Day 16

The artificial sunshine momentarily pierces through the harsh grey clouds above, it's light shinning on Caroline. It's gone as soon as it arrived, but Caroline stirs from her restless sleep. She is laying on the very spot that left two tributes in the game. Caroline is alone, both Stefan and Crosby are gone. She is curled in the same spot she fell asleep, right next to Stefan's cold body, but he is no longer there. Any trace of his body, or Crosby's, is gone; there is no blood, no sign of fight, no fallen weapons. All that's left of Stefan is the dried blood that cakes Caroline.

Caroline reaches her arms out, as if to hug the figure that no longer lies there. She hands hover above where Stefan's stiff chest would have been, her fingers are stretches as far as they will go, yet there is nothing to reach for anymore. She lays there, her blonde hair dulled by the rusty blood that stole the life away from her brother.

The harsh clouds begin to let their torrent start as she opens her mouth, screaming, the cracking of her heart can be herd as she reaches for the body that is no longer next to her. The screams tear through the arena, letting any and all life know of her pain, but they also echo through the emptiness of her soul. Caroline's screams seem to last for hours, but not a moment later they vanished and are replaced with numbness.

Caroline slowly sits up and reaches her hand out to the spot Stefan last laid, it hovers over where his still heart would be. She doesn't remember falling asleep, nor does she remember anyone coming to pick up the bodies. She slowly begins to realize the Capitol stole Stefan from her, and she wasn't ready to let go. Steel fills her veins, and Caroline knows that she has to get out of here alive if she ever wants revenge.

Tears begin to angrily flow out of her as she stands on shaky legs.

The rain that started when Stefan's heart stopped, stopping when the Capitol willed it, now it's begun again with new anger, and the river is overfilling. The land is deadly, the water ripping through the rocks and making the feet slip easier, but Caroline is too determined to give up.

As her tears mix with the rain, Caroline begins to physically prepare for Lennon. She lost their, her she reminds herself, bottle. She eats the remainder of their food and drinks directly from the stream, rationalizing that it won't matter weather its' clean or not, because at the end of the day she will either be dead or receiving care from the Capitol.

Caroline has no weapons, but she knows she doesn't need any, the land itself became one with the transformation the Capitol brought. Caroline begins her trek back to the top to the waterfall, where she will wait for Lennon. Lennon must know that they are the only two left, and Caroline suspects that she will come find her. After all, Caroline has been the underdog throughout the games.

Once there, Caroline builds the largest fire the weather will permit under a rock with a overhang, placing whatever foliage laced with water she could find, over the fire to create smoke. She sits by the bank and waits.

Patience was never Caroline's thing, she was always a busy body, throwing herself into whatever project she could. It only got worse once her dad left and her mother, never the social one, became even more recluse. Elizabeth Forbes was always working, and to avoid her emotions she would work even more, and the apple never falls from the tree. Caroline threw herself into any and all projects she could find when her father left, trying to show the world how fine she was, when in reality she was begging for people to see her and pay her any attention. If it wasn't for her close connection to the Salvatores, her family bond with them, she probably would have lost herself and became someone she is not.

Caroline sits on the bank of the river, the waster rushing past, thinking about all that she has lost and what she will face when she gets back.

Finnick will understand. And that would be okay.

Alaric would try to understand, but he would be too broken after losing Stefan. She would see it in every glass he drowned.

Bonnie would be the best, she would be supportive and empathetic. Caroline knew that the future held a lot of dreary days for her, ones full of so much grief that she will want to end it. But Bonnie will be there the whole way, mourning with her and helping her out in any and every way possible. It will be the best thing for Caroline, except she doesn't believe she deserves that after breaking her promise and failing to get Stefan home to 4.

Elizabeth Forbes, the women who Caroline calls mother, will have already mourned the death of her daughter. Caroline's return would be a surprise, one that would throw Elizabeth off kilter and she would ignore Caroline and return to her never ending work. Caroline may get a hug upon her return, but then her mother would put her on the back burner and focus on what's important, not noticing the cracks in Caroline's armor.

Tyler could never handle a crying Caroline, he got better after their years together, but he always tried to take the pain away when all she needed was for him to hold her and let her cry. Emotions is something he can't handle, and he would try, try so hard that Caroline would end up helping him. She loves Tyler, but she can't do that to him.

Damon, now Damon would be the worst. He was Caroline's protector and tormentor, her older brother in every sense of the word except blood. She loves him with all her heart, and knows that he feels to deeply. Damon will be broken, after his mother died all he had left was Stefan. Now Stefan, both Damon and Caroline's savior, is lost to them until death. She wouldn't be surprised if he shunned her after spitting vile words. She can't handle that, can't handle losing both him and Stefan, and the worse part will be that he will be there but she can't do anything about it. Caroline can't make Damon choose between her and Stefan, knowing she won't like that choice.

Caroline knows the selfless thing would be to die here, so the people back home would only have to mourn her instead of mourn with her. They would try to put back the pieces of a broken Caroline Forbes, but some of the pieces are with Stefan. But Caroline has always been a selfish creature.

Lennon shows up within an hour, ready to fight with a branch that she sharpened into a spear. Caroline stands, with her back to the river, readying for whatever Lennon may do.

"I just want to go home." Lennon says, a slight whine to her voice.

Caroline was not expecting that, from what she has gathered Lennon is strong. But the girl in front of Caroline isn't a strong force, she's just a scared little girl that has been through to much and now just wants to go home.

Caroline wants to offer her a small smile, some sort of comfort, but she knows the only comfort the girl will ever get is death.

All to soon, yet not soon enough, Lennon goes back to the warrior Caroline knew her to be.

Lennon attacks with the crude spear, but Caroline deflects. The spear goes flying, and Lennon briefly turns to watch it. Caroline uses her momentum to throw Lennon in the river that leads to the waterfall. Lennon grabs Caroline's arm and Caroline only reaches the cold water a heartbeat after Lennon.

The temperature takes her breath away, and the water leaves her in a vortex of bubbles that are racing to the waterfall. Caroline knows its no use to fight the current, and prepares for the fall.

Gravity is soon showing her how powerful the force she experiences everyday is, and Caroline is falling with the water. Lennon must hit the water below first, Caroline strains to hear the splash, but then she too is diving deep. Caroline opens her eyes and sees Lennon, the girl is widely thrashing around.

Caroline makes her body like a torpedo and is soon crashing into Lennon, where she begins to push the girl down into the depths. Lennon realizes whats going on and pulls Caroline down with her. Caroline bets that she can hold her breath longer, despite the protest her lungs are screaming. After all, Caroline learned to swim before she learned to walk.

Lennon's hands move from her throat and to Caroline's hands that are holding her down, and she begins scratching at them, drawing blood. Caroline can feel Lennon growing weaker, as she to feels her muscles become heavy and weak. Black dots are flying in Caroline's vision, and her eyelids are becoming to heavy for her to keep open.

A cannon makes a muffled noise through the water, and Caroline tries to blink the black dots and fuzzy vision away, but it's to no avail. She tries to swim up, but Lennon's hands still encircle her wrists where they were trying to break free, and now Caroline is stuck.

Her lungs are screaming for her to let go, she becomes heavy with the lack of oxygen, and the world is darkening.

She lets go and loses consciousness.

Caroline feels the sensation of someone skimming their fingers over her forearm, causing the hairs to stand on end from the feeling. Caroline slowly pries her eye lids apart, and finds Finnick Odair sitting next to her bed rubbing his index, middle, and ring finger up and down the stretch of the scar that she gave herself, his pinky hovers over it and his thumb is relaxed and curled toward his palm.

Finnick sense her the moment she slowly gains consciousness, but leaves her be as she blinks languidly to adjust to the lights.

When Caroline stretches her body, trying to wake up, Finnick drops his hands and looks at her. His eyes eyes are steely grey with dark blues swirling in them.

"Welcome back." Finnick says.

A/N Sorry for the late update, I've been swamped with school and work. This chapter is unedited, I was in a rush to post it. Please let me know if I made any glaring errors and I will go back and fix them.

This is the last chapter of the book, I could continue on under the name of A Drop in the Ocean or create a new story to continue on. Please let me know what will be most convenient for you. I'm working on a name for the sequel, if you have any recommendations please let me know! The sequel will not be posted for another month, by then school and work will have settled down, hopefully.

Loveklaroline: You are the best! Thank you for all of your reviews, and letting me know when I haven't updated recently. Don't ever worry about pushing me, you are never a bother! I wish you had an account so I could have let you know that I was too busy to write. My final week of my last semester was great, I then had a few weeks of work, and now I'm back into school. Thank you so much for your first review on chapter 10, it's nice to know that I'm not straying to far from the characters. As for Stefan, he may be dead but he is far from gone. Stefan lives on in the people who love him, and his memory will be a strong factor in the sequel. I'm so sorry for the long wait, life just got so busy that I didn't notice the time pass. Thank you for reminding me. Until next time!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favored, followed, and read this story, it means the world to me!

Now I'm going to leave you with this quote to chew on:

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."- Isak Dinesen