｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
𝔤𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔩
neuf. — vines of terror!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

"Are you sure I can't punch him in the face?" Keres groaned to Marigold as she glared at Kit.

The three careers were exploring the maze, hunting for tributes while the other two stayed guarding the cornucopia. In Keres' has was a long rope attached to the cornucopia so they could find their way back, Kit having a chainsaw in case any of the bushes closed up over the rope.

"Yes." Marigold sighed tiredly as she twirled her ring daggers absentmindedly, the dried blood glinting in the sunlight.

"What if I just break his nose a little?"

"I'm right here," Kit growled out, "I can't believe you're still pissed."

"I had dibs on seven you know that," Keres had felt a loathing burning in her veins the moment she had seen the overconfident girl in the training centre that only heightened when she received a higher score than her, "I wanted to gut her with my sword — I wanted her to know it was me that got her."

"She was a threat and she was getting away," he threw his hands up in exasperation, "I told you, you can have her ally the redhead from four — but that prick from seven is mine."

His hand reached up to touch his scarred face with a scowl. The mountain of a boy had caught him off guard with his rage after his district partner had been killed by Kit — he had left bruises on the ginger boy and a nasty scar that ran from above his eyebrow to the top of his cheekbone. A sign of weakness.

"Ares won't be happy." Marigold muttered beneath her breath as she stared at the vines that seemed to be twitching amongst the hedges.

Ares the District Four tribute has joined their group almost immediately — he was handsome and lethal yet also determined to protect his district partner. Kit scoffed as he recalled the tall boy who was admittedly decent with a trident, "If he doesn't like it then he can die with her — four is always the first of us to go anyways."

It was true, the bond between the Careers in one and two was stronger and when they inevitably turned on each other it was the tributes from four that usually went down first.

"Look!" As Kit and Keres turned the corner they spotted the boy from eleven — his face frozen in shock and horror as he noticed the two vicious killers before him.

Keres was quick to pull her sword from its stealth as she and Kit chased him further into the maze. His face was dirty and he was clearly dehydrated and starving — he would be an easy kill.

Neither tribute noticed that Marigold had not followed them, the curly haired blonde instead crouching down on the floor as she reached a tentative hand out to touch a hedge.

A fatal mistake.

The hedge seemed to come alive as vines slithered up her outstretched arm until she tumbled into the dirt, the knives she had been so proudly carrying rendered useless as they skidded across the floor. Her first high pitched scream of terror had been overshadowed by the boom of a cannon, Marigold briefly wondering if perhaps it had been for her. Wondering if she was already dead.

But then another guttural scream tore through her body and the sound of her allies' panicked shouts reached her ears and she knew it had not been for her, yet. The vine wrapped torturously around her leith frame, squeezing the life from her slowly until her screams were silenced into pathetic gasps for air. As her vision went dark, and she lost all feeling in her body from the tips of her toes to her dirt stained forehead Marigold finally realised that there was no honour in the games.

Her final thoughts were about her parents, who had been so proud, who had pushed her into volunteering. Marigold knew that they would be so disappointed in her failure, they would blame her for not being strong enough, not being vigilant enough.

And along with the rest of the world they too would forget about the fallen tribute.

When Kit and Keres burst through the bushes following the rope as a second cannon fired, they were confused to find the area empty — a pair of familiar daggers laying haphazardly on the ground. Keres bloodstained face twisted in confusion as she spotted a pale hand peeking out from inside the hedges, upon her instructions the red headed boy began to cut through the bushes with his chainsaw until the body of their ally was revealed.

The vines were so tight around her neck that blood coated the pale skin, whilst her lips were turning an awful shade of blue. The whites of her blue eyes were completely over twin by red as her eyes remained open in a constant state of terror, gazing into nothing for eternity.

"Well," Kit shrugged his shoulders, "that's a shame."

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Elpis had washed her clothes in the river that morning, thankful for the humid temperatures that allowed them to dry relatively fast, and caught a few more fish with her makeshift spear. After collecting and purifying as much water as possible she decided it was time to move along, two more canons had sounded that morning and she had no idea who it had been and how close they had been to her location.

She decided to follow the stream as much as possible, surely the river lead somewhere. To a bigger water source — Elpis' mind flashed frantically with visions of a familiar vast ocean, the blends of blue and violet comforting her restless mind for a moment. Elpis knew it wouldn't take long for other tributes to find her safe haven, and unfortunately she didn't have the weapons or allies to secure the area.

Elpis was also reminded of the Gamemaker's tricks and traps they would set to push the tributes together when things were getting boring, she could only hope that the two deaths that had already occurred that day were keeping the Capitol satisfied. Though with twelve other tributes remaining the likelihood of her running into someone was high, and she wasn't sure of how good her chances were with a small knife and her makeshift spear.

She had wandered for what felt like at least an hour, following the stream as much as possible — having to make several diversions where the hedges blocked her way, but she always made sure that wherever she wandered to she could still hear the water. Wiping her sweaty forehead, Elpis couldn't help but groan at the mix of heat and exercise as she leaned against a hedge and tried to tie her shoelace while hopping on one foot.

Throwing her spear to the ground, Elpis finally managed to tie the lace when she felt something crawling across the bare skin of her wrist. Trying to jerk away from the bush, her heartbeat spiked in agitation when the spiked vine simply tightened around her pale flesh. Her skin flushed red not from physical, but from the hot flush that encased her skin when she felt suffocated.

Her grunts and panicked screams were sure to attract other tributes, but as she was slowly encased by the hedge — a drop of red trickling down her alabaster skin from the thorns — she couldn't find it in herself to care. Her knife that was tucked into her back pocket couldn't be reached no matter how hard she strained while her spear, which was truly just a sharpened branch, was out of reach.

Elpis hadn't imagined her death this way.

Though it was true she had never imagined even making it as far as she had, the idea of being slowly suffocated by vines had not come to her. A dagger to the heart, an axe in the back, starvation, dehydration those were the things she had prepared for.

As her struggling ceased and her breathing slowed, Elpis found all her senses shutting down. Her sight left her in black darkness, the smell of the plants and sweat was no longer with her, the feel of the vines digging into her soft flesh — it was all gone.

The last to go was her hearing, she could still hear the river running soft and true. Elpis for a brief moment managed to delude herself into believing she was back home — sat on the beach in the early hours of the morning, her eyes shut as she breathed in the sea air and listened to the sound of the waves.

Her peace however was disrupted.

The sound that broke her from her dying dreams of oblivion was that akin to a war cry, and then the sound of tearing and cutting. Elpis found the vines loosening around her and immediately rolled several feet away, spluttering and coughing — her eyes watering as all of her senses slowly returned to her.

Squinting at the figure who had saved her through blearily eyes she was stunned to find a female figure stood before her welding what appeared to be a katana, her face concealed by a terrifying mask that Elpis recognised as a gas mask — having briefly learnt about them in training sessions.

Elpis scrambled back slightly across the floor as the girl took a step towards her, the katana still raised threateningly — but the other hedge behind her left her seemingly stuck between two deaths. Before she could even think of a plan the girl had lowered her weapon and slowly pulled the mask from her face, revealing a girl she knew to be only a year younger than her.

Solstice Waver. District twelve.

Elpis was shocked to see the girl still alive, she had tried to flee at the reaping — something Snow and the Gamemakers would surely try to kill her for in the arena. Finnick had even briefly mentioned to stay away from her, explaining that the girl was a waking target who would be dead one day into the games. And yet there she was smiling slightly awkwardly as she offered the girl her hand.

"Need a hand?"

Glancing at the outstretched palm, Elpis couldn't help but let her mind wander to a conversation she had on the train before even reaching the Capitol.

Elpis was sat on the floor of her room in the train, her back leaning against the too comfortable bed. The moment she had sat on it Elpis had felt as though she would sink right through it, and having been reaped she had had enough of sinking feeling for the day.

She rewatched the reaping tapes of the other districts with a keen eye, her eyes observing for threats. The girl and boy from one were both dangerous looking in different ways, the girl looked cold and stealthy, whereas the ginger boy had a slightly mad grin on his face that promised blood and death, the boy from two was lean and intimidating, district five had siblings a little girl and an older brother, that made him dangerous, he'd do anything to protect his sister — even volunteer — that made him a threat in her eyes, there was both the girl and the boy from seven, they had strong builds and steely eyes, she wouldn't be underestimating them.

Finally was her own district partner, he could snap her in half like a twig and she didn't trust nor know him enough to know whether he would or not. He was a threat, "Scoping out the competition?" Finnick — her mentor — strolled into the room with an easygoing grin on his lips.

That was seven serious threats so far just based on the reaping tapes. "Just seeing whose most likely to try and murder me first." Elpis' tone was serious and formal as always, her lips seemingly set into a permanent frown.

"All of them," he shrugged, "people are unpredictable. They put on masks and act, you can't trust anyone."

"Not even you?" She had meant it to be teasing despite never having been very good at jokes, but the grin slipped from her mentor's lips and he suddenly seemed a whole lot older than he was.

"Not even me."

Staring into the girl's wide brown eyes, Elpis could almost hear Finnick shouting at her from the Capitol — the man probably glaring venomously at the screen as he watched his tribute do the exact opposite of what he had told her to do. Elpis slipped her pale palm into her other girls and allowed her to lift her bruised and bleeding body from the dirty floor, a hesitant nod exchanged between the two.

Meanwhile in the Capitol a certain blonde mentor could be heard cursing as he stared at the screen completely vexed.

"For fuck's sake!"

AUTHORS NOTE!
Not me listening to another one bites the dust while writing this lmaoo.

Elpis has found herself an ally in Solstice and Finnick is not happy lmaoo. I did mention Solstice in Mal's POV and explained a little but basically she's a bit dangerous to be around since Snow has it out for her for trying to run during the reaping. And we all know what a spiteful whore he can be.

Also I'm super excited to be back in my hunger games faze so I'm making the most of it. I'm currently also drafting another hunger games fic 'Sweet Tooth' it's a Haymitch fic set during the 50th games and I'm just so excited to write it.

Remember to vote, comment, and or share please lovelies if you enjoyed <333

Unedited
-summer