The Blaze Games Chapter 7, a vocaloid fanfic

The Blaze Games

The Capitol: Vocaloid

Panem: Blaze

Districts: Yamaha, Crypton, Internet, Voctro, Henian, Artech, Kioon, Effex, Ashore, Ispro

Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid or the Hunger Games.

Summary: The Blaze Games. Just one more year, and Miku would have been safe, except her father messed something up, and as punishment, she has to fight to the death. With a fellow tribute who happens to be suicidal, a mentor she may or may not be in love with, some dark secrets being trusted to her and her life on the line, Miku has to survive. Problem is, there are nineteen other people who wants to win as well.

A/N: Because it's a fad here in fanfiction, no? Besides... I was lacking in ideas for other fics. KaitoxMiku and others. NOT RintoxMiku. Inspired by the Vocaloid song 'Blaze' and the Hunger Games.

Miku woke to the sounds of harsh knocking. When she opened her eyes she realized that she wanted to just lie there forever, staring up at the painted ceiling with no patterns detectable to her human eyes.

But she couldn't do that. There was someone at the door, impatient – Rion, probably – and today was not the kindest day for her. She got out of the comfortable, luxurious bed for what was probably the last time and got to the door.

Her guess proved to be correct when she opened it to see Rion standing there. "Good morning, Miku!" the escort chirped as if she hadn't been smashing angrily away at the door merely a few seconds ago. "Ready for the big day?"

Miku was tired. She was cranky, angry and scared about what was going to happen to her on this 'big day'. "Yeah, sure," she answered instead of telling the truth.

The two of them paused next to the breakfast bar. Miku grabbed a cookie, a nectarine, a buttermilk biscuit breakfast sandwich and a strip of bacon and placed them on a paper plate. Breakfast to go.

"That's a girl," Rion smiled warmly. "Make Crypton proud, alright?"

Why did it even matter to her? Rion wasn't even a native of the Crypton district. "Alright," she said, the agreeable girl till the end. To prevent further conversation, she began tearing chunks out of her biscuit sandwich and told her stomach to suck it up and stop swirling like she was sick. She had an appetite. She had an appetite. She could eat this all and more. She had to eat this all and hopefully more. She was not going to throw up. She had an appetite, damn it all.

The animal in her listened. The human girl within her whined and cried and protested until her stomach was filled with butterflies desperately trying to flutter wings in chewed up food, which made her feel even more sick. Worst of all, the fact that she was chewing didn't discourage Rion from talking to her. There was no way an escort could be that clueless deliberately. She had to be doing this on purpose.

When was this going to end?

The end proved to be not that far. Aria came, rescuing her from unwanted small chatter and banished Rion. It occurred to Miku that this would be the last time she ever saw Rion before going out to participate in the Blaze Games, but she found that she didn't care. The people she really wanted to see were either at home, watching the screens with dread, or here, still young and ready to take on even more of cases like hers. She'd be forgotten amongst many with the exact same story.

Aria patted her back and dressed her in simple clothes that reminded Miku of the exercise outfits provided by the schools for physical education class. She had worn her school uniform while learning basic survival skills in the case that she ever was reaped for the Blaze Games because she had loved its silvery gray colour and teal trim that had felt like silk when she ran her bored, tired fingers over it.

The ones she was to wear in the arena were a drab shade of green and plain brown like mud, without even an inch of trim anywhere. Camouflage? Perhaps the arena would be like a swamp, a jungle or a forest.

All of them meant insects. Miku checked her clothes again and found that the material used, while soft, warm, flexible and stretchable did not look capable of protecting her from mutated mosquitoes or something along the line of hungry insects happy to take a bite out of a terrified human girl fighting for her life in an environment designed to be deadly.

She didn't like insects. She had always skipped out on eating insects back when she trained because the thought had made her sick, and her chances of being reaped so low. Mikuo had eaten them, trying to prepare his stomach for anything – and, okay, to gross her out.

Fun times. Miku closed that album of memories and stashed it away, trying to focus. Maybe the arena would be a deciduous forest instead. Hopefully it would be a woodsy theme. Woodsy, she could definitely deal with better than swampy or jungle-y.

Miku did raise her eyebrows when Aria moved onto the shoes, soft leather that held her feet right but were by definition neither water-proof nor resistant. Aria wouldn't make a mistake on the clothes chosen for the district tributes, so she had meant to make Miku wear shoes easy to walk and run in.

A field? And judging from the shoes, no swamp, which automatically cut the number of insects drastically, which increased the number of other edibles.

Thank god.

Aria tapped her ring with a perfectly manicured fingernail painted in a pretty light pink shade. "Do you want to wear that on a necklace?"

A necklace meant that she'd have one extra resource in her hands when the Games started, but it could also give her opponents some creative ideas for her death once she was actually in the arena. Maybe take a page from Kaito's book and make her the tribute famous for being strangled to death by her own token. It would haunt Mikuo if that happened, even if he hadn't been the one to give it to her to wear as a necklace. Besides, he probably meant to give her an edge in the arena once the games started, so she could have extra impact on her punches. "No, thank you."

Aria nodded and gave her a last check up. "If clothes meant survival . . . ."

Miku smiled at her for real. Despite her airiness and obvious Vocaloid status, she still had been a wonderful person to her during the short time she had spent here. Even if her kindness and what could only be called awesomeness was a part of her job as a Blaze Games stylist, Miku had still appreciated the seemingly natural concern the older woman had shown for her. "Thank you for everything."

Aria nodded. Her usual dreamy look was all but gone now, only a bare trace of her mystical personality shining from the depth of the clear blue ice her eyes had become. "Go out there and win, Miku."

"I will," she promised, and hoped that it wouldn't be a lie.

Her dreamy, mystic lake look drifted back. "I'll be rooting for you," and with that Aria was gone in a blur of pale gold, black and pink, leaving behind a whiff of perfume before the scent dispersed into nothing.

Kaito entered the room and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. He was dressed in his usual style, only he wore a badge over his heart that clearly said 'Mentor' in big red letters that clashed with his dark blue suit and hair. Below the obnoxiously red letters, there were a few words and numbers in black, giving descriptions of his name and district. Not that any sponsor really needed to take a look at his badge to learn his identity. "You're supposed to get in the transportation hovercraft now," he told her after he finished reading her the final version of the Career pact list. Miku thought those names would be burned into her mind forever.

"Right," her throat went dry. She reached for the cup of water that had been placed there when she had arrived and took a large sip. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he uncrossed his arms. "It might be the last thing you say to me. I'd really prefer something like, 'I'll see you soon!' or 'don't worry about me!' You ate something, right?"

Miku had eaten everything but the cookie, and her stomach was swirling around like a merry-go-round. "Yeah."

From his pocket, Kaito pulled out a bag of apple chips. "Eat more," he ordered her. "Chew slowly, take deep breaths and don't throw up."

Miku caught the bag and tried to not look so miserable.

"I know it's hard," Kaito told her soothingly as he held the door open for her. "But it's for your own good. If your allies ever backstab you without managing to kill you, you'll probably go hungry some time into the games, and then you'll replay this moment over and over in your head and hate yourself for not taking one extra crumb of food."

Reluctantly, she tore the bag open and gingerly pulled out a dried piece of fruit. "Do you really think they'll backstab me?" she asked, staring at the apple chip like it was a dead cockroach.

Kaito didn't meet her eyes. "Don't ever trust them."

"Right." Mosh, she could never trust, and Luna didn't look so trustworthy either even if they were supposed to be her temporary allies. First thing into the games she'd secure a pole arm of some sort and make sure that she was properly armed.

"I'm serious," he said at the entrance to the hovercraft room. This was the entrance that she and she alone would be using that year. Every tribute had their own entrance to a hovercraft, to ensure that no one got murdered on their way down. "Don't trust anyone, not even the little boy."

"Ryuto?" in her mind the green-haired boy shyly complimenting Teto had wings on his back and a halo above his head. "Are you serious?"

"I'm serious. One of this year's mentors happens to be Pikan Utatane. She's manipulative, charming and absolutely ruthless. She could convince a starving man into giving away his last slice of bread. She's probably gotten it into Ryuto's head to be helpless and charming. A sponsor magnet."

"No way."

"Yes way. A normal twelve-year old boy does not act the way he did during the interviews unless he was told and coached to. Pikan's probably using his slight height and younger appearance as an appealing factor."

Every time she thought that the games couldn't reach a new low, something else came up and gave her a sinking feeling. So the mentors were involved and guilty, too. Helping pawns be prepared for strategic deaths designed for entertainment, creating actors on a bloody stage.

What about Kaito?

He was one of them too.

But he wanted her to survive.

So did this Pikan, for the child Ryuto. She remembered her now from the games that had been put on during her childhood. The second child in a family to be picked for the games, she had promised to win like her brother had and delivered upon that promise excellently with a charming smile.

"Right," she said in the end. "Don't trust anyone."

"Good girl. Want a good luck kiss?"

Miku paused, hand on the doorknob. Meh, sure, why not? She was going to die a virgin, anyways.

"Sure."

This kiss wasn't like the shut-your-mouth kiss he had given her before. It was soft, warm, and lasted for a few more seconds.

It also wasn't like what the romance novels said. It didn't make fireworks go off in her head, or make her feel dizzy or ecstatic. She also did not melt into it and she was pretty sure her attempt at kissing him back was awkward as hell.

But it felt nice.

"Go get them," he told her when he was done. Three seconds. Definitely just a good luck kiss.

"Right."

And, popping the last apple chip into her mouth, Miku handed Kaito the crumpled up bag and entered the room.

The two guards nodded at her stiffly. "Walk slowly through this gate," the man standing on the left ordered.

Miku did so, and nothing happened.

"Good. Now follow the hallway. Good luck."

Ducking her head, she hurried down the hallway and entered the hovercraft. Rinto and Galaco were already there, as were a few other tributes.

Miku chose to sit next to Rinto after a second of thought. She had promised Rin, after all, and after the talk involving Ryuto she doubted she could ever fully trust Galaco.

When the last tribute – Sonika from Effex – entered, the doors slid shut and she felt the hovercraft rise. Her stomach sank and she felt weightless for a while before the entire vehicle began to move forward smoothly like it was gliding through the air quickly. No bumps or rough spots.

It was rather enjoyable.

~B-L-A-Z-E~

As she rose into place, she realized that luck was, for once, on her side. From the trees she could recognize, this year's arena's theme was something amongst a coniferous biome. Not including things like berries or mushrooms, there wouldn't be very many poisonous things that could harm her. The nights would be cold, but she was a Career – she was sure she'd be able to find something warm to sleep in.

The ticks of the arena's clock were annoying. Couldn't they get a better sound to show the seconds before the Blaze Games started slipping away?

Miku tried to not fidget so much. The mines around her feet were sensitive, and they'd blow her up if she stepped on them before the allotted time was up.

She glanced up at the projected time above. Fifty-two seconds left.

Right. As a Career, her strategy was to reach the weapons, participate in a bloody fight and then agree to hunt down the rest of the individuals in a pack that would turn on her at any second.

There was a very likely possibility that she could die in the initial fight over the supplies, something she hadn't quite thought about before until now.

A little late for that, she thought to herself, the touch of morbid humor from Mikuo flashing in for an appearance.

Her goals were the spears, the ones near the center of the pile of the provided supplies. From where she stood, Miku could see a very nice-looking pair of spears that looked sturdy enough to be used as a pole arm. She wasn't sure about the weight, but the metallic pole looked like a promisingly light material.

Thirty-two seconds.

She could run fast. Her life depended on it. By the time anyone else was at their weapons, she'd have a way to defend herself.

That seemed like a good enough plan. She was sure she'd see flaws in it once she was in the situation, but as of now there really was nothing else. Besides, this was what her mentors had encouraged.

Miku twisted her ring and waited.

Twenty-two. Twenty-one. Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen.

Miku nearly jumped out of her spot at the loud explosion. At the last possible moment, she swayed and stumbled in one spot, saving herself from following the fate of the tribute who had triggered the mine under their spot. Was it an accident, or suicide?

The smoke cleared, and Miku tried to not focus on the parts of the tribute's body strewn around. A splat very nearly made her shudder. Who was the one that had died?

She could have found out if she had a bit more time.

Three. Two. One.

The gong that symbolized the start of the games struck, and simultaneously the arena's sky blazed a fiery orange once before returning to its former artificially created blue.

Miku ran. The animal in her was howling, screaming in the basic instruction of run, move, survive and live. She followed that like it was holy script.

Mosh and Luna had just reached the pile a split second before her, and they were quickly grabbing their choice of weapons. Mosh, rather predictably, chose a double-handed sword and spun around, an arrogant smirk on his face while Luna slunk back behind her district partner, clever fingers choosing out knives and holding them in an almost casual way, ready to throw.

She had to be good.

Miku grabbed her spear and found it to be as light as she had imagined it, much to her pleasure. She quickly spun around, keeping her back to the pile where it had a smaller chance of being stabbed.

And then from there, she let her animal take control. No human Miku, squeamish and used to being in training, not actual life-and-death situations. The animal wanted to survive and actually acted on those urges for life. She swung her pole arm at the girl from Voctro who was coming at her with a poorly-held knife, slashing her neck with the point of her spear before her opponent could get too close. The brown-skinned girl crumpled on her knees to the ground, hands reaching for her throat and making actual glugging sounds that were only drowned out in the total cacophony of screams and yells.

Miku stared. There had been resistance, like the spear's point had sunk into a wad of, of, something thick and dense like dough –

Or meat.

She nearly threw up at the thought.

Screams all around were abruptly cut off, never to be continued again, and several fireworks went off. She wasn't sure which one had been fired for the girl lying dead at her feet.

"Luna!"

Miku looked up, away from the girl she had killed – she was ordered to, it was something she was supposed to do, don't be human be an animal, a beast, survive, it wasn't her fault that she had killed – and instinctively leapt back. Luna was directly fighting with the girl from Kioon who was swinging an axe like it was nothing but a thin willow branch in her hands.

She had to fight to swallow when she saw that Luna's right arm was nothing but a messy shred of skin, blood and – much to her horror – a few flashes of bone. Her body was covered with shallow and medium deep gashes, her left hand was too busy trying to stop the bleeding to properly hold a knife and her balance was severely off due to her inability to use both her arms for balance.

In short, Luna was in trouble.

Mosh was fighting off Bruno, who was pummeling back blindly with a thick wooden baton. The sword's blade stuck in the tough wood, never fully cutting through, and in those times both boys wrestled for control over each other's weapon. It had been he who had called Luna's name, and he constantly glanced her way, checking that she was alright.

Miku glanced around. No one else was in the clearing except the bodies of the dead and the people she were currently in an alliance with. She could afford to help Luna. That could possibly influence the girl's opinion of her and make her chances of living a little higher.

On the other hand the girl had already all but lost her forearm. Even if she helped there could only be one winner in the end, and Luna wasn't the type to be a martyr or a sacrifice for a life debt.

The Kioon tribute – Mayu, right, that was her name – was laughing. "Come on, come on, come on!" she giggled maniacally. "Can't you do better? I thought you were from Yamaha! Yamaha, Yamaha, Yamaha . . . such a pretty name! Come on, come at me! Or are you just too . . ." laughter spurted out of her mouth as she swung that axe with brutal force. Luna could barely dodge this one again, and she tripped. "Are you just too 'armless?" Mayu cackled at the pun.

Miku pretended to search the girl she had killed, avoiding the glassy eyes that seemed like they were following her, impossible as it should have been. It gave her an excuse to remain at the side and not step in. Mosh finally began using the flat side of his sword to bat at Bruno after having learnt that the sharp side stuck in the club.

Galaco flounced over to her. "So," she said, a whip coiled around her wrist and a dagger stuck in her belt next to a baton, "your first kill."

"Yeah," Miku didn't want to talk about it. Out of an excuse to hold back help, she began to circle the two fighting pairs, spear in hand, trying to find a place where she could stab and make a difference. Bruno, however, was aware of her goal and turned to cover his back. The blonde on the other hand batted at her with her axe. Miku stepped back, trying to be wary and cautious.

In that second Mayu swung down at Luna's leg and the blade made contact with flesh before the velocity carried through. The tribute screamed at losing another limb. Like her arm, it now hung on broken bones, tendons, ripped flesh and muscles, all covered in blood. Her strength was definitely failing.

Mosh finally caught a break in the middle of his battle and sliced the major veins on Bruno's throat. The dark-skinned boy fell, but not before landing a hard and fast hit with his club on Mosh's undefended ribs, making the Yamaha tribute yell out in furious pain. The sound of more fireworks joined in just as the blood that spurted out of Bruno's cut throat fell to the ground like red, warm rain.

Quickly, Mosh turned and went after Mayu in a fast limp, but it was too late. Mayu's swing stuck into Luna's neck. A second like that passed before Mayu forcibly pulled the blade out, getting splashed with her blood. Luna's body fell to the ground just as coloured sparks went off in a flower above.

She'd never think that fireworks were pretty ever again. Miku stopped her façade of usefulness and inched back to Galaco's side.

Galaco shrugged. "The initial bloodshed is a free-for-all," she said aloud quietly.

Before Mosh could even strike at Mayu she threw the axe with deadly accuracy. The point struck and quivered in his chest, deeply embedded diagonally across the top part of his torso. With a yell, Mosh dropped to the ground, twitching and groaning in pain.

Mayu grabbed another axe and turned, ready to move onto other victims, but screamed in pain herself when a throwing star punctured her eye. She dropped the new axe and continued to scream in pain, clutching at the eye and the still-present star.

Miku felt sick.

Another star soon buried its deadly point in her chest, putting an end to her life just as Mosh expired as well. Two fireworks coloured with the particular shade representing their districts were shot up almost immediately.

~B-L-A-Z-E~

After the bloodshed the hovercrafts came to remove the bodies. Later on in the games the hovercrafts would come as soon as the fireworks were fired in order to prevent live cannibalism or acts of necrophilia, but no one wanted to see hovercrafts drop in and out during the first fight. Once the hovercrafts flew away and left them be, the Alliance of the Ninety-Ninth Blaze Games gathered and picked at their favourite weapons and supplies. There was Galaco, Moke, Rinto and Gumiya. And herself, of course. She couldn't forget to count herself in.

The original number agreed upon by mentors and half-reluctant tributes had been seven. Both tributes from Yamaha dead within the first day, during the initial struggle over supplies? That had to be a first.

"Let's rest for now," Moke suggested, brushing his black hair out of his eyes. "We've got night vision goggles. If we split ourselves into two groups, we can protect our supplies and hunt down any idiots at night when they're most vulnerable."

His words were wrapped in a pretty voice, but that didn't change the fact that the meanings were harsh and cold. Appearances were truly deceiving. This fragile-looking boy who could have been prettier than her had been the one to hit Mayu with the throwing stars. Had he hit her eye in a painful accident? Or had that been a demonstration of his aim?

He had range. She didn't. That gave him an advantage over her.

Her rest was unrestful. She leaned against a crate of heavy materials and stared aimlessly into the artificial skies uselessly hoping to find a shooting star of some sort.

When the sun set the night vision goggles were distributed and their numbers were split. She and Moke were to stay behind and guard the supplies while Rinto, Gumiya and Galaco were to hunt down other tributes.

Rinto objected. "Those two will turn on me," he snapped, pointing an accusatory finger to the Internet tributes.

Galaco giggled silently into her palm, not helping her case in the slightest, while Gumiya blinked and stayed silent.

And so, Galaco was to stay behind with Miku while the boys went to kill strays running around. The party disappeared into the forest of cedar and pine and other trees she couldn't identify just as the anthem and the death announcements went off.

The blonde offered to take the first shift. "You look like you could use some sleep," she said almost kindly, pulling out a sleeping bag and offering it to her.

She wasn't supposed to trust anyone. Anyone.

But Galaco was right; she was tired. And it was stupid to turn against an ally in the beginning of the games, right?

Mumbling thanks, she dragged it over to inside the Cornucopia with her spear in the unlikely case of an attack and curled up inside the warm sleeping bag. And then, she hesitated.

Were their cameras in here? Not likely – in the previous games she'd seen there had never once been a view from inside the Cornucopia itself – but still.

Knowing that she'd regret it when it became hopelessly tangled, Miku reached up to untie her hair. Once that was done, she let it rest over her face in a curtain.

If she cried in her sleep at least no one would be able to see it.

That done, she waited to fall asleep, but the image of the girl she had killed earlier on kept returning to her mind. What was it about her that haunted Miku? Was it how her spear's point had gone through resistance in cutting through her arteries? Was it watching her go down? Was it because she was her first kill?

Sleep refused to come until she realized the answer, and when she did the horror nearly prevented her from falling asleep.

It had been so easy to kill a person.

But only nearly. The tiredness won and eventually she was unconscious.

AN: So finally, after 24k+ words and six chapters the games start.

Oooh look at that it's been exactly a year since this thing was published. Explains why I had the urge to update today.