DTT: Round One, Zagreus vs Bella

what part

of living

I could still hear the shrill echo of my voice, screaming for Tobias as his body fell to the wispy creature made of fabric and smoke— still hear myself shouting at Alfie to kill me himself if he was so strong.

I could still hear that last gasp I let out as the spectral creature slammed its claws into my chest, ripping the life out of me, all this time later— however long that was.

The darkness that followed felt like it lasted for millennia. I saw faces of others, full of fear or malice. Some I recognized— most I didn't. In death, all I saw was darkness and dying faces.

While I was still new to death, I saw C'rizz, fading into view. How'd he die? Had it been the Games, like me? I wished I could've asked him, but the afterlife wasn't so kind. Instead, I remained isolated, watching from a distance as others joined me among the dead, seeing them fade in just moments before I was left in the darkness again.

-

For the first time since death, there's more than just a face. There's a girl standing there. Standing! There was actually a floor beneath her feet— beneath my feet. I was no longer just shrouded in darkness, nothing more than passing faces of the dying for company.

I'd seen her face before— when she'd died, however long ago.

Could she see me?

She looked at me for a moment. She swung the knife in her hand. She could see me. Shit!

I stepped out of the reach of her blade just in time, and in that moment, realized I had a knife clenched in my grasp too. My focus narrowed. We're both dead. We're both armed. Maybe there's a second chance. If I'm right...

No time to think.

says you

gotta die

what part

of living

My knife cut the girl, and the way she responded told me something. It hurt. I could tell. Even though we were most certainly dead, we could feel pain.

It didn't stop anything, though. The pain.

We still fought. She cut me with her knife. It slashed my arm, and I could feel the burn that came with it. It was all too familiar a feeling. The feeling reminded me of the beast's claws as it ripped into my chest when I died.

"Claws," I told her. "A ghost-like thing with claws, ripping into my chest— the air leaving my lungs."

I heard her take a deep breath. Breathing. We could do that now, at least for a little while. I took a sharp inhale through my nose, still focused on her.

"What about you?" I asked her. "What do you remember?"

Something doesn't feel right about this fight— trying to kill someone who's already died once. If it might give me the chance to go back, though, I had to try. I didn't know if that was what would happen, but I had a small sense of hope.

So, there was no stopping now.

says you

gotta die

what part

of living

The way the girl spoke to me confirmed that she had indeed been in the Games. I had figured as much. She mentions something about how she'd died. About how someone had told her she was worthy, before stabbing her and killing her.

She tells me her name is Bella.

"I'm Zagreus," I tell her. I had almost said Zagreus Moon, but if there was one decision I was going to make in that moment, it was to avoid emphasizing the impact my father had had on my life, and therefore forgoing the mention of the surname I shared with him.

"And maybe—" I stopped myself for a moment after I started to speak, thinking on my words before I let them fully form.

"In the eyes of Panem, I don't think any of us District folk really feel worthy of much. Especially not us tributes."

I readied my knife to strike again.

"I can't make you feel worthy of anything, Bella." I made eye contact with her. "You have to find that yourself."

I slashed at her with my blade.

"You find your worth, kid, and I'll find mine."

says you

gotta die