According to Green and Silver's watches, the time was 5:57PM. In a little over six hours, the collars around their necks would detonate unless one of them was dead. That fear had been pushed out of the mind of each boy some time ago, an instead they simply concentrated on each other. It had been a long time since their minds were focused on one thing only.

Green watched his ex-ally carefully, waiting to see what his first move could be. He didn't know whether he should expect a spontaneous, overly daring first move, or a sly, elusive one. Either way, he was completely on guard, especially with his daypack by his feet. He refused to go anywhere near it until he had some understanding of what Silver was going to do, though.

For a while, Silver stared onwards, but knew that if they waited any longer they hesitated in waiting to begin the battle, the time limit would approach them sooner than they expected. Finally breaking eye contact, he glanced down at his own daypack. The bag wasn't fully zipped, and he could see the end of the shotgun poking out. He didn't have an exact plan to follow, but he knew presenting his only remaining weapon was a start.

Bending down, he glanced up every now and then to make sure he was safe. Then, he wrapped his hand around the shotgun, and tugged it out of the daypack. Standing up straight once more, Silver kept the shotgun by his side, but a slightly intimidated look had crossed over Green's face nonetheless. Inside his mind, Silver felt as if he had just secured the advantage. Slowly, he raised the shotgun, but kept his finger away from the trigger.

That caused Green to react. As soon as he saw the shotgun, the image of Lance's dead body flashed in his mind once more; particularly large, gaping hole in his chest. If Silver managed to successfully hit him with one bullet, he would die instantly. However, he knew he wasn't at a disadvantage in terms of weapons, and refused to let himself get overwhelmed at the sight of a powerful weapon.

He was hoping that he wouldn't have to do anything rash, but he knew if he had any motivation to fight, he had to take a risk. Without another moment of hesitation, he reached down into his own daypack, and wrapped his hand around a weapon he recently used. He had only put it back in the daypack shortly before Silver arrived. The blood on the weapon had yet to dry.

Ignoring the stench, Green rushed forward with the aluminum baseball bat. He held it over his shoulder, as if he were preparing to strike a baseball high into the air, instead of using it as a weapon. Silver's eyes widened upon seeing his original weapon, which he had loaned to Green in his search for weapons. Now, he was going to try and attack him with that same baseball bat. The irony of it almost made Silver want to laugh, but his expression didn't change at all. Instead, the shotgun began to tremble in his hands, and he could feel his grip on it become looser.

Silver prepared himself to duck, but the action was quickly proven to be pointless. As Green came closer, he swung the baseball bat outwards, instead up bringing it upwards, as Silver predicted. It wasn't high enough to hit his head, as he had done to Platinum. Instead, he watched as the baseball bat made an arc downwards, and eventually made contact with his wrist.

It took Silver a moment to register, but the pain came with severe intensity. He barely felt the shotgun drop from his hands into the grass. Instead, he simply clutched his wrist, already knowing that he was dealing with a severe injury. Biting his lip, he resisted the urge to scream and curse. Instead, he put all his focus into squeezing his wrist, as if it would help reduce the pain somehow.

Wait. I'm still supposed to be fighting for my life. What am I doing, letting myself get caught up in a minor injury?, he scolded himself, and forced himself to look away from his wrist. He glared up at Green, hoping to intimidate his senior once more.

His glare turned into a look of surprise in a matter of seconds when he looked up.

Green had brought the baseball bat back over his shoulder once more, ready to strike. Silver took a few staggering steps backward, his injured hand dangling limply at his side. The older boy quickly followed his steps, swinging the aluminum baseball bat as he did so.

The baseball bat hit Silver's stomach. Since he was still trying to recover from the blow dealt to his hand, he struggled to avoid it. The impact of the hit to his stomach was much more intense, causing him to double over, and fall to his knees. His mind felt dizzy as he attempted to regain his breath, which had been knocked out of him.

For a few seconds, Green watched as Silver struggled to breathe after his attack. Then, he realized that he mightn't have too much time to spare. Turning on his heel, he ran back to the spot where Silver had stood moments beforehand. The shotgun was still laying there in the grass, discarded after Silver had first been hit with the baseball bat.

Green bent down and picked it up. As he laid his finger on the trigger, he was in shock at how easy all of this had been. Since the start of the program, he had expected the final battle to be difficult and grueling, no matter who it was between. Despite his speculation, his opponent was doubled over, and wheezing for breath. Victory had come to him as easily as it came to him after his fight against Platinum.

Looking up as he slowly regained his breath, Silver saw that Green was pointing the shotgun at him. Still clutching his stomach with his working hand, he forced himself to stand up once more, his stance originally unstable and shaky. He quickly straightened himself up, and faced his ex-ally once more.

Although he felt as if he should grant the younger boy a chance to say one last thing, Green figured he didn't have time to do so. Even though he stood up, Silver was clearly still winded and trying to catch his breath. Besides, he figured that they had said all they needed to say moments ago.

Still looking Silver directly in the eye, Green pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked.

Green could do nothing but stand there for several seconds in disbelief, and then tried to fire once more. Once again, the gun clicked. As he repeatedly squeezed the trigger, he received the same result every time. Finally, he opened the chamber to see for himself and confirm that there were no bullets.

As this process was carried out, Silver had been removing his black gloves, and placed them in his pocket. Occasionally, he glanced up at the scene in front of him. He almost felt like laughing at it all. His decision to empty the shotgun had been on a whim, but subconsciously, he supposed that he did see a possibility like this occurring. However, he decided he could take the time to feel victorious later. All that mattered right now was that he had an opening.

"You bastard", Green said softly as he looked inside the chamber.

Silver knew if he didn't move at that moment, Green would take the time to regain the upper hand. After being dealt two severe hits, he knew a third one could prove fatal, especially since Green would no longer hold back, if he had been doing so before. Silver highly doubted he had been. That made what he was about to do a little easier.

With unsteady steps, he ran towards Green. The older boy looked up to see that Silver was an arm's length away, and suspected he had barely any time to retrieve a new weapon. However, he barely had any time to even prepare his current weapon to be used. Being an arm's length away suited Silver perfectly.

In a swift motion, Silver reached his hands outwards, preparing his broken right wrist to cope with what was to come. Then, he took another step closer, and wrapped his hands around Green's neck as tightly as he could, applying less pressure with his right hand. His pinky fingers lightly brushed against the metallic collar.

As shock ran through Green's system, he realized that it was his turn to struggle for breath. Even though he knew there was no possibility he could start breathing, his lungs still attempted to take in whatever they could, in a desperate attempt to stay alive. With some effort, Green looked down at Silver, who held him up ever-so-slightly. His face was contorted with anger, but Green had his suspicions that the anger he felt wasn't directed towards his current victim.

That was all he was remotely capable of observing. The rest of his mind was in a complete panic frenzy as he attempted to stay alive, despite the fact that he knew there was no possible way for that to occur. He was being strangled, and even if he dug his fingernails as deeply as possible into Silver's hands, there was no possibility of being released. As much as he wanted to accept that fact, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

Silver didn't know how much time had passed since he wrapped his hands around Green's neck. For a few seconds, he had been completely fixated on pressing his thumbs as deeply as possible into his neck in an attempt to compress his windpipes. Soon enough, he felt Green's eyes watching him. He looked up as well, almost in a slight state of disbelief that he had actually managed to outsmart his senior like this.

Then, for the first time since his wrist had been broken, rational thoughts began to form in Silver's mind once more.

This is really my ex-ally I'm strangling. Throughout the entire competition, he's been looking out for me, he thought, and unknowingly lessened the pressure applied to Green's neck. He wanted to deny it, and think only about how ruthlessly Green had attacked him, but he knew he had a point. After Blue's name had been announced, the older boy had kept watch as Silver passed out, and comforted him later. Green had given him some time alone with Gold after his death, and stood by silently as Silver remained in his state of numbing grief. He had been the one to warn him not to go into the clinic, to avoid seeing the body of his other best friend sprawled on the floor.

Even though he did all that for me, I'm killing him now. What a great way of repayment.

Shaking his head, Silver brought his hands back down to his side in a sudden movement. He didn't give himself time to debate whether or not he should let Green go, because if he didn't make the choice at that moment, it would have been too late otherwise.

Green immediately fell onto the ground, and broke out in a fit of coughing. In between coughs, he gasped for breath, as he felt his windpipes open slightly once more. Silver stood by silently as he listened to his ex-ally attempt to regain his breath. After a few moments, he brought himself to look down.

The boy's neck had gaudy, purple marks where Silver's fingers had been seconds before. His expression was clearly pained, as he attempted to breathe through damaged windpipes. Nevertheless, he still tried, and his coughing fits became irregular. Although his breathing pattern was still far from normal, it was improving every few seconds.

"Idiot", he suddenly whispered, and then coughed once more.

Silver thought he misheard. Kneeling beside his senior, he laid a hand on his shoulder, and shook him to look up. When he did, he looked exhausted, but he also looked disappointed.

"What did you say?" Silver asked.

"You're... an... idiot. You... You almost... won", he gasped, lowering his head once more.

Ignoring whatever concerns Green had at that moment, Silver reached into his daypack and pulled out a bottle of water. Once he handed it to Green, the boy gulped down as much as he could within the space of a couple of seconds. Placing it on the ground, he looked back up, his breathing as regular as it would get.

"Why'd you do it? If our roles were reversed, there would have been no way I would've let you go", he demanded to know. Silver contemplated whether or not he should be honest, but given the fact that one of them would be dead soon enough, he decided he had nothing to lose.

"You've done an awful lot for me. I owe you so much, and I couldn't repay it by killing you. I couldn't see it through", he confessed.

"What kind of excuse is that?! I thought we established that we'd put aside all of that. I owed you too, so we're even. But you just tossed away your chance at winning!" Green snapped, and shook his head.

The two boys remained in silence for several seconds. Silver had begun to contemplate his decision, and whether or not he really had been right to do what he did. Before he could mull over it for too long, Green spoke up once more.

"Do you remember when you told me earlier about how you have no family to go back to?" he asked.

"Don't start this. We've talked about it before, and there is no way in hell that I'll ever acknowledge-"

"I know you said all that! Even then, Giovanni is still your biological father. He cares about you, Silver. I don't know what's going on in that school right now, but I'm almost certain he's rooting for you to win. Out of all twenty-seven of us, you're the one he wants to live", he continued.

"I've made it this far. Besides, why are you suddenly talking about what Giovanni would be happiest with? I thought you wanted to see all the team leaders dead too", Silver muttered, sounding a little confused.

"I do, and that's my point. If I live, I'll do everything in my power to make sure I get revenge. No matter what I do, though, you can do more. You're the only one with the ability to put Giovanni through hell for what he did. It'll hurt more than anything else to see his own son be the one to carry out revenge. Nothing I do can compare. That's why I was content to see you make it this far.

"There was one thing I needed to make sure of, though. I needed to be certain you had the ability to be ruthless, and do whatever had to be done. That didn't mean I was going to accept dying so easily, but I would have had a little comfort knowing that you were ruthless enough to do anything. You do know it's probably going to come down to you having to kill those five men, including Giovanni, right? If you could kill me, I knew you would have been able to take them on."

Green paused for a moment, and gazed over at Platinum's body. In the midst of their battle, both of the remaining participants had briefly forgotten about the fact that another person had died here recently. Then, taking his eyes off her, he looked back over at Silver. He seemed to wait and see if the younger boy had anything to say in return, but he simply sat there silently, waiting to hear what else he had to say. With that, Green continued.

"Remember, I told you that Platinum had plans to get off this island too. She had good intentions, and I heard from Daisy that she was outstandingly clever. If she had the right viciousness needed to survive after the program, I would have been fine with her winning as well. But, she wasn't strong enough", he told Silver, his voice becoming slower.

Once again, he stopped and looked at Silver for a response. A cold sweat had broken out on his forehead, but his expression remained the same, even a little forced to look calm. When Green realized that he wouldn't be getting a response once again, he decided to speak one more time.

"You really shouldn't have let go of my neck, Silver", he sighed, with some regret mixed in his tone.

Then, he reached into his daypack, and once he had located what he had been looking for, he quickly pulled it out of his daypack. In an instant, Silver found himself staring at the barrel of a gun. Originally, the SIG-Sauer P230 9mm Short Semi-Automatic Pistol belonged to Trevor, but that was information Silver knew nothing about. He tensed up at the sight of the gun, and instinctively flinched.

"Remember this? N dropped it after you slashed his eye. I do appreciate you helping me fight him off back then, but as I said, I can't let myself get hung up on alliances", Green explained, his tone still apologetic. His finger rested on the trigger.

"What's wrong with you?! You're really going to try and kill me now?!" Silver exclaimed, finally breaking his silence. He was unable to keep the absolute confusion and desperation to understand out of his tone.

"That's what we agreed to do as soon as our alliance was broken! I'm treating you no different from Platinum. I gave her a chance to prove she could get revenge on our behalves, but she couldn't prove that. I gave you the same chance, but you couldn't prove it either. I refuse to die knowing that my death, and all the other deaths that occurred here, will all just amount to nothing!" Green snapped.

The hand holding the gun shook. Silver bowed his head in silence, and thought about his words. Is he right? If I'm not able to kill him, will that mean I'm not able to kill any of the supervisors, particularly Giovanni?, he wondered.

"Look, I'm done waiting around. If you can manage to prove me wrong about my judgement on what you're capable of, I think I'll die content. If you're the one who dies, I hope you'll know I'll refuse to rest until I've gotten revenge", Green said, raising the gun once more.

Before he could finish his last sentence, Silver was already on his feet. He ran some distance away, but still within shooting distance. The thought of picking up the empty shotgun hadn't even crossed his mind. Instead, he lunged for his daypack, the majority of its contents still inside.

Green stood up once more, both of his hands wrapped tightly around the gun. As his finger closed in on the trigger, Silver took that as his chance. His ex-ally had gone on for quite some time about how he had wasted his last chance, but he saw this as one last opportunity to prove that he could be just as ruthless as Green.

He tossed the daypack in Green's direction, whose view was completely obstructed by the nylon bag. As the bag hit him, he stumbled backwards, squeezing the trigger at random. The bullet formed a hole in the daypack. As he scrambled to get the daypack away from him, he heard something come towards him.

Once the daypack was tossed onto the floor once more, he raised the gun once again. Silver had traveled closely, but Green took no time to observe that. Instead, he was focused on the weapon in Silver's hands; the aluminum baseball bat. In terms of weaponry, their positions had been reversed from when they first started fighting.

For the second time, he pulled the trigger. Silver let out a cry as the shot rang out, and brought the baseball bat down on his arm with all the force he could muster. The bullet narrowly avoided Silver, as it flew under the boy's arm.

With a crack, Green's arm snapped downwards, at an awkward angle. His grip on the pistol loosened, considering that it put too much pressure on his arm to keep a firm grip on it. Silver noticed how Green's fingers became less strained around the gun. I have to keep going. If I give up now, I'll only prove him right.

He felt that attempting to take the gun at this point would be too much of a risk. At the very least, he could take comfort in the fact that he had impaired Green's chances of raising his arm to shoot. Despite that, Silver knew he still needed to work quickly.

Taking a step backward, he raised the bat once more. Green noticed, and jumped backwards as Silver came forward. He watched as the younger boy stumbled, and almost fell, after putting as much force as he could into the swing that hit nothing. Once he regained his balance, he glared up at Green.

For a moment, the two boys merely glared at each other. Green took small, inching steps backwards. The subtle movement didn't go undetected. The quietness of the evening gave him away. Then, Silver took that as his next opportunity to attack. He charged forward, breaking the silent tension.

Green attempted to raise his arm upon seeing the boy charge forward, but the small attempt to do so had led to a sharp, shooting pain rush upwards. At that moment, he realized his arm had been completely immobilized. Letting out a grunt, he continued running backwards, hoping to cause Silver to stumble and fall again. If he could achieve that much, it would give him a small bit of time to think of what to do next.

He didn't have any time to think of what to do next, however. Silver closed in on him, and swung the baseball bat once more, determined not to miss. He knew as well as Green did that it would only open up another opportunity for the older boy to attack him.

The aluminum bat collided with his shoulder. As the hit had contained all the force Silver could muster, the impact was enough to cause Green to fall onto the ground once more. He landed on his side, his injured arm colliding with the ground. The sudden collision brought on another wave of intense pain, which was enough to release his grip on the gun.

It didn't go unnoticed by Silver. Wasting no time, he bent down and picked up the gun. Green grasped for it, but in a weak attempt. His mind was currently focused on the newfound pain in his shoulder, as well as the stinging sensation running up his other arm. He sat up quickly, but didn't rush to stand up.

Silver was looking down at him with a cold glare that the other boy hardly recognized. In that moment, he saw a true resemblance between father and son, as he recalled Giovanni's icy treatment of the participants in the classroom. The sense of terror ran into his core.

At the same time, though, Green realized that he had been mistaken about Silver. Even though he had shown severe weakness against him earlier, he had been quick to do everything he could to disprove that he was too weak to fight. At this point, Green was still uncertain who should live more between the two of them. All he knew was that he could take some comfort in the fact that his original judgement had probably been wrong.

Taking in a deep breath, Silver felt his hand began to tremble. If he didn't shoot soon, he'd never be able to get an accurate hit. Even though he had the blatant advantage, he still had trouble telling himself to pull the trigger. Green observed his hesitant behaviour, and had to deliberate over his judgement once more. Fine. If you're not capable of carrying this out, I really have no choice.

He pressed both hands against the ground, and pushed himself upwards. Applying pressure onto his broken arm had brought on blinding pain, but he did everything he could to ignore it. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself off the ground, and back onto his feet. With his injured arms dangling limply at his side, he took a step towards his opponent.

That was enough to cause Silver to react. He felt as if his brain had exited its trancelike state, and he recoiled. Even though he had rendered Green's arms practically useless, he knew that the older boy would do everything within his power to provide a strong fight back. After seeing what he was capable of achieving, and his inability to give up, he knew that he couldn't hesitate any longer in fighting back.

Finally, Silver pulled the trigger. A loud shot rang out, causing his ears to ring. He took no notice of it, and looked straight ahead.

The bullet whizzed forward, and hit Green in the center of his chest. The single bullet had been enough to send him flying backwards. He fell into the grass once more, and this time, Silver feared he wouldn't get up again.

Silver's knees gave away, and he sank into the grass. The barrel of the gun was still smoking after the shot he had taken. It felt much hotter in his hands all of a sudden, and he tossed it into the grass, far away from either boy. Then, he made his way over to Green. The very thought of seeing the state he was in after that sent a sense of fear to his core.

Upon hearing Silver come over to him, Green forced himself to sit up. The task had becoming seemingly impossible, as his body felt like it was made of lead. Nevertheless, he managed to sit up, supported by his hands pressed in the grass. He barely registered the pain running up his arm anymore. The blinding agony that came from the center of his chest occupied all his attention.

When he sat up, the bullet hole left by the gun became visible to Silver. It looked no bigger than a hole a finger could produce from the front, but he figured from the back, the wound was much larger. His black jacket was quickly becoming damp, causing the fabric to become a darker shade. The dampness seemed to be deepening at an alarming rate. Saying he had minutes to live would be an overstatement.

With some effort, Green raised his head. He was generally quite reluctant to admit when he had been wrong about something, but he had to admit that he had been wrong about his initial judgement. Although it had taken one final act of intimidation, Silver had managed to put aside all personal feelings. He couldn't say he felt happy about losing after making it this far, but he felt some form of comfort, knowing that victory went to someone he could trust.

"I-I did it. I did what you wanted me to do. You might still have your doubts about me, but I promise I'll make sure that none of your deaths were in vain. I'll do whatever I have to do, no matter how tough it might get", Silver promised, his voice visibly shaking. "That's what I really owe to you, and everyone else."

Green stared at him wordlessly for a moment. He felt words form on the tip of his tongue, and he was ready to reassure Silver that he had full faith in him. But, he knew that if he even attempted to speak, he would only spit out a mouthful of blood. He didn't bother attempting to speak, but after seeing how desperate Silver looked for a response, he decided he'd try to muster one.

With as much strength as he could manage, he mustered a hint of a smile. That caused Silver's expression to soften a bit, and look at him curiously. Then, Green nodded his head, indicating that he understood and supported everything he was just told. His small gesture was genuine; he had built up a lot of hope for Silver. It had taken willpower to what he did, and although it was a struggle, he managed to accomplish it in the end.

Due to that, Green didn't feel as bitter as he thought he would about dying. He knew the life of a winner was going to be one filled with horrid nightmares, and a dire need for revenge. That reason had been unbearable to Sapphire, which led her to kill herself, but for him, it was the reason that made dying a little easier. I did all I could. Did I ever really want to be the winner, though? I don't know what kind of life is ahead of Silver, but I'm almost glad I won't be the one experiencing it. I think dying here and now sounds better than the type of life ahead for the winner.

His arms began to tremble beneath him, and before he could realize what was going on, they gave away, and he fell back down. His heart rate briefly sped up, causing him to intake one last gasp. Then, his heart slowed once more, until it finally stopped beating.

Silver edged beside him, and pressed two fingers against his neck. His eyes held no life, and his skin had turned pale. Blood kept seeping out from the wound in his chest, but there was no doubt that Green was already gone.

Unexpectedly, he thought back to the previous day, when there were several more participants still alive. He recalled finding Green for the first time, and how Gold had taken the time to make Red look a little more at peace. Looking back at Green, he knew that he couldn't do much at that point, but he was a little content to find that he could do something.

As he closed Green's eyes, he realized that he was still in shock over the fact that he was really gone. He shook his head once more, trying not to think too deeply about it. Instead, he concentrated on folding Green's arms over his chest, concealing the bullet wound. It was difficult to do so, due to the fact the body's arm was dislocated, but eventually, he managed to make Green look a little more at peace.

Silver stared down at his deceased friend for several seconds. Then, an unsuspected thought occurred to him:

I won.

With that, Silver clutched at Green's jacket with his good hand, and burst into tears. Although he had won the program, Silver's victory could only be described as bitter.

1 Remaining.

End of Participant Monitoring System Report

Completed: Day 2, 18:18.

Game Over.


Author's Note: Oh, wow. That was honestly incredibly tough to write. When I first started this, I had a clear idea in mind for the winner, but then I began to have doubts, and begun to seriously consider making Green the winner (Platinum and Faitsu were also considered, at one point!). After a lot of debating, I went with my original choice; Silver. He was always the person I had in mind to win, and although I'm unsure of how I feel about this chapter overall, I'm happy with my choice. I have one more chapter and then the epilogue to go, which I'll upload all in one go. Thank you for reading, and I hope you stay around for the last 2 chapters! 3