Chapter Text
Bloodbath: Voltaea
As soon as she realizes it’s her that’s screaming, Voltaea shuts her eyes - Stop it! Calm. She takes a deep breath and holds it to stop the noise - Collected. Once she has her face straightened out, she opens her eyes again - Oh, yeah. What do I do with this? Afraid that if she tosses it on the ground she might trigger another mine, Voltaea shoves the ear in her pocket just to get it out of her hands - I’ll figure it out later. “Twenty seconds” She locks her eyes on the duffel bag and screwdriver set at the mouth of the Cornucopia - Controlled. I can do this. Get in, get the bag, get out. Her heart still thunders against her ribcage no matter how controlled she tells herself she is - the deafening ring in her left ear still blares no matter how hard she wills it not to. And don’t die, I guess.
“Ten seconds” The announcer’s words are distant and garbled, hard to hear over the ringing. Shit, time to run - She positions herself to take off as soon as she gets the signal. Her eyes wander over the path she wants to take - a pit forming in her chest when she spots one of the coughing girl’s severed arms lying in the dirt. Stop thinking about it, I’m still in one piece, that’s all that matters! - Still craving reassurance, she reaches up to touch her ears - See? The mine didn’t hurt me. If it did, I’d be missing at least one of these. Nothing to worry about.
When she turns away, she notices the tributes from Two on either side of Marcelus - Three threats in one spot will at least be easier to keep track of. Sarah catches her eye as she takes a last look over the circle and they exchange a nod - She’s fast, she’s strong, she’s bold - I picked a good ally. I hope it’s enough. Suddenly the thing she’d been doing so well at keeping out of her mind smashes its way to the forefront - Alara told everyone about us. Everyone who’s watching me right now knows. She hates me. She must! Why else would she do that to me?! Was this all some fucked up plan to torture me?! No, it can’t have been… I can’t believe that… it felt so real… fuck! I hate this! I want to go home! I want her to look me in the eye and tell me why! I want to HIT HER! I want her to hold me again, and lay in our bed all night, and to tell me she’s proud of me, and - Oh no! We’re moving?!
Tributes flood off the platforms around her, scattering - some to the center, some to the exits. She spots Coulomb and Bashir making for the one Sarah had pointed out earlier as she breaks into a run towards the Cornucopia. Faster, I have to go faster, I hesitated, fuck! WHY DID I BREAK THE RULES!? She gave me the rules to help me and I FUCKED THEM UP! - Her eyes don’t leave the duffel until she reaches it - she can barely hear what’s going on around her. Shouting, definitely, but nothing distinctive - and that ringing, it's worse than the static! She drops next to the bag and snatches the screwdrivers - It’s no different than packing for an overnight job, I just have to do it FASTER!
Zip! - Strap across the chest, bag over the shoulder. Voltaea leaps to her feet, spinning wildly - Now where’s Sarah? She spots her comrade struggling to fit into the straps of her own backpack, with the larger axe still lying against the wall. Before Voltaea can make her way over, a spear whizzes past her face, missing by inches - SHIT!
She turns just in time to see Mako ready another throw - NO! The spear flies - she leaps, back and to the side, enough to dodge - Or, that’s the idea anyways . THUD! - Voltaea gasps and coughs as her back slams into the dirt floor. “NO! FUCK YOU!” She can feel herself talking - but the static is back in force now and on top of the ringing she can’t hear anything else. Stars dance at the corner of her eyes - Mako pulls another spear and charges .
It’s like time starts to crawl around her - she scrambles back in slow motion - Hopeless. He’s gaining. Stand up! Her balance is thrown off from the duffel - she’s strapped it on too well to remove it before he reaches her - Is this it? Am I going to die like this?! Mako is just a few feet away now - Does it even matter? It’s not like anyone will really care if I die, will they? Maybe Ohma, for a while. I thought Alara, but -
‘Voltaea! There’s no time for your self-loathing attitude! Right now you have to MOVE!’ - She rolls to the side as the spear connects with the ground her head was just lying on. ‘Good girl, now get up!’ - Her whole body shakes with adrenaline - she tries to push herself to her feet, loses balance - ‘Come on darling, get up!’ Mako pulls the spear from the ground - ‘Are you going to lie in the dirt or are you going to get up and destroy this boy?’ Before Voltaea can answer the too-familiar song-like voice in her head, a blur of ginger hair appears behind her attacker and a feral-sounding cry joins the cacophony of noise - CRACK! ‘And here I thought she was useless! Perhaps I shouldn’t have doubted your choice of allies, darling.’
Mako’s mouth goes slack - he coughs a spray of red and drops limply to the ground. It’s then that Voltaea notices the axe sticking out of the back of his head and Sarah standing behind him, wide-eyed and panting - “Sparky! Get up!”. Her ally shakes off the shock and runs forward, reaching out an arm to help her off the ground. “You got all your stuff?” Voltaea can’t find the words to speak, so she just nods. “Then let’s move it!”
‘You’re not going to leave a perfectly good weapon behind, are you?’ - She stops just as Sarah grabs for a larger weapon, wrenches the axe from Mako’s skull - “Gross, we have more you know!” Voltaea ignores her protest, ignores the chaos around her - they make for the exit their allies left through, a clear path ahead straight out the door. One last glance over her shoulder - is that Marcelus on the ground?! - tells her they haven’t been followed - We can’t be that lucky, can we? Who’s still a threat? Where did Cymbria go?
All she catches before turning back to face the exit is a scuffle between the District Two boy and three smaller tributes, and his partner Cassia, now whipping around a sledgehammer so fast it looks like a toy, finishing off Marcelus with a loud CRUNCH! Well. I guess he didn’t last long, did he? She grips the axe tighter as she picks up speed - I guess that’s it, then. The light grows dimmer as they approach the doorway, Sarah a few paces ahead, huge axe bouncing on her shoulder with every step - Why is it so dark?
They reach the exit, bursting out into the swirling blackness at a full sprint - “It’s really dark out here,” No shit. “-be careful!” Sarah calls out - still muffled, is my hearing broken? Voltaea can’t see much of anything either, she notes, and slows to a jog behind her ally as they try to make out where they are. The first thing she notices is the thick wall of humidity just outside - worse than it had been on the landing platform by a wide mile. Besides the light behind them, and a faint bluish glow from the sky - I think that’s the sky, anyway. It looks like when the moon is behind the clouds, but duller - There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of light at all. Tall shadows loom all around them, more in the distance - buildings? Maybe? Definitely not natural. I was right about why we had such weird materials to work with in training.
Sarah stops dead in front of her - Voltaea walks straight into her - “ Shit ”. Her voice echoes back at her, even with as quiet as she’d whispered - Strange acoustics. Then another sound - like breathing - she picks it up in the ear with less ringing. Off to my right - A quick tap on her ally’s shoulder rips her attention from whatever she’s stopped to stare at. ‘Threat, to the right, follow me quietly.’ - If Coulomb isn’t dead, I really should thank him for this.
It’s hard to make out the hand signals she gets in response - with how dark it is she can hardly see Sarah in spite of her standing no more than a couple feet away - but the thumbs up is enough to convey that she got the message. Alright, now where are you? - The ringing makes it hard to hear precisely, she shuts her eyes. In-out-in-out-in- She picks up the sound again, faster now than it was before, stalks towards it as silently as she can. Heel-to-toe, that’s what Bashir said, I hope- The breathing moves faster still, louder with every step. Voltaea raises the axe, steps closer, then - CLANG! - a door she hadn’t seen swings open a yard in front of her. A slight-built figure, shorter than her, runs out at full speed - in the exact wrong direction, right towards Voltaea. An ear-shattering scream rings out as the boy goes to turn on his heels - That’s… shit! That’s the twin! Don’t hesitate!
Shoulders square, feet apart, ‘Make me proud, darling!’ - she lets the axe fly just like she had in training, ignoring Sarah’s shouting behind her. Did I do it? - Then the screaming starts again - TOO LOUD - sending a rush up the length of her spine. The boy drops, axe lodged firmly in his left shoulder-blade - I don’t think… is that lethal? That’s not quite what I was aiming for, will that do it? Before she can move in to find out - I might have to finish the job… - a huge hand grabs her wrist and drags her away into the dark - “What the fuck was that all about!?” Sarah’s too loud - too angry - voice echoes six times over.
“Shhh!” - Even that sound bounces back to her. Sarah seems to notice too, even in her rage, because her next words are actually much quieter -
“Ok, quiet, sure. But what the fuck? That kid was on the run! He looked scared, Sparky - did you really have to-”
Don’t go soft on me like this - “ Yes! Everyone in here who isn’t one of us is a threat TO us. You get that, right?” She pauses, then - “And you just killed someone too-”
Sarah struggles to keep her voice low for long- “In self defense! Or, in you defense, I guess, whatever…”
Voltaea’s teeth grind together, trying to scratch an itch she never seems to be able to reach. Her ears buzz , ring , scream at her - ‘I told you she rubbed me the wrong way darl-’ SHUT UP! . She’s not sure whether to be more concerned that the voice keeps popping up in her head or that she’s actually responding to it now, so she pushes both worries back into the depths - “Look, do you want to fight with each other about technicalities or do you want to see if the boys are still alive out there?”
“I…” Sarah thinks better of whatever she was about to say and sighs heavily. “Okay, you’re right. Boys first, fight later.” Fight never, maybe?! This is the fucking Hunger Games, I dont get why you’re being such a p- no. Breathe. Calm down. She’s my friend, she just isn’t as ready for this as I am. That’s all this is. I’m doing what I need to do. “Gonna be honest - I can already see a big problem with that plan.”
“Hm?” Voltaea had been too busy digging her nails into her palm in frustration and mentally arguing with her friend to notice anything else wrong - “What do you mean?”
Sarah gestures wildly around her - “I don’t see the sun anywhere, do you?” Oh no - the signal! “Coulomb’s a smart kid, but I don’t know how he’s gonna pull off his flashy light signals with no light to reflect.” Fuckfuckfuckfuck, how are we going to find them when we cant fucking see anything?! She seems to sense Voltaea’s impending panic and claps her firmly on the shoulder - “Okay, Breathe. There you go, again.” Voltaea lets her chest rise and fall in rhythm with the sound of her ally’s voice until she’s calm enough to unclench her fists. “Better? Good. Cause you gotta focus right now.” She nods - Trying. “You’re the brains here- what do we do?”
Okay, think. They’ve been walking for a few minutes now by her measure, but - “The only light I saw was back at the Cornucopia” Voltaea looks back to see how far they've come from there, but all she can tell is that the faint yellow glow is now mostly cut off by shadow - If there weren’t so many buildings around, maybe I could actually see… “We need to get up higher, I want to see if there’s any other lights around. Can you make out what any of these buildings are?”
“Um, you mean the shipping containers? The last building we passed was the warehouse that kid ran out of-” Wait-
“Sarah, can you actually see right now!?”
“Kind of. Like, the stuff close by anyway. I don’t know what all that shit over there is-” Sarah points to what looks like tall, shadowy squares imposed against the dim sky - “You really can’t see where we are? Oh man, do you think everyone else is blind too or-” I hope so, or I’m at a huge disadvantage.
“Maybe. It’s all just shadows and blobs to me - but my eyes haven’t adjusted yet. It should get better with time.” Part of her cringes at admitting her weakness - Stop, it’s fine. I’ll adjust once we’re away from the light a little longer.
Voltaea isn’t sure how long the two of them spend wandering the seemingly endless labyrinth of containers - It’s at least been long enough that I can tell they’re containers now - “Do you see anything that might be safe to climb up on? If we can get above the containers, maybe we can see… I don’t know. Something, anyway.”
“Yeah, hang on, I think I see a set of stairs or something -” Sarah takes off at a jog, Voltaea following - “Yeah, there!” She questions for a moment if they’re just running at nothing until the stairs are close enough to see - Okay, her night vision is more impressive than I thought. Or mine is just awful. I hope it’s the first one. They keep pace up the metal steps - clang-clang-clang - everything is so loud here, I hate it! Upon reaching the last step, they’re greeted by a platform and another flight of stairs - damnit! - clang-clang-clang . She slips on the slick metal, catching herself on the railing - “You good?”
“Yeah, so-” ‘Ahem, rules!’ “-all set.” As they reach the top, she finally gets a real look at the arena - Or the outlines of it, I guess. The first thing she notices are the lights. Sparse and scattered, mostly dim, but present nonetheless - I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than just being in the dark . Most are fairly low to the ground, peeking out of the bottom windows of what she now can confirm are buildings surrounding them in the distance - And from what I can see those buildings don’t look like they’re in good shape . There are just a few light sources she can see higher up, and only two that stand out - a bright-white spotlight back in the direction of the Cornucopia, and a dim-red blinking light in the opposite direction no more than half a mile away by her estimate- Huh. That’s obstruction lighting! For a brief, blissful moment, she imagines herself back in District Five - clinging to the side of the rickety old radio tower to fix the light that warns the Capitol’s passing aircraft away from it. Whatever that’s on top of, it’s the tallest thing in here. I wonder if the boys have-
Voltaea doesn’t have to finish wondering - Of course I don’t. I kept him around for his brains. - Because she realizes the light isn’t blinking in a normal rhythm at all . Too fast, too irregular, someone’s interfering! “Sarah, look! Someone keeps messing with that light - the red one, over there!”
Sarah squints in the direction she’s pointing, “I mean, are you sure? I think it’s just blink- oh shit, you might be right! I think something just moved in front of it, I saw the shadow while it was still on-”
“It’s them, it has to be!”
Sarah seems more skeptical - “I mean… it could be anyone-”
Voltaea cuts her off - No, They have to be okay. They have to have figured out a way to tell us where they are. This has to be it - “None of the rest can climb as fast as Coulomb or Bashir can. I mean, I can, but I’m here, and that has to be at least a hundred feet up - who else is going to be able to do that?” - because if it isn’t, we’ll never find them.
There’s silence between them, apart from the occasional echoing shouts that ricochet through the container labyrinth and the ever-present loudness in her ears - then - “Okay. I don’t know if you’re right, but I don’t have any better ideas right now so…” Sarah lets out a heavy, tired sigh - “I guess we follow the light and hope for the best?”
“If I’m wrong, you can hit me with that axe.” Voltaea says it like a joke, and her ally laughs on cue - but a tiny, dark part of her is so repulsed by the idea of being wrong about this… - If I’m wrong, they’re probably going to get killed waiting for us. Someone else will find them. And I can’t be responsible for that.
‘Darling, we’ve been over this. If you’re going to make it out alive, you’re going to have to let go of your little friends at some point…’ The voice coils around her eardrum from the inside, silky-sweet and song-like. Voltaea knows she’s imagining it. I have to be imagining it, you’re not here. I’m not stupid. She knows it keeps telling her all the things she needs to hear at all the exact right times she needs to hear them - And that doesn’t make sense, right? This is just my brain trying to find some way to make sense of this, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s the drugs. Drugs could do that, right? Or maybe I’m going crazy, and this is just-
‘Crazy is such a subjective word, my sweet. Why waste all this time trying to define things when the clock is ticking on those poor boys, hm? Wouldn’t you rather just enjoy my company?’ The voice cuts in again as she descends the stairs, Voltaea tries to ignore it - ‘Don’t tell me you’re determined to be miserable this whole time?’ It’s harder to ignore the next time, as though it’s worming its way deeper into her brain every time she hears it - ‘Voltaea, please?’ The voice is begging now - something about the tone warms her from the core outward, ‘Don’t keep me waiting, you know I hate waiting. Please?’
Alara’s words don’t echo like the shouting of the other tributes, they don’t sting like the ringing in her ear, they don’t tell her the wrong things or come out too loudly, and the pitch doesn’t make the back of her teeth itch like there’s bugs crawling in them - You don’t do any of that because you’re perfect. And you’re perfect because you’re mine. As Voltaea reaches the bottom of the stairs, plodding after Sarah towards the red light in the distance - So I guess maybe you’re just a figment of my imagination . The last piece of her that wants to fight melts away under the voice’s warm embrace - But I don’t want you to leave.
‘Darling, I know you don’t want that. That’s why I keep telling you - I’ll never, EVER allow you to feel alone again.’