I didn't know what happened to the Shogo I'd seen in the Capitol. I only ever saw him with his little boy. He was always happy and he seemed like the most devoted father in the world. What was his boy seeing now? A man spattered in blood from himself and who knows how many other people, missing three fingers and one ear. Shogo could barely stand upright and he left a trail of blood as he shambled toward me like a zombie. His cheek was slashed open, revealing bloody teeth and a stream of foamy spit down his jaw. His eyes were like a zombie's, too. They weren't angry or even hungry. They were just focused on me.
The other cannons had sounded in the morning. It was just me and Jay against whoever was left. I found out that was Shogo when he jumped out of the bushes and stuck his sword through Jay while he bent over the river to get water. I ran toward him to help, but when I heard the cannon and saw Shogo's face, I ran the other way.
You can't run, I thought. It was more that I knew it was what Pepper would have said if she'd been with me. This Games had a time limit. I could run away from that Shogo easily, but come nightfall, the odds were fifty-fifty. The last thing I wanted to do was face that thing behind me, but there was no way out.
I turned around and faced Shogo. He was slow, but he'd gotten closer to me as I thought. He was between me and Jay's spear, so all I had was myself. His breath whistled and the foam on his lips flecked with every exhalation as he advanced. I waited until he stumbled and his sword arm dipped, and then I charged him. I wanted to get inside his swing, where I could fight back and hopefully overwhelm him with sheer strength.
I slammed into him with all my force, but he didn't go down. I couldn't believe it when he just leaned into me and I bounced off. I was a heavy, powerful guy, and he couldn't have had a pint of blood in him. What was keeping him up? I punched him against his ragged cheek. The tear widened and blood and spit covered my hand. He backed up and drew back his arm to stab me. I grabbed it and it felt as fragile as glass. I smashed it over my knee and it snapped as easily at it seemed to when I practiced. Shogo grunted and tried to shove me back and grab it with his other hand. I picked it up first and waved it at him.
"What about your son?" I asked him. That put life into him. His eyes burned and he growled like a dog as he leapt at me. It was too quick for me to think, but I knew what I was doing when I pointed the sword at him. I pushed it through him as he charged and blood covered the parts of him that weren't already soaked. I pulled it out and stepped back in horror. Shogo, who was leaned against me, slid to the ground. I moaned when he started to crawl. His crooked, mangled arm and his mutilated fingers slid across the ground as he pulled himself to me. I begged him to die as I stabbed him again. He twisted an arm behind him and clawed at the sword. I sobbed as I yanked it away from him.
Please, no more, I pleaded. I raised the sword and cut off his head. Only then did he finally stop moving, and I shied away from the head for fear it would try to bite me.
None of that mattered while I was lying in bed. I only cared about one thing. I heard her outside the room, pleading with the nurses and trying to squish past them into the door. Meanwhile I was pleading with the nurses and trying to get out of bed. When I couldn't take it any longer, I waited until they were gone and snuck out. I felt off-balance and I had to lug some machine plugged into my arm along with me, but I reached the door. As soon as my hand turned the knob I heard Pepper getting up. I opened it, and there she was. Her hair was wild and her eyes were bloodshot. She looked back at me, and neither of us could speak for a heartbeat. Then she crunched in on herself and cried like I'd never seen her cry. Of course I hugged her, and she pressed into me and clenched my shirt in her fingers.
"It's okay. I'm back," I said. I didn't know Pepper could cry so hard.
"Don't leave me," she finally whispered.
"I won't ever," I promised. "You can show me everything. We have all the time in the world."
No lying here: Apollo's is longer because I really liked him. Also, the battle with Shogo was necessarily drawn-out and I still had to show him reuniting with Pepper. Anyone reading can draw their own conclusions, but my take is that these are all canon separate universes, like the DC Multiverse. So for me, there is definitely a world where Pepper and Apollo found their happy ending.