Never In Your Favour

Rivalry

Nobody died in the next two days, and clearly the Capitol were hugely disappointed by this. Finnick had maintained his highly powerful position at the cornucopia, and had sent Caesar Flickerman wild, by sunbathing on afternoon on top of the great horn. In his 'spare' time, he practiced with his trident, slaughtering wild animals with ease. He seemed totally different to the, albeit charming, kind Finnick who had left me crying in the town square on reaping day. He was a murderer now, and I caught myself wondering if I could ever even face him again. In nine days, he would be fifteen. That was, if he was still alive by then of course.
Clearly, the game makers were getting bored of the lack of action. In every dry spell of deaths, they would send out mutts, much like they did on the third day, where they used the Jabberjays to provoke the tributes from eight and nine into killing their district partners.
Pressed against the banks of a pond, expertly camouflaged again, Cella of District seven had her eyes firmly closed. At least now, she had acquired a knife to defend herself with. She seemed to be sleeping, as the day was still young. The commentating voice of Flickerman let out a prolonged gasp as the camera cut to the other side of the pool she was disguised by.
At a low angle, we could see a grotesquely sharp and pointed muzzle, one that looked like a bear's, but with the prominent features of an anteater. The mutt snarled, and, under its dagger-like snout, opened a garish mouth, with rows of razor sharp teeth I recognised easily as they were exactly the same as the shark mutts here in District four. As this 'bear' crouched there, it thrust its face into the pool, emerging with a strange eel snagged on its snout, which it flung up into the air, and shredded in its maw. It then Stroud on its hind legs, and cocked its head to the side curiously as Cella shifted in her sleep. It dipped its paw into the water, testing to see if it was traversable, gently splashing as it did so. Cella's eyes shot open, and as the mutt bared its fangs, she leapt up, seizing a blade that she had wedged into the sodden earth. The mutt, sensing danger, charged at her, and she slashed at it desperately, gouging a chunk out of the brute's face as she fought for her life. In retaliation, the beast gnawed into her sword arm, emitting a hoarse and chilling growl that mingled eerily with Cella's screams. To save the Capitol from some of the gore, the cameras panned to the blue sky above, with her cries still carried on the wind, as the canon fired.
There were so few tributes left, that all those remaining looked up at the shot. There were now only five. First the camera cut to Darius of course, Cella's district partner, although of course he had no idea it was her who was dead. He was sitting with Freya in a small camp about a Kilometer from the centre. They began to talk:
'I hope that's that Odair boy. The girl from three was planning to kill him I think.'
'Freya, we are all planning to kill each other. That could have been any of the others but... well I hope it's Odair too. He's way too cocky, and do people really think he's good looking?'
Oh, Caesar Flickerman was not having that.
'Not attractive? How can anybody begin to say that? He's already the Capitol darling, and he hasn't even won yet! Well, one thing's for sure, Darius won't make any friends in the Capitol talking like that!'
For once I had to agree with Caesar. That was not a smart move.
Contrary to the last remaining team's hopes of Finnick's demise, Joyce of district three soon came to realise what had happened. She was making her way downstream toward the centre when she saw the trail of blood by the pool. She arrived just as the airlift left. She knew full well that Finnick was still at the cornucopia, and Darius and Freya were on the other side of the arena.
So it was Cella who had died.
She gave a rather concerning smile, and I wondered what she was happy about.
Of course. Now she am could take out Finnick herself.
As noon approached, Joyce marched towards the cornucopia with absolute resolve. As she walked, she sharpened the spear with Finnick's name on it, and laughed as she jabbed it into the air. The camera, dramatically, cut to Finnick, lounging on the cornucopia, doing exactly what he had done when I first met him: tying a length of rope into knots and untying them again.
By two in the afternoon, Joyce arrived at her destination, and strutted into the clearing, where Finnick sat on his side eating a cupcake from a sponsor.
'Hey Fish Boy.' She yelled up at him. 'Wanna come down here and face me, or are you just a coward, hiding behind all your flashy sponsors?'
He looked at her, slowly, with what could almost be called disgust.
'Who are you again? Come to admire my tan? I must say, you're a little old for me.' He laughed, twirling his trident between his fingers.
'Shut up fish boy. I'm here to kill you like you killed Hans!'
'Hans... was that the boy in the river or the one that fell out of the tree? Ah it doesn't really matter.' He joked, taking another bite from his cupcake. He was being so cold I almost couldn't watch any longer. My eyes were drawn to the screen however, when one of Joyce's throwing knives slashed right across Finnick's cheek.
'Oooh ouch! Well, you can't say I started this fight. You know, I should thank you. I was afraid I wouldn't get to try out this trident much!'
With that, he front flipped off the cornucopia, and came to stand directly in front of Joyce, who glared at him with all the hatred of a girl seeking revenge.
'You think you're soooo hot, just because the Capitol and some stupid girl in your pathetic District love you, but you're weak, and an irredeemable monster, and might as well be a Capitol mutt for all the depth of feeling you have!'
In an instant his cheeky smile was gone, and the grip around his trident strengthened.
'Say what you like about me, but don't ever, ever mock my district or... her. Why do you think I'm trying so hard to win this? For the glory? Grow up.'
As she lunged at his chest, he spun to the side, so her long sword stuck into his arm instead of his heart. Crying out in pain, he whipped around again, tossing the net over her, and running around so she was fully wrapped in it.
'I hope you die! I hope you both do, you and your stupid love! Yes I said it! She sounds stupid, and I- Arnghh.'
The second time the foolish girl said stupid, Finnick snapped. The central prong of his trident directly pierced her heart. As the canon fired he collapsed in a heap, clutching his arm and, for the first time, weeping at the sight of blood on his hands. He stared at a tree where he guessed a camera was hiding. His face was captured immaculately, as he simply said:
'I want to go home.'
That night, in the abyss that was night, both Cella's and Joyce's faces lit up the sky. Darius and Freya were captured in morbid celebration. They were sure they could take down Finnick. They then pulled the ultimate power move over the Capitol: desire. As they rejoiced, Darius pulled Freya into a lingering kiss.
'I had to do that, before one of us died' he said.
Shit. The Capitol were going to love that.

~~

Day twelve was exceedingly uneventful, other than the continued scandal between Darius and Freya. Finnick made one snarky comment, having found Joyce's hand engraved spear:
'It really was sweet of her to write my name on such a beautiful gift!' There was something different about him now though. Just like when he had blown kisses at the Capitol on that very first parade, I could once again see the pain behind his eyes. The charm truly had all been an act. He was just a young boy who wanted to go home again. He was just my Finnick.
The boy from District eleven had now ascended the tallest tree in the entire arena, which was worryingly close to the cornucopia - so much so that, had he been in possession of a bow and arrow, he could have easily shot Finnick with a steady hand and good aim.
As the evening darkened that evening, and the sky was devoid of the faces of the tributes, I could picture how restless the Capitol would be. There would be another mutt the next day, I could feel it.

~~

The morning passed without event, and we could all tell that this day, or the next, would mark the end of the hunger games. The only excitement before twelve, occurred when Darius split from Freya, as she went to scout out the area around the cornucopia. The familiar bells that signalled the arrival of another sponsor's parachute made us all look skywards, as a small container fell to the district seven boy. Too small to contain arrows, probably the whole of Panem was confused when there were two vials inside, one marked with a skull, the other with a heart. There was a note inside the container, but, for whatever reason, the game makers decided we were not in need of reading it - we needed to be surprised too after all. Caesar Flickerman certainly found it a topic of great intrigue.
At about eleven in the morning, the cameras cut to eleven's boy, Yuri. He was eating some of the nuts he had found in his tree, when his attention was caught by a scrabbling noise from a nearby branch.
'Oo now that is nasty.' Chimed in Flickerman. 'If I am not mistaken, and I rarely am, that is a Squirrelaxent. Particularly vicious Capitol mutts that have enough muscle relaxant in their fangs to make one go completely limp. Let's see how Yuri combats this!'
The boy stared in horror, first at the little creature, then at the long drop below him. He knew there was no way he could out-climb the famously swift mutt. He scrabbled up the branch he was perched on, but it was too late. The mutt leapt at him, and sunk its teeth into his upper arm. Within moments he was flailing as he tried to grip the bark with his already collapsing muscle tissue. It was no use. He fell out of the tree like morbid overdone spaghetti - Caesar's words, not mine. The canon was heard shortly after.
Freya, from the tree line next to the central arena, danced in silent joy: now it was just her and Darius against Finnick. As soon as Darius heard the news, he joined her in her ecstasy. They knew, that tomorrow, the games would end.