VICTORS

Chapter 1 - THE REAPING

CHAPTER ONE | The Reaping

Mikasa | District 12, Shiganshina

D-DAY OF THE 104TH HUNGER GAMES

—

It was the same dull grey morning as always.

The birds are chirping in the sky, signaling a new day has come. The clouds hid the sun, making the place more sullen and in a dark, gloomy feel. There is no sun in the white cloudy sky, and the pale scenery makes the area somber and depressing.

Miners silently walk towards the coal mines and the children looking at their windows, curiously looking at the world around them in wonder, like it was the most beautiful thing. Their faces in curiosity and astonishment, but with the same thought in their heads— hunger and freedom. Old men and women in their old houses, starting a new day full of nothing. Not even food to fill their stomach with...

Mikasa dashed towards the outskirts of Shiganshina, the 12th District. The poorest and the most outer District of Paradis and it's infamous 50-meter walls. Despite having the most impoverished population, the coal mines are essential to the Capital inside the walls, called Mitras, where the rich people reside and where the Mitras residents, including the King, and their favorite TV show every year is held. Paradis was divided into 12 districts, 4 on each prominent wall— Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. The 8 districts divided the lands in Wall Maria and Sina, except the 4 innermost districts since they are close to the Capital. For Mikasa, however, she doesn't know about anything besides the common knowledge of the walls and the districts.

She arrived in the forest where she could hunt with her bow and arrow. She has her favorite knife, which Eren gifted to her on her 16th birthday. Trespassing from the wires encircling the town from the forest, she quickly eyed if there was something to hunt. She saw a deer, and she thanked the Heavens for the blessing if ever she'd caught it. She picked an arrow and silently put it in her bow when someone stepped out from the clearing.

Mikasa heard someone's voice at her back, and the deer ran away. She grunted and turned to look at him.

"You didn't prepare yet?" he sheepishly asked. Mikasa turned to glare at him, but Eren just smiled brightly and playfully, making her put out her bow down and putting the arrow back to its quiver.

"It was my first deer of the year and you ruined my chance," she walked away as Eren followed her, still chuckling.

"It's the D-Day Mikasa. Surely everyone is preparing right now," he said, but she didn't care. She nocked an arrow into her bow, drawing it as she eyed a bird in one of the branches and released it, making the birds fly away. She chuckled back and sat on a rock in the meadow.

"Yeah. Got to hear that boring message from the Capital again," she deadpanned as Eren sat beside her, looking at the wilderness in front of them. She thinks about how scary it is to even think about being one of the competitors, killing and slaughtering other kids and teenagers the same as her. It was almost... a nightmare. All her life, Mikasa only knew her demons. And living is her only choice to survive.

As if the world isn't one hell of a nightmare already, she thought.

"Mother said I'll fetch you... that's why I'm here. She knows about you trespassing, the guards could kill us," Eren said, and she sighed. Nearly every day, people die in this shit hole she calls her District. Living in the most impoverished communities in the District didn't even help either. She has gotten used to the deaths, the meaningless deaths whose reasons are just because of the lack of food. She grimaces; how could the world be cruel?