It's dark, so very dark, and even though she's being crushed in a mound of shifting bodies, she feels lost and alone. This is it. This is what she's been preparing for, all her life. This final moment. Only she never thought it would be like this. She'd imagined herself pushing past all the riffraff and rising as the only possible victor. And she'd imagined she'd do it all with her mum by her side.
But now she can't get out without the riffraff, and Mum…Mum's the enemy. Mum's the mean, evil one who'll stop at nothing to get her hands on what isn't hers. The whole world has tilted and, shivering slightly in the heaving, breathing darkness, she hates it.
She feels weary and upset and nervous and, above all, confused. It's like one of those nightmares where she's just falling falling falling, only she's awake, painfully so, and she no longer knows what's wrong or what's right. She wonders why she doesn't just collapse on the spot and burst into tears.
And then she remembers.
She's not the only scared one. She's not the only lost one. She's not the only one who's had everything familiar shaken up and torn apart.
She's not alone.
Without a second thought, she reaches into the darkness and takes her brother's hand.
So she doesn't forget.
A/N: I just read Into the Gauntlet and I loved it, especially how all the competitors seemed so…human. Natalie especially changed a lot. After all, she voluntarily held her brother's hand. That's a change if I ever saw one.