My eyes suddenly begin to flutter open. I begin to take a look at my surroundings when I make a few more discoveries. My head feels heavy and my waste down feels as if it's on fire. Before I can try and get up though, a hand is put on my chest.

I open my eyes a little wider. However they're opened completely by instinct. I'm stunned. The person who's woken me up is Alma. Alive and well. He looks down at me, a smile forming on his face.

"Yes brother. You're alive." He said, as I leaned forwards a bit more.

I cough as he pats me on the back. For a moment, I have no idea what he's even going on about. Alive? Was there a point where I was nearly de-,

That's when I'm reminded. I was shot by a dart which injected poison into my system. I... I thought I was going to die then and there but apparently not...

I look back up to my brother who's rubbing his hair. "I almost thought your little body wasn't going to be able to handle it. You were out for two days if you couldn't tell." He said, handing me a canister of water.

At that moment, I realized how dry my throat was and how thirsty I felt. I swiftly grabbed the canister and gulped down the water before stopping abruptly. I handed Alma the canister back before wiping my face.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to drink that much." I scratched my head.

He began patting my head. "I understand. So much time spent on... on your own... It's uh..." His words began to trail off.

I gave a confused look towards him. He looked down at the floor. Out of nowhere though, he grabbed me and pulled me towards him and before I knew it we were hugging.

"I'm so damn proud of you Altar!" He cried into my shoulder.

This was quite the moment. Before this moment, I'd never heard my brother cry. Not that I remember at least. He was always looking strong. Acting strong. Protecting me...

"I should've put more faith in you. I didn't expect you to make it past the bloodbath. I can't believe you survived so long. Without me in fact." He told me, putting both of his hands on my shoulders.

I give a nod.

"It wasn't without pain and suffering. But the fact that I'm here right now makes up for that I guess." I admitted. He looked up at the sky. Unlike the past few days, they sky was clearer than it had been before. Only a few large clouds were in the sky. The sun was still hard to spot but it was clearer than it had been the past few days to the very least.

"By the way, I'm curious. What was that large cut on your shoulders and legs from?" Alma suddenly asked me.

That's when I suddenly notice the bandage covering my shoulder.

"OH! This? The shoulder one came from the bloodbath. I... I found a bag to the side and I got hit with a knife while running away." I said to him.

I see the cut in my pants that reveal my large scar.

"This one was from a mut. A large pack of killer birds started cutting me up. I was unable to walk for a while but... But my friends helped me get out of that." I look away for a moment. I'm not about to cry, but I feel myself getting upset just saying that.

"Friends? You mean like an alliance?" He says, sitting back up.

"Yeah. I was in an alliance. With the pair from 6 and the girl from 4." I sigh.

"... Did they... Did they all d-," He begins to ask, struggling along the way.

"Ceres and the 10 girl killed them mercilessly. The 4 girl and me got away but..." I begin to say but I fall silent as my brain wanders elsewhere. We're both silent for a while. However, he nods.

"I see. You've dealt with some stuff huh." He says, looking outwards, into the woods.

"Hey, brother. What about you? What did you do?" I ask him. He looks back at me and sighs.

"My arena... It was hellish." He takes a deep breath. He looks away for a few seconds. Looking towards the volcano.

"For a while, I thought I'd do pretty well. Despite it being a desert, there were lots of springs with lots and lots of water. In fact, the cornucopia was one of these. While I was given the advice to run away, I went into the cornucopia without any hesitation." He started to explain.

Altar looked over at his brother with interest. Alma continued his story. "I got there and grabbed a backpack and found a sword nearby. However someone else had their eyes on it far before me. It was the District 2 female and we had a tug of war over the sword. However I managed to overpower her and sent her into the sand where..." He stopped and went silent as his eyes trailed elsewhere.

"Let's just... Say she died afterwards." He sighed.

I can understand that pain. I managed to kill a tribute. The District 8 female. It's shocking knowing I even got a kill but it's even morose knowing that he just took a life.

"Well afterwards I left with a backpack full of some pretty good goods. A canister of water. Some bread. I got pretty lucky. After escaping the ongoing bloodbath I rested after running for what felt like miles. Of course, I checked my bag and found all the good things I had. I decided I wanted to stay where I was for a while. After all, I didn't need to grab any water from any oasis' since I had some with me. Not to mention I figured some of the other tributes would be fighting to be able to get some water so looking would be a waste of time. Well... Soon afterwards I was attacked." He says, closing his eyes. However he chuckles despite the serious look.

"I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the scar on my face here." He pointed to his cheek where there was just a giant scar. I'm surprised I didn't pick up on that right away. You could tell he'd been cut badly right there. Like he got into a big fight.

"Yeah. Right after that I was sitting under a dead tree for a few hours before I got attacked. It was 6, they nearly got me with a surprise attack. Got my face clean with a knife. Honestly I'm lucky I managed to overpower that boy before he could cut any deeper. He... I had to kill him too." He said, adjusting his collar as if he was starting to feel warmer.

I don't know whether to be shocked, surprised or to feel bad. My brother is tough and so it's no surprise he managed to get 2 kills in a day. However I can tell with the pain in his eyes that despite doing well in the games he couldn't stand it. Before he can continue his story, I punch him on the shoulder.

"What matters is that you're here and alive. I wasn't even sure if I'd ever see you again." I say to him. He sighs and chuckles a little once more.

"Yeah. Yeah. I gotcha. Though if we're gonna be clear I'm actually surprised I made it out of the other arena during those first few days." He said swallowing his spit. I looked over to him curiously. I was kind of curious as to where he'd go with it.

A cough came from his mouth as he began to speak up again. "The days were scorching hot as I expected. I drank lots of water to make sure I stayed at the top of my game. I got a few sponsor weapons during the early days. For some reason I was given another canister, of course it's the one you have." His hand reached into his bag where he pulled out another bag. I nodded, seeing why he was so okay with this.

"Well... By day 4 I was out of water and I was not looking forward to the incoming event. I realized I was gonna have to find an oasis to grab more water. It took a while and I was probably about to pass out when I found one. I grabbed up some water and stupidly chose to stay for the evening since I was still tired. I think it was after a few hours that I realized that somebody was near me. I killed them too." He said.

He put his hand through his hair.

"Really despite the hellish environment of the arena after that, especially with the 8 boy dead and no way to get supplies, I... I never really noticed it once my problems went away. I'd realize how much of a killing machine I could be when trying to fight for my life. I couldn't bear the thought. Sometimes, I'd wanna take my own life because all I was was another pawn playing for the Capitols entertainment... But I'd always remember you. You're childish smile and attitude. Even if there was no chance of you coming out of the first arena alive I wanted to come out of my arena and see you. Again, I-," He continued before I shushed him.

"I get it. You're surprised I made it through. Can we just focus on our gameplan afterwards." I told him.

He chuckled. "Impatient huh. Well you've got a point. Is there any water in this arena?" He asked, looking around. I scratch my chin for a moment before shaking my head.

"I don't recall there being much actually. There was a lake somewhere in the forest to the east of the cornucopia but I don't there we're too close. The other watercourse had been the flowers at the cornucopia. However the storm ripped them all out of the ground." I said, scratching my hair now.

Alma sighed and then cursed. "Well looks like this is gonna be tough. We should just sit still for a while until you finish recuperating." He said. Shaking my head, I began to stand up. However the pain in my leg made me collapse back down in pain.

"Damn. You've got a point I guess." I cried out, falling into the ground face first. He helped me back up.

"See. You need to be careful. Also what did momma tell you about usin those words?" He scolded me. I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd be all upset about that. Then again saying anything like that on the plantations must be dangerous because it can be accidentally be seen as some sort of insult to the peacekeepers watching the fields. They could shoot you on the spot if they wanted. Then again there's also the fact that I'm 12.

"Yeah. Yeah." I shrug, laying back down. He chuckles.

"So this is what happens to my little bro after he's left alone for over a week." He says. He then turns away and looks back at the mountain. I'm starting to get a little curious. He's been staring at the mountain all day and it's making me confused. It reminds me of the District 5 and 9 boys that had been hiding in their. The ones that attempted to use me as a some sort of meat shield considering I knew of their plan. I cringe. The boy from 5 isn't dead from what I know. It's possible he joined up with the the other living rebel members and is planning to finish their "blowing out the arena plan".

I look over to my brother, starting to feel real tempted to tell him. However I sit back. There's no reason to tell him about it. I just sit back and watch him look over at the mountain. The cold wind brushes past his hair before he turns around. He's looking at the sky before he simply looks down at me.

"We're pretty close to the end game you know." He says to me. This causes me to jump up. He's so right. Over a week in and the tribute list is slowly but shortly dwindling down. So... So... So close...

"Well... I was thinking..." I think, looking down at the ground. Alma sits up, now curious.

"Yeah? What's that?" He asks.

"Well... Let's say we do make it to the end of the games. What happens from there on?" I ask, swallowing some spit as I do.

He scratches his head. "Maybe I'll just... Do myself in and secure your victory." He tells me, putting his hand on my head. For a moment I'm confused. However this confusion turns into shock. He cannot be serious. He would... He would really kill himself just to make sure he could make it home?

"W-Why though? You have such a high chance of making it home. Mom wants you to come home!" I told him, sitting up now. Now, he looked away from me.

"Yeah but let's say we both get to the end together and it's just you and me. Mom may want her sons to both return to her, but she'd rather bring you back. I'm 100% sure of that." He claims.

I grab his arm, starting to feel upset. "No! You did all of this yourself. You survived the first arena all on your own! You deserve to go home Alm-," I'm unable to finish as Alma starts yelling.

"I did it by killing people! Why should I even bother! Come on!" He yells in my face. However he backs up and quickly apologizes. Now I feel bad. I understand his pain of having done so much and his wishes to protect me. However, protecting me isn't worth it. All I am is just a bunch of dead weight and trying to keep me alive is nothing but a waste for him. I wanna say this to his face but I doubt he'll wanna hear it. I groan.

"Fine. But what if, let's say I die be-," He puts his hand to my face.

"Don't even bother." He tells me. I sit back. Why does he bother ignoring such a big problem. It isn't like I can hold my own in many situations. I can throw knives decently, sure. Otherwise though if I encounter any more powerful tributes I'm not getting anywhere. After all, how hard can a 12 year old hurl knives?

I sit back, starting to get annoyed. I can't wait until I can start walking again. Maybe then things will start getting interesting again.

I give a sigh. My brother turns around. "Even then we don't have a game plan at the moment. We have enough water for at least three more days. All we have to do is last a little bit longer over here. Then maybe we'll move." He says.

"Now... What if we run into... Let's say another batch of tributes or something?" I ask. He shrugs in response.

"We can either fight them or run away. It depends on the type." He suggests. I nod. Starting to get bored, I look up at the sky. Despite our disagreements on what we should do... I'm glad I'm with my brother again. That's always a plus. I look over at him and chuckle.

"Ya know." I begin, causing him to look back over at me. "I'm just glad I have someone to talk to again. It got so... tense by myself." I say, looking at my hands. There's a little bit of blood on them. Not too much. I find this strange considering these were probably from that wolf I killed about a week ago. Considering the storm the blood should be gone.

"Yeah. Loneliness is enough to drive a person out of their sanity zone. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew I'd see you again... Whew..." He chuckles as well.

I look back at the mountain he was staring at earlier and point at it.

"Hey. I noticed you were staring at that cliff earlier. What was that all about?" I ask him. He looked at it too before looking back at me. He simply shook his head.

"Nothing brother. Though if I start feeling concerned about what could happen... I'll simply tell you." He gave me a pat on the chest, telling me not to worry. I doubted it. Maybe he knew something about it that I didn't. Though what that could be... Ugh.

That reminded me of something. During the previous years hunger games, the District 3 female and the District 9 tributes scaled a mountain and the last image of the event was the winner shouting upwards after shooting a weapon at the camera. It was... unusual. Thinking of that reminded him of when he saw the winner of last years games.

He never really saw his face the night he attempted to go training. However he heard the shakiness of his voice when he talked about his games. In the interviews that came over he could see the sadness that was being projected in his eyes. I heard that he lost his father after the games in an accident. Of course I was also told this was probably the Capitols doing and not really a freak accident.

It had to have been something about the games...

I never really noticed it but it's possible he shot the arena barrier in an attempt to blow it out...

Then I pause. Exactly what the kids this year plan on doing. I look back at that mountain, then at my brother. No way... I mean... Does he possibly know too? I'm silent for a little while longer before I shake my head.

No. We'll see...

District 1 Male

District 1 Female

District 2 Male

District 4 Male

District 4 Female (Monica)

District 5 Female (Circa)

District 9 Male (Bran)

District 9 Male

District 9 Female

District 10 Female (Bella)

District 11 Male (Altar)

District 11 Male (Alma)

District 11 Female (Ceres)

Another 3 months and another chapter. I've been re-reading this story since I'm not writing it too much and sometimes I just force myself to write a little more of this because I wanna see this end. Honestly it's one of the better stories I've written so it's always fun coming back to it. For those who know of the 97th Hunger Games SYOT I'm writing, don't worry the next chapter is legit 85% done and will be out at least between this week or next week.

See ya