[39] - August

The first thing I hear as I regain consciousness is a steady hissing sound. At first, I don't think anything of it - mother always makes bacon on Sundays, after all, fresh from the market down the road. Is it Sunday already?

I feel the cool sand beneath my face, and my heart sinks as I remember where I am; I'm definitely not in District One anymore. I'm in the Arena, and in the Arena, a hissing sound can't mean anything good.

Now fully awake, I sit up to take a look at my surroundings. At first, I'm not sure what I'm looking at; the desert around me looks so unrecognizable that it feels like we've been transported into another Arena. Then I realize why - I'm not looking at sand anymore. The desert around me is covered in a sea of snakes, and every one of their eyes is pointed at us.

Jolted into action, I scramble to my feet. "Rochelle!" I scream. "Rochelle, get up!"

I can't believe that this is it - what do I do? What do I bring? My whole life has been leading to this moment, and I'm on the verge of freezing.

Rochelle's terrified gaze brings me back to reality. I have mere seconds to move - we need to go now.

"Leave everything," I pant, grabbing my sword from the ground, along with a small dagger. "And take this."

I pass the dagger to Rochelle, who slips it into her pocket. She looks over my shoulder, and I watch as her eyes widen.

"August!" she screams.

I whirl around to see the largest snake I've ever seen. Among the snakes surrounding us, it's the only one to break from the pack, and it seems to be somewhat calmer than the rest. For a moment, the snake suspends its head in the air in a way that commands respect from everything around it; all I can do is stare in awe.

The snake lets out a hiss; a chill runs down my spine at the sound. We're in trouble.

"Run!" I shout, and Rochelle wastes no time following me away from the snakes. As if a spell is broken, the other snakes follow behind us; the desert seems to move as the snakes grow closer and closer.

My leg cramps as I run on it, but I can't afford to stop now. It can at least support my weight, which is all I need it to do right now. I don't know where I'm running right now, but there seems to be a narrow path of snake-free area where we're supposed to go, so I follow the path with Rochelle close behind me. The Gamemakers are probably controlling the snakes to push us in a certain direction; that's a typical tactic for them. That doesn't mean that the snakes won't try to kill us on the way, though.

As we climb a particularly steep dune, one of the snakes breaks ahead of the pack. It is the same snake as the one we saw earlier? I can't tell. I watch as the snake surges towards us; I have no choice but to face it, or one of us is surely going to die. The beast slides up the dune, and it catches my gaze for a split second before it lunges toward me.

I watch in slow motion as the snake sails through the air. I throw myself to the side, giving myself just enough room to swing my blade up and catch the snake right through the neck.

I sigh with relief as I turn and sprint down the dune after Rochelle, who's run ahead. I've come too far now to be killed by a giant snake. Only four people stand between me and the crown; I've been training too long to throw it all away like that.

It soon becomes apparent where we're supposed to run; one of the sand dunes ahead of us rises above the rest. It looks like the perfect place for a final showdown, and it looks like the snakes are trying their best to push us in that direction.

Finally, we reach the base of the dune. I grab Rochelle's arm, helping her as we climb up the steep slope. I glance up to the top of the dune as we climb, and my heart sinks when I see a flash of blonde appear over the edge of the dune. Princess is here already, and all I can do is hope that she doesn't see me with Rochelle. Please don't look down, please...

The hissing behind me grows fainter, and I glance back to see that the snakes have come to a stop at the base of the dune. We've arrived at our final destination; the snakes have done their jobs.

I glance back upward, and my heart almost leaps out of my chest. Princess is standing above me, and she doesn't look happy.

"Rochelle," I call ahead of me, and my partner comes to a stop.

"Don't look up," I tell her. "Princess is up there already, and she's spotted us."

"So I can't hide down here like we planned," Rochelle says, her face turning pale. I've never seen her look this distressed. "What are we going to do? What's the backup plan?"

"I have to pretend to kill you," I decide. "It's the only way. That way you can stay down here and help me if you need to. I can convince Princess that there wasn't a cannon shot - the snakes are loud enough to mask the sound anyway."

Rochelle looks down at the snakes; I think she knows that she has no other choice. "Okay," she says. Her eyes are darting around us, and she looks like she's going to vomit. "Make it quick and get up there. You've got this."

I strengthen my grip on my sword as the snakes hiss below me. A thought briefly crosses my mind - I have to kill her. I have to kill Rochelle now; it's the smartest thing to do, right? There are only five of us left now. Wouldn't it be easier to kill her now, before I have to face Princess rather than after?

No, I can't do that. Rochelle has proven time and time again how much she wants me to win. She promised that she would help me; Princess is a strong competitor, and I wouldn't be surprised if I needed extra help to take her down. Rochelle isn't a threat to me. The only thing she can do right now is help me.

"Stand still," I order, and I quickly grab her, sliding the flat edge of my sword against her neck. I let go of Rochelle's neck, and she falls quite convincingly to the ground, even rolling a bit down the dune before coming to a stop. Below her, the snakes' hissing intensifies as they snap their jaws at Rochelle, but some sort of invisible barrier is holding them back.

Perfect. Now the time has come to face Princess; I turn and sprint up the dune.

Princess is already waiting for me when I arrive, and she doesn't look happy.

"Some nerve you have, showing your face around here," she snarls. The typical nonchalant look on her face is now gone; I must've really hurt her.

"Not like I had much of a choice," I pant, gesturing to the snakes below us. "Listen, Princess, you know I didn't want to hurt you. I needed to do what I had to do to get me here. To get us here."

"And that meant betraying me to go with Rochelle?" Princess seethes. "You thought she could give you more than I can?"

"She was my partner," I bite back, my grip tightening around my sword. "And she's dead now. You saw me kill her. So you won in the end, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," Princess hisses with her sickly sweet look back on her face. "Because I got myself here!"

There seems to be a commotion behind Princess, and she turns to see two boys sprinting up the dune. They're chased by even more snakes - they must have been further out in the desert if they're just arriving now. As the boys climb the sand dune, the snakes close in the last remaining gap of sand. We're surrounded now.

"You take Calder, and I'll take Garrick," I call to Princess, just like Rochelle told me to. Hopefully, I can force Princess to kill her own partner, it'll throw her off enough when she finally has to face me. "After they're gone, we can settle this once and for all."

"I'm not stupid, August," Princess says with a laugh. "You'll fight Calder, and I will handle the other boy. After that, we'll talk."

I know better than to argue; the boys are almost to the top of the dune now. I wish I had a second weapon - the easiest way to kill Calder would be to throw something down at him as he runs - but I had no time to grab anything more than my sword. I'll have to fight him head-on; it shouldn't be hard, but anything can still happen.

Calder and Garrick arrive, gasping, at the top of the dune. Could they be working together? The thought makes me nervous - if Calder and Garrick work together to try and take us down, they could be more dangerous than I thought.

My suspicions are confirmed as both Calder and Garrick run in my direction. I have mere seconds to scan the boys before they're upon me - it looks like Calder's kept his sword with him, but Garrick only has a small dagger, just like the one I gave to Rochelle.

I don't know if Princess is going to help me right now - both of the boys are sprinting at me together. Calder swings down at me with his sword, and I clash my blade against his so hard that it almost flies out of his hands. He keeps his grip steady, though, and I have to lunge back to avoid a strike from Garrick's small dagger.

As Calder prepares to attack again, Garrick glances over his shoulder, probably to make sure that Princess isn't about to attack. Calder thrusts his blade against mine, and Garrick turns his back to me - Princess must be coming to my aid. Sure enough, Garrick freezes in fear, and he can't even bring his blade up to defend himself before Princess' sword impales him through the chest.

My time's up - I have to end this now. I stare at Calder for a moment as he grimaces, pushing against me with all his might, and I feel guilty. Calder's never done anything to wrong me, or to wrong anyone, for that matter. He was a true friend to me in the first week of the Games when I just needed someone to lean on. And now he has to die.

"I'm sorry," I grunt, but Calder doesn't have enough time to respond before I quickly pull my sword away. I duck to the ground, and Calder sails over my back, allowing me to turn and stab my blade into his exposed back. His body shudders for a moment before going still.

I turn to see Princess kicking Garrick's body from the peak of the dune. His body rolls down the slope like a discarded rag doll, and then it's gone, swallowed by a wave of snakes.

The look on Princess' face is unsettling as she turns to face me - her eyes are dark, and her face is hidden in shadows cast by the moonlight.

"You know you have to let me win this, August," Princess says, so quiet that I can barely hear her over the snakes. "It's only fair."

"Fair in what way?" I ask incredulously. I keep my eyes on her sword - she could be trying to distract me. "You tried to kill me weeks ago!"

"Tried to kill you!" Princess said, the animation returning in her voice. "Tell me, August, how did I try to kill you? By keeping Rochelle alive for a week when I could have left her for dead? If I'd left her at the Bloodbath, she wouldn't have stood a chance, and you know that, August. You would've been long dead by now. That was because of me!"

"I don't owe you anything," I seethe. "You tried to kill Rochelle. There's no point in denying it, I was with her for days and she told me everything. She overheard you when you were plotting with Zinnia to kill her and Mandy. Wouldn't it have been so easy, to just take me and Pollux out and take the crown for yourself? I'm lucky Rochelle was smart enough to escape."

"That was Zinnia!" Princess cries, exasperated. "I protected that girl, and if she didn't tell you that part of the story, then she's a filthy liar because I made Zinnia swear not to kill her. I can't believe you'd believe a word that no-name loser would say about me, August. Our history goes way deeper than that."

I shudder at Princess' words - how humiliating is it that just two weeks ago, I thought the same thing about Rochelle. A no-name loser.

A booming sound echoes over us. Princess jolts as if she's been electrocuted; I watch as her eyes dart around her before landing back on me. Another boom sounds, and my worst fears are confirmed. The Gamemakers are onto my trick, and they're not letting me get away that easily. Princess knows now that Rochelle isn't really dead - clearly, the cannon shots are loud enough to hear over the snakes, and there was no cannon shot for Rochelle.

I can't give Princess any more time to react - if she's able to kill me now, she'll take Rochelle out with ease now that our cover is blown. I have to catch her by surprise.

I launch myself at Princess as fast as I can, but she's too well-trained for that trick. She brings her blade up to meet mine, and I can see a fury in her gaze that I've never seen before.

"I can't believe you would choose her over me!" Princess screams as she parries my blows. "After everything I've done for you, August! I kept her alive for a week when all she did was drag us down. For you - so you could get farther! I've been the one protecting you for all this time, not because you deserve it, but because I love you! I've given you everything I have, and you're not willing to give me the one thing I want! After keeping you alive for so long, all you did in return was leave me alone in the desert to die while you ran off with her!"

I hoped that forcing Princess to fight Calder would throw her off when it finally came time for us to fight, but this is even better; I'm watching as Princess is falling apart in front of my eyes.

I know an opportunity when I see it - Princess flails her blade at my neck, leaving her stomach open to my blade. A nauseating feeling takes over me as I watch my sword pierce through Princess' jacket and into her stomach. She screams as she falls to the ground at my feet, and I have to look away as she writhes in pain on the ground. After everything she's done to me, whether she's helped me or hurt me, she's still like my sister, in the end. We grew up together, always knowing that eventually, it would end this way... and now, it's finally over.

I turn back - it's time to finish this once and for all. I grab the hilt of my sword and push down as hard as I can, and then it's over. A cannon shot booms, and the snakes below me hiss in celebration of the fresh kill.

I can't help but fall to my knees over Princess' body. What is her father thinking? What is my father thinking right now, knowing that I've practically won the Games? A dream twenty-five years in the making, fulfilled at last. I never knew the lengths I would have to go to get here.

Did I go about everything the wrong way with Princess? Yes, she was annoying and clingy at times, but did she really care about me, or was it really all just an act? She seemed to be legitimately upset before I killed her, so did she really try to protect me just for me to abandon her in the desert?

I reach over and close Princess' eyelids. Whatever - what's done is done. From the beginning, I always knew that the Games would be between Princess and me. She knew it, too - that's why I was so sure that she had turned against me. And now, after two weeks, it's been decided. Only one of us could survive, and I needed to do what I needed to do to make sure it was me.

This isn't over, though. I still have to say my last goodbye to Rochelle. My greatest ally and my most loyal friend. In a way, I'm grateful that she didn't have to help me get rid of Princess - if she had been killed in the crossfire, I would've never been able to say a proper goodbye. I would've never been able to thank her for everything she's done for me.

Does Rochelle know that I've won? Is she still laying on the side of the dune right now, hoping that Princess doesn't come and find her? I need to go find her and tell her the good news. It's time to end this, once and for all.

I grab Princess' arm with one hand, using the other hand to grab my sword. I bring her hand to my lips before laying it to rest.

The snakes below me let out a collective hiss; even through their beady serpent eyes, they must know that Princess' downfall is no insignificant thing. Or are they hissing at something else...

A shiver runs down my spine as I watch the snakes below me slither over one another in a writhing heap. The hissing is getting unsettling... something is wrong, I can feel it...

Then it happens, all at once. Sand sprays over Princess' face, and the shadow of a small girl obscures Princess in darkness.

I feel a sharp pain in my back, and I know I've made the biggest mistake of my life.

A/N - whattttt

This is the longest chapter I've EVER published across all of my stories (even though it's not that long by some people's standards lol) so I hope y'all enjoyed it!