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SHALL WE RISE?

act one.

(chapter sixteen, take a seat, we are here to feast)

the arena, 2304.

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"WE NEED TO GO back to the forest," Valencia told Dominica. "Silas won't be here in the glaciers anymore."

The moon had gone down and was replaced by the bright sun, causing the pair to rip their goggles off and place them atop their heads. They had been walking through the glaciers for most of the night and had found nothing. No cannons had gone off either and they, luckily, hadn't run into the Careers' just yet.

"What do you mean?" Dominica asked as she leaped onto a piece of floating ice that was drifting through the river. "I thought nearly all the tributes were here in the glaciers."

Valencia had told Dominica nearly everything that the Careers' had told her and everything that had happened. When she told Dominica about how she also killed Confetti, she got a large pat on the back for it. Dominica had also told Valencia everything that had happened to her during the arena. She had sprinted towards the Cornucopia, managing to snatch a bag, and she had done nearly the same thing that Valencia had. She traipsed through the woods and spent the entire day walking towards the glaciers and had been camping in a very small cave ever since.

"Most are, according to the Careers'," said Valencia. "But what if Silas knew that? He and Maynard would go walking back to the woods. Azul died three days ago, that's plenty enough time to be back in the woods."

"And also the Careers' are here in the middle of the glaciers with us."

"Exactly that." Valencia smirked. "They're too busy to find the rest of the tributes and now with Louis dead, they'll try harder."

"I thought they don't care about the other Careers' dying."

"They don't, but with one less tribute, they'll work harder."

Dominica nodded as she looked up at the sky, the bright sun beaming down on them. Valencia nudged her and they both sighed. It would take a day to get back to the woods and it would be the sixth day. The Capitol would make the arena more of a living hell than it usually was.

"So, a whole day dedicated to walking through no man's land." Dominica sighed as the two turned around and began to walk the other direction. "It would take about ten or so minutes to walk through the glaciers since we're in the middle."

"Well, by this time tomorrow, we'll be in the woods," said Valencia. "For the past four days, all I've seen is ice glaciers and ice caps. Would love to see some trees again."

"The Capitol is going to have to spice things up," Dominica pointed out. "Only one person died yesterday."

"And only one has died today," Valencia said. "There's eight tributes left, counting you and me."

"And six if you don't count us," Dominica said softly. "Well, at least we're top ten."

The two continued to walk through the glaciers until Valencia realised that the temperature was getting colder and colder, meaning that they were close to the wastelands. She was proven right when they turned a corner and saw that the glaciers had gradually stopped and the wastelands were right in-front of them. Valencia looked around and her eyes locked onto a blood patch that was on a frozen platform. Rome. 

"Come on," Dominica whispered in her ear as she took ahold of her hand, making her tear her eyes away from the spot where Rome died. "We have to go."

The pair leaped from ice pieces to ice pieces until that finally landed onto the frozen wasteland. They immediately started walking, but Valencia kept looking over her shoulder. She was worried that someone would sneak up on them, but after the fifth time she looked over her shoulder and no-one was there, she decided that no-one could possibly be near. 

Valencia realised that there was one fault with the arena. It was way too big. The terrain wrapped around the arena in a circle and so the only people on this side of the glaciers could be just the pair and the Careers'. The other four could all be on the opposite side of the arena. The Capitol would have to be forced to pull them all into the centre for a fight-to-the-death. Something has to happen, for the deaths were happening too slowly and the people would be  bored. Unless there was something happening with the other tributes that Valencia was unaware of.

When the glaciers slowly disappeared from sight, a cannon echoed around. They both froze before turning around and inspecting their surroundings. There was not a single life form in sight, the only view being the shadows of the now distant glaciers and the pure whiteness of the everlasting wastelands.

"Who do you think that was?" Dominica asked softly as if another cannon was about to go off.

Before Valencia could even open her mouth, another cannon boomed around the arena. This time, they didn't bother surveying their surroundings, but they kept silent for a few moments before speaking again.

"Maybe Clara and Jacob found the two girls..." Valencia whispered as she looked up at the sky. 

"Seven and Ten?"

Valencia nodded as she said, "Come on, we gotta keep moving."

The girls tried to ignore the fact that there was now four tributes that were threats to them. There was Clara and Jacob and then Maynard and Silas. All four of them were highly talented killers and could easily destroy them in one go.

Realisation also came onto Valencia that it was a very smart idea to ally with Dominica. Clara and Jacob were a duo and then Silas and Maynard were a duo. If Valencia didn't agree to the District Four girl, then she may have already been dead. 

The two still stayed walking through the wastelands and they realised that by sundown, they were nearly halfway to the woods. The normally dull, blue sky had turned into a beautiful shade of apricot and violet, the sun falling in the distance. It was a gorgeous sight and the two nearly stopped to admire it, but the echo of another cannon caused the two to jump. 

"Who the hell could that be?" Dominica questioned. "Weren't Seven and Ten killed?"

"Well, I assume," Valencia whispered as she bit her lip. "Maybe it was one of the Careers'."

"Or maybe it was Maynard."

"No, no," Valencia said softly. "Maynard is too strong to die just yet."

The girls carried on walking through the wasteland, the anticipation of hearing another cannon rising through the sky. There were now three tributes that were threats to the two, but overall, five tributes were in the arena. Valencia had managed to make top five. 

She had her guesses of who the cannons belonged to. Two of them had to belong to the girls from Ten and Seven, but the third one was a complete mystery. It had to belong to Jacob. Clara was too strong to die, Maynard and Silas were both death traps so it had to belong to the boy from Two. Valencia shuddered at the thought that Clara, Maynard, and Silas were all that remained for her to win. She would keep her promise to Dominica and help her kill Silas, but she would then go her separate ways. Dominica would probably be killed off by either Clara for her thirst to win or Maynard's revenge for her killing Silas. 

As the sun finally dipped behind the glacier's silhouette, the moon took its place beside the stars. When night fell, the two didn't put on their goggles just yet, for the Capitol Anthem began to echo around, the seal high in the sky. 

The first fallen tribute was of course Louis, in which Dominica looked at Valencia, but she didn't notice because she was too busy gaping at the tribute who came next. Maynard had replaced Louis's spot in the sky. Maynard was dead. Maynard had been killed.

"What the hell..." Dominica whispered as her jaw dropped. "Who the bloody hell managed to kill him?"

Valencia shrugged. She expected it to be Jacob and the fact that Maynard was the one who the cannon belonged to made her more afraid. Silas would be searching for revenge for the loss of his ally, just like Dominica was. Unless Silas killed Maynard, which was something that Valencia found unlikely.

Like they guessed, the girls from Seven and Ten were projected into the sky and when the Capitol Anthem finished and the projection ended, the girls slid their goggles over their eyes. Both were too shocked to even apprehend what had happened. 

Maynard was dead which left it to be Clara, Jacob, and Silas left. They stood in the way of Valencia winning. Jacob would be easy because Silas would probably kill him himself, then Silas would either die by Dominica or Dominica would die by Silas. That would leave Clara. Clara was difficult and she surely would be in the top two. Valencia figured that the only people who would kill her in the arena would be Clara and Silas. Dominica would not and Jacob would have some pathetic speech that Valencia could easily fling a knife into his heart before he finished. 

As they walked, Valencia unzipped her bag and pulled out the granola bars. She had one more full one and then half of another one. Valencia and Dominica shared the full one, leaving the half in the bag. It made Valencia realise that they were going to be low on food and water now since they had exited the glaciers. The flask was nearly half empty by the time Valencia stuffed it back into her bag. 

The girls walked all the way through the wastelands, the moon still high in the sky and when it began to dip down into the horizon and the sun started to replace its spot, the girls could vaguely see the shadows of the massive pine trees in the distance. When Dominica pointed it out, the two began to chuckle. They were tired from walking through the night, so they both decided that when they enter the woods, they would find a hideout and rest there. 

"Look!" Dominica laughed. "I can practically see the rocky floor from here!"

Valencia debated running towards the forest, but decided against it when she realised that if anyone were to sneak up on them, they would need to have enough energy to run away. Dominica started to become silent by the time they stood at the boundary of the woods. Valencia turned and looked over her shoulder and saw the ginormous glaciers in the far distance. She was there only yesterday and so many deaths had happened in those frozen alleyways that she was thankful she managed to escape them before the ghosts caused Valencia to become insane.

"We have to find a cave or something," Dominica whispered as the two began to exit the wastelands and enter the woods.

The woods were much more pleasant than no man's land. Valencia realised that birds were chirping in the branches and insects were buzzing. It was less intense than the ice glaciers or the wastelands. It was still covered in snow, but there was a sense of serenity in them. The trees were so high up in the sky that Dominica suggested climbing them to rest. 

Valencia had climbed trees all the time back in Nine and Dominica said she had climbed numerous ship posts back at Four so the two swiftly managed to scale their way up. They sat on two large extended branches, safely securing themselves with their backs up against the trunk of the tree. Dominica was a bit lower than Valencia, but she could still hear her perfectly well.

"Where do you reckon Silas is?" Dominica asked. 

"I'm not entirely sure," Valencia said softly. "He might be back at the Cornucopia, trying to stock up on supplies. He doesn't have an ally anymore like everyone else does."

"Well, yeah," Dominica agreed. "There's the two Careers', there's you and me, and there's just him."

"But he's deadly," Valencia warned. "He might not need to have an ally."

"Yeah," said Dominica. "I really wonder who killed Maynard..."

As Valencia went to go and speak, trumpets echoed around the arena. She nearly fell out of the tree when she heard them, but she soon realised that this happened every year. When the Games were too slow or boring, they get someone to do an announcement. Dominica and Valencia both fell silent as they waited.

"Congratulations to the last five remaining tributes!" Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed around the arena. "As a treat, we have decided to invite you all to a feast!"

Valencia rolled her eyes as she and Dominica locked eyes, both shaking their heads. It was just a plan to get all the tributes in the same spot to commence another bloodbath. But that would most likely not happen since Clara and Jacob were probably all the way back at the glaciers or halfway through the wasteland. Silas, Dominica, and Valencia would probably be the only ones to attend the 'feast'.

"Now, some of you may already be shaking heads and rejecting my invitation, but this is no normal feast. Each of you are clinging to life and to make your lives easier, we have put together something that will make your time in the arena much more enjoyable. Each of you will find something in a backpack, marked with your district number at the Cornucopia this evening. Think wise about your decision... may the odds be ever in your favour."

The announcement finished and Claudius's voice was replaced with the chirps of the birds. Valencia tried to calm down her racing thoughts as she processed his words. Her and Dominica aren't clinging to life and so either Silas is or one of the Careers' were.

"How are we clinging to life?" Valencia expressed to Dominica as she peered down to her. 

"Food," Dominica said softly. "We don't have any food or water. That's what is gonna be in ours bags."

"You want to risk our lives for food and water?"

"Your flask is nearly empty and all the food we have is half a granola bar," Dominica explained as she looked up to Valencia. "I didn't get any food or water in my bag."

"And there's no fresh water here either," said Valencia. "Only source is back at the glaciers and that's a day walk."

"We have to go," Dominica said. "We can go just before evening, wait within the trees."

"Either Silas or the Careers' will go first," Valencia murmured. "We can't go out first or they'll just ambush us. It happens every Games."

"It's essentially a second bloodbath," Dominica told her. "But what if nothing happens? What if no-one dies?"

"The Gamemakers will have to do something to spice it up a bit," Valencia said. "Release mutts or something."

"Damn it." Dominica groaned. "It's what? Midday?"

"Something like that."

"I say, we stay here and catch up on some sleep," Dominica suggested. "Sleep and then when it starts to become evening, we go to the Cornucopia."

"Yeah, all right," Valencia agreed. 

The two girls nodded and both agreed that Valencia would keep watch first and then Dominica would watch last. As Dominica fell asleep, Valencia stayed awake and surveyed their surroundings. By where they were in the trees, they could get a view of the wastelands and see if anyone had entered the woods. She half expected to see Clara and Jacob traipsing through no man's land, but she realised that if they were indeed in the woods, they would probably be far away from her and Dominica since they had explored the glaciers so much. They probably would have ended up miles away from where they first were originally. Valencia rolled her eyes at her thoughts and sat tight in the tree for about two hours before Dominica woke up. They agreed two hours of sleep for the both of them and it would give them enough time to go to the Cornucopia.

Valencia smiled at Dominica and tried to go to sleep, but when she did, all she could see was the faces of the people she had seen die. Rome was the first person to enter her dreams, the way he collapsed onto the ice. Then it was Donna, the axe lodged deeply into her head and Valencia's screams echoing around. The boy from Three soon transformed into Confetti and then the boy from Ten. Louis was the last one. She had seen five tributes die out of the nineteen that had. 

She was confused and somewhat scared about what to do. Valencia knew Dominica and her wouldn't last long and they especially weren't friends, but Valencia found some comfort in the girl from Four being there. When they were traipsing through the wastelands, they both shared stories about their families and lives back at their own districts and Valencia felt safe knowing she and Dominica had some sort of trust and respect between the two.

"Valencia!" Dominica half-shouted, half-whispered into her ear. "It's nearly evening, come on!"

Valencia's eyes snapped open and she nearly fell out of the tree. She looked at the horizon and realised that the sun was slowly going down and disappearing behind the very distant glaciers. Valencia quickly climbed down the tree with Dominica and when the two hit the wood's floor, they both started to speed walk towards the Cornucopia. 

Valencia got a sense of déjà vu as the two walked towards the Cornucopia, pressing a finger against the slowly healing weal. It didn't sting as much anymore, but whenever she applied pressure, it made her grit her teeth. 

After a few minutes of traipsing through the rocky woods, they finally managed to see the boundary line where the forest stopped, the silver Cornucopia sparkling in the middle. Twenty-four pedestals still stood in a circle, the sight of the hard brittle snow causing Valencia to wince. At the beginning, the snow was pure white and glittery, but now, most spots of ice were coated in dried up, crimson red blood. The sight made Valencia want to puke. 

"Valencia," Dominica whispered as she nudged her in the ribs, pointing at the sky.

The sun was presumably nearly fully down, for the sky had turned into a cantaloupe orange and salmon coloured canvas. It was beautiful, but Valencia could not admire it anymore, her focus now on the spot where she presumed the table would pop up. They had a perfect view of the opening of the Cornucopia.

The ground in-front of the Cornucopia split into two and a round table with a shining, silver cloth rose into the arena. On the table sat five backpacks: two medium-sized, red oxide coloured bags with the number two, one smaller bag that had the number four and the same colour of Dominica's attire, and two bags that had the dark green colour with nine on them. 

Dominica and Valencia looked at each other, both shaking their heads as they waited for someone to run to the bags first. Valencia's hand instinctively wrapped around a knife as she watched two figures emerge from the tree line to their left. 

Clara and Jacob were both walking to the table, axe and sword in hand with massive smiles on their faces. Clara was chuckling to herself whilst Jacob loudly cheered, hands in the air as he began to yell and yell.

"Looks like no-one is here!" Jacob cried out to the tree lines, looking around. "Guess we just have to take all the bags!"

Suddenly, Valencia saw Silas sprint out of the tree line to her right. He had a bag on his back with a sword stuffed into one of the pockets. His arms and legs were pumping as he rushed to the table, hand out wide as he managed to snatch one of the District Nine bags. Jacob was laughing widely whilst Clara had stopped her chuckles and watched him race off. 

"See?" Jacob yelled. "Looks like someone has some guts to come out here! Come on, Barlowe! Four! We won't bite!"

"We have to run for it," Valencia whispered to Dominica as they watched Jacob dance around. "Run like Silas did and just get the bags."

"They'll kill us!" Dominica whispered back. 

"Not if we do what Silas did."

Dominica looked hesitant, but soon nodded, readying herself and her spear. Valencia clipped the knife that was in her hand back onto the belt as she stretched. When the two shared a glance, they both nodded and they bolted out of the tree line.

Jacob started to laugh hysterically as he pointed his sword at Valencia and Dominica, who both darted to the silver table, hands encased over the bag's straps. As they dashed past the Cornucopia and back into the trees, the echoes of Clara's screams and Jacob's laughs were bouncing everywhere in the arena. 

As Valencia and Dominica ran through the woods, desperate to not fall over any rocks or sticks, they seemed to notice that no cannons had gone off. No-one died at the feast. That would be very upsetting for the Capitol. They would have to unleash something, something that would make it deadly for the tributes and entertaining for the people of Panem. As Valencia thought this, her and Dominica had slowed down. They quickly climbed up one of the trees and sat on different branches whilst they tried to get their breath back.

"No cannon went off," Dominica commented. "No-one died."

"And Jacob's gone insane," Valencia said as she put the dark green backpack between her inner thighs to hold it. "Not surprising... there's only four tributes in his way."

"Clara has to kill him soon," Dominica said. "She'll realise that he's only a liability."

Valencia nodded as she began to open up her feast bag. Inside was a full canteen of water, a loaf of bread, and a tin of dried fruits. Dominica got nearly exactly the same, but got jerky instead. Valencia began to eat some of the fruit and a few slices of bread, washing it down with some water. Her stomach was still grumbling, but she didn't want to scoff it all down because she didn't know how long left she had in the arena. It could last a week with the way things were. 

Dominica and Valencia watched the sun dip down behind the glaciers on their tree branches. When the sunset disappeared and the moon rose, the two called it a night. As Valencia tried to go to sleep, the thought that only four tributes stood in her way to win popped in her head. She was so close, so desperately close that she could practically feel herself going insane. Valencia did not want to turn into Jacob and so, she promised herself that she wouldn't. 

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— also, dominica's fc is maia mitchell