Well this update was out earlier than expected. That was probably only because I was ill yesterday so I was stuck in bed with only my laptop, which meant a lot of binge watching Netflix and fanfic writing. Also means I'm not gonna be able to see Black Panther til it comes out on DVD :(. Thank you for all you reviews, the answers to all your questions are at the bottom of the chapter. By the way prices for sponsor items are rising again.

A while back I said that I was thinking about writing a fic about if Katniss hadn't volunteered for the games but Gale had volunteered to protect Prim. I've decided to write it and I'm on like chp6, but I won't upload any of it until I have finished this fic if not when I have finished the Harry Potter one I'm writing.

Oh and to everyone who reviewed last chapter saying NOOO! You can't leave it like that, I mean clearly I can because I did, but the wait is over so don't despair. I should've waited to update for longer, that would've been hilarious. Or pretended that I had abandoned this story. XD. I'm so evil.

Question to earn 10 sponsor points: Do you think that it was right for Katniss to shoot President Coin and why?

Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins and I do not own the hunger games, I am merely writing this for my own pleasure, and yours I guess.

~The Lonely Geek

Chapter 53

Ariela Fox's POV (Sector 4 female)

Night of day 12 (just before what happened at the end of last chapter)

I spot some movement amongst the trees near the clearing I'm standing in. I quickly pull on my night vision goggles and instantly see more clearly. I spot a figure walking through the trees. I draw my sword and chase them. They hear me and run too. I manage to push them against a tree. It's Jaimie Baron! I can kill her. I pull my sword in a wide arc across her chest and blood starts to gush out. She screams out in pain and manages to slap me round the face. My cheek stings but she's not going anywhere with her injury. I drop my pack on the ground to give me all my strength for killing her. I hold my sword up again, ready to deliver the final blow, pausing for a moment. Then a shoot of agony runs through my back, not even for a second. Then I feel nothing.

Jaimie Baron's POV (Sector 3 female)

Night of day 12/early hours of day 13

Through the trees I spot someone running forwards as Ariela collapses on me. I spot a knife sticking out of her back. It looks familiar.

"Jaimie!" I look up, still in agony and see Kai there. "Jaimie!" he takes hold of my hand and helps me to the floor before looking up at the sky. "Help. Please someone. Medicine, something." He says in desperation, tears flowing down his face. It's then that I remember the knife is the one I gave him. He killed Ariela.

"Kai, Kai, it's okay. It wasn't your fault."I whisper quickly.

"I killed." He says. "I heard you scream, I had to come. I was aiming for her hand, but..." He trails off, unable to continue.

"It's okay. I'm not going to win these games any more Kai, and that means you have to." I tell him. My wound is too deep to recover, even if I had sponsors. No one can save me now. I can spend my last moments with Kai though, making sure he understands this is how I want it to be. I could never win, not knowing that Kai had died for it to happen.

"I don't want to though." He says, clinging onto me.

"I don't care." I whisper fiercely. I may be being too harsh, but I don't have long and I need him to understand. So he doesn't live the rest of his life in guilt. He carries on crying. I didn't want to have to resort to this, but it seems I'm going to have to. The only way for him to let me go is for him to hate me. "You remember Squeak?" I ask him. It was the name of my hamster, the one I ripped to shreds. Kai nods. "I killed him. I ripped him to shreds and told you he went missing."

"Jaimie, I know what you're doing." He tells me. "You want me to hate you." It didn't work then.

"I wasn't lying." I say, I might still be able to get it to work.

"I don't care, Jaimie. I just want you to live." He cries. I can feel myself getting weaker. My time has almost run out.

"Kai," I say, mustering up all of my remaining strength. He opens his mouth to protest. "No shut up, I'm dying, I haven't got long. I love you." I tell him. "I know you're going to feel guilty, I wish I could take the guilt for you, but this is the way it is." I close my eyes for what I know will be the last time. "You need to win. Yo-you have to s-su-survive." My breathing is getting shallower and I can hardly talk. "For me. When you wi-win, when y-you g-et out of he-here, remember me. Rem-rememb-remember this is what a want-wanted. For you to live." I can feel the pain starting to ebb away.

"I love you Jaimie." I feel Kai's salty tear fall onto my face. "Always and forever." Then he takes my hand, squeezes it and I feel no more.

Kai Baron's POV (Sector 3 male)

Early hours of day 13

"Always and forever." I whisper, taking my sister's hand and squeezing it as her canon booms. Numbly, I get up and take Jaimie's pack off her back. She would've wanted me to have it. Then I get my canteen out, clumsily and try my best to clear up the blood, staining her front. I get almost all of it out, that I can see in this light anyway. She looks almost like she's sleeping now. I look around for something sharp. I want something to remember her by. More than just memories. I pull my knife out of the other tribute's back and cut a lock of Jaimie's long dirty blonde hair. I tie it up and put it in my pocket. "Goodbye." I whisper, picking up her pack and the other person's pack along with the night vision goggles that the girl was wearing before... Before I killed her. I walk off, not bothering to check who it was I even killed. Their face will be in the sky tomorrow, or probably tonight now.

I climb up a nearby as the guilt swallows me. First I killed someone. I took another's life. Does that make me a monster? I didn't mean to kill her, I just wanted her to go. So I could be with my sister. I only meant to hit her hand. The guilt of Jaimie's death is also there. I should've done something. Anything. Tried to bandage the wound up, stop the bleeding. I shouldn't have just sat with her. I really am a useless brother. And this is my price to pay, Jaimie's life. We argued so much about who was going to come out of the arena alive, we both wanted the other to survive. I'm starting to think that Jaimie had the easy way. She doesn't have the guilt to live with. She doesn't have to move on. I do and I'm still stuck in the arena with 10 people who all want to kill me. I don't know how to carry on without Jaimie.

I must fall asleep at some point though because next thing I know it's dawn and the sun is rising once more. I try to pull myself together, for Jaimie's sake. I start sorting through all the gear I have. I must have quite a haul now, because I have Jaimie's stuff and that other person's. I can't bear to go through Jaimie's stuff first, so I start with the one I killed. Sticking out of the top is a crossbow and arrows to go with it. I almost break it straight away. I have no need for another weapon, my knife did enough damage already. Then I realise I might be able to hunt with it. It'll certainly make things easier. I sort through the next things. Water purification tablets. I don't count them, but there's a lot. They'll save me lighting a fire to purify water for ages. There's also lots of packets and tins of food. I won't have to hunt for food for a while with the amount of food that's here.

I don't know how they managed to have so much food, maybe they raided the cornucopia or got a lot of sponsor gifts. There's also some matches a thermal jumper and hand warmers. I guess I'm going to be really snug at night, if that's any consolation for what's happened. Which it doesn't. I'd rather die of hypothermia and have Jaimie come back to life.

Arabelle Blake's POV (Sector 2 female)

Morning of fay 13

"So, no attacking for 24 hours then?" Magnolia says. This is it: we're splitting after 5 days of allying. We agreed that when it got to the final 10 we'd split and there were two more deaths last night. We agreed so that we could get some sleep we'd only split after eating one last meal together. We've finished the meal now, so we're going our separate ways. We have a 24 hour truce though if we run into each other. After that, it's fair game. These five days don't mean anything to me if it's her stopping me from going home. I won't hesitate to kill her. I nod, then pick up my knife and scratch a message into the ground.

"May the best tribute win." It reads. She nods before slinging her pack onto her back and walking away from the clearing. I do the same, but head in the opposite direction. I don't know whether she'll try and hunt me down once the truce is other so I want to put as much ground between us as possible. I'm not going to hunt her down. I'm not going to hunt anybody down. Not unless it's the final two.

I've still got all the stuff I had a few days ago, minus the purification tablets because we used them all. I didn't offer any of my stuff to her and she didn't ask. I risked my life for it at the cornucopia, her being my ally for a few days doesn't mean I'd give it up. She was doing pretty well with just that knife that she was sponsored anyhow.

I want to spend some of today hunting. We finished all our food for breakfast to save splitting it when we split so I have nothing. I doubt it'll take me long to find some groosling and cook it though. I'll purify some water while I'm at it. Water should be safe to drink if I put it over the fire until it's boiling.

As I guessed, it's not long before I come across some groosling wandering around. I pull my knives out and launch at them. I soon have two plump groosling. I'll wait a little while to pluck and cook them though. I want to keep moving. I'll stop when I start to get hungry and set them to cook while I get some water to boil as well. I might even manage to find some wild onions to go with it. I'm getting kinda bored of just having groosling and berries all the time. It's not particularly nutritious either, but it's all I can find so I have to put up with it for now. It gives me enough energy to keep me going which is all I need it to do.

Nessi Byron's POV (Sector 9 female)

Afternoon of day 13

"Want some more?" I ask Ethan, seeing that he has already finished his portion of the stew thing we cooked. It's a weird concoction of: groosling, fish, wild onions, chives and whatever edible herbs Ethan found. It's surprisingly nice. It hasn't really got a sauce as such but we added a little bit of hot water with crushed up herbs and spices which makes the meat taste less bland.

"Thanks." He says, leaning forwards to take some more. I chew on the lump of fish in mine. "What do you think we should spend the rest of the day doing?" He asks. I shrug. There's not really a lot for us to do, neither of us want to go tribute hunting and we've got enough food and a comfortable shelter.

"I guess we can just relax." It's weird to be talking about relaxing in the arena, but there's not a lot we can do at the moment. Neither of us want to go to the cornucopia since we saw flames coming out of it the other day. I think someone just set fire to all the supplies in there, so there'd be no point in going any way. He nods. "I might try climbing a tree so we can get a better look at the surroundings."

"Would you mind keeping watch for me if I sleep for a couple of hours?" Ethan asks me. I shake my head. It does get cold at night and with only one hand warmer that we alternate with, I'm not surprised he wants a few extra hours of sleep.

"It's fine. Would you mind if I borrowed your knife though, you can have my trident by you." I add quickly, realising that it sounds like I want to make him weaponless. "I know your knife isn't a throwing knife but I want to practise throwing it so I have the technique if I ever need it." He shakes his head.

"No, it's fine. As long as you don't use me as target practise." He smiles weakly. I don't laugh though, one of us could end up killing the other after all.

"I was planning on using a tree." I say. "I'll make sure it's not one near your head though." I tell him, trying to lighten the mood. He nods as I eat the last bite of my meal. "When do you want me to wake you?"

"In a couple of hours." He says, handing me his knife. I pass my trident to him and he takes it, gripping it tightly as he goes into his shelter. I go to a tree on the opposite side of the clearing and aim the knife. It completely misses the tree and clatters to the ground next to it. I guess it takes a lot of practise to get good.

Kitty Fox's POV (Ariela Fox's sister)

At school during day 13 in the arena

"Kitty," I'm vaguely aware of Regina shaking my arm. I ignore it though. It doesn't matter. None of it matters now. Ariela's dead. And it's my fault. "Kitty!" She says. I carry on ignoring her. "Are you sure you should be in school?" She asks me. "Shouldn't you have a week or two off?"

"What good would it do?" I ask her, finally looking at her. "It doesn't change what happened, I still killed Ariela."

"No," She says, flicking her short black her behind her ear. "Ariela knew what she was doing when she volunteered."

"She was being rash." I reply quickly. I can prickling building up in my eyes. I blink the tears back quickly. "She wasn't thinking properly. She shouldn't have volunteered for me."

"But she did." Regina says. "She did it willingly, were you not even watching her interview? This is exactly what she didn't want. You shouldn't feel guilty. It's not what she wanted." I ignore her and walk off. She doesn't understand. None of them understand. Why did Ariela have volunteer for me? Why couldn't she just watch me die instead? It would've been easier.

I didn't even watch the moment she died. It was really late at night according to dad. He was the one watching it when she died. Mum, London and him have been taking it in shifts to watch it so they don't miss anything. Four hours and then the next person comes and watches it. That way they get eight hours sleep. They wouldn't let me watch anything past nine in the evening and I can't watch a lot except at break and lunch when I'm at school. Every other second I've been glued to the TV screen.

They won't let me re-watch Ariela's death. They told me she attacked Jaimie and then Kai threw a knife in her back. She died instantly. They told me she wouldn't have been in any pain. That's not the point though. The point is that she died for me. Me. She'd still be alive if I hadn't been born. And now they won't even let me watch the moment she died. The last moment she had in this world. It's not fair. I should be the one who died last night, not Ariela. I'm not really looking where I'm going and I bump into someone in the corridor.

"Sorry." I mutter, without looking up.

"Kitty, are you okay?" I turn and look at them. It's Mr Hulance, my chemistry teacher. I nod. I don't want to talk to him.

"I'm fine." I say, already walking off.

"Kitty, wait a minute." I roll my eyes internally but stop. "I'm really sorry, about your sister." No you're not. You don't know her. You weren't the one to kill her. It's none of your business. All of it goes screaming round my head, but I don't say any of it.

"Me too." I carry on walking, and when he calls my name this time, I don't stop. I only look back and then I am enveloped by the crowd of girls that have come out of the toilets next to us.

Deaths:

12th: Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female) – Knife to the back by Kai Baron (Sector 3 male)

11th: Jaimie Baron (Sector 3 female) – Slash to the chest by Ariela Fox (Sector 4 female)

Ariela – I quite liked you to be honest and I knew from the moment you and Jaimie met, sparks would fly and one of you would die at the hand of the other. And you did kill Jaimie, but Kai was a bad throw so you got unlucky. I wish there was something to do to stop Kitty from feeling guilt because she deserved so much better, just like you. Maybe one day the two of you will meet again and Kitty will finally be at peace.

Jaimie – What to say. Did I like you? As a character, maybe. As a writer, yes. There's no doubt about it. You were so interesting and complex I found it so easy to write from your POV. As character, it's more complicated. I think you were kind of like the Severus Snape of this story. People maybe thought you were bad, and yes you killed without feeling remorse, but you still cared for Kai. Anyone who loved their brother as much as you did couldn't be all that bad. I'm glad you died in his arms, you deserved that at least, especially knowing that by dying you were opening up the path for him to win.

IncompetentlyIncineratingYou74: If you could be any Marvel or DC superhero which one would it be?

Hmm. Hard one. The only DC film I've seen is Wonder Woman, and I did love it but I really like Black Widow as well (there totally needs to be a film about her). I'm probably gonna go for Black Widow though just because I've seen her in more stuff.

TheAmazingJAJ: What is your least favourite class of the ones you mentioned above?

I don't really know. It's definitely between Biology and Physics because I don't mind Maths that much unless we're doing 3D trigonometry and Pythagoras' theorem. Uh, I'm gonna go for Physics because I have 22 equations to learn as well as everything else.

Iamastrangerthing: Which of your fandoms do you wish you owned the rights to?

Good one. Difficult, I have so many fandoms. Which to choose? Erm... I'm gonna go for Harry Potter because that was my first ever fandom.

Coolthancool99: If you could be in any book/book series, which would it be (comic, movies whatever)?

Erm, I gotta be careful here or I'm gonna end up dead here. I have so many that I love but I'd say Percy Jackson, but only the book series because lets be honest the films were awful, I mean how they even were allowed I don't know. I know books are better than films, but even by film standards they were terrible.

T4courtney: Cats or dogs?

Cats all the way. Dogs are evil have you never read the Warrior Cats series (well whatever the plural of series is because there's like 7 now I think I'm not sure I've not been keeping up), if you haven't I seriously advice it. Not really sure why they're in the kids section of libraries/book stores though, I would not let a 7 year old read them. Anyway, definitely cats they're adorable and dogs just come up to you, bark and jump up at you, not caring about personal space. Though for the purposes of my Chemistry grade I have to say dogs because in electrolysis the CAThode is negative because as my Chemistry teacher says cats are evil so they're negative animals which is why the cathode is negative.

Hungergamesfan: Why is a raven (not the tribute) like a writing desk?

Okay, is it bad that I actually had to google this riddle because I'd seen it before but I had no idea where it's from. I found out it's from Alice in Wonderland, I don't know how I'd heard of it because I have never read/watched it so yeah... I'm gonna say they both contain an 'r'.