Sweetest Downfall

Weapons, I thought quickly as I scanned the wide space within the Cornucopia for weapons to use. There were only a limited amount left, and none of which I was truly familiar with. There were maces, throwing knives, daggers, battle axes, and even chakrams. I was terrible at aiming, so that left out the knives and chakrams. I also did not function well short handed weapons such as the daggers and axes. All in all, these weapons serve no purpose to me.

Suddenly, my eyes catch the sight of a trident. Not just any trident- Micah's trident. The sunlight that shone through the Cornucopia caught the weapon just right and it's golden body glimmered. I eyed it cautiously for several moments, as if touching it would upset some sort of imaginary balance I felt there was here. This trident could only mean one thing. Micah was near, and I couldn't be sure how close.

I gripped the base of the trident, putting both hands on its length. Once it wass in position -pointed right in front of me, ready to slide through whatever attacker that were to approach- I turned around and walked slowly toward the opening of the Cornucopia. I was fully prepared to exit the contraption and head back to Shay, but something in the air felt off. Wrong, even. I turned around just in time to see a boy step out from a weapon's rack. I must have just walked past him and never knew. His brown eyes are cold.

Micah grinned at me. The Games had obviously not been kind to my former ally. His clothes were torn and burned in certain places. Cuts and bruises lined his arms and legs and his hair was a covered in dirt. In fact, any visible skin was covered by a layer of dirt, save for the thin cut that wrapped around his neck. At his side was my sword. I'd lost it days ago during the trackerjacker and piranha attacks, but somehow he'd found it.

"Someone tried to slit your throat," I said snakily. Micah merely shrugged.

"Got a lot closer than I would have liked, but in the end I wasn't the one lying on the ground choking on their own tongue, was I?"

"Such a shame about that, too," I breathed.

Suddenly a battle cry rang out against the Coruncopia. It was loud, shrill, and definitely female. I could barely here the sound of foot steps upon the grass as the tribute made their hasty way to the golden horn. Or rather, the tribute outside of it. All of a sudden, a large, overwhelming feeling of protectiveness overthrew me. I had to protect her.

"Shay."

"Not to worry, she'll be dead soon. Elsie will take care of her," he said before rushing toward me. In the time that I had been thinking of Shay, he'd drawn his -my- sword and now was coming toward me, ready to make a large slash. I turned as quickly as I could, just narrowly dodging the assault. I side stepped again, twisting myself to face him. Thanks to my luck, he'd overshot his attack and had stumbled forward. I ran over and jabbed the hilt of the trident into his side. He faltered, grunted, but did not fall over.

He growled and slashed out at me again, his blade striking the space on the trident's shaft between my hands. I pushed hard against the sword, against Micah really, and try to force him back but to no avail. I recalled something from my training days back in District One, something -the only thing- my father had taught me about fighting.

To my surprise, my father had sat in the gym that day, watching my training from afar. He watched as I punched, kicked, and sliced dummy after dummy. I had 'killed' nearly forty of them in under five minutes which is quite a feat, but he as he approached me, his head had been shaking in disappointment. He sternly took my shoulders and slammed my feet onto the ground.

"Keep your feet on the ground," he had said. I had been on my tip toes during the sword fighting, trying to get the blade in higher places to cut. "Your feet are the most important thing you could have in a battle. They help you run, you can use them to kick, but most importantly, they keep you on balance. Without your feet firmly on the ground, someone can easily knock you over."

From there you're dead, I finished in my head and I forced my feet into the grass and pushed against Micah again. For a few moments, we didn't move, but we pushed with all our might. Our eyes met in one long cold, dangerous glare. He had survival in his eyes and I knew my chances of winning were low but I had too. Not for father, not for myself, but for Shay.

Suddenly Micah pulled the knife aways and I fell forward as he jabbed out with the blade. It hit right in the stomach but I pulled away quickly. It'd broke skin and hit my meat, but other than the nasty gooping blood and intense pain, I was fine. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and it didn't help that my skin was barely healed from the piranha attack. I gritted my teeth. I was in pain, but I wasn't dying. I was still able to fight, wasn't I?

I roared, though I could't tell what from. Determination? Pain? Bloodlust? Nothing else mattered though, except staying alive. I tightened my fingers on the trident and slammed it toward Micah. He moved out of the way just in the nick of time and the trident lodged itself into the Cornucopia. I wiggled and tried to pull it free. I felt it loosen but Micah was coming after me again and I was forced to abandon the weapon. I tried to side step around the psycho but he moved the blade in a widespread arc and it cut me in the hip. With an estranged scream, I fell to the ground.

Have to win, I told myself. Outside I could hear the evident signs of battle and it gave me deep satisfaction to know that Shay was still holding her own. Not that I doubted her, anyway. I somehow managed to get to my knees and crawled around, looking for anything to use. The weapons that had been oh so useless minutes ago were now the only chance I had at winning. I grabbed the first thing I could- a mace. However, when I turned onto my back and threw it at Micah, he simply dodged it and came closer. Panicking, I picked up the next thing I could find.

And lucky me, it was a dagger. I gripped it in my hand and leapt forward the best I could and drove that sucker into my opponents leg. I twists it hard and kept slamming it deeper and deeper, hoping to cut the bone. Something snapped me back into reality for a moment and I let go of the dagger. I needed the trident if I was going to win. I painstakingly roase to my feet and bounded across the distance to the trident lodged in the wall. I grabbed and wiggled hard. Micah was still screaming but I was making little progress. I gave it three solid tugs and it became looser and looser each time, and final with a fourth tug, it came free.

I whipped around to meet Micah with his Satan's Grin on his face. He held his sword with one hand and he was ready to make the kill. I was done prolonging my life. I had to kill him now or die trying. As I ran toward him, a canon shot off and I could only hope that it was Shay who was still standing. I raised the trident as I ran and Micah and I collided, the prongs of the trident slamming straight through his chest.

Another canon shot. I looked down at my own body. Micah's sword had been pierced through my abdomen, but during the heat of the moment, I hadn't felt it at all. Now I could. It hurt like hell and I felt dizzy and faint. I felt like I could die at any second. In fact, I might have already been dead but I was keeping myself alive for one reason. I had to make sure Shay was alive.

I moved away from the District Two tribute and he fell to the ground with a loud thump. I fell to my knees and a shock rattled through my already dying nerves. I staggered toward the opening, felt the sunlight on my skin, and peered out into the clearing. There, startling the body of a dead female tribute was Shay. The girl I tried so hard to protect.

Shay had won. Shay was the victor.

I fell down, flat on my back but I didn't care any more. With a smile on my face, I died, with only one final thought; Shay, you were my sweetest downfall.