a dance with {d e a t h | (south)

Digital shards of glass crumbled into nothing as my spear stabbed through it and came to an uneasy halt after skidding across the floor. I raced forward, pulling a knife from it's holster around my hip, and stabbed it into the computerized blue man moments before he crumbled to pieces. An arrow made up completely of light soared toward me. Of course it was no real danger, but if it were real it could be. Ducking, I brought my shoulder into one, and round house kicked yet another one. A half smile creeped across my lips as my eyes found their last remaining target, standing behind me to my left. I glanced at it only for a second before turning on my heel and sending the blade in my hand sailing through the air. It found it's mark directly where the false man's temple would have been if it were real, and like it's brethren, it crumbled to pieces.

The new equipment was different, but I had decided I preferred it to the old stationary dummies because they constantly moved, and offered a closer experience to the real thing. We had only had the new stations set up for a little more than a week, and the majority of the center's careers were improving already. Myself included. I had already set a high standard for the rest of the people in the center, and I had obviously raised the bar even more so when the technology advanced a bit further.

"Wrong!"

My father's voice shook the entire center as he walked closer to me, uncrossing his arms and bringing his right hand across my face. "Damn it, son! You do pull that shit in an arena and you'll be dead!" The entire center was quiet, as if they still weren't used to my father's screams, or the fact that they were usually directed at me. I could feel blood rushing to the site of his latest assault, and I was sure that a solid hand print was already forming on my cheek. I angrily stared back at the crowd of faces, deciding it was better to scowl at them than my father. "The speed of that spear was so slow you would have had a better chance hitting a person after holding up a sign! You dropped your chin when you charged, and you wasted far too much time before you threw that knife!" I was used to the disappointment, but only from the man that scolded me and my mother. Anyone else either worshiped me or regretted it.

Instead of snapping at him like I honestly wanted to, I shook my head in agreement one time. Just a simple nod that told him I got the message and he could shut the fuck up anytime he was ready to. I didn't break my heated stare into the crowd of faces, some trying their hardest not to laugh, and others unable to look away with horror worn clearly across their faces. I owned them. All of them. This was my family's center, and I was the best career it had produced. Which according to my arrogant, angry-at-the-world father, wasn't saying much. My eyes found Pillar in the crowd, her head shaking from side to side and her interest seeming to be far too much on the pack of knives in her fragile hands.

It hadn't been that long since she finally opened her eyes and confessed that I had been right when telling her not to go out so late. Of course I was right, I always was. She still wore the bruise on her face that she thought she was hiding from everyone by pulling her blonde hair over it, and my knuckles still ached from the night Sterling, Labyrinth and I beat the living shit out of the boys that put our sister in a coma for all of that time when I squeezed my fists shut.

Really, until that night, I hadn't even realized I could work along side Sterling, or Labyrinth, for that matter. They had both dedicated so much time doing better than me, and looking for any sign of weakness they could find in my performance that I seemed to have forgotten we were a family. Or at least we lived in the same house. The Fray household was nowhere close to being an actual family. That would require having positive feelings toward one another, even if only for short amounts of times, it meant talking to each other like we could actually trust everyone to keep our secrets. It at least meant having a dinner together every once in a while, for fuck's sake. I didn't mind it, though. Hell, if I was being honest, I preferred it.

The majority of my siblings didn't deserve to tell people they were related to me, and I hoped they never did. I certainly never told anyone I was the oldest of the large pack of emotionless fuck ups I called my siblings, yet everyone seemed to know. I guessed it was my father's name that did it. It made living in One sort of like being a celebrity, even if I didn't have to win the games just yet. I still strongly planned on entering them, and destroying anyone that got in my way. I wondered for a moment if I would have allies. I had to have them. I needed decoys to feed death's appetite, and get me closer to getting that golden crown placed on my head as everyone in Panem chanted my name.

My father waved his hand in the air as if dismissing a servant. "Go. You are done for today." For a moment, I stood there, frozen, and hoping he would change his mind and storm away. "Out! Now!" Fuck. I inhaled though my nose, and stalked away to grab my things. There was only answer to my father's blind hatred toward me. Jealousy. He wished he was me, as did everyone. He wished he was as young and powerful as me, and he wished he still had a chance to have his name called at the reaping. He no longer did, though. But I did.

After changing my clothes and grabbing my bag, I was quickly out of the center and out in the side walk. The day was just starting to come to a close as the first bit of the sun was already disappearing in the horizon. It had been ages since I had been free this early on a Wednesday. What was I supposed to do? The thought that I had homework crossed my mind, and I decided to save it for before bed, just as I would have had I not been forced to leave early. The evening air smelled of pumpkin, strangely, and was extremely moist. I walked aimlessly around the square for a bit until I eventually decided that it would best suit me to just go home. I guessed having no life outside of training wasn't always a good thing.

A familiar face drew my attention toward it, and I immediately recognized it as a Shore. Why in the hell was I always finding them? Obviously because there were a thousand of them, but I only ever seemed to see the girls, and each one was just as beautiful as the next. This one was called Lapis, and she was known locally for raising complete hell wherever she went. Her bleached hair fell loosely around her shoulders, but not enough to cover the tattoo that wrapped completely around her arm.

"Hey, Shore," I called to her. "Any chance you are up for a drink?" I thought I deserved at least that, and the girl really should have been honored that I asked her. She knew it, too. Everyone did. Anyone, even a Shore, would know not to mess with me. I wondered for a moment if she had a heart at all, if she cried when Emerald's life was taken, or if she watched her television hoping Opal would come home. I doubted it, but I didn't know her. I only knew myself. I, for one, wouldn't have given a flying fuck if my siblings were reaped, as long as it was a boy that I could volunteer for. If Labyrinth were reaped, it would mean having to stand by and watch as she slowly got closer and closer to claiming the title that belonged to me. I would prefer that to Pillar being reaped, though. Ripred knew that she would have been gone in seconds, even if she had been proving her skills as of late.

I walked up to the girl who returned my stare with one of her own, bathed in confidence. She was one of the oldest, if I remembered correctly, which meant she was around my age. I seemed to vaguely recall seeing her drunk one Saturday night while on my way home from training, and in a way, I was jealous. Maybe if I acted like a fuck up my parents would give up hope and leave me alone. As appealing as that sounded, I preferred being feared. I preferred controlling everyone around me. I craved the obedience others showed me.

k e l l a n f r a y
h e a r t l e s s