06:  The Alliance

If anything, Victoria was surprised to see her limbs still intact and her heart still beating after finally regaining consciousness. She remembered passing out after running into a wall amidst all the commotion of the initial bloodbath and the rather surprising formation of the arena. It was a little lame, actually, her reason for passing out, but she didn’t care at the moment. The only thing that was on her mind was the question, “why am I still alive”.

Carefully pushing off the branches and dirt that had piled up on her (probably from the rising walls), she cautiously sat up, her eyes darting back and forth around her surroundings. For all she knew, it could all be a trap and some psychopathic tribute might be waiting for her to finally feel relaxed before going in for the kill. As soon she pushed off the last remaining branches over her body that had served as camouflage, her eyes widened. Her right arm was wrapped in a bandage, with a thick small branch acting as a splint.

“What—

Off to her left, she heard the loud rustling of leaves. Victoria suddenly felt lightheaded from all the emotions that washed through her—fear, panic, confusion, relief—everything was just getting all mushed up together, her mind not being able to process the speed of her emotions. She had no weapon at all, and there weren’t even any rocks nearby for her to use as a substitute. She tried moving her arm and cursed under her breath—only then did she feel the pain in her broken arm. It meant one thing, and it was bad—she wouldn’t be able to defend herself well.

“I wonder if this will be enough when she wakes up—oh! Hi, there, Miss Victoria!”

Victoria felt the energy drain out of her system as she watched District 9’s Lu Han saunter to her in so casual a manner, you wouldn’t think he was in the arena of a battle-to-the-death match. He had a bunch of different kinds of fruits and herbs in his arms, and he was smiling so happily. Save for a few scratches here and there, he looked fine and dandy like Victoria. He probably felt that way, too.

“Oh, God, did you do this?” Victoria pointed at the splint on her arm, and Lu Han nodded, sitting down a few feet away from Victoria.

“Yes, I did. I’m pretty proud of it, too. That’s all I did back in training. Hunting, scavenging, first aid—y’know, the helpful stuff…and also the stuff that nobody really cared to learn. So I had the monopoly of the stations.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Oh, about a day, I think. It’s almost night time, though. Five tributes are already out.” Lu Han informed her in a quipped manner, like he didn’t want to talk about it. Victoria understood, but she needed to know who were the unfortunate ones (or maybe, fortunate ones, depending on who viewed it).

“Uhm...sorry, I can see that you don’t want to talk about it, but I just need to know…who died?”

Lu Han quietly finished putting all the fruits he gathered in one pile before sitting up straight. He took a deep breath and started counting them off on his hand.

“The two tributes from 11, Miss Amber from 10, Miss Sooyoung from 7, and Miss Naeun from 5.” His voice was quiet, and Victoria remembered seeing him and Naeun training together in the first aid station.

However, what shook Victoria more was the fact that Naeun, one of their supposed allies, was dead. Even though their team was still ninety-percent intact, one member dead was still a huge blow. She pressed her temples firmly, inhaling deeply to try and prevent an incoming headache.

“Are you alright? You should eat something, Miss Victoria.”

“…Y-yeah…Yeah, I should. Thanks.”

They quietly partook in a quiet dinner of fruits and herbs. Victoria couldn’t focus on her food, her eyes always on their surroundings and her sense on full alert. One tiny sound from anywhere other than them two would send her neck craning up, checking to see if their spot had been discovered already.

As Lu Han ate the last of the fruits, Victoria was trying to stand up, already preparing herself for a journey. It wasn’t smart to stay in one spot, and Lu Han agreed. Lu Han went to her, circling an arm around her waist to help her up.

“Say, Lu Han, how did you find this spot? I mean…we’re really lucky to not have been attacked while hiding here.”

“Well…that’s because we’re kind of trapped in here.”

Victoria stared at him, her frown growing deeper by the second.

“What do you mean, trapped?”

“Here, I’ll show you. Come on.”

Victoria let Lu Han lead her into the trees, and at first, she couldn’t see what Lu Han was showing her. Lu Han gently let her go and crawled towards a little clearing at the bottom.

“See here? It’s the only way out. These trees in front of us and the gaps we’re seeing between them? They’re not real. I think it’s a part of the maze. I tried to get out of here earlier, but it’s a tight squeeze for me, and I have no plans of squeezing myself in there more than once. Plus, I just couldn’t leave you here.”

Victoria nodded in understanding, and right at that moment, they both heard a loud, deep rumbling coming from behind them. She turned around to see the farthest wall slowly cracking, and another low, deep rumbling—which she soon realized was something growling.

“….” It was the only smartest thing she could say at the moment, and Lu Han was speechless.

“Is it just me, or is something trying to get out of that wall?” Lu Han asked nervously, and Victoria started to get back to her senses.

“Something is trying to get out, and if we don’t hurry up, that something will have us for lunch. Go, go, go!”

Lu Han scrambled to get out, until he stopped and pulled on Victoria’s wrist.

“You crawl out first, then pull me out. It’s a tight squeeze for me, remember? Go on!”

Victoria nodded, figuring that further argument would only slow them down. She quickly got on her knees and saw the small hole. It was jagged on all edges and really small, but she could see that it was all artificial, that it was placed there for this purpose. She was glad for her small physique, and easily pushed her body in. Halfway through, she heard the undeniably hungry roar of a big, terrifying creature followed by the sound of the wall breaking. She pulled herself through with so much speed, she was sure her body was probably injured from the jagged edges.

“Lu Han, come on, I’m out! I’ll pull you through!”

She heard the rustling of leaves, and soon, Lu Han’s peach hair popped through the hole and into her view. He grinned up at her, and he crawled through some more before stopping.

“I-I’m stuck.”

“Okay, hold o—

Lu Han suddenly screamed, and Victoria just grabbed his hands and pulled with all her might. The adrenaline and panic made her forget her broken arm, pushing it to the limit as she stood up and pulled. Her fear for Lu Han’s life was pushing her to her limit, too. Seeing the pain twisting Lu Han’s soft features and his face draining of its color was enough to give Victoria a fear-induced strength.

“Hold on, Lu Han! Hold on, I’ll pull you out! J-just kick him! Kick your legs around!!”

Lu Han couldn’t say anything coherent anymore. He just kept on screaming anymore, and Victoria could feel something trying to pull Lu Han back. With one last strong tug, Victoria managed to pull Lu Han back. As she pulled, a huge, furry paw swiped into the hole, and Victoria screamed in surprise before the paw went back in. She could hear the creature lumbering around on the other side, growling in disappointment at his escaped dinner. Lu Han lay on her lap, pale and drained of energy. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and Victoria was afraid to look if he still had his legs. However, Lu Han smiled, weakly holding up two fingers in a sign of V (maybe for victory).

“D-Don’t worry. I’ve still got two legs. Probably not functioning as of now, but still intact.” He said weakly, his words dotted with heavy breathing.

“I-I’m sorry I wasn’t able to pull you out quickly enough.”

“It’s okay, Miss Victori—oh.”

Victoria tensed up as he saw Lu Han’s eyes trained on something behind them. He slowly turned around, ready to die when arms wrapped around her—not in a dangerous or choking way, but in a warm, and relieved way.

“Vic! Oh my, Vic, we found you!”

Victoria, once again, passed out upon seeing Baekhyun’s relieved face, with Jongin and Kyungsoo behind him. For now, they were safe.

“There aren’t any broken bones, I think, but he won’t be able to run for a while.”

Baekhyun finished wrapping Lu Han’s wounded legs. Jongin and Victoria we’re discussing something, while Kyungsoo stood watching Baekhyun.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”

Kyungsoo held up a finger to his lips, and Baekhyun grinned apologetically. He couldn’t help his loud voice, though. Getting his eardrums damaged by the muttation was thankfully, not permanent which was apparent with the obvious clearing of his hearing over time, but as of the moment, it was still a little muffled. He couldn’t hear himself well, so he couldn’t control his voice.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. What do we do now, though?” Kyungsoo’s voice was muffled, and Baekhyun had to lean closer.

“I don’t know, really. Jongin and Vic are talking about something.”

As if on cue, Jongin walked over to them, his face serious. Victoria followed behind him.

“Our main objective is to survive, right? We should probably go to the Cornucopia now. Monopolize it if we can.”

“No!”

Baekhyun’s sudden outburst was probably really loud, and Victoria gave him a funny look. Jongin and Kyungsoo shushed him, but Victoria just shrugged her shoulder.

“Sorry. I mean, no. We can’t. We shouldn’t do that. That’s suicide, Jongin.” Kyungsoo signaled him to lower his voice a little more, and Baekhyun nodded.

“Everything is suicide in here, in case you haven’t noticed.” Jongin retorted, and Baekhyun pressed his lips into a thin line, and Jongin relented.

“Then…what do you suppose we do?” Victoria asked, though there was a knowing tone in her voice.

“…I have a plan.” Baekhyun whispered, and Jongin raised an eyebrow.

“Well? What is it?”

Baekhyun looked at Victoria, and she leaned in to whisper something to Jongin and Kyungsoo. They both frowned, and Baekhyun checked their surroundings. He looked back at Victoria, and she nodded.

“Wait here. I’ll check around.” She said, and went off, literally checking every inch of their hiding place.

“What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asked, gripping his bag carefully.

“…there are eyes watching, and ears listening.” Baekhyun mouthed, and Jongin’s eyes widened in slight realization. Kyungsoo’s face remained unchanging.

Baekhyun had something to say, and he couldn’t say it while they were on live television. Victoria finally came back, and she shook her head.

“I think we’re clear.”

Baekhyun nodded. “Alright, listen. I can’t say everything now, but this is essentially the plan while we’re here in the arena.”

“Go on, we’re listening.”

“We can’t go near the Cornucopia. That’s suicide, and we need to be complete to carry out this plan. Naeun dying is a really huge blow to our manpower, but we’ll manage.”

“But what exactly are we doing, anyway?”

Before Baekhyun could answer, something exploded behind them. Lu Han awoke with a start, and a few feet away from them, the bushes spontaneously caught on fire. The fire was quick, and was quickly engulfing the trees around them in flames. Jongin grabbed Kyungsoo by the arm, Victoria helped Lu Han up, and they all started running, their conversation cut abruptly.

“I think someone heard us.” Victoria said in between breaths, her hair whipping behind her as she ran away from the flames quickly.

Baekhyun nodded, and was about to answer when the ground suddenly started trembling, the flames still raging on behind them. Still running, they couldn’t focus on where they were going. Suddenly, the ground split and cracked, and walls—thinner than the main walls—protruded out of the ground. Baekhyun was too slow in reacting. He mistakenly stepped on the rising wall, lost his balance, and fell down on the ground. The wall continued rising, strategically isolating him from his group.

“Vic!! Kyungsoo!! !!” He slammed the wall with his fist, looking at all sides to see if there was a crack or something he could slip into so he could regroup with the rest, but to no avail.

“. Now what?”

Chanyeol was getting a migraine from Krystal’s whining about how she still hadn’t killed anyone. Gripping the trident in his hand, he was so close to just stabbing the red-head in the neck, but he was a man who always kept his word, and killing his ally in cold blood was not something he’d do while the alliance was still in effect.

“Where are they?! I want to kill someone! This is what I trained for my whole life, and they’re hiding?! Oh, the nerve!” Krystal stomped her foot, throwing a tantrum and throwing her double scythes on the ground.

“Oh, shut up, Krystal. If you’re itching so badly to kill someone, why don’t you just kill yourself? Save us the trouble, will ‘ya.” Luna glared at her, threatening the red-head with her labrys axe.

Krystal glared back, not finding the energy to fight back. Zitao rolled his eyes before turning to Chanyeol, Sulli, and Sehun.

“You guys. Go and look for food. The food here at the Cornucopia aren’t enough. If you see any tributes, kill ‘em.”

“Who made you leader?” Krystal grumbled, and Zitao looked at her sharply.

“I’m not the baby throwing tantrums here, am I?”

“Sehun, Chanyeol, you guys are just okay with that?!”

“Frankly, Krystal, we don’t give a on who calls themselves the leader.” Sehun shot back, and Krystal finally stopped talking, picking up her double scythes and hugging them to her chest, mumbling to herself.

Sulli and Chanyeol stood up, getting their weapons and preparing to go search for food. Sehun remained lying down on the grass, spinning his knife between his hands.

“I’m not going. I don’t feel like killing anyone yet.” He mumbled, and Sulli shrugged.

“Suit yourself. Let’s go, Chanyeol.”

With muffled hearing, it was really hard to navigate cautiously around the maze. Baekhyun couldn’t know if someone was coming up behind him, nor could he know if he was being quiet or not. All he could do was try and be quiet, and hope that he was actually being quiet. This side of the labyrinth had so many trees, anyone could be hiding anywhere. He couldn’t calm down his heart hammering inside his chest, and it didn’t help in his concentration.

Baekhyun then arrived at a small clearing. He looked for a dark spot under the trees and just crouched there on the edge, trying to figure out what to do. Just when he was about to stand up and run around the edges of the clearing to get to the other side, he saw someone coming.

Two tall figures—one female, the other male—came from the other end of the clearing, both carrying long weapons. Baekhyun could see that the male was carrying a trident, and the female was carrying a spear taller than she was. Baekhyun felt like crying. They were from District 4—Chanyeol, and Sulli.

“I’ll look over here, you look over there. I feel like someone’s hiding here.” Sulli ordered, and Chanyeol just shrugged before facing Baekhyun’s general direction.

Baekhyun just watched, already feeling weak at his imminent death. He had no weapon, and the only thing he had was a handful of nightlock berries in his pocket. He really couldn’t see these two letting him shove a couple of berries into their mouths.

Sulli faced the other direction, and for a good while, they were just poking around the bushes, still a good many feet away from Baekhyun. He saw Chanyeol crouching in front of him, busy gathering some edible herbs he must have found, when Baekhyun noticed Sulli tensing up. She quietly turned around in their direction, and Baekhyun felt a chill go up his spine as he saw the look on her face—pure malice. She held her spear tightly, slowly poising it to kill. She was glaring at Chanyeol.

Baekhyun felt worry for Chanyeol.

It was obvious that Sulli was planning on killing an unsuspecting Chanyeol. Baekhyun should just let her do her thing, but somewhere deep inside Baekhyun, he really couldn’t just watch people die. That was the reason why he volunteered for the Hunger Games, anyway—to stop all the senseless murder. If given the chance, either of these two would probably kill him on sight—but that was why he wasn’t with the Careers and why he was with Kyungsoo and the others. He wasn’t a murderer.

Casting aside all logical thoughts and holding on to his morals and beliefs, he mustered up his courage and readied himself to jump. He watched as Sulli stealthily inched closer, and when Baekhyun saw the chance, he grabbed it—with a long, strong jump towards Chanyeol, arms outstretched as he pushed the taller male out of the way of Sulli’s spear.

His arms around Chanyeol and his face scrunched up in a mix of determination, regret, and terror, the two of them rolled around on the clearing and away from Sulli, surprising her for a few moments. As soon as they stopped, everything fell into a dead silence. Chanyeol was on top of him, staring at him with wide-eyes, still trying to process the situation. A few feet away from them, Sulli held her spear rather limply, blinking at the two sprawled together on the ground, entangled.

“What the ?” Chanyeol said simply under his breath, and Baekhyun was at a loss for words.

He could only point weakly at Sulli.

“…what just happened?” Sulli asked, sounding really confused, but Baekhyun could see her regaining her grip on her spear, her facial expression hardening again.

Chanyeol stared at her, looking back and forth between Baekhyun, and the spear pointed at him. Baekhyun shrieked in surprise when Chanyeol suddenly let out a low guttural sound, akin to a dog snarling, really. Baekhyun felt tears b his eyes, and he could feel the color draining out of his skin.

“You . You tried to kill me.” Chanyeol slowly stood up, grabbing Baekhyun’s arm in the process, and Baekhyun was surprised at how gentle he was.

What the hell is happening, oh dear god, Baekhyun thought, watching the two Careers glaring at each other. If looks could kill, they’d both be dead at that moment.

“Of course, I did. This is the Hunger Games. Only that stupid dweeb saves people.” Sulli retorted, and really, Baekhyun thinks she’s right.

“He could have killed me at that moment, but he didn’t. We’re not even on the same alliance. He’s supposed to be the prey, us the predators—and yet, you look at me as the prey? While the alliance is still in effect?”

“Can we not get technical here?” Sulli spun her spear around, and Baekhyun stepped farther away as Chanyeol took deep breaths, curling his hands into fists; his trident was on the other side of the clearing.

“…I’m going to kill you, you traitorous .”

“Go ahead and try, sweetie.”

Baekhyun stepped back into the bushes, wanting to take the perfect chance to run away, but he found himself rooted on the spot, watching a barehanded Chanyeol manage against an armed Sulli. They kept on exchanging blows, Sulli grazing Chanyeol’s arms and legs with her spear, but unable to deal a fatal blow. Baekhyun found himself unconsciously rooting for Chanyeol.

Suddenly, Sulli did a quick turn, feinting and misleading Chanyeol. She made a dash for Baekhyun, and at the last minute, Baekhyun was able to dodge a fatal wound, the spear grazing his shoulder. He lost his balance as he turned around, falling on his back and watching Sulli tower over him, her spear positioned over his heart as she grinned at Chanyeol, her full attention on him.

“I’ll kill this twerp if you step closer.” Sulli warned, and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow despite the searing pain on his left shoulder.

“Why should he care for my life?” Baekhyun asked seriously, and Chanyeol couldn’t help agreeing.

“Actually, yeah.  Why should I care? And frankly, you should really keep your attention on him. He’s still a tribute.”

Chanyeol crossed his arms over his chest, and it was all too late for Sulli. Baekhyun was already standing up behind her, safe from the sharp edge of the spear, the handful of nightlock berries in his hand. He had his other arm around her neck, and Sulli’s eyes widened in surprise as Baekhyun finally found a use for the rest of his berries.

“Bye bye, . Just because I’m from 3 doesn’t mean I’m to be taken lightly.”

He crushed the berries in his hands, and slammed his hand against Sulli’s open mouth, some of the juicie finding its way in. Sulli, in a state of panic, accidentally swallowed some, and tried coughing it up, but after a few seconds, stopped moving, and dropped dead. Chanyeol just looked at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun looked at Sulli, still not believing that he killed someone. The nightlock berry juice dripped from his hand, and he quickly knelt down and wiped it on Sulli’s clothes.

The cannon shot once.

Chanyeol stepped closer, and Baekhyun scrambled backwards, clumsily grabbing Sulli’s spear. Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at him.

“Can you even use that, twerp?”

“I-I can! Stay away!”

“…don’t let it bother you. It was done in self-defense.”

Baekhyun frowned at him, confused at the sudden change of context, when Chanyeol pointed at his own face and mimicked tears falling down. Baekhyun then realized that he was crying. Dropping the spear, he made sure that his hand was nightlock-free, wiping it more on Sulli’s shirt and the ground, before using his other hand to wipe his face.

“I-I’m not bothered….just stay away….p-please let me go….”

“I can see that you don’t want to kill anyone, but in that situation, it was you or her, simple as that. And you chose to live. I don’t know why, maybe you have some grand reason for not wanting to kill anyone in this era, but hey, I respect that, twerp.”

Baekyun looked at him cautiously, and when Chanyeol stepped closer, he just closed his eyes tight, awaiting death. What he didn’t expect was Chanyeol grabbing him by the arm and lifting him up to stand. He blinked at the taller male, and Baekhyun was sure he smiled.

“Come on, where are you headed? I’m not going back to the Careers, ‘cause they’d probably kill me for letting this die.”

“…w-why would you come with me…?”

“I still need to repay you for prolonging my life. After that, we’re back to being prey and predator. Understood?”

Baekhyun looked at him, slightly terrified, but Chanyeol suddenly reached out and knocked him softly on the head.

“I don’t like breaking my word, so trust me.”

“You’re a Career. How the hell am I supposed to trust you?”

“You just have to. That berry trick won’t work the second time around, you know. And I can see that something’s wrong with your hearing. We’ve been yelling at each other for a good while now.”

Baekhyun bit his lip, suddenly scared that others might have heard them. Chanyeol suddenly leaned closer, his lips almost touching Baekhyun’s ear, and the smaller male shivered.

“I still have my debt to pay so you don’t need to worry about dying any time now.”

“Y-You’re too close!!”

Chanyeol just shrugged, walking away and gesturing for Baekhyun to follow him, back to where Baekhyun came from.

“I came from there—

“You don’t want to go where I came from. Trust me. They’re all there.”

If Chanyeol had wanted to kill him, he would have done so a while earlier. Baekhyun was still alive, so he decided to just partially trust this Career. It may backfire on him in the future, resulting in his death, but Baekhyun’s just glad to not be alone.

Kyungsoo jumped in surprise at the sound of the cannon. They all looked at each other, dreading the worst. Victoria was on the verge of tears.

“Baekhyun’s smart. He’ll manage, Miss Victoria.” Lu Han assured him, but none of them really believed those words, even Lu Han himself.

Cleverness could only do so much in a battlefield full of murderers.

Eighteen tributes left.

_{A/N: I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKKK--}

_{Seriously though. No matter how long I may not update, I'm not dropping any of my fics WITHOUT an official announcement (unless I die or something because yeah).}

_{and yes, mankanshoku mako 4 lyf awyeh}