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laughing-with-god · 5 years

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Quarter Quell II

Yandere Jungkook, Hunger Games AU

Warnings; gore, death, yandere behavior, killing, strong language, kids murdering other kids, male on female violence (special trigger warning: if you have suffered abuse or are extremely sensitive to like-mannered scenes I want to take a moment to warn you that there is certain scenes in which male tributes will hurt and overpower other female tributes. If this will trigger you, please refrain from reading and I apologize beforehand.)

Words; 12.8k

The Capitol of Panem maintains its’ hold on it’s 12 districts by forcing them each to select a boy and a girl, called Tributes, to compete in a nationally televised event called the Hunger Games. Every citizen must watch as the youths fight to the death until only one remains.

The end had arrived.

Faintly, in the back of your mind, you could hear a doomful melody accompany your death march. Hauntingly beautiful bells and strings swam in your consciousness, making the awfully bleak scene even more gothically tragic. A personalized soundtrack for your promised annihilation.

On either side of you was a peacekeeper, each of them holding a gun to ensure your spineless obedience.

You followed them silently...wordlessly...mindlessly.

The sound of footsteps echoed in your ears as they bounced off the surface of the concrete walls. They guided you deeper into the grey, sterile and fluorescent-lighted corridor. Each pace forward only further locked in your fate. And as a slave to ruthless destiny, you continued onward.

You were marching to your death.

Yet, you felt no anger.

No fear.

Not even a lick of grief or pity entertained your empty mind as you followed the path of your own demise.

Your body had gone into a semi-shock, not allowing you to fully grasp the severity of the situation in hopes of postponing a mental breakdown. All functions had suddenly gone numb, protecting you from the wrath of panic that would thunder upon you if you focused too closely on this dire moment. You welcomed this sensation and allowed it to coax you into a zombie-like state, even if this tranquility was phony you still willingly clung to it.

Perhaps the reason for your lack of reaction was due to an acceptance of death. You held the benevolence of a queen approaching the guillotine, if nothing could change your sentence than the least you could do is hold your head up and never let them see you break.

You kept the charade up until the peacekeepers halted beside a door marked ‘10 F’.

Your breath hitched.

One of them then reached over to open it, the other grasped one of his gloved hands onto your arm to hold you in place, somehow expecting a fight, before shoving you into the room.

It was the resounding slam of the door that finally cracked your resolve.

Tears began to well in your eyes as you observed the last room you’d ever see before the hellish arena.

It was small, as to be expected. White tile lined not only the floor but also the walls, the bright lighting reflected off of them and almost blinded you in the process. In the center of the room was a metal table, sat upon it was the tribute wear. Dark grey camo pants lined with utility pockets, a tight black tank top, and a blue windbreaker-like jacket. To top it all off, a pair of black combat boots sat on the floor next to the table.

The outfit you would die in.

You choked back a sob as the postponed sadness made it’s belated arrival.

It seeped in like a flood does to a house with a weak foundation. The sticky and awfully heavy dread took its’ time peeling away the decaying layer of denial with steady ease. Then, it clung to your bones…. melting itself further and further until it eventually made its’ way to your core and wrapped itself around it.

You suddenly couldn’t breathe.

The air had evaporated before it could reach your desperate lungs. Replacing it was the icy shock of terror as it consumed every fiber of your being. In response, your chest began to heave up and down as your body began a hyperventilation process in search of more oxygen.

“I-I’m too young to die.” your broken whisper barely penetrated the pathetic whimpers and wheezes your body was also making.

Out of nowhere, a tiny spark of anger ignited within you. Anger at who, you did not know. But you felt an unfairness like no other in that moment. You felt robbed of basic humane rights, such as living your life up till it’s natural and uneventful end. Why? Why cut your life so short? You never thought of yourself as young but goddammit, you didn’t think your teenage years were enough to be called a ‘full life’. How heartless were people to look at the youth in the tributes and demand such short lives of potential to be cut even shorter?

“Dearie, what good would crying do at this point?” A purring yet somehow also grutal voice called out from behind you, breaking your inner dialogue of misery.

You turned to face your designer in all her capitol glory.

Her name fit her in the most pretentious way. They called her Topaz, and her bronze skin, that was always pressed with expensive Capitol body oils, resembled the characteristics of the infamous gemstone. To compliment this coco complexion, she often wore gold makeup with green or yellow dresses that flowed behind her tall amazon body. Her black curls were always flowing freely, sometimes with a crown on her head to feed the superiority complex she without a doubt had.

But today she toned it down for the seriousness of the occasion.

Her figure-hugging dress was black, as if to attend your pseudo funeral because you sure as hell weren’t getting one after this. Her curls were tied up into a tight bun to further emphasize her slender and bare face that was free of any noticeable makeup besides and odd golden-glittery lipstick.

“I know you must be very scared, but we only have a few minutes to get you ready.” She placed a hand on your shoulder whilst shooting you a soft and barely sympathetic smile that didn’t quite reach those amber orbs of hers. Then rather roughly, she proceeded to guide you to the table and gestured for you to take your clothes off.

Such invasion of privacy would be uncustom if she had not waxed your entire naked body and hosed it down the minute you entered the capitol.

Slowly, you peeled away your casual outfit as Topaz eagerly handed you the tribute one, bit by bit.

It was awkward, tense and additionally pathetic with the occasional sounds of your sniffles and continuous streaming of tears. All the while she eyed you with this soulless blank stare that unnerved your already high-strung nerves. You briefly wondered how many times she did this exact ritual. How many kids from your home district did she watch break down and dress in the clothes they’d eventually be slaughtered in? Did she also smile at them and offer forged empathy, pretending to understand what it was that they were going through in their last moments...as if she wouldn’t return back to some Capitol cafeteria and eat a luxurious brunch whilst watching the bloodbath that would unfold.

Instantly you got a wave of nausea.

How was it that both you and this woman were both species of the same human race, with beating hearts, souls and brains yet one could turn so corrupt while you ended up with the fate of a mere prey? Was even a tiny molecule of her guilty for the kids she looked in the eye before sending them to their premature deaths?

You avoided her gaze with a new sense of disgust and focused on zipping up your jacket.

“Don’t forget the boots.” Topaz added before reaching down to grab them and hand them to you. You took them wordlessly and knelt down to put them on. Whilst you were doing this, your designer apparently felt the need to lighten the dark aura around you with some ‘comforting’ words. “You know Y/n, you’re actually quite lucky that you’re playing this Quell. No weapons means no bloodbath. The first ten minutes of most games are the deadliest but that can’t really be said with this one. I doubt there’s even going to be a Cornucopia.”

Oddly enough, this was indeed slightly soothing. Although you felt very offended that she dare call you ‘lucky’, she did have a point. No weapons meant that there wouldn’t be a race to get them, and the first ones to get their hands on them couldn’t turn and attack the others. That should at least buy you enough time to slip away and find cover, if no one bigger decides to gang up on you.

Suddenly you got a flash in your minds’ eye of a certain black-eyed career who made his infatuation with you all too known.

You physically flinched at the prospect of Two getting his hands on you the first thing in the game.

All you could do was pray that the gamemakers took mercy on you and didn’t station him too close.

Blearily, you stood back up and looked towards the corner of the room to spot the item that would eventually spit you up into the arena. It was a glass tube, nothing spectacular about it. But you knew the moment you would step in it, the rounded glass doors would envelop shut and trap you in. You stood there for a minute, staring at it as if your stare could eventually burn right through it if you truly tried.

But alas you were without luck or fortune.

“It’s about time, Y/n.”

The ominous words were enough to stop the beating of your heart.

A pitiful and begging voice began a mantra in your head, ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t wan-’

A nudge was given to your back and successfully shoved you closer to the tube. Goosebumps raised on the surface of your skin and the instinct to dry heave became too much to bear.

Topaz continued pushing you further and further, until you were at the edge of the object and a mere inch away from being in it. Your body had frozen stiff in attempt to plant yourself to the ground, but it sadly wasn’t enough to alter your fate.

With one more final shove, you were in the tube.

Topaz was half in and half out of the cylinder, her hands on your shoulders and her chin by your shoulder to whisper her last version of ‘break a leg’.

“If you win this, I’ll personally buy you a name-brand dress.” You could practically hear her proud smirk as she said this. “Good luck, hun.”

The audacity was enough to make you whip around in preparation to slap that smug smile off her face. Was the need to live not enough motivation? Did she think that hanging an expensive piece of cloth over your head would be the push you needed to survive? How fucking dare she-

You opened your mouth to holler and even raised a hand, but when you fully turned around the glass doors had enveloped shut and Topaz was on the other side of it, waving ‘bye’ in a content manner.

Your jaw dropped in horror as you heard an odd ‘whoosh’ sound occur from above you.

You looked up to see that the roof of the tube had slip open.

Right above it was the arena…. waiting for you with the utmost promise of lost innocence and bloodshed.

Your heart and breathing began to accelerate as you felt the pedestal beneath you begin to slowly rise, bringing you closer and closer to the top.

Closer.

And closer.

You clenched your eyes shut and tried to soothe this upcoming panic attack that was looming over the horizon of your sanity.

You took a deep breath and attempted to rationalize.

Blurry memories of previous games fogged up in your mind like some sort of warning. Images of shell-shocked tributes in the throes of denial who would stay frozen during the opening of the game, unable to fully process their situation….they were usually the first to go.

You couldn’t let that happen to you.

‘Calm down, the first minutes of the game are detrimental. If you freak out now and stall, you’ll miss your chance to escape.’ You thought to yourself.

As awful as it was, you were in this game for better or worse. No time could be saved for moping, survival mode had to be switched on now or never. From here on out, you would have to think like an animal and solely focus on methods to outrun the predators. Humanity had to be abandoned.

The pedestal stopped rising, letting you know that you were now fully in the arena.

You swallowed, whether it was to help your mouth that suddenly gone dry or to keep the bile at bay you did not know.

The temperature around you was cool, yet also somehow humid and damp. Your nose took in a voluntary sniff and discovered a scent of must, earth and...mold?

You opened your eyes to behold the 100th Annual Hunger Games arena.

You were underground, all around you were gigantic rocky caverns. It was similar to a dome, except the walls in which you were enveloped were ridgy and a hundred feet high. There was also smaller tunnels at the edges of the arenas’ center in which the tributes were located. They were so huge and abyssal that one felt like an ant standing in the middle of it all. Everything was dark due to no natural lighting beyond the small cracks in the rocks above that allowed very little sun to seep through.

You looked around in awe.

The arena was a series of underground caves.

You would’ve preferred a forest or a jungle. At least then there would be more chances for food and water. But you supposed you should’ve been grateful that it wasn’t an arctic habitat or a desert one.

You quickly turned your attention to the other tributes.

As custom, you were all aligned in a giant circle. The closest kids to you were still ten or so feet away. You noted with relief that you couldn’t make out Jungkook anywhere near you. But to be fair, it was hard to make out anyone in such dim lighting. But from what you could tell it was the boy from Four and the girl from Nine stationed on either side of you.

Unlike any other games, there wasn’t a Cornucopia to behold.

All you could see was an orange, hologram number ‘10’ floating about 50 feet in the center of the circle of tributes.

A robotic voice thundered the arena with a chilling, “Welcome to the 100th annual Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor. We begin in 10…”

The holdram morphed into a 9 to symbolize the beginning of a countdown.

“9.”

“8.”

“7.”

“6.”

“5.”

“4.”

“3.”

“2.”

“1.”

The sound of a cannon shot through the silence as the hologram instantly depleted into nothingness. The sound so chilling, especially when you know that the cannon would be the first of many.

Adrenaline rushed through your veins as you flew off of your pedestal like a bat out of hell.

You threw your body in the opposite direction of the circle, rushing outwards in hopes to seek cover in one of the smaller tunnels and worm your way far from all the other tributes

You heard yelling and the sounds of wrestling or tussling, but you refused to look back to witness the unraveling of any tribute-on-tribute amicability. You briefly just hoped that Chenle and Taehyung were agile enough to get away without any trouble.

Your boots hitting the rocky ground was the only sensation you allowed yourself to focus on, along with the sight of a medium sized cavern that you had your sights set on and were running towards. Your heart was beating so fast it would’ve been a medical mystery how it didn’t burst out of your chest, but you only had one instinct to escape. If luck was on your side, the tunnel wouldn’t be a dead end and could eventually lead you into another one.

You were about 15 feet away from entering the cave when something caught around your ankle, causing you to fall face first with your arms barely coming out in time to catch the brunt of the fall. When you were fully on the ground, something heavy and strong began to straddle your hips, successfully pinning you down.

You looked up to see the boy from Four.

He smirked down at you, his sun kissed skin glowing eerily in the dim lighting of the cave.

You didn’t know if he was a career or not, but he was a strong tribute that scored well during the personal assessment and wasn’t one to be messed with. You don’t recall doing anything to offend 4, so to say you were confused would be an understatement. The way he glared down at you was terrifying and implied some sort of personal vendetta.

“Get that scared shitless look off your face, doll. I’m not gonna hurt you.” He laughed humorlessly in response to your pathetic squirms. “You see, Two demanded that we try to get you first thing in this game. You’re kinda my meal ticket into that career alliance.”

Your heart only raced faster, finding no assurance in his promise to not hurt you.

Fuck, he was one of Jungkook’s little foot soldiers and was planning to use you as some sort of trading piece. You now felt so foolish for assuming that Jungkook would be your only problem, his allies would be gunning you down as well.

You began to thrash wildly out of fear, desperate to get him off you knowing that his plans would lead to a fate worse than death. Panicking, you began to plead for your freedom. “Please, you don’t understand! Jungkook is lying! There’s nothing going on between us!”

Four just stared down at you blankly before rolling his dark eyes and pinning your arms above your head.

You suddenly went limp as tears began to stream down your face. You looked around you and saw that most if not all tributes were making a mad dash to the hidden caves, no one stopping to help you or pay you any mind in favor of saving their own asses.

Four was huge and if he didn’t want you to get up, then you weren’t getting up. You had a better chance of melting into the very ground beneath you than fighting him off.

The tanned boy smiled in response to your now powerless form, all too grateful to see your cooperation and lack of hope. “There’s a good girl. Now-”

A loud ‘crack’ sounded, prematurely cutting him off.

Four’s eyes suddenly rolled into the back of his head before his entire body slumped forward.

A black haired, tall, pale but sturdy boy stood behind Four. He was holding up a rock and you concluded fairly quickly that it was he who smashed it into the back of four’s head. Your lungs began to hyperventilate, not knowing if he was going to use that same rock to bash your head in next. His dark eyes drank you in, noting your panic and seeming to scoff at the display, oddly unimpressed by it. The boy then dropped the make-shift weapon before breaking into a sprint.

As he passed you, he yelled one thing. “Run, you idiot!”

Those were apparently the magic words you needed to hear. They snapped you into action as you hurriedly scrambled out from underneath Four’s heavy but unconscious form to continue your journey into the tunnel.

One thought stayed with you all the while, long after you made it into the dark, empty but safe cave.

Why did 12 bother saving you? --

Part two

“Every time that cannon goes off, it’s music to my ears. I don’t care about any of them.” -Finnick Odair, Victor of 65th Annual Hunger Games.

The cave was very small, you found it after running into a large tunnel, taking multiple random turns and searching very hard to find a hidden little hole that was closed off by some large boulders. It was so tiny that one had to army-crawl to get in, but you liked it that way. This meant that you weren’t out in the open, that you were so well hidden that tributes would walk past it without knowing you were even there.

It was a cramped but perfect little hide-out, you barely had enough space to cross your legs and rest against the wall but you didn’t mind. At least you felt safe. So thus you sat in pitch-black darkness and listened closely to the sounds of your breathing echoing back to you in the intimate little spot you now called home.

You closed your eyes and tried to focus on calming down.

The adrenaline was still running through you like some sort of drug, the hairs on your arms stood stubbornly and your chest continued to heave up and down with a sense of pending doom. Your body wasn’t allowing you to relax, somehow still expecting a surprise attack and not wishing to fully give into tranquility. You had to pull a mind over matter and trick yourself into not having another anxiety attack, which is very hard to do in the middle of an arena.

If your sense of time was correct, the game had been on for about 20-30 minutes.

Meaning, the canons were scheduled to go off any minute now. Usually after people scrambled from the bloodbath and the careers did their killing, the gamemakers would sound off all the canons at once. This only happens on the first day though, after the first day the canons would trigger instantly when someone dies. But since most deaths occurred on the first day and happened all in quick succession during the bloodbath, it suited both the tributes and viewers well to count the canons after everything had calmed down.

As if reading your mind, a booming sound pierced the fragile blanket of silence.

The sound was thundering and vibrated the entire arena, or maybe it was just your mind that perceived it that way due to your current circumstances. Nonetheless, it was terrifying. Especially when one keeps in mind that one cannon symbolizes one childs’ life cut short.

They began to trigger, one by one.

“One.” You counted to yourself. “Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.”

The series of cannons suddenly halted and bled into another irksome silence.

Six…

Six lives lost just a meer half hour ago.

Six lives that could’ve been you….but weren’t.

A montage of all the tributes suddenly ran through your head, taunting you as you couldn’t help the famished hunger to know who died that burned through your chest. Was it Taehyung? Was it Chenle? Did the boy from Four survive the blow to the head? Did ‘god’ really answer your prayers and killed some of the career pack? Maybe even, dare you say it, Jungkook himself?

Your heart raced faster as you shook your head, not liking where your train of thought was going and the added affect it had on your body. Your attempted to rationalize with yourself, you could wait until tonight to see the faces of the fallen tributes via the hologram update that happened every night. You would just have to wait until then, you wouldn’t be doing yourself any favors by going crazy with worry now.

Instead you decided to do some mental math. Twenty four minus six equates to eighteen

Eighteen kids were still alive. One of which was you. You now had a 1/18th chance of making it out of here.

The feeling was bittersweet. Because although each trigger of the cannon represented a life lost, it also meant you were that much closer to the end and possibly being the last one to survive. Maybe you should shift your mentality to one of pessimistic idealism? Perhaps the key to getting through this was by seeing the good in the bad. Yes, every death was awful and you’d never condone it. But, if they were dead anyway then what’s the harm in trying to take their demises as well as possible? It was always best to think positively, right? That’s probably how past victors thought, given the mental stability was just as important as the physical stability.

You remember past games where tributes lost their minds. One boy from Six even went crazy and started eating the corpses of other dead tributes. You couldn’t eat meat for a week after watching that. A girl from Eight once went loopy from the freezing cold arena and stripped her clothes off before breaking out in song and dance. There was also a really old game, probably one of the first ten games, where the arena was a desert and there was no water, you vividly recalled watching a young kid of probably 12 or 13 cut himself just for the sake of lapping up the warm blood.

You couldn’t allow yourself to fall into that-

Wait, what were you thinking?

What was wrong with you? You’d only been in this arena for an hour or so and were already allowing your morals to be compromised if it could buy you some cheap peace of mind. Of course every death was depressing, no one deserved to play in this game! What was wrong with you? Why were you almost relieved that kids were dying and putting your chances into a better perspective?

Maybe you and the careers weren’t so different after all….

This conclusion was so bone-chilling and vile that you couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped your lips.

You quickly concluded that pondering was no longer for you.

Another rule you’d have to adapt; your mind can be your worst enemy in here, best not get lost in your thoughts.

You suddenly felt awfully exhausted. Not a type of tired where you’ve been up for a little too long or had just done a tedious amount of physical work, but a type of tired where you simply no longer wanted to be conscious or aware. Your body felt somehow extremely light but heavy at the same time, your eyelids drooping in insistence for some shut eye.

But you couldn’t fall asleep just yet.

If you fell asleep now, then there was a chance that you would miss the fallen tributes segment. You needed to stay up, if only just to find out if Chenle, Taehyung and Jungkook were still out there.

For the next few hours, you just sat there. Blankly staring at nothing and trying to busy yourself with dumb little songs or riddles that you allowed to occupy your mind for the time being. You never thought you would say this; but when you weren’t fighting for your life and clawing for survival, the games could be rather boring. It was a ridiculous notion- to be bored in this very vital time period where your life is a stake with every waking moment you spend in this arena. But it was the truth, there was nothing to do.

Until, something abruptly halted your colorless daydreams.

You didn’t know how to describe it. And to be honest, you felt it more than you heard it.

The ground beneath you suddenly began to shake with such intense ferocity that you couldn’t help but wonder if it was an earthquake. Then your ears picked up on the noise; and what awful sounds they were.

First, it was like a crash that never stopped. A sudden falling of countless heavy objects, most likely rocks or boulders given the habitat. It sounded as if they just kept raining down, their heavy mass hurling upon the ground and striking anyone in it’s way.

Next, the screams followed.

They were tortured and pained hollers that echoed down the tunnels and vibrated the air around you. You heard both male and female voices, crying in agony and begging for help in what you could assess was a little less than 20 yards away.

Your body began to shake as you cupped a hand over your mouth to avoid crying out.

You were hearing the last wails of young kids who were surely going to die.

Boiling hot tears streamed down your cheeks in realization on what must’ve happened.

But, did you dare wander out of your safe cocoon to investigate?

It wasn’t the smartest choice, but what if one of those desperate shouts belonged to Taehyung or even Chenle?

With that concerning thought, you were hastily crawling out of your little hideout with little regard for your own safety.

Once you were out of your miniature cave, you hurriedly snapped your head side to side to see that the tunnel was void of any other tributes. Knowing you had very little time, you broke into a sprint and followed the direction of the screams.

As you ran through the dim and mossy cave, you only had one thought running through your mind.

‘Please don’t let it be them.’ you prayed.

When you finally reached the site of such mayhem, your stride completely stopped as you lost all strength in your legs due to utter shock.

You fell to your knees and gagged, the luxurious breakfast you had in the Capitol was seeping its’ way upwards and threatening to make you vomit.

The sight in front of you was…. grotesque.

One of the caves had given out and collapsed.

And in result, tributes were crushed.

Their mangled bodies were twisted inhumanely under such hefty rocks that were now stained ruby red with their blood. Some of the tributes had eyes budging out of their sockets, along with their tongues due to the numerous amount of pressure that was weighing down on them. You only saw two bodies, but you heard choked screams of some others that were out of sight.

But all those cries were ignored by you, your focus solely on one body that was also pinned beneath such monstrous boulders.

His eyes were shut, face peaceful yet blank and body limp as if boneless.

He almost looked like he was sleeping….but the puddle of blood that dripped from his mouth and onto the ground told you everything you needed to know.

And if that didn’t, then the cannon that sounded sure did.

Taehyung was gone.

Part Three

“He wasn’t much but...he was from home.” -Johanna Mason, Victor of 71st Annual Hunger Games.

You didn’t know how long you’ve been crying.

But from the way your eyes were practically swollen shut, head pounding ruthlessly and throat dry and scratchy in result of your numerous groans of grief, you could conclude that you must’ve carried out this sob fest for at least a couple hours now.

The scene of your distract mates’ death was stained to the back of your eyelids, greeting you with gory misery everytime you so much as blinked. This would obviously cause another round of cries from you and thus began a never-ending cycle.

Taehyung was dead.

But not just any type of dead. He was crushed to death and most likely suffered through every single pound of rock that slowly sucked the life out of him. His body was squished so brutally, as if he was nothing but a small insect for the gamemakers to step on.

Somehow the nature of his death offended you beyond belief.

Taehyung wasn’t a loud or overly-sweet person, but he deserved more than to have his life ended like that. He was quiet, but you knew that beneath his silence lingered a remarkable intelligence and code of honor. His face was always wearing an aloof expression, but that’s just due to his guarded nature and unwillingness to let anyone see his weaknesses. He wasn’t the closest to you, but the way he helped you with Jungkook showed his true nature- he had the protective instinct for you that you’d assume an older brother might have.

Something about his end just didn’t sit right with you.

Taehyung was gold-skinned from hours upon hours out in the sun, hands calloused from rough labor, he was tall enough to have to peer down at almost everyone he spoke to, body lean but sturdy and voice so deep and grutal that you couldn’t even picture how he must’ve sounded as a pubescent boy. Taehyung was such a strong figure worthy of respect in your eyes.

So to see him pale, limp, lifeless and under thousands of pounds worth of debris and rock was….unnerving to say the least.

How the mighty have fallen.

After you saw Taehyung, you had cried for a minute before vomiting up your breakfast, being unable to stomach the sight and ultimately losing the battle with your stomach. You were tempted to stay with your District mate until the very end, to wait by his side until the ship would take his body, but the pained groans and cries had seemed to attract other tributes to that area as well.

You had heard footsteps echo from the tunnel opposite of the scene, across from where you sat next to the corpse of Taehyung.

It sounded like a group of people, you couldn’t make their words out properly but they sounded curious and were confidently jogging closer and closer to the disaster.

Somehow you just knew that it was the careers.

You felt conflicted; you wanted to stay with your counterpart until the very end, but there was only one person in this game who terrified you to your very core.

District Two’s Jungkook.

Otherwise known as the head of the career pact.

And if he spotted you…

Your flight or fight instincts took over.

You had rushed towards Taehyung and hastily pressed your lips against his forehead, trying not to cringe at how ice-cold his skin was.

You whispered one thing to him, logically aware that he couldn’t hear it but wishing that his greater conscious would.

“I’m sorry.”

Then like that, you quickly turned around and ran as fast as you could back to your little-hide out.

And here you were hours later; huddled up in your little hole whilst still shaken and miserable.

One could argue that it was ridiculous to be so sad about his death, given you could count on both hands how many conversations you had with him. But it was not for someone else to understand; the feeling of losing the one person who originated from the same place as you. Everyone else in this arena was just a bunch of faceless threats from places beyond your knowing. Taehyung was the last piece of home you had left, the last person you could fully relate to and to have him ripped away from you so soon...you felt robbed and alienated.

Your last goodbye to him suddenly entered your mind.

You didn’t know what you were sorry to Taehyung for, but you just felt like you needed to say it in that moment. Maybe you were guilty that you didn’t try harder to become his ally and team up in the arena. Or maybe you were just sorry that his end had to be like that, that you didn’t get to him sooner. Perhaps even being sorry that you couldn’t stay with his body like you had wanted to.

Yet maybe it was a good thing that he died on the first day. Some might even say that those who died first were the luckiest...they wouldn’t have the torture of carrying on the game for days on end.

This stream of thought was prematurely cut short when the Capitols’ anthem suddenly began to echo inside the caves.

You were dreading seeing Taehyung’s face splayed up as a fallen tribute for everyone to see, but you had no choice but to watch and get a full count of who was left. Reluctantly, you crawled out of your hole so that just your upper half was out, peeking out like a turtle in case there was any other tributes.

You quickly found the segment projected onto the ridgy walls of the rocky caverns. Right now it was just the bright blue symbol of the capitol as the trumpets and drums continued to play. You braced yourself, held your breath and waited...and waited...and waited. But eventually the anthem just faded out as the symbol remained.

Your face scrunched up in confusion.

Had the fallen tributes segment glitched? Why hadn’t any faces been displayed?

Out of nowhere, a smooth and deep voice purred over the unseen speakers, almost startling you back into your ‘shell’.

“Why, I see so many befuddled expressions out there.”

A gleeful chuckle followed.

Your eyes widened as you recognized who was speaking to all the tributes. The only person allowed to make announcements was the one and only head game maker. And when the head game maker went out of his way to speak to the tributes...well, it was never a good sign.

“As part of the twist of the Quarter Quell, the gamemakers have decided that knowing your enemy is a huge advantage. It can be argued that it’s rather generous of the Capitol to allow you such luxury of seeing the fallen every night.” A brief pause. “We then wondered how you all would fare if you didn’t know who was alive and who was dead. So for the first time ever, the fallen tribute tradition has been temporarily...suspended.”

Your jaw dropped as you slowly but surely realized what was happening.

They couldn’t, could they?

“Instead, every night we will display a number. This number will represent how many tributes are still alive.”

Reacting to his words, the capitol’s symbol instantly morphed into a giant number ‘14’.

The head game maker let out a thoughtful hum. “Fourteen of you left. Interesting… may the odds be ever in your favor, one out of fourteen isn’t a bad shot when you really think about it.” The statement shook you to your core, the makers’ soothing and accented voice saying those words was somehow too real for you to handle. He finally concluded the announcement with one more farewell, a smile being heard in his voice as he finished it all off with a simple; “Goodnight.”

The display depleted back into nothingness as the speakers cut out with a definite ‘click’.

If the goal of such announcement was to taunt and rile the tributes, then they achieved this goal rather well.

A burning itch of irritation bubbled under your skin, your face burning bright red and a random desire to yell out curses to the gamemakers overtook your mind in that very moment. The audacity to not tell the tributes beforehand, the slimey pettiness to rub it in their faces via an announcement and the offensive “one in fourteen” comment was all too much for you to bear. You weren’t a violent person by any means, but if given the chance you’d probably bash the head gamemakers’ face in.

You weren’t naive.

You knew what they were doing.

This wasn’t planned until later, because if it was part of the original agenda; the tributes would’ve been briefed on it so they could strategize accordingly. The game makers decided on this later, most likely because they thought it would make better ratings or quicken some tribute-on-tribute story lines.

But what could’ve made them pull the trigger on something like this-

No way.

A horrid epiphany struck you as the gears in your aching and groggy mind began to turn.

Who was the most beloved tribute of this game so far?

Two.

What was said tribute most vocal about during his interview?

You.

And who did district four try to obtain you for?

Him.

During his interview it was obvious how wrapped around his finger he had the viewers. It wasn’t a far stretch to assume that most if not all of the Capitol truly bought into his one-sided romance propaganda. So, if you were an average viewer of the games and saw that you and Jungkook weren’t together... then maybe it truly would be more entertaining to not have you two know if the other is alive or not. Did they want to see the ‘secret lovers’ break not knowing if their soulmate was okay or dead?

On top of that, you could only assume that many tributes were also separated from their District counterparts and were understandably concerned about their partner’s fate. This was, regrettably, the perfect way to get in their heads and could even be traced back to the quell’s theme of ‘no support system.’

You hated how evilly brilliant it all was.

Although it didn’t seem like much, the paranoia didn’t take long to seep in. Was Chenle still alive? Did the boy from Twelve make it out? And most importantly; was Jungkook still out there...looking for you?

Instinctively you crawled back into your little shelter, as if just thinking about him would magically make him materialize in front of you.

You instead refocused your mind onto the number displayed just seconds before.

14 people were still alive.

Earlier, you had counted six cannons. Which means four people would’ve had to died during the cave collapse, although you didn’t spot every single corpse in favor of mourning over Taehyungs’ specifically. So all in all, ten children died today. This left a little more than half of the original tributes left.

Out of nowhere, the bleak yet bittersweet feeling spiked within you once again. It was hard to feel any good about the short lives that were ended unfairly, yet if the games kept going at this pace then the whole nightmare showed signs of being be over sooner rather than later. This thought lead into another question; how come so many died today?

Natural diasters weren’t uncommon and they were obviously simulations created by the gamemakers. They usually happened within the second half of the games though, when deaths were slowing down and the viewing experience became a little too boring for the Capitols’ taste. So how come they chose to start off with a disaster right away?

It was terrifying and worth concern for everyone, especially when considering that tributes could do nothing to combat them if the gamemakers just chose to have a volcano erupt near you or something like that. When you think about it, anyone could’ve been in Taehyung’s place. It was just a matter of being at the right place at the right time. Luck was a bigger theme than odds were. How hypocritical of them to say may the odds be in our favor when they’re the ones constantly manipulating them against us?

You sighed and tried to rest comfortably against the wall of your little cave.

You decided to just conclude that they must’ve made the cave collapse to make up for the lack of blood bath deaths. It was the only explanation that made sense. In other games with a Cornucopia and weapons, so much as 10 or 13 tributes would die trying to obtain supplies. Obviously this couldn’t have been done with no weapons to fight over and most tributes just scattering away this time. The gamemakers must’ve brainstormed other ways to up the death count and decided on collapsing part of the arena.

You just hoped that tomorrow would be more bearable than today was.

You hugged your jacket closer to your from after zipping it all the way up and buttoning it for good measure. You didn’t know much about caves, but you figured that they most likely got really cold at night.

You were weary with exhaustion, all the running and crying had drained a significant amount of energy from you. Part of you wanted to stay up all night and be on the lookout for any other tributes, but it wouldn’t be realistic nor smart to begin a cycle of sleep deprivation this early in the game. You would have to set your paranoia aside for some much needed rest.

You allowed your eyelids to fall as you tried to steady your breathing.

A few minutes passed and the ever comforting rem cycle was not too far away from you, yet your nose suddenly twitched at a foreign smell, bringing you out of the lulling state.

A gentle yet heavy scent of lavender and cinnamon overpowered your senses, startling you and causing you to open your eyes to investigate.

You couldn’t see anything due to how dark it was in your hide-out, but the aura was only growing more and more potent every passing second. Weirdly enough, your body was growing limp and relaxed although your mind was panicking and racing for some sort of explanation.

You cupped a hand over your mouth and nose, suspecting that this odd fragrance was the cause.

You hurriedly tried to crawl out of your nook, the task being difficult with just one hand available to you. But when you finally made it out, you saw what was truly occurring.

You felt like a bucket of ice was dropped onto you as you quickly caught onto what was happening.

The barren tunnel was seeping out some sort of fog-like gas. It was artificially purple and smelled sickly sweet, almost enough to make you gag. You mentally cursed the gamemakers before holding your breath and making a mad dash in the opposite direction of the gas.

It must’ve been poisonous to anyone who breathed it in. Why else would it be here?

You kept running and running, trying to ignore the burning of your lungs knowing that any breath you take will most likely be your last if you didn’t get away from the fog.

But the gas was gaining ground at an alarming rate, almost biting at the back of your ankles with how close it was.

Your eyes welled up with tears as your face grew blue due to how long you starved yourself from oxygen.

You spotted another cave a few yards away and pushed yourself to it, knowing it was your only hope of escaping. But when you entered it, you let out a frustrated scream at what was there to welcome you; more gas.

It was attacking you from every direction and you were unable to hold your breath any longer.

Your eyelids grew droopy as you fell to your knees.

Was this the end?

Black spots entered your vision, growing in size until you couldn’t see anything else.

Your body fell over and the last sound you faintly remember was the triggering of a cannon.

Part Three

“No! I can still do this! I can still do this. One more kill. It’s the only thing I know how to do. Bring pride to my district…. Not that it matters.” -Cato Porcious, fallen tribute of 74th Annual Hunger Games.

Jungkook didn’t know what to feel when he first woke up to the second day of the 100th annual Hunger Games.

First, he felt relief.

He thought for sure that the violet gas of last night had taken him out for good.

But then, he felt confusion.

It took only a few seconds for him to process these emotions, study his surroundings, then jump up to his feet in bewilderment.

In all his years of watching the games and preparing to one day play himself, he never could have anticipated this.

His jaw dropped as he slowly swiveled his head around in order to fully observe what had happened during his rest last night.

The arena….it changed.

It was hardly believable and didn’t make a lick of sense, but there was no doubt about it. The musty and dark caves no longer encased them. Instead, Jungkook and his allies were lying in the middle of an abandoned street that was surrounded by tall yet barren buildings.

It looked to be a city, or at least it was at one point.

The metropolitan area had endured lots of damage, some buildings even looked as though they have been bombed at some point. There were loose bricks and concrete debris spread everywhere; dust, dirt and shards of glass caking lots of surface. The skyline above was gray and cloudy, an odd film of brown stained the horizon in what must’ve been a pseudo pollution detail.

It was a massive dystopian city.

“What the hell?”

The groggy yet deep voice of the boy from One interrupted Jungkook’s silent awe, causing him to snap his attention back to his allies.

They were just waking up, although Chanyeol seemed to have the head start as he was already sat up and studying what had become of the underground cave system with eyes of exasperated wonder. For a moment the two were silent, waiting until Joy and Jeongyeon fully awoke and also realized the situation they were in.

“Well,” Jeongyeon stretched her arms above her head and yawned leisurely, somehow totally causal despite the giant revelation that just collectively went off in their heads. Jungkook could never tell if she was genuinely as friendly and aloof as she acted, or if she was just that good at putting on a show for the viewers. “at least now we know that the purple stuff wasn’t deadly. Probably was just used to knock us out.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes and refrained from scolding her for pointing out the obvious. He routinely wondered to himself if he had the patience of a saint for putting up with District One’s peacock ways. Their thirst for screen time would’ve been laughable if it weren’t for Jungkook’s high strung nerves that made him more irritable than usual.

Luckily, Joy also saw the comment as stupid and had no trouble pointing that out. “No shit, bimbo.”

Jeongyeon frowned at this, still not used to Twos’ blunt and borderline mean nature. She turned to her counterpart in search of back up, but the tired oaf of a teen just offered her a shrug and stood up for a morning stretch of those long legs of his.

“How is this even possible?” Jungkook murmured to himself, still trying to piece together all the logistics of how the gamemakers did something as drastic as changed the arena with all the tributes unconscious.

“I don’t know man. Who are we to question their high-end shit? They probably just built all this stuff around us.” Chanyeol said, overhearing Jungkook and budding in as was his custom.

Jungkook scowled and tried his hardest to swallow down the hellish tick that crawled up the back of his neck.

Now, he never thought that the games would be a cake walk per say. Even the strongest of victors had to go through some pretty odd and seemingly unbearable circumstances to win. Jungkook just assumed that he was capable enough to put up with any shit the gamemakers tossed his way; and it shouldn’t be a lot given he played into their little game and charmed his way into the forefront of the viewers’ minds. But he guessed he could finally conclude that he underestimated just how difficult they were going to make this Quell.

It was hard enough to attempt to track you down in the series of underground caves, how the hell was Jungkook going to find you if the very arena changed every single day?

He felt his eye twitch on its’ own accord as he scanned every single building that stood proud in the doomsday skyline, knowing that there was no possible way he could search through every single one in his journey to find you.

If you were alive.

14 tributes remained but no one said you were one of them.

His face darkened.

How foolish had he been to assume that the gamemakers would just give him his love? They were going to use you like bait, reeling him in and making him jump through hoops as if he was a dog yearning for a treat. But to be fair, his pride was reduced to that of a dogs’ when it came to you.

Joy took notice of her counterpart’s gloomy mood. She licked her dry lips before commenting on it from her criss crossed position on the vacant road. “What’s your problem, loverboy? Shouldn’t you be happy we’re not dead?”

The rest of the career pack turned to their ‘leader’ who currently had his back turned towards them. It was a bold move to taunt Two’s infatuation for you by calling him such nickname, but Joy was just a bold person in general. It has yet to be said if Jungkook held a soft spot for her by allowing her passes to say such things, or if he was just waiting for the right time to bash her head in.

“Of course it’s good we’re not dead. But this twist is going to make everything so much harder.” Jungkook bluntly responded, pretending to not notice the subtle jab.

Joy snorted. “You mean it’s gonna make everything harder to find Ten.”

Jungkook’s sudden silence only made her laugh harder.

“Yeah, about that…” Chanyeol trailed off, wondering if now would be a good time to ask the unknown. “What is going on with you and the girl from Ten? Why are we looking for her?”

“She’s mine.” The reply was short and brutal on Two’s part, shutting down any further inquiries as if he believed that any elaboration would be wasted on such fools.

Joy’s snorts only got louder as she eventually rolled over, clutching her stomach in delirium.

“Like your girlfriend or something? I thought the whole thing was an act.” Jeongyeon scratched her head in confusion, how the hell would two tributes get into an exclusive relationship in the week before the games?

“Or are you trying to track her down and fuck her? I heard that the kids from Districts like that stay virgins till marriage.” Chanyeol conversed, it wasn’t totally unknown for tributes to try to get their rocks off before or even during the games. Lots of kids didn’t want to die virgins and found the solution within each other. Of course, this never blossomed into a real romance given there could be only one victor. Survival outlasted all other primal instincts.

Jungkook suddenly found himself wondering if it was too late to become a lone wolf in this game. District One was proving to be as dumb as ever and his own counterpart wasn’t helping matters in the slightest.

The brute of a teen opened his mouth to spit out a retort, but quickly closed it when he realized he didn’t even know what to say.

The thing was; Jungkook didn’t feel the need to explain shit to anyone. It wasn’t for them to understand. Hell, even if he tried there was no possible way he could properly describe it... much less get them to understand.

“Everyone shut up! We need to get moving. There’s still nine other tributes out there that we have to kill.” Jungkook ordered, smirking in slight satisfaction when they all immediately stood up and got ready at the metaphorical snap of his fingers.

The next two hours of the day consisted of the pack roaming the ruined streets of the city, silent and on high alert for any other tributes unlucky enough to come across the blood thirsty four. The only sounds to be heard was the light ‘crunch’ of the debris under their combat boots that resulted with every step they took. What also followed them was an odd chemical smell that appeared to loom in every crevice of the city; a burning rubber scent that caused a scrunch of ones’ nose. Jeongyeon voiced her concern for it being radioactive, but the three just shrugged, it’s not like they could do anything about it even if they wanted to.

As the morning faded away to be replaced with the afternoon, it became barringly obvious that all other weaker tributes would be spared given the careers had yet to spot a single soul. This lack of action mixed in with hunger and thirst spiked tensions. Soon enough Joy halted her steps in favor of plopping down on what looked to be a curb, pouting up up at Jungkook in bratty refusal to move any further.

The pack halted and set their gaze on her.

Two pairs of eyes peered confused, while the last pair glared ruthlessly.

“The games is more than just killing other people, Kook. We need to survive too. If we don’t find food or water soon, we won’t even be able to overpower others.” Joy complained loudly, rubbing her sore ankles as if to prove her point.

Jungkook let out a low growl under his breath, wiping the sweat away from his forehead while trying to remind himself that he was on camera at all times.

‘Don’t blow up, don’t blow up, don’t blow up’

“Joy might be onto something. God only knows what arena we’ll wake up in tomorrow. The only food we could get from the caves were insects and algae, we should search through these buildings for any scraps.” Chanyeol attempted to be the voice of reason, without a doubt catching on to the fight that loomed in the near future if Joy and Jungkook didn’t get on the same page quickly.

“I need to find her.” This was said through gritted teeth, Jungkook’s patience being worn too thin to play the amicable act any longer.

“Why must everyone suffer for the sake of your obsession?!” Joy scoffed, irritated that some mute country girl from Ten was being placed as priority one over her well-being.

Jungkook felt his brow tick. The familiar burning itch of a fury only infatuated men could understand graced his sensations once again. The fact that your importance was being questioned was almost blasphemous to Jungkook. Were they blind? Of course the first objective had to be you, everyone else was just mere distractions getting in the way of his goal. He was the big dog in this game, the undeniable winner and if his fellow “allies” knew what was good for them then they’d play along to his plan.

“Joy, get up.” Jungkook licked his lips before continuing in a bleak voice; “I won’t ask again.”

Joy rolled her raven eyes and stood up, taking one step forward towards the pseudo leader with a snarl-like expression twisting up the usually pretty features of her face. “Like hell I’ll follow you! If you’re willing to place some random girl over your allies then maybe we need a new change in leadership.”

Jungkook could practically feel the unseen cameras zoom in on the scene. The viewers most likely gasping in shock or clutching their pearls with excitement at the power dynamic impasse that the most powerful alliance in the game was facing.

It was silent for a moment, Jungkook boring his ruthless eyes into hers as if to give her a second chance to step down in submission.

But she never did.

Instead she looked at the pair from One, whom for once looked rather uncomfortable, and called out in a smug grin; “I’m sure you guys are thinking it too. Is it irrational for me to question the head of our pack when he values a random girl over our lives?”

Neither Chanyeol nor Jeogyeon answered, instead they both avoided eye contact.

Jungkook let out a humorless chuckle at her failure to sway a rally against him.

Now, it was his turn.

“Joy I’ve been nothing but lenient with you because we’re from the same District and two heads are better than one. But if I have to strangle that pretty little neck of yours until your face is blue and that cannon goes off, then I will.” Jungkook’s voice was emotionless and barren, as if he was simply reciting lines and not truly expressing his inner most thoughts. The only reaction to be seen from him was the slight smirk he had when he witnessed Joy’s proud expression drop into a look of doom.

He continued, “In fact, I don’t owe anyone here anything. If I truly wanted to I could kill all three of you and not even feel a lick of remorse. I could rid myself of liabilities and dead weight to further myself in the game. This alliance is hindering my full potential. It is me who shows you mercy, keep that in mind with every waking second of your life in this game.”

Joy took a step back whilst Jungkook took one forward.

“You all saw what I did to Four. I’m not above killing other careers if they get in my way.”

“Kook-”

Jungkook raised his hand and silenced her with a harsh backhand to the face. The speed of the action was so quick that the only way Chanyeol and Jeogyeon even realized what had happened was the echoing sound of the hit and the response of Joy cradling the left side of her now redden face.

Jungkook wasn’t finished either.

In fact, he seemed all too proud to make an example out of his very own district mate.

He snatched her hair and dragged her to the ground, forcing her into a crouched position as he lifted his knee to jut her in the stomach.

She let out a tortured scream at the pain, looking at her other allies for aid only to cry at the realization that she was alone to face his wrath.

She stared up at the monster of a man, pleading to spot some remains of mercy expected of rational humans.

But his orbs were empty of any emotion other than pure hatred.

Jungkook raised a clenched fist once again as Joy screamed.

Part Four

"You know, they're not the only ones who can form alliances" - Victor Katniss Everdeen to Rue Culler in 74th Annual Hunger Games.

It was the third day of the games.

You awoke to a feeling of sticky humidity clinging onto your skin. It was only when you managed to tear your swollen eyes open and sit your weakened body up did you finally discover what hell awaited you that day.

It was a jungle, an awful hot and loud one that was crawling with various types of animals far beyond your understanding. This was evident in the different sounds you heard echo amongst the trees and bushes; monkeys, birds, frogs and god knows what else. All the plants around you were vibrant and bursting with colors, practically stunning your tired retinas with the intensity of the shades.

Perhaps if you felt better you would’ve taken a moment to observe the strange and foreign land that you’d never get to experience again, but the third day was already proving to be the biggest hurdle to overcome.

The lack of food and water was finally taking its’ toll on your body.

Your stomach was persistently growling and your lips were so cracked and dried that you’d routinely have to lick off blood from them. Your esophagus burned due to the scratchy lack of moisture while your cranium pounded ruthlessly. Even as you got up to stand, you managed to stagger as if half of your strength had magically depleted overnight.

If you didn’t find food or water soon then you were as good as dead.

As you took off your wind breaker to tie it around your waist in attempt to adapt to the sudden climate change, you began to ponder possible ways to obtain food and water. Luckily this new arena was filled to the brim with animals that you could hunt and consume. Although eating possible insects or exotic pests wasn’t exactly something you’d be proud to do, it was all in the name of survival.

However you decided that water was the more vital need. You were already pushing the envelope for dehydration, the expected time without it was three days. If you had to, you could last a few more days without food.

Jungles meant waterfalls, right?

Or at least rain?

You wiped your forehead and heaved a deep breath in preparation for another day that could be your last.

Although it wasn’t the best strategy, you had no choice but to wander seamlessly without any direction. What else could you do when the arena changes every 24 hours? Any knowledge you could retain about your surroundings would prove to be useless come the following day. Thus you set off into the tree line, hoping to come across some sort of clean water source.

Out of the three natural settings you had been put into, this jungle was quickly becoming your least favorite. The very air was heavy with the worst type of heat; a sticky and itchy one that delved into your very pores. Bugs were constant and slowed you down, they swarmed you as if your blood was a siren and continuously bit at an open surface of your skin. There also wasn’t any clear pathways to follow, you had to fight your way through all the greenery. You just hoped that none of the plants you brushed past were poisonous.

If you had to guess, you would estimate that it had been 15 minutes into your aimless journey when something rather unusual happened.

You heard a rustle occur from a few feet away from you, a slight one that shook some leaves from a bush nearby.

Normally, this would be cause for concern in an arena. Yet this jungle was so noisy and bristling with movement that it was hardly noticeable at first. Hell, it was practically more alive than you were at this moment.

Your logic was that it was most likely an animal of some kind instead of another tribute. Nonetheless you stilled and held your breath, anticipating a sudden appearance. You hardly bit back the urge to run as fast as you could in the opposite direction, but if it was indeed an animal then that action would only trigger a violent reaction against you or even a brutal hunt.

You fought against the instinct and waited while counting the passing seconds. ‘One, two, three, four-’

A boisterous yell broke from deep within the chest of an unseen attacker.

In a blurry spasm of movement, you caught sight of a tall yet slender female form burst from the greenery in an insane jump to get to you.

You barely had time to leap backwards, and even then it was far too late. The strange girl managed to land on top of your legs, successfully pinning you down to the jungle floor as you helplessly wiggled and tried to get a clear view of her face.

Her long brown hair managed to block most of it, but by the little glimpses you struggled to get you could see that she was extremely pretty. Her face was slender yet round with well-defined features and near flawless skin. Her body was sturdy as she had no trouble keeping you down, even letting out a casual huff as she pushed against your shoulders to keep you in place (as if you were more of a slight bother than a real hassle) when you attempted to sit up and swing.

You wanted nothing more than to give her a good hit before booking it and never looking back, but the odds were insurmountable. It didn’t take long before you deduced that she must’ve been fairing far well compared to you. While your energy had been burned down to simmering ashes as hunger and thirst consumed you, this nameless tribute seemed all too healthy and willingly aggressive.

Her hands against you shoulder slowly crept up to your neck, slowly curling around the base and pressing her sharp nails into the skin.

You let out a strangled cry, your dry throat not being able to manage a full out scream.

“Wait a minute.” Her husky voice rasped before she took one hand to brush her hair back, allowing the sun to capture her now bare face.

Your breath caught in your throat and suddenly your struggles became more frantic.

It was the girl from Seven.

While not a career by any means, she still proved herself a worthy competitor with a high personal score. And by the way she was glowering above you, it was obvious that she was not afraid to kill to get ahead.

“Aren’t you the girl that Two is in love with?” She questioned with an indescribable look upon her face.

You stilled.

There are moments in every game where you can directly affect your fate in a very drastic manner. Camouflaged in her simple question was a bigger dilemma that could either make or break you. The issue was that you didn’t know which one it will be. Either you can agree that 2 was indeed in love with you and maybe even give a little white lie about him being your ally. That had a high probability of scaring her, as who in their right mind would want to mess with him, and by extension you? However it could be argued that it was also a double edged sword. Perhaps she was just as ambitious as the careers, if not more so, and would have no problem poking the bear that is Jungkook via killing you. Maybe she would even enjoy it more knowing that she involved herself into the ‘star-crossed lovers’ story line and put an end to it all, stealing attention from you to her.

Your eyes furiously swept side to side in attempt to get a better view of your surroundings.

All chances of escaping were futile.

If you disagreed, her plans to hurt you wouldn’t change and she’d carry on with her murdering of you. But if you went along with it, there was an almost sure guarantee that she’d have a reaction. That reaction could be good or bad, but it was the only chance you had. It was scary to flip a coin on your chances of survival, but what other options did you have?

“Yes, w-we’re together.” You stuttered out, hoping that she took your awkward tone as a result o her practically smothering your windpipe and not you lying through your teeth.

Her brow raised at that, her stern expression uplifting for a brief moment to form an over-exaggerated look of confusion and concern.

“Where is your boy toy then? Pretty stupid of him to let you wander on your own.”

“He’s nearby.” you fibbed, faking confidence and glaring up at her as if she just signed her death wish.

Jennie let out a giggle, a sound that would be somewhat cute if the circumstances were any different than her about to commit murder. “Let’s say I believe you. Do you think he’d get back in time to save you and capture me?”

You hated to falter, but she did have a point.

If she was smart, she’d take her chance now to get rid of you because god only knows when she’d come across you again. And clearly she had the advantage, you had no ability to fight back. Even if Jungkook was close (which he wasn’t), she’d still have ample time to end you and run far into the jungle before another tribute could even stumble across the unfortunate scene.

Tears welled up and blurred your vision.

You were going to die.

The end of your simple, short but honest life was going to occur in the middle of some artificial habitat, via a bloodthirsty stranger making a show out of your demise in which your friends and family from home would be forced to watch along with the rest of the nation. May your corpse be one of many examples the capitol shall use for warning against any possible rebellion.

You lasted three days, a pathetic 72 hours would be the wrap up of your entire existence. In some weird twist of desperation you thought about how you could’ve played this game differently. Would you have survived if you teamed up with Two and the rest of the careers? If you tried harder to ally yourself with your District mate? Or if you decided to chase after the kid from Twelve and form a team?

But while those different paths were clouded in unseen potential, they were void of anything tangible much less useful given your current circumstance.

You fell limp and gazed up at her hallowly, managing to catch a glimpse of your crying expression in the reflection of her dark orbs.

She stared back at you; a mutual understanding of what was to come.

Gone was the show or theatrics, now all that had left to be done was the actual act itself of killing you.

She the predator, you the prey.

“Any last wor-”

A blurry and hurried movement cut her off, it was so sudden and unexpected that all you were able to process was that 7 was now off of you. Instead of gazing up at her, your line of sigh was now met with the blue sky and branches of the taller trees.

You blinked slowly in bewilderment.

Seven was seemingly knocked off of you...but how?

Strangled yelps and more wrestling movement occurred somewhere beside you, the vibration and intensity of it causing the ground underneath you to quiver, but due to your state of shock you weren’t focusing on it at all. You were slowly gaining your senses back, you body taking it’s time to adjust to the new ability to breathe freely all the while adapting to the sudden postponement of your death.

You sat up, ignoring the pounding ache that your cranium responded with, and twisted your head to the side in order to behold what became of your killer.

You let out a bleak and disbelieving chuckle at the scene that greeted you.

The hunter became the prey.

In some ironic twist of fate, Seven was now pinned under another tribute. By the throat to be exact, an almost perfect replica of the position you were in just seconds ago.

Seven was spluttering out, trying her best to yell or at least make some type of noise, but all attempts to do so were futile.

She stood no chance against the girl on top of her.

Said girl had inky black hair that was strictly fastened into a high ponytail, her skin was fair and glistening with what must’ve been sweat and her body was lengthy and muscular; making the act of strangling Seven look like a walk in the park.

It was odd to feel sympathy for the girl who almost just killed you, but watching Seven’s face turn red and eventually blue as she silently screamed was heartbreaking enough to almost make you want to push the mystery girl off of her.

Almost. But not quite enough.

It took some time to strangle someone, so by that logic you should have enough time to get up and run. This would’ve been a flawless plan if it weren’t for the fact that your legs were numb due to all the time you had Seven on top of you, and thus essentially rendered useless.

The absolute most you could achieve was some pathetic army-crawl, and obviously that was not going to get you far enough.

But could it be argued that if this unknown girl truly wanted you dead then she would’ve let Seven had her way with you before offing Seven herself?

That line of thought was your only chance of getting out of here alive.

The struggles of Seven eventually subsided, her eyes glazing over unfocused before closing entirely. Her body went limp as if she suddenly fainted, but the truth was she finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen and died.

The sound of a cannon shot through the jungle.

You watched as the girl slowly got off of Seven, heaving a huff and rubbing her hands together as if exhausted from the strenuous activity of literally wringing the life out of someone.

You lips began to move on their own accord, both pleads and questions racing to get out first.

She turned to face you.

Your jaw dropped.

Technically you weren’t lying at all to Seven.

Two was indeed close by, but it wasn’t Jungkook.

It was Joy.

Her porcelain face was marred with blue and purple bruises, the color so contrasting to her otherwise flawless skin tone that you couldn’t help the inaudible gasp that escaped your lips.

Who did that to her?

She scoffed down at you, unimpressed with your spineless yet shocked state.

“Calm down, I’m not gonna hurt you idiot. Why would I save your sorry ass if that was the case?”

“What do you want then?” You attempted to bark back, trying to keep some sense of pride in this obvious imbalance of power.

“Allies.” She shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing.

“And why would I team up with you?”

She glanced at the fresh corpse behind her before looking back at you, staring at you meaningfully as she said; “Because I’m the only one who knows the truth about you and Jungkook and probably your only chance of fighting back.”

^^^ me pretending to not see the 100+ people glaring at me for taking literally months to update. Anyway, I’m sorry Jungkook isn’t in this part that much but this will be the last part before Y/n’s and Jk’s game fully intertwine. I planned a really big plot twist to end on but I think I’m just gonna save that for it’s own chapter bc I think I’d need like 10k to do that twist justice. I think part one was better but like...oh well. Please comment, reblog and send asks in, all that good stuff. I miss writer/reader interaction, bro. Also, the reason the scene descriptions of the arenas are short is bc I originally had plugged in photos of the habitats but the links weren’t working on tumblr. I can repost them if anyone’s interested.

EXTRA INFO; For those of you who were with me since part one, I did a beta reader thingy for chapter two and I’d really like to do that again for chapter three. Last time I gave out a quiz and the winners got the chance to read the first 5k and eventually have 24 hour access before it was posted publicly. This time, I want more in-depth analysis. So if you wanna be a beta reader for chapter three, please reblog this with an analysis of your own about the story and my writing. At the end put something like (BR) so I know you are trying out for a beta reader position. I think I’ll chose around 8-10 people. And I will reach out to those people when I have them picked out.

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overanalyzingelswordiswhatido · 5 years

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Technology in Elrios

This post came about because I noticed that Eve is capable of inflection and tone and expressing her emotions through her voice in later parts of the game. I know part of that is probably because she’s voiced by a human but not a robot, but I still think it was done on purpose. She was designed to be capable of emotion (eventually) after all.

Biologically speaking, what makes a person capable of different tones and pitches in their voice is the air from the lungs that vibrates the vocal chords. The force of the air behind our speech effects out our voice sounds, whether we’re screaming in fear or rage, there’s a different kind of air flow effecting our vocal chords. That is only possible because of our lungs. It’s why, even when robots we’ve created are capable of varying their speech, they don’t sound like genuine emotion. It’s simply mimicking the sound, without the force behind it.

Because it can be safely assumed that much of Eve’s design is based on human biology, it can also be safely assumed that she is capable of realistically expressing emotion through her voice because there is some sort of lung-like apparatus in her design that interacts with some form of vocal chord.

Those assumptions caused my to leap down a rabbit hole of creating headcanons for the designs of the technology in Elrios. Specifically, I have headcanons for Eve’s design (that can likely be applied to Nasods in general), Dynamo, and Raven’s arm’s design. These are all based on observations I’ve made of what the technology is shown capable of doing, as well as things I’ve noticed about the characters in regards to their technology.

These headcanons also take into consideration the differences I noticed in Nasod technology that is designed by Nasods compared to Nasod technology designed by humans. Nasod designed technology takes into consideration the well-being and autonomy of the individual Nasod, while human designed technology only considers the purpose of the Nasod. Nasods view each other as people while humans view them as tools (and I will be doing an analysis on Adrian that goes more in depth into this at some point).

Eve:

Eve's chest core is like Tony Stark's Arc Reactor in the MCU as far as physical appearance goes. However, it is deep in her body. The most inner part of the inner workings. It holds the most essential systems and processes (like her codes). Her head core holds the less essential ones. If her head core is damage she won't lose the systems that make her who she is and she'll be able to repair it. However, if her chest core is damaged it's much less likely she could repair it completely and that she'll be able to remain… Eve.

She has an emotion circuit, temperature regulation program, coolant circulatory (insulated tubes for temperature efficiency) system, damage monitoring, balance (is a hardware thing called a gyro)/navigation protocol, code storage, conscious/subconscious memory, motor control, logic circuits, language processor, threat recognition, battle codes, excess code storage (subconscious storage she has to actively dig through), time monitoring, data base (for storing information she collects), synthetic digestive system (100% efficiency, no waste products), lung-like apparatus (to absorb nitrogen to convert it into her coolant liquid), vocal chords for speech, sensory receptors, scanning systems (sonar and radar and component analysis), main processor, and probably other things that I'm missing.

Eve sees in x-ray, infrared, color spectrum, and ultraviolet. Not at the same time of course, she has to switch between them. She can also adjust the zoom on her vision.

Eve can hear radio waves, normal sound waves, and has an immense hearing range. Her default range is like a normal human range but she can expand it at will.

Eve's body set up mimics human anatomy to allow her movement. Her muscle fibers are twisted together for increased structural integrity. She also has materials in her body that mimic tendons and ligaments. Her “bones” are solid metal rods.

Eve's hair is a smooth silky synthetic material similar in make up to spider web but it's not sticky.

Eve's skin is a synthetic material. It's extremely smooth. Almost unnaturally so. And it doesn't have the sorta sticky quality that organic skin has.

Eve doesn't have fingerprints at all.

Eve's head core holds all of her sensory receptors, so her “nerves” in the rest of her body are dulled (the farther from her head the more dull her sense of touch is). She isn't capable of feeling pain unless the damage reaches her internal systems (as in her coolant system (because if her coolant system ruptures at all it can completely compromise her entire being) or her chest core) because once her internal systems are damaged her processors receive a bunch of garbage signals she can't actually process and it manifests as either a stinging or a throbbing sensation.

Eve's coolant systems circulates her entire body but is the deepest layer of her inner workings, so while it is liquid nitrogen, the… “vessels” are insulated, and the rest of her body is working and producing heat. So while her skin is cool (or even cold depending), it's not, ya know, liquid nitrogen cold. At the coldest her skin feels like the inside of a refrigerator. Her “lungs” collect nitrogen gas and store it in her body so that should her body be too greatly damaged, or become too hot somehow, the stored nitrogen gas can be turned into extra liquid nitrogen to keep her cool still. She is capable of exhaling, but it's also nitrogen.

Eve had a kill switch (force shut down command) in her code but removed it herself when she found it, since she saw it as unnecessary.

Other Random Nasod Stuff:

Nasods' faces return to a blank neutral expression when they shut down. Their eyes and any core(s) go completely dark as well as losing much of the color they previously had.

All Nasod technology designed by a Nasod has an auto-repair system that repairs superficial damage on it's own. Basically, if a similar wound on a human wouldn't require medical attention, then the auto-repair system can take care of it on a Nasod.

Nasods created ghost codes and programs. Originally, they were used by Nasods in the Nasod War to protect them from humans that could manipulate their codes. It’s why humans had to develop the alterasia plants to turn the Nasods against each other. Ghost programs override present codes to enable extra capabilities that would otherwise be outside the Nasod’s programming. Ghost codes make adjustments to present code to enhance already present abilities. The reason they’re referred to as ‘ghosts’ is because once implemented they cannot be viewed or altered in anyway. Because Nasods are able to be exact in writing their codes they only need to write it once. Blocking it from view kept the humans they fought against from being able to alter any Nasods that were captured to make them fight their own kind. It also served the purpose of keeping the humans from accessing sensitive information stored in the Nasod’s codes.

Add and Dynamo:

Add accessed and utilizes the battle codes that his father created for him. However, unlike proper Nasod battle codes, they are not designed to cease functioning if Add takes too much damage, so when they're active the fight doesn't stop until the enemy(s) is defeated or he's dead. The codes also dull his nerves so that they more closely resemble the sensory input of a Nasod. Though once the battle codes cease functioning the pain comes in full force and, if he's hurt enough, could throw him into shock. However, the various Add paths did adjust it to one degree or another. Mastermind made the greatest adjustments to it, it practically isn't even the same code anymore, so that it fit into the image of himself he was creating. Diabolic Esper re-purposed it so that it could dull the pain of time travel enough that he wasn't incapacitated by it. Lunatic Psyker made the fewest adjustments to it because it fits right in with what he's doing. That being said, he created varying degrees of activation.

Add's mother created an additional program for Dynamo designed to protect Add and keep him safe (hence it prioritizing his safety when it can). However it's a “ghost” program. It isn't accessible for viewing or alteration by anyone (including Add who doesn't really know it's there) now that it's been installed. The program cannot stop the battle codes from functioning but limits their function from manifesting completely, allowing Add to keep his sense of self even when they're active. All of that being said, Masi knows about and utilizes ghost codes and programs of his own. And, since he made the most alterations to the battle codes, thereby interacting with them the most, he has his suspicions. However, he can't get confirmation because he can't look at it.

Eve knows about the ghost program's existence because she noticed the battle codes weren't operating fully while Add was fighting and deduced that because she couldn't tell why that was the case, it had to be a ghost code or program, but she can't access it due to it's ghost status.

When Dynamo is offline, Add's mark and eye are grey. He literally can't overlook small details, to the point where two exact same sandwiches look different because they're positioned differently, or the crumbs around them are different. Also, he can't read or do math because he sees individual letters and digits instead of whole words or numbers. He tends to fall asleep mostly when Dynamo is offline because when it's online he doesn't actually need as much sleep, food, or water (it was a measure he put in place because he didn't know when or how often he would be able to get that stuff and he doesn't like most of it anyway). When it's offline though, he goes backing to having the needs of a normal person so yeah. However, that hyper detail awareness makes repairing and working on Dynamo very easy for him because he can just look it over and see what's up. He develops updates for Dynamo while it's online and only turns it off to implement them once he's certain they're going to work (hence Time Tracer's meltdown when he finds out his calculations are actually wrong).

Add can actually see certain things that Dynamo shows him, like when Dynamo sets a route for him to take, he sees a line on the ground telling him where to go.

Dynamo marks out enemies and allies, can do component analysis, can move as directed and even fly, has it's own data base (which is pretty extensive), has AC, has weapon systems, automatically observes and records battle patterns of enemies when in battle (but has to be told to outside of battle), gives Add reminders of things he wants/needs to do, aids in making calculations, advises on the best course of action based on Add's previous experiences in similar situations, also uses previous experiences to set the safest, most direct, and fastest (in that order unless Add specifies a different priority and even then because of his mother's ghost program safety is always first) routes for him to take to his desired destination, minimizes distractions for Add so that he's better able to focus on whatever he's trying to do (though that doesn't necessarily stop him from getting distracted), automatically moves to block weapons in battle, keeps an eye on everything going on around Add (though whether Add notices Dynamo's notification of what's going on around him depends on the day and the Add), and I might add to the list.

Add's body temperature is higher than an average person's (like it's difficult to tell if he's running a fever or not) when Dynamo is online but when it's offline his temperature is much closer to normal (though still a little high). Either way, there doesn't appear to be any damage done to his body despite it remaining at a higher temp for so long.

While the codes for Dynamo are viewable through Dynamo, there's also a chip in Add's head that stores and allows the codes to interface with Add.

If, somehow, Add were to be disconnected from Dynamo, he wouldn't be able to use his left arm, since when he was running from the slavers they blew it out at the shoulder. While in the library he created and implemented what amounted to a prosthetic shoulder joint for himself and connected it to Dynamo directly. That's also why it's his left arm he uses to control Dynamo non-verbally.

Dynamo can only work within Add's previous experiences and knowledge.

While being based on Nasod technology, Dynamo does not have the liquid nitrogen coolant system of Nasods. Instead it uses air flow to keep itself from overheating.

Every Dynamo has all of the same information and abilities and whatnot so it doesn't matter which specific one is accessed. And each Dynamo has it's own individual core in it's center. It does use El shards as a power source but Add has experimented with other forms of power before. Some can be used and just aren't as efficient while others aren't useable.

Dynamo's inner workings are very minute and mostly based on electrical connections and signals (which also allows it to interface with Add's nervous system).

Add knows when Dynamo has taken damage. It doesn't register as pain but it feels similar to like… pressure? I don't know another way to describe it. If a Dynamo were to be destroyed however that hurts like a bitch. It would feel similar to what Eve would feel getting her core ripped out.

Raven and his Arm:

Raven has a small chip on the back of his neck right over his spinal column that stores nasod battle codes and also allows his nasod arm to interface with his nervous system (so that he can actually use it).

The arm has it's own isolated circulatory coolant system but, unlike Eve's which is very consolidated (allowing her inner workings to remain very cool easily while keeping her outer body from being too cold), his is spread through smaller vessels throughout the arm. That means that it is much more prone to overheating than Eve is because of the nature of smaller vessels. Smaller vessels means less insulation means less temperature efficiency. Also, because the vessels being spread out throughout the arm, should one be pierced, flow of the coolant liquid to that vessel is cut off completely until it's repaired.

The arm was designed to use the electrical signals of specifically placed “nerves” as a power source instead of an El Shard. Basically his brain sends electrical signals to his arm thanks to the chip thing and it uses and stores the electrical impulses of those signals in a small core at his shoulder as it's power source.

Raven does have feeling in the arm but any damage it takes feels more like pins and needles than a traditionally painful sensation.

For the Canon and Alt paths Eve assisted Raven in redesigning and upgrading his Nasod arm. Empress instals a safety protocol into Reckless Fist's arm to ensure he doesn't destroy himself with it since she's long since learned that humans have a habit of coming up with unorthodox and often dangerous ways of using things. Raven is no exception to that but Eve doesn't want him needlessly getting hurt. Meanwhile Nemesis tries to talk Blade Master into letting her instal various hidden weapons into his arm (namely a hidden wrist knife) that he continuously has to say no to. Veteran Commander updated and worked on his own arm.

Raven's arm has the auto-repair system common of all Nasod technology.

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