Day 13
Caroline barley slept the night before, and she knew for a fact that Stefan didn't sleep at all. The morning light couldn't have been more welcomed, it chases away the figures in the dark that demand to be known.
Caroline looks over at Stefan, he is lying still, staring at the wall of the cave they rested in last night. When Mary, the Salvatores' mom, died, Caroline remembered that Damon retreated into himself and Stefan became numb for a little bit before going through the stages of grief. Caroline sighs, she hates to admit this but Stefan being numb is better than him being in denial. It was heartbreaking to watch him say he'll ask his mom or call for her and then realization flicker across his face. Caroline wasn't ready for it then and she isn't ready for it now, but at least then Stefan had Damon and to an extent his dad, now they are all alone.
Caroline sits up and runs her left hand through her messy tangles, she just wants to go home. She made a promise though, one to help her best friend go home, one that means she will never see District 4 again. Caroline stands and gathers all of her stuff for the day, she then moves to Stefan and places a hand on his shoulder. Stefan doesn't react, he just lays staring at the wall as if it has the answers to all his questions.
"Stefan," Caroline breathes. The sentence hangs in silence, neither having the words to explain the pain they are in.
Stefan sits up and grabs his stuff, dark bags hang under his usually vibrant forest eyes. His eyes collide with Caroline, and Caroline breaks at the sight of his eyes, they plead for her to make the pain end. Caroline grabs his hand in hers and laces their fingers together, she wants to express to him that he is not alone and she will be here for as long as she can. She knows if she speaks she will break down, and she can't be selfish in the moment Stefan needs her.
Caroline tugs Stefan's hand and leads them out of the cave, out of the last place Stefan held Elena in his arms and poured his heart out to her.
Soon Stefan takes the lead, more comfortable with the dangerous environment then Caroline who has been beaten down by it too much. Caroline lets Stefan lead them wherever he wants, not really paying attention.
Soon enough Caroline realizes where they are going and she feels fear course through her, she grabs onto Stefan's right forearm and tugs him a little until he stops. He looks at her, and his eyes are no longer empty but instead filled with an emotion foreign to them, anger.
Caroline shakes her head and digs her nails into his arm, not caring if it hurts, "You can't kill him."
Stefan rips his arm away and breaths deeply in before answering, "He killed Elton, Elena, and others. He deserves to die."
"Don't." Caroline points a finger at him, "Don't you dare use them as an excuse. Elena wouldn't want you killing in her name. So don't pretend this is for them, this is for you. You think that by killing him you will feel better, but you will only feel worse."
Caroline takes in Stefan's face, she knows he's breaking. "You know this, you've killed before and it took part of you. This will take a piece of you, and right now you aren't in the right state to lose another piece. I can't lose you too." the last sentence is barely above a breath, but Stefan hears it.
Stefan nods, Caroline can tell he hasn't let all of his hate go yet, but he listened to her. "He has to die eventually." Stefan says, not looking at her.
Caroline agrees, "But not at the expense of you, let's wait a little. Maybe Lennon will kill him." Caroline knows that's highly unlikely, but she doesn't want Stefan to kill anymore, and she doesn't care if that means she has to kill every other tribute including herself to do it.
Stefan nods, though his eyes tell a different story. For now Stefan won't seek out Crosby, for Caroline. Caroline knows this is the best she will get out of him for now, so instead of pushing the issue forward she just nods her head. Stefan starts back up, this time leading them to the top of the waterfall, a place Caroline hasn't been since she's killed.
Caroline reaches out and places a hand on Stefan's shoulder, "Let's no go up so high, we don't want anyone to see us."
Stefan turns around, he knows somethings up, "But with the elevation, we have the advantage."
Caroline shakes her head know, the truth on the tip of her tongue. Stefan can handle the weight of this burden, and possibly lessen it with empathy, but she doesn't want to burden him further nor let go of the pain. "Okay." Caroline concedes. After all, it is the logical choice.
The hike is long, they take a few short breaks to fill up on their dwindling food.
They hear the roaring water long before they see it, and Caroline can tell the rain has strengthen the water even more. The moment they see the top, Caroline's eyes zero in on the spot Thorn laid in her blood. The body is gone, but the blood remains, staining the ground a rusty brown color. Caroline feels the blood rush out of Thorn's neck and over her hands, she sees the light of life slowly dim until darkness is left. Panic begins to rise in her chest and Caroline feels the need to wash the blood off of her hands, the blood that will forever stain her soul.
Stefan doesn't notice Caroline's reaction, he is to busy filling the bottle up. Caroline can't tell if the noise in her ears is from the water or a rush of blood, but she can't make out the words that come out of Stefan's moving lips.
Stefan looks over his shoulder at Caroline when she doesn't respond, he sees her eyes focused on something in the distance and follows them to the ground. He doesn't know what's wrong, but it's making Caroline silent.
Stefan swiftly stands up and walks over to her, he places a firm grip on her shoulder and shakes her, "Care?"
Caroline drags her sky eyes away from the scene and looks into Stefan's concerned eyes. His brow is creased with worry, and his eyes are full of worry with a hint of the pain he is pushing away. Caroline slowly nods, "Yeah?"
Stefan squeezes her shoulder, "You left for a minute? Is everything okay?"
Caroline's head goes up and down on it's own accord, she doesn't have it in her to speak knowing the dam will break and everything will spill over and drown Stefan. He doesn't seem to believe her, but doesn't push any further.
"Let's find some food and then make camp." He states.
Caroline eagerly jumps into action, anything to get her out of her head. She collects wood and looks for edible plants, and Stefan tries his best to fish away from the waterfall. Both meet up a while later with meager supplies, but enough to get them through the night.
Caroline starts the fire as Stefan prepares the food; they are far away from the place Thorn took her last breath but Caroline doesn't feel right about staying here. Stefan doesn't understand since Caroline has yet to give him an explanation.
"I'll keep guard first." Caroline offers, knowing she won't get much sleep tonight. Stefan looks at her, with the same thought in his head, and nods. Both of them have too much fear to close their eyes and let their demons remind them they are monsters.
Day 14
Neither of them get much sleep, if any, the night before. The sunlight is almost welcome; it gives them reason to move in order to distract them from the pain that drowns them. They work quietly to pack up their camp and erase any trace of their existence. Even though only four remain, half of which are standing at the erased campsite, fear still surrounds the arena in a heavy aurora.
Caroline doesn't know what they need to do today, they have food and are relatively safe with each other, but something needs to be done or else their monsters will kill them.
Caroline did not wake Stefan to keep guard last night; not that he was asleep anyway, but he is suspicious. Stefan keeps glancing at Caroline as they make their way from the top of the waterfall, and with each step she relaxes slightly.
Stefan opens his mouth, afraid to shatter the earsplitting silence, but he wants to help her, "What happened?"
One look at Stefan, and Caroline knows exactly what he's asking. Neither of them talked about what they've done to survive, not ready to say what happened, but Caroline knows the end is near and if she doesn't speak now she will never get a chance to.
She takes one deep breath, feeling the air enter her nose and travel to her lungs that push her ribs out, and then the breath leaves and her lungs hug to her body, once the air has left her she speaks with a new breath, "I killed Thorn up their. I-" Caroline stops to compose herself, feeling her knuckles tighten in a fist, "I went up there to find you, following the path I though we were on earlier, and Thorn ambushed me. We fell into a mess of limbs, trying to survive. Thanks to the time spent preparing for this, I was able to get the upper hand. I took the knife, and-" Caroline pauses, struggling to voice what has yet to pass her lips.
Stefan nods, and reaches out a hand to wipe the tears Caroline didn't know were falling. "It's okay, you don't need to say anything else." Stefan gets it, Caroline knows he does, but she has to say the rest.
"And I took the knife and stabbed her in the throat with it, then a pulled it out and her blood spilled and her life ended. I took her life Stefan, and my soul will forever be scarred because of it." Caroline says.
Stefan reaches out to comfort her, but Caroline's not done and pushes him away. "I ran as fast as I could to the lake, pushing past the physical pain to cure my afflicted soul. I washed, scrubbed the blood off of me. I fell asleep next to the lake, out in the open with a fire, I wanted to someone to come find me and take my life, just like I took Thorn's. But instead," Caroline prepares herself for what she's about to say, "Elena woke me up and I strangled her. I wrapped my fingers around her throat and kept the air from her lungs. I would have killed her if Elton," Caroline stops, trying to push the panic at the thought of the people that became her family in such a short time, "Elton didn't snap me out of my panic and made me realize what I was doing."
Caroline's eyes have been downcast throughout her confession, she didn't want to see what Stefan would do with the information presented, but Stefan watched her the whole time. Caroline slowly moves her gaze from the ground to a pair of familiar forest greens eyes she has been looking into her since as far back as she can remember, all she finds is empathy. There is some pain where Elena's and Elton's death have carved a hole, but Stefan knows exactly what Caroline is going through.
"I killed the boy from District 12, not Klaus." Stefan admits.
Caroline is slightly shocked, but doesn't interrupt.
Stefan's grounds himself in Caroline's sky blue eyes, knowing that if he doesn't his voice will fly away, "We stumbled upon them and Klaus wanted Crosby and I to kill them to prove we could. Crosby argued that we killed at the cornucopia earlier, but Klaus argued that was kill or be killed, and this was the only way to show we had it in us. To kill these two kids in cold blood, Crosby argued that they would be dead soon enough without food or water and exposed to the elements, but Klaus wouldn't have that."
Stefan's eyes may be locked with Caroline's but they aren't looking at her anymore, caught up in the dread of what happened.
"I decided to just do it, in the most painless way possible, I owed them that. I walked up to the boy, and offered him a smile, which he fearfully returned. I helped him stand and stood behind him, my right hand wrapped around the sword Klaus gave me and left on his back. I began to talk to him, about nothing in particular, but he relaxed as he starred off in the distance. I moved the sword for the kill, but the girl screamed in warning and the boy jerked forward so the sword cut his arm instead; clean off from the force of his body moving and my stroke. The boy began crying, screaming as his body poured blood and he fell to his knees. He begged me not to kill him, but I did. I slit his throat. The girl probably would have cried out if Crosby didn't kill her while she was distracted. The boy's body faced his arm and his empty eyes stared at me as the cannon went off. I rearranged his arm so that it appeared to be attached to his body, knowing his family was watching. Then we left, Klaus seemed satisfied by what we done, but Crosby and I were disgusted."
Stefan's eyes focus back on Caroline's, "This is when I decided to kill him, I knew that he felt no compassion and wouldn't think twice about stabbing us in the back. He wouldn't give us a chance to live, and probably would take pleasure in our drawn out deaths. His face when the boys arm was severed," Stefan shivers from the thought.
"He didn't look disturbed, disgusted, or afraid, he looked overjoyed. I had to kill him." Stefan's eyes plead with Caroline, he needs her to understand that he is not a monster, he did what he thought he had to.
She nods her head, it's enough for Stefan. He sags into himself a little, before his eyes darken, "And do you know the worst part?" He asks, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
Caroline is slightly confused, but she nods for him to go on.
Stefan swallows, his Adam's apple bobs up and down, "It felt good to kill him, to rid the world of a tormentor."
Stefan stands straight, with his back to Caroline, waiting for her response. She doesn't know how to react, she doesn't understand, can't understand, it never felt good to kill someone. The deaths just weighed her soul down. But Stefan needs some comfort, and Caroline knows it in her bones that he is a kind soul. Caroline takes a step forward and places a hand on his shoulder, Stefan is stiff from the stress of what he just revealed. "I don't understand." Caroline starts, and Stefan draws into himself, but Caroline pulls him out, "But I know who you are, and I trust you with my life. You are a good person Stefan, like the best person I have ever come across." She rubs his shoulder with small soothing circles.
Stefan stares off ahead, his green eyes focused on the horizon, but they aren't looking at anything. He feels simultaneously free and like he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. His confession makes him feel light, but voicing it makes him feel heavy with shame and guilt.
Day 15
Caroline wakes up with a terrible feeling in her stomach; something's not right, but she doesn't know what it is. As Caroline gets ready for the day, the feeling doesn't go away, and her heart beats frantically for no apparent reason. Stefan is up and quietly doing what he needs to, Caroline hasn't voiced her concern because she doesn't want him to worry.
Stefan notices her frantic movements, and lack of appetite. He wants to ask her what's wrong, but he chalks it up as grief. Stefan understands, he hasn't been himself lately with the loss of Elena and Elton; his heart clenches at the sound of their names and anger floods his veins.
Both of them are quiet as they leave the cave, emotions drown out their voices. They have no destination in mind, just a need to escape their inner demons through something challenging.
They stop by the riverside, near the place Caroline saw Stefan when they first reunited. Caroline moves to feel up their water, when the world spins. She lands on her back, the air leaving her lungs, and the bottle flies from her grip into the stream.
Caroline takes a moment to catch her breath. Once she finds her bearings, she turns to her side and finds Crosby stabbing Stefan through the chest.
Caroline is on her feet before her next heartbeat. She begins sprinting toward Crosby as he pulls his sword from Stefan's chest. Caroline watches as Stefan's body falls to the ground, in slow motion. The moment his body hits the ground, the world speeds up and Caroline is jumping on Crosby.
She noticed a few deep cuts, probably from Stefan, they aren't fatal but it will hurt and slow him down.
Caroline collides with with Crosby a moment later. Crosby drops the sword to throw her off of him, the pain from the fall doesn't even register.
"Caroline, I don't want to kill you." Crosby says as he takes a defensive stance.
What he doesn't know is she is a girl with nothing else to lose, while he has everything. Caroline moves in for the attack, she knows his fighting style from their hours of training together. Crosby knows hers as well, but right now there is no logic to Caroline's madness; she is just fighting blindly, fueled by rage.
Crosby deflects, not up to his usual speed, his injuries are already taking their toll. "You don't understand, he was a traitor."
Caroline hits him, blood dripping from her knuckles, Crosby deflects again, "He killed Klaus, destroyed our agreement. He stabbed him while he was sleeping, defenseless." "
Look for weakness Finnick's voice whispers, another lesson, exploit it. Finnick's voice runs through her head, and Caroline notices Crosby is slowing, weakening from his injuries, favoring his left arm over the right. She moves in for the kill, and grabs his injured arm causing him to scream out in pain. She then incapacitates him and snaps his neck. His cannon sounds as her head snaps to Stefan's chest; it is rising an falling, with much effort. He's fading fast, and Caroline knows it wont be long now.
Caroline leaves Crosby and falls next to Stefan, pressing her hands over the hole of his chest. Stefan is fading in and out of consciousness, but his greens eyes focus on Caroline.
Caroline smiles, despite the tears that are silently cutting her open. "You were suppose to make it out."
He's fading fast, Caroline sniffles before continuing, "I killed for you, and was going to die for you."
His green eyes shine with love, and his mouth tries to say them, Caroline shushes him, "I know. You are my brother, and I know you love me just as much as I love you."
Rain starts to make it's descent to the Earth.
"I'm going to miss you so much, but I love you. Find peace, my brother." Caroline says.
Stefan's forest green eyes shine with love and peace during the last moment they shine with life. All to soon his eyes close for the last time, and Caroline will never get to see his eyes that reflect the forest on a cool summer morning, eyes that hold so much compassion and kindness. For as long as Caroline can remember, Stefan's eyes reflected home, and now she can never have that feeling again.
Caroline falls onto Stefan's chest, feeling his blood seep into her hair and clothes. She lies next to him, holding his lifeless body as the rain pours down. Caroline sobs into Stefan's chest, knowing this will be the last time she will ever be able to hold him.
At least now she knows he will find peace with his mother, Elena, Elton, and all the others that are waiting for him on the other side.
A/N I guess we all know the winner won't be Stefan. Sorry for those of you who were rooting for him. Good news, my semester is done! I won't be back at college for a few weeks! I still have work, but I will have more time to write.
I only read this over once, so it's probably riddled with errors, but I do hope you like it!
Thank you for reading!
FANNtasY - Thank you so much for reading! I hope this wasn't to big of a surprise :)
Loveklaroline - I'm glad you think Caroline is similar to how she is on the show, I didn't want to deviate from the show. There was death less in this chapter, only Stefan and Crosby, but they may have a bigger impact. Down to the final two, Lennon and Caroline. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter, and thank you for all of your reviews, they mean the world to me! Until next time!
littlemsstrawberry - Thank you for reviewing, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!