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SHALL WE RISE?

act one.

(chapter seventeen, a martyr or a sinner)

the arena, 2304.

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IT WAS EARLY IN the morning when Valencia and Dominica climbed down from their tree branches and began to wander around the woods. It was now the seventh day of the Games, they had been in the arena for a whole week. The fear that Valencia might have to spend another week in the snowy woods made her want to go find the other three tributes and kill them herself. 

Valencia was tired, she was so exhausted. It seemed like she couldn't get to sleep despite her hard tries. Her dreams would be turned into nightmares as the faces of all those she had killed and seen die appeared. She feared that she could never get to sleep. She feared that maybe she won't be able to sleep at all ever again, for Valencia was now a new person. The little girl that would sit in the grain fields with Antares and laugh around with Billie was dead and the new Valencia was conjured, the one where she made up battle plans in her head and practiced throwing knives at a tree, imagining it was one of the tributes. It was like she was reborn. In these couple days, Valencia began to realise why Antares and Commie were nearly always in such a bad mood. 

As Valencia looked at Dominica, she realised that in the end, one of them would die. Valencia realised that in order for her to win, Dominica must die. Valencia could either die in the arena, blood seeping out onto the snow whilst her family mourned her or she could win, but carry the victims's souls in her heart, their blood all over her hands. She could either die a martyr or win as a sinner.

Dominica was up-front, gazing around at the trees. She was tired too, but she didn't have the deep violet bags that resided under her eyes. She didn't carry any injuries. She was just sick of being in the arena and the only thing fuelling her was the bitter rage she felt towards Silas. Her thirst revenge could either help her live or lead to her death.

Valencia was chewing on a bit of bread when she suddenly bumped into Dominica, who had stopped in her tracks. She furrowed her eyebrows as she peered at the girl from Four.

"What?" Valencia asked as she swallowed her bread, wiping her mouth. "What is it?"

Before Dominica could answer, Valencia caught sight of Clara and Jacob traipsing through the rocky terrain. They had their axe and sword in hand as they conversed quietly amongst each other, but Jacob latched his eyes on the duo. He laughed loudly as he pointed to them, Clara immediately flipping her axe around in her hand. It seemed like the small number of tributes had dawned some sort of seriousness on her. 

Dominica was the first to make a move, turning around and darting away. At her sudden action, Jacob and Clara came rushing at Valencia. With her heart in her throat, she turned around and did the same.

Dominica was a bit further than her, but Valencia easily caught up and the two flew between the trees and branches. The echoes of Jacob's hysteric laughter flew around everywhere, the birds being startled and flying off. Valencia could feel her heart pounding as she tried to not look over her shoulder, instead focusing on where she was going. If this went on long enough, they would be running around in circles.

By the sound of Jacob's stomping, they were right behind them and suddenly, Dominica took a sharp right and started to clamber up one of the rocky slopes. Valencia furrowed her eyebrows as she followed, climbing right behind her. They could see the glint of the Cornucopia from where they were and it made Valencia question Dominica's thinking. Why would she go to the Cornucopia?

Dominica looked over her shoulder and immediately paled and it had Valencia thinking that the two Career's were right behind them, but when they reached the side of the Cornucopia, Dominica suddenly stopped. 

"What are you doing?" Valencia hissed as she went to go and run. "They're right behind us!"

"They're not..." Dominica said softly as Valencia looked around.

The tree lines were quiet, no-one was moving and Valencia couldn't see any shadows in them. Dominica was right, they weren't there. They must had stopped following them when they climbed up the rocks. Valencia took the moment to catch her breath, about to open her mouth when suddenly, a cannon boomed around the arena. 

As Valencia looked up at Dominica, there was a small, circular incision that wrapped around her neck, blood beginning to pour. Valencia gasped as she watched Dominica's eyes go dull, her head toppling off of her body as it collapsed to the ground. Dominica's head rolled on the brittle ice and banged into the metal of the Cornucopia. And as Valencia forced herself to not look at her decapitated body, Jacob came up behind the Cornucopia, blade coated in blood as a large smirk played upon his lips. 

"One down," he singed. "Two more to go."

"Three, you mean." Valencia gasped. "There's three more left."

"Shut it!" Jacob screamed, causing her to wince as she slowly started to back away. "You made the biggest mistake ever when you left us and killed Louis! You left us for some dirty, fishmonger, scum!"

"You are a bunch of backstabbing brats!" Valencia scoffed. "And you are all pathetic! Confetti was too busy with her looks, Louis was too snarky, you have literally gone insane. Clara is about the only sane person and I'm surprised she hasn't killed you yet!"

At Valencia's words, Jacob went charging at her. She quickly turned on her heel and tried to dash away, but he grabbed ahold of her ponytail. She hissed in pain as the boy from Two slung her into the side of the Cornucopia, him bending down and picking up Dominica's decapitated head.

"You talk about Clara and me like that and I'll make sure it's your head that's on the ground," Jacob hissed as he held up Dominica's head by her hair, shoving it in her face. "Or maybe... I'll do that just now."

He slung Dominica's head over his shoulder, one hand still in Valencia's hair as the other flung his sword around, the blood still dripping. He moved his hand and began to caress Valencia's throat and cheek before bringing up the tip of his blade, trailing it around her face. She could feel the warm blood smudge on her skin.

"Say hello to Louis when you see him," Jacob whispered as he looked Valencia right in the eye, readying his sword near her head. 

As Jacob was about to slide his blade through Valencia's neck, she heard him suddenly gasp. She smiled as she looked down at the gap between them, a knife in her hand as the blade imbedded itself into his abdomen. Valencia smirked when she suddenly twisted the knife and shoved it deeper in his body, Jacob going limp as he had difficulties breathing. As Valencia shoved the blade out and wiped the blood off of it and onto her trousers, Jacob collapsed to the floor. His cannon echoed around the arena. 

"Jacob!" Clara's scream echoed around the Cornucopia, her figure emerging from the tree line to Valencia's left.

Valencia immediately took off running, knife still in hand as she trudged through the hard snow. She could hear Clara's cries as she disappeared into the trees. Her breathing was heavy as she raced through the trees, darting past branches and leaping off of rocks. She needed to get out of the forest. She didn't know where to go, but she needed to get away from the woods because she knew that Clara would search every single bit of the forest until she found Valencia. There was two tributes left. Clara and Silas stood in her way of winning. 

Clara's cries echoed in Valencia's ears, Dominica being decapitated showing on replay in her mind as she rushed through the woods, making her feel sick. Clara certainly wouldn't go looking through the wastelands. If she just stayed there for a bit and when she heard a cannon go off, she could go back. She wouldn't stay that long, for Clara would be on a rampage. 

But as Valencia felt the warm blood of Dominica on her face, she felt the nausea come back. And so, she stopped running and puked behind a tree. Dominica was dead. She got killed. She was dead. And before Valencia could finish puking, Clara's screams echoed around the arena once more.

Valencia's arms and legs were pumping as she leaped over a rock and avoided another tree, trying hard to stop the rest lot of puke from rising. She could see the pure white ice that was the wasteland. The fog from her breath was wafting back into her face as she ran out of the woods, her footsteps printing into the soft snow as she began to sprint through the wastelands. 

Soon, her legs felt like they were on fire and her throat became dry as she started to wheeze for air. Valencia nearly collapsed onto the soft snow, but when she stopped running and put her hands on her knees, she saw a tall figure standing in the middle of the wastelands, staring up at the sky. Silas.

As if her gasp of realisation echoed around the arena, Silas snapped his head to the side and when he saw Valencia, he immediately reached over his shoulder for his sword. Valencia was frozen as she watched him charge at her, it was like everything that she had learned and everything she had suffered all led up to this. Silas was going to kill her, he was charging at her and all she could do was stand there trembling. 

And then suddenly, it was like someone inside her flicked a switch. Valencia unclipped two knives from her belt and flipped them in her hands, taking deep breaths as she too went running at Silas. There was no logic in her actions, but yet she still ran towards the towering monster.  When she was in arms-reach, Silas immediately tried to swipe at her with the sword, the blade shining in the sun and momentarily blinding her.

As Valencia staggered backwards, Silas took the opportunity to tackle her to the ground, the two rolling around in the snow before he finally ended up on-top. Valencia's mind went to a different place as she felt Silas's knuckles punch her repeatedly in the face. A metallic taste of blood entered her mouth as little black dots began to enter her vision. It was when she heard something crack that Valencia lifted up her knee and hit Silas in the groin. 

He immediately fell back onto the snow in pain as Valencia stood up, legs trembling as she spat out a wad of blood that was in her mouth, licking her teeth clear of blood. She lifted up her hand and gingerly touched her nose, hissing in pain when she brushed it. She was sure Silas had broken it. When Valencia unhooked a knife off of her belt and flipped it in her hand, stalking towards Silas, it took her by surprise when he opened his mouth.

"Wait!" Silas cried out, causing her to freeze. "Who did those two cannons belong to?"

"What?" Valencia snapped as she felt blood run from her nose, dripping down her chin. "That's what you want to know?"

"Well, I don't want to wait and find out when I'm in Hell." Silas groaned as he got onto his knees. "So, which ones died?"

Valencia rolled her eyes as she rubbed the blood off of her chin, smearing it as she said, "Jacob and Dominica... Two and Four."

Silas huffed as he looked up into the sky, eyes admiring the dull blue. Valencia watched him with furrowed eyebrows as she flipped the knife in her hand.

"Why did you want to kill me?" Valencia asked him softly. "I mean... before the Games even started?"

Silas chuckled and coughed at the same time as he averted his eyes from the sky and then to Valencia, saying, "Because you got everything, you were destined to win. You had a brother who was a Victor, you were well fed, good home... you had a good mentor."

"Terry and Commie were both equally good mentors."

"But at least your mentor warmed up to you, stopped drinking when he realised that he might actually have a winner on his hands." Silas snarled. "Antares, however, was so absorbed in alcohol and his little baby sister that he never cared about me."

"You guys spoke half the time," said Valencia. "I hadn't spoken to my brother in around two weeks because he was so absorbed with you!"

"Because Commie made him!" Silas yelled, the veins in his neck straining. "Every time he spoke to me was because Commie made him, everything he did was because he was told to! At least Commie actually willingly spoke to you!"

"So you were jealous?"

"Jealous enough that I wanted to cut you apart limb by limb in the arena!"

Silas suddenly stood up and charged at Valencia. He tried to tackle to her in the ground, but she stood aside and so he fell into the snow. Valencia raised her knife as Silas raised his sword and she swallowed a lump in her throat. She was no match against Silas.

He charged at her and he swung his sword at her, but she dodged it and threw her knife at him. He swerved it, but instead of latching into his chest like she imagined, it lodged into his upper arm. Silas groaned as he yanked the knife out and threw it to the ground, blood pouring from his bicep as a tear was created in his puffer jacket. Valencia swallowed as she readied herself for his next attack.

Silas managed to tackle her to the ground and pin her to the snow, swinging his sword around with a sickening smirk on his lips. Valencia bit her lip as she thrashed around, trying to escape his grasp. He looked over his shoulder when a large crashing sound echoed through the arena.

Valencia tilted her head to look at what Silas was staring at. The massive glaciers in the distant were crashing down, the ice falling as it caused a large cracking noise to echo around. Valencia gaped at the sight, her and Silas watching until the glaciers were all pummelled to the floor, disappearing from sight. They both stood up.  

"What's happening?" Valencia asked softly.

Valencia's question was answered when she heard another cracking sound. In the far distance, parts of the wasteland were crashing down to an unknown abyss. The splitting noise became louder and louder and the cracks in the ice began to travel rapidly down no man's land until it just reached a few centimetres away from Silas's foot. He stepped back and when he did, at least half of the wasteland came crashing down suddenly. Valencia's eyes went wide as she walked to Silas's side and peered down. 

It was like the ice had just disappeared because all that was left was just a ginormous hole of darkness. As the two looked at the abyss, a type of fog creeped up onto the non-cracked ice and danced through their feet. The entire abyss was filled with the mist and it caused Valencia to gulp as she watched the fog creep higher and higher into the air until it came to her chin. They were too distracted by the murk to realise that the ice underneath them was cracking as well.

Valencia was the first to realise and she immediately started to back-off, Silas following her as the crack began to grow bigger and bigger. When small parts of the ice began to fall apart and crash into the foggy abyss, they both started sprinting. 

Valencia could hear the sounds of the ice crashing behind them and it made her sprint harder. Silas was behind her, however, and kept looking over his shoulder to see the ice plummet into the abyss. Valencia could see the silhouette of the tall pine trees in the distance and her thirst to win fuelled her to run faster. But soon, she was slung to the ground by Silas, who had grabbed her shoulders. She went tumbling and landed right on a cracked piece of ice. Rushing, she quickly stood up and started to run as the piece shattered and went falling into the abyss. 

As she managed to speed up to Silas, she shoved him to the side and pushed him backwards. Valencia didn't realise how hard she had actually pushed him so when he went flailing backwards and landed on his back as the ice underneath him cracked, she froze. Silas was about to stand up when suddenly, the ground under him gave way and he and the ice fell into the abyss. But there was no cannon. Nothing to represent that Silas was dead. Valencia walked to the edge of the ice slowly and saw that Silas was hanging onto it, arms straining as he began to yell.

"Barlowe!" Silas screamed as she watched the ice that he was holding onto crack. "Help me!"

Valencia watched as the cracks began to inch closer and closer to her, causing her to take a step back and it was like everything was in slow motion. Her stepping back, Silas screaming for help, the ice cracking. It dawned on Valencia that she could either help Silas or she could run away and save her own life. She tried to think, but Silas's screams echoed around. 

"Barlowe!" Silas yelled. "Don't leave me here! Please!"

Valencia shook her head solemnly as a single tear rolled down her cheek, walking backwards as she watched the ice crack further and further. The fog was still rising and as Silas pulled himself up, the ice broke and fell into the abyss, taking him with it. The cannon that echoed around the arena was a signal for Valencia to start sprinting as fast as she could, wiping that single tear away.

It was like the cracks started to spread faster and faster like a contagious virus because as Valencia made it to the boundary of the woods, leaping onto a rock, the entirety of the wastelands had fallen into the abyss. There was no longer a wasteland nor glaciers. It was like the woods was some sort of island in the middle of a black hole.

As Valencia's jaw dropped, the fog started to rise and it now was up to her head. There was a sudden burning sensation in her eyes as she blinked repeatedly. The pain made her go stumbling into the trees, she couldn't see a thing. Then she remembered the goggles that sat atop her head. With a shaking hand, she quickly pushed them onto her eyes and the burning feeling immediately stopped as everything turned into a light green and it was like the fog had disappeared, but when Valencia waved her hand about, she could feel the cold sensation the haze had to it. The goggles weren't just for night vision... they were for the finale.