The 24th Hunger Games: Part Nine: Showdown

When he opened his eyes, he had thought that he had simply moved into a nightmare.  That grinning face dominated his view, its promise of death finally near.  The fingers that closed around his throat though were too real to be part of any dream.

            Oddly, Mason didn’t speak as he began the task of strangling Kaede, the grin saying what he wouldn’t.  He would take pleasure from this.

            “Are you sure you want to do that?”  Mason was looking at him, but the words were directed elsewhere, a shadow falling over both of them.

            “Let go of him, Mason.”  Chrome now stood behind him, his sword at the tribute’s throat.

            Mason released Kaede in that moment, the rest of his body rigid and still.  Chrome didn’t relax his sword, pressing the steel further and further into the other Career.  “I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

            “Are you?”  Chrome sneered at him.  “Is it because you were letting Titania kill me?”  The large boy shrugged, not really answering with the movement.  “Well she’s dead now,” Chrome said, tipping the sword deeper.

            “One less person to kill,” was all Mason replied with, his grin still present.

            Chrome kneeled down, and stared humorlessly at him.  “That’s saying I don’t kill you right now.”  He stared at the district two tribute with contempt.  “Can you really be that confident?”  The two were so different, Chrome much leaner than the tank like Mason.

            “I just know how it will all end.”  The sword no longer pressed into his neck, Chrome staring at him in shock.  That shock fueled Mason, his head lashing forward and hitting Chrome’s with a loud ‘thunk’.  The district one tribute crumpled to the ground, Mason finally standing back up, Chrome’s sword in his hand.  For a long moment he tested the blade, swinging it in arcs, before his eyes fell on Kaede, who had stood there the entire time; a stupid mistake.             

            That smile broadened, Mason stepping closer to Kaede.  “I’m so glad you waited-,” he paused, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.  He stared at Kaede, but now there was a glimmer of confusion in his eyes that was strange, given the circumstance.  “What is your name?”

            He shrank back at the question, unsure if he should actually even answer.  There was no way to run, Mason far too close and his leg too far injured to take that kind of abuse.  “It’s Kaede.”

            Mason stayed silent, his smile still firmly in place, but his body not moving.  Even his stolen sword had stopped swinging, its sharp edges glinting in the morning light.  The tribute almost seemed hesitant, if that emotion was even possible.  “Well, goodbye Kaede.”  The words broke the awkward silence, Mason approaching him at a steady walk.  Kaede felt the ground around him, searching for his axe, his eyes not leaving the form of Mason for fear of losing his head in that small span of time.  Given the size of the weapon, he was surprised his hand hadn’t met it.  Finally, he glanced down and found the axe, snapping his head up, expecting to find a sword coming at him.  Instead, Mason was still in the last place Kaede had seen him, but now there was a hand clutched around the boy’s ankle.

            “Let go, Chrome.  You will get your turn next,” Mason growled out, his body tense.

            “Why should I?”

            Mason’s smile was gone, a dark glare aimed at Chrome.  “So I don’t bash your head in with my foot.”  The leg that wasn’t clutched tightly moved forward in warning, but Chrome didn’t even flinch.

            “Is that all you can do Mason?  What about the show you so desperately want to put on?”  He was goading him.  The question was what that would cost him.  “Who wants a victor with no imagination?”  Mason’s ego was the one thing that never took a hit, and that was clear by the silence that answered Chrome’s questions.  “I guess you weren’t the one they wanted, Mason.  How does it feel for the Capitol to not want you?”  The glare that had been aimed at Chrome only became darker as Mason’s jaw flexed, but that was the only movement Kaede could see between the two.

            When neither moved, Kaede slid back, trying to silently distance himself.  “I’m not going to repeat myself, Chrome.  Let go.”  The hand that had not moved before, now loosened, Mason yanking his ankle away with a sound of disgust.  “Now just stay there and don’t get in my way.”

            Mason turned to gaze back at Kaede, not missing the added distance as the smile returned.  “Are you scared Kaede?”  Chrome’s sword angled down, letting out a sharp sound as it scraped against the dirt.  “At least someone here knows their place,” Mason said quietly, Chrome rising a little from his place in the dirt.  Mason stopped a foot away, raising his sword just enough so it no longer rested on the ground.  Kaede didn’t even move his axe, knowing that if Mason wanted to kill him he could without any effort spent, and Kaede would be lying in the dirt dead. 

Slowly, the sword angled up, its tip finding home at Kaede’s chin.  It stopped there, resting for a moment, the tip leaving a cold sort of pinch as it stayed there.  Mason scrutinized him in the long moment, judging some unknown characteristic.  “You aren’t much,” was all he said though, leaving so much to interpretation.  He must have come to some conclusion the tip leaving and the sword arcing in a curve to meet Kaede’s throat.  He didn’t raise his axe or flinch as he watched the motion of the other weapon, only waiting for the blow.  There wasn’t a point to fighting a losing battle, especially when the outcome was so clear. 

When the sword merely stopped at its highest point Kaede finally looked past it to its wielder, taking in the additional form locked on Mason’s back.  Chrome clutched frantically at Mason’s large neck, trying so hard to squeeze, but his smaller hands unable to do much more than agitate the other tribute.  The two circled a bit, Mason looking skyward due to the new weight, his hands swinging at Chrome, snapping at any body part they could find.  Every time he got close to gripping onto the smaller boy, Chrome would adjust himself, his own hands moving higher until they were on Mason’s jaw and then the side of his head, Mason’s eyes bulging a little at the pressure. 

Kaede could only watch as the two struggled, unsure how to approach and still keep himself alive.  Neither had a weapon but that didn’t stop them from inflicting pain on each other.  “Get off me you imbecile!”  Mason was yelling, his hands finding one of Chrome’s legs and yanking, hard.  The suddenness of the movement loosened Chrome’s grip, his body flying to the ground in one motion, his stare meeting the cruel look of satisfaction that was now on Mason’s face.  “You just couldn’t wait, could you?”  The question came out as a snarl, the sword gone, but his own machete flashing out and down.  Somehow, in the exchange Mason had managed to reclaim it without Kaede ever seeing it.  There wasn’t a chance to even scream or yell as it fell, only blood answering the action as it spurted out, covering the weapon and Mason.

Mason didn’t turn to Kaede as he stared down at his latest score, smiling when the cannon sounded in the distance.  With a sharp breath Kaede stood, leaning on his axe as he felt the pain of his burned leg.  He still couldn’t run, but he couldn’t follow Chrome into death either.  He wouldn’t be Mason’s next kill.  Without even realizing he had come to a decision, his axe came off the ground and fell into his right hand, Kaede biting back the pain that flooded in at the movement.  Mason finally turned and saw him, confused when he saw the axe held ready instead of on the ground.  That surprise though was short lived as his own machete mirrored the position. 

“Do you really want to make this worse?”  He kicked at Chrome’s body as if to emphasize how bad it could be, but Kaede didn’t look down.  His gaze centered on the red marks that littered Mason’s face, courtesy of the dead boy now at his feet.  He didn’t act like he felt any pain, but the darkened skin near his eyes showed what his actions wouldn’t.  

Taking a slow step forward, Kaede brought himself closer to Mason, the axe still kept low, but ready.  “Are you scared of me, Mason?”  His bruised face twitched, a flicker of surprise showing before he corrected it, hiding behind his usual mask of contempt.

“You can’t use my own words against me.  It doesn’t work that way.”

Kaede nodded.  “You’re right, but what about the other tributes?  You no longer have obedient allies to help you after this.  What will you do?”

Mason narrowed his eyes, not missing what Kaede was implying.  “I didn’t need them.  They were baggage.”  His machete flipped forward, pointing right at Kaede in warning.  “You are the only one who ever needed help.  Now here you are without anyone to look out for you.”  Mason came within a hair’s breadth of Kaede, his rage forcing his breath out in Kaede’s face like a bull.  “I will destroy you.”  The machete whipped around, aiming for Kaede’s side, right for where his ribs ended.  In a quick stumble, he jumped out of range, bringing his axe up to meet the blade, a loud ‘clang’ cutting into the thick air.  The evasion hardly deterred Mason, his anger controlling the wide sweeps of the blade as it came back again.  There was not any of the cold calculation that had ended Chrome, only a dangerous determination that guided him; a danger that only posed a threat to Mason.

Swipe after swipe, Kaede managed to dodge Mason’s aggression, his leg’s pain nearly invisible amidst the focus he kept on trying to avoid the sheer ferocity of the swings.  Several times he almost found himself staring right into the metal before he would duck, and push Mason back with a thrust of his axe.  Kaede didn’t even have to move far, saving the use of the leg as Mason simply swung himself around in a circle.  Chrome may have died, but he was still clouding the Career’s judgment, blinding him to the danger of his unplanned attacks.  While Mason angled his machete down at Kaede’s head, Kaede sidestepped him and guided his axe right into the spot Mason had tried to get him before, but the axe was much harder to avoid, its small blade slicing straight into flesh.

It wasn’t like what he had imagined when he pictured himself being killed in the games, Mason’s torso not being cut in half from the blow, but the axe’s momentum seemed to glide right through the unprotected area, finding a home in Mason’s gut.  The other boy was stunned in that short span of time, his eyes flicking to the gaping wound, wide and marked with absolute terror.  It was a look that recognized the mistakes he had made, and yet proved how little he had thought of all the others who had stepped into the arena.  He had never thought that he would lose, there hadn’t even been a question, and now here he was, gutted by someone who wasn’t even a Career.  Mason stared up at Kaede, his mouth trying to form a coherent thought, but unable to even wrap his mind around the circumstance.  Blood pooled out of him at a steady rate, his hand not enough to stem the bleeding.  Finally, after what seemed to be one of the longest moments, he dropped to the ground, the cannon blasting its farewell to the Capitol’s intended victor.

Now there were only four other tributes apart from Kaede, and soon they would all have to face one another or the Capitol would draw them all out.  All he could hope for at this point was that either Lux was already dead, or that he would soon be, because if it came to it, he knew he wouldn’t be able to face her.