𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘵 | 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

Horn of Plenty - James Newton Howard
"We shall never falter"

[⌖]


"Is that chariot on fire?"

The voice belongs to Raven, and I think for the first time ever, he's correct. That chariot is on fire. District 12 actually outshined us. I turn back to look at her as we circle, but I have no interest in waving to the fancy little capital citizens. To my utter shock, Katniss has a death stare on her face. The absolute nerve of this girl.

My blood is boiling, and anger runs through my veins, but the last thing I need is Katniss getting an ego boost from my anger. Instead, I just laugh at her. It's a silly move really, but Katniss doesn't know that. She doesn't know crap about the Hunger Games and the inside strategies used.

Her face flushes pink, the death stare dropping instantly. I turn back to face forward, the laugh being replaced with my smirk. Absolutely amazing, I've gotten into the head of Katniss Everdeen, the biggest non-career threat.

[⌖]

Our chariot stops, I see that only the first four chariots have stopped, and the other eight are still moving. I look behind me at Katniss and see the same death stare on her face, this time it's not targeted at me. It's targeted at Clove.

Clove isn't stupid enough to fall for it. She merely scoffs at it before turning to me. She brings her hand up to the side of her head and circles her temple slowly, not actually touching the skin. She's making the 'crazy' signal, and I have to admit it's pretty funny to watch. Katniss's face quickly flushes pink again as she drops her head and turns to look at her district partner.

Once I look up again, I realize all the chariots have now stopped. I see an old man with very white hair. Snow.

He soon starts talking, it's the same speech used every year. "Welcome...! Welcome...! Tributes, we welcome you. We salute your courage and your sacrifice...and we wish you...Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor." I scoff- not visibly- at the audacity of this speech, it's so...disrespectful.

"We salute your courage and sacrifice." Sacrifice? No, Snow, you're basically executing us. The nerve of him, I swear. Maybe I just have problems with everyone here and their entitled butts. I'm expecting all of us to go back to the tunnel, but we don't move. Snow starts speaking instead.

 "These games will be slightly...different," Uh oh. "We have some very...interesting things planned for the Quarter Quell. So we will be implementing a rule change." This is really really bad. "We will be crowning two victors, if in an alliance. If two strangers are still left in the arena, there will be a fight to the death."

Oh. OH. There has to be some twist. A play on words of sorts. All I know is there has to be something there we missed, something. Anything at all.

I'm jolted out of my thoughts when the chariot starts moving again. Off we go, I guess. I'm grateful to see Katniss's infamous death stare does not return for the rest of the ride back to the tunnel. Finally got through to her, took long enough. I don't even realize that my smirk is there, it's just a habit now. Good. I'm going to need it.

[⌖]

I see Annie and Finnick's form appear once we reach the tunnel. "That. Was. Awesome you guys!" Annie smiles at us. Good to know someone's proud of us. "Thank you," I say quietly, mainly because I don't want to seem too cocky. Like the average career is.

I barely have time to process the events that just took place, before I see the District 2 boy, Cato and the rest of his minions come running over. Their mentors are right behind them.

"What the hell was that!?"

------------------------------------------
Status: Edited

Word Count: 659