Hunger Games: Fandom Style

Now What?

A/N: I have resigned myself to two things.
1. Comments will be rare gifts parachuted down from frugal sponsors.
2. I will never understand the "views" pattern that allows three people to read one chapter and 10 people the next.
Ah, well. Thank you for reading!

Since the most threatening people left in the arena already knew exactly where each other were, they went ahead and lit a fire. A surprising amount of food had proved salvageable, so a feast was in the works. Merlin, by force of habit, had gone to cook the meal, but Will had volunteered to take care of it. Everyone relaxed a bit at that. It wasn't that they didn't trust Merlin. It was just that when the most powerful sorcerer in the world - they didn't even want to think about the rest of it - offered to make you supper, it was hard not to suspect an ulterior motive.
Merlin kept twitching, automatically reaching to help with dinner. Arthur gently slapped his arm away. "Let someone else handle it for once," he said, leaning back. "You've earned a break." He took a swig of water.
Merlin's eyes looked haunted. "That's the thirteenth time I've killed her."
Arthur choked. So did most everyone else.
"You mean she might be coming back?" Red asked.
"Oh, no," Merlin assured her. "Arthur's back. We've come full circle. There'd be no point."
"We're really going to need to have a long talk, Merlin," Arthur managed. "I think I've had enough surprises."
"All right," Merlin agreed. "Gwen's going to have to twins."
Arthur choked again.
"After you're married," Merlin clarified.
"Thank you, Merlin, my heart needed a good shock. You really need to learn how to break big news like that. You've had enough practice."
"Speaking of surprises," Will said, "were you bluffing? When you told her you were magic itself, I mean?"
Arthur looked at Merlin critically. "You'd think if he were he'd have more common sense."
"Hey!"
"Why would you expect sense from magic?" Leah disagreed. "It's the most nonsensical thing there is. It doesn't make sense. It's not supposed to. It's supposed to be epic and grand - like, say, calling down a storm and ripping up a street. And it's supposed to be silly. Like tripping over your own feet." She tightened her shoulders defensively as they turned to look at her. "What about you, Harry? You're the wizard. What do you think about magic?"
He looked a bit startled. "It's wonderful, but . . . dying. We've lost a lot already, and we just keep losing more."
"I like her description better," Merlin muttered. "Yours is depressing."
"Will?" Leah asked.
He shrugged. "Until I got reaped, I just parroted the Ranger's official views on magic."
"Which are?" Arthur asked.
"We're not saying it does exist, we're just saying that we can't always think of a better explanation."
"You know, for people who run around with medieval weapons, you Rangers have a very 20th century view on life."
"Huh?"
"Never mind," Merlin said. "Don't worry about it."
"Speaking of worry," Will said as he stirred the stew he was making, "I've got some concerns."
"Only six of us left," Red said quietly. She'd hung back intentionally during the magic discussion. She didn't have much complimentary to say on the subject.
"Seven if you count Merlin," Harry added.
Arthur frowned. "Remind me who the sixth one is again?"
Will opened his mouth to answer before closing it with a frown. Harry and Leah wracked their brains. Who was it? District One was gone, Two was gone, Three was gone . . .
Red tried to answer, but she got distracted when sparks from the fire blew her way. She scampered out of the way quickly, answer forgotten.
Merlin watched frowning. Then his face cleared. "Memore!" he commanded.
They all instinctively flinched away, but it wasn't a curse. It felt like a swathe of gauze had been ripped from her mind.
"Baelfire," Red said. "What - what happened?"
Merlin leaned back. "Someone had cast a forgetting spell. Anyone who tried to think about him for too long would get distracted. It's probably why he's survived so long. Hard to kill someone you can't concentrate on."
"Mr. Gold." Red's eyes widened. "You removed a curse cast by the Dark One?"
"Dark One?" Leah asked.
Red looked awed. "He's the most powerful magician in the world. That's what I thought, anyways."
"Told you so," Merlin said quietly. "So our opponent's Baelfire. Now what?"
"Split up?" Harry suggested. "It won't take all of us to take him down, and we wouldn't fight well together if we knew we'd have to turn on each other once he was gone."
"What's the point?" Leah asked. "Look, I don't know if Will could get an arrow in you before you cursed him halfway to Thursday. I've got no clue whether or not Red and I could sneak up on him, much less who would win if the two of us fought. But this isn't just fang against claw against steel against a few hexes. That's not the question. The question is who's gonna win if we go against that." She jerked her head at Merlin.
"The Capital," Arthur said.
They all looked at him. "It's how they keep us divided. Who's going to fight side by side with the district whose tribute killed your brother? Your daughter? Your friend? We never win. The Game's too rigged."
"Maybe it's time to play a new one," Harry suggested.
Arthur grinned fiercely. "My thought's exactly."
"That's treason," Red protested.
"Sounds good to me," Leah said. "You can't honestly tell me you're feeling all that patriotic."
"Is there any chance at all we might win?" she asked in a small voice.
Merlin grinned. "Well, right now, I've taken control of their cameras and this is airing all over Panem despite old Snowball's stringent objections. Yeah, I think we can win."
Red smiled. Still hesitatingly, but smiling.
"And just when supper was getting done, too," Will said mournfully. He grinned. "I'm starting to sound like Horace."
"Or Gwaine," Arthur muttered.
"I'm in," Will said. "What do we do?"
They looked at Arthur. Arthur looked at Merlin. "Can you track Baelfire?"
"No."
They stared at him.
He sighed. "Of course I can. Even better, I can keep the Capital off us while we do it. I presume we're leaving after that?"
"Somehow."
"Oh, don't worry about that." He dug a coin out of his pack and flipped it. It landed on the pavement with a clatter. "Our ride will be here shortly."