Disclaimer: I own very little and am not making money off of this.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Never Alone

"How've you been?" I asked, though I was still walking slowly back toward the celebration.

"Absolutely horrible," She said dryly, looking right at me with blank eyes.

I remember her being pale before, but now she looked even worse. Her hair appeared as though it had been dyed once or twice, but it was very strewn and disheveled. She came closer to me as I tried to keep on walking.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Wren, but-" I tried explaining to her where I needed to be, but I ran into someone. I looked to see that it was one of the bulky girls from the academy who had a pretty face, but an absolutely killer swing. I stepped back.

"I'm sorry, Savera, but I can't let you go back," Wren said, her voice monotone.

I narrowed my eyes at her as I took several steps back, seeing more of the trainees from the academy gathering around me. I couldn't have been more baffled by what had happened.

"You see, Savera, you left me alone with a group of vicious, relentless people. They gave me two options: be killed or kill. You see no one expected you to actually win; in fact, you were supposed to be fresh meat for the others. People around here think you may have some strings to the inside of the Capitol. We want to see if you can really earn your title," She told me as they came in closer. I swallowed for this was not a fair match up.

"Wren, you would do this to your friend? After all we suffered through?' I asked, looking straight at her.

"That was before you were reaped and then proceeded to win. It was hell here, Savera."

"So, if you can't beat them….join them?" I asked, looking straight into her unblinking eyes.

"In an essence, yes," She said simply. "Don't think I came to this conclusion overnight. It was many days of going home with gashes so deep they bled and bruises that may never go away."

I bit down on my lip, angrier than ever at her. I didn't understand for I was not in her shoes, but I couldn't help but feel a deep tinge of betrayal.

"You plan on killing me then?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Something along those lines," Another girl added, cracking her knuckles.

"You realize that the moment they find my body…they will find you and you will be punished more than you know," I said strongly, looking around to all of them.

"They're not going to find your body," A boy added, one who I believed to be companions with Flux. "Because we've found a way out of the district and your body will come with us."

I nearly laughed at this," You really think you've found a way out of this place?"

"They'll never know. Every Peacekeeper in town is preoccupied tonight," Wren said, grabbing a knife from her belt.

"Well, I admire how well you seem to have planned this, but it's unfortunate to inform you that it will fail miserably," I said, looking to each of them, blood thirst clear in their eyes. "What? They'll wake up tomorrow and find an empty academy? No one will care about District Two's beloved tributes?"

"We'll be too far gone-"

"I'm sick of talking, can we please get on with this before someone does come looking for her?" One of them asked, very impatiently.

Seeing as I had no means of protecting myself, I tried to watch for which one appeared to be the closest to me. It seemed as though all of them were equally angered, but there was one boy who seemed to be inching closer by the minute. I also swallowed the fact that these kids could easily out power me before anyone from the Capitol came to save me. It was…possibly more intimidating than the Games. In the maze, one could hide…here….it was a matter of strength.

Just as soon as the boy pounced toward me and the knife was inches from my face…he fell dead right at my feet with an arrow square in his back.

"It's just like the Games!" One of them growled. "Someone's already here…"

"I told you-"

And with that, another arrow came shooting from the darkness. I looked around to see just who this was, but was far too preoccupied with the others coming at me full-force. In all honesty, I felt as though I hadn't been hit that hard before by much of anyone in the Games all at one time. Whilst I staggered back and tried blindly swinging at the opponents, I found that more and more of them were dropping. It was rather impressive to see, but I was more distracted with keeping my self alive. Enobaria would already be beyond angered that I had torn my clothing from these people and gotten hit hard on the side of my cheek.

Just as I was taking another blow the cheek, I saw my attacker being thrown to the ground this time. I looked into the face of my savior and saw none other than my brother looking back at me.

"Savera, you need to get out of here," He growled at me before punching another one of the kids weapons from his hand.

"Ostro, I can't let you-"

"The Peacekeepers are already coming and if they see you here with these kids…they're going to not only get them in trouble, but you'll never hear the end of it, alright?" He insisted, as I dodged a kick and he grabbed the girl's leg and twisted it at a very uncomfortable angle.

"They said-"

"The Peacekeepers were tipped off. They're out looking for you and if it even looks like you've been stirring up trouble-"

"Ostro, I can't just leave you here to deal with-" I tried arguing as I watched Wren coming toward us.

Off in the distance, I could hear the sound of armored men running toward us, their voices echoing through the town as they came to see what was wrong. I looked straight at my brother and swallowed hard as he took Wren to the ground with one blow. I looked into her eyes and pitied her for a brief moment, but then seeing as the Peacekeepers were on their way…I knew that my life had moved on from then. She had given in to the ways of the rest of the former tributes, who were writhing in pain on the ground at the moment.

I watched her cringe as I started to pull away, but just as I turned I saw her pick up a knife.

"I can't let you get away," She nearly sobbed, the sound of their boots pushing forward.

"Wren, you made some wrong choices. I can't help the fact that I became extremely lucky," I said softly, looking at her as Ostro glared at me with warning eyes.

"Savera, get out. Don't come back here!" He growled at me before reaching for Wren to grab her.

Wren still kept eye contact with me," You left me. You left me to these monsters."

"And you became one of them," I said under my breath.

"No!" She screamed at me, holding the knife tight in her hand before aiming it right at me.

"Savera," Ostro growled warningly.

"Wren," I said softly, seeing their torchlights come over the hill.

"Savera!" He yelled, holding her tight.

"Wren, please just don't-" I tried, but I knew that I had to make a run for it.

As Ostro wrestled the knife from her hand, I turned with a heavy heart from the sight and sprinted as hard as I could toward the celebration where I was supposed to be. Just before I could get over the hill, Ostro said one last thing to me.

"Savera, don't come back," He said and I looked at him quizzically. "They won't let go of this and next time you may not be as lucky. If you have to come back…come in secret because this isn't what you deserve."

And for the first time, I felt as though he were completely right and I had no desire to return to the Victor's Village to live. It appeared as though the Capitol would be the new most safe place for me to be.

"Ostro, I love you," I said to him as I kept on walking, looking over my shoulder.

"I love you too. Now, please-" He struggled to get Wren to calm down. In the process, she had been able to toss the knife straight for me. Fortunately, I watched the knife jab into the tree beside me. With a final look, I turned away from the image of my brother wrestling the insane ex-companion of mine to the ground and ran back toward the safety of the…strangely enough, Capitol.


As soon as I stepped foot backstage, I saw Enobaria and Brutus both in a frenzy. As soon as I pulled my hood down, she nearly tackled me to the ground with both tears of happiness and scolding for my being so late.

"Where have you been?!" She demanded, holding both of my cheeks in her hands.

"We've been looking all over for you," Brutus added, folding his arms over his chest.

"We could only assume the worst, you know," She said, looking me over for any scars or damages. "It looks as though you may as well have been killed though! What happened?"

"I was…" I paused, looking around at everyone watching. "Can I tell you this in a more private setting?"

Knowing that I could get whatever I nearly pleased, she immediately nodded and sent the rest of the viewers out of the room. In a matter of minutes, it was only myself, her, and Brutus looking at one another. I knew that they needed to know the truth…but it was a matter of them believing it or not.

"I got the bruises and scars from the kids at the academy," I muttered the both of them as Enobaria grabbed the first aid kid she had requested before.

Both were speechless as they stared at me for several moments.

"They attacked you?" Brutus asked, looking at me incredulously.

"Yes. It was almost out of revenge since none of them were reaped. They feel as though I cheated and they were disappointed that I wasn't just fresh meat," I muttered once more as Enobaria examined the bruises.

"They could have killed her," Enobaria commented to Brutus, looking at my arms.

" I could have managed really its just-"

"They could have killer her!" She screamed, looking at Brutus, who appeared indifferent about the situation.

"I swear if you had anything to do with this," She growled at him, walking toward him with a single finger pointed at his chest.

He held his hands up in defense," All Zenobia told me was that they were angered.

"So, you knew?" She demanded, still growling at him.

"No! I just knew they wouldn't be chipper to see her is all," Brutus said, with a bitter edge to his voice. "It looks as though she handled the situation quite nicely."

"With the help of my brother. He said the last thing I needed was-"

"For the Peacekeepers to find you causing trouble. It looks terrible on paper and in the media," Enobaria finished, glaring at Brutus as she did so.

"Exactly," I said, swallowing down anything else I had to say.

Enobaria was still glaring at Brutus, who seemed rather quiet after the whole incident. By the rude comments and glances she was giving him, it was needless for him to stay around any longer. After his exit, I looked straight at Enobaria as she tried to clean my wounds.

"Why do you think he planned this? Is it really just because of-"

"Flux was his everything, Savera," She said softly, wrapping my wrist and dabbing my face with some medication. "After he lost his wife, then he really didn't have much else. Flux was his last way to hang on to her…and he knew that he had to make Flux indestructible so that he didn't really ever have to say goodbye. You see, when you build yourself a fortress…you have to be prepared to be conquered anyways. He…wasn't prepared for that."

I nodded before saying gently," Especially in the manner in which he passed."

"I'm not entirely sure Brutus is convinced that you didn't just kill him. The camera angles were a little…unclear as to what precisely happened," She whispered, closing the kit as she did so. "For now though, we can just give him time…plus before long he'll be living in the Victor's Village and you'll be in the Capitol. I'm sure being forced to be around the girl who killed your son isn't necessarily the best way to recover. Why don't you simply enjoy tonight and let whatever else happen…simply happen."

I smiled at this as we started back toward the celebration that was taking place. For the rest of the evening, I talked with old friends and those who had seen me grown up. A part of me desired to be staying here, but I knew that this was no longer the place for me. I knew that staying was not an option. After hours upon hours of conversing and talking with folks and eating to my heart's content, we were put back on the train to head back to the Capitol.

A piece of my heart was breaking seeing as I knew I would not see my family for a long time. However, just as I was to step on the train…behind the litter from the party, the tipsy folk still stumbling back home, and the food laying around…I saw a dark figure leaning against a streetlight. In his hands, was a stringed instrument. As the soft music filled the air, I knew that even as I was miles away from my family…I would always have them tucked away safe inside my heart.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :D