The Half-Blood Games | Percabeth

Chapter 27: The Victor

I hear a hovercraft materialize over me, and a ladder drops down in front of my face. I barely register it. All I can focus on is the spot on the ground that holds Percy's blood.

Eventually, I manage to get one hand on the ladder. Some sort of current keeps me attached to it, which I'm thankful for, as I'm not too sure if I would've had the strength to keep myself on it otherwise. 

I reach the top, and climb in. People surround me, checking out my wounds. They must decide that I'm fine, as they leave me alone after a few seconds, besides for one who gives me a glass of orange juice.

The coldness of the glass is all I can feel. Everything else is numb. I can't hear anything, despite being surrounded by people. All I can hear are Percy's screams.

The glass slips from my fingers and shatters on the floor as I drop to my knees and scream. I can't help it. The memories running through my mind are too painful, and I can't take it. Tears pour down my face.

There's a prick in my arm; some sort of needle. Drowsiness runs through me as I start to lose consciousness. I collapse onto my side, and everything goes black.

• • •

I awake in a hospital bed. The room I'm in is blank; no doors, no windows, nothing but my bed. Restraints hold me down, immobilizing me. As if there was anywhere for me to go.

They've healed all of my wounds, as I can't see any of them when I look down at myself. An Avox comes in to give me some food, but I can't taste it. For once in my life, my mind is blank. 

I'm in the room for either a few hours or a few days. I can't tell. Time has no meaning to me anymore. All I do is stare at the ceiling, broken. I don't know what's wrong with me, and I don't care enough to find out. Every time I think of Percy, or Leo, pain rushes through me. The numbness is easier to deal with.

Eventually, my restraints are gone. I climb out of the bed, knowing that's what I'm supposed to do. There's an outfit at the foot of my bed. It's the same one I wore in the arena, this one new and pristine. I get changed and walk out of the room.

Blitzen is waiting for me in a room at the end of the hall, along with Vultan and Minerva. I just won the games, and yet none of us are smiling.

They all say their congratulations, but their words seem empty. Hollow. There's no victory here. It's written clearly in my eyes.

My body survived the games, but the rest of me? The rest of me died with Percy. I know it. Annabeth Chase died in that arena. Whoever I am now is someone else entirely.

At some point, Blitzen starts leading me away, out of that room and towards the elevator. Once we're inside, I wrap my arms around him and start to sob wildly, not being able to hold myself back any longer. He lets me, threading his fingers through my hair comfortingly.

Then we're on our floor. The doors open to Atalanta, Helen, and Mitchell. They all hug me fiercely, but I don't hug them back. I don't have the energy too.

A large dinner was set out in front of me, with all of the Capitols extravagant and rich foods. My stomach rumbles, but I can't bring myself to eat any of it. When it becomes clear that I'm not going to take a bite out of anything, the members of my prep team take me away to get ready, worried looks on their faces.

As they work, all I can look at is my reflection in the mirror. I'm insanely skinny, my skin pulled taut over my bones. Whatever the Capitol did to me in that bed healed every cut and scar on my body. My eyes look hollow.

The team does their best to make me look normal; a little powder there to make the bags under my eyes less noticeable, some contour to make my cheeks look fuller. By the time they're done, I almost look normal. They couldn't fix my eyes.

When they're done, Blitzen walks back in with a grey dress, which he slides over me. There's padding to replace the weight I lost in the arena, but I don't care. I step into the grey stilettos they put in front of me, and then we're off.

They take me back to the elevator, and to the platform that will carry me onto the stage. Blitzen hugs me one last time, and then he's gone. My prep team, stylist, and mentor go on before me.

I hear the show start above my head and wait, staring at the guns in the peacemaker's hands who guard me. Loki's voice booms, but I can't make out what he's saying. What seems like hours later, my platform finally starts to rise.

The lights of the stage hit me. I'm acutely aware of every eye on me; the cameras, the audience, the gamemakers in the back. Strobe lights of every colour circle around me as Loki walks to my side. Just like everything else in this world, this is a spectacle.

They will make me watch the games, watch every person who died to get me here, and they will expect me to smile along with it, to be glad that I'm the one who survived. And I'll have no choice but to do as they want me to. I never had a choice to begin with.

Loki takes my hand in his and holds it above our heads. He smiles at me, as if he's trying to assure me that everything's going to be alright, that I'm safe now.

I don't believe him.

"Citizens of Panem," he announces as he turns back to the audience, the cameras, the people who watched me suffer for their own entertainment with smiles on their faces. "I give you Annabeth Chase from District 3, the victor of the 69th Hunger Games!"