Set In Stone

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Blood dripped from my hands staining the ground a crimson red.
"You killed me" The voice bounced around in my skull. Turning to the tree's there stood my brother, the left side of his face cut open and blood running down tainting his clothes. The stab wound that had ensured his death was clear as day . Shaking my head the tears began to fall rapidly
" No."
"You killed your own brother. Your a monster Chloe"
"It was an accident Rickie"
"You got inside my head just like you got inside theirs" Seconds later the multiple tributes that I had killed appeared in front of me. Unable to stand I collapsed back into the tree behind me only for it to quickly turn into something worse.
" You could have saved me"
"Cato?" The brutish blond was stood before me , his face torn to pieces.
"Your the reason for so many life's being cut short , your the reason for parents never seeing their children again" Shaking my head violently I couldn't let myself believe anything he was saying. Grabbing my face my brother had appeared right in front of me and was forcing me to look at them
"LOOK!" He roared. Crying loudly at the sight of everyone together. "Everyone who loves you dies. Me, Mum , Dad , Cato and soon Finnick will be here. The whole world will burn because of you" The tree's around us erupted into flames and before I could do anything my brother had pushed me into the scorching heat and the pain erupted through my body.

S
creaming so loudly that the pain tore through my throat the door was thrown open.

" Chloe. Shhh.It's okay. It's not real. " Looking up at Finnick his eyes were red raw as he looked over me with concern. He had never seen this part of me and I suddenly felt weak. Harshly pushing him away from me he stumbled backwards as I got out the sweat soaked sheets and fled for the roof.

Throwing myself against the wall I threw up over the edge of the building. Taking in big gulps of air my lungs froze with it's ice thaw.
" You're wrong Finnick , it was real. Everything I did to them was real"
"How did you hide it? How did you hide this from everybody?" He asked coming to stand by my side. How had I done it? How had no one saw through my lies? Was it because they didn't want to see it? Or because they couldn't?
"The same way you do. I'm just better at it" I could feel the tears starting to slide down my face " Finn i'm scared" I choked. Feel the warmth of his arm pull me closer I gripped his thin shirt soaking it through with my tears.
" I promise you that you are going to be okay. I'll protect you"
" You can't even protect yourself. None of us can" Pulling away I looked up to the stars that glistened so brightly above our heads.
" I have to protect you Ash. I failed you once I wont do it again " H vowed but as much as I knew he meant it I couldn't let myself believe it for a second. Watching the sun come up over the horizon it just marked another day that I would have to lie and create a façade that would have the whole world on it's knees. Taking a deep breath I was ready to let the pain back in . I needed it if I was going to survive. Pain made you reckless , being reckless kept you alive in circumstances like this. Finnick knew that. He would have shut down as well if we were both going to make it through this .

Arriving in the training centre it was already full of tributes trying to create a threatening presence but I didn't fall for it , I couldn't let myself
"Grab one" Motioning towards the steel pipes that were set out for us to use Finnick knew exactly what I was thinking . Striking first he blocked it. Attack of again and again the sound of clashing metal rang out. Now we were just trying to prove something. Swinging my leg out he fell to the mat and the pole was at his throat.

"You're rusty" I laughed pulling him up .
" It's been a while" he countered which I thought was bullshit. Looking at the entrance Katniss and Peter were being escorted by Effie. Well that's going to make them a threat.
"Finn" Elbowing him he looked in the direction I was looking in. Looking down at their entwined hands I couldn't help but smile, lie to everyone , that was their plan and maybe it would work , I hoped it would work. Watching Finnick walk over to the knot station he began to work nimbly on all the different types of knot that there was. If there was a knot that he didn't know about I would renounce my title of victor.
" Why aren't you training?" Peter asked coming up to me.
" No need to. My words are my weapons. I don't think there is a station for that " Pulling the corner of my mouth up into a smirk he returned it with one that held little sarcasm.
" You should go over to Brutus and Chaff. No one can throw spears like they can, well , maybe Finnick but he seems to preoccupied with rope" Popping the p Peter let out a small chuckle but he didn't leave.
"How do you do it?" He asked. raising my eyebrow he turned to face me completely. " How do you get people to kill themselves?"
"Why? You going to use my own tactic against me ?" I asked
" No , I'm just interested" He said. Looking over at all the other tributes maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell him the basics.
" Everyone is broken , they may not want to admit it but they are. You have to exploit those broken pieces. Crush them into smaller shards over and over again. Words hurt more than bruises. People want to forget all the terrible things they did you can't let them. And if that fails hit them and run like hell" Letting out another small laugh he looked around him in hopes of finding something to do. " Peter everyone will not be who you think they are in tat arena. The minute we go in we will all loose who we are. What you think you know will disappear. In the arena you'll see who we really are"

"I don't think that person I that arena was who you really were" he offered sadly. Squeezing his hand tightly he managed to get a smile out of me. This boy had no idea what I really was. Hearing a Scoff Enorbia was stood near to us. 

And that is exactly what will make you be the first to die" she sneered at Peter.

"Really? I was counting on it being you" titling my head to the side she didn't have time to register anything before the steel pipe had cracked her jaw and she had fallen to the floor. Baring her teeth at me as the blood dribbled down her chin no one made a move to interfere. "Maybe instead of running your mouth you should focus more on training, maybe if you'd ensured Cato had done the same he'd still be here" she flinched slightly at the mention of her former tribute. "He'd of won if you'd done your job. But nooo you told him that he didn't need to train, that he had it in the bag. Face it Enorbia, Cato died because of you, we're here because of you"

"That bullshit won't work on me" She sneered wiping the blood away 

"What bullshit? It's the truth. He only made it that far because I stepped up, just like I stepped up for 12. You let your own tribute die" I accused and now the entire attention of the room was on us, everyone hanging onto every word I said. The thing I had become famous for was now happening in front of their very eyes.

"What about your tributes. They died" she sneered attempting to regain any composure that she had.

"They were weak from the start, there was nothing me or Finnick could do for them, but Cato, now was something different. He had the strength, the determinism, the courage that all the tributes these last few years lacked and you let him die. YOU SAT BACK AND WATCHED AS THEY RIPPED HIM TO PIECES!" Getting myself angry Finnick grabbed my arm to try and cool me down but I just pulled my arm out of his grasp. "And let's not forget Clove, now she never was going to win but you didn't advise her properly either. The thing is Clove was the same as me. She could do anything, be anything. Did you know she came to me for advice before she went in? Asked me what to do and how to get out alive. How does that make you feel Enorbia? Your own tribute couldn't trust you and had no faith in you. That must suck" seeing the anger boil in her eyes the shards of glass that I had pushed underneath her skin were now excruciatingly deep. I knew I was done here but everyone else needed to know what they were getting themselves into. Standing up I held out my arms. "Take a long hard look guys. Maybe now you understand what your going into that arena with because let me tell you something. We may all have come out before but this time You won't have that happy ending " winking at them I left with my head held high and my goal set in stone


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