tributes lined a small, darkened hallway. ahead of them, shone light that filtered through the gaps of a gate that prevented them from entering. a grinding noise penetrated the shroud of silence that covered the tributes, and a few jolted with fear, as the gates pulled upwards, paving an entrance for the male and female tributes into the room.

an overwhelming sense of dread consumed maverick as he stepped into the training room, following after the tributes ahead of him. weapons of every kind and shape lined the walls and sat in holding racks that dotted the room.

the room was open and vast - with stations for skills of different sorts. an archery range, a knot-tying area, a sword-fighting section...

the thrum of metal caused maverick to jump out of his skin, and he rotated on his heels. the gates slammed shut behind him after the district tributes entered and dispersed.

for a moment, all he could do was stand still. he was in the capitol, preparing for the brutal competition. the grim reality had finally settled in.

maverick pushed out a deep breath to quell the rising bile of his nerves, and he stepped forward, attempting to cloak his anxiety. his mind replayed the advice given by his mentor moments before entering the room: show no fear, display your strengths, and most importantly, find allies.

the last bit of advice was easier said than done.

maverick scanned the room and he watched tributes as they scattered like rats, grasping the weapons as if they were born to wield such a powerful object.

fear consumed him and he tried to shuffle his feet to get them moving, so he could tackle one of the stations around him, to show that he wasn't some scared, useless little boy. but he couldn't shift from the grounded position he was in.

the cacophony of sounds, the clanging of metal, the thuds of arrows hitting targets, and the murmur of voices, only heightened his anxiety.

a group of mingling tributes caught his eyes, and he gulped. they stood closely to one another, bantering and bubbling with a conversation, throwing their arms into one another's shoulders as they pointed and stared at the others' around the room.

a sense of something smacked him in the gut. he wanted to get out of here. he wanted to vomit, and cry, but doing so would show that he was weak and an easy opponent to knock out in the games.

maverick sighed, ready to step forward when a voice breathed behind him.

❝ career tributes, ❞

maverick turned quickly, staring at a taller young man with a head of messy hair. close behind him, hugging his arm, stood a young girl, her eyes pooled with fear as they skittered left and right, boggling at the other tributes.

❝ buck foxley, and my sister beth. district 8, ❞ buck said with his hand out-stretched.

maverick took his hand, hesitantly, and shook it.

❝ maverick alces, 10 ❞ he muttered under his breath.

❝ careers? ❞ maverick questioned.

buck nodded his head quickly and his hand dropped from maverick's grasp, before worming towards his sister, to comfort her.

❝ those three districts were loyal during the first rebellion, so the capitol values them. they're trained before the games, so they have an advantage, ❞ buck replied to the curious younger male before him.

❝ they typically ally together - 1, 2 and 4, so they can and will over-power someone in the games, and they won't hesitate to... uh, kill, ❞ choked buck. his eyes turned towards his sister, whom softly whimpered and whined with fear.

the air in the room felt heavy and maverick swallowed shallowly.

maverick knew that outside this room, the eyes of panem were watching, evaluating, and betting on all of their lives.

buck's gaze shifted across the room and he looked at maverick. ❝ i'm gonna take my sister to one of the quieter spots, you're more than welcome to join us both if you wish, ❞ buck announced before he and beth vanished across the room, and seated down at a slightly isolated training station.

maverick remained on the edges, blending with the shadows, his eyes fixated on the career tributes as they moved with deadly grace. they were the ones to watch, the ones built for these games.

a tall figure with a slightly squared face, and blonde hair, fluidly swung out his wielded arms, lethally striking a dummy. maverick felt uneasy. the blade sliced through the the dummy with ease. he visioned himself in its place, immobile and defenceless in the area.

a shiver coursed through him and his heart thundered against his ribcage. it was as though the air thickened around him, a visceral anticipation of pain clamping down, making it hard to breathe. maverick could taste the tang of fear, overwhelming and consuming. and then, as the image of his own demise became too vivid to bear, the contents of his stomach rebelled.

he turned away, the retching seizing him violently, and his stomach lurched up the remains of the food he had devoured earlier that morning.

it wasn't supposed to be like this... he wasn't meant for this - none of them were - but here he was, stood still, envisioning his downfall before the games had even begun.

the symphony of death rehearsals seemed to close in around him, suffocating, until he felt a comforting pressure on his shoulders. he turned, his eyes bleary and red, to find eris, standing close behind him. her hands were steady on his shoulders, grounding and comforting.

eris's dark hair was pulled back, and her posture spoke of a confidence that maverick envied. in that moment, her expression was softened, unlike how it was on the train to the capitol.

maverick brushed his arm across his mouth. shame flushed through him, hot and unwelcome.

❝ it's okay. it's a lot to take in, ❞ eris muttered, her voice steady and laced with concern.

sniffling, maverick wiped his mouth one more time, and looked across at the tributes, who stared. but eris returned a glare, and their eyes turned from the frightened tribute.

eris was all for leaving maverick, allowing him to just plummet into the darkness of death by the hands of another, or perhaps her own. but something sparked a change within her.

eris tightened her grip on his shoulders after a shake rippled through maverick's body. ❝ i saw you talking to some other tributes. i'll go introduce myself, allies can be crucial in the games... ❞ eris mumbled under his breath as she guided maverick towards buck and beth on the fire making station, swiftly breezing past the careers as they heaved and groaned, mocking moose as they passed by.

eris offered maverick a small, encouraging smile on their arrival to the two siblings.

maverick stood silently in an empty room. a door whirled open, and he turned to greet monty. the man quickly rushed to his side, pulling him into a tight hug.

❝ we have very little time, ❞ monty began, pulling away from him, but holding onto his shoulders, his eyes staring head on into maverick's.

❝ stay hidden at the beginning: let the others thin out the ranks, ❞ monty continued, his voice low but fervent, ❝ and, maverick, trust your instincts. don't let whatever is out there doubt them, ❞

the arena. the thought caused maverick's teeth to chatter. a meticulously crafted landscape designed for spectacle, for sport, for survival. a place where the line between life and death was as thin as the morning mist.

montezuma dropped his hands from maverick's shoulders and watched as maverick's eyes scanned the room they were in, as if committing it to his memory.

❝ your not just fighting for survival, ❞ firmly spoke monty, ❝ you're fighting for us all. show them what district 10 is made of. make us all proud, ❞

the door opened once more, revealing a peacekeeper wielded with a gun. a chill crawled up moose's spine.

monty leaned in quickly to maverick, pulling the boy close to him one last time - not knowing if this was to be the last time in which he would see him, alive. or if this would be the last time he would ever be embraced in such a warm manner.

the peacekeeper looked towards monty and stalked over, forcefully grasping his arm and pulling the man away from the boy's embrace.

monty pulled from the armoured being and placed his hands on moose's shoulders, applying pressure with a gentle squeeze to reassure him.

❝ make me proud. make your parents proud, ❞ the man whistled. he pulled maverick into a brief, right hug. the peacekeeper coughed impatiently.

❝ just remember what you've been taught and find eris, that's what you need to do! ❞ monty choked out as he was ripped from maverick, and dragged out of the room.

the door squeaked shut and maverick was left alone for a second before it pushed open again, and yet again, the peacekeeper had returned. a jerk of his helmeted head signalled for maverick to enter the tube to his left, a cylindrical vessel that served as the last barrier between safety and the perilous unknown of the arena.

he stepped into the tube and the door whirled around him, closing him in. his mind raced through every possible scenario, or what the arena may be. he had heard stories from his parents about how it changed, how the game-makers sculpted it all, inch by inch.

it could be anything - a dense forest, a barren icy wasteland, a dried desert. the uncertainty is part of the capitol's twisted game, a way to keep both the tributes and the audience on their toes.

maverick felt a fleeting sense of weightlessness as the cylinder thrust upwards.

a blinding light blared into his eyes, and the boy blinked quickly. a vast open field sprawled ahead of him, with a strange object jutting from the centre of it. circling it, perched on podiums, stood the other tributes.

eris. maverick thought and his eyes scanned the long circle for his district partner. he couldn't see her. he couldn't pick her out of the crowd. his chest heaved heavily as he tried to snag a breath.

the numbers counted down, a rhythmic beat. one by one, spewed out from a robotic, deep voice that cast them aloud over the tributes heads.

❝ ... 𝟭𝟬 ... 𝟵 ... 𝟴 ... 𝟳 ... 𝟲 ... ❞

eagerly, tributes shuffled on their podiums, eyes and heads turned left and right to mouth to their allies to work out strategic measures they would carry out the second it struck zero.

❝ ... 𝟱 ... 𝟰 ... 𝟯 ... 𝟮 ... 𝟭 ... ❞

the deafening countdown ended and chaos erupted, tributes sprang from their podiums, each driven by a desperate survival instinct.

however, maverick remained motionless amidst the frantic scramble towards the cornucopia. frozen with terror, his feet felt as is they were encased in solid concrete, unresponsive to the urgent commands from his brain. he knew the importance of those first moments, how crucial it was to secure resources, yet his body refused to cooperate. his heart hammered against his chest, a painful reminder of the fear that shackled him.

the field quickly became a battleground. tributes dashed for weapons, others went for backpacks filled with supplies, while some took the risk to engage in immediate combat, their eyes fueled with a ferocious desire to outlast the others.

metal clashed on metal, footsteps heavily pounded into the ground, and screams of confrontation filled the air.

maverick's precious seconds slipped by, and still he remained glued to his pedestals. his internal struggle raged on.

❝ maverick! run! ❞

the sharp shout snapped him out of his reverie, and he looked up, towards the voice that pulled him away from his thoughts and the crippling fear that hugged him tightly, and gasped.

eris staggered across the field, her arms waving over her head to gain the younger boys attention, her lungs bellowing out as much noise as she could as she continued to yell for him to run.

❝ MAVERICK RUN! ❞

an object whizzed past his dirty blonde hair, just narrowly missing his head, and maverick shifted his eyes ahead of him, in the direction of which the object had come from.

a figure raced rapidly towards him, a bladed weapon tightly grappled in their fingers as they barrelled closer and closer with every passing second. they flicked a blade in their hand, holding the silver edge in their palms, before veering back their arm.

the boy winced and quickly slammed his eyes shut, preparing for the pain that would soon hit him.