#ks35

[onodxhiroc]

BOI GIVE THIS MOTHERFUCKER AN OSCAR. I hate this guy with a passion man.

[watchoutformutts]

The Finale: Verity vs Fabio:

With his bloodied sword in hand, Fabio finds his way onto the Hovercraft far too easily for his liking. He looks around at the pristine and perfect Capitol architecture almost in awe. He takes a few steps forward before he hears the laboured breaths of someone. Fabio twisted his head to the side and cocked his head to the left. He didn’t expect what he saw.

One of the main things that Verity had learned in her time in the Arena was that there was always something bigger and scarier out there than the petty obsessions that ran through her mind, uncertainty was a fact of life and as she made her way up the ladder into the hovercraft she swallowed her fear and digested it, letting it sit uncomfortably in her stomach as a centering focus as she came to meet Fabio who stood before her as beaten and bruised as she was.

“Surprise bitch.” Verity spoke with a twisted grin on her face before swinging her own sword. “I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.” and in fact Fabio had. He was expecting to see Damon here if anyone, but Verity had triumphed over him, but not without her fair share of injuries. But injuries or not, she was a strong girl and he would an absolute idiot if he were to underestimate her. He stood in front of her; a few metres separated the two of them. It wouldn’t be long until one of them was dead, and the other was going home alive. Fabio just hoped that it was going to be him. He looked down at her near fingerless hand and saw that blood was practically dripping from her hand and he was actually perplexed as to how she was still standing. But, if there was one thing that he had learned from this whole pageant - it was that determination and the will to survive was one of the strongest things in the world.

Noticing that Fabio just wasn’t moving or saying anything, she smiled and started to circle the boy. He was as broken and bloodied as she was, but just in a different way. Fabio circled Verity as well, keeping an eye out for what she was hiding. He had fought the girl on the first day and knew that she was anything but stupid.

“What are you hiding Verity?” he smiled at her a little and swung the sword in her direction and charged at her after sussing where her weakest point was. Although he kind of felt bad for exploiting her injuries for his own benefit, he knew that he had to if he was to win – if he was to go home. He swung the sword to her right knowing that it was her weak spot, but Verity was better than that. She ducked out of the way of his sword and swung her sword above her and the sound of clashing metal reverberated in the hovercraft. Fabio pressed forward, pushing the girl further and further back. With practically one hand – weak from blood loss – he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he could overpower her and put her out of her misery.

“Enough!” Fabio finally roared pushing Verity backwards as he realized that he’d inadvertently underestimated Verity, who whipped her sword towards him in the space between them. Fabio closed in, his hands gripped around the tip of his poisonous dart as his footfalls sent metallic rings through the Hovercraft. Swinging the sword at Verity, he caught the girls upper arm, connecting to open a sickening slice that bled along her pale limb but before he could strike again, the Hovercraft spun sickeningly in the air to loop around on itself, the two tributes losing both their footing and their bearings, the centrifuge slammed them both into the hard metal walls eliciting pained noises from each of them - The Capitol obviously weren’t ready to see an end to their twisted games yet.

Verity could feel the centre of balance shift again inside of the hovercraft, the wall that Fabio was pressed against now rising up towards her as she felt gravity push her backwards, the wall she was leaning against slowly becoming the new floor of the Hovercraft that now flew sideways in the air. Fabio looks around – genuinely troubled and perplexed at the change in the gravity and struggled to get a grasp on it. He gripped his sword again, gripping onto whatever handhold he could find to time his drop onto the Candor girl that looked so small opposite him as he hung above her. Verity could see what Fabio was going to do and in her adrenaline fueled frenzy she thought that she may have figured out his plan before it had formed in the Dauntless boys mind, slowly and surely so that it was inconceivable to Fabio - clinging onto the girders that ran up the side of the vehicle and dangling precariously above her -  she managed to slip her good leg beneath her, giving her leverage for when she would need it.

He gripped on and looked for Verity who was now coming towards him not letting the zero gravity get him in the way of her Victory. Fabio lost his grip on his sword - nearly dropping it - as he went towards her and it gave her the time, even if it was just for a split second, to attack him off guard. She stabbed her sword down at his leg but he managed to move away, kicking at the wall as a way of propelling away from Verity – but it caught him, giving him a deep gash on his leg. He grabbed onto it instinctively nearly dropping his sword again and as soon as Verity was close enough to him, he quickly spun to his side, and grabbed onto the arm wielding the sword with both of his hands and snaps it with his brute strength so she dropped it. Verity let out a screech of pain and smashed her head forward – head butting Fabio causing his nose to break before she backed away from the Dauntless boy knowing that he had the upper hand.

Fabio watched, swinging his feet backwards and forwards to build momentum so that he could crash down on top of her with his sword and end this, when he felt prepared, the boy released his grip on the bar above him and let the laws of physics take over as he barrelled downwards towards the severely injured Verity, catlike in his precision, the opposite wall-turned-floor of the hovercraft rushed up to meet him and with a movement faster than he would have granted the Candor girl, she was gone the spring loaded leg barrelling her out of the way of his attack. Verity’s precision and patience had paid off as she pushed her good leg painfully underneath her, the effort causing her to roll awkwardly out of range of the falling Fabio. She felt the impact of the Dauntless boy hitting the wall spot she’d just been in and listened to the sickening crunch of bone as Fabio was unable to stop himself crashing painfully into the hull of the ship.

Bile rose up in his throat and it was almost as if the pain from his head was radiating throughout his whole entire body rendering him weak. With Verity’s body pressed against Fabio’s she wrapped her legs around his hips and using all the strength in her hand and wrapped it around his neck choking him. He fumbled for the dart in his back pocket and tried in vain to stab her with it, but she quickly squatted the dart away - pulling it away from his weak and feeble hands - along with his chance of leaving this this hovercraft alive disappeared.

Verity rushed Fabio as he tried to gain his footing on the teeter tottering craft, her messed up hand flicking the poisoned dart away from the Dauntless leaders reach before he could retrieve it, the impact had given her the opportunity, but now she was ready to finish this. Fabio struggled to his feet his eyes quickly scanning for the poisoned dart that he couldn’t locate until finally he trailed up Verity’s body to see the steeled determination on her face. The wall of the hovercraft shifted again, turning the floor into an incline as though the Hovercraft had comically braked in mid-air, the manoeuvre sent Verity towards Fabio but this time she’d learned and adapted from the first couple of tricks that the Capitol threw at her.

Wrapping her good arm around Fabio’s throat as leverage as the hovercraft continued to spin and gravity became an obsolete concept, Verity pulled herself on top of him, her thighs wrapping around the boys skull where she anchored herself so that she sat on the tall boys shoulders. Fabio retaliated by throwing his sword above himself in an effort to stab the Candor girl who sat on his shoulders the way a child would with a Father, Verity instinctively brought her almost useless left hand to counter the swing, the loss of blood and severed nerve endings barely allowing her to register as what was left of her hand split in two and Fabio’s sword stuck tight in the bone of her forearm. Blood spilled out into the room, floating like a fluctuating solid the way that it would out in orbit, the spinning hovercraft’s movement simulating the atmosphere of space.

With the absolute blinding pain that was threatening to take him under, made him unconscious from his head. He knew that he couldn’t give up now. Almost every fibre, every part of him just wanted to give up, give into death so he could be with Dorian, and with Isa, Melodee, Damon. He wanted that so bad, to be a coward but he just couldn’t. He wrapped his remaining hand around Verity’s neck and squeezed it as hard as he could before kneeing her in the stomach and getting her off of him. With one last glance at the bandannas tied around his arm – he knew what he had to do. He had to do it for them, because if he didn’t, then they all would have died for nothing and he couldn’t do that to them. He was so close to the finish line, so close to home and so close to the justice that they deserved.

The elbow of Verity’s severely injured arm pressed against his forehead to keep him in position as her good hand released his hair and pulled out a small white contraption that Fabio didn’t recognize. As he looked up Verity’s torso into her feral face, he watched her put the cap of the gadget into her mouth and snap it away. Verity’s legs constricted tighter around Fabio’s neck as she pushed the white plastic ball towards his lips, her elbow pushing his head further and further backwards to get into his mouth. Fabio’s now empty hands  grasped out for the sword - that Verity had removed from her arm - was now floating through the room along with the dart that had made a reappearance, once he knew that wouldn’t work he curled his hands into fists and began to pound on the girls legs that had shifted quickly, the sinewy muscle behind her shin now pressing against his chin while her arms seemed to be embracing his head, in an odd change of tactics it was as though she was hugging Fabio’s skull in a strange semblance of apology for them fighting but awareness pushed it’s way through Fabio’s conscious and he knew that Verity was forcing him to keep the device in his mouth.

Verity knew when the smoke bomb had began to release it’s fumes into Fabio’s body as he coughed and rocked underneath her and she focussed on keeping the Dauntless boy’s mouth shut tight under the pressure of her arms and legs. The small gaps at the corners of Fabio’s mouth began releasing smoke and his nose billowed like an enraged dragon, the twisted plumes escaping into the hovercraft. Verity and Fabio floated through the air in a strange weightless ballet, prima and danseur intertwined awkwardly in a final embrace. Verity softly reached down to Fabio’s face as he continued to beat against her, with an almost gentle gesture her fingers pinched the boys nose to cut off the final escape for the chemicals invading his lungs expanding them more than they could hold until his chest swelled.

Fabio could feel the end as he drowned slowly without water, his body bucking violently as the last thing that he was was Verity’s angelic features twisted into that of a monster above him, his lungs burned violently as the alien gas pervaded and stole the life from him. With the last amount of strength he carried, Fabio reached for something as it floated by and stabbed it into Verity’s leg. Her eyes widened as she spotted the dart sticking out of the appendage that was wrapped around her enemy’s neck. She looked down at Fabio in shock, and although she could not see,  he emitted smoke from the twisted smile on his face. It was a final ‘Fuck you.’ Not only to Verity for taking his life, but to the Capitol, because now it was a race against time. If they weren’t quick enough then they would have no Victor.

Eventually, Fabio’s body stopped convulsing below Verity and the hovercraft crashed them both to the floor, Fabio limp in death and Verity still from the exhaustion of the final fight as the poison coursed within her veins. In the last moments before the announcement confirmed her victory, Verity was unsure of how Fabio had died. She couldn’t tell whether his lungs had given up from the lack of oxygen in his body or if the gas had simply overfilled the capacity of Fabio’s lungs causing them to rupture in his ribs. Unfolding her cramped legs from the dead Dauntless boy’s neck, Verity lay next to him, fascinated by the last stray plumes of smoke that vortexed up before disappearing into the air around her. Her eyes closed as the medics rushed in to ensure her survival. After all, she was their victor.

[watchoutformutts]

Chiles vs. Fabio

Chessa already had her bow pre-loaded as they raced cautiously down the street, heading for the building where a large hovercraft was waiting for them. The fire burned hot against their backs, pushing them eastbound. They ran silently, side by side, Miles’ axe in one hand, the dagger in the other. Stepping up onto the curb a block away from the hovercraft, a familiar face popped out of a set of black and white Candor doors. Miles and Chessa were caught off guard, but not completely surprised. They knew that the announcement would draw the remaining tributes in, forcing battles until only one remained.

Chessa’s heart beat rapidly inside her chest, her wrists shaking as she aimed her loaded arrow at someone she once considered a friend. Stepping in front of Miles, an instinct she assumed she’d have, she sized Fabio up. Fabio, across the street on the northern sidewalk, noticed the pair right away. Fabio, having lost his love, looked at the couple with disgust and envy instead of sympathy.

After the announcement following the arrival of the home bound hovercraft ended, Fabio grabbed all of his things, securing his weapons and held onto his sword with one hand and a knife ready to throw if he needed it. The second he left the bar, he managed to take a whole step before an arrow came flying in his direction. He managed to miss the arrow, a couple of inches to his left, and it would have gone straight through his eye, and he would have been dead. Fabio turned his head to see the person responsible and just smiled when he saw Chessa securing another arrow into her bow. He walked forward towards her, never leaving her eye contact hoping it would detract her.

“You sure you know how to use that properly Mount Spewy? It’s an awfully difficult weapon to master you know?” he was joking - a little - but if he had learnt anything in Dauntless, it was that confidence in your enemy and opponent was unnerving as Hell. Beside her was the boy that she had left Ally for. Fabio couldn’t help but feel a bit sour towards him, he remembered him slightly from his time in Amity. The thought almost made him chuckle. Him back in Amity - as a child. It all seemed so long ago. Chessa stared at the Dauntless boy - one she had once considered a friend - one that helped her learn to protect herself against people like him right now.

Truth serum flowing through their veins, Chessa let out something that she’d not normally have said under any other circumstances. “Shut up, Fabio, that nickname is demeaning and ridiculous,” she sneered. “And as a matter of fact, I do know just enough to shoot you. Want to tempt me?”

Fabio just burst out laughing at Chessa’s threat because it was perhaps the most passive aggressive thing he’d ever heard in his life. “Yeah, you do that.”  Chessa frowned at his words and Miles gripped onto his weapons ready to attack him when he got the go ahead from Chessa. She steadied her shaking, nervous hand and let go of the arrow and it landed cleanly in his arm.  Normally she’d be ashamed of her behavior, but the truth of the matter was that she was fighting to send Miles home. She’d promised him that she’d fight, even if it meant sacrificing herself first. He let out a scream of pain, genuinely surprised that the girl had hurt him. He was impressed, but slightly pissed off as well. He gripped tighter onto the knife in his hand and threw it towards Chessa - not to kill her, he couldn’t do that, but to incapacitate her enough so he had time to go away, but this time, Miles had lifted his axe to block the knife and it clattered away from them in the distance. Fabio ripped the arrow out of his arm and lifted his sword to block Miles from slicing his head in half with his axe. The two weapons locked. Fabio was surprised by his strength, but love and determination can do so much for a person. The two boys looked at one another, trying to gain the upper hand against one another.

Miles had seen the boy kill, he had held Lydia while the light went out of her eyes. He wasn’t the monster under the bed but there was no other choice. If Chessa was going to catch that hovercraft, Fabio couldn’t stand in their way. “She has to go home, you have to let me send her home.” His voice shook, hoping that the boy who had offered Lydia an honourable death would understand Miles’ choice. “If you were in my shoes, you’d do the same wouldn’t you?”

A part of Fabio wanted to, he so desperately wanted to nod his head and say yes. He wanted to let Miles put him out of his misery – but he couldn’t do it. He would be betraying the memories of his friends, and the silent promise he made to himself. Fabio looked down at the three bandannas on his arm and just shook his head. In his mind, he was doing them a favour. He could offer them a merciful death. He had seen how Damon had ended up, how broken he looked and how he would rip the lovers apart and make it as painful for them as possible. And if, by some miracle Verity could stop his slow decline into madness – for his own benefit, then he knew that she would show them no mercy either. This was what was best for the both of them.

“I can’t do it.” He kicked Miles in the chest sending him flying back and the axe leaves his hand.  Fabio squared his shoulders advancing on Miles as he bore down on him, lifting the sword in a hacking motion as Miles went to his knees.  With a quick thought to aid her husband, Chessa reached into her pocket and pulled out the pepper spray. Uncapping it as the boys fought, she inched close enough to spray Fabio in the face, distracting him from Miles. Fabio reached for another knife and threw it at the boy, but instead of hitting Miles the knife embeds in Chessa’s knee causing her to cry out in pain. She crumbled to the cement, blood draining quickly from her fresh wound. Neither would’ve known, but Fabio had sliced through vital tendons that allowed Chessa to walk.  The sound of his love in pain just fuelled Miles’ anger more and he charges towards the Dauntless boy with one last weapon, one last time to secure Chessa’s place on that hovercraft.  He kicked out, the bottom of his boot connecting with Fabio’s torso as a throaty scream erupted from his lips. Rushing forward Miles met Fabio’s swing, locking the sword in the crook of the axe and sweeping out with the dagger to stab through his shirt until knife met flesh.

Tears poured from Chessa’s eyes as she attempted to right herself in order to defend the love of her life. Crying out in frustration when she could not stand, she haphazardly loaded her bow. Her wrists were shaking, her chest heaving, her entire body trembling. She couldn’t trust herself to release the arrow without hitting Miles instead. When she finally gathered enough courage to do so, the arrow skitted between the boys, neither noticing it, and sailed across the street into the gutter.

Miles’ grip never faltered from his dagger, it was the only thing he had left and he saw his time coming to an end. With his dagger raised he runs up to Fabio and slices the blade forward, but Fabio side steps Miles and swings his sword round once before stabbing him in the chest. He pulls the sword out of his chest and drops the weapon disgusted with what he had just done. He dropped to his knees beside Miles and looked at the boy who stared at him in disgust.

“You don’t want that kind of life for her, I promise you.” He knew what life was like living without the one person that meant the world to him; even Fabio didn’t want Chessa living with that pain.  Miles’ body fell limp onto the asphalt, as Fabio tried to catch his breath. Chessa cried out from where she sat, a pool of blood collecting around her legs. Screaming in pain as she twisted her body to crawl to her husband’s side, dragging her leg and leaving a trail of blood across the street. She abandoned all her weapons, no longer caring whether she lived, because a life without Miles was meaningless to her. She clutched at his chest, sloppily trying to fix him. When she realized that it was too late, she looked deep into Miles’ eyes and attempted to gather herself into a state where she could say goodbye.  Chessa’s screams almost destroyed Fabio; he had been responsible for this, for her heartache. He had become the one thing he had tried so hard not to become – a monster. He lowered his head as Chessa came up to them and wrapped Miles in her arms as he died. He walked away from the lovers, letting them have their last moments in peace.

She leaned down and kissed him softly. “I love you, apple boy,” she choked out.

He coughed, his body trembling from the blood loss as death crept up to take him. He slowly reached out for her, pressing his palm against her cheek. His teeth chattered and he blinked, trying to get one last good look at his wife. “I love you more, songbird. I’ll see you soon… in our own eternity.”

He sputtered, his body seizing. Chessa broke into a sob as he slipped into unconsciousness. His neck went limp but his cannon didn’t fire, not yet. She wiped away her tears and looked up at Fabio, who was casting a shadow over them both.

“Just go. I won’t hurt you.” He managed to say to Chessa. He couldn’t do it, even if he wanted to, he just couldn’t.

“Just kill me,” she begged. “Gently, Fabio… just… get it over with. I can’t be without him, you see… I once thought of you as a friend. Do me this favor, would you, make it quick. Send me back to him.”

He went to object, killing someone to defend your own self was one thing. But this was something completely different.  Fabio, tears forming in his eyes, sniffled and wiped them away. He nodded. He owed it to her, at the very least. It took him a few seconds, but he understood what he was going to have to do. He let her have her last moments, to prepare for it.  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of the poison darts and stared at it for a moment. Chessa, having heard Miles’ cannon finally sound, turned back to him. Pulling him up off the concrete, she cradled him in her arms, running her bloodstained fingers through his hair. “I’m coming soon… I promise,” she whispered although he could not hear her. “I’m coming home.”

Fabio crouched down, feeling a heavy weight on his heart for leaving Chessa in this way. Part of him wanted to bring her up to the hovercraft, to send her home to her family. He thought of Isa when he gazed over her, mourning for Miles. That’s when Fabio noticed her ring. He remembered the interview… and somehow he knew without knowing.

“Alright, Spewy,” he nodded, this time using the nickname affectionately, clutching the poison dart in his hand. “Ready to go?”

Chessa looked up at him, her arms around Miles’ limp body. She was losing a lot of blood, she would soon die, too, but Fabio didn’t want to leave her to suffer. He reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and forced a smile. “Time to go, Chessa,” he said softly. “It’s like falling asleep, I promise.” He ruffled her hair a little and gave her a small smile before taking the poison dart out of his pocket and stabbing it into her arm.

“Goodnight Mount Spewy. Tell them I said hi alright?” Chessa nodded, knowing exactly who he meant by ‘them’.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll never forget this kindness.” She took Fabio’s hand in hers and squeezed it gently, although it was using all of her strength to do so. “I’ll see you again Fabio.”

He released himself from her grip, standing up and watching as Chessa laid herself down, her ear resting against Miles’ lifeless chest. A tear trickled down her cheek, listening for the sound she longed to hear. “I can’t hear it…” she whispered as the poison slowly took over whatever blood remained in her little body. She closed her eyes, smiling now as she slipped away. “I can hear it now.”

Her cannon fired, jolting Fabio back to reality. He didn’t want to admit to himself that maybe he just wanted to join Isa, now, too. He wiped away the tears he shed for the couple, and grabbed all of his stuff, making his way into the building and towards whatever fresh Hell the Capitol was going to put him through next.

He could still win.

[watchoutformutts]

Lydia vs Fabiosa:

Isa and Fabio walk closer to the house being careful not to make any noise, both had weapons ready and Fabio carried the can of tear gas. They had made that mistake once before with Serena and Chuck giving them time to prepare for battle, and this time, they were going to catch them by surprise.  Isa nodded towards the window and Fabio nodded his head in agreement, walking silently to the window, the boy smashes it with the pommel of his sword. He throws the activating tear gas into the room and waits for the small figure to come rushing out of the Candor house. In a few minutes, a girl bursts through the front door, holding tightly onto a dagger and throwing axe, coughing and spluttering because of the tear gas. Isa remembered the girl from training and she was responsible for killing her friend, Ayden.

“Oh look, Isa, it’s the little smart-mouth,” Fabio smirks with a muffled voice, swinging his sword around with all the arrogance of a Dauntless leader. But Lydia sees through the cover. She sees the sadness in his eyes, and the hideous burns on his face she could see around the mask. She laughs, trying to seem brave when her hands are shaking.

“Christ, someone really messed up that pretty face,” Lydia smirks, her hands tightening around her weapons. They’re injured. That’s a good thing. They’re weak. They’re able to be hurt. “Why don’t you two try picking on someone your own size?” Lydia adds, thinking that they’re no different than the bullies who hurt Ayden. “Oh, right, you don’t! Because you killed a fourteen year-old child. Who happened to be my boyfriend.”

Isa lifted her bow - which was an already loaded arrow - and aimed it at the girl. In quick defense, Lydia lifted her throwing axe and threw it at the other blonde girl. The axe sliced her thigh before falling onto the ground; Isa gritted her teeth and aimed the arrow, she lets go of the string and watches the arrow pierce Lydia’s right calf before she fell to the ground herself clutching onto her thigh. The little Candor lets out a blood curdling scream, her small fingers wrap around the cold arrow and quickly yanks it out.

Isa’s eyes dart around for Fabio but instead of finding him, she finds the taser. As Lydia is distracted, Isa lunges at her with the taser and Lydia throws herself to the ground to try and escape her grasp. The electricity surges through her ankle and she screams, banshee-loud and ear-shattering as she convulses on the ground. It’s over as soon as it begins- Isa’s out to play with her food, after all. Lydia pulls herself up and lunges after Isa, driving her dagger into the girl’s already injured shoulder. She lets out a screech and tases Lydia in the stomach again, another ear-splitting screech from Lydia directly into Isa’s ear as her reward for the action.

Lydia drops to the ground, convulsing from the taser and Isa leaps on top of her, sneering down into the little girl’s face. “You didn’t think you could hide forever, did you?” she cooed, pulling a knife from her sheath and running it teasingly down Lydia’s cheek. Lydia shuddered, willing herself to be brave, a chant in her mind growing louder and louder. Fabio watched her, relaxed, smirking and probably a little turned on as Isa played with her prey.

The small girl jolted her body, as if she was trying to move and gripped the syringe of peace serum in her hand, on the opposite side of where Fabio stood. In one swift move, Lydia jabbed the syringe hard into Isa’s thigh. The girl let out a yelp of surprise and sliced along Lydia’s cheek, but the knife didn’t have the same intensity at the end of her slice. She sat up, confused as to why she was holding a knife on top of a little girl. Fabio saw the needle embed into Isa’s skin after it was too late, and the familiar think solution of peace serum unwillingly flow into her body. The act made him feel physically sick. He had been subjected to the same thing as a child, and remembered the feeling so clearly, his face once resembled Isa’s terrified one before it became lax with peace. The peace serum had wiped Isa’s desire to kill, making it easier for Lydia to stab her dagger into Isa’s side, twisting it as she did and hearing the howl. As the dagger sunk in, Lydia squirmed out from under her weak side, scrambling to her feet.

Fabio lunged at Lydia and she met his attack with a swing of her axe into his side. “I figure there’s no better way to show you how much it hurts to lose someone you love then to, well… show you.” Lydia smirked, slashing at Fabio again who met her hits with ease.

Lydia managed to regain her balance so she didn’t fall onto her back and was slowly backing away from a visibly pissed off Fabio. She frantically look to the door and knew she would never be able to reach it in time. Her heart rate jacked up and adrenaline was racing through her veins and she did the only thing she could do, fight. She launched her little body at Fabio and dug her dagger into his calf before she was quickly grabbed by the hair and thrown as far away from him as he could muster. Fabio turned to Isa who was lying down on the floor and smiling, her desire to kill had disappeared and a concerned look washed over her face as she looked at Lydia on the floor. Lydia landed on the floor painfully, obviously twisting a muscle in her ankle and found it hard to get back up.

“Isa. Go. Now. Hide behind the house.” not wanting to argue for the sake of avoiding conflict with Fabio she nodded her head and quickly obliged, taking her things and leaving, but not without blowing Fabio a kiss. In a flash, Lydia grabbed her blow gun from her pocket and shot a poisoned dart into Isa’s skin. Fabio turned his attention back to the little girl, having missed the action completely. Isa, being under the influence of the peace serum, swatted at the dart as if it was a pesky mosquito, and obeyed Fabio’s orders.

Lydia tried in vain to reach her dagger which lay a couple of inches away from her, only to be thwarted as Fabio kicked the weapon far away from her. Now weaponless, she only had her bare hands to defend her against death so she dived for his ankles and started to gnaw at his leg and dug her nails into his ankles in the hope that it would weaken him, giving her enough time to run, but unfortunately for her it really wasn’t. He kicked her away, slamming her back into the wall of a neighbouring house in anger. He stormed up to her and bent down and grabbed the little girl by the neck and squeezed it tight before lifting her up to eye level. She kicked upwards to him with the mirror shards on her boots and heard him curse as he felt the little stabs on his legs. He responded with thrusting out a hand to the side. Her little hands scratched and his hand the wrapped around her neck restricting her breathing. She kicked out at him and attempted to claw at his arms but with every attempt she made, she felt herself getting weaker and weaker and weaker.

Her face was a violent shade of pink when the first tear started to fall, followed by another and another. Lydia knew she was about to die and had consequently given up. And that was when Fabio saw through the red haze of anger, and pain, and sorrow and saw what was exactly in front of him. The violent death of a young girl who didn’t deserve one. In a sudden moment he let go and dropped her onto the floor in a heap where she clutched onto her neck, gasping for air. There was no way that he could leave her alive here, absolutely no way but he could at least do one more good thing before leaving this Arena - dead or alive - then he would. He grabbed the remaining peace bread he had and when he turned around he saw Lydia hurtling towards him again but this time with a pitiful amount of strength. He easily threw her off of him but not without receiving a nice gash on his arm from her dagger. She fell to the ground one last time and still tried to crawl away as Fabio approached her. He respected the little girl. She was thirteen, she had scored a nine in Private Training, she had made it further than so many other Tributes, and here she still was fighting for her life against a person that was practically three times the size of her.

There wasn’t much strength left in her, if any at all, so he bent down in front of her. Making sure to remove any hidden weapons in her pockets and throwing them far away. He didn’t want his moment of weakness to cost him his life. He then reached into his pack and did something he really didn’t want to do, and force fed her the remaining peace bread.

“It’ll make you feel better.” he assured her as she almost choked on the food but after a while swallowed it. Soon she became relaxed and quiet, and calm and seemed to forget about the pain, and the suffering, and her unhappiness. Fabio knelt down beside her and took one of her poisonous darts and stuck it into her little arm and stayed there with his hand rested on top of hers until her cannon fired. He looked up at the sky with a cold glare and shook his head, The Capitol had committed monstrous crimes against him, but he wasn’t going to become the thing he promised himself he wouldn’t become, a monster.

He called Isa to come back and grabs all of his stuff, as well as Lydia’s before going to leave. He turns back one more time and looks at the little girl who lies dead on the floor. In those few moment after he saw that syringe and when she was swinging that axe, he thought that he might actually die, and for someone - a Candor - and a thirteen year old girl - to elicit such fear out of him was extraordinary.

“You would have made a fine Dauntless.” he whispers to her before leaving that house for the last time.

But Isa doesn’t come when Fabio called. He runs to find her, carrying whatever he could, to find her slowly slipping away against the side of a house. He sobs as he drops everything in his hands, kneeling down beside her… shaking her to wake her up. That’s when he sees the dart sticking out of her side. He realized then that he must’ve been too engrossed in the fight with Lydia to have heard his lover’s cannon.  Ironic doesn’t even begin to describe it.

[watchoutformutts]

Verity vs. Sabrina 

As Sabrina backed away from the dead, mutilated body of the Factionless she felt her stomach churning, her head spinning and everything in front of her merge into one. She was losing herself so quickly, and so surely. She looked around at the buildings, at the trees and realised that she couldn’t be sure of anything right now. With her bloody sword she pushed the dead Factionless man’s body out of the way and went to go in a house when she saw a figure in front of her.

Verity fought with her conscience, if she left Sabrina to her fate then she would have to deal with the guilt of it for the rest of her life, no matter how long that was. If she helped she knew that she might have gained an unlikely ally in the girl that she attacked so openly in the game of Capture the Flag. Cursing herself, Verity untied the bandanna from around her neck and used it to tie her hair in a messy knot that rested on the crown of her hair, safe from anyone that could reach out and snatch her head back and slice her throat while it was exposed momentarily. She was already running to where Sabrina lay, her sword gripped steadily as she pushed past the dead Factionless to reach the Erudite girl.  Crouching next to the small girl, Verity offered her hand and helped Sabrina to her feet.

“Come on!” Verity cried urgently, close to the girls ear as she helped her limp through the crowd of Factionless that hesitated at the sight of the swords that both girls held. Sabrina’s weight was nothing when she limped but occasionally she fell, her leg giving in underneath her as the injury took hold. “Few more steps.” Verity comforted the little Erudite, “Few more steps and we’re hidden, you can do it.” The pair continued, panting with effort and strain until they finally reached the alley that ran between two Erudite buildings on the edge of the faction borders. Sliding down against the rough outer wall of the building, the girls tried to catch their breath. Sabrina quietly thanking Verity for helping her away from the Factionless that threatened to consume her.

“That’s okay.” Verity wheezed, her heart thudding against her ribcage as she tilted her head back, crushing her impromptu hair-do as she inhaled the cold air, the lifeline that would bring her back to centre. “Do you have any medical supplies?” Verity asked, turning to Sabrina who seemed equally as exhausted as she shook her head.

Sabrina wasn’t sure who it was, in fact, she had no idea who it was, but her concussion wasn’t making it easy for her to try and figure it out. The hallucinations often associated with concussions had slowly started to manifest and when she decided whether to fight or flight, an overwhelming feeling came across her. She knew that they would just chase after her, and try to kill her just like Cason and Finch did. They were from her own Faction, Faction before blood had been thrown out of the window that day, and if she could no longer trust them, then she sure as Hell wasn’t going to trust the blank faced villain in front of her.

“I’m going to have to press against the wound, stop it from bleeding okay?” Verity kept her voice level while her mind spiked with unease. The words from her training at the First Aid station sounding through her own mouth as she tried to calm Sabrina. Reaching up into her hair, Verity’s fingers began to work against the knot of her bandana, it would make the perfect impromptu bandage.  Moving quickly as Verity was distracted and open, Sabrina whipped her hand behind her, the shaft of the flare gun connecting with her palm before she swung the butt of the gun back around, connecting it with Verity’s cheek before she could react to the sudden attack.  She snarled at Verity, there was no more running, only fighting and surviving and that’s what Sabrina was going to do.  Verity recoiled as the blow from Sabrina’s weapon sent starbursts across her vision and a coppery taste in her mouth, shuffling backwards she made space between herself and the girl that she’s just rescued, her conscious chastising her for being so stupid as to try and help someone out here. Spitting against the dusty floor, Verity clambered to her feet as she regained herself, noticing that Sabrina had used the wall she was pressed against as leverage to push herself back to standing, even if she was stuck on the one leg that wasn’t damaged by a bite wound.

Both girls drew their swords as they stood, feet apart from each other, their chests heaving as they pointed siblings blades at each other. Both unwilling to make the first move for fear that the other had something prepared that they didn’t expect. Verity spat again, feeling the mix of tissue and enamel exit her mouth as her tooth broke away.

The two didn’t really have much experience, or training with it, but the two of them both had their advantages. Verity was stronger than Sabrina, but Sabrina had killed before, and would kill again without any hesitation now. She raised the sword, slashing at Verity with an unknown ferocity. The sound of the metal of the blades colliding was loud and anyone nearby would have the sense to run away. Eventually getting the upper hand, Verity managed to disarm Sabrina, sending her sword flying out of her hand. She hobbled backwards, slowed down by the pain in her ankle, but the adrenaline coursing through her body made up for it.  

“I was trying to help you, bitch.” Verity snapped, bringing her sword to the side of her face the way that her trainer had taught her, a prime position to strike or guard. The gesture was enough for Sabrina to make up her mind and take the chance, the view of Verity so competent with the sword reminded her of her insecurities while training with the dauntless boy Dorian. Taking a blind swing, she took a staggering step forward, but Verity was quicker, bringing her blade down to connect with Sabrina’s slash to parry it away and drive ahead. If she’d been reluctant to fight the girl before, the doubts in her mind had vanished as she closed in balling her fist and bringing it down on Sabrina’s wrist as she flailed on her injured leg, the blow shot pain up the Erudite girls hand, causing the metal weapon to drop from her grasp, but she’d already reached for the flare gun as she recoiled, bringing it up now so that Verity looked straight down the barrel.

Stars started to dance around in Sabrina’s vision and the figure in front of her just became more foreign, and just scarier than anything else Sabrina had ever experienced. She backed away from Verity breathing heavily before pulling out her flare gun and smirking, but Verity being a lot more intelligent than the average Candor managed to duck out of the way of the incoming flare.  With a dive, Verity moved out of the way, crashing to the corner of the building in a huddle before scrambling up the wall and pushing herself back into empty space and facing Sabrina who she could hear cackling and charging after her, her dagger now in hand.  Sabrina’s fingers folded around the hilt of her dagger as she looked into Verity’s face, the sweet features of the helpful girl seconds ago had disappeared, leaving a vulpine ferocity that would have scared her if it weren’t for the adrenaline burning through her veins.  Sabrina came up beside her and stamped on her foot repeatedly crushing the bones. Verity screeched and gripped onto Sabrina’s ankle with her other hand and pulled her to the ground with a sickening thud, her arms flinging out with the momentum of Verity’s sudden attack. The back of Sabrina’s hand cracked against the concrete but she managed to retain her dagger, slicing wildly at Verity and opening a nasty cut along her shoulder and bicep, eliciting a scream that was as satisfying as it was feral. Verity gripped the arm that Sabrina held her knife in, holding it away from her as they struggled for dominance. Verity pulled and pushed, trying to get the dagger away so that Sabrina couldn’t attack again, eventually resorting to slamming the girls hand into the floor until Sabrina’s knuckles were bloody pulps that released the weapon.

“I don’t need weapons to kill you!” Verity screamed as she dragged herself over Sabrina’s head, sitting on the floor above her and gripping her chin. Sabrina’s fingers raking against Verity’s forearms in an attempt to fight her off. “I’ll do you with my hands!” Verity added as she placed a foot on each of Sabrina’s shoulders, finding leverage and straining with her legs while her arms pulled Sabrina’s head in the opposite direction. Sabrina let out a muffled cry while her mouth was trapped closed under Verity’s surprisingly strong grasp, her eyes filling with tears as the bright sunlight peeked out from the top of the buildings until finally, the sickening pop echoes through the alley and a shudder runs through Verity’s arms as tension leaves Sabrina. Then came the silence, no whimpering from Sabrina, no fighting or struggling. Just silence.

Verity scooted away from the still Sabrina, waiting for the cannon that didn’t come. Sabrina just stuck, frozen on the ground with her arms around her, twisted like a doll that had been left out in the street and contorted at odd angles, a shallow breath making her chest rise and fall slowly as Verity stood to look at her wide eyes that flitted in every direction.

Taking an arrow from her sheath, Verity knew what she had to do as she loaded it and aimed at point blank range. She couldn’t miss from here even though her hands were shaking and she was blinded by tears and searing sweat. Verity let the arrow loose and watched it penetrate the paralyzed, non-responsive Sabrina who simply lay there, another life lost in the arena to the cannons that counted us down, one by one.

[watchoutformutts]

Cinch vs. Sabrina

With a ringing still in her ears, Sabrina felt sickened by what she had seen in the Bloodbath. She had escaped with her life but there was still danger absolutely everywhere that she went it left her nervous, and agitated. She was lucky to find herself in the Erudite compound, one that she knew and before she could decide on her next move to make she felt herself tense up. Cason wields his sword in a fighting stance. The metal is heavier than the knives he’s used to, but he can adjust. Finch watches him curiously, her head turned slightly with a puzzled look. He stabs it through the air repeatedly, apparently learning how to use it. He’s still trapped in the emotionless void from the bloodbath. Finch isn’t sure if it’s a good place for him to be. Or if he can control it. But then again, he’s still functioning and responsive. Things could become worse, in a way.

“We need to keep moving.” Finch says. They only stopped momentarily so she could take a breather. The threat of the arena still persists despite making it out of the bloodbath. Cason nods his head, sliding his dagger into his boot, but keeping the sword in his hands.

They walk together in silence, heading north in the direction towards the navy pier. Both their senses are on high alert, ready for any threat. Behind her, Sabrina could hear noises, the sound of two people speaking made her heart pound at an alarming rate. She instantly recognised the two voices, one was Finch and the other, Cason. Both belonged to her Faction Erudite. The idea of asking them for an alliance almost made her laugh, any intelligent person would know that large alliances draw trouble and with three Erudite’s against the likes of the five Dauntless who had already shed blood it was pointless. They all had to die at some point, apart from one. ‘Its time to stop pretending that it won’t happen.’

Finch stops abruptly, her heart clenching for a moment. A figure moves, most likely hiding just a few past the building. She turns to Cason, who slides a finger across his throat, his eyebrows raised. She nods slowly, the adrenaline coursing through her body heightening.

“What’s the plan?” she whispers, keeping her eye on the person that looks to be Sabrina. The gears in Cason’s mind spin, thinking of every possible outcome.

“Disarm and hold her down…” He says. “Do anything to keep her still. Whoever takes the opportunity to kill – kills?”

Finch nods and the two of them race towards Sabrina, who has already realized she’s being hunted. She secures her pack on her shoulder and takes off, her dagger in hand.

Sabrina looked around at her surroundings assessing everything and decided that there weren’t many places to run. So she runs out of view and presses herself against the wall of a building, but unfortunately for her, she had been seen. She hadn’t anticipated them to be so out in the open, so when she stepped out they spotted her, and she just knew that they were coming in her direction. Her breathing became deeper and she could feel adrenaline starting to pump through her veins. ‘This is what real fear feels like.’ She thought to herself as she quickly yanked her backpack off and furiously searched through the pack for anything else that could help her. A dagger wasn’t going to be enough and she knew it. She picked things out of her pack, throwing the useless bacon and muffins on the floor before getting her hands on a wrench. She felt a sickening glee as her hands wrapped around the metal. This would help, but it wasn’t enough. She pulled out what looked like a flare gun and nodded her head. ‘This will do great.’ She thought to herself as she secured it in her trouser elastic. At close range the flare gun will do substantial damage, but it was going to be a last resort.

There was no point or effort in running away, so all she had to do was wait, injure one of them and hope the other stays to tend to their fallen ally giving her time to run away. There wasn’t much of a chance that this would happen but she was willing to try. She didn’t want anyone to die today by her hand. Not only were the voices getting closer, but so were the footsteps and they were so loud in her ears. Everything had gone into hypersensitivity. ‘Deep breath Sabrina, you don’t want to die of asphyxiation.’ she whispered to herself as their shadows approached.

Cason gains on Sabrina easily, turning the corner where he knows she’s disappeared behind. She counted to three and as soon as she saw Cason’s face poke round the side of the wall, she lifted the wrench with every inch of strength she possessed and swung it at his face. The wrench collided with the side of his face sending him on the floor. Sabrina took a step back shocked at what she had done and the Abnegation side of her wanted to see if he was okay, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She turned her back and took off towards the marshlands. It would be difficult to navigate themselves around the marshland and track her down with an injured member of the alliance. It was only logical.

"Grab her!" Sabrina turned around to see that Cason was sitting up, trying to stand with Finch hot on her tail. They were going to kill her. Finch had caught up with Sabrina by the time she had reached the end of the marshland, Finch grabbed onto the straps of Sabrina’s and yanked them as hard as she could pulling her to the ground, sending herself toppling down with her. Sabrina hit her head against the spongy grass of the marshland and groaned in pain. She did not sign up for this, she was not going to die like this. She saw Finch raise her dagger and attempt to stab her in the face but Sabrina pushed her hands out and clawed at her eyes and cheek in a desperate attempt to throw her off. Finch, getting real tired of Sabrina’s shit, pulled out her Taser to shock her when Sabrina’s eyes widened. If she sent those volts of electricity through her body, she was as good as dead. With Sabrina’s dagger too far away to grab, she lifted her knee up and managed to throw Finch off of her the second Finch pressed on her Taser. Finch’s body landed into the muddy water of the marshland. It is common knowledge to all Erudite that water is a great conductor of electricity and as her body hits the water the same time the electricity does, ten thousands of volts of electricity run through her body and a small wisp of smoke comes from her floating, dead body as the cannon signals.

Sabrina took a step back, taking in what she had just done and stifled a sob. She was a murderer, with dirty hands. And just when things couldn’t get worse, she heard the angry cries of Cason behind her. She turned around with a horrified look on her face at the blood still coming out of his head. With a sword in his hand, he charged at her slightly off his feet and knocked her into the marshland water. Almost swallowing the water, she managed to keep her head above water for a couple of seconds before Cason jumped in with her and tried to dunk her head and drown her in the water. By now, Sabrina was panicking. It wouldn’t be long until she gave up completely and let the water enter her lungs, but she refused to do that. She clutched onto her dagger tighter and swung wildly at him and as she connected with skin she felt him loosen his grip on her, and that was her time for escape. She pulled herself out of the water and went to run away when she heard him come after her again. He was now bleeding heavily out of his side and she was out of weapons. With nothing else left to do, but the sudden urge to survive, she pulled the flare gun out of her trouser elastic and shot the flare at him. A sudden bright light illuminated the space between them and Cason was thrown back into the marshland water to where his Finch was lying dead too. Seconds later a cannon fired to signal his death. It took Sabrina a couple of minutes to come to terms with what she had actually done. She had taken two lives, and there was no amount of medicine, or selflessness or acts of kindness that could bring them back. All she could do now was move on. She collected her things again, and the items of Cason and Finch before setting off deeper into the Erudite compound.