Me and Monica had spent the night swapping positions as night watch as we waited for the impending final battle between us and the girls from District 11 and 10; Ceres and Bella. As long as I'd been in the current arena, their shadow loomed over me and anyone else who had any desire to come out of the arena alive. During the night, I persuaded Monica to give me a rundown of her prior encounter with the women which she obliged to, albeit very hesitantly. I'd already gotten a good feel for how both of them operated, but the picture that Monica painted made them both all the more chilling. They were both pure evil to an almost unbelievable degree. They way they murdered Monica's alliance in cold blood... I wasn't there, but I felt myself angry as if I'd been friends with the children Monica named all the same. Byke, Troy. Those were the two they murdered. They were also good friends of my little brother according to him and best believe, I felt a small desire to avenge both of them for Monica and Altars sake. Truly, I can't imagine how much pain the families of those poor children had to go through, but ultimately the person who felt the most pain and frustration towards the entire scenario was Monica herself. Every now and then, while I tried to doze off, I glanced over at her and could see her rage filled gaze staring soullessly at the cornucopia, where the people responsible for these murders had taken place. I kept one eye open. Just in case she tried to make an angry dash over there herself to take care of those two herself. Monica put on a façade pretended that everything was okay but I wasn't stupid, I could tell just by looking at her that this woman wanted nothing more than the blood of those two on her hands. I never thought Monica, in the short time I knew her, was ever a person who could ever become blinded by this type of rage. However, I also haven't been in her shoes. Or, well, that wasn't completely true. My fathers murder, all those years ago, did the same to me. But I put all that behind me because I was more concerned for the safety of my little brother and my mother. If Altar suffered the same fate as my father, maybe I'd be just like Monica. But at the end of the day, whether or not she becomes some sort of monster in pursuit of vengeance is something I don't think I can stop her from doing.

No.

I don't want to stop her. I couldn't fully admit it, but I preferred Monica to be like this as long as it meant we'd both be able to take care of Ceres and Bella. I personally had my own self-doubt over whether or not we could beat both of them, but Monica seems to not care. She just wants them dead. She said as much to me and I don't wanna get in the way of that. So, the night raged on. I didn't wanna bother Monica (and better yet, I was afraid she'd be upset if I wasn't sleeping since she was on watch) so I all alone with my thoughts for much of it. I'd been thinking about a lot of things really. My mom. My dad. Little Altar, who's condition was still a large concern of mine. The multiple week journey that led to this point. I felt like 5 full years had been taken off my life in here and yet the light at the end of the tunnel was finally materializing. Yet, the exit that I see ahead of me isn't blocked off by those two incredibly strong tributes. No, it's by the decisions that will inevitably be made during the last moments of the games. Even if me and Monica beat Ceres and Bella, then what? Monica said she doesn't care, just that she wants to kill those two. But I'm still not convinced. So what then? Do we fight? I don't know if I could beat her. Even if she dies, that still leaves the question of what I will do about Altar. Back then, what feels like so long ago now, I'd quickly decided that I'd die for my little brother as long as he made it out of the games alive. But now, I'm not too sure if I'm comfortable with that reality. Altar wouldn't be happy with that, whether or not he wants to live. He'd live the rest of his life in shame, feeling like he's responsible. But what of the alternative? His death? Like that's any better. But at the same time, and I hate to admit it, but I really don't think I'm okay with dying. There's just... so much to say on that subject, but at the end of the day I don't know if I wanna die for Altar. It's noble and ultimately what I should do for the sake of my family, but I also don't know.

These questions kept me up for so long that I truly resented the site of the sun rearing its brightness over the horizon on the morning of what would be the final day of the 100th Hunger Games. I should be grateful that I'm alive to see the sunrise, but I'm not. Really, this may be the last sunrise I'll ever see. And for that, I feel truly resentful.


The rest of the morning went like clockworks. Firstly, all the snow in the area dried out like it was nothing leaving nothing but an empty grassland. I tried to converse with Monica, but she didn't say much back to me. Just a greeting and that was about it. After about a couple of hours, parachutes dropped down breakfast. It was some of the best breakfast I'd eaten since we I'd first been shipped to the capital. Me and Monica got different sets of food though. Hers was a little different but much more fitting for somebody from District 4. I can only assume that each tribute got what they'd loved the most in the capital. For me, they were hotcakes, eggs, bacon. These were what me and Altar always ate when we started training, but I can assure you that Altar loved them way more than I did. That reminded me to check on my little brother. Worse case, he'd been hurt by those tributes. Thankfully, he was fine. Well, fine physically. Mentally, he was still as lost as he was the day before. Unfortunately. I breathed out, frustrated, and held out an extra food set that had dropped down next to me. It was obviously his since it had a similar set as mine. I opened the set in front of his open, dead eyes, trying to get his attention.

"It's breakfast Altar. Your favorite too. Hope you enjoy." I smiled all the same. It reminded me that he was the capitals favorite. I resented the fact that us tributes were being voted on like we were characters in a book, but I couldn't hide the fact that the audience took a liking to my little brother a little happy. I communicated this to him.

"Did you hear? The people outside voted who they liked the most out of the five of us? They like you the most. Isn't that great?" I smiled harder. He didn't respond at all, his eyes just staring dead ahead. He was still repeating those words.

"He's dead. He's dead. He's dead." He said to himself in a trance. Whatever the reason he was doing it. I didn't want to know. It must have been traumatizing. Everything here. My throat started to feel tingly and soon so did my eyes. I don't want to know what he's been going through this entire time. How much suffering has my poor brother had to go through while I couldn't do anything to stop it. I remember promising myself that I'd shield him from the worse that life would throw at us but I couldn't do anything here. At the end of the day I'm as powerless as I was when dad died. And soon, I could tell that I was crying. I got up and hugged my little brother, who still refused to emote at all.

"We're gonna get out of this, together. I promise. I'll get you home." I cried. But as soon as I said that, I felt a presence over my shoulder. I quickly glanced behind my back. Ceres, a fellow District 11 tribute, was behind me. All she could do was chuckle.

"Crybaby." Was all she muttered before turning her back on me and going back to eating. I felt my rage boiling up and I almost stomped over in her direction to give her the fight that she was clearly asking for. But I stopped myself. It was something like 12 PM then, we had about an hour or two before the fight between us was supposed to commence. I knew better. I had to wait...


Eventually the battle between me, Monica, Ceres and Bella began to draw closer. It was to begin within 5 minutes. It was then that I was finally able to get some words out of Monica, who had said little to me since we chatted the night before.

"I'd love to take both 11 and 10 but," She sighed. "That's not realistic at all. So I'll let you handle the girl from 10." She said, strutting by me without even glancing at me. She seems to be hyperfocused on this. Again though, I can't really blame her. Initially I took a bit of offense to her seemingly handing Bella to me without any consent, but to be fair Bella was seemingly injured. When we fought 24 hours ago, she'd been clenching her ribs as if something had happened there. Plus, I noticed that for much of the day Ceres was attending to Bella's wound. It seems very likely that she's injured. Monica simply gave me the easier target. Though, even with the injuries I wouldn't dare underestimate Bella. She nearly killed me not even a day ago after all. Personally though, I'm a little concerned for the safety of Monica. Ceres towers over Monica in the area of height and weight. Ceres has much more muscle, that's pretty clear. Monica has described going face to face with her before but it's a miracle that she got out of that fight alive as is. Just the other day, it seemed she was this close to being finished off for good. But in that moment of concern, I sense Monica's gaze. She seems to be glaring in my direction. Just a way to let me know that she's not going to go down without a fight. I don't try and match her gaze. I just look away, praying that her attitude won't end up getting her killed. Soon, me and Monica were sitting outside of the cornucopia and in front of us were our opponents. As soon as we'd begun staring each other down, the countdown had officially ended and a loud alarm rang across the entire area.

"The countdown is over. May the commodities commence." the voice of Ceaser Flickerman Jr sounded across the arena. I guess that was that. I was expecting a little more bravado but that didn't matter in the moment. All that mattered was that Monica immediately flung herself across the grassland and towards the ladies ahead of us. I didn't wanna follow behind her, but I knew if I let her go ahead alone then she was as good as dead without me so I followed her right away. Into the jaws of death...

Monica had launched herself in the direction of Ceres while I had went over to fight Bella as we'd planned but as I ran over to fight Bella, I kept an eye on Monica just to make sure she'd be okay. The last thing I wanted was for her to get herself killed and force me into a situation where I'd have to fight both of these monsters by myself. It wouldn't be optimal to say the least. But I couldn't focus on that because Bella swung down a huge sword right in front of my face. I hopped back quickly saving myself just in time. Soon, me and Bella were sizing each other up. I licked my lips as I tried coming up with some sort of plan for how I wanted to approach her. Bella was just about my size, definitely not pushover. But, as she had been yesterday, she was holding her ribs as if she'd been hurt there. I was curious about the story behind that but that was all irrelevant. The fact that she had an injury that I could possibly take advantage of was all that mattered. But at the same time, I wasn't sure how exactly I was planning on taking advantage of it. Going in head first was a bad idea, so I considered waiting and seeing to get an idea of what she'd do first. Yeah, that seemed like a much better plan. As soon as I was done thinking on that strategy, the District 10 girl started approaching me quickly with her large sword drawn. I was preparing to jump back once again but she lunged at me in a way where her sword came straight at me. I managed to just barely dodge most of it, but it cut me real good on the abdomen. It wasn't a serious wound but it seriously hurt.

"Damn it." I said under my breath as I jumped back once again. Getting in was harder than I anticipated. She wasn't going to let me take advantage of her weakness at all. I was just going to have to wait her out. I quickly glanced over to see how Monica was doing. Thankfully she seemed to be doing fine. In the middle of a life or death battle with Ceres, but it seemed like she was either evenly matched with the large District 11 girl or possibly overpowering her. However I only had a split second to see what was happening because before I knew it, Bella was running at me again. Once again she reached out at me with her sword. As I was distracted, I was in no way ready to properly dodge the blow so in a split second panic I swung my sword up, knocking her and her sword back. We both took brief steps back before I started running at her. I aimed my sword for the part of her ribs she had been holding, hoping I'd hit it, but unfortunately she dodged out of the way just in time before charging at me again. I hopped back, not giving her the chance to hit me once again. Both of us were being incredibly safe with the distance we approached each other at so we wouldn't get hit. If either of us hit each other just once, that would likely be the death blow there and neither of us were going to take that hit. Both of us continued to stare each other down for a couple of seconds, waiting for the other to make their next move. Soon, however, Bella began smirking.

"I have to admit. This is kind of fun." She began chuckling.

"Fun?" I asked, finding the mere suggestion that this fight to the death was in any way fun.

"Yeah. I just like fighting is all. I'm in my element when I do stuff like this," She said before spinning her sword around.

"No hard feelings when I kill you and then your little bro right?" She widened her grin. I glared.

"Whether or not I find this fight amusing, I'd never forgive you if you laid a finger on my brother. Go to hell." I spit on the floor before readying myself to continue.

"Ah well, didn't really care for you opinion anyways farm boy." She said before she started running at me. Before I could even do anything she started rapidly swinging her sword at my like a madman. All I could do was frantically block all of her strikes before they could even land on me. If this kept up she was going to end up overpowering me sooner or later. Desperate, I pushed her back with my sword and jumped away once again. I'd wrongly assessed her strength. She was more powerful than me in spite of her injury.

"You're soft. Unlike me, you're afraid to kill. That fear will cost you." She said, continuing to swing her sword. I was starting to lose breath. The amount of days I went without food were starting to catch up to me going off my dwindling stamina.

"You talk to much." I said to her. She just scoffed.

"You're boring me." She replied. I glared. It was no wonder she was the least loved of the 5 of us who remained alive in the arena. While it wasn't exactly a great idea, I decided I had little option. I charged in her direction with my sword ready. There had to be some way I could take her down. I still wanted to utilize her injury to my advantage, but at this rate I wasn't sure I could even touch her no less stab her in the chest. I swung forwards fiercely but she quickly blocked it with her sword before pushing me back. Next, she swung down at me with force. Likewise, I blocked that attack. I struggled to hold her back for a moment but I managed to find an opening to slip out of danger and out of her range. We were getting nowhere. Once again, I looked over to see Monica and Ceres. Monica was doing fine but it was clear that Ceres was dominating their fight. I grit my teeth. I needed to take care of Bella and help out Monica. I couldn't let Monica fight alone any longer. But damn, Bella was tough. Without thinking, I started to run away from the fight. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wanted to see what would happen.

"You can't run away from me." Bella shouted before she started chasing me. Again, I wasn't sure what I was planning on doing but this was a good start to get the gears in my brain moving. We ran right by Monica and Ceres who paid neither of us any mind. We ran by the cornucopia and Altar who also paid us no mind. It made me wonder if anyone in the capital gave shit about this fight. Personally it was a stepping stone to taking out Ceres who I considered a much bigger threat so not even I cared but I was also in the middle of this fight I didn't care about meaning I had no choice but to care. Then suddenly I came up with an idea. I swiftly turned my feet in Bellas direction and spit in her face. She yelled in anger.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She screamed before widely swinging her sword as she rubbed her eyes. Perfect. With a quick dash, I slashed her in her injured chest as I'd been planning to long before. She yelled in pain, falling on her rear. She gripped her chest in pain, groaning in pain all while I approached her with my sword extended. This was it. This battle between us was soon to be over and I'd be able to deal with Ceres once and for all. I held out my sword towards Bella who opened one eye and glared at me. I approached a little closer, readying myself for the final blow but as I moved closer I started to realize. As we both stared each other dead in the eye the fact hit me harder. I really could not bring myself to kill her. As much of a monster as Bella was, I couldn't bring myself to kill Bella. I'd killed plenty of times in this arena, I thought it'd I'd be used to it at this point. But the idea of snuffing out this ladies life didn't sit well with me. I felt myself shaking even harder than I had been before. My breathing became heavier. I shook my head.

"Damn it. Damn it." I said to myself. Bella started laughing.

"Ceres told me you were too soft. Looks like she was right." She chuckled once again. I angrily groaned. She was correct. I was too soft. In spite of everything, I couldn't bring myself to murder another person, even if this lady was awful. However I was brought out of my thoughts by the violent sound of somebody getting stabbed. I looked down at Bella who found herself with a spear through the chest. Her eyes were widened with shock before she suddenly ejected blood from her mouth.

"Son of a... bitch." She moaned before falling forwards, a small laugh coming from her mouth as she died. I looked up and saw Monica standing above Bella's body. She was glaring at me. I could tell just by the way she stared, she was basically telling me "do not hesitate". Before I could say anything though, Ceres came into view with her sword and slashed towards Monica. Monica blocked it and pushed her back and the two continued their fight, not paying me any mind.

"BOOM!" The canon for Bella went off. I knew I needed to get in and fight with Monica but before I could run off I stared down at Bella's crumpled body. My heart hurt for her. I didn't know her and I didn't particularly like her but a part of me wonders what she was like outside of the games. If maybe, she was kind of a pleasant person when not put in a life or death scenario like this. I felt guilty even though I didn't kill her this time. I sighed before I looked up to see where Monica and Bella were. As I started heading in their direction though, I was greeted with the image of Monica being stabbed in the abdomen by Ceres before she fell to the ground.

"MONICA!" I shouted in shock before I ran over to her. But before I could reach her, Ceres swung her sword at me. I hastily blocked the sword but I still managed to get a small cut on my arm in the process. I frantically stepped back to gain some distance so I could figure out what I was going to do next. Examining Ceres, I wasn't too sure if Monica had hurt her in any way but she seemed to be in some pain. Ceres for her part however, still seemed pretty confident. She raised her chin before letting out a grin.

"Never thought that we'd be the last two. What're the odds there." She laughed while spinning her sword in her hand. She looked behind herself before she started to laugh even harder. "Well now that I think about it. Your little bro is still alive too making us the last 3. All District 11 tributes. Again, what're the odds." She says.

"Just like you're stupid annoying friend, you talk too much." I say, trying to catch my breath. Ceres scoffed.

"I only speak truth. Is that a problem?" She points her sword at me.

"Whether or not what you say is true it's really annoying. Shut up." I angrily tell her off. She smirks.

"If that's so, let me end our discussion with one last truth." She says before shrugging. "You won't be able to kill me. You're too soft."

"Shut up!" I shout as I start dashing at her. I swing my sword at her but she swiftly dodges it before countering that with her own sword. I just barely manage to block and parry her swing. I dash at her again but she swiftly dodges under my attack before punching me in the shoulder. Her punch is like a canon-ball and I feel like my shoulder has been dislocated. I yell and grip my arm as I fall to my knees on the ground. I look over my injured shoulder and see Ceres making a mad dash in my direction, readying herself for a final blow. Desperate, I grip the grass underneath me with my hands before throwing dirt in her face. She yells before swinging her sword down at me. I swing my sword upwards, managing to parry the attack, sending her sword upwards. With one final move, I send my sword straight through her chest. It took me a moment realize what I'd done. That had to have been fatal. Ceres, with the last bit of life in her body just gratified smirk.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." She says before coughing up a pool of blood and collapsing to the ground.

"BOOM!" Went a canon in the background.

Our fight was over, a lot faster than I anticipated for sure, but it was over. I fell back on my rear, completely caught off guard.

"It's... over..." I said to myself, looking at my bloodied hands. It didn't feel good. Killing Ceres. I hated her, but at the end of the day I couldn't stand what I'd just done. But it was in the past. I felt a bit light-headed as I got to my feet. All that fighting made my adrenaline run like crazy but now that it's over my brain was taking a bit of time to adjust it seemed. Then all of a sudden I was reminded of Altar. He was still alive.

"Altar!" I shouted, using my remaining energy to dash over to the cornucopia. I made it over to the cornucopia to find Altar still as he had been when I had talked to him earlier. Dazed out and not even paying me any attention. I took a deep breath and smiled the best I could.

"Altar, it's over... W-We won." I say, collapsing to my knees in front of my brother. He didn't pay me any mind as I slowly crawled over to him with the little energy I had left. With me and Altar being the only two left, I planned to kill myself in order to let Altar win but first I wanted to see my little brothers face one last time. As I approached Altar, I noticed how long his hair had been. Before we'd been reaped together, our momma had ordered us to get haircuts. Now it was almost like we'd never gone out to get haircuts in the first place. It was like nothing had happened at all. Like maybe we were still home with momma, safe from the horrors that were the games. As I began to feel myself cry, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind me. My eyes widened with fear and my heart began pounding as I quickly turned around. Was Bella or Ceres somehow still alive? Maybe Ceres truly couldn't have died that easily. But thankfully it was neither of them. To my surprise, it was just Monica. She was clenching her stomach as she slowly limped into the cornucopia followed by a blood trail.

"A-Altar." She moaned. "I'm sorry." She said as she approached me and my brother.

"I wish I could've protected you, and Byke, and Troy. I'm sorry I couldn't do any of that. I'm a failure, like my family used to say." She sadly groaned before collapsing onto her back, her body making a loud thud on the ground.

"Don't say that. You helped both of us plenty. More than enough really." I plead with her as she closes her eyes.

"I don't..." She quietly whispers as her breath slows. "Believe you..." Her head rolls to the side, as it does I hear her utter one last word. "Kaya..." She moans before a canon cuts her off.

Monica...

I feel myself tearing up more now. I hate crying. I always say it as something weak people do, yet here I am. I yell into the sky before pointing my sword at myself. This is it, I'm gonna end these games here and now. I just wanna get this stupid thing over with. But before I can do the deed, I hear a voice.

"Alma..." A voice moans. "Please... don't... cry... it... makes you look..." I looked up and realized that the voice belonged to Altar. He was still staring dead ahead, as if he wasn't even looking at me. But he was trying to communicate with me. Tears streamed down my face as I felt myself smiling.

"Don't worry about it Altar. Don't worry about a thing." I said, giving him a teary, wide smile. It was the last thing I did before I shoved my sword into my chest.