And this chapter marks the end of that cute little arc. Like I said, it wasn't in my original plan for this fic, but I had a lot of fun writing it.

No warnings in this chapter, other than for coarse language, as always.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 36: Home

Day 7 in the arena

It was dark by the time Bellamy and Clarke felt it was safe to head back to camp. They had waited for hours in the abandoned store without being attacked again, which gave her a sense of relief, even if it was small. Still, they didn't want to risk bringing other tributes to their camp and waited until they could blend in with the shadows.

If Clarke was being honest, it was almost nice to have the time alone with just Bellamy. Of course, she loved her other allies, but her time alone with Bellamy was pretty sparse. There wasn't a lot of time in the arena for love and just being together.

She felt like her lips were fuller from the amount of time she spent kissing with him. Her heart was lighter and her skin danced with fire. It felt so good to be able to get a part of herself go – the part focused on fear and survival – and just be a normal teenager with him.

But now it was back to reality.

As soon as the sun set, she knew that it was time to leave.

Clarke tightened the straps of her backpack around her body. Her clothes were still damp and cold, sending chills through her whole body. She wished she could climb back onto the floor with Bellamy, under layers of blankets. She wished they could continue pretending they weren't in the arena and fighting for their lives.

She stuffed one of the blankets under her arm, as tightly folded as possible. Bellamy had managed to shift his bag around so they could take a few candles with them for light back at camp.

His face was scrunched up as he pulled on his wet jacket. Clarke snorted at his expression. He cocked his eyebrow at her and sent her a small smile. Just seeing how his face lit up in happiness made her heart feel lighter.

It was good, seeing someone that she loved happy and at peace, even for a few hours. She was fortunate to have been able to see Bellamy in that state multiple times, especially while on the roof. When they were together, they seemed to block out the rest of the world.

They walked down the streets as quietly as they could. The rain had stopped thankfully, but their feet still splashed up dirty water from puddles. Clarke clenched her jaw as the water seeped into her pant legs once again. They ducked into doorways and behind buildings every few blocks, trying to keep out of sight of the tallest buildings around. Clarke felt her eyes burning from the amount of time she spent examining their surroundings for any other tributes.

They made it back to the building their camp was located when the Panem anthem began to play. They quickly raced for cover as the night sky lit up, suddenly very aware that the light from the anthem would give their position away. Bellamy shut the door to the stairwell behind him, a half smile on his face. Their eyes met.

They were home.

Clarke led them up the stairs as quickly as possible. The stairs fell dark again once the light from the sky disappeared after only a moment. No tributes had died that day, making the announcements from the Capitol very brief.

She clutched her sword in her hand loosely as she climbed towards the tenth floor. A lot could have happened since she was last at camp, including her allies leaving, or the camp being overrun by other tributes. Just because nobody died that day didn't mean something big didn't happen.

She turned the final bend of the staircase, moving she could see the doorway to the room their team was staying in. Just as she did so, she heard shuffling.

"Clarke! Bellamy!" Monty poked his head over the railing, a knife in his hand, ready to be thrown. It clattered to the floor once he realized who it was.

"Monty!" Clarke rushed the rest of the way up the stairs, her sword being shoved back into the holster. She threw up arms around her friend, pulling him tightly. He responded with just as much enthusiasm.

Even though it was a thought that she refused to pay any attention to, she was worried about her friends. She was worried she would never see them again. She was worried something bad might've happened.

"Oh, gods!" Raven's arms were thrown around Clarke's body too, squishing her tightly. "Octavia!" The mechanic pulled away from the hug and poked her head back into the room. "O, they're back!"

Monty released Clarke finally and turned to Bellamy. They stared at each other for a long moment, both unsure of how to greet each other. While they had all grown close over the past week, she knew her allies found it hard to view Bellamy as an equal to the tributes that had been in the alliance since the beginning.

Clarke, Raven and Monty had formed a special bond during those first few days, when it was just them in the alliance. They accepted Lincoln quickly and had slowly accepted Murphy too.

It was a different story with the Blakes.

Then, in one swift move, Monty threw his arms around Bellamy and pulled him in for a hug. Bellamy didn't hesitate to return it. Clarke snorted when they both did that awkward pat on the back thing.

As soon as Monty pulled away from Bellamy, Raven was next to pull him in for a hug. Clarke felt her heart warm at that. It seemed like every tension within the group had dissolved. While she knew her friends were reluctant about accepting Bellamy into the alliance and were cautious around him, it seemed like they had finally and truly accepted him.

"I told them that you weren't dead." Murphy walked up to Clarke, but hung back a few feet. He looked cocky. "I'm not hugging you, if you were hoping for that." Clarke rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. Classic Murphy. He stared at her face for a long moment before his face softened. "Good to see you, Clarke."

"Bellamy!" The first thing that Clarke realized was that Octavia was walking. Her arm was slung around Lincoln's shoulders and her other pressed tightly to her stomach, but she was upright. It was obviously taking a lot of effort, as sweat lined her forehead and her legs were trembling. "What the actual hell-"

Octavia was cut off by Bellamy pulling her into his arms. Lincoln let go of her side, allowing her to go to her brother. The two Blake siblings melted into each other instantly. Clarke couldn't help but smile at the two of them. She knew how worried Bellamy was, she couldn't imagine what Octavia was like too.

When she pulled away from the hug, tears were streaming down her face and her expression was one of pain. She glanced over his body quickly, looking for any signs on injury.

"I'm fine," he said quickly. "O-"

"You suck!" Octavia pushed his shoulder roughly, sending him stumbling back a few steps. Tears were still falling rapidly, but now her face was twisted into anger. "You are the worst, Bellamy. Gods, I was sick with worry!" She pulled him towards her for another hug. Bellamy didn't seem to mind her wild emotions. He just pulled her tighter.

"I'm sorry." He glanced at Clarke over top of Octavia's head. She smiled at him in reassurance. "If we had the choice, we wouldn't have taken so long."

"What happened?" Monty kept glancing back and forth between the two of them, trying to gauge the situation.

Raven glanced at the stairwell behind her and gestured to the room. "Let's move somewhere that sound isn't carried." She led the group back into the small room. As soon as they were all in safely, she turned to Clarke. "We were all worried for you guys. We were tempted to go looking for you."

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid." Murphy pulled his coat tighter around his torso and dug his hands into his pockets.

"I knew it would be you to talk sense into the rest of them," she told him. He almost looked proud of himself with that statement.

"I stopped them before they could do anything too dangerous." While he wasn't the nicest person, he was trustworthy. If there was anyone concerned about self-preservation, it was him. He shrugged nonchalantly. "Cockroaches gotta live, right?"

"Thank you," she told him. He nodded sharply.

Raven clapped her hands. "Alright. That's enough chatting. We all waited up for them to come back to camp," she said. She straightened her top, which had been skewed from the hugs. "Now, you all head to sleep. We have a schedule to maintain. Monty and I are on watch tonight." Nobody seemed to disagree with what she said. They must've been up all day waiting for them to return, Clarke realized. Raven turned to Bellamy. "Please tell me you got supplies. I'm sick of sharing my knife with Murphy."

"I know you love me." Murphy's voice was cheeky.

"In your dreams, weirdo," she retorted, rolling her eyes. She didn't bother hiding her smile.

As the two of them traded friendly insults, both Bellamy and Clarke took off their backpacks and opened them to show the others. While Bellamy was showing off his items and handing out weapons to their allies, Clarke dug around the bags to find the little black box. She wasn't too sure what was in there, but she was hoping it was something good. It was the only thing locked away in the whole Cornucopia.

Finally, she found it and pulled it out from her bag. It was awkward and heavy, but she hoped that it was worthy bringing. It took up a lot of space – space that could've been used for more food.

"I'm not entirely sure what it is or if it'll be useful, but it looked promising." Raven held out her hand for it and Clarke passed it to her. She lifted the metal lid and peered inside. After a few seconds of examining it, her face lit up. Monty peered over her shoulder and let out a breath of awe. "What? What is it?"

"Explosives," Monty answered. He was already pulling them out of the box and turning them over. Raven slapped his hand and gave him a leery look. He placed it back gently into the box. "They look good. Intact."

"Good," Raven said. Her eyes were dancing. Clarke knew that look. She was coming up with a plan. Thank the gods for Raven. "I have an idea. We can use this." Monty glanced at her. She lifted her eyebrows. "Our escape plan."

It only took Monty a few more seconds to put the pieces together. When he did, his face lit up. "Yes." He clapped his hand on Raven's shoulder. "You're a genius."

Clarke lifted her eyebrow, feeling a bit lost. "What?"

"This can be our escape plan." She lifted the black box. Clarke felt like taking a step away from her. Who the hell shook a container of explosives? "If we're ever need to get out fast, we can set them off and make a break for it." Oh. Clarke finally put the pieces together. "Just like we did back at the cave. Although, hopefully with more success than we had there."

Bellamy was nodding with a thoughtful expression. "That's one of the reasons we got away safely. Other than you, O," he sent his sister an appreciative glance. "If we set a distraction somewhere, it'll make it easier for us to get out. Good plan, Raven."

She was already pulling the explosives out of the box and examining each item. "We'll have enough to make a decent sized one," she commented. She glanced at the walls of the building, her eyes narrowed. "The structure is made of stone and concrete, other than the stairs that are wood. That means, if we lay the charges every-"

"I'm going to stop you there," Murphy said, his hand in the air. "It's the middle of the night. I'm not on watch. I'm headed to sleep." His smile was sarcastic and forced. "Have fun playing with your toys."

"You're too kind," she said sarcastically. As Murphy walked to his spot, she turned to the rest of the group. "Monty and I will set these up tonight." Clarke's eyebrows pushed together. Right now? So late? Before she could say anything, Raven was talking again. "Just in case. We didn't know we were going to get attacked back at the cave and the trap gave us enough warning to get organized." She shrugged. "It shouldn't take long. We're on watch anyways."

"As long as you're okay with doing it tonight, then I'm all for it," Clarke agreed.

Raven smiled. "The only thing I'm missing the the remote activator. Can I look in the bag?" She was already reaching for the bag that the metal box had come out of. Clarke handed it to her with a yawn. After all that had happened today, she was exhausted.

"I'm sorry for making you worry," Bellamy said again to Octavia. The youngest Blake shrugged her shoulders and sent him a crooked smile.

"You said it yourself. It wasn't on purpose. You wanted to get back, but you kept us safe." She leaned forward and hugged him again. "I love you, big brother."

"I love you too, O. Now get some sleep. You look terrible."

She pulled back, rolling her eyes. "Wow. Thanks." Even though she sounded sarcastic, she followed Bellamy's suggestion. She said goodnight to Lincoln and curled up on her blankets on the floor.

Clarke turned to Bellamy. "Good to be back?" she questioned.

He sighed. "It's good to be home," he agreed. Just as he was about to say something more, Raven drew their attention.

She glanced up from the bag, her lips pressed together tightly. "It's not in here." She let the bag fall to the ground. "You guys did grab it, didn't you?"

They looked at each other.

Did she? She really couldn't be sure. She grabbed so many things at the Cornucopia that it began to blur together. Between someone trying to kill them and her not knowing what she was grabbing, she didn't know.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Clarke admitted. She shifted awkwardly. She hoped she didn't just ruin Raven's plans. "I threw whatever I seen into the bag. Before we could check we had everything, we were getting attacked. I guess I didn't grab it." Raven's face was unreadable and Clarke was fearing the worst. "Why? What does it do?"

"It's the remote activator," she said, like it explained everything. Clarke cocked her eyebrow and Raven grumbled under her breath. "It means we could activate the explosives from a safe distance away. Without it…" She rubbed her face tiredly. "Without the remote, we can't use them."

Clarke's heart shattered.

They needed a plan for escape. They weren't going to last the entire Games hidden away in their camp without another conflict. She knew that they would have to leave their camp sometime, whether it was on their terms or not.

And, she hated to even think about it, if they needed to escape another attack, they needed those explosives.

Fuck.

"No," Monty said quickly. He took one of the explosives in his hands and turned it over a few times. "It just means someone would have to activate it manually." Raven let out a sound of agreement.

Clarke felt panic rise up in her. If someone would activate in manually, they wouldn't be able to get out in time. Right? She wasn't the most knowledgeable about explosives, but that made sense. If there wasn't a remote, someone would have to press the button themselves.

For the explosives to work, someone would have to sacrifice themselves. She felt sick just thinking of it.

"What?" Bellamy gained the ability to speak quicker than she did. He was shaking his head furiously. "No. Hell no." Bellamy stepped forward quickly, reaching for the explosive. Monty quickly stepped out of his path, pulling the charge to his chest. Bellamy wasn't impressed. "Monty, give it here."

"Bellamy, no. You don't understand-"

"We aren't using something that would kill one of us." His face was stone and the muscles in his jaw were locked. He looked like an unmovable force, both physically and with this decision.

"Monty's right," Raven argued, pushing Bellamy out of the way. He stumbled back, clearly surprised with her decision. "You misunderstood."

Bellamy looked confused and Clarke felt the spark of hope growing in her. Maybe things would work out? She didn't know anything about explosives, so maybe she assumed wrong, just like Bellamy did.

"We can still use them," Raven insisted. "Activating manually doesn't mean someone has to die to do it. It just means they have to run really freaking fast to get out of the blast zone." She nodded, already making up her mind. "It's not a big deal. Not optimal, but we'll make it work."

Bellamy didn't look convinced. "Nobody has to get hurt?"

"Nobody will have to get hurt," she promised. While that set Clarke at ease, she was still worried. So many things could go wrong. "These things are built to have a delay for this reason. It's probably ten seconds, which means whoever sets them off will just have to sprint away to clear the blast zone. It'll just be a different procedure." Raven waved her hand. "It'll be fine."

Clarke was reluctant to agree. "I don't know…" She chewed on her lip.

Raven gave her a hard look. "I'm telling you; it'll work. I'm a professional." She smirked. "Sorta." Monty snorted at that. "I'm serious though. We can still use these. There's a short delay from them being lit and them going off – more than enough time for someone to get out of there safely."

She didn't have any ground to stand on to argue. Raven knew better than her, and she looked confident with this solution. Clarke believed her.

She nodded in agreement. "If it doesn't mean sacrificing someone to set them off, then do it. Any escape plan is better than nothing." Raven lit up again and turned to Monty, discussing their plans. Clarke glanced at Bellamy. He still looked unsure. "They're smart. They can figure it out."

He nodded his head, but his shoulders didn't relax. "I know. I just don't want this set up and the only way to use it to be to sacrifice someone." Clarke had similar fears. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt.

She walked over to where they slept and let out a small yawn. "She said no sacrifices." She dropped to the ground, Bellamy following her. As soon as he was seated beside her, she leaned into his side with a content sigh. Instantly, warmth and the feeling of safety flowed through her. "I think I'm going to take you up on your offer."

Bellamy lifted his head up. He didn't have to question what she was talking about – he already knew. "Oh?"

"Yeah." She tried to keep the smile off her face. "I think you're going to be way comfier than the wall."

Her eyes were already drooping shut. Bellamy pulled her against his side again, just like how they sat for hours at the shop. She nuzzled her head into his arm and allowed her eyes to flutter closed.

"Goodnight, Clarke."

"Goodnight."

Day 8 in the arena

"I need to check your stitches," Clarke told Octavia.

It was noon the next day and Octavia was practicing walking with Bellamy. The two Blake siblings obviously missed each other a lot, since they didn't let each other out of their sight.

The youngest Blake was clinging to Bellamy's side for support, but Clarke could still see sweat pooling on her forehead. She looked exhausted from standing upright for so long.

She nodded faintly and Bellamy helped her back onto the floor.

The rest of the group was sitting around the small room they called home, each absorbed in their own conversations. It felt good to be back with everyone, surrounded by people she loved and cared about. Her alliance felt like her family. She didn't want to think about how different the Games would be if they weren't altogether.

She didn't want to think about how different it would be when they were all separated.

That was the thing about alliances in the Hunger Games; they always had to come to an end, one way or another. Once it got down to the final people, alliances would split up and go their own ways. Or they would turn and kill each other.

Regardless, nothing lasted forever in the arena.

They were already pushing their luck. Other than their alliance, only the Careers, Murphy's district partner, and the male tribute from District 10 was left. Clarke felt like the were on borrowed time.

"Okay, so spill." Raven had broken off her conversation with Lincoln and turned to face Clarke and Bellamy. "What the hell happened yesterday?"

While they had been back for a full night and the morning, they hadn't discussed what actually happened. Clarke was suspecting someone to ask sooner or later.

"We got the supplies," he stated simply.

The supplies they gathered had already been spread across the room, covering almost every inch of the floor. Weapons were laying around and food was left in piles. Seeing all of their supplies together was surprising to her. When it was in backpacks, it looked like a lot less stuff.

Clarke leaned over to the side and began rummaging around for medical supplies. She needed to clean and bandage Octavia's wounds immediately. She lifted up Octavia's shirt and removed the old bandages.

She was once again surprised at how fast her wound had healed, all thanks to the Capitol's medicine. Where her torso had been almost cut wide open only sat angry red scars and a faint line of an open wound. She knew that she would still be healing long after the wound looked closed over, but this was a really good start. Whatever the medicine that they sent Octavia was saved her.

"That's great and all, but that doesn't explain why you two never showed back up. This shouldn't have taken all day," Raven pointed out. Bellamy sighed and leaned forward, examining Octavia's wound too. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"We were attacked." At Bellamy's words, the rest of the group fell silent. "At the Cornucopia, we were almost killed. Someone was shooting explosive arrows at us. It's a miracle that we both made it out of there alive, without any injuries."

"Arrows?" Murphy scoffed, clearly not happy. "Fucking Echo, man."

"Echo?"

He rolled his eyes. "She's my district partner." Ah. So that was her name. "She was always quiet and we tried to stay away from each other, but I heard my mentor talking to her about archery. Apparently she's really good at it."

Raven snorted. "You heard them talking, or you purposefully snuck around so you could listen in on their conversation."

Murphy looked pleased with himself. "You already know the answer to that, Reyes."

Raven rolled her eyes, but her wide smile gave away the fact that she was amused. She turned to Clarke. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"It was terrifying," Clarke continued. "We didn't have anywhere to go except to run into the fire. They cornered us completely." Her throat felt tight just thinking of it. "It's awful to think about what would've happened if Echo's aim had been just a little bit better." She swallowed thickly. "We wouldn't have been as lucky as we were." The group looked horrified.

"But we're okay," he urged. "We couldn't wait and be cornered or picked off, so we had to come up with a different plan. Clarke and I threw some of the arrows out the mouth of the Cornucopia to bring up some cover while we escaped."

Murphy snorted. "Damn. Here I thought you two just got lost on your way home."

Bellamy's lips quirked up at that. "We didn't want to come right back to camp after we were spotted. We didn't know if the person shooting us was watching or not. We didn't know if there were any other tributes around that spotted us after all the noise."

As Bellamy spoke, Clarke dumped some antiseptic onto Octavia's wounds. Her muscles clenched and her face skewed up into pain. She apologized quickly, and added to Bellamy's thoughts. "We didn't want to lead anyone back to camp, on the off chance someone was watching us."

"Smart," Raven commented. Lincoln mumbled something in agreement.

"We hid for the rest of the day in a small shop just north of here. It's a good place to go, if any of us are ever separated," Bellamy said. Clarke liked that plan. "It was on the outskirts of the city, so it's a good place to be if we need to escape quickly. It was also on an outer road, which isn't travelled as frequently as the roads surrounding the Cornucopia."

"Plus, there was only one door and window, so it was easy to block off." Clarke pushed the blanket that she had carried from the store from yesterday, sliding it towards Bellamy. He picked it up and tossed it at Raven. She lifted it up to examine. "It was a thrift store, I think. It had books, clothing, bedding, candles. Basically anything we needed." Raven passed the blanket across the room to Lincoln.

"And… you two just hung out all day, huh?" Raven lifted her eyebrows suggestively at Clarke. She felt her cheeks heat up. She ducked her head and continued to work on bandaging up Octavia.

"There wasn't anything else to do," Bellamy replied, his voice even. He handed Clarke a knife to cut the gauze. She wasn't too sure if she should've still been wrapping the wound, but she didn't want to risk it. She would rather waste some supplies on keeping it clean and dry than have it get infected later. "We didn't want to come back and risk everyone."

"You were safe and we were safe." Octavia tried sitting up a bit but winced. "We're all together again. That's all that matters."

Raven caught Clarke's eye from across the room. She lifted her eyebrows. "I wasn't meaning that," she commented lightly.

Clarke knew exactly what she was asking. She wanted to know what they did while they were hiding.

"I know," Bellamy said, sounding amused. "I'll assure you we kept it appropriate for the viewers back home. PG and all that shit." Clarke snorted at that.

"What's PG?" Murphy looked just as curious as Raven did.

"It's something I learned in history from civilization before the war and Dark Days," Bellamy explained. "It's how people used to limit the audience on media. PG meant it was completely fine for children to watch."

"How does PG mean that?"

Bellamy shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"You're a nerd," Raven muttered, smirking. "But I get it. You don't kiss and tell." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Gods, I don't want to think about what they were doing other than kissing," Murphy groaned, burying his face behind the flap of his hood.

"Screw off, Murphy."

He didn't look any less disturbed. "Can we move on? Please?"

Raven looked coy. "Murphy is saying please? Wow. He must be really uncomfortable when talking about emotions and feelings."

Murphy chucked the blanket he held at her head and gave her the middle finger. She batted it out of the air and burst out laughing. Clarke rolled her eyes and smirked at the two of them. They were always entertaining to watch.

"Raven poking her nose in someone else's business? Why am I not surprised?" Raven gave him the finger back. Murphy snorted at that.

"I've had to deal with these two bickering all day," Lincoln complained, looking exhausted. "Thank gods you came back when you did. I was tempted to put Murphy in a time-out on the roof."

Murphy stuck his nose into the air. "I would have enjoyed that, I'll let you know."

"That punishment is too kind. He actually likes being alone," Monty said. "We'd have to find a better way to torture him than being alone. I was thinking of sticking Raven and him in a friendship shirt, if we had one." Raven swore at him and playfully pushed his shoulder.

Lincoln looked confused. "Friendship shirt?"

"Yeah, please explain," Octavia added.

"Back home, my parents would always put me in this huge shirt with someone else if we were ever fighting. We'd be stuck together until we worked out our problems. It was my parents' way of problem solving."

Bellamy raised his eyebrow. "How many times were you put in there?"

"With Raven? Too many to count. She always loved breaking my toys when we were younger."

Raven cried out with indignation. "Not true! You make me sound like a bully." She turned to the group, determined to clear her name. "I would only break his toys so I could figure out how to put it back together again. It was educational." She sent a look at Monty. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Sure. It was all educational until you absolutely wrecked my toy train. After you got a hold of it, it could only drive backwards." Murphy stifled a laugh at that.

"You never talk about your life before the Games," Octavia pointed out. She sat up partially, with the help of Bellamy and Lincoln. "You two knew each other?"

"Since we were young," Raven said. Monty smiled wistfully as she spoke. "We went to school together. In District 3, all children go to the same school when they're young. We're taught a little bit of everything; mechanics, plant science, hydraulics. Just the basics, obviously. When we're older, we pick which stream we want to learn more about and eventually get a career in."

"We were always put in the same classes when we were little. Raven obviously went on to do mechanics and I did plant sciences, but we knew each other."

"And you were friends?"

"Yeah."

"And you were both reaped?" Octavia shifted. "That's unlucky."

"Everyone of the same age knows each other," Raven explained. "We all used to take the same classes and go to the same school. If I was reaped with anyone else my age, I think I would feel the same way as I do about being reaped with Monty. That's just how our district works."

"Yeah, we're taught that teamwork is important. Working alone never gets you anywhere, especially in our fields. We need to learn to cooperate and share discoveries." Monty bumped his shoulder with Raven. "It's not like we were best friends or anything. We had the same friend group and mutual friends, but… You know."

"Aw. That's code for I love you, isn't it?" Raven threw her arms around her shoulders jokingly and pulled him into a hug. He went willingly.

"And you knew Charlotte," Octavia pointed out, turning to Lincoln. Clarke stiffened at hearing her name.

"Yeah, my sister was her age." Lincoln looked uncomfortable talking about it. "They weren't best friends, but she talked about her sometimes. They would be partners on projects and walk home together. I didn't know her, really. I don't think I spoke a word to her before the Games. But… I knew her." He paused for a moment. "It makes it harder – to know that she was just a kid, and to think about who she became." He sighed and shook his head. "That's the Hunger Games, though. People change."

The silence that followed that was heavy. Clarke felt it settle on her shoulders, weighing her down.

She wished they never had to change.

"Shit, am I the only one here that absolutely hated our district partners?" Murphy asked after a moment, breaking the tense silence. Clarke glanced around the room, a heavy feeling settling over her. Raven knew Monty. Lincoln knew Charlotte. Bellamy and Octavia were siblings. She was best friends with Wells.

"I guess so. I never really thought about it," she said.

Murphy pulled a face. "Yeah, I try not to think about her either. She's kinda rude." Lincoln laughed at that. "I'm serious!" He sat up straighter, like he was just about to gossip. "The first night, right after the Peacekeepers talked to me about fighting other tributes, she told me how stupid I was."

Raven let out a little burst of laughter.

"Gods, she said that?" she giggled. Murphy pulled a sour face. "She's not wrong, but I can't believe she would say that to your face."

"Maybe she was looking out for him?" Monty offered hopefully. That was one thing Clarke liked about him; he was always looking for the good in people and the world. "I'm pretty sure after you fought him, I said the same thing to you and I'm not a jerk. Or I hope I'm not."

Raven playfully narrowed her eyes at Murphy. "Oh, yeah. Don't think I forgot about how you almost got me arrested!"

Murphy smirked. "Never going to let that one go, are you?"

Monty was trying his best to suppress a laugh, but he couldn't. He let out bursts of laughter. "Now that we don't hate Murphy, can I just say how ridiculous that was?"

Bellamy cast Clarke an odd look. "I think I missed something," he said.

"Yeah, definitely." Octavia echoed, leaning forward. "You two almost got arrested? For what?"

Raven was still playfully glaring at Murphy. "We got into a fight when we arrived in the Capitol," she said simply.

Murphy rolled his eyes. "More like I had an accident and you attacked me."

"You pushed me to the ground."

"I bumped into you. You're the one who kicked my ankle."

"You started it."

"What, are you two?"

Clarke was convinced an argument was going to break out between Raven and Murphy. Clarke knew how upset Raven was from their confrontation the first day in the Capitol – it put both of them at each other's throats. Now, it didn't look too different than their arguments back in the Capitol. Raven's eyes were narrowed, Murphy's jaw was locked.

Then, both Raven and Murphy shared a long look before they both burst into laughter. Raven doubled over, clutching her stomach. It took a moment for Clarke to fully absorb what was going on. They were laughing?

She realized they were joking and not actually arguing. She had to crack a smile at it all. She never thought she would see the day where both Murphy and Raven would be laughing about the time they almost killed each other and got arrested.

Bellamy and Octavia looked at each other, clearly confused. "What?"

"Yeah, I think I missed something." Lincoln also looked fairly confused.

Monty sighed and looked at Raven and Murphy for a long moment. Seeing as they were too busy laughing, he decided to explain what happened. "Our districts arrived at the train station at the exact same time," he began. "Murphy happened to walk off his train with a chocolate milkshake just as Raven was walking past the door. They bumped into each other and Raven got covered in chocolate."

"And she was bumped to the ground," Clarke reminded him.

"And she was bumped to the ground," he repeated. Bellamy and Octavia shared another look, still obviously confused as to how they almost got arrested for that. "While she was down there, she somehow thought it would be a great idea to kick his ankles. The Peacekeepers seen them bickering, thought it was breaking into a physical fight because of Raven, and pinned them both to the train. It took a lot of convincing from our mentor for Raven to avoid punishment because of that."

"It was so ridiculous," Raven agreed, still laughing. "I was so mad at you for that. I actually hated your guts."

Murphy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said slowly. He looked uncomfortable speaking. "I'm glad I had time to make it up to you."

She rolled her eyes jokingly. "Ah, yes. I love having to split my food with another person. You've made up for so much." Then, her expression softened. "I'm only kidding, Murphy. You've made up for that and plenty."

He couldn't hide his wide grin and Clarke couldn't ignore how his cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. He tried to cover his obvious joy by wrinkling his nose. "Ew, we're getting all sappy. Quick, someone remind me about how annoying Raven is."

Raven shook her head and rolled her eyes, still smiling. "I don't need reminding about how annoying you are. You do a damn good job making sure I never forget it." While Raven and Murphy continued to bicker back and forth, Clarke couldn't help but smile.

She loved them.

All of them.

In the past two weeks, they had become her family. She always felt a connection with Raven and Monty, ever since she laid eyes on them, and she was always interested in the Blakes. Even though they all came from different backgrounds and districts, they seemed to click well.

She was happy that they all met. Without them, she doubted she would've survived for as long as she did. They made the darkness seem lighter, something she never thought was possible. Even when she was torn apart by the death of Wells, they were there for her.

Clarke glanced towards Bellamy, a smile growing on her face. She didn't know in which way she loved him, but she loved him too. Maybe she wasn't in love with him just yet, but she could feel herself falling more and more in love with him every day.

Regardless of how she felt romantically for him, she cared for him so much. He helped her survive the mess of the Games and the Capitol. He made her feel human and normal, which was nearly impossible, considering their circumstances. He was the one person she could trust and that she understood.

She tugged down Octavia's shirt and reached for the hand sanitizer Bellamy had out for her. As soon as she was done washing her hands, he brushed his finger tips over the back of her hand, sending a chill up her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end from the ghost of a touch. Their eyes locked.

A wave of affection hit her. She remembered how she regretted not telling Wells exactly how she felt when he died. She didn't want to make that mistake again.

She was going to tell him. I care about you. I'm falling for you. I think I could be in love with you, one day.

She knew exactly what she was going to say to him.

Bell, I'm falling in love with you.

She was speaking before she could stop herself. He deserved to know how much he meant to her.

"Bell, I-"

His hand flew out from under hers and pressed against her lips, making her fall quiet. Her body stiffened as soon as she realized just how frightened he looked. His eyes were wide, his muscles tensed, and he was holding his breath. Her heart began hammering in her chest as she seen him.

She only seen this fear in him one time before. The cave.

That's when she heard it. Faintly, she could hear the creak of a wooden step.

They weren't alone.

So, this ends my one favourite mini-arc and starts the next! These next few chapters are really intense, but it was a sequence that was so clear in my mind from when I originally drafted this fic.

Warnings for the next few chapters: the next few chapters include more violence and blood than most of the previous chapters. I will be putting warnings in the bottom author's notes for the next few chapters, as they contain spoilers, but they also include themes I feel people should have an option to warn themselves over.

Here is a list of tributes remaining. The bolded ones are the tributes that died in the current chapter (none for this chapter). If a character has died in a previous chapter, they will be removed from the list. If you forget who has died in a previous chapter, feel free to ask me or look back at the notes of previous chapters!

District 1 Male: Roan
District 1 Female: Ontari
District 2 Male: Bellamy
District 2 Female: Octavia
District 3 Male: Monty
District 3 Female: Raven
District 4 Male: Cage
District 4 Female: Luna
District 5 Male: Murphy
District 5 Female: Echo
District 6 Female: Clarke
District 8 Male: Lincoln
District 10 Male: Dax

The next update will be on Saturday. Thank you for all of the comments, kudos, and love.

Paw