RIBS, the hunger games

chapter six, sweet as sugar

Quietly, Felix turned to face the Gamemakers, his hands behind his back to hide how they started to shake. Their reactions varied from person to person, some were surprised but others were impressed. One of the Gamemakers announced that Felix was free to go. He thanked them for their time before leaving. Alone in the elevator, Felix was allowed to mull over what he had just done.

He could act however he wanted to away from the other twenty-three tributes but once he was in that arena, he didn't know if he could do what he just showed.

Cordelia would surely berate him for his actions, she always did when he came back from hunting. She would tell him that violence isn't always the answer. Then Felix would tell her that it was just a rabbit or whatever animal he found in the woods. But this time, it wasn't a rabbit, it was an actual person.

He waited right outside of the elevator, waiting for Ethel to arrive. About half an hour later, the blonde girl walked out and when she saw her brother, a smile appeared on her face.

"So...how'd it go?" he said.

"It went alright," she shrugged, playing with her necklace, "I made some snares and tried to throw some knives...that part didn't work out so well but those douchebags weren't even paying attention to me,"

"Yeah, I had that problem in the beginning too..."

"In the beginning? What did you do though?"

"Not much, just threw some spears and knives into some dummies,"

Ethel narrowed her eyes at Felix, "There's something you're not telling me though, I can see it,"

Felix sighed. He knew that he'd have to tell her both things that worried him, Ethel would know if he lied to her. Haymitch's words wandered around in his mind, Talk to her, make her actually realise what's going on. Although he himself had argued that Ethel did understand the severity of the situation they were in, his actions of keeping things a secret — like Barty's wanted alliance and his private session with the Gamemakers — said the opposite.

"There are...two things I haven't told you actually," he mumbled, "First... this morning Haymitch told me that Barty wants us as his allies and second, well I...might have also painted the numbers of the three Career districts onto the dummies,"

"Really?"

"Mhm,"

"Okay,"

"Just okay? That's it?"

"That's it," Ethel nodded, "Thanks for telling me but... I want to be told about those sorts of things when you're told. I'm a part of this team too, I'm going into the games too,"

At that moment, if you had just listened to her voice, you would think Ethel was older than twelve. Right there, it was like she had aged years. Something Felix and Cordelia had tried to stop from happening, they always kept secrets from their younger sister because they didn't want to burden her. They wanted her to be the child and not have to grow up faster than needed.

"Okay," he said softly, swallowing a lump down his throat, "I'll make sure you're right by my side then..."

"Promise?"

"Promise." he nodded, "Then I think we need to figure some stuff out. Haymitch said we can decide if we want Barty a part of our team, I want to hear your opinion, should we?"

"Well...we don't really know him, I've only talked to him once really. And...we don't know if he's telling the truth. Plus, remember what you said before? There can only be one winner so..."

Felix nodded, tilting his head slightly.

"I don't think we should accept it. He's nice and I don't want to have to hurt him,"