The Streets: Whispers

A/N: Some short snippets as we check in with each of the final five tributes before the finale. Enjoy the shorter update!

~But I could go all night

right here between their crossfire

We'll send them up a message,

I'll send a message saying

Give it up give it up~

Troy Magnison

Troy was finding it harder and harder to remain in high spirits. Talon Olympus had fought well, and he had been so close to coming out victorious, but in the end it was Troy that was still alive. And an injured arm did little to quell his worry about the finale to come. How could it, when there was no fight left to be had? The arena had run out of warriors, and Troy was left with a decision to make. A decision in which he wasn't even sure of his options.

It would be one thing if he were to fight alone. But with Vivian by his side? It wasn't a fight, certainly not a fair one. The man from Eleven, Marquise Clifton, knew how to fight, but he was no warrior. He was the opposite of one, someone who only wished for peace. Troy could not force such a man to fight against him. And as for Lana Birkhead and the girl from District Five, Troy was unsure if he could bring himself to fight them. Even if they were warriors, it didn't feel right.

"How's your arm?" Vivian asked him. They attended to their own arm, fiddling with the gauze that they wrapped around their cut. The damage wasn't serious, but it would keep her from firing her bow any time soon.

"It will still allow me to hold my weapon, so there is nothing about which I can complain."

Vivian nodded their head. "I can hold my bow, I guess." They held the bow, flipping it over and examining it, before tossing it to the ground. "I think I'll be better off just using a dagger."

"Perhaps," Troy said. He looked down at his hands, and without worldly distraction, his mind began to wander again.

"I'm glad you're still alive," Vivian said suddenly. That was enough to bring Troy back to earth, and he glanced over at Vivian, who was looking down at the ground, fiddling with their thumbs. "When you were fighting Talon, I realized. . . I'm not ready to say goodbye yet."

"It is not-"

"It's not goodbye, I know," Vivian interrupted him. They smiled as they looked up at him. "You may be sure of that, but I'm not."

"I understand," Troy said. "You cannot force yourself to believe in something. Belief comes from somewhere deeper than that."

"I understand too," Vivian said quietly, holding onto their arms. "If I believed in all that stuff, I'd probably be doing the same thing as you. You're right. We can't decide what we believe in."

Troy smiled. "Not always."

"I hope that whatever happens tomorrow," said Vivian, "you get what you believe in."

"And I wish the same for you as well," Troy said.

"Yeah." They looked up at Troy to meet his eyes, but he was already looking back up at the sky. "Me too."

River

River was fourteen years old. That was the age where children would leave behind the name of their childhood and take the name that they had earned, the name which was their destiny. Wanderer once told her how he had earned his. He was always going against the tide, seeking new experiences and strange, faraway places. There was a saying for people like him. They said that his soul was born outside of his body, so he spent the entirety of his days searching for it. River hoped that he was able to find it before the end.

She wondered what name she might have earned. There was never a mother to give her a name, and so people had used other sayings to describe her. Demon was the most common one, but Wanderer had rejected that. According to him she had no name that could be spoken in words, but not because there was no name for her. All names had to be given by a child's mother, and her mother was the River. There was a name out there for her, and she just had to listen for it.

She spent a long time by the river banks waiting to hear her name, but no longer how long she sat, no name came whispering through the waves at her.

But now that didn't matter. She had survived, running through the forest as metal birds rained fire from above. She wandered far past her home, off to foreign cities with buildings that seemed to touch the sky. She had fought and continued to survive, even as she was hunted and stalked. She survived.

Wandered told her that she would someday set off on her own, and find a purpose for herself. She would earn a name that nobody could ever deny from her, no matter what names they may wish to call her instead. Maybe that's what the purpose of all of this was.

River sat quietly in the night, and listened to the wind as it rustled against the leaves of trees. Even as minutes turned to hours, she continued to wait and listen, wondering what name the wind would decide to whisper in her ear.

Lana Birkhead

Lana hadn't wanted to leave his side. She knew what the cannon firing off meant. She knew when she felt his heart beat slow to a stop, and saw his chest fall flat and fail to rise. But she didn't want to.

It was the first time that Lana could remember crying. They had come slowly at first, but before long they were pouring from her eyes, and she was struggling to breathe, head bowed down in her lap while her chest stung.

Even when the tears dried, and her breathing steadied, she couldn't bring herself to stand. She held onto her heart, but there was nowhere to close her eyes and imagine herself to take her away from the world she was in. Lana was used to being alone. She had convinced herself for a while that she preferred it. So why did it hurt so much now?

She should have been there to protect him. But when he needed her, she wasn't there. And now he was gone. It felt like there wasn't anything left. She knew what it was that she was supposed to do. She needed to win still, fight and eliminate everyone else. Those were her instructions, and she was close to success.

But she didn't want any of that anymore. She didn't want to hurt anyone. All that she wanted was something that she had never had. She wanted a home. A brother or a sister or someone who cared about her, and wanted her to be safe. It didn't feel like that was something that she was ever going to have.

Except she did have it. Talon kept her safe, even when it meant that he got hurt. He wanted her to live. Not because of himself, or something that he would gain, but just because he cared about her. Because he wanted her to be safe, and alive, and happy.

She forced herself to smile at the thought, even while barely dried tears still stained her cheeks. Lana took hold of Talon's hand, and it was cold to the touch but she squeezed onto it, letting it slip from her grip as she stood back up and onto her feet.

She was alone again, but this time she wouldn't be their monster, or their weapon, or their machine. She was Lana Birkhead, and she was going to survive. For Talon.

For herself.

Marquise Clifton

Marquise's hands were steady, his breathing calm, his heart rising and falling the same as usual. He sat in the room and stared off into the distance, and seemed perfectly calm. But inside, he felt anything but.

Through all the harm he had caused, through all the pain and suffering he had endured, all the evil and wickedness he had seen, one simple creed had pulled him through it all. All life has value. It was such a simple idea. He would not let any harm come onto another person, so long as he could stand and fight for those who could not fight for themselves.

And now blood stained his hand, and a child was dead because of him. He should have listened to his own words. It was necessary. It was good. It was the right thing to do, no matter how hard it was. But it was hard. So, so hard.

And now there were only five of them left, the young girl from District Twelve joining the dead. He felt like his purpose was gone. If he couldn't give his life to save somebody more in need, more deserving of life, what point was there at all?

The thought entered his mind, and it forced Marquise to pause. He felt so unsure, so aimless and without direction. He didn't feel like a man who knew his purpose and walked a path with confidence. He felt like the boy that had sat in a hospital bed, his whole world turned upside down, his idea of everything shattered, and waiting for death to claim him so that he could be relieved of any duty to the world.

But life had different plans for him at that moment. Perhaps history was repeating itself again. He just wished there was someone to tell him what he was supposed to do. When he was at the hospital, that old man whose name he had never learned had been there for him. He was able to say all the right words that the boy that Marquise was had needed to hear. That man had helped Marquise find his purpose again. But there was nobody to give him that now.

The arena was silent, and Marquise only could wait for the future to come, and see what path he would be led to next.

As light crept over the horizon, and a sixth morning sun slunk into the sky of the arena, all five tributes were awake as trumpets blared throughout the city, and a simple message was broadcast for all to hear.

"Attention to our surviving five tributes. Congratulations on making it this far. As a reward for all of your valiance and courage, we are offering a once in a lifetime opportunity. Rather than just a single victor, any tribute who is still alive by Noon today will be crowned a victor and lifted from the arena. Whether that will be zero or five of you will lay only in your own hands. Good luck, and as always, may the odds be ever in your favor."

A/N: First of all lemme just stop y'all from getting ur hopes up: there's not gonna be multiple victors. I doubt y'all were thinking that anyways since I'm me, but I just wanted to get that out of the way so y'all don't go blaming me for thinking there'd be two victors again lmao. But yeah, this is just a framing device for the finale, if you go in expecting multiple winners ur gonna leave very disappointed.

With that out of the way, let me just say how incredibly excited I am that we're finally here. For a while it seemed like this story would be left unfinished, and I'd just never come back, but now here we are, with an update a day for about 3 weeks strong now, and with the finale coming out tomorrow. Thank you so much for sticking with me, and I hope y'all are as excited for tomorrow as I am. See you all then!

Trivia(1 point): Get ur last minute predictions and hopes in for bragging rights.