they're just the ones who gave me life;
❛ ENIGMA ❜ ↷ the hunger games
❝ there is no coming back
from this ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Volunteering for The Hunger Games was something that Alina King has been sure of since the moment she had first stepped into The Academy and picked up a knife for the first time. She was barely eleven back then. Maybe that was a little messed up. But training children to become murderers was a specialty for the Career Districts.

Now that the time to go to the Capitol has finally come, she blocked out all doubts from her brain and tried to focus on her main priority: winning.

She knew that Cato was not gonna make it easy. There was a reason why he was volunteering right next to her. He has always been good with a sword but he also always preferred hand-to-hand combat or using a spear. As much as she hated him, she knew they were pretty much equals based on their skill and training.

It just meant she was gonna work that much harder to be the last one standing at the end of the games.

"You have five minutes." The sound of a peacekeeper's voice made Alina snap out of her thoughts and turn around to see her mother coming into the room and quickly dismissing the peacekeeper.

"Don't worry, it will only take a minute."

Reina did not break eye contact with her oldest daughter as the peacekeeper left the room and closed the door. The strawberry blonde crossed her arms over her chest and walked closer to Alina. "I'm not even gonna ask you if you're ready or not because it doesn't matter anymore. You are going into that arena one way or another and if you do not come back home alive, all that pressure is gonna go on Clove. You don't want her to go into the next games, knowing her sister was not able to win because she was weak, do you? She will lose focus."

Both King women knew it was a low blow to guilt-trip Alina by mentioning Clove. It was obvious to any sane person that Reina has always preferred her younger daughter and did not care if she hurt Alina's feelings or not. She has only cared about her family being successful.

Alina swallowed and nodded with her jaw clenched tightly. She often had to mask her own feelings in front of Reina but sometimes, the knowledge that even her own mother did not care if she lives or dies for the right reasons, made her feel pain unlike any other. "Okay."

"Do not 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 me." Reina said sternly, her eyes narrowing dangerously, "You will not let a Hadley win. You are not even going to let him get close. The tributes from the first two Districts are allies since the second they volunteer which means you will be together at all times. I already saw the footage of the other Reapings. The tributes from District One will not be hard to get rid of which only leaves the two of you. You will kill him in his sleep if you have to. I don't care how you do it as long as you do not hesitate. Understood?"

Alina looked down at the floor and nodded but did her best to avoid the intense gaze her mother was giving her. Reina took a step closer, a cold and almost threatening look on her face. "I'm asking you again; do you understand?"

"I understand." Alina said and lifted her gaze to level her mother with a similar firm look. Fighting fire with fire.

She did not know if she was really gonna do it. She hoped either she or Cato died before she had to kill him. It did not matter if she hated him, he was gonna be the only familiar thing to her for the next couple of weeks.

-

When Alina finally parted from her mother, she entered the train that was heading for the Capitol that contained their mentor and escort. She stepped inside the train's living room and caught sight of Cato, who was already sitting around the table, his face as emotionless as ever.

His icy blue eyes flickered up to her figure when she entered the room but looked back down instantly when their eyes connected. Alina furrowed her eyebrows at the lack of his cocky demeanor but shrugged it off and took a seat next to him. She leaned her elbow on the table and placed her chin in the palm of her hand, patiently waiting for their mentor and escort to show up. They allowed silence to consume them for once in their life.

The first one that stepped into the room and broke the uncomfortable silence was their mentor. Ikarus had his jaw clenched and his dark eyes were scanning the room while Mare was right behind him with her chin held high and an unwavering bright smile on her face.

Ikarus was just slightly older than Alina and Cato, being picked out for The Hunger Games three years ago when he was only sixteen. He was quite tall and well-built. Alina did not know a lot about him, but she did watch a couple of clips from his games so what she did know was that he probably had more luck than brains. Despite now seeming like the most strategic person, he was incredibly good at archery and fighting in general.

He finally looked between the two tributes. The first emotion that crossed his rough features was curiosity, then thoughtfulness, and finally amusement. The last one was pretty obvious by the way he started chuckling into the palm of his hand, ignoring the scolding look Mare threw his way.

"Is something funny?" Cato snapped coldly, glaring up at their mentor.

"Yeah actually." Ikarus chuckled once again and shook his head to himself, "This is just great. Watching a Hadley and a King interact on screen was amusing the first time, but now I have two legacies on 𝘮𝘺 hands." he sighed dramatically "This is gonna be fun."

"Is that it?" Cato spoke after a few moments of both him and Alina staring at Ikarus, both equally unimpressed, "We know everything we need to go and you obviously are not planning on telling us anything useful. If so, can I go?"

"Don't be an ass." Alina could not help but scold, giving him a side glare that lacked its usual heat.

Ikarus looked slightly pleased with her words (for a reason she was not aware of) and nodded while pointing his index finger in her direction "See, I already like you, Red."

Mare brushed past him and sat down on the side of the table opposite Alina and Cato. Ikarus sighed before he did the same, not waiting a second before swiftly picking up a bottle of bourbon and pouring it into one of the glasses on the table. He nodded at the tributes and gestured towards the bottle in his hand, "You two want some?"

"No." They both spoke simultaneously, quickly realizing if they disliked anyone more than each other it was their already annoyingly arrogant mentor.

Ikarus pursed his lips and nodded to himself, before getting to his feet with the bottle of bourbon still in his hands, "Well, I will be in my room. If you need something," he paused and turned on his heel, calling over his shoulder, "don't call me."

Mare gave Alina and Cato an apologetic grin, which she was obviously trying to cover her anger with, before she got up and followed him into the other room.

Alina sighed and rubbed her forehead, "I think I finally found someone I hate more than you."

"Oh, Angel." Cato sighed dreamily, giving her a lazy smirk, "That is probably the nicest thing you have ever said to me."

-

The train ride to the Capitol is supposed to last around ten hours so that meant they had to spend the night sleeping there.

Alina tried to sleep, she really did, but the thoughts of home could not stop spinning in her head so she ended up playing the reaping ceremonies from other districts. The District One reaping just started when the door to her room opened and Cato stepped inside, giving her a small girl before flopping down on the bed next to her.

The redhead simply raised an eyebrow, "Do you know how to knock? What if I was changing or sleeping?"

"First of all, it would be nothing I have not seen before, and second, I heard you turned on your TV and I couldn't sleep." Cato shrugged, giving her one last glimpse of his crooked grin before he turned his attention to the TV in front of them.

The District One volunteers were just like Alina thought they would be. The male tribute, whom she remembered was called Marvel, was built like Cato and they both had blonde hair. But unlike Cato's ice-cold blue eyes, Marvel's were deep brown. The girl, on the other hand, was skinny and shorter than Alina. The silent agreement between Alina and Cato was clear; if they were guaranteed allies, that was them. It could have been worse.

Neither of them could ignore their curiosity, so instead of skipping the District Two reaping, they watched it. Sure, it might seem a little self-centered but Alina wanted to see what everyone's first impression of her looked like.

The video started with Mare flipping the coin, pulling out a name, and Alina volunteering before she could even finish reading the name.

"𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘛𝘸𝘰." Caesar spoke, "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘮. 𝘈 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳."

Alina grimaced at his words. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳? She had no idea how she felt about that.

She punched Cato's arm to shush him when he opened his mouth to mutter, "Well, he's right about that part."

Next up, Mare pulled out a boy's name and Cato volunteered next.

"𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘏𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘶𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯."

When the District Three reaping came on screen, Alina was surprised there were no volunteers and a fifteen-year-old looking boy and girl were reaped instead. The King already knew they would be too easy to kill.

The male tribute for District Four was reaped and looked like he was not older than fourteen while the girl volunteered herself. She did not look intimidating and looked rather too confident in herself as she stepped on the stage.

Other than that, it was nothing special for a while but District Five's female tribute and District Eleven's male tribute caught Alina's eye almost instantly. The girl looked like she could be good if she knew how to use weapons and the boy was obviously going to be good with hand-to-hand combat.

When District Twelve came next, Alina was about to turn the TV off and make Cato go back to his room when a girl actually volunteered. Alina felt Cato stiffen beside her and they exchanged a wary look.

𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩. Alina thought. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.

-

When seven in the morning came, Alina got up and looked into the round mirror in her temporary room. She sighed at the sight of her eye-bags, before making her way into the living room, seeing everyone else was already there and eating breakfast.

"Morning, Angel." Cato grinned, seeming in a better mood than he was yesterday, "Sleep well?"

Alina rolled her eyes and sat down on the opposite side of him, completely ignoring his question. Ikarus put his cup of coffee down and cleared his throat "I uh... I would like to apologize for my rude behavior yesterday. It was not professional."

Alina quickly caught sight of Mare's satisfied grin, already knowing she was the one that made him apologize. In response, neither she nor Cato said anything, just nodded in acknowledgment.

"So..." Ikarus started, "First, tell me what you're good at. As far as I know, you two have been training for years now which must mean you have a weapon of choice or a strong spot. What is it?"

"Alina is good with everything, but mostly goes for knives." Cato shrugged, making said girl's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

Ikaurs smirked behind the palm of his hand at his words and nodded. Alina squinted her eyes at Cato, who had his gaze on hers since she came into the room, including now.

"Cato is good with a spear and a sword." she blurted out, without thinking twice about it.

"Good, very good." Ikarus nodded thoughtfully, "It means it will be easier for sponsors to send you stuff and it will be easier to build weapons on your own. But it is all about this year's arena. It should not be a desert because they used that one two years ago. Which is good." he scrunched his face up in distaste, "Ugh, the desert is the worst."

"What do you think the arena is gonna be this year?" Alina asked, leaning her elbows on the table.

"We never know." the mentor said, rubbing the slight subtle on his chin, "The game-makers have something new every year. But you two have to be ready for anything; from jungles to destroyed cities and even ice-filled surfaces."

"Fun." Cato muttered sarcastically, grimacing at the thought of having to walk around on ice and snow for days.

Alina nodded in agreement. It was obvious Ikarus was gonna say more but Mare's excited gasp made him close his mouth. All three of them followed Mare's sight to the window, seeing the clear view of the Capitol in all its glory.

Ikaurs gave both Alina and Cato a pointed look, "Welcome to the first circle of hell. There is no coming back from this."

a/n: yes I realize I write the enemies to "I hate you but I'd still die to protect you" to lovers way too much