When the Mockingjay Sings - Coriolanus Snow/Treech

Chapter Twenty - Eight

The Panem song woke Athena up from her sleep. She was initially disoriented, squinting at the bright screen that popped up before her. Faces of the taken tributes played.

There were only eight tributes left. 15 dead tributes in two days was pretty impressive to her.

Athena gathered herself together and pushed the bookcases she had moved to barricade herself in. She opened the door expecting to be greeted with three dead bodies, but the only trace of them was pools of blood.

"They've gotten smarter," Athena mumbled to herself.

She stepped over the pools of blood, not wanting it to stain the bottom of her boots, and returned to the cornucopia.

She gathered a few more daggers and spent the next few hours browsing through the arena. It was clear it was too big for the small amount of tributes that was left.

Athena spent the next few days hunting down other tributes. She managed to stumble upon Amara and Indigo; they died from either hypothermia or starvation; Athena couldn't tell.

Other than those two, Athena had been following a messy trail of bodies. Someone was on a rampage. Dawn and Torrance were so mangled to the point Athena barely recognized them. Hudson, Athena killed herself. She impaled him with her sword.

As Athena walked the destroyed streets, a siren sounded. Her heart dropped when she realized it was the warning of bombs. She didn't get much time to hide before the bombs started to be dropped.

Athena ran as fast as she could, trying hard not to slip on the ice and snow as she did so. The vibrations of the bombs almost made her trip, but she managed to slide underneath the cornucopia, covering her ears with her hands to save them from the ringing.

She could feel herself shivering; she couldn't tell if it was from the fear or the cold, but she wouldn't be surprised if it was from both. She didn't like bombs very much; she remembered when the bombs first reigned terror on the Capitol citizens. Nobody expected it to come; thousands of people died, and war was declared.

Eventually, the bombing stopped, and Athena remained crouched in the corner of the cornucopia. She was hidden in the dark when she heard footsteps nearing the center.

"Come on out," She didn't move. She could hear the taunting lacing each word; he was playing with her.

She could feel her nerves vibrating, preparing her for battle.

"Don't be a coward; it's just us left." He must've been the tribute, leaving the trail for her to follow.

Athena crawled out of the Cornucopia to be faced with a bloody Alastor.

"I didn't expect you to make it this far," Athena grinned. Alastor cocked his head to the side, beady eyes observing her with a toothy smile.

"Neither did I," he said. Alastor was muscular; he had black hair and pale, almost white skin. His eyes were silver, giving him an unrealistic look. He was handsome, but now, with the red painting his smooth face, he looked crazy.

The two circled each other, eyes never breaking eye contact. The wind around the two grew in strength, blowing the snow around.

"I've been watching you for some time now." Alastor finally spoke up. Athena felt her ears ring and her stomach turn to liquid; she thought she was being watched.

Almost as if hearing her thoughts, Alastor continued, "Not just in the Arena, my dear Athena." He laughed, eyes narrowing on her. "But from the very beginning," he jumped towards her, making her jump back in surprise. he jumped away, swinging his machete tauntingly.

"What makes me so special, Alastor?" Athena finally spoke. Alastor threw his head back and groaned, almost as if her question brought him nothing but sweet pleasure.

"Everything. Not every day you get to skin the Capitol princess alive." Athena's teeth are grounded in anger.

"You think you can kill me?" Athena asked. Alastor pointed to his bloody face, "You'll be a breeze."

Athena snaked her hand to her back pocket without Alastor noticing and threw it at him. The dagger flew through the air and lodged itself into Alastor's leg.

"Shit," Alastor screamed, yanking the dagger out of his thigh. Athena could've sworn she saw fire in his eyes when he looked back at her.

"You bitch," he sneered, throwing the bloody dagger back at her, but she dodged it.

"Thought you wanted a challenge?" she smirked. Alastor charged at her.

She dodged his swings similar to what she did during training. She could see him struggling with the wound on his thigh.

"You're annoying; I hope you know that." Athena found herself laughing at Alatros commentary. Despite his craziness, she feels like they would've become friends, she has a thing for the crazy ones.

"So I've been told," he swung at her again; she moved to her right, causing the machete to slice her jacket, but it didn't hit her skin.

She used her staff to swipe it out of the way and slammed it into Alastar's face. She could feel her staff break his nose. She felt her smile growing when he cupped his nose, trying to stop the bleeding. She took her staff and slammed it over his kneecaps; this time, she didn't hit him as hard as she thought because he barely made a reaction.

Alastor gave the stream of blood one wipe before getting into a stance with his machete raised.

"I am going to kill you," he promised. Athena lowered herself into a similar stance and made eye contact with him, "try." that was all Alastor needed before lunging at her.

She blocked his blow with her staff, but he was so strong it caused her staff to snap in half. Athena's eyes widened momentarily, scared that this was where she would meet her ends. But luckily for her, the wind picked up, causing the snow to come between them, creating a snow squal.

Alastor squinted through the thick snow, straining his eyes to see any movement of shadows, but nothing could be seen.

"I am named after the demon Alastor, after the high-ranking demon of hell. You won't win." Alastor yelled out into the whiteness.

He angrily swung his machete into nothing; he didn't see the arrow slice through the blowing snow and into his chest. Alastor gasped, staring at his chest in shock.

Athena revealed herself from the snow, covered with a bow and arrow. She grabbed it from the cornucopia.

Athena strutted over to Alaster's gasping figure and crouched down, grabbing his shoulder to push him down. He was trying to struggle against her, but the arrow was making it complicated.

"I was named after Athena, Goddess of wisdom and war. She always wins." Athea twisted the arrow towards his heart, killing him in minutes.

A horn sounded, the wind died, and the sun broke through the clouds.

She won the 12th Hunger Games.