Forum Thread

Derek woke with a start, his body lurching upright and his arms raising to grab the edge of the bed and the wall, his fingers digging in to the material. His teeth were gritted, His eyes wild and mad. "Shiloh? Shiloh, where is she?" He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, glancing across the others. His eyes finally landed on Shiloh, and he relaxed a bit. She seemed unharmed. He looked around, then seemed to notice where they were. His fists clenched and his eyes once again filled with untouchable rage.

---

Much to the group's shock, Azrael was there with them, though she was notably shackled to the bed by her ankle. However, Azrael didn't seem like she was keen on leaving anytime soon, in her arms were a pair of twin girl toddlers with snow-white hair and blue eyes, the same as Azrael herself. Azrael's hair was pulled in a loose bun. The kids were trying to stay in their mother's arms.

It seemed that Azrael, too, was like them, just another piece in the Capital's games to toy with as they saw fit.

---

The Capitol
Shiloh was shaking slightly in her sleep. In her dream, she was underwater, desperately trying to swim upwards to the surface. Someone was there, desperately reaching for her hand. It was Milo, she just managed to grab his hand when something grabs her foot and drags her under. She glances down and cries out in shock. It was herself, but a few years younger. Her eyes were cold and uncaring, droplets of blood stuck in her brow like sweat. No matter how hard Shiloh tried to kick her off, she still remained attached. But then someone grabbed her from above and pulled her to the surface. She opens her eyes, desperately trying to meet her savior, but she is met with harsh lights. She desperately gasps for air, almost as if she really were underwater fighting for her life. She relaxes when she is able to catch her breath. She glances around with a blurry gaze. Where was she?

District 13
Lilith slowly opens her eyes. Bandages block her view of the world on one side of her face. She is met with extreme pain, she cries out and carefully places a had on her face. A nurse walks into her room and gives her a pitied look.
"Do you want something? Medicine? Water?" The nurse asks kindly.
"Let me see" Lilith growls. The nurse gives Lilith a confused look. "My face! Give me a mirror!" Lilith shouts out in fury. The nurse winces and races to a drawer. She grabs a handheld mirror and passes it to Lilith.
"Let me help... The wound is still fresh" the nurse offers, Lilith snarls at her hand, so the nurse backs away. Lilith winces in pain as she removes the bandages herself. When she is done she holds the mirror up to her face and gasps. She nearly drops the mirror. A giant bloody scar covers half her face, leaving the eye swollen and red looking. She looked like a monster... At least on half of her face. Lilith bares her teeth at her reflection. It was all Shiloh's fault! She could've helped her! Her thoughts were illogical, driven by pure anger

Melody looked at Shiloh, "ah, you're awake."

Eve heard Lilith's shouts and looked at her. "Lilith! You're here too!" The child set the stuffed animal aside and walked to Lilith, or tried to. Because of her injuries in the arena, she needed to relearn walking, so the child ended up doing a faceplant rather than walk.

---

Blinking the sleep away from his eyes, the first thing that Kanata registered was that it was dry. Painfully so as he gasped, hands coming up to his throat as his eyes darted around for any source of water. It felt like his insides where shriving up, twisting into uncomfortable knots as he thrashed for a few seconds before relaxing attempting to calm himself down. Taking deep breaths, he finally calmed his racing heart and sat up gulping in the dry air. Pressing a hand over his heart, he looked around to try and see what what happening to him.

---

"Where are we?" Shiloh asks Melody. She sits up and looks around. She groans when she looks around. "Of course... The Capitol. What do they want with us?" She asks. She gasps when she realizes that one person in her alliance was missing. Finn! Suddenly she is hit by a memory.
Finn looked visibly weak as he fought to hold a piece of the arena up and carry her to safety at the same time. She has never seen this level of weakness before. Was Finn okay? She covers her mouth to muffle a sob. What if he was dead? She didn't want it to be true. But she has seen that face expression before, felt a weakness similar to it. It's difficult to survive that

Lilith shuts her eyes and sighs. She'll deal with Shiloh later, she had another worry right now. She leaps off the bed, ignoring the nurses warnings of her being too weak. Lilith wasn't weak! She'll show them! Somehow, by some medical miracle, Lilith holds herself up well she carefully puts Eve back on the bed and quickly examines her for wounds. "Are you okay!?" She asks.

Melody looked at Shiloh, but didn't say anything right away. "You know where we are."

Eve nodded. "Yeah, I'm a bit scared though, where are we?"

---

Derek scoffed. "What do they want with us? What do they WANT WITH US?" His anger dripped off of his words, and he started pacing, his eyes magnifying any possible escape routes. "They want to toy with us until we can't hold ourselves up anymore. They want to warp our minds and turn us against our friends and families, even each other for a final bloodbath." He kept spitting out words like poison, his fingers shaking. Clenching his fists, he lifted a foot and stomped on the bed he'd been laying on. It crumpled at the point of contact, all of the supports that held it up suddenly breaking, sending the now ruined mess of metal to the floor with a rather loud crash, of course following the crack of metal breaking.

"That is quite the 'imagination' you have." Kanata rasped out, doing his best to smile even if it turned out a little bit pained. Even breathing was a chore, the drag of dry air cutting into his body, sucking out any moisture in his body. He was seated with his back against the wall, slightly slumped as the energy required of him to properly do anything wasn't present any more. His eyes, however, were as observant as ever, taking stock of everyone present, examining them like a predator would their prey

---

Azrael looked up from her kids to Kanata. "He's right though. That's what they did to my husband, though they put bullets in his head when they couldn't break him. I have no doubt they would've done the same to me if I hadn't agreed to what they wanted so I could protect my children."

The smaller white-haired girl walked over to Kanata. "You're that guy who can manipulate water." She murmured with a thumb in her mouth.

---

His smile turned bitter at that, a noncommittal shrug given in response to the statement. It wasn't like he could hurt anyone, he didn't have anyone he could classify as friends -- though he did have to wonder what Natsume was to him if not a friend. A member of family perhaps? -- and if fighting people was what was wished of him, then he wouldn't go against those wishes. It was simply God's duty to listen to the people.

Lifting a hand to give a small wave to the young child, Kanata nodded, slightly unsure of what to do when faced with a curious child. "Yes, I am." he affirmed, tipping his head. "Do you have a 'wish' you would like me to 'grant'?"

---

The girl gaped up at him, being in the presence of a god-even a young one-seemed to awe strike the child. "Um. . . I want my daddy, and I want to go home."

Azrael smiled ruefully at her child's wish, no one could bring her husband, their father, back from the grave, not to mention that they probably weren't going home until the Captial was through with them. But even then it didn't seem likely that they were going to get out of this.

---

Derek watched the child for a few moments, then looked to the other one, and then lastly to Azrael. His eyes fixed on the shackle that held her, and he started walking forwards, only to find he had a shackle himself. Sighing, he quickly spun at the waist and broke the chain with a heated hand, the think snapping uselessly backwards as Derek regained his posture. Walking up to Azrael and the second child, he gave a small smile. "Do you want me to remove that shackle that binds you so?" His voice was quiet, possibly due to that fact that he was attempting to hide his rage from the younger life in front of him.

---

Such a pure and innocent wish, when was the last time something like that had been asked of him? Melody came to mind and he smiled sadly, ruffling the child's hair with tired movements. "One 'day'." He murmured, brushing away stray hairs. "One day, I will 'grant' your wish. I promise." With his need to submerge himself in water and a person's wish backing him up, Kanata was more than motivated enough to try and break out.

---

Azrael looked up at Derek. "You can do that?" It sounded so stupid to ask such a thing, but given that the Capital had been using her like a toy and constantly jerking hope from her at her most vulnerable, it didn't seem as stupid now.

Melody smiled from her bed to the children. "It'll be alright young ones, a mother's love is far more fierce then what the Capital could do."

---

Derek gestured to the chain that had been attached to him, splayed out like a dead snake still attached to his crumpled bed. "I'll only do it if you ask me to. I don't want to seem like I'm attacking you in any way." He stepped to her side and kneeled down, one of his hands already gaining some heat. His looked to her for confirmation, the blade on the bottom of his hand starting to absorb the heat from his palm.

---

After a moment's pause, she nodded in confirmation, giving Derek permission to do so.

The kids looked from Kanata to Melody. "You're the girl with that beautiful voice!" One of them chirped. "Can you sing?"

Melody chuckled, "you want me to sing?" They nodded in confirmation and Melody smiled a little. "Alright."

I won't just survive.
Oh, you will see me thrive.
Can't write my story, I'm beyond the archetype.
I won't just conform.
No matter how you shake my core,
'Cause my roots they run deep, oh.

Oh, ye of so little faith.
Don't doubt it, don't doubt it.
Victory is in my veins.
I know it, I know it, and I will not negotiate.
I'll fight it, I'll fight it, I will transform.

When, when the fire's at my feet again,
And the vultures all start circling.
They're whispering, "You're out of time."
But still I rise!

This is no mistake, no accident.
When you think the final nail is in.
Think again, don't be surprised.
I will still rise!

I must stay conscious, through the madness and chaos.
So I call on my angels, they say.

Oh, ye of so little faith.
Don't doubt it, don't doubt it.
Victory is in your veins.
You know it, you know it, and you will not negotiate.
Just fight it, just fight it, and be transformed.

'Cause when, when the fire's at my feet again,
And the vultures all start circling.
They're whispering, "You're out of time."
But still I rise!

This is no mistake, no accident.
When you think the final nail is in.
Think again, don't be surprised.
I will still rise!

Don't doubt it, don't doubt it. (Oh, oh, oh, oh.)
You know it, you know it. Still rise!
Just fight it, just fight it.
Don't be surprised, I will still rise!

---

Derek's hand moved swiftly, a split second after she nodded. Amid the beautiful singing, there was a quiet crack of the chain, it's weakest link breaking as Derek's hand tore away the strength in one mighty blow. Picking up the two pieces of the link, he stood up and stepped backwards, holding the halves up for Azrael to see. The edges that had been broken were perfectly flat, and bright orange with heat, but they quickly cooled down. Holding them out to her, he said to Azrael, "As a token of our first true revolt against these tyrannous fools."

---

Kanata's body swayed to the music, hands twitching with the instinct to get up and dance, adding his own voice to the melody. Yet a wheezing cough prevented him from doing it as he turned away from the group, coughing into this fist. Speckles of red dotted his pale skin as he quickly wiped it onto the ground, turning back to see that Derek had unlocked the chains on Azrael's feet. A sad smile spread across his face at the sight as he leaned back to let Melody's song wash over him closing his eyes.

---

Suddenly the doors swung open and in came sytlists, all forgien to the tributes in the Capial. They slipped to their tributes with hurried intentions but yet still held ease and grace. They were putting make up on like there was no tomrrow, clearly trying to make them look better, a few of them gave the tributes bites to eat as though trying to help them. Kanata's stylist noted his lack of hydration and ordered water for him to consume, it was there in less than five minutes.

"what's going on?" Roxy asked as her stylist, a tall stick thin man, was hurrying to apply Roxy's make up to make it appear that she seemed perfectly healthy.

"Showtime in twenty minutes." He responded adding a light blush to the female tribute's cheeks. "You're outfits will be here in less then five mintues"

One of them gently ushered Azrael's kids to the side to work on them while the other worked on Azrael herself.

---