012 · Like Romeo & Juliet

Mass release: 6/16

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Lovise Holst-Mathiasen

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"Mattias took 2nd place, Ryu took 3rd, Lorena took 4th, Gilbert took 5th, Maria took 6th, Seth took 8th, Obi took 9th, and Jeremy took 10th. For the next 420 years, the 60 games that followed, the top 10 did not change, all because of the influence of Adrien, which made all the following ancestors of the Mathiasen and Haynes bloodlines, who already had a close link, to unite the tributes from areas 2 to 6 and 8 to 10, as the Haynes kept taking the 1st place and the Mathiasen the 7th, as it was our lucky numbers."

"According to the archives I read, they had a legendary alliance. It had never been seen before, and the fact that our bloodlines were destined to always be the ones to play the games, only strengthened that alliance that survived 217 years, if you count Adrien and Rose's game where they met. For it to work, the Mathiasen were responsible to be the brain of the group, always the strategist, the mastermind, and the Haynes the sword, the ones who would put the Mathiasen's defensive and protective ideas to action."

"However, in the 62nd game, the area 1 and area 7's chosen tributes were Keith Haynes and Kirsten Mathiasen, who went from childhood best friends, to high-school sweethearts, the first time a Haynes and a Mathiasen got romantically involved with one another, both living in area 0, initially it was an amazing idea, but then Keith Haynes fell out of love and fell for Kirsten's female best friend, Aida Damiani from 2, and she fell for him."

"That was pure disaster, and it was the only thing that could have broken such a legendary alliance like that, as well as turn such a friendly and pure love into hatred. All because, for the amusement of Mallory, the ones picked for the 62nd game was Keith Haynes and Kirsten Mathiasen," I finished undoing my braids and passed my fingers through my wavy golden hip-length hair. "They had last seen each other when they were 21 years old as that was when Keith broke up with her, and Kirsten lost both her two best friends, and her boyfriend of 5 years. They were all 23 years old then."

"To make it even worse, as if Mallory really wanted to watch this drama unfold, the one picked as tribute for area 2 was none other than Aida, you can imagine how my ancestor Kirsten felt," I chuckled. "Then Keith and Aida had the audacity of asking Kirsten to unite with them, to gather the tributes from 3 to 6 and 8 to 10, so they could keep tradition and their places. But she couldn't have it, she couldn't even believe their shit, and so she refused it, then she killed Aida who made area 2 go from 2 to 27, as the second death, and that made her and Keith enemies."

"Keith gathered the tributes of areas 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 15. And Kirsten gathered the tributes of areas 3, 8, 12, and 14, as she smartly chose to focus on a new setting for the top 5, instead of getting greedy and dictate the top 10 like he did. Still, it focused on the importance of the top 15. Because of that, the bottom 13 divided in two groups. A smaller one for areas 16 to 20 and a bigger one with areas 22 to 28, as the tribute of area 21 was the first to die. It was groups divide in four groups, but with two cores, as everyone wanted to accompany the fight between Mathiasen and Haynes, because once everyone envied their link."

"One by one the bottom fell. Areas 16, 25, 17, 27, 19, 22, 18, 26, 20, 24, 23, and 28, respectively. Area 21 fell to 28 and area 2 fell to 27. Then, 16 fell to 26, 25 remained as 25, 17 fell to 24, 27 went up 23, 19 fell to 22, 22 went up to 21, 18 fell to 20, 26 went up to 19, 20 went up to 18, 24 went up to 17, 23 went up to 16, and the lucky bastard of 28 rose to 15. And out of those 14 tributes, 8 were killed by Kirsten and 6 by Keith, all in self-defense, be theirs or of their allies. That was the only thing they agreed on, killing the others and leaving their groups at last."

"After only the 14 of them were left, Keith asked to deal with her on a one-on-one, using the fact that everything went south because of them, so they should end it on their own terms. Kirsten's mistake was failing to see the malice in his intentions, and thinking her allies would be safe if she did that, she went to him, but with a secret weapon on her in case everything went wrong," spoiler: it did. "Keith, having poisonous intentions in it, sent his eight allies to go deal with Kirsten's four friends, promising to deal with her for good and make her pay for killing Aida."

"But Kirsten's allies, opposite to her innocence in it, were all ready and expecting an attack, which made so the first two to die were the tributes of areas 13 and 15, but they attacked back and killed the tribute of area 14 who was on her side, making their temperament even worse, the next to fall were the tributes of areas 5, then 9 and 10, all part of Keith's group. That left them in a combat of 3 at her side, against the remaining 3 at his side. Not surprisingly, the trio acquainted to Keith went for a coward approach, both of them hanging up on the tribute of area 12, who died reaped apart."

"3 went against 4 and 6, while 8 went against 11. 8 killed 11, went to help 3, picked the fight against 6, who killed them. 3 killed 4, but in their last combat against 6, got gravely wounded, but managed to kill the tribute of area 6, before dying. With that setting, 13 fell to 14, 15 went up to 13, 14 went up to 12, 5 fell to 11, 9 fell to 10, and 10 rose to area 9. 12 rose to 8, 11 went up to 7, 8 rose to 6, 4 fell to 5, 6 went up to 4, and 3 for a miracle remained in area 3."

"Leaving Keith who could only stay in 1 or fall to 2, and Kirsten who one way or another would either rose from 7 to 2, or from 7 to area 1. So, the enemies who were once lovers fought, knives against knives, as both were able to fight with twin knives because they trained together growing up. During their combat, Keith trying manipulating her, saying that their families expected something from them, which was for him to stay on top 1 and her on top 7, but she refused to let him be on top, saying that it was time for the Mathiasen to take their rightfully place on area 1."

"He hit her, almost got her, but she proved him wrong, and stabbed him with her knife that was bathed in a paralyzing poison, not lethal, but good enough to make him lose their fight and take the gold crown that was in the center of the arena, which then was in a forest environment. Which made her the first and only tribute to ever rise to 1st place instead of someone from the Haynes clan, ending tradition and starting an unending rivalry. A family grudge so insistent and poisonous that could rival that of the ancient tale of the families of Romeo and Juliet, and all because of a broken heart."

"The 7 years that followed had a peaceful area 1, all happy, but all also careful, careful because they knew that would only last until the next game. And they couldn't be more right," I passed my hands over my long hair, now fully loose, loving how soft they made it, and wondering what kind of products they used on me. "That game broke the peace between the top 10 areas, politically speaking, here in the capital, in area 0. And the fact that the Mathiasen shortened their list of allies came back to bite them on the ass. I mean... us," I chuckled anxiously.