AN: We won't Apollo-gize for our delayed chapter. We need to get this chapter done. NO promises about future chapters. Happy reading :) TARDIGRADE.

Disclaimer: It's all ours, except for what's not ours. Which we hope you can figure out. Hakuna matata, alohomora.

WARNING: This chapter may be slightly cracky and wacky. It may not follow canon, and it may not follow our fanon. We wrote the last chapter 2 years ago so don't blame us. And we didn't keep any useful notes. Just notes about Percy and Finnick :p

Chapter XIII: Disco Boogie Woogie

Percy's P.O.V.

After what felt like two years' worth of net-weaving, the plan was finally ready to be executed. Executed. Not a very inappropriate word given the circumstances. Quite fitting, actually. We were, after all, setting up a trap to capture and kill the other tributes.

During all the preparations I couldn't shake the feeling of utter wrongness. It was too close to cold-blooded murder for my taste. But I have to get Finnick out of here alive and the Capitol has given us no choice. President Snow, has given us no choice.

With the nets in place, we went and found some shelter nearby. We waited. What felt like six hours went by, although Tracey may say that it had only been two at max, when we heard a canon go off. Eleven dead. Not too long after this we heard screams. "That must be our catch of the day," Tracey said with a manic grin.

We checked all the traps we set, and of course the screams came from the last net we checked. There were two people caught in the net, tangled up in each other and struggling to reach their weapons. "We best do this fast," I said, trying to steel myself for what was about to happen next.

Finnick nodded. "Who's doing the honours?"

"I'll do it, you cowards," Tracy said, trying to sound casual. She cast a look at the two tributes, who had now stilled their struggles. I recognized them, Kelly Logs from district 9 I believe, and a girl called Satin who is from district 8.

Tracey raised her spear, ready for the killing blow, and then lowered it again. I saw the tightness with which she was holding it and knew that she wasn't as unaffected as she would have us belief. That's when it became clear to me that I had to be the one to do it.

Tracey took a step closer, her jaw set tight with determination and raised her spear again. "Stop," I said. Putting my hand over hers, the one holding the spear.

"Whoever is going to do it, just make it quick and be done with it," Satin said from within the net. A pang of guilt hit me again.

"It's okay," I told Tracey nonetheless.

She handed me her spear, with visible relief in her eyes. "Let's get this over with," I pushed the spear upwards and… I did it. I did it as fast as I could and without thinking. And then I did it again. The sound of two canon shots rang in the background, marking the end of another two lives. Thirteen dead. Finnick put a hand on my shoulder in silent support. There were no words for what had been done and he knew it. I handed Tracey her spear back, letting her wash the blood off.

The sky suddenly turned pitch black. Seemed like the gamemakers were getting impatient once again. We went back to where we had been hiding by the river. Knowing them and their tricks, we remained vigilant, keeping everything close by and standing guard in shifts. Tracy was the one officially on guard duty right now, but I was unable to sleep so I pretended to not be tired. She probably saw right through my lie, though.

This evenings' death announcement showed the faces of the two girls who would be haunting my dreams, along with another boy from district 5 whose name was, apparently, Flash Sparky. Then the announcement was over, and the forest turned dark and quiet once again, but for Finnicks light snoring.

The peaceful forest sounds were rudely interrupted by this weird animal screech, followed by a flapping noise. I shot upright, waking Finnick up as I went. I searched for the source of the sound, squinting my eyes into focus.

"There, in the trees!" Tracey shouted. I looked up and saw red eyes staring back at us, shrouded within the darkness of the tree branches. Doing a quick pirouette, I realized to my horror that they were suddenly everywhere.

"We're surrounded," Finnick breathed from my left, raising his weapon. "What are they?"

"Are those… wings?" Tracey remarked. Looking a bit closer, I saw a pinkish figure with white wings protruding from its back. It's face was either hideously disfigured or it had a pig's nose. "Well, I'll be dammed. Pigs can fly now."

"And apparently they also have red eyes." As if they heard my remark, their eyes lit up even more. "I have a bad feeling about this," Finnick said, and he was proven right.

"Duck!" I yelled, while jumping into the river myself. From underwater I could see that the flying pigs were creating a disco in the forest. Resurfacing, I could see all the lasers dancing around setting things on fire.

'Finnick!'

'Behind you,' he responded, pulling me back down underwater. I twisted around, coming face to face with him. 'Where's Tracey?'

'I don't know, but we have to get out of here.'

The sound of a canon rang again. Dread filled the pit of my stomach, had that been Tracey's death? Despite the fact that she was technically a rival, she'd grown on me, and on Finnick as well.

'Tracey?' I heard Finnick in my head.

I shook my head. 'I don't know. But we have to go now.'

The red lights were still flashing above us, along with the flickering light of fire. I could hear the pigs screeching and it sounded angry. 'Let's go,' Finnick agreed and we leapt out of the water. We ran away from the pigs as fast as we could, hacking around us as we went. The pigs were everywhere, although there couldn't have been that many of them. Their wings were a real disadvantage for us. I tried to defend Finnick and me from the pigs flying right at our faces, but I knew that it was getting quite hopeless unless something changed. And quickly.

The fires were still building around us, cutting of our escape routes. The pigs didn't seem deterred by it. Soon we were surrounded by a ring of fire, miraculously dodging all the lasers that were being shot at us.

'Percy!' I heard Finnick. 'Didn't you use to have those water powers? What happened to them, huh?'

'Oh shut up, I don't see you doing any of that either,' I shot back, a bit sheepish I hadn't thought to use them earlier. Everyone, including Snow already knew about us, so why not?

Harnessing my powers, I commanded the water to rise from the riverbend, dousing part of the fire that had been blocking our path back to the river. But the pigs were still attacking us, so I threw some water at them as well for good measure. Turns out water and wings don't get along all that well, and all of a sudden it was raining demon-laser-pigs. Hallelujah. Unfortunately they didn't die on impact, but they were still easier to anticipate and dodge. Still, we had to make a run for it, back to the river.

'Percy, look! There's a trident dropping on a parachute, floating towards the river. That must be from Mags!'

Jumping to the left to avoid yet another death-ray, I briefly glanced upwards between the trees and saw that Finnick was right. A trident was falling from the heavens, or more likely, Olympus. Finnick made a dive for it, grabbing it just before hitting the water. I turned around, hacking at the pigs again, trying to keep them from Finnick while he was vulnerable.

But when he resurfaced, I realized he was anything but vulnerable at the moment. Several projectiles blasted past me, hitting the pigs right in their stubby noses. Ice-shards were now sticking out of them, making some of the pigs turn into the golden monster dust with which I was very familiar.

I turned back around again to face Finnick, jaw wide-open in amazement. He was standing on the now frozen river, Trident in hand and his eyes were glowing. He smirked.

AN: Friggin flygin pigs. So this is the end of this chapter. We don't know when we'll write again, or if we'll write again. It's a lot of fun though so maybe. If you want to know what the pigs look like (and we recommend it), search for the Clazmonian Sow on Riordan's site. Till next time(?)!