The sky is beginning to darken already, even though the sun was just rising not too long ago. Scorpius and I have trudged through the woods in silence, listening for any sign of human life. So far, we haven't found any. The only sound is the leaves wrinkling under our footsteps and the birds singing in wake of the rain last night.
Suddenly, a boom resounds across the arena, and a man starts to speak, "Attention tributes, head to the Cornucopia immediately. Your valiant efforts to stay alive have been noted, but this ending has been put off long enough."
Scorpius frowns and turns to look at me. But I'm already starting to walk towards the Cornucopia, eager for this day, this life in the arena to be over with. Scorpius grabs my hand, and pulls me to a stop.
Wordlessly, he hands me a sack of arrows and I sling it onto my back. He secures a holster around my hips, then places multiple knifes into the open spaces. Lastly, he hands me a bow, and I hold onto it with steady hands.
"Now you're ready," He says softly.
As he turns to walk away from me, I grab his hand. Our skin touches for a brief second, but suddenly he turns back towards me and his lips are consuming me. He kisses me passionately, and I savor the taste of his lips. What if this is the last time I get to kiss him? I tangle my fingers in his hair, and tears start to burn the back of my throat. I don't want this to be the last time I kiss him. I want many more moments like this, I want a lifetime of this.
The thought saddens me, but it revives me as well. He pulls away and opens his mouth to speak, but I press my lips against his once more. I pull away after a moment and say, "I know, and I feel the exact same way."
He holds me for a second before he speaks, "I'll always be with you Lily, physically or in spirit, I'll never leave you."
I shake my head and try to swallow the tears that are burning my throat. I wonder if any of the other tributes felt this way about someone. There had to be loved ones they left behind. The thought leaves an unsavory taste in my mouth, and I bury my face in Scorpius' chest.
"I'm never letting you go," I tell him.
But all too soon, I have to do exactly that. We trudge through the trees, this time heading towards the Cornucopia. Scorpius touches me throughout the entire journey, our hands brushing against each other, holding each other, and once he even places his hand on the small of my back and guides me through the trees. But no matter how hard we try, we can't fit a lifetime of touching into the amount of time it takes to reach the Cornucopia.
My heart is also trying to fit a lifetime of beats into this time. It races, pounding fast and hard. Maybe my heart knows that these are it's last few minutes left.
If Scorpius and I defeat Molly, and the gamemakers won't allow both of us to win, then I know what I have to do. Subconsciously, my hand twitches towards my knives that rest on my hips. In just a few short minutes I may have to plunge one of these straight through my heart. I swallow hard at the thought.
Maybe I'm the one that has to die, the thought occurs to me. I am the chosen one's daughter, my name carries a lot of meaning… Maybe I'm the martyr, the one who has to die so that everything is set in motion. Maybe my death will inspire the other districts to rebel, maybe it will spark courage in their hearts. Scorpius dying tonight wouldn't make sense. But my death? My death would make sense.
Finally, we reach the clearing. The Cornucopia is now in sight. This is where it ends, I remind myself. With Scorpius alive, I promise myself.
Molly is nowhere in sight. Scorpius and I check our surroundings once more before we start to walk towards the mouth of the Cornucopia. Scorpius doesn't hold my hand this time, instead both of our hands remain on our weapons. We step over bodies, and out of the corner of my eye I see Katie's. The flowers still cover her tiny frame, and the sight of her among all of these other children knocks the breath from my lungs. But I continue forward.
I keep my eyes up and stay focused on my surroundings. If this is some sort of ambush by Molly, then I need to be alert.
Then, Scorpius knocks me to the ground at the mouth of the Cornucopia. I struggle underneath him, but then I see an arrow land right where I was standing only seconds before. I look up, and see Molly. She's in the trees, with a homemade bow and a sack of arrows.
Scorpius is trying to shield me with his body, but I won't let him do this. Scrambling, I roll him off me and get to my feet. I yank him up quickly, watching as an arrows flies into his pack. He looks back, startled, and pushes me forward. I pull him with me, and don't stop pulling until we're protecting by the metal walls of the Cornucopia.
I turn around and he's holding his arm. Blood is seeping through his fingers, he has an arrow lodged in his arm.
"Scor," I breathe heavily. He pulls the arrow out of his arm slowly and throws it to the ground, "Are you okay?"
He nods. He wipes his bloody hand off on his leg and looks up. Molly will be here soon. I can already hear the sound of heavy footsteps rushing towards us, she has lost the element of surprise now. Scorpius slowly slides off his jacket and starts to make tourniquet for his arm.
I try to help him, but it's then that Molly reaches us. She throws herself at me, and the force of her impact sends us both flying into the metal of the Cornucopia. I absorb the blow with my head, and quickly my vision goes dark in some places and blurry in others. Scorpius grabs Molly and pulls her off of me as I lay crumpled on the ground. I take a deep breath, and feel warm sticky liquid dripping from my head down my cheeks.
As soon as my vision clears just enough, I slowly get to my feet. Molly is on top of Scorpius holding a knife over him, while he blocks her defenses the best he can and tries to get the upper hand. I run towards them and launch myself at Molly. I land on top of her on the grass.
"Stay away from him!" I scream at her.
My fist connects with her face, but she isn't too phased. She reaches up and grabs my neck, squeezing so hard I can barely breathe and black spots cloud my vision. I try to push her hands away, but all too soon my lungs are screaming for air and she isn't budging. I roll off her and try to stand up quickly, breaking her grip on my neck. But she's quicker than I am and not as injured. She grabs me by my hair and throws me back on the ground. The impact knocks the wind out of me, and I'm coughing violently as she sits on top of my stomach and raises her knife to my chest.
Quickly, I manage to block the would be deadly blow with my forearm. I grunt as she tries to raise her knife again, but thankfully I'm successful in blocking it this time as well. She grabs me by my hair again with her free hand and slams my head against the ground. I groan in pain, and use all my energy to knee her in the ribs. She gasps in pain, and I push my legs up and kick her off me.
I scramble to my feet, and that's when I hear it. There's a loud groan, and suddenly a tree is falling over. I dive out of it's path. Molly dives with me, and as soon as the tree lands I grab her by her hair and throw her against the wall of the Cornucopia. Her body makes a sickening crunch as she falls to the ground. Where has Scorpius been this entire time?
I look for him, and soon I see him. Scorpius is laying on his back, he's not moving. I rush to him and fall to my knees beside him. His chest is unmoving, and he's covered in blood. My eyes sweep over his body and I see a gaping wound at his chest. I cover my mouth with my hand, and watch his chest. But his chest never moves. He's gone. Maybe the tree hitting the ground masked the sound of his cannon. But he's gone.
I gasp and tears start burning the back of my throat. I had one job, to protect him. And I failed. Then, I'm being dragged backwards by my hair, and I know that I'm screaming his name. I scream it over and over, until Molly throws me back onto the cold concrete of the Cornucopia floor.
I feel a strange feeling in my chest. The fight has been sucked out of me. My head burns painfully, and soon Molly is in my line of vision. She sits on top of me, digging her knees into my ribs. Maybe I'll let her win, I think.
She raises her knife and looks at me as I make no move to fight back. She cocks her head as my limbs lie limp at my sides. "Aren't you going to fight back, Potter?"
I shake my head and look up at the ceiling of the Cornucopia. "You can have what you always wanted Molly, to kill me."
She shakes her head, "So you're just going to lie there? I have no choice but to kill you, that's what they want after all. That's what I've been raised for my whole life, just ask my father. I guess you've been raised your whole life to be a coward, just like your father."
I look at her. She's raising her knife again. My cousin is going to kill me. Blood doesn't equal family, but blood should never die by blood. Am I being a coward? Scorpius would want me to fight back, I remind myself. He would want me to win. He would want me to go home. One of us should go home. And if it can't be him, then I should go home and fight in his name. My family needs me to come home, they need me to fight back.
I raise my forearm at the very last possible second, blocking Molly's blow. The tip of her knife nicks my neck. I use my wrist to knock against her hand holding the knife, and with my forearm I quickly twist the knife out of her hand.
She's caught off guard, surprised. I knee her hard in her ribs, then kick her off of me. She hits the wall of the Cornucopia, harder than before this time. She falls to the ground with a scream.
I scramble to my feet, and I lift her up by her hair, exposing her neck. She stays limp, and I wonder if the blow broke her spine. She's still alive, and she's looking at me. Her dark eyes meet my green ones and I realize something. I don't want to do this. I don't want to kill Molly. Even after she carved her name into my skin, even after she killed Scorpius. I don't want to kill her.
"Please," She says quietly, and I'm not quite sure what she's begging for.
I know what I have to do, even if I don't want to do it. Blood shouldn't kill blood, but here I am. I shove the knife through the side of her neck, piercing her jugular. She lets out a gurgling sound, blood trickling from her mouth. Slowly, I set her down on the ground. I lean down, and pull the knife from her neck. She drops her head, and the final cannon sounds.
Thirty nine dead.
The ground begins to shudder, the Cornucopia is collapsing on itself like it always does at the end. I try to rush out of the Cornucopia, but black spots are clouding my vision and I'm incredibly weak. Suddenly, a chunk of metal from the ceiling of the Cornucopia falls down, and hits me square in the head. I fall down hard, landing on the soft grass. Where are the helicopters? My head is pounding and then everything fades into darkness.
