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

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

The bitter winds sting your cheeks as you wade through the heavy night, numb fingers gripping the hilt of your sacred blade, the only light in this endless dusk. A monster hunter, that is what you have become. Mind racing, heart pumping, sword dripping. The harsh winds do not blow you off course - you are steadfast, gaze fixed and purpose clear.

The valley is illuminated in a sickly pale green as strands of light reach up and touch the edges of the sky, painting an ugly, smeared representation of the days death in a milky smudge that your tired eyes squint to recognise.

You allow yourself to pause, drink in the dead as they loom above you, faces bright and happy - so far removed from the monsters they have become.

Should you look past your pride you would recognise that you are fortunate not to have your own face projected in that sky tonight - you barely escaped from the lake with your life. A worrying hole has been punctured at your very core - initially red, but as each hour passes it turns more and more a foul black-crimson.

You know that you will be dead in days, unless you win the game. Your only salvation lies in the slaying of eight beasts that roam the arena.

And so you take stock from the ridge overlooking the falls, heavy faced and weary, faint from the blood loss, but alive.

When the end of days comes, the last one standing won't be wolf nor vampire.

It'll be the rat.

Fate calls you back to the lake, a circle of blood that has you sleepwalking towards another dance with death, but you don't mind. You know that you are dead regardless unless you start delivering heads to the Gamemakers. Sword held loosely in one hand, the spiked shield raised in the other, you approach the two tributes.

The stark face of Anika is immediately familiar to you. You'd smirk, but you've lost too much blood to front up with your usual bravado, so instead you stand there, staring at her.

"I thought I told you to run, Twelve."

You twirl your blade and step to her.

"Now you're gonna end up just like your sad little friend."



[izzy attacks anika, bladed shield]
VUD6qeiklqknife
[Shallow Cut on Right Hip -- 3.5 damage]


[izzy attacks ace, bladed shield]
knife
[Shallow Cut on Left Thigh -- 3.5 damage]

knife·knife

[Cait]

I should have been prepared for the emptiness. The gaping hole in my chest as the days pass slowly, slowly, as the cannons continue their symphony and the numbers of the living dwindle down, down. I want to say nothing could prepare anyone for the brevity of this moment, patching yourself together and fighting to live another day, never knowing when your next breath could be your last. But I can’t say this with any certainty. I know I’m a bad fucking career – an even worse Bellisario. I know any of the others would have handled the pain and loneliness and been able to at least stop the fucking shaking of my hands better than I can.

Nobody back home would have expected me to survive this long. I don’t think I even truly believe it yet, the bitter cold keeping me suspended in a constant state of shock and numbness. But with nothing to show for my hardships except a growing list of dead allies, maybe there’s nothing so surprising about me at all. I have no deaths tallied against my name. Some cold-blooded killer I turned out to be.

I know how these things go. Kill or be killed, and when the countdown begins and we’re herded like sheep, time is of the essence. But as I walk alone, alone, as I have been the last three days, the entirety of my life, I don’t know if I have the strength to fight any more. There’s nothing waiting for me back home – I’ve known this all along. I accepted that I would find my end in this cold, lifeless place weeks ago. Why am I still holding on when there’s nothing left here for me?

Was there ever anything in here for me?

Fenrir. Nicoli. Elle.

No. Just stupid fucking names and stupid fucking nightmares to keep me awake for the rest of my stupid fucking numbered days.

I stalk the lake’s edge, drawn towards the murky depths more times than I care to admit, but Fenrir’s ghostly face stops me from falling in. For a while, I am alone, and it’s just as heart-wrenching as ever.

But the hours pass by, and the moon doesn’t set, and the itch under my skin reaches new heights of blistering heat. I can barely register the two new voices that echo across the water with my heart hammering so loudly in my chest I’m certain it’s bound to give out.

“I thought I told you to run, Twelve.”

It’s personal.

I don’t need to be here.

It’s not too late to leave.

But try as I might to remain inconspicuous – a difficult thing to do when your skin is on fire and your head is about to split into ten tiny pieces – I’m caught in the middle of the crossfire. The girl swings, catches my leg, and no, I can’t leave, can never leave. Not this day, not this lake, not this arena. I never had a choice in the matter – never stood a chance against a mind working against itself, blurring the lines of real and not real until I can’t see straight, can’t hear myself think over the constant ringing in my punctured ear.

Stepping towards the mirthless girl, I feel my weapon rise into the air against my will.

ace attacks izzy – glaive

hxO|K8|4fKglaive

[block, 0]

I send a warning shot her way, hit me again, I fucking dare you, before stepping even closer to whisper in her ear.

“It’d be quicker if we worked together.”

For a brief moment, I don’t feel the pain of my wounds splitting open. I don’t feel the hollowness of a chest carved from rotten wood. I don’t feel the shame in stooping so low to embrace my inner trained hunger – animalistic and brutal, purebred Bellisario.

As I swing at the stranger in front of me, finally, I don’t feel anything at all.

ace attacks anika – glaive

glaive

[shallow cut on right thigh, 3.5]


+ accuracy reroll on izzy - glaive

glaive

[miss, 0]

table by dars!

glaive·glaive·glaive

[kap]

a n i k a

I thrive in the shadows, untrusting of light

You're finally starting to feel the strain of the fight for survival. You didn't sleep after the fight at the lake: you were too on-guard. You wouldn't call it scared. No, hardly anything actually scared you. You were just being cautious. You were alert, making sure that no other tributes could get the jump on you.

You stayed by the lake after all the fighting, too. You weren't sure why. Maybe you just assumed no other tributes would do the same. You watched faces in the sky, and mostly ignored who they were, whether on purpose or simply because you were too tired to pay full attention to who was dead, you weren't sure.

The night was darker. Deep. Threatening and looming. The moon eventually makes an appearance, and it's not what you'd quite expected.

It wasn't just a bright orb in the sky: it was a menacing blood red color. A blood moon.

You started to feel chills rushing down your spine. It was almost as if something about this blood moon should've been having more of an affect on you beyond just some uneasiness and slight discomfort, but it wasn't there. Perhaps it was something to do with the anti-serum you'd taken a few days prior. The vampirism that'd been forming was certainly out of your system now, and there was an itch that told you if it were still there, things would've been different in this moment.

You shrug off the concern, and pace throughout the night. You don't quite know when it's meant to be morning, as the blood moon never fades, but you keep yourself as alert as you can, in case other tributes are stirring in the moonlight.

You hear a noise. A voice. A familiar voice, and you turn to face it.

It's the girl who'd killed Finn, and you can feel your blood boil.

The adrenaline starts pumping when she reminds you that she'd told you to run. Then she mentions Finn.

Too far.

Now you hunger for a fight, even without the vampiric serum in your veins. There's another tribute with the two of you as well, who you recognize as Ace. She was one you'd deemed to likely be on par with you from the start, and apparently that wasn't wrong.

Finn's killer— Izzy— strikes at both you an Ace. Ace says something about working together.

"There's no togetherness this close to the end, Ace. For any of us."

You spin and stare down Izzy, weapon at the ready.

"Maybe you're the one who needs to run this time," you hiss. Then, your weapon swings at each of them in turn.

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

-

lyrics: "Nightmares Never End" by JT Music

[Anika attacks Izzy, reaper scythe (glaive)]
F6J8zWO5V2glaive
[dg 8.0 + 1.0 blades]

[Anika attacks Ace, reaper scythe (glaive)]
glaive
[dg 8.0 + 1.0 blades]

glaive·glaive

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

"Maybe you're the one who needs to run this time." The small girl snaps back, and lashes forward with her glaive. She almost catches you.

Almost.

[izzy blocks anika's attack with bladed shield]

The steel bounces off the curved metal of your shield. It feels so familiar on your arm now, almost like an extention of yourself. You grin with joy as you deflect her attack, filled with childlike glee as you stand straight and stare her down.

"Don't you get it, Twelve? There's nowhere to run. Everything comes back to the lake." You talk, the lake whispering the words and you repeating, "This is where things die, then live, then die again."

All a cycle, forever and ever. There is no other side, just a circle going round and round. Birth, life, death, rebirth, redeath. The lake has shown you this - in Akira's face, in your dead siblings words, on cold nights. It's the only friend you have left.

Suddenly the career girl retaliates, a limb lashing out in a flash of red and silver. You sidestep in a panic, her glaive missing you by an inch. You regain your balance, turning with a thousand yard stare, motionless as she moves closer and talks terms, giving you an offer to consider.

Work together, survive together.

It would be quicker.

She claims. If you focus your efforts on the lonely girl from Twelve, this bloody mess will all be over that much sooner. All you would have to do is join her blood pact.

You stare down at your free hand, cold now, but you can remember shaking Akira's clammy undead palm in yours, and feeling a strange warmth. A promise.

"I wanted to be wrong this time..." You hear his voice.

He rises from the lake again, an inky phantasm, and you stare in horror at what used to be your ally - a faint trail of particles hangs between him and the surface, like strings as he dances above the water's surface, a contorted marionette tangled in his death.

Other bodies rise and fall, similar chords extending from their bodies, their connection to the other side. Your eyes are white, your mouth twitches, and from nowhere you find yourself laughing silently.

None of this matters. You'll all be joining their twisted, moonlight dance in the end.

You look back to the Career, your words as inky and as black as the lake.

"In what world would I work with someone like you?"

You tilt your head to one side.

"Aren't you supposed to be a Career? Yet here you are begging me to help you, because you can't do shit on your own."

You take several assertive steps forward now, dropping your shield and holding your sword with two hands as you approach the sorry excuse for a Career.

"The only noise I want to hear from you is your fucking cannon."

[izzy attacks ace, sword]

fBrBgD5WOosword

[Shallow Cut on Cheek -- 3.5 damage]

sword

[Cait]

Nothing sticks. Everything falls apart in front of me. My grip slackens on my weapon and there it is, that doubt come creeping back in. Like it never left. I feel the end coming, closing in on me and wrapping its cold hands around my throat. My words, my actions – none of them are mine. I feel my sanity slipping away, can barely keep myself standing upright as blood spills from my leg in an awful, ghastly spray.

“There’s no togetherness this close to the end, Ace. For any of us.”

I think I was a fool to think there ever could be.

But loneliness – that constant, crippling emptiness – has made me soft. For a while, it felt like I could outrun it. I believed in something more, in the depths of Hell.

Nothing sticks. Nothing lasts. Everything dies.

“There’s nowhere to run,” this is where the world ends.

Bitter words continue to fly through the air, a barrage of missiles that tear me apart in a way no weapon ever could. “You can’t do shit on your own.” I hear her voice from far away, rising up through the murky depths of the lake as buried memories unfurl their sheathed talons.

“You’re nothing special.”

“You can’t do anything right.”

“You’re a disappointment.”

“You’ll never be a real Bellisario.”

Her sword doesn’t even hurt this time. There’s just rage: pure red, burning hellfire. It numbs everything. Makes my lip quiver, but stops the shaking in my hands. My teeth cut through the raw-bitten skin of my scowl, and my eyes burn.

Cold.

Dead.

On fire.

Alive.

“Fine. Have it your way. But remember this: those cannons are made for District Six scum like you.” My bravado is fabricated, but I won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing it. When she steps closer, I stand my ground. When she swings at me, I swing right back.

ace attacks anika with glaive

BLmFSOlsFNglaive

[shallow cut on left calf, 3.5]


ace attacks izzy with glaive

glaive

[deep gash on left forearm, 8 +1]

table by dars!

glaive·glaive

[kap]

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

[Anika attacks Izzy, reaper scythe (glaive)]
VlExGYtPJaglaive
[3.5]

[Anika attacks Ace, reaper scythe (glaive)]
glaive
[miss]

[Accuracy on Ace]

glaive
[4.5]

glaive·glaive·glaive

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

"If this is where things die, then surely you're prepared to join them?" She tries to taunt you, much in the way a dog will bark at a police car.

"Uh, yeah?" You half-laugh, as if that much was already obvious.

She may have everything on the line, but you have nothing - absolutely nothing - to lose, and that makes you oh so much more dangerous. You twirl your blade, readying yourself as she begins to lunge towards you.

Watching her footing you take another confident step to the right, but this time you are sluggish, and the girl from Twelve is quick to punish you, her glaive striking your shoulder, taking a wedge of flesh and muscle tissue with it. You grimace, stepping back and raising your sword defensively.

"Those cannons are made for District Six scum like you."

The Career joins in on the action, retaliating by rushing you with her own weapon. You panic, an untrained street rat from Six, and as you raise your blade again to deflect, the Career has the edge on you - she has years of training and experience with techniques you couldn't even begin to comprehend - and thus she easily navigates your block and strikes you on the forearm.

Your gauntlet absorbs most of the blow, but breaks under the impact, staggering you. You are vulnerable in this moment, so you do what instinct demands, and drop, rolling backwards with your blade, putting distance between yourself and the two other girls, before hopping back up to your feet.

Scurry away, little rat.

Maybe you would have, were it not for the infected wound in your chest. Time is not your friend here, you cannot afford to hide away and wait for them to wipe eachother out, you have to come out of your hole and take matters into your own hands.

You spit blood, feeling a nosebleed coming on, before grinning at the other tributes with red teeth and wild eyes.

"What bullshit propaganda are they feeding you in Two? Your district's got one Victor in the last thirty years, and even he took two Games to win it." You laugh at the Career, and her delusion.

"Aww, did they tell you that you were special, Ace, that you had talent? Well, unfortunately for you, you don't learn how to kill in a classroom," You spit again, drawing your sword.

"You learn it on the streets."



[izzy attacks ace, sword]
i|aTQlwQBPsword
[result]



[izzy attacks anika, sword]
sword
[result]

sword·sword

[kap]

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

[Anika attacks Izzy, thrown rock]
a0_LZqUHpXprojectile
[results]

blunt projectile

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

Your sword goes through her neck so smoothly that it almost throws you off-balance. The sharp blade is painted red as the metal pushes into her throat and bursts out the other side, thick red blood pouring out and onto the weapon. You stand there, watching it run over onto your hand and down your arm, painting your limb crimson.

She chokes on her own blood, gasping for air like anyone with a sword through their neck would. You would stop and watch with morbid curiosity, but you are short of time, and you grow bored of this dying girl, so you pull the blade from her throat and let her fall into the mud to die like the worthless career she is.

Twelve's next on the agenda.

She comes at you again, but this is a meek effort, you're faster, anticipating her step and catching the hilt of her glaive with your sword. With a twist and a wrench, you force her palm, and she loses grip on the pole of her weapon. In one swift, decisive moment, you have disarmed the girl from Twelve, and left her scrambling backwards.

"Shit."

Unarmed, she begins to panic as her situation worsens, and you take confident steps forward as she retreats in the dirt. Desperate, she grabs a fistful of rock and throws it square at your head. The stone catches the side of your brow, stunning you for a second.

You pause, swearing under your breath and bringing two fingers up to touch the fresh cut. Your calm exterior darkens like a brewing storm, and you step quicker towards her now, sword pointing to her throat. She's seen you slaughter two people, she knows you'll do it.

"We don't need to do this right now! We can sort this out later— I— please!"

And now she begs, with no weapon and no power, all she has left in her arsenal are words, pleas, promises. You don't deal in that currency, not anymore. Time isn't a concept either of you can afford.

"There is no later, Anika. This is it." You point your blade towards the beach, "Don't you want to find out what's on the other side?"

And now you're laughing, sword dripping red.

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



[izzy attacks anika, sword]
IotOCeOmzksword
[Deep Gash on Forehead -- 9.0 damage]

sword

[kap]

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

[Anika does not attack]

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

"I guess you're more than just some idiot tribute from Six."

You pause, hovering over the girl. You don't allow your shoulders to relax, nor your weapon lower. You don't trust this. But she talks about her worth, and how her District celebrate here, and you listen, breath heavy, blood pumping, lips shaking.

You don't know her, or her story, but you believe her when she says she knows her worth. She is right, of course. No one takes a second look at you as you hang in your concrete labyrinth, sitting under the scorching sun, finger moving along the bullet holes in the pillars, tracing the gunfire to the bloodstains.

You're like all of the rats, homeless, nameless, hopeless. Your worth was earned underground, in needles, pills, and bullets. Respect was making it through another harsh winter. It was knowing how to avoid another standoff, it was reading tensions and knowing when to fight and when to flee.

Beause when all is said and done, a rat always survives.

"Good on you."

A pat on the head, a pinch of the cheek. She doesn't respect you, but she understands you - maybe. She sees where you are now, and all you had to do to get here, and maybe she was weighed down with something, and you're doing great without it.

A conscience.

"Maybe they'll even let you have the crown for it." She grimaces.

Queen of the rats.

"Don't patronise me." You scowl, "You get given nothing in this world."

You're getting angry now, losing control.

"You get given - nothing!" You repeat, looming over her aggressively.

You draw your sword again.

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



[izzy attacks anika, sword]
ubGI8|qsbpsword
[Block -- 0.0 damage]

[accuracy reroll]
sword
[Miss -- 0.0 damage lol]

sword·sword

[kap]

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

[Anika does not attack]

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

Filler sorry

[attacks anika, sword]
BAhEk0nBR1sword
[Severed Right Hand at Wrist -- 9.0 damage]

sword

[kap]

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

[Anika does not attack]

[rook]

izzy rodríguez

Filler again

[attacks anika, sword]
zJFM1gy9J7sword
[damage]

sword