no one to catch you [pisces vs oberon] day 9

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

The swing I made with my weapon didn't connect with my newly found opponent. Instead, I'd gone a bit wide, missing him completely. Damn it, I couldn't afford to just miss like that. Missing could cost me my life, and I wasn't ready to let that happen. I wasn't ready to die yet.

When the boy hears my words, he snaps back.

"I don't care," he tells me. "Feel free to have a problem with me all you want. It won't make a difference."

It was almost like the boy actually wanted me to dislike him- to have some sort of problem with who he was and the fact that he was here. Except, that wasn't what my plan was. I had encountered enough people in this arena that I ended up not liking, but I didn't really want to add to that list. I'd much rather the people I encountered be like how Meredith was when our alliances had to fight one another. She made it clear that this wasn't how she wanted things to be, but it was necessary. That's all I was trying to do now.

I wasn't trying to be cruel. I was just trying to fight for survival, and this boy happened to be in the way of that. I needed to fight him if I wanted to live to see another day. I couldn't just let him go. Another tribute in the arena meant another person who could potentially sneak up on me and kill me in my sleep later, and I didn't want that to happen.

I heard a cannon sound, signaling a death somewhere else in the arena. It made me wonder who it was. To be completely honest, I'd kind-of lost track of who was left aside from Jade, Dom and myself. That, and Will down in the catacombs. I suppose that, if I survived this fight, I may find out later who died once I saw their face in the sky tonight.

This boy who seemed to already have some sort of other struggle going on in his head from what I could tell with his words… I wasn't really sure what else to say to him at first. Then, he attacked me with his knife, only for my armor to deflect it.

"I suppose the same goes for you. If you want to have a problem with me, you can," I told him. "That's just not how I planned things."

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

The boy blocks my weapon so that I fail to hit him once more.

"Yeah well, nothing goes to plan in the Hunger Games, does it?" he says to me, and he's right. I didn't plan on anything going the way it did here so far. I didn't plan to die and wake up in the catacombs, having to fight Steel and Daemon to the death. I didn't plan to kill Daemon.

I also didn't plan to kill Kestrel that very first day. It happened, though.

The boy continues to speak.

"I didn't plan for my ally to get all hysterical and ditch me after some stupid political argument," He says more quietly this time. "I didn't plan to die and wake up in some stone corridor. I doubt you did either. And Wolfwood or whatever his name was probably didn't plan on me getting the jump on him and stabbing him to death right in that little socket, either."

He lunges at me with his weapon and I step out of the way just in time.

"So I don't exactly put much stock in plans, around here," he tells me.

"You're right," I tell him. "I didn't plan for things to go the way they did here."

I hear another cannon, signaling another tribute's death outside of our little skirmish.

"I didn't plan on dying and having to go fight Steel and Daemon to the death in some hole in the ground. I didn't plan on having to leave my allies. I didn't plan on fighting you today. None of this was what it was meant to be, but that's just how it goes," I tell him.

Then, I raise my weapon and swing, hoping I'll actually connect this time.

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

As soon as I mentioned that I had to fight against Daemon and Steel, I knew I shouldn't have said those words. Clearly, this boy had a connection to one of those tributes, if not both of them. Even as my morning star struck his collar bone, it wasn't enough to stop him- the anger was clearly brewing inside of him.

"I planned to kill you," he told me. "We were going to wait for you when you came out of that grave so we could put you right back down in it."

I was about to ask him what stopped him, but he told me himself.

"Thank Kahinta for abandoning that plan. It's the only reason you're still alive."

So that's what stopped him- one of his allies, or perhaps someone he even considered a friend. It didn't matter at this point. Friendships were pretty much obsolete now.

Another cannon sounded. This boy's needed to be the next, though.

"Which one of them were you hoping would come out alive, instead of me?" I asked. "I want to know."

My hand held my weapon, ready to strike him again when the time seemed right.

"Was it Daemon?" I asked. "Or Steel?"

I wanted to know, just to find out if I'd killed his friend, or killed the one who killed his friend. Did he have a good reason to be angry at me, or not? Well, I suppose anyone surviving instead of the person you care about is a reason to be angry in the Hunger Games arena.

I could feel something inside me, becoming more and more vicious, angrier and angrier as the days went on. Now, I was trying to find a reason to fight and kill, whereas before, I was just trying to avoid it altogether. Something was changing inside me.

Perhaps it would bring me strength.

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

He asks me why I care about who he wanted to come out of the catacombs alive. He asked if I was comparing myself to the two dead tributes I'd mentioned, and I let out a slight laugh.

The boy commented that Steel would've been easier to kill, which answered my question, whether or not he intended for it to do that.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" he asked me. Then his blade cut into my arm, drawing blood, but not enough to kill me by far.

"Actually," I corrected him. "I wouldn't. I didn't so much as lay a hand on her."

It was true. My blade hadn't touched the girl even once. She cut off my thumb and dug her blade into my flesh multiple times, but I didn't hit her back. Daemon had killed her, not me. After that, I killed Daemon. I felt guilty about it, yes, but this boy didn't need to know that. All the enemy needed to see was that I was confident and capable.

I was showing him I was confident, at the very least. Now I just needed to show that capability.

"You seem to like to assume whatever you want about people, though, don't you?" I taunted him.

I wasn't usually one for taunting or tormenting others, but as I'd noticed already, I've changed. I've become much more vicious and much more violent. I was never a fighter before the arena, but this had certainly brought it out in me. I'm sure those that knew me back home were watching, thinking that my words and behavior were out of the ordinary.

The thing is, those people back home that know me haven't been in the arena. They don't know what it does to you. They don't know how it changes you. It's turned me into a fighter.

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

I break his arm with my weapon, yet he still acts like everything is perfectly fine. No yelp of pain. No tears. Nothing. He seems perfectly fine.

"And yet here you are," the boy says to me, dragging out his words as he speaks, "making assumptions about me."

He wasn't wrong about that. I was being a bit of a hypocrite, and I knew when to admit I was wrong. I wasn't proud of myself for my hypocrisy. That was something that had always bothered me about people: when they'd shame you for doing something and then go do it themselves. I didn't like the fact that I was being that person this time.

"I suppose you're right," I said. "A little bit of hypocrisy on my end, I'll admit," I tell him.

His knife comes at me again. I ready my weapon to strike him back. I need to be prepared at every given moment. I need to be ready to fight when I have to. I need to be ready to kill when I have to. I need to be ready for anything and everything should the moment arise.

"Let's just fight this out, then. No need to make assumptions and cause more of a problem than we already have," I suggest. "Then again, it's not like our weapons seem to be doing us much good, either."

I'd broken some of his bones, yet he'd barely reacted to it. He'd barely put a scratch on me in return. I suppose only time would tell what direction this fight that I'd started would go.

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling

"If only the clockworks could speak
I wouldn't be so alone
We burn every magnet and spring
And spiral into the unknown"

~

Kap is getting tired so here's a filler that she will fill in later
-Pisces yells some sort of expletive when Oberon dgs his chest
-"Would you rather I not be calm? Would you rather I scream and yell at you? Would you rather we argue and debate until one of us is dead? Is that what you want? I can do that if that's what you want."
-Grits his teeth
-Swings his weapon at Oberon

~

lyrics: "Shatter Me" by Lindsey Stirling