Warning: Bad language.

Mako Yubeta, 18, District 8 Tribute POV

Silver stands on the beach. He looks completely calm, even though Drachma and I are about to attack him. The only sign that he might want to fight is the sword in his hand.

"Mako," he says. "Are we still on the same side?"

"No," I say, sternly. "Your side is losing."

"Are you that cowardly?" Silver asks. "Are you giving up on what you believe in because you think it's the losing side?"

Anger blossoms in me. How dare he call me a coward! Silver came second in his games by betraying his allies and playing dirty. I came second the Elite way, with strength and skill. If the games hadn't been rigged, I would've won the Elite way.

"Let me tell you what I believe in, traitor," I say. "I believe in honour-"

"Then honour the alliance," Silver interrupts. "Or you're the real traitor."

"What alliance, Mako?" Drachma asks. She doesn't know about the rebellion. She doesn't know what I used to be involved in.

"There's no alliance, not anymore," I say. "I want to win. I believe in power, in victory, in revenge. Your little failure alliance won't give me that."

"I see," Silver says.

Then he turns to Drachma.

"Drachma," he says. "Still want to ally with me?"

Drachma's eyes widen. I don't wait for her to reply. I charge at Silver, sword raised.

Drachma Montez, 18, District 10 Tribute POV

Silver and Mako are locked in combat. Mako has fury in his eyes. Silver looks a little nervous. I stand, frozen as their blades lock.

I don't know whose side I'm on. I know I should be helping Mako kill Silver but something's stopping me.

"Come on, Drachma," Silver cries, as Mako forces his sword forwards. "I can't beat him alone."

"Get your stupid boyfriend to help, then!" I snap.

"Everything with Moss was fake," Silver says. "I lied to get into his alliance. I knew I wouldn't be able to win without allies. I'm not the one to beat anymore."

"Who's the one to beat?" I ask.

Mako slides his sword free and Silver has to duck to avoid having his face sliced open.

"Who the fuck do you think the one to beat is?" Silver yells. "It's Mako. If you don't help me, he's going to kill me and then he's going to kill you. This is your chance, Drachma!"

I weigh my options in my head. Who would I rather fight alone, my most skilled opponent or my most mysterious opponent?

I make my decision when Silver takes a hesitant step back. He's limping. He's injured.

He has a weakness.

Maybe I was just searching for one. Maybe I just didn't want to watch Silver die.

Mako sees Silver's injury too and kicks him hard in the leg. Silver crumples to the ground. Mako raises his sword.

I charge.

I ram my gauntlets into Mako's side just before he stabs his sword down. Instead of stabbing Silver, it plunges into the sand. I manage to land a glancing blow on Mako's face, not enough to kill him but enough to stun him briefly, and I take that opportunity to glance at Silver. He's recovering quickly, scrambling to his feet.

"Run!" I cry. "Get to the jungle. It's his weakness."

Silver doesn't hesitate. He limps down the beach as fast as he can.

Mako slices at me. I manage to catch the blade of his sword between the spikes of my gauntlet. It try to twist it out of his grip but he sends it slicing up my arm. I retaliate with another punch. Mako tries to stab me and I have to bat his sword away.

Now you're fighting him alone, Drachma. Where did you go wrong?

I try to back away from Mako, towards the trees. One of my swings hits his wrist and I hear the crunch of broken bones. Unfortunately it's not his sword hand.

"All I wanted," Mako cries. "All you had to be was an ally who'd stay loyal to me! All you had to do was stay, Drachma!"

Stay. It's a strange word. A lot of people associate it with love, with clinging to someone you care about as they reluctantly pull away. I just think of it as something people yell at their dogs.

"This is the Hunger Games, Mako," I yell. "You don't make the fucking rules."

I'm getting tired. My gauntlets are slick with blood. My feet slide about in the sand. It's hard to keep my balance.

Get to the trees, Drachma!

Mako's sword almost hits me in the face and I only just duck in time. I realise I can't win this fight on the beach. I have to run. If I make it to the jungle, I'll have a chance.

I turn and run as fast as I can.

It's not fast enough.

Mako's sword slices down the back of one leg. Then the other. I collapse to the ground. I can't move my legs anymore. Mako must've sliced through the tendons I need to move.

"This is what happens to traitors," Mako says.

He stabs the sword into my back. I'm still alive. He's missed my vital organs.

Mako never misses. He knows I'll die. He wants me to die slowly.

I let my face sink into the sand so nobody can see me cry. I let this happen. I was weak. I had feelings for Silver and I let them turn me weak.

I've failed at everything.

Silver Oberst, 18, District 7 Tribute POV

I wait, just beyond the edge of the jungle, for Mako. I watched him fight Drachma. She managed to give him a few injuries before he struck her down and left her to die. I know that Mako is too dangerous to be left alive and, if I'm going to kill him, it needs to be now, when he's injured and off-balance.

Drachma told me that the jungle was his weakness. So I become the jungle. I blend into the trees and lie in wait for my victim.

"Silver!" Mako bursts through the trees. I don't respond. I stay very still and very quiet, hidden behind some leaves. He can't see me. It's far too dark.

"Silver!" Mako roars. "Come and face me like a real Elite!"

His eyes dart around. He keeps touching his injuries, conscious of where he's bleeding. He's scared.

I know exactly what he's scared of. Mako was killed by a tiger in his first games. He doesn't know about the clock. For all he knows, there could be another tiger in the jungle, tracking him down with the smell of his blood.

I begin to growl.

Mako freezes up. "No…" he whispers.

Before he can realise what's happening, I spring forwards and slit his throat.

"Do real Elites feel fear, Mako?" I ask, as he drowns in blood. A cannon fires.

It makes me realise that Drachma's cannon hasn't fired yet.

I limp back to the beach. Drachma is face-down in the sand, blood pooling around her body. I lift her up, as gently as I can.

"Did you come here to gloat?" Drachma asks.

"No," I whisper. "I came here to thank you for saving my life."

"I couldn't save my own, though," she says, sadly. "Do you think I would've won, if I'd chosen Mako?"

"Probably not," I say. "You could've won if you hadn't told me to run. We could've both killed Mako."

"Why did you run?"

I shrug. "I'm selfish."

"Fair enough. I…"

Drachma trails off. Her face hasn't changed. She's not dying, not immediately.

She just can't think of what to say.

"Would you have done the same?" I ask.

"No," Drachma says. "There's no way I could've left you. I have a crush on you. It… really sucks."

I'm not quite sure how to respond to that. The old me would've scoffed at the idea of Drachma having a crush on me. But it wouldn't feel right now. I've spent so long with my annoying emotional allies, I've grown used to their annoying emotions. As much as I try to hide it, I know there's something sweet about the way Régine and Ageis used to hold hands and how Fawkes holds onto that flower some secret admirer must've sent him. It makes them happy and they deserve to be happy.

Drachma saved my life. She's dying for it. She deserves a little happiness as well.

"It's okay," I say. "I know we have a lot in common. We both… come from District 1."

"Absolute shithole," Drachma mutters.

"Agreed."

Drachma's eyes light up. She's about to smile but then she catches herself.

"Tell me that my crush on you made me stupid," she says. "Tell me it made me weak. Tell me that's why I'm dying."

"I used to think of it that way," I say. "I used to think love was a weakness. Now I wonder if it's the other way around. What if it's this magical power that other people have and I just don't?"

"I don't know," Drachma says. "I'm really the wrong person to ask."

She coughs, suddenly. Her entire body shudders. Blood flecks her lips.

"Kiss me," she says. "Before I die, I want to know… what all the fuss is about."

I don't know why I do it. Maybe it's because I like Drachma. I'd never spent much time with her but I was aware of her at the academy, even though she was two years above me. She seemed to have some good ideas about the academy, even though she had all the subtlety of a brick wall. Maybe I'm hoping I'll find something, the same kind of understanding that Régine found with Ageis.

I know that Drachma and I see the world in a similar way. She's the closest to understanding me, closer than all of my allies. If I'm going to fall in love with anyone, it has to be her.

But Drachma's lips are cold and damp. They taste of blood. I suppose it's because she's dying. This is her last request.

It's supposed to be romantic but I just feel empty and confused.

I pull away from Drachma.

"Now I see what the fuss is about," she says. "It's still not worth dying for but… it's something."

"I-" the cannon cuts me off. I let Drachma's body rest in the sand. "I don't."

I hear a roaring in the distance and look up to see the crest of a wave looming over the trees. I realise I'm in the wrong section and start limping away. When the wave hits, I turn to watch it swallow Drachma's body. Then the water hits me with enough force to knock me over. I spend a few seconds turning panicked somersaults, trying to find air.

At last, I find my footing and stumble towards the lightning tree. If my allies managed to escape and all is well, I should find them there.

I've realised that I need them. I care about them.

And they care about me.

For years, I've felt different. Isolated. Not quite human. But it's only now I've found friends that I realise it. I can't go back to being alone. I won't be happy.

Maybe I'll never fall in love. But I don't need to. I have friends.

What started as Silver vs the Careers became… chaos.

8th: Mako Yubeta, throat slit by Silver

Mako was one of my favourite villain tributes to write. There was a human side to him, even when he became… the living embodiment of The Mariner's Revenge Song (that song came on my playlist while I was writing Mako's fight with Drachma). He was a guy who had a perfect life but lost everything due to incredible bad luck. I felt a little sorry for him. Mako was the most conventional Career in the arena, despite having ties to the rebellion. He believed that strength, skill and passion would win him the games but his reliance on order and honour let him down.

7th: Drachma Montez, bled to death from wounds caused by Mako

Remember when I started trying to set up that alliance between Drachma and Silver but the rebellion drove them apart? It paid off. Without her help, Silver would never have beaten Mako. Drachma was harsh on everyone, including herself. She had a lot of views on what an ideal woman should be like and it was only at the end that she realised that her ideal was unrealistic and that she couldn't force anyone to be a completely perfect, unfeeling warrior - not even herself. She was becoming a more accepting person. Maybe I should've kept her alive but I just couldn't see any room for her in Silver's current alliance.

Speaking of Silver, he survived! I realised that the two tricks he used - turning Careers on each other and psychological warfare - were the tricks Fawkes used to come second. I suppose Silver and Fawkes have a lot more in common than you'd expect.