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Chapter Twenty-Two: The Real Flux

"Don't get too excited, Savera," The voice of Flux filled my ears as he came around the corner of the labyrinth.

Just by him walking around the corner, I found that my heart began to beat quickly and the nerves kicked in. I nearly had Lila manipulated to the point where I wanted her…but with him here, it was unlikely that would happen. I folded my arms over my chest and exhaled as he approached us.

"It's been awhile, Flux," I commented with a small smirk on my face.

He wasn't nearly as willing to converse as Lila had been. Gruffly, he pulled the bow from her hands and shot his green eyes at me," Nice try. It may have worked on some of us, but the rest of us…not so much."

"I'm going back to camp," Lila muttered, but Flux shook his head and grabbed her arm.

"Stay here. Trust me, you don't want to miss this," He said to her before looking back to me.

Quickly, I glanced over my shoulder and saw that I had no escape route behind me for it was a dead end. There was, of course, the hole that lead back down to the tunnels, but I had no desire to try and pull that one.

Lila paused and stood beside him as he pulled the bow up and the arrow back, aiming straight for me.

"Whoa, wait just a minute, Flux-" I tried, but he had no patience.

"No, Savera. We aren't going to talk. I've been waiting for this for my entire life and I'm not wasting anymore time," He said sternly.

The truth of the matter was that I wasn't ready to die. Sure, that sounds a little cliché, but I had to know what Lila was going to say. I had to know why they were so close to each other…she got my curiosity peaked and now, there was no way I would go down like this. It was standing there facing my death, when I remembered that the walls of this maze were a weapon in themselves.

Flux was correct. He didn't waste time and in fact, he shot the arrow straight at me. Luckily for me, I avoided death by taking a complete risk and ducking down, praying that it had been timed correctly. In the same moment, the liquid from underneath came spraying out of the hole that I had came from. There was so much happening that Flux sidestepped away from the hole while Lila…had not done it as quickly. This mistake alone would not have been the end of Lila…what followed would be. They both seemed to have forgotten about the arrow ricocheting back toward us.

I looked up just as the arrow was whizzing over my head to plant itself square in Lila's chest.

Lila fell almost immediately and Flux dropped the bow without even thinking of me. I stood up, seeing that this was not the moment to take advantage of them. I stepped around the liquid coming from the hole so that I was not in its danger any longer, but still kept my distance from the two of them as I started to run away, but stopped to look back on the sight. Realistically, I could have finished it right there. The bow was right in my reach and Flux was not paying any attention. Had I been a person of no morals whatsoever, I would have avoided another confrontation and put an end, but I would never be able to live with myself having killed him in such a manner.

"Lila…Lila, please stay with me…please don't-" He was literally crying this out to her, holding her head in his arms as he pulled the arrow from her chest.

"Flux," She choked, grasping his hand as tightly as she could. "Don't worry about me…"

"Lila, you're the last one I've got. You can't-"

"Stop saying that! You knew it had to come down to this anyways-"

"It didn't have to…not like this," He said and I was even a little heart broken for them…a tear traveled down Flux's face.

"Flux," She struggled, life was quickly leaving her. "You were meant for this, okay? This is what you were meant to do. Make the rest of us proud, okay? Make the rest of our family proud."

Their family?

"Lila," He said, shaking his head as she became unresponsive and cold.

I had distanced myself enough from the scene to where the liquid coming from the hole was no longer a threat to me, but it was inching closer to where Flux and Lila were located. I certainly wasn't about to say anything, but a part of me wanted to warn them. I bit down on my lip to keep myself from saying a word. This could work to my advantage if I just let it play itself out.

The canon sounded and moments later, the helicopter came breezing over the maze to pick up her limp body. I watched Flux as he watched her body the entire time, even up until it had been locked secure into the helicopter. Why I was still standing there…I don't know. I could have been long gone by then, but a part of my heart went out to them. I'm sure it baffled the viewers back home, as well.

"What do you want Savera?" Flux demanded, after several more moments. Strange, the liquid had reached him, but he had yet to react.

I was silent for several minutes, simply staring at him before I finally said," I want…to know who she was, Flux."

He stared at me, as if not believing the words that had just come from my lips. In all honesty, I hardly understood them…but I wanted to know before anything else happened. Before we were forced to kill each other, I wanted to know the situation that I had just seen.

He scoffed," You care? Why should you care?"

"Believe it or not, I lost a loved one in these Games too. You know that. You know that I know what it feels like. You also know that he was my brother, but all I know of her is that she was-"

"She was my cousin, Savera," He spat at me as he stood up. "This doesn't change anything, just so you know."

Strange, the liquid still had done nothing to him.

And this was not the answer I had been expecting. I genuinely thought that they had been more than just family, but the fact that they were…that was simply unbearable. To have to see a family member die right before your eyes…I couldn't imagine having been there when Titus died.

"I know, but I heard all of it, Flux. You must have really cared about-"

"Don't say it, alright?" He shot back at me, a new rage coming from seemingly no where. "You could never understand any of this! Your situation is completely different than mine. You never had to live up to anyone's expectations because no one ever had any for you! Do you realize the type of pressure I've been under trying to satisfy everyone?"

I was only slightly offended by this. I said nothing and he took it as an invitation to continue.

"No, you couldn't. Ever since I was born I've been trying to live up to the legacy my father built, but I was never asked if I even wanted to do any of this! It's all I've ever known…winning the Hunger Games….basking in eternal glory…having a father who expected that and more. Here's a little news flash: I never wanted any of this! Lila and her side of the family were the only ones who ever treated me like I was a normal person. I remember feeling safe when I was around them…plus, they were from my mother's side of the family and she was someone I never got to meet."

I wasn't saying anything…and quite frankly, I was baffled at this new Flux I was seeing. It was as though he was just allowing all of his emotions to burst from him…he wasn't speaking to me, no this was an outcry to the world. I was in complete and total awe.

"My father wanted this, Savera…not me. There's not a person I hate more than my father. Do you know how much it would satisfy me to let down all of his expectations? For all the crap he's put me through, he deserves what's about to happen…but don't get excited because there's still no way I'm letting you kill me."

I knew this was getting a little too good to be true.

"And there's no way I'm winning this thing, either," He said, shoving his hand in his pocket.

"Then why did you tell me all of this?" I asked, still baffled.

"Tell you? I don't care about you, Savera. I just told the world. The world knows that Brutus, big, powerful Brutus is not the perfect man they all thought he was. I've accomplished what I came here to do. That's what its always been about for me…keeping Lila alive and somehow showing the world that I never wanted this…my father wanted it. You see, I was alright with dying in these Games until Lila was reaped. Out of all the people in the districts…she would get reaped. The one part of my family that I actually care about. She was my incentive, not eternal fame, not eternal glory…not being able to kill you. I don't care anymore-"

He tried to move forward, but he was stuck where he was. His face told me that he was trying his hardest to move, but something was preventing him. Almost immediately, he started cringing in pain and looking to his bare arms. I furrowed my brow at his strange behavior and remembered what I had forgotten.

The liquid.

"What's going on, Stone?" He demanded, his voice starting to turn frantic as he saw his flesh disappearing before his eyes.

"Flux, the water…I tried telling Lila about it, but-" I tried telling him, but he simply swore and pulled his operating hand out of his pocket. In his hand, a sharp blade. I didn't like where this was going.

"It's what killed the other two isn't it?" He asked me, looking straight into my eyes.

I nodded simply, stepping closer to him, not wanting this to happen. If he did what I thought he was going to do…there was going to be a very unhappy Capitol. In order to prevent a riot, I ran toward him quickly and grabbed his arm with the blade in it.

"I'm not dying at your hands or the Capitol's…if I'm going to die, then it's at my own hands!" He growled under his breath at me, fighting my grasp.

I could understand his reasoning and I still found it to be selfish. If I could only convince the Capitol that his death was not an act of rebellion or trying to sidestep the rules, but rather a murder…as they expected, then I could make the Capitol a little less hectic of a place to return to.

"You don't realize the severity of what you're doing," I whispered back to him, wrestling the blade from his hand. "Lila would have wanted you to win…she said she did."

"I'm doing this for me because I deserve to do something for myself. This is what I want," He growled, still barely audible, I looked to his other arm to see the liquid eating away at his bare skin just as it had the other two girls.

"I wish I could allow you to Flux," I whispered right into his ear so that literally no one could hear, but the two of us.

His grimace was showing that the pain was truly unbearable, therefore, his grip on the blade was growing less and less. Eventually, the blade was in my hand and as I stood, looking into his eyes…I knew he hated this. I knew he wished to take his own life, but I couldn't risk the wrath of the Capitol for his actions. With shaky hands, I held the blade right at his midsection.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that, Flux," I whispered.

I never thought those words would ever come from my lips, but with one motion I shoved with all of my might to force the blade into his abdomen. His last words were used to swear at me as he fell to the ground, lifeless. Never had I thought he would have gone down without a bigger fight…that was before I discovered his true colors, however.

The liquid, from my observations, must have acted as a paralyzing agent to some extent. It was a rather vicious trick; paralyzing the victim before slowly eating away at the flesh. Had Flux not noticed the liquid upon his skin, he may not have ever known that it was doing such a thing. It was like a silent killer; the engineer who designed it from the Capitol must be proud.

The cannon sounded and he was soon lifted from the labyrinth before his flesh could be completely ripped away.

There was so much swimming through my head at the moment that I could hardly process all of it.

Was it possible that Flux meant all that he said? I forced myself to realize that it had to be the truth for in no other way would Flux give up so….easily. He was a completely different person after Lila had died which is why I still believe he meant every word of what he said. If what he said was true, then shame on Brutus for torturing his poor child and turning him into such a monster.

My mind was so busy racing that I nearly missed the announcement:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present to you the winner of the 64th Hunger Games….Savera Stone!"

Little did I know, the hard part was far from over.

A/N: Alright! So, thanks to those who've read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story! The Games are over so now its time for a little drama and romance :D Let me know what you thought about this chapter…was Flux's end a surprise? Believable?