Blaze: When I wake up, the wave of despair crashes down on me, drowning out all else out. And when it finally passes, the only thing left is a feeling of bitter betrayal. The words written on the ground pierce me like a sword: I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be. A scream escapes my lips as I kick the dirt and erase his final message. I shouldn't have been so stupid. I should have figure he'd leave me. Well if that's how it's going to be, I'll take satisfaction in watching him die.
Wearily, I hear the faint sound of crackling. My head whips around to where the noise is coming from. I grab my knives and run as the water gets closer. The electric river, it's raising all around me, snaring me in a deadly trap. It's only a few inches deep where I am, but it can kill me none the less. Ahead of me is a small area where the water hasn't reached yet. I burst towards it, using all my energy and hop over the thinest part. As the water flows my way, I keep running and don't look back.
My lungs are burning and my legs are starting to shake after a good mile of fleeing. The river continues it's pursuit at a steady pace, forcing me to keep my speed. It's a good two hundred or so feet behind me, but I don't dare to slow down. On the other hand, my energy is draining at an alarming rate. If I keep pushing myself, I could collapse, but if I slow down, the river will catch up to me. It's a loose loose situation.
I look up at a tree, wondering if maybe I'd be safe if I climbed it. However, I guess electricity can travel through them just as well as it can through the water. Just as I'm about to chance it, the water stops moving and a voice pierces the air.
"Tributes, it's nine o' clock. Three of you are already at the designated battle ground. Blaze, you have three hours to get your ass there."
When Katniss finishes talking, the water begins to flow again. I cough and keep moving forward. This time, my pace is slower than before. Either that, or the water began rising faster. The arena is fairly small, but it's another mile and a half to the cornucopia. The way things are going, I won't make it to the final battle. A ball of hatred overtakes me. If tristan hadn't betrayed me, I could have woken up on time and this whole thing never would have happened.
They say that when humans are pushed to their limits, they find new found strength; the same is true with hatred. When you hate someone enough, you find a fire inside you, and that fire will keep burning until you accomplish your goal. All my feeling of despair and hurt start to pour down my face, as I run forward with a new found strength. After all I've been through, after trusting Tristan and having that bond broken, I won't allow myself to die before I learn why he left me. When I see the terror in his eyes at my fury, and when he pleads for his life, I'll be satisfied enough to let it all go. Until that moment, I will fight like hell.
When I arrive at the cornucopia, a arrow is pointed at my heart. Tristan stands proudly atop the metal horn, the sun shining on his dark hair. His face is shaded and I can't see his eyes. I can however make out a savage smile. Beside him, are Caleb and Analease. Both of them share a look of brokenness and innocence that contrasts with the evil being that is Tristan. If he is the devil, they are the fallen angels who want nothing more than to find their way back to heaven.
Seeing all three of them together shocks me. I didn't expect them to all make an alliance in the end. Why now of all times? I guess their plan is to take me down and then figure out something, but what happens when it reaches the final three?
The arrow flies my way and I duck to the side, running towards the cornucopia. If I can get inside it, it will protect me. Of corse, I'll be boxing myself in, but it's better then standing out here in the open. Tristan's next arrow misses me by quite some distance. It's as if he's a totally different person. For a second I think of the possibility that it might be a clone, but that doesn't seem too reasonable. Chances are he's just shaken up and it's affecting his aim.
I'm nearing the metal horn when all three of them jump off. Suddenly, Caleb holds a knife to Tristan's throat, and a thin line of blood trickles down his skin. Despite myself, my heart sinks, but it's replace with a feeling of anger. I won't let anyone else kill Tristan.
"Sorry, but the deal's off," Caleb says loudly enough that I can hear it from where I stand.
Tristan gives a laugh, "Why, so you can kill me and save your weak little princess? Even if I'm dead, that piece of fluff won't see another sunrise." The knife presses harder against his neck and more blood flows from the wound.
"No, I'm killing because you're a traitor. All you do is betray the ones who love you. In the end, you'd probably end up tricking Blaze into thinking you're a good guy and then shoot her through the back. If I leave you alive any longer, you'll just kill everyone and win the games." Caleb replies.
"And you won't?" Tristan questions critically.
"No, I plan to let Analease win and die with honor," Caleb says.
Tristan gives another humorless laugh, "So you are just killing me to protect that idiot girl. When I die, you're just going to kill Blaze, so don't even talk about me being a traitor when you yourself are betraying me for your own selfish purposes."
Caleb looses his grip for a second and Tristan takes the opportunity to wiggle out of his grasp. Tristan's arrow is now pointing at Caleb's heart. Analease gives a scream and tears start to pour down her face. I watch her with a look of disgust. If her heart is that weak, she doesn't deserve to live.
"No," she pleads, "Don't kill him."
"Analease, stop being such a coward!" I shout and all eyes turn towards me, "For god's sake, if you want to save him, do something! If all you can do is cry, then you might as well just curl up and die beside him." She gives me look like I've just smacked her.
"That's all I want," she says softly and a little piece of my heart hurts. Still, I'm not ready to give up and the fact that she wishes to die angers me.
"Sorry Anna," Caleb whispers to her. I watch horrified as he pulls out a knife and pushes it into Tristan's stomach as an arrow is launched into his heart.
"No!" Analease starts screaming hysterically and she runs to his body, pushing Tristan out of the way. I just stand there, frozen with a mixture of grief and scalding hatred. I try to will my legs to move, but they won't obey. A single cannon fires and I know it's for Caleb. Through Analease's sobs and Tristan's moans and my frozen limbs, my mind wanders back to a time when life was normal.
"Want one?" Caleb offered Analease as we walked by an ice cream stand, "I'll even pay."
"I would," Analease started and Caleb pulled out his wallet, "but I don't want to get fat."
"Come on," Caleb joked, "One ice cream won't make that much of a difference. Besides, I think you're fine the way you are."
"Well, Tristan doesn't," Analease said angrily.
"Who's he?" Caleb asked.
"The guy in the grade above us. He's a total jerk," I replied.
"Wrong," Analease said, "He's a super hot guy in the grade above us who I happen to like. However, he only dates super skinny girls and I think he'd find me fat."
"Analease, your delusional," Caleb sighed.
"Hey," I started, wanting to take advantage of the situation, "Would you possibly get me an ice cream?"
"Sure," Caleb said with a forced smile. He walked over to get me a chocolate ice cream, my favorite kind. Analease laughed as she poked my stomach and walked off, saying something about a hair appointment.
"Where'd she go?" Caleb asks as he returned. I gave him a shrug.
"If you like her, just tell her." I said with fake happiness.
"No," he sighed, "Someone like her wouldn't like me."
"Well, other people do," I replied shyly.
His eyes lit up, "Like who?"
"Not telling," I said turning away.
He chased me and we ran through the crowd laughing. On the way, my ice cream dropped and caleb asked if I wanted another one. I refused and we went for a walk in the park. Later we met up with Analease and Caleb told her proudly that someone liked him. She gave me a knowing smile and began to giggle as my face turned red. Caleb just stared back and forth between us like the clueless boy he was.
Looking down at Caleb's corpse and Analease crying over him, I have to wonder where that laughing kid and intimidating girl went because all I see is a dead body and a broken spirit. I'm still frozen as I witness Analease pull the knife out of Tristan's gasping figure and hold it up. My body becomes mobile again and I race towards her, knowing her next move.
I make it to Analease as the knife comes down towards her heart. Instead, it digs into my hand. I let out a sharp cry and blood falls onto the ground. Analease's eyes widen and she starts apologizing in weak sobs. The pain from the wound hurts, but not as much as loosing three people I love would. Analease rolls into a ball, her sobs filling the air.
"Hey," comes a cough from the figure beside me. Blood runs freely from both Tristan's mouth and stomach. He gives a weak smile that's filled with so much regret and sorrow it breaks my heart. "You have to live, okay?"
All the rage falls away as I realize what really happened. He didn't abandon me as a traitor, he left me to protect me. The tears start to pour down my face and drip onto him.
"Oh shit," he says weakly, "I shouldn't have said that."
"You idiot!" I yell through the tears. "What a foolish move to make. How dare you throw your life away? Did you really think this was what I wanted?"
"Nope," he coughs again and more blood covers his chin, "but I'm selfish and I always get what I want."
"Shut up, just shut up," I sob, kneeling over him.
"Can't do that just yet," he says, weakly holding his hand to my face, "Just win okay? Prove to those sons of bitches that they can't control us and make the world better for everyone." I nod and his hand falls. For minutes, the sounds of ragged, forced breathing fills the air, along with the cries of two girls with broken hearts. Then, everything goes silent and a cannon fills the void. At the sound of it, I completely fall apart.
I look through my blurry eyes and see Analease's huddled ball. It would be so simple to kill her and make Tristan happy. It would be just as easy to kill myself and let Caleb have his wish. The world spins around me. Just a moment ago, I was criticizing Analease for being weak. I'm such a hypocrite. Tristan's words filly my racing mind: Prove to those sons of bitches that they can't control us and make the world better for everyone. I know what I have to do. In a single motion, I pull out one of my knives and plunge it deep into my heart.
"Sorry Jaden," I whisper as pain overtakes my mind, "Analease, I leave it all to you." My body falls on top of Tristan's.
The only reason why they had this final Hunger Games was to get revenge. Hatred and revenge spin cycles, cycles that never end. Someone has to break that cycle. Analease Snow, you are the one person that couldn't win the Hunger Games. They wanted to kill you and prove that President Snow's shadow no longer loomed over them. That, my friend, is why you must live. If you win the games, you can peacefully defy and Rebels and show the world that when winter comes to kill a rose, in the spring, it will bloom again. It's your life Anna, and not mine, that will have the most power.
As my body starts to die against my will, final thoughts will my mind. I'm sorry Analease, I know I'm being selfish to put everything on you. I always was jealous of you, but now, I don't envy you at all. Even so, I know you'll find the strength to do anything. Caleb, you got your wish. I loved you once, and I hope I just made you happy. Katniss, I hate and pity you with all my heart. Can't you see revenge just turns good people into monsters? I've won this game, and you no longer control me. Tristan, I used to think you were a conceited douche, but you stole my heart. I look foreword to seeing you even if you can't forgive me. Jaden, I didn't become a demon, I stayed myself to the very end. I love you and will watch over you, so be strong without me. Everyone, I'm not a caged bird in the Hunger Games. I've finally been set free.
The final cannon fires.
AN:First: PLEASE don't spoil the ending in the reviews! You can say you hate it, but if you want to talk about it, pm me.
Now, for all of you who wanted a happy ending, I'm very sorry. It just feels like everyone has their tribute win and I wanted to be different. Also, I couldn't find a logical reason for anyone to live but Analease. Her life has meaning in that it defies the Rebels.
Lastly, thanks so much for reading this! All that's left is an epilogue and recap page.