to the soil we will return :: izzy v ace v anika, day 7

a n i k a

I thrive in the shadows, untrusting of light

Izzy blocks your scythe with a shield, as if fending off the reaper's reach. The thing about fighting death is, it was a fight most people lost, and a fight that you were determined to win.

"Don't you get it, Twelve? There's nowhere to run. Everything comes back to the lake." Her words make you think for a moment, but not a moment too long. "This is where things die, then live, then die again."

"If this is where things die, then surely you're prepared to join them," you say to her teasingly.

You feel Ace's weapon bite you this time, rather than rushing by in a whiff.

"There we go," you mutter in the career tribute's direction. "Let's pick up the pace here."

You're feeling bitter and vicious, coiled and ready to strike again. It's as if you're venomous and need to fill your victim with your poison. You knew when coming here that you didn't want your son to see you kill anyone while he watched you on the television, but it had gotten to the point where it was necessary. If you didn't kill these people, they'd kill you instead. So, you'd fight to the end here.

"In case you two haven't noticed, I'm a bit too pretty to die here."

You look at each of them with your weapon ready.

"I'm the star, and you two are about to lose your light."

Be warned if you join me, it's just for a bite

-

lyrics: "Nightmares Never End" by JT Music

a n i k a

I thrive in the shadows, untrusting of light

One of the other tributes did indeed lose her light, but not at your hands.

Izzy half-laughs to acknowledge you before spitting out some blood and speaking to Ace. She tells her that you don't learn how to kill in a classroom, and that's when the gears start spinning in your head.

Everything you'd learned about the Games and how to fight or survive had been self-taught from reading books and doing dozens of re-screenings of past Hunger Games. You studied every in and out of the Games. Survival tactics and fighting skills: all of it had been learned without actually making use of it.

Thing is, you had a feeling that Izzy knew what she was talking about, and it scared you. As Izzy's sword plunged into Ace, you remembered so vividly what she'd done to Finnagan. Fuck. This was the first time you'd ever admit finding someone who was more than on par with you. She was better.

You wouldn't say it out loud, but you knew it was true.

You hated that fact so much, too. You didn't know how many people she'd killed in total, but you knew now that it was at least two: the two she'd killed in front of you with fatal blows, and speaking words almost as sharp as her weapons.

You take a step back when she kills the girl, but her blade slices into you, too. It's just a minor wound on your arm, but it still stings, and you know that she doesn't plan to stop anytime soon. Not until you're dead.

Thing is, you fear she'll succeed.

You try to swing with your scythe, but she manages to disarm you.

"Shit," you curse.

Stumbling backward, you try to run, picking up a rock as you go and hurling it in her direction, hoping she won't be able to catch up with you.

"We don't need to do this right now!" your nervous voice insists. "We can sort this out later— I— please!"

Without your weapon, you're scared.

You're weak, and it shows.

Be warned if you join me, it's just for a bite

-

lyrics: "Nightmares Never End" by JT Music

a n i k a

I thrive in the shadows, untrusting of light

Your thrown rock connects with Izzy's head, but doesn't do enough to slow her down. Her sword is dripping blood as she approaches you, and you see your own bloodied blade cast aside, too far out of reach now.

"There is no later, Anika. This is it." She's trying to intimidate you, and it's working. "Don't you want to find out what's on the other side?"

There's laughter erupting from her throat, and you wish you could rip it out so she'd stop, but you're starting to think that you wouldn't even be able to get close enough to try.

"Well actually, y'know, it doesn't really matter what you want."

Her weapon comes down across your forehead, and for a moment you think she's going to cut through to your brain. It hurts like hell, and you let out a scream that echoes around the lake.

The vibrant moon isn't the only thing red in your vision anymore. It's filled with your own blood now, too. You try to wipe the blood out of your face. You want to rise to your feet to keep fighting, but it doesn't seem possible in that very moment. You had to come to terms with it now, or you never would: everyone back home was watching you die.

It didn't matter how good you thought you were at all of this: how strong or smart or talented you were under the impression that you were. You thought you were better than everyone else here, but instead were getting taken out by one of the ones you hadn't even considered.

You'd overlooked Izzy because she was from a middle district. To you, the strongest tributes came from career districts and lower districts, because the careers trained for this, and lower district tributes often had to deal with rough lives to begin with.

Instead of Ace being the threat here, though, it was Izzy. The career lie dead on the ground and you were damn near close to joining her.

Why couldn't this have gone closer to planned?

"I'll admit," you cough, blood spurting out as you do so. "I wasn't expecting much from you. I thought you killing Finn might've just been a fluke. Caught him off-guard, ya know?" You choke on your words for a second. "I guess you're more than just some idiot tribute from Six."

You try to push yourself to your feet, but you aren't strong enough.

"See, I knew I was worth something before I came here. So did the people back home. But you? I bet you and everyone else watching learned a lot about you. They learned that you're not completely useless to have around. You can actually do something! And you know what? Good on you."

You let a smile come across your face, blood filling in the gaps.

"Good on you for not being completely useless, kid."

At this point, you're lying in the dirt, waiting for death.

There's no point in fighting anymore.

"Maybe they'll even let you have the crown for it," you gasp out as you wait for her blade to plunge into you again.

Be warned if you join me, it's just for a bite

-

lyrics: "Nightmares Never End" by JT Music

a n i k a

I thrive in the shadows, untrusting of light

Izzy clearly isn't happy with what you said to her, but that was the reason you said all of it in the first place, really. You wanted her angry when she tried to kill you. You'd given up hope at this point, so you might as well antagonize it and make it fun for yourself.

"Don't patronise me." She clearly isn't happy with you, "You get given nothing in this world."

She's going to lose it. You can tell.

"You get given - nothing!" She's standing above you, sword drawn.

"You have to take it for yourself, Anika."

She strikes with her sword, and you manage to block the first swing with your bag, though it clearly cuts into it, as your glitter bomb explodes out of it, filling your face with its sparkly contents and likely spraying onto Izzy as well.

She tries again to hit you, and you roll to the side, narrowly dodging the blow.

"If you want to take anything, you have to try harder than that. At this point, I am practically giving you what you want."

You smirk and wipe glitter from your face.

"You want me dead, and I'm not fighting you anymore, am I?"

You want to make her angrier. You've always loved to tease people, and now you were doing it to the person who was most certainly bound to kill you. You didn't think death could be fun, but here you were, somewhat enjoying yourself at this point.

Spitting glitter out of your mouth, you speak again.

"It's the crown you want, isn't it? Victory? Glory? So take it."

Your flower crown is crooked on your own head, so you take it off and toss it at her chest.

"Maybe this one will do in the mean time?" You chuckle a bit.

Then you speak a little more quietly.

"I think she's gonna do it, guys," you say, intending it for those watching. "She's gonna kill me, if she can. Rafe, Rohan... you can turn off the TV now."

You look her in the eyes as she looms above you.

"Come on then," you tell her. "I'm not that difficult of a target."

"Wipe the glitter out of your eyes and learn to aim."

Be warned if you join me, it's just for a bite

-

lyrics: "Nightmares Never End" by JT Music

a n i k a

Mannequin paired with marionette
In dissonant discord, our deadly duet

Filler!

We're lost in a lullaby, slumbering away
Where sins remain hidden, but rarely they stay