act one , chapter five ...
let the games begin !

( now playing ... children of
the sea ─ black sabbath ! )

── ✧ ──

IT WAS TIME . THE DAY THAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN dreading since last year. The Hunger Games. Clyde and Tabitha had talked to their tributes beforehand, laying down all the things to be aware of, to avoid. . . Anything that they needed. And then if they needed extra help, him and Tabby would give them anything that they needed. They wanted Mags and Finnick to know that there was someone on their side. Clyde was still nervous about if he did a good job. Tabby always reassured him. But sometimes even that didn't feel like enough.

The two mentors were now separated. They wanted to talk to them before Mags and Finnick officially went up into the arena. Clyde with Finnick, Tabby with Mags. Even though Finnick and Mags had mentored Tabby, there was always room for more advice. Not that Finnick probably needed it. He was already skillful on his own, considering that he's the youngest Hunger Games champion to even exist. The two of them now were standing in front of his tube entrance for the game.

"Survival is beneficial, remember that."

"I know, Clyde."

"Not in that sense, Odair," Clyde told him, "Hiding. Food, water, anything to help avoid anyone who's trying to kill you. Hiding's not all that bad, you know."

"Hiding isn't how I survived," Finnick told him.

"I know," Clyde answers, "But saving your energy until someone targets you helps. You're a great fighter. But, it takes more than that."

Finnick gives a nod. Clyde doesn't know if he's really listening to him. He wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't. He was a guy who hid for years of his life. It was pretty much the most cowardly thing to do in Panem's eyes. Finnick looks at him, giving him a nod.

"You've done it. So it must've worked," Finnick told him, "Even though you didn't technically win."

"I survived. That's all that mattered to me," Clyde responded.

A small scoff of amusement escapes Finnick's lips. "Well, not everyone has your way of thinking, Clyde."

The mentor nods in agreement. "I know that, too."

Finnick gives his mentor a small, yet cocky smile before he steps into the small tube that leads him to the arena. Clyde takes a step back, he's still looking at him. He's worried for him. Both of them. He just wants them to make it out safe. Alive.

"Already talked to the stylist?" Clyde asks, "Did she tell you that this is suited for─"

"The tropics? Desert temperature, perhaps?" Finnick finishes, "Yep. I already got that."

Ten seconds 'till launch.

"Well, that's the cue," Clyde tells him, "Keep close to your pack. I heard they were very good people."

"Yeah, okay," Finnick tells him.

He then watched as Finnick officially went up the tube. When he doesn't see him anymore, Clyde then walks out of the launch room that he's in. When he looks around, officially looking for Tabby, he sees some of the peacekeepers dragging out the District Twelve stylist. Clyde almost yells at them. But he knew that he would be next if he did that. He didn't want to actually die.

He didn't know why they were called the peacekeepers. They barely kept any peace around there. All they caused was chaos. He had seen the damage they caused to District Twelve the day before Katniss and Peeta were supposed to have their so-called wedding. Katniss was lucky that Haymitch was able to talk them out of attacking her. That was Haymitch, though. Smooth talker. He knew how to maneuver through tense and stressful situations.

Clyde walks down the hallway of the catacombs. His footsteps are quiet so that he wouldn't risk the peacekeepers going after him, too. He could see his daughter from the distance and she stopped just like he did, probably for the same reason.

When they walk past, Tabby finally walks up to her father. A sigh escaping her lips as she runs a hand through her dark hair. "And they're off."

"Yeah," Clyde says, crossing his arms, "May the odds ever be in their favor."

Tabby scoffed. "Yeah right," she mutters.

They walk together to the rooms they stay in. A lot of times mentors had their own rooms to watch the games from work to get whatever supplies that the tributes needs. Clyde and Tabby knew that they would be sharing one with someone, because for the Quarter Quell, mentors also had to work in alliance, just like the tributes had to.

Clyde and Tabby were the first ones in. Clyde had leaned against the wall, Tabby at a table near the small window that was on her right. She was looking at the screen, watching as the countdown for the games to start had blared in her ears.

Clyde, being nearest to the door could hear the footsteps that were coming from the hall of the catacombs. He didn't think much about it at first. He didn't think anyone was actually walking in here. But he was wrong. He hears the familiar voice cursing to himself.

Haymitch walked into the room. He had t even noticed that Clyde had been in the room before him. But it's when Haymitch looks at Tabby with a wide expression on his face before he turns around. He spots Clyde in the corner of the room, head leaning against the wall. He says nothing to him.

Clyde sits his head up from the wall. He's now standing up straight. He's distracted from what he was supposed to be watching. There he was again, in the same vicinity of Haymitch Abernathy. He felt as if his breath left his body. He didn't know what to say to him at first.

"Clyde. . ." Haymitch began.

"Mitch. . ." Clyde breathes out again.

Mitch. He didn't know if either loved that nickname or hated it. Clyde was the only one who had called him that. He hadn't heard it in the last twenty-five years. Haymitch didn't realize that one person could affect his life so much. Yet, Clyde did. And now, they were in the same room again.

"We'll have to talk," Clyde says to him.

Haymitch nods in agreement. "Yeah. We do," He responds.

"You two can do that later," Tabby told them. It makes both the elders look at her, "The games just started, tributes are dying off already."

Haymitch looked at the kid, and then he looked at Clyde. "You brought the kid?"

"That's my kid. Doesn't concern you," Clyde tells him, "Besides. She won the seventy-third games, I think she's qualified to be a mentor."

Tabby isn't listening. She's too busy keeping an eye on the screen. But she then realized that Haymitch was in the room with them. Which meant only one thing. She turns around to face both of them.

"Don't tell me we're allies," Tabby huffs.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart," Haymitch sneered.

"Hey, alright─ enough. Let's just drop this, okay? Before it gets worse," Clyde tells them, before sitting in the chair next to his daughter, "We have a team to help."

Tabby went quiet. She glares at Haymitch before she looks back at the screen. The only reason she didn't say anything back to Haymitch was because she wanted to keep the peace. She knew her father wanted that.

Meanwhile, Katniss had just made it to the cornucopia. She grabs the bag of arrows and the bow and she quickly shoots one of the tributes in the leg, which makes the fall back in the water. She then points it straight ahead, only to reveal Finnick, who shows Katniss the gold band that Haymitch was supposed to be wearing, but gives away.

"Good thing we're allies, right?" Finnick asks.

She looks down at the gold band, looking back at Finnick. "Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think?" Finnick retorts back, before he glances behind Katniss, "Duck."

Katniss did as told, and before she knew it, Finnick had thrown his trident at one of the tributes behind her, immediately knocking them over.

"Don't trust one and two," Finnick tells her, "I'll take this side, you hold them off. I'll go find Peeta."

Katniss stands up, she shoots another arrow at another tribute, but she barely misses. The other tribute dives in the water. Finnick comes back.

"Katniss, Mags found him! He's over here," Finnick says.

The two of them walk on one of the rock paths that surround the arena. Mags is pointing frantically, and Katniss sees Peeta and another tribute fighting in the water. Katniss begins to point her arrow, but cannot shoot due to Peeta being in the way. She puts the arrow down, and Finnick goes into the water, swimming to try and help the other District Twelve tribute.

But the commotion stops. The splashing stops. Katniss has a worried expression on her face, and so does Haymitch. Tabby looked at him. Both his palms are on the table, eyes focused on the screen. She didn't think that Haymitch would grasp on to a hint of worry.

One of the tributes pops back up, but isn't moving. Both of them worried that it just might've been Peeta. But fortunately, Peeta sprouts out of the water, trying to breathe. He's alive. A sigh of relief escapes from Katniss's lips, as well as Haymitch's and Clyde's.

"That was a close one wasn't it?" Clyde asks. He sounds like he had been holding his breath.

"Too close," Haymitch answers back, "But he can handle his own . . . Sometimes."

Tabby was quiet for a moment. She looked as if she were thinking. She looks back at the other two adults in the room. "He almost died out there without Katniss and Finnick. You sure he can handle his own?"

"Are you questioning what I said?" Haymitch asks. It's obvious that he isn't very happy about that.

"Yes."

"I'll have you know, Miss Hammerhead, that Peeta is one of the strongest people I know, alright?" Haymitch told him, "Don't doubt him."

Tabby turns back around, she focuses on the screen again. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever," She mutters.

"That's enough," Clyde tells him, "Now I'm sure everyone has their qualities. Working together is most important. They combine their skills together to make a team. That's how that works."

The four of them were now running through the forest. Peeta in front, Finnick carrying Mags behind him until Finnick told Katniss to run in front of them. They ran pretty far before Finnick told them to stop. When they do, he puts Mags down. All of them sit down on the ground so they can hide within the plants that are covering them.

"God, it's hot," Peeta says to them, almost out of breath, "We gotta find fresh water."

When he says that, that's when they hear the cannons go off. Tabby is mentally counting how many cannon sounds go off, so are Clyde and Haymitch. Tabby quietly taps her fingers on the table to count each one.

"Well, I guess we're not holding hands anymore," Finnick says, a slight smirk in amusement appearing on his lips.

Katniss looks at him. "You think that's funny?"

"Every time that cannon goes off, it's music to my ears," Finnick told her, "I don't care about any of them."

Katniss then takes the machete out of the bag she has. "Good to hear."

"You wanna face the Career Pack alone?" Finnick asks, "What would Haymitch say?"

"Haymitch isn't here," Katniss answers, almost quickly.

Peeta looks at both of them. He's trying to relieve the tension that's between the both of them. "Let's keep moving."

Katniss looks at him for a moment before she finally stands up. Finnick does the same. They're now treading through the forest. Peeta in front with the machete now in his hand.

"At least he's good at getting rid of tension," Tabby mutters, before looking at Haymitch, "Now, what would you say if they went off alone to face the Career Pack. Hm?"

"Tabby, c'mon, don't do this," Clyde says to her.

"No, I'm genuinely curious," Tabby says to her dad, before she looks back at Haymitch, "I wanna know. What would you say?"

"I would say that it's a bad idea," Haymitch answers, "That Pack is dangerous. I'm guessing that you know that, too, don't you?"

"I do," Tabby answers, "Used to hang around them until I slaughtered them all."

"Guys. Seriously," Clyde says to both of them, crossing his arms, "We are here to help them, not argue about the Career Pack."

"Listen to your dad, Hammerhead."

"Shut up."

Tabby looked back at the screen. Nothing happening so far. Just the four walking into the forest again. Katniss is last in line, she makes sure she looks behind her, making sure that no one is behind them trying to follow them.

"They said they needed fresh water," Tabby says, finally sitting in the chair that's in front of the table once again.

"Most of the water in the arena isn't fresh. The water they swam in? Definitely not drinkable. Some people due of dehydration," Haymitch tells them, "They're not willingly going to give them that."

"Mitch. You should know better," Clyde replies.

This makes Haymitch look at Clyde in confusion. "What?"

"The freshwater. If I remember correctly, in our games, they hid it in the trees," Clyde responded, "I know that it's been twenty-five years, they probably won't even remember that they did that for the second quell. They probably did it again."

"So. . .?"

"We need to get them a spile," Clyde tells him.

Haymitch only gives a nod. He looks like he's barely listening, but he was. He's always remembered Clyde to be this smart. He's glad to know that part of him hasn't changed. The genius rambling. It was something that attracted him to Clyde.

Clyde noticed the look Haymitch was giving him. He blinks at first to make sure he isn't dreaming it. A raise of his eyebrows in amusement, he couldn't help but chuckle at it. He gives a whistle.

"Earth to Haymitch," He says to him, "Hello?"

"I'm here, I'm here," Haymitch tells him, waving him off. He's back to his normal self. But it doesn't last long because they hear an explosion.

All three of them snap their heads around to look at the screen. Peeta flies back, knocking Finnick and Mags down. Katniss looks down at him in fear.

"Peeta?" She says, before she bends down to put an ear close to his chest. Her face says it all. She's shocked, she's upset, she's worried. "He's not breathing!"

Tabby gasps at this news, Clyde looks away from the screen. It is Haymitch that has the most profound reaction.

"Goddamnit," He mutters, his hand slams down on the table.

On the screen, Finnick is the one who rushes over to Peeta and he gives him CPR. He's trying his hardest to try to revive him. Katniss and Mags, watching as he does this.

They don't know if he'll come back from this.