across the water ( piper v. amelia ) day 7

Amelia stared idly to her left, where Yuki had been the whole week. Would have been. Saying something crude and tinged with violence, no doubt. She smiled in spite of herself. This was to be her first night alone in the arena. Caleb had rabbited once Yuki’s cannon had fired, dragging Andorra away and Amelia had declined to give chase. As she’d told Caleb, they hadn’t been following them, they just kept getting into the way.

Plus, she had had injuries that needed tending to.

There were four faces in the sky that night. Yuki. The Hailsham. The girls from six and seven. Amelia stretched out her injured leg, hissing in pain as she did so. She hadn’t been this fucked up since the time she’d gotten shot. And that was a single life-threatening wound. Now she had several. She was cold to boot, and some dulled corner of her mind told her that part of that was because of the blood loss.

That slash across her neck was still troubling her, though the bleeding had stopped, drops of blood crystalizing where they’d landed. If she ran into Caleb again, she’d return the favor tenfold. If they saw each other again. But she was finding hard to care. What was the point in seeking revenge for the abuse her body had suffered? Seven more were going to die regardless of what they thought of each other.

Only eight tributes left.

She was surprised to find that she knew everyone who was still kicking.

Shy, Caleb, Irene, Andorra, Delroy and Carbon.

A zombie, a cornered wildcat, a girl she’d yet to see anywhere, her district partner, the rebel and the doctor. Oh, and the little girl from ten. Name heard once or twice and then forgotten. Eh, six out of seven wasn’t that bad. Petra? Pippa?

She had spent an inordinate amount of time trudging through the tundra as the wind picked up, icy fingers raking across her face, caressing her skin through the rents in her clothes. She had no idea where she was headed, only that she was leaving the tundra behind. Eventually it had gotten too dark to keep going and she’d made camp.

Amelia closed her eyes and curled up next to her wolf. Top eight. The terrible weather was no coincidence. The gamemakers would be forcing tributes together now. There’d be no rest for the days left in the games. Just blood. That was fine. The sooner it was over, the better.

***

The Glass Lake again. Frozen solid and useless a water source in the same vein that the bonfire was useless for heat. It was also where it had all begun for her. Where it had ended for Marsh and Rene. There was no sign of their fight. The bodies retrieved and the bloodstains buried under new snowfall. It was like nothing had ever happened. There was a girl approaching her. Small. Young. Coming from the opposite direction as she was, it was clear that the gamemakers had driven them together with the snowstorm.

A pity.

Amelia was running out of people she hadn’t already pissed off.

“You’re from nine, aren’t you?” A nod of affirmation. It went without saying that the girl was from ten.


“Your partner, did he kill mine?”

What did that matter? And how the hell was Amelia supposed to know? It was an odd way to initiate conversation. Not that she was any better at it. “We all have to die sometime,” she smirked, a wolfish grin stealing over her face. “What does it matter by who’s hand.” She paused, the sound of Yuki’s legs breaking in four different places echoing in her head. “Andorra is a wimp though. I didn’t ally with him.” It was true enough, wasn’t it? Both he and Caleb fought when their backs were against the wall, but that was the extent of their courage.

“You didn’t answer the question.” It was almost petulant.

“What’s the big deal anyway? If you want to go home, he had to die at some point.”

“No,” the girl said, her voice wavering."No, I wouldn’t have hurt him. He’s my brother.”

Was he? Amelia frowned. She hadn’t recalled any tributes having the same last name. Or maybe he’d simply been a friend. An ally that had grown close. Amelia shrugged. Tributes got too emotional about their fellow tributes and that inevitably brought them to ruin. “I volunteered to save my twin sister. Got to take care of your siblings.” A taste of kinship before the end. The little girl looked about as bloody as she felt and it cost her nothing to tell Pippa the truth. That she had no idea who had killed Anari.

“I watched the boys from Five and Three die,” and that she had. Allies of convenience. A crew. A tribe. Somewhere to fit in. Both dead now, leaving her a gang of one. “Killed the boy from Eight and the girl from Eleven. That’s all I know.” That was all she knew, everyone else had been nothing but a face backlit by stars. Amelia inhaled a cold breath and looked up at the flurry filled sky. “Gotta thank whoever killed that Hailsham though. Only good career is a dead one.” He had been the last person that had seemed like an issue.

“His name was Luke,” the other girl practically spat, and Amelia’s beleaguered brain screamed at her to wake up. She’d said the wrong thing. The career must have been one of her allies. And a special one at that. Amelia blocked the first blow with her short spear, the reverberation of the two colliding vibrating up her arms and into her shoulders. But the pain in her calf lanced upwards when she stumbled back.

Too slow, she thought. I’m moving too slow. The other girl recovered quickly and Amelia instinctively put an arm up to ward off the strike, a mistake when she felt something shift and break. Stars exploded in her vision as she realized the little shit had just broken her arm.  She needed to wake up, she was too sluggish. Girl had caught her at a bad time. 

“Fuck!” she growled, trying to keep her balance on the surface of the lake. The adrenaline was racing through her veins. She had one last ace up her sleeve. Or rather, in her bag. “You got a name squirt?” she called out as she dug frantically in her bag. Anything to keep her off-balance. “I’m Amelia.” There it was. Her fingers curled around a now familiar bouquet.

Enough stalling.

“Now hold that pose,” she hissed as she blew the icy dust off of her flowers and towards the girl. “I need a moment to think.”

[amelia replaces her attack with her last usage of freezing flowers]

[Piper is unable to attack next post]

Piper. Right.

Piper Shaye, some file tucked away in the corner of her mind said. District ten. It had been so easy to ignore all of the information she’d gathered in the training center. A week ago now, but it felt like years. It had been so easy to lose herself, to become the killer her sister had always been, the killer she needed to become to survive a place this like this. Her careful planning had been thrown out the window the second the bloodbath counter had reached zero.

And the pieces of her soul had come away like snowflakes melting on the tip of a tongue. Or had she always been this way? Had there been a wolf sleeping in her chest, just waiting for to smell spilled blood and awaken? Was this how Audrey felt every time she killed someone in a gangland scuffle? Empty of emotion? Not caring whether she lived or died, just living for the next fight? Taking a life had been the only thing they hadn’t had in common.

Were they more alike now? Or less?

Piper started cursing, frantic as the dust hardened like a second skin and restricted her movements.

“What did you do to me? Let me go!”

Amelia grimaced, holding her arm close to her chest.

“Some kind of pixie dust. Game maker trap. It’ll wear off in a minute.”

She brought her trusty stabbing stick up to bear and cocked her head to one side. She’d almost gotten Caleb in the throat, if not for putting too much pressure on her injured leg. But she was just so tired. None it of seemed to matter anymore. Killing Piper was just another task that had to be completed. There was no joy in it. No pain either. Only another rung on the ladder she climbing back to home. To Audrey.

“Minute might be all I need.”

Piper had made two mistakes. The first was attacking her. The second was getting close enough to be hit back. And for what? Slandering a dead boys name? He was dead. Dead like sixteen—

Boom.

Seventeen others. Amelia yawned, still groggy from having barely woken up. Someone had already fallen. Six to go. The dead didn't matter, they were gone. The only thing Piper should have been focused on was not getting killed. But Amelia knew she'd made a mistake in underestimating Caleb. She wouldn't make the same mistake again. Piper would be afforded the same respect as any dangerous opponent, hell she'd already broken her damn arm.

“Nice to meet you Piper,” she grunted. “What did you score again? I got a ten.”

Would she be as easy to rattle as Caleb?

It was worth a shot.

As was her strike.

[attacks Piper]
R4cgGfuTY2spear
3006 -- Deep Gash on Chest -- 9.5 damage

The point of the spear came out with a wet sucking sound reminiscent of coring an apple. But it hadn’t hit anything vital. Or anything vital enough. Missed the lungs, heart. Surely it had pierced her sternum? Amelia winced, pain lancing up her arm. If only she’d paid more attention in biology back in middle school.

Perhaps dropping out of high school to gain clout in the underworld of the district hadn’t been the smartest decision after all. But there was nothing she could do about it now. She was standing on the edge of a precipice The same one as the days before, but this time, she was on the wrong side of it. With her calf locking up she was too slow, couldn’t avoid a lumbering strike from an icicle club that looked comically big in Piper’s small hands.

Her left thigh splintered under the blow and she screamed, losing her balance and hitting the ice with her knees. It was hard enough trying to keep her balance on the frozen lake with her other leg wound and now she couldn’t at all. From his perch on her sled, Chill gave a mournful howl. Like he sensed something.

“Audrey,” she said it like she was calling for her. “Her name is Audrey.”

Amelia grit her teeth. Not being able to walk was a death sentence. If the cold didn’t finish her off during the night, she’d be in poor shape for her next fight. If she got to that. She panted for a second, watching Piper move around her, looking for another opening. “And if you kill me you better hope you don’t win this thing. She’ll murder you the moment the victory tour stops in district nine.”

They used to joke that Audrey was the evil twin. Now she wasn’t so sure. I’m the nice one. She’d told Caleb as much.

“One day you’re the butcher, next day you’re the meat, you know?” She stated it as a fact. It was an ancient saying, hearkening back to the days when nine was still a food producing district. When their forefathers had hunted game in the woods. It was still relevant when more people died from gang-related violence every month than by practically anything else.

Was this the day she died, so far away from home, surrounded by ice and snow? She’d been living on borrowed time for years; should have bled out in a gutter in district nine three or four times now. It would destroy Audrey, she knew. But herself? Death was natural. She did not fear it. The reaper had had one hand on her shoulder for a few days. Ever since she’d looked into the void, into the darkness in Rene’s eyes, death had been calling for her.

She’d stared into the abyss and blinked. Amelia spat, tasting copper on her tongue and holding her spear up with her good hand. Even on her knees, the height difference was manageable.

“We all have to go sometime. Kill me if you can, Piper.”

A hint of something bright colored her otherwise monotone monologue, the ghost of a smile touching her lips.

“Ain’t gonna hear me beg.”

There it was. An opening.

She jabbed forward with every ounce of strength she could still muster.  If Piper wanted her dead, the little girl would have to work for it.

[attacks Piper]
LPJKb_kQp3spear
3135 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage

accuracy day 7
spear
3142 -- Shallow Cut on Right Bicep -- 3.5 damage

It felt like her body wanted to shut down, but at the same time it refused to give up the ghost. She had to give the twerp credit where credit was due, though. Amelia twisted, hissing as she felt something in her leg shift. The club missed her and thudded uncomfortably on the ice. Amelia’s eyes snapped down to the site of impact, wondering if the spider web of cracks had been there before. Bad. If the ice broke, she’d be unable to swim, not with one arm and one leg broken.

Then again, there were worse ways to go then slipping into a cold, dark void.

“Who’d you get?” she groaned in response. “One of the girls yeah?” Wasn’t Yuki. And judging by what had started their fight, not Luke either. It was interesting to meet an opponent that wasn't afraid. Not like Caleb and Andorra. Amelia grimaced. How was she supposed to keep going like this? Was it worth it? A broken leg was almost bad as a missing foot; she expected to see Andorra’s face in the sky at night because of that.

But it was looking like she might be joining him.

She should have been afraid, or angry or something. She knew that. But all she felt was the pain in her broken limbs and the quiet debate in the back of her head about what to do next. Back to her knees she went, not even attempting to stand up all the way. If she managed to kill Piper, maybe she could crawl to her sled? Chill could drag her to safety. That was a plan. Only one she could come up with. Step one though—

“The people you’re fighting for are all dead. My life worth their ghosts?”

It was a simple question. There was no malice behind it, no anger or fear. She asked it like she was asking for a menu at a restaurant, the inflection too normal for the situation. Honest curiosity. Something to ponder while she tried to put Piper in the ground. She was supposed to be fighting to get home to Audrey.

That was what she kept telling people. But since killing Rene it had felt more like she was just fighting to fight. To get it over with. Living, dying, they were two sides of the same coin. Either your existence continued or it didn’t. No use is getting emotional about it.

It didn’t really matter either way.

[attacks Piper]

|Jadb39RaHspear
-- Shallow Cut on Left Thigh -- 3.5 damage

There was a third horrendous crack, and she yelped again, tears of pain stinging her eyes and drying immediately in the cold.  Amelia’s fingers twisted, holding the short spear that had become like an extension of body over the week with a white-knuckled death grip.

Her right arm hung limp and useless by her side, and her left arm—there was a fracture under her bicep, she could feel it. Just moving caused fire to spread throughout her body and when she tried to bring it up for an attack she lost her grip on the weapon. It clattered to the ground, skittering across the ice.

“Fuck.”

Three broken limbs. It was a miracle she hadn’t passed out yet. As it was, her vision had blurred for a moment, Piper blending into the snow and haze surrounding the two of them before coming back into focus. Her fingers twitched for the javelin, but her arms refused to obey her. It caused too much pain to move them.

“Home,” she nodded in agreement, looking down at the mess her body had become. It was feeling farther and farther out of reach. Never thought she’d miss the polluted skies over her concrete jungle. The sounds of crickets and distant gunshots lulling her to sleep at night. She stared up at the blank whiteness that was drifting down and exhaled slowly.

Was this how Rene had felt? Neysa? Yuki?

She’d accepted that she might die the same second she’d volunteered for Audrey. It felt like her borrowed time was running out. And for the first time in a long time, she felt something other than irritation or nothingness.

A spark of—

Excitement?

Perhaps the time for talk had passed.  It was like how she'd swallowed the sarcasm before killing those two. Things were serious now, only the shoe was on the other foot. 

Amelia lunged forward, hurling her broken body at Piper and trying to knock out the girl’s teeth with her head. It was likely the last time she’d be able to stand up, and indeed, she felt her leg give way again as soon as she’d thrown herself. Maybe if she got close enough she could rip Piper’s throat out with her teeth.

The taste of blood had never bothered her.

Amelia attack's Piper unarmed (literally; headbutt)

[attacks Piper]

gTqnH5lrhFunarmed
5129 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage

A snow drift cushioned her fall, but it didn't little to stop her broken bones from being jarred. Amelia screamed, then laughed, a delirious cackle as she forced herself back to her knees. The force it caused shards of bone to jut out of the bruised skin of her arms. Blood trickled down her forearms as she turned to look at Piper, tilting her head to one side.

"Come on," she said with a pained grin. "It ain't over 'till it's over."

Her hand shattered a moment after the weight had been taken off her shoulder, and her mind’s eye replayed the moment Rene’s hand had exploded; her mangled digits weren’t quite as bloody, but it was just as useless. It wasn’t the way she thought she’d go out. Bloody and beaten black and blue like she’d been hit by a car. She’d expected a knife between the ribs. A bullet to the heart, expected that one day her choices would catch up with her in an alleyway and Audrey wouldn’t be there to stop it.

Or worse, would suffer for it too.

She’d made a choice. A choice to save Audrey. She knew that. She’d made her peace with it. Audrey had saved her so many times. She could return the favor just once.

Just once.

Audrey hated people. She wouldn’t have been able to bear the spotlight. Worse, if she’d gone to the arena and won, she’d be a celebrity. Never be able to operate in the shadows again. It’d be hard enough now, having the same face as a tribute.

Amelia coughed, blood spattering on the ice in front of her. Was it over? It felt like it was. Looked like it was. Was she making it worse? Impossible. She thought about something to say, the way Rene had, some words of wisdom or truth.

Amelia came up empty, staring up into Piper’s eyes and feeling something cold and heavy in her chest.

“The—“ she groaned. “—Hale sisters don’t know when to quit.”

She didn’t have the strength left to say much of anything else. The least she could do was try to break Piper’s nose on her way out. Audrey had been the stronger one after all. She hadn’t needed saving. Once again, Amelia needed her sister's knifework to bail her out of some trouble her mouth had gotten her in.

But this time, there was no backup.

At least being hard-headed was one thing they had in common.

Amelia gathered up what strength she had left in her torso and lurched forward, intent on struggling against the inevitable until she was entirely incapable.


Amelia attack's Piper unarmed (literally; headbutt)

[attacks Piper]

b4qpB4gWffunarmed
5039 -- Miss -- 0.0 damage

She laughed again, nodding knowingly. This was what things were like on the other side of death. Receiving it instead of doling it out. Amelia smiled at Piper through bloody teeth.

"Well, come on then. Home's waiting for you."