, Gem and Sapphire have stopped throwing rocks and started to scurry for their weapons. They know that if Venus gets loose, there will be no stopping her.

"Calm down," I say to Venus, tightening my grip around her. "We still need them. Numbers are everything out here. If we keep them a little bit longer, you stand a better chance at winning."

With these words, Venus stops moving, and I know I can let her go. Venus has always had a sort of off switch, same as my father. If you remind her that she needs to be the best at something, even if it's at something as stupid as cleaning her room the fastest, she'll do anything to make sure she wins.

"Fine," Venus says, and starts to walk away. "Dad would've done what he needed to," she mumbles under her breath, and my mind wanders back to our home in the Victor's Village of District 2.

* * *

My dad is just like Venus. He won the 23rd Hunger Games, back when training first began in District 2. Ever since we were born, he would pit us against each other, saying that competition was key to survival. Venus always beat me at everything, and it was clear that my dad liked her more than he liked me. To him, raising a champion was always more important than raising a family.

That's why my mom and I got so close. One day, after one of my dad's obstacle courses, we came home and my dad took Venus out to the yard to throw axes with her. I sat on the windowsill and watched, feeling discouraged. My mom came to sit with me, and held me in her arms. She told me that strength isn't always the best way to beat people. She taught me that sometimes, just knowing how someone thinks, can prove more effective than going head to head with them.

From that day on, I learned how to get in Venus' head, and I started winning some of the competitions. It was great, and my dad finally started paying attention to me. That was until one night, I heard him yelling at the top of his lungs in the kitchen. When Venus came to bed she was crying. I asked what had happened, she looked at me and I saw the big black eye, shining in the dim light. My dad had been so angry about her losing the competitions, he had hit her right across the face. I couldn't bear to see my sister hurt like this, so I stopped competing all together. I started working with our youngest sister Clove. I taught her how to throw knives, and we let Venus do what she needed to do. Ever since then, I've vowed to never let my dad get to Clove. It was too late for Venus, she would always fight at all costs, but Clove could be different. She had to be.

I'm caught up in my thoughts when something catches my eye. I look to the trees, and the branches start moving. By this point, all of us are on our feet and armed. As we start walking towards the tree line, a girl comes out with her hands up and no weapons.

"Please. Don't kill me. I just want to talk," the girl says.
"What makes you think we want to talk to you?" Iris questions, readying her spear.
"There are three other tributes out there, one of which looks like she can wrestle a bear, and the other two are allies from 12, one got a high score, but the other is probably useless. These little kids won't be any help to you," she says, pointing at Gem and Sapphire. "But I can use a sword, and I would serve as an extra body you can afford to lose, should things go south."

Venus, Astraea, Iris, and I exchange glances. We all know what she's saying makes sense, but can we really trust an outsider?

"You say you're good with a sword," I contemplate. "We can't exactly just take your word for it."
"That's true," says Venus. "What to do, what to do. Oh! I know. Astraea here is also one to dabble in the weapon. What if you two had a little sparring match. Then we can see how 'good' you really are with a sword."
"Sounds like fun," Astraea agrees.

I grab a sword from the Cornucopia and toss it to the girl.

"Have at it." I say to her, seeing the terrified expression on her face.

She takes the sword and the test begins. Astraea starts taking swings, but the girl's parries are impeccable. Before we know it, she gets a few swings in on Astraea. At first it was just for fun, but now, Astraea is going for blood. She doesn't want to look bad in front of us, so she's trying to kill this girl. Venus and Iris know exactly what's happening, but neither want to stop it.

"Enough!" I finally yell. "You've proved your point."
"Yes, you have," says Venus, as she walks up to the girl. "What's your name?"
"Cavalla. I'm from District 10," she answers, completely out of breath.
"Cavalla? Isn't that Italian for something?" asks Iris.
The girl nods. "It means horse."

Venus starts laughing so hard and she grips her stomach. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she says mid-laugh. "So you're telling me that when your parents were told they were having a beautiful baby girl, your parents turned around and thought horse would make a good name?!"

Even though we tried not to, the rest of us can't help but giggle.

"Honey, I saw a really cute horse today, looked just like our daughter," Venus says, raising her voice to imitate a mother. "What if, now hear me out . . . we name her after the long faced, hairy beast that she'll clean up after one day."

Now we're all really dying.

"I love it!" She continues, now lowering her voice to play the father. "It's even better than the donkey we were thinking about before."

Cavalla just stands there, taking the jokes. But once we've all had our laughs, things start to get serious.

"Well," Venus starts. "Thank you, Horse, for giving us a good laugh. As far as I'm concerned, you're in. Anyone else?"

We all pipe up in agreement.

"Okay. So that makes 7 careers against 3 tributes. Hmm. For some reason, those numbers aren't adding up to me. Are they adding up for you, Phoenix?"
"No, they aren't," I reply, realizing what Venus has got up her sleeve.
"So, here's what I'm thinking," she says with a sinister smirk growing across her lips. "Iris is a master at the spear, Phoenix is a whiz with a knife, Cavalla can clearly use a sword, and Astraea . . . well Astraea is over 16."

At this point, Gem and Sapphire are starting to see where she is going with this.

"Well, what about you?" Sapphire pips up.

Venus takes her axe, and without breaking eye contact with Sapphire, hurls it at one of the practice targets we drew on a nearby tree. Venus continues to stare down Sapphire, daring her to look at the target. Finally, the tension becomes too great for her, and Sapphire turns to see the axe, lodged perfectly in the bullseye.

"Now, as I was saying, there are only three more tributes out there and I'm feeling like 7's a crowd. So, here's what we'll do. Gem, Sapphire. Only one of you will be continuing with our little group here. You two can fight it out here and see who wins, or you can both scurry off into the woods and we can come get you later. It's up to you, really, whenever you're ready, just make your pick."

Gem and Sapphire look at each other, neither knowing what to do. Finally, Gem makes the first move. She takes her spear and sweeps Sapphire's legs out from under her. Gem then points the end of the blade at Sapphire's throat.

"I'm sorry," she almost whispers.
"Don't be," replies Sapphire. She kicks the spear away from her throat and lunges at Gem.

Pinning Gem to the ground, Sapphire pulls out a knife she's had hidden in her sleeve the whole time. She holds it over Gem's chest, but hesitates just long enough for Gem to spit in her face and punch her right in the nose. Stunned, Sapphire stumbles off of Gem, holding her nose. Gem charges her once again with the spear, but Sapphire makes a break for the Cornucopia. She gets inside the horn where she is out of our view. Gem hurls the spear into the horn, and we hear a scream, but no cannon.

"What's she doing in there?" asks Iris, and we start walking to the Cornucopia.

We get about 20 feet from the girls when Sapphire's faint voice is heard echoing out of the horn. "You made this personal, bitch."

A gunshot sounds and a flare comes shooting out of the Cornucopia. It hits Gem. The cannon fires, but the pieces are just starting to fall when Sapphire limps out with a gaping wound in her leg and blood flowing from her nose.

"I'd like to see Cavalla do that," Sapphire grimaces with a sly smile, and she spits blood onto Cavalla's feet. "Newcomer."
"Well done," says Venus, clapping. She puts her hand on Sapphire's shoulder and walks her away from us. She's talking, but we can't hear what she's saying. Next thing we see, Sapphire tries to make a break for it, but Venus has got her arm around her. Within seconds, Sapphire's neck is snapped and the cannon sounds.

"Hey, P?" Venus starts to walk back towards us.
"Yeah?"
"Why do people keep agreeing to play my games?"
"What?" I ask her, confused on what she's going on about.
"Why do people keep agreeing to play my games? I mean Sapphire of all people should have known. She saw what happened to Ivory."
"I guess you just have a way with people," I reply sarcastically.
"I do, don't I? I think it's my voice. I have a very soothing tone," Venus says as she now walks around Cavalla. She puts her arm on Cavalla's shoulder and you can see her whole body tense up.
"You see, Horse-"
"It's Cavalla."
Venus stops, looks at her, and laughs. "No it isn't. But as I was saying, if I ever ask you to play a game, you wanna know how to win?"
"How?"
"Run. It's your best bet." Venus pats Cavalla on the back and starts walking back to the Cornucopia. "Welcome to the team, Horse!"

Iris and Astraea follow Venus to the Cornucopia, but Cavalla stops. I come up behind her and hand her a sword.

"Don't worry about Venus. You'll learn to laugh her off," I say, and give her a warm smile.
"Thanks," Cavalla says, gesturing to the sword, and we hurry to catch up with the others.